It Is 'He' (Jai Sri Krishna)
"It Is 'He' (Jai Sri Krishna)" | |
---|---|
Song by George Harrison | |
from the album Dark Horse | |
Released | 9 December 1974 |
Genre | Folk rock, gospel |
Length | 4:50 |
Label | Apple |
Songwriter(s) | George Harrison |
Producer(s) | George Harrison |
"It Is 'He' (Jai Sri Krishna)" is a song by English musician
Despite the devotional nature of the song, Harrison wrote it part-way through a period of divergence from the spiritual goals he had espoused in his previous works, particularly Living in the Material World (1973). "It Is 'He'" serves as a rare example of an overtly religious song on Dark Horse. Recorded between August and October 1974, the track features an unusual mix of musical styles and instrumentation – including gospel-style keyboards, folk-rock acoustic guitar, Indian string and percussion instruments, and Moog synthesizer. Besides Harrison, the musicians on the recording include Billy Preston, Tom Scott and Emil Richards, all of whom played in his 1974 tour band and contributed to Shankar's concurrent release, Shankar Family & Friends.
"It Is 'He' (Jai Sri Krishna)" continued Harrison's fusion of the Hindu
Background and inspiration
I was a stiff Westerner when we started off, but there was a moment when the atmosphere of [Vrindavan] got to me, melting all the bullshit away ... it became a fantastic, blissful experience for me.[1]
– George Harrison, 1979
In a 1994 interview held at
Harrison went to India in 1974 to attend a ceremony in honour of Shankar's new home,
Touring Vrindavan's temples
Shankar had arranged for an English-speaking ascetic named Sripad Maharaj to serve as their guide on a tour of the local temples.[21] Despite the bedraggled appearance of Maharaj, Harrison noticed that throughout the tour, swamis and other passers-by would greet the guide by kissing his feet[1] – a sign of the utmost reverence.[20]
The party slept for a few hours in rooms provided by one of the temples, during which Harrison heard "huge heavenly choirs" in his dreams and experienced "the deepest sleep I had ever had in my life".
Late that morning, Harrison and Shankar accompanied Maharaj to Seva Kunj, a park that commemorates Krishna's love for all-night dancing with his gopis (cow-herd girls).[24] Harrison later marvelled of Seva Kunj: "All the trees, which are so ancient, bow down and the branches touch the ground. Just to walk in that place is incredible."[22] In I, Me, Mine, he describes the Vrinadavan tour as "my most fantastic experience" and says that, at Maharaj's suggestion, he turned the bhajan into a song, titled "It Is 'He' (Jai Sri Krishna)".[25]
Other activities in Vrindavan
Harrison and Shankar spent a few days in the city, at the Sri Chaitanya Prema Samastbana
Composition
Leng describes the mood of the song as "upbeat pseudo-calypso". He views it as a further example of the musical approach that Harrison employed in songs such as "My Sweet Lord" and "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)", whereby the Hindu bhajan tradition is fused with Western gospel music.[32] The inclusion of Sanskrit in "It Is 'He' (Jai Sri Krishna)" recalls both "My Sweet Lord", which incorporates part of the Hare Krishna mantra as well as other Hindu prayers,[33][34] and "Gopala Krishna",[35] an unreleased track that Harrison also recorded for his All Things Must Pass triple album in 1970.[36]
Over a three-chord pattern in the key of G major,[37] Harrison adapted the words sung at the Vrinadavan kirtana, in a repetitive form typical of a mantra:[22]
Jai Krishna, jai Krishna Krishna
Jai Krishna, jai Sri Krishna
Jai radhé, jai radhé radhé
Jai radhé, jai sri radhé.
Aside from offering praise to Krishna, these lines address Radha, his consort and lover,[38] whom ISKCON devotees recognise as the female form of God.[39][40] The words serve as the song's chorus[41] and translate to mean, "All glories and praise to Lord Krishna; all glories and praise to Goddess Radha."[42]
Similar to Harrison's 1973 song "
Recording
Throughout 1974, progress on Dark Horse was compromised by Harrison's commitment to setting up a new record label, also called Dark Horse,[46] and his dedication to projects by the label's first signings, Shankar and the English duo Splinter.[47][48] With expectations high for his North American tour, the first by a former member of the Beatles,[49] Harrison later referred to the pressure he had imposed on himself that year as "ridiculous".[50] As a further distraction, his return to less ascetic ways post-Vrinadavan was marked by what he termed "a bit of a bender to make up for all the years I'd been married",[51][52] as Boyd left him in July.[53][nb 2]
Harrison taped an early version of "It Is 'He'" at his
In October, with his album still unfinished,
The completed recording features a mix of musical styles,
Already suffering from laryngitis,[6] Harrison overtaxed his voice during the weeks of combined recording and rehearsals in Los Angeles,[58][71] and his hoarse singing would doom his subsequent concerts in the eyes of many observers.[72][73] Alone among the tracks on Dark Horse, however,[35] "It Is 'He'" contains a lead vocal that is relatively clean and free of the effects of laryngitis.[41][nb 5]
Release
Every show was probably hard for him. He was trying sincerely to do something to benefit people. You see, in Indian tradition you cannot separate music from spirituality ... Anyone else under that kind of pressure would have said, "Okay, I'm calling it off ..." I always had the feeling someone very special was occupying that body.[75]
– Indian classical musician L. Subramaniam, on Harrison's commitment throughout the 1974 tour
Dark Horse was issued on 9 December 1974, towards the end of Harrison and Shankar's North American tour,[76] with a UK release following on 20 December.[77] The concerts had attracted scorn from many music critics,[78] partly because of Harrison's decision to feature Indian music so heavily in the program[79][80] and his frequent statements regarding his Hindu faith.[81][82][83] "It Is 'He' (Jai Sri Krishna)" appeared as the final track on Dark Horse,[84] sequenced after "Far East Man",[85] a song that Harrison biographers interpret variously as a tribute to Shankar and India,[86] and a reaffirmation of the humanitarian goals represented by Harrison and Shankar's Bangladesh aid project.[87]
In contrast with Living in the Material World in 1973,[88] "It Is 'He'" was the sole example of a devotional song on the album.[89][90] Leng considers that Dark Horse coincided with "a crisis of faith" on Harrison's part and that, amid confessionals dealing with the singer's troubled personal life and rock-star excess, the track was "almost a reminder to himself of golden days in India, when he felt comforted by belief".[89][nb 6]
While he identifies a level of religiosity in other songs on Dark Horse, Allison pairs the album with Material World as works that "literally wear their Hinduism on their record sleeves".[93] The front cover of Dark Horse includes a Himalayan landscape, at the top of which the Indian yogi Mahavatar Babaji floats in the sky,[94] representing Krishna.[95][96] The phrase "All glories to Sri Krsna" appears on the back cover.[97] Among his handwritten notes on the LP's inner sleeve, Harrison included Sripad Maharaj's name in a list headed "Thanks to".[98] The song was published by Oops Publishing (or Ganga in the United States),[99] the new company that Harrison founded in March 1974.[58][100]
Critical reception
Like the North American tour, Dark Horse was much maligned on release.[101][102] According to Simon Leng, Harrison's rejection of rock 'n' roll tradition and the Beatles' legacy during the tour was the cause for the album's unfavourable critical reception; in the case of "It Is 'He'", Leng continues, this manifested as "outright hostility" from some reviewers.[103] Bob Woffinden of the NME wrote: "You keep looking for saving graces [on the album], for words of enthusiasm to pass on ... Tracks like 'It Is HE (Jai Sri Krishna)' are more typical. There, the endless repetition of 'Jai Sri Krishna, Jai Sri Radhe' over an enfeebled tune is hardly compelling listening."[104] Writing for Rolling Stone, Jim Miller opined: "[Harrison's] religiosity, once a spacey bauble in the Beatles' panoply, has come to resemble the obsessiveness of a zealot."[105][106] In a more favourable review, Brian Harrigan of Melody Maker called the song "a bit of a groover" and credited Harrison with the creation of "a new category in music – Country and Eastern".[64]
The song has invited varied opinions among Harrison and Beatles biographers. Ian Inglis describes the deceleration into half-time during the verses as "awkward" and notes the failure of "It Is 'He'" next to Harrison's earlier successes with "My Sweet Lord" and "
While also commenting on the underachieving "Ding Dong" single,
In a review of the 2014 reissue of Dark Horse, for
Aftermath and legacy
First published in August 1980,[111] I, Me, Mine contains two pages of description from Harrison on Vrindavan and the story behind "It Is 'He' (Jai Sri Krishna)".[112] This coverage contrasts with little discussion of his years as a member of the Beatles,[113] and typically brief commentary on each of his songs.[114][115] In the book, Harrison dedicates "It Is 'He'" to Sripad Maharaj, whom he describes as "a wonderful, humble, Holy man".[22]
After 1974, Harrison no longer wrote songs as obviously Krishna-devotional as "It Is 'He' (Jai Sri Krishna)",[116] although he returned to recording bhajans intermittently, with songs such as "Dear One" in 1976 and "Life Itself, released in 1981.[117] In his book The Dawn of Indian Music in the West, Peter Lavezzoli writes that following Dark Horse and the "ill-fated 1974 tour", Harrison "continued to infuse his work with an implicit spirituality that rarely manifested on the surface".[118] Speaking to ISKCON devotee Mukunda Goswami in 1982,[119] Harrison said:
Back in the sixties, whatever we were all getting into, we tended to broadcast it as loud as we could. I had had certain realizations and went through a period where I was so thrilled about my discoveries and realizations that I wanted to shout and tell it to everybody. But there's a time to shout it out and a time not to shout it out.[120]
Having distanced himself from the Hare Krishna movement after Prabhupada's death in 1977 and through the 1980s,
Personnel
According to Bruce Spizer:[94]
- gubgubbi, Moog synthesizer, percussion, backing vocals
- Billy Preston – piano, organ
- Willie Weeks – bass guitar
- Andy Newmark – drums
- Jim Horn – flute
- Chuck Findley – flute
- Tom Scott – flute
- wobbleboard
Notes
- ^ Lakshmi Shankar, Hariprasad Chaurasia, L. Subramaniam, T.V. Gopalkrishnan, Shivkumar Sharma, Alla Rakha and Sultan Khan were among the musicians selected by Shankar for his Music Festival orchestra.[18]
- maya (or illusionary), including his use of cocaine, and his dedication to a spiritual path. Townshend adds: "I fell in love with George that night … his spiritual commitment was absolute: yellow-robed Hare Krishna followers living in the house wandered in and out as we chatted."[54]
- ^ In the liner notes to the 2014 reissue of Dark Horse, Harrison's widow Olivia says that he worked at night on his own album and would wake up to the sound of the Music Festival orchestra rehearsing in the house.[59]
- ^ Along with Scott and Preston, Richards, a jazz percussionist, had similarly contributed to the East–West musical fusion of Shankar's Harrison-produced Shankar Family & Friends album.[65][66]
- ^ Given the cleanness of Harrison's singing on "It Is 'He'", author Robert Rodriguez suggests that he may have recorded part of the track before the sessions in August and September.[35] The 2014 Dark Horse CD booklet reproduces Harrison's notes for some rough mixes of a recording of "It Is 'He'", which are dated 11 June 1974.[74]
- New Musical Express. In reply to what his "most thrilling experience" was in 1974, Harrison wrote "Seeking Krishna in [Vrindavan]", where previously the answer had been the immediate success of one of the Beatles' first singles.[92]
References
- ^ a b c d George Harrison, p. 296.
- ^ Shankar, p. 309.
- ^ a b George Harrison: Living in the Material World DVD, Village Roadshow, 2011 (directed by Martin Scorsese; produced by Olivia Harrison, Nigel Sinclair & Martin Scorsese), Disc 2; event occurs between 14:38 and 15:35.
- ^ Allison, pp. 45–46.
- ^ Olivia Harrison, pp. 258, 302.
- ^ a b c Leng, p. 148.
- ^ Tillery, pp. 116–17.
- ^ George Harrison, pp. 282, 296.
- ^ a b c Madinger & Easter, pp. 443, 444.
- ^ Inglis, pp. 44–45.
- ^ Allison, pp. 100, 154.
- ^ Leng, pp. 150–51, 157.
- ^ a b Leng, p. 157.
- ^ a b Shankar, p. 223.
- ^ Olivia Harrison, p. 302.
- ^ Howlett, p. 5.
- ^ Lavezzoli, p. 195.
- ^ Shankar, pp. 223–24.
- ^ Greene, p. 209.
- ^ a b Tillery, p. 112.
- ^ a b George Harrison, pp. 296–97.
- ^ a b c d e George Harrison, p. 297.
- ^ Tillery, pp. 107, 113.
- ^ George Harrison, pp. 297, plate XXXVII/p. 390.
- ^ George Harrison, pp. 296, 297.
- ^ Greene, p. 210.
- ^ Greene, pp. 211, 221.
- ^ Dwyer & Cole, p. 30.
- ^ Clayson, pp. 268, 276.
- ^ Spizer, p. 341.
- ^ Allison, p. 147.
- ^ a b c d Leng, p. 158.
- ^ Greene, pp. 181–82, 183.
- ^ Tillery, pp. 88–89.
- ^ a b c d e Rodriguez, p. 384.
- ^ Madinger & Easter, p. 433.
- ^ "It Is 'He' (Jai Sri Krishna)", in George Harrison Dark Horse: Sheet Music for Piano, Vocal & Guitar, Charles Hansen (New York, NY, 1974).
- ^ Allison, p. 127.
- ^ Greene, p. 107.
- ^ Tillery, pp. 70–71.
- ^ a b c d e Clayson, p. 344.
- ^ Allison, p. 46.
- ^ Leng, pp. 130–31.
- ^ a b c Inglis, p. 48.
- ^ George Harrison, p. 295.
- ^ Snow, p. 72.
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- ^ Huntley, pp. 105–06, 108.
- ^ Schaffner, p. 176.
- ^ Timothy White, "George Harrison – Reconsidered", Musician, November 1987, p. 59.
- ^ Doggett, pp. 209, 225.
- ^ Huntley, p. 107.
- ^ Tillery, p. 94.
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- ^ a b Castleman & Podrazik, p. 197.
- ^ Leng, p. 147.
- ^ a b c Madinger & Easter, p. 442.
- ^ a b Howlett, p. 4.
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- ^ Leng, p. 167.
- ^ a b Robert Ham, "George Harrison: The Apple Years: 1968–1975 Review", Paste, 24 September 2014 (retrieved 5 March 2016).
- ^ a b Brian Harrigan, "Harrison: Eastern Promise", Melody Maker, 21 December 1974, p. 36.
- ^ Lavezzoli, pp. 195, 302.
- ^ a b Shankar, p. 222.
- ^ Leng, pp. 157–58.
- ^ Greene, pp. 108, 142, 144.
- ^ Clayson, p. 247.
- ^ Tillery, p. 67.
- ^ Rodriguez, pp. 58, 199.
- ^ Schaffner, p. 177.
- ^ Snow, pp. 72–73.
- ^ "1/4" stereo tape containing rough mixes of 'It Is "He" (Jai Sri Krishna)'", Dark Horse CD booklet (Apple Records, 2014; produced by George Harrison), p. 2.
- ^ Greene, p. 218.
- ^ Madinger & Easter, pp. 443, 635.
- ^ Badman, p. 145.
- ^ Woffinden, pp. 83–84.
- ^ Schaffner, pp. 177–78.
- ^ Lavezzoli, p. 196.
- ^ Ingham, p. 128.
- ^ Tillery, pp. 114–15.
- ^ Carol Clerk, "George Harrison 1943–2001", Uncut, January 2002, p. 55; available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required).
- ^ Spizer, p. 263.
- ^ Castleman & Podrazik, p. 144.
- ^ Inglis, p. 47.
- ^ Allison, pp. 69–70.
- ^ Howlett, p. 3.
- ^ a b Leng, p. 159.
- Circus Raves, March 1975; available at Rock's Backpages(subscription required; retrieved 5 March 2016).
- ^ Badman, p. 136.
- ^ Greene, pp. 212–13.
- ^ Allison, pp. 7, 47, 48.
- ^ a b Spizer, p. 265.
- ^ Huntley, p. 113.
- ^ Allison, p. 47.
- ^ Spizer, pp. 263, 265.
- ^ Spizer, pp. 265, 267.
- ^ Spizer, p. 268.
- ^ Badman, p. 121.
- ^ The Editors of Rolling Stone, pp. 44, 46.
- ^ Greene, p. 213.
- ^ Leng, pp. 158, 175–77.
- ^ Bob Woffinden, "George Harrison: Dark Horse", NME, 21 December 1974; available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required; retrieved 5 March 2016).
- ^ Jim Miller, "Dark Horse: Transcendental Mediocrity", Rolling Stone, 13 February 1975, pp. 75–76.
- ^ Rodriguez, p. 379.
- ^ Ingham, p. 134.
- ^ Rodriguez, pp. 379, 384.
- ^ Leng, pp. 157, 158, 192.
- ^ Chaz Lipp, "Music Review: George Harrison's Apple Albums Remastered", Blogcritics, 5 October 2014 (retrieved 5 March 2016).
- ^ Tillery, p. 164.
- ^ Allison, pp. 46, 59.
- ^ Doggett, pp. 265–66.
- ^ Staff reviewer, "Nonfiction Book Review: I, Me, Mine by George Harrison", Publishers Weekly, 2002 (retrieved 5 March 2016).
- ^ Kent H. Benjamin, "Review: I Me Mine", The Austin Chronicle, 22 November 2002 (retrieved 5 March 2016).
- ^ The Editors of Rolling Stone, p. 140.
- ^ Leng, pp. 192, 219–20.
- ^ Lavezzoli, p. 197.
- ^ Allison, pp. 47, 48, 59.
- ^ Chant and Be Happy, p. 13.
- ^ Tillery, p. 128.
- ^ Greene, pp. 251–52.
- ^ Leng, p. 281.
- ^ Leng, pp. 304–05.
- ^ Allison, p. 48.
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