Māya Love
"Māya Love" | |
---|---|
This Guitar (Can't Keep From Crying)" | |
Released | 9 December 1974 |
Studio | FPSHOT (Oxfordshire) |
Genre | rock, funk |
Length | 4:24 |
Label | Apple |
Songwriter(s) | George Harrison |
Producer(s) | George Harrison |
"Māya Love" is a song by English musician
Harrison played "Māya Love" throughout his 1974 tour, although no live recording has ever been officially released. The song later appeared as the B-side of Harrison's second single off his 1975 album Extra Texture, "This Guitar (Can't Keep from Crying)", which was the final release by Apple Records in its original incarnation.
Background and composition
In his single sentence discussing "Māya Love" in
In this case, the "perfunctory" lyrics
Harrison biographers such as Allison and Ian Inglis interpret his concept of maya love in this 1974 song as reflecting the failure of his marriage to Pattie Boyd, rather than a comment on love and human relationships in general.[12][13] However, Eric Clapton has spoken of Harrison's view that relationships were, like possessions, all maya.[14][nb 1] During an interview with Houston radio station KLOL, shortly before the song's release in December that year,[17] Harrison elaborated on the concept: "Maya love is something when it's 'I love you if', 'I love you when', 'I love you but'. It's a type of love that comes and goes which we do tend to give to one another ..."[18]
In the first verse of "Māya Love", Harrison compares such "unreal" love to the flow of the ocean:[19]
Māya love – māya love
Māya love is like the sea
Flowing in and out of me.
Subsequent verses equate illusory love with the passing of each day ("First it comes, then it rolls away"), the wind (which is "Blowing hard on everything") and rainfall (which Harrison describes as "Beating on your window brain").[13] Allison writes of these comparisons: "All this presumably stands in contrast to God's love, which doesn't come and go, which never gives way to night, and which heals rather than harms."[19]
The final verse states: "Māya love is like a stream / Flowing through this cosmic dream."
Musically the song combines Harrison's
Recording
Despite having a highly publicised North American tour to prepare for – the first solo tour there by an ex-Beatle
The recording begins with Preston's "skittering"
Authors Chip Madinger and Mark Easter suggest that Harrison
Live performance
Due to the delay in completing the album, Dark Horse remained unissued until the final two weeks of the tour,[17] which began at Vancouver's Pacific Coliseum on 2 November 1974.[41] Another result of Harrison finishing the album so late was that he overworked his voice in Los Angeles,[43] while carrying out vocal overdubs in the studio at night and rehearsing with his band during the day;[44][45] as a result, he contracted laryngitis on the eve of the tour.[46][47] Harrison's hoarse, Louis Armstrong-like[48] singing marred the performances for many concertgoers[25][49] and placed added importance on songs like "Māya Love", whose lengthy instrumental breaks afforded some respite for his voice.[50][nb 3] In its concert version, Leng describes "Māya Love" as a "bottleneck showcase" for Harrison and an "effective live track", "full of the stabbing syncopations that characterized 1970s R&B".[55] As with almost all the songs played on this tour, no live version of "Māya Love" is available officially,[56] but it appears on the numerous bootlegs from the shows.[57][58]
Aside from the song "
Release and reception
"Māya Love" appeared as the final track on side one of Dark Horse in its original LP format, following "Bye Bye, Love" and before side two's opener, "Ding Dong, Ding Dong".[61] Some reviewers have noted the significance of this apparently conceptual sequencing,[62] with "Bye Bye, Love" serving as a sardonic "kiss-off" to Boyd and Clapton,[63] "Māya Love" providing a philosophical conclusion to the marital problems documented on side one of the album,[38] and "Ding Dong" ushering in Harrison's new relationship with Arias.[64]
On release,
In December 1975, three months after the release of Harrison's Extra Texture album, "Māya Love" appeared as the B-side to that album's second single, "This Guitar (Can't Keep from Crying)".[71] Beatles author Bruce Spizer suggests that the selection of the year-old "Māya Love" was due to the lack of "hit candidates" on the melancholic Extra Texture.[72] "This Guitar" was Harrison's riposte to the harsh criticism levelled at him for his 1974 tour and the Dark Horse album,[73] particularly from Rolling Stone magazine.[74] This single, issued in February 1976 in Britain,[75] was the final release by Apple Records until its relaunching in the mid-1990s.[76] While opining that Dark Horse offers "a lot of rewarding listening … for those willing to listen with an open mind", Blogcritics' Chaz Lipp includes "Māya Love" among the highlights, describing the track as a "soulful R&B number that benefits from Willie Weeks' bass and Billy Preston's electric piano".[77]
Personnel
- George Harrison – lead vocals, slide guitars, acoustic guitar, shaker, backing vocals
- Billy Preston – electric piano
- Willie Weeks – bass guitar
- Andy Newmark – drums
- Tom Scott – saxophones, horn arrangement
Notes
- ^ According to Clapton's later recollection, when he confronted Harrison about his and Boyd's relationship,[15] Harrison's reply was: "Whatever you like, man. It doesn't worry me. You can have her and I'll have your girlfriend."[16]
- ^ Only three of these songs subsequently appeared on the Dark Horse album, since "His Name Is Legs (Ladies and Gentlemen)" was held back for release until 1975.[30]
- ^ In addition, the setlist for the Western portion of the concerts included some fully instrumental selections:[51] the show-opening "Hari's on Tour", also released on Dark Horse;[28] a jazz-funk piece composed during the rehearsals, titled "Sound Stage of Mind";[52] and Tom Scott's track "Tom Cat".[53][54]
References
- ^ Harrison, p. 270.
- ^ a b Harrison, p. 271.
- ^ Clayson, p. 279.
- ^ Harrison, p. 234.
- ^ Leng, p. 247.
- ^ Clayson, p. 336.
- ^ Allison, pp. 64–65.
- ^ Tillery, pp. 106–07.
- ^ Allison, p. 64.
- ^ Leng, p. 93.
- ^ Schaffner, p. 142.
- ^ Allison, pp. 65, 150.
- ^ a b Inglis, p. 46.
- ^ Eric Clapton interview, in George Harrison: Living in the Material World DVD (Warner Strategic Marketing, 2003; directed by Martin Scorsese; produced by Olivia Harrison, Nigel Sinclair & Martin Scorsese).
- ^ Tillery, p. 106.
- ^ Greene, p. 207.
- ^ a b c d e Madinger & Easter, p. 443.
- ^ a b "Hari's On Tour (Depressed)", Contra Band Music, 17 October 2012 (retrieved 18 August 2014).
- ^ a b c d Allison, p. 65.
- ^ Harrison, p. 272.
- ^ a b Huntley, p. 110.
- ^ a b c Leng, p. 153.
- ^ Leng, p. 153fn.
- ^ Schaffner, p. 176.
- ^ a b The Editors of Rolling Stone, p. 44.
- ^ a b c Madinger & Easter, p. 442.
- ^ Lavezzoli, p. 195.
- ^ a b Spizer, p. 264.
- ^ Greene, pp. 211–12.
- ^ Spizer, p. 275.
- ^ Rodriguez, pp. 72–73.
- ^ Leng, p. 152.
- ^ Leng, p. 167.
- ^ Rodriguez, p. 169.
- ^ Sample album credits, Dark Horse (2014 reissue) CD booklet (Apple Records, 2014; produced by George Harrison).
- ^ Schaffner, p. 179.
- ^ Clayson, pp. 250–51.
- ^ Circus Raves, March 1975; available at Rock's Backpages(subscription required; retrieved 10 March 2013).
- ^ Madinger & Easter, pp. 442, 443.
- ^ The Editors of Rolling Stone, p. 126.
- ^ a b Badman, p. 137.
- ^ Leng, pp. 167, 169.
- ^ Spizer, pp. 259, 260.
- ^ Woffinden, p. 84.
- ^ Clayson, p. 335.
- ^ Leng, pp. 166–67.
- ^ Mat Snow, "George Harrison: Quiet Storm", Mojo, November 2014, p. 72.
- ^ Lavezzoli, p. 196.
- ^ Tillery, p. 114.
- ^ Clayson, p. 338.
- ^ Peter Doggett, "George Harrison: The Apple Years", Record Collector, April 2001, p. 39.
- ^ Madinger & Easter, pp. 446, 447.
- ^ Leng, p. 72.
- ^ Huntley, pp. 109, 115, 116.
- ^ Leng, pp. 153, 172.
- ^ a b Leng, p. 170.
- ^ Madinger & Easter, p. 640.
- ^ "'Maya Love' – as performed by George Harrison", Bootleg Zone (retrieved 11 March 2013).
- ^ Spizer, p. 259.
- ^ Badman, p. 138.
- ^ Castleman & Podrazik, p. 144.
- ^ "Dark Horse: The Concept of Concepts" (retrieved 12 March 2013).
- ^ Rodriguez, p. 65.
- ^ Woffinden, pp. 84–85.
- ^ Bob Kirsch (ed.), "Top Album Picks", Billboard, 21 December 1974, p. 63 (retrieved 21 November 2014).
- ^ Schaffner, pp. 177, 178.
- ^ Greene, p. 213.
- ^ Clayson, p. 342.
- ^ John Harris, "Beware of Darkness", Mojo, November 2011, p. 82.
- ^ a b Bob Woffinden, "George Harrison: Dark Horse", NME, 21 December 1974; available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required; retrieved 10 March 2013).
- ^ Castleman & Podrazik, pp. 369, 373.
- ^ Spizer, p. 277.
- ^ Leng, pp. 174, 181.
- ^ Inglis, p. 51.
- ^ Castleman & Podrazik, p. 373.
- ^ Rodriguez, pp. 280–81.
- ^ Chaz Lipp, "Music Review: George Harrison’s Apple Albums Remastered", Blogcritics, 5 October 2014 (retrieved 6 October 2014).
Sources
- ISBN 978-0-8264-1917-0).
- Keith Badman, The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After the Break-Up 1970–2001, Omnibus Press (London, 2001; ISBN 0-7119-8307-0).
- Harry Castleman & Walter J. Podrazik, All Together Now: The First Complete Beatles Discography 1961–1975, Ballantine Books (New York, NY, 1976; ISBN 0-345-25680-8).
- ISBN 1-86074-489-3).
- The Editors of Rolling Stone, Harrison, Rolling Stone Press/Simon & Schuster (New York, NY, 2002; ISBN 0-7432-3581-9).
- Joshua M. Greene, Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison, John Wiley & Sons (Hoboken, NJ, 2006; ISBN 978-0-470-12780-3).
- ISBN 0-8118-3793-9).
- Elliot J. Huntley, Mystical One: George Harrison – After the Break-up of the Beatles, Guernica Editions (Toronto, ON, 2006; ISBN 1-55071-197-0).
- Ian Inglis, The Words and Music of George Harrison, Praeger (Santa Barbara, CA, 2010; ISBN 978-0-313-37532-3).
- Peter Lavezzoli, The Dawn of Indian Music in the West, Continuum (New York, NY, 2006; ISBN 0-8264-2819-3).
- Simon Leng, While My Guitar Gently Weeps: The Music of George Harrison, Hal Leonard (Milwaukee, WI, 2006; ISBN 1-4234-0609-5).
- Chip Madinger & Mark Easter, Eight Arms to Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium, 44.1 Productions (Chesterfield, MO, 2000; ISBN 0-615-11724-4).
- Robert Rodriguez, Fab Four FAQ 2.0: The Beatles' Solo Years, 1970–1980, Backbeat Books (Milwaukee, WI, 2010; ISBN 978-1-4165-9093-4).
- ISBN 0-07-055087-5).
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