"The Light That Has Lighted the World" is a song by English musician George Harrison released on his 1973 album Living in the Material World. It is viewed as a statement on Harrison's discomfort with the attention afforded him as an ex-Beatle and features a prominent contribution from English session pianist Nicky Hopkins, along with a highly regarded slide guitar solo from Harrison.
Around the time it was recorded, in late 1972, "The Light That Has Lighted the World" was rumoured to be the title track of the forthcoming album. Harrison originally intended it as a song for English singer Cilla Black, whose version of his 1970 composition "When Every Song Is Sung" he produced before starting work on Living in the Material World. An early acoustic demo of the song, a solo performance by Harrison, appeared as the closing track on the 2012 compilation Early Takes: Volume 1.
Background and composition In early August 1972, in between overseeing the UK release of Saul Swimmer's Concert for Bangladesh documentary and heading up to Liverpool to catch Ravi Shankar's recital at the Philharmonic Hall,Badman, pp. 79, 80. George Harrison tried recording "When Every Song Is Sung", a ballad from the All Things Must Pass era, as a single for Cilla Black.Clayson, p. 332."'I'll Still Love You (When Every Song Is Sung)' – a 'lost' song penned for Cilla by George Harrison receives May 2003 release" , CillaBlack.com, 1 April 2003 (retrieved 13 March 2012). Although the project was not completed, just like Harrison's attempt to record the same song with Ronnie Spector the year before,Madinger & Easter, pp. 434, 440. he later decided to write a B-side for her, which would become "The Light That Has Lighted the World".Harrison, p. 268.Kevin Howlett, booklet accompanying Living in the Material World reissue (EMI Records, 2006; produced by Dhani & Olivia Harrison). In his autobiography, I, Me, Mine, Harrison explains that the lyrics dealt with the "Local boy/girl makes good" phenomenon, where the public initially supports someone who achieves success yet are then disapproving if fame or success changes that person. Both he and Black were from Liverpool and had become famous quickly, after which many people considered their personalities had changedInglis, p. 39. – a common link that Harrison thought of basing the intended B-side around. After he had come up with the opening two lines, however, the theme soon evolved into something more personal.Spizer, p. 254.
At the 27 July 1971 press conference preceding the Bangladesh concerts,Badman, p. 43. Harrison had admitted he was "flattered" and "honour[ed]" to be receiving the same attention and acclaim once reserved for the Beatles.The Concert for Bangladesh Revisited with George Harrison and Friends DVD, Apple Corps, 2005 (directed by Claire Ferguson; produced by Olivia Harrison, Jonathan Clyde & Jo Human).Pieper, p. 26. A year later, though, his words to "The Light That Has Lighted the World" were a plea for freedom from public scrutiny regarding his Beatle past, musical biographer Simon Leng writes, to allow him to "pursue his spiritual quest" unencumbered by the weight of others' expectations.Leng, p. 128.
This negative scrutiny Harrison found "hateful to anyone that is happy or 'free' ", the lyrics continue, while he targets its purveyors as living "their lives without looking to see / The light that has lighted the world."
Harrison argues in I Me Mine that things can never stay the same – "the whole of life is a change: from the morning to the evening, from spring to winter ... from birth to death ..." This viewpoint is reflected in the song's second verse, where he bemoans those who make a point of resisting change, "As if nature itself, they'd prefer rearranged", because for them, "there's so little chance to experience soul". The song ends more optimistically, with his declaration:
Instead of giving the track to Cilla Black, Harrison used it for his own album, Living in the Material World, recording for which began in October 1972.
While analysing the song's lyrics, Leng opines that, like "Who Can See It", "The Light That Has Lighted the World" betrays Harrison's tendency towards "internalization of world events", and the fact that he wrote these words while still in his twenties is a "testament to the sheer psychological pressure" of the Beatles experience and superstardom generally.Leng, pp. 127–28, 129–30. At its core, Leng suggests, the song is asking: "What right do you have to inspect me, just because I made a few records?"
"He didn't like celebrity," Elton John observed of Harrison in a 2002 Rolling Stone Press tribute book. "I think he'd had enough by 1970 to last three lifetimes ... He found something worth more than fame, more than fortune, more than anything."The Editors of Rolling Stone, pp. 232–33. In her introductory piece to the same publication, written two months after his death, Olivia Harrison quoted from the words to "The Light That Has Lighted the World" as an example of her late husband providing the "live background music to our lives": "If I played three chords on the uke (compulsory instrument in our home), he would be my band. George was so generous and 'grateful to anyone that is happy or free.' A good moment to him was always worth making better."Olivia Harrison, "A Few Words About George", in The Editors of Rolling Stone, p. 11.
Recording
In a December 1971 interview for Disc and Music Echo, Nicky Hopkins – "the world's best-known anonymous pianist", as that magazine termed him – had talked of his plans to start work on his own solo album early the following year.Andrew Tyler, "Nicky Hopkins", Disc and Music Echo, 4 December 1971; available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required; retrieved 21 July 2012). "I'll probably be doing it with George Harrison," he said. "I'd really like to do that because, with George, I feel a very close thing ... We just seem to understand each other on a personal level so well." Like Harrison's long-awaited follow-up to All Things Must Pass, the Hopkins solo project was delayed by other commitments until the autumn of 1972, but the mutual understanding that Hopkins referred to was much in evidence on Living in the Material World; Leng describes the English keyboard player's contributions as "the most prominent instrumental voice" on the album aside from Harrison's distinctive slide guitar.Leng, p. 125.
On "The Light That Has Lighted the World", the recording is underpinned by Gary Wright's stately harmonium and Harrison's acoustic rhythm guitars, and is dominated by Hopkins' piano.Huntley, p. 91. The instrumental section, in between the two verses, featuring first Hopkins and then Harrison, has received much positive comment.Clayson, p. 323.Stephen Holden, "George Harrison, Living in the Material World" , Rolling Stone, 19 July 1973 (retrieved 13 March 2012). The track's solemn tempo has been likened to that for "Tears of Rage" and "I Shall Be Released" by the Band. An alternative studio version of the song, an outtake from the October–December 1972 album sessions, appears on the Living in the Alternate World bootleg."George Harrison – Living In The Alternate World (CD)", Discogs (retrieved 21 July 2012). Featuring a more prominent and melodic harmonium part from Wright, and devoid of Harrison's overdubbed second and third acoustic-guitar parts and his electric slide guitar, this version of "The Light That Has Lighted the World" ends with an attractive vocal falsetto in place of the official release's bottleneck flourish.Madinger & Easter, p. 440.
Release and reception "The Light That Has Lighted the World" was issued in mid 1973 as the third track on Living in the Material WorldCastleman & Podrazik, p. 125. and is the first of a trio of slow-paced songs throughout the album that covers Harrison's preoccupation with breaking free from the past and others' perceptions (the second and third being "Who Can See It" and "Be Here Now").Leng, pp. 130. 137. Some months before this, the working title of the album was said to be The Light That Has Lighted the World.Badman, p. 83.Allison, p. 149. According to author Keith Badman, it was only in January 1973 that the name was changed to Living in the Material World.Badman, p. 89. As with eight other tracks on the albumSchaffner, p. 160. and the 1973 B-side "Miss O'Dell",Harrison, p. 385. Harrison donated his publishing royalties and the copyrightBook accompanying Collaborations box set by Ravi Shankar and George Harrison (Dark Horse Records, 2010; produced by Olivia Harrison; package design by Drew Lorimer & Olivia Harrison), p. 32. for "The Light That Has Lighted the World" to his Material World Charitable Foundation.Madinger & Easter, p. 438.
On release, the song was viewed as possessing both of the traits that some reviewers disliked about its parent album: too slow in tempo, and with lyrics "too smug for rock 'n' roll".Lavezzoli, p. 195. Stephen Holden of Rolling Stone described it as "an oblique defense against public criticism and expectations of a Beatle reunion" and, the "sustained" instrumental break aside, "pretty leaden stuff" due to the funereal pace. NME critic Bob Woffinden found the music "exceptionally fine" and opined that the song "could rank with his best compositions".Woffinden, p. 71. The problem, in Woffinden's opinion, was that, with the advent of glam rock in the UK while Harrison delayed following up on his 1970–71 solo success, "half the record-buying public" were more likely to view the song title as a reference to Gary Glitter.Woffinden, p. 72.
Writing in Melody Maker, Michael Watts described the album as "Harrison's personal statement", documenting his journey towards "a spiritual goal which for the first time he has been able to define".Michael Watts, "The New Harrison Album", Melody Maker, 9 June 1973, p. 3. Amid the "large autobiographical insights" offered in Harrison's new compositions, Watts wrote of "The Light That Has Lighted the World"'s role in the song cycle: "Until finally he climbed over the rocky patches and found his own Shangri-La, becoming transformed in the process."
Retrospective appraisal Writing for Rolling Stone in 2002, Greg Kot referred to the song's "condescending autobiographical vein", which he found echoed in Harrison's 1974 riposte to his detractors, "Dark Horse".The Editors of Rolling Stone, p. 188. To Bruce Eder of AllMusic, "The Light That Has Lighted the World" is one of the tracks on Material World that suffers from seeming "weighed down with their own sense of purpose, in ways that All Things Must Pass mostly (but not entirely) avoided".Bruce Eder, [ "George Harrison Living in the Material World"], AllMusic (retrieved 19 April 2012). Similarly unimpressed, Eight Arms to Hold You authors Chip Madinger and Mark Easter write: "One would think that the 'light' might have given George a bit more happiness to reflect upon, but hey, the slide work's great!" The outtake available on the Alternate World bootleg, they add, was "believe it or not, even more lugubrious that the commercial version".