"Who Can See It" is a song by English musician George Harrison, released on his 1973 album Living in the Material World. The lyrics reflect Harrison's uneasy feelings towards the Beatles' legacy, three years after the group's break-up, and serve as his statement of independence from expectations raised by the band's unprecedented popularity. Some music critics and biographers suggest that he wrote the song during a period of personal anguish, following the acclaim he had received as a solo artist with the 1970 triple album All Things Must Pass and his 1971–72 Bangladesh aid project. The revelatory nature of the lyrics has encouraged comparisons between Living in the Material World and John Lennon's primal therapy-inspired 1970 release, Plastic Ono Band.
A dramatic ballad in the Roy Orbison vein, the composition features unusual changes in time signature and a melody that incorporates musical tension. Harrison self-produced the recording, which includes heavy orchestration and a choir, both arranged by John Barham. Several commentators consider Harrison's vocal performance on "Who Can See It" to be among the finest of his career, while his production style has been likened to that of Beatles producer George Martin. The other musicians on the track are Nicky Hopkins, Klaus Voormann, Jim Keltner and Gary Wright.
Among reviews of the song, "Who Can See It" has been described variously as an "aching, yearning masterpiece"Huntley, p. 92. and an "unequivocal statement" on Harrison's identity. In line with his self-image as a musician, regardless of his past as a Beatle, Harrison included "Who Can See It" in the setlist for his 1974 North American tour with Ravi Shankar, the first tour there by a former Beatle since the band's break-up.
Background and inspiration
As with the majority of the songs on his Living in the Material World album, George Harrison wrote "Who Can See It" over 1971–72. In his autobiography, I, Me, Mine, he makes light of the emotion behind the song, describing it as simply "a true story meaning 'Give us a break, squire'".Harrison, p. 238. Simon Leng, Harrison's musical biographer, recognises the song as a statement of considerable personal anguish, however.Leng, pp. 129–30, 137, 156. He writes of Harrison having been "deeply traumatized" by the effects of the Beatles' unprecedented popularity, and equally disoriented by his success as a solo artist following their break-up in April 1970.Leng, pp. 129, 138. According to Leng, Harrison was in the same state of internal conflict over 1972–73 as John Lennon had been when writing the song "Help!" in 1965,Leng, p. 138. during his self-styled "fat Elvis period".MacDonald, p. 136. Music critic Stephen Holden highlighted a similar comparison between the two ex-Beatles in July 1973,Rodriguez, pp. 155–56. when he deemed Living in the Material World to be "as personal and confessional" as Lennon's primal therapy-inspired Plastic Ono Band album (1970).Stephen Holden, "George Harrison, Living in the Material World" , Rolling Stone, 19 July 1973, p. 54 (retrieved 17 February 2014).
During the Beatles' career, Harrison had been the first to tire of Beatlemania and the group's celebrity status,The Editors of Rolling Stone, pp. 33–34. and he had written songs rejecting what Leng terms the "artifice" surrounding the band.Leng, p. 86. Lennon himself described the Beatles' predicament as "four individuals who eventually recovered their individualities after being submerged in a myth".Peter Doggett, "Fight to the Finish", Mojo Special Limited Edition: 1000 Days of Revolution (The Beatles' Final Years – Jan 1, 1968 to Sept 27, 1970), Emap (London, 2003), p. 140. In addition, for Harrison, while he began to match Lennon and Paul McCartney as a songwriter towards the end of the group's career,Lavezzoli, p. 185."George Harrison Biography", rollingstone.com (archived version retrieved 31 October 2017). his relatively junior position in the Beatles was a source of frustration to him,Greene, pp. 45, 53. which, according to music journalist Mikal Gilmore, left "deep and lasting wounds".The Editors of Rolling Stone, p. 39.
Aside from being released from the psychological pressure of being a Beatle in 1970,MacDonald, p. 300.The Editors of Rolling Stone, p. 33. Harrison was the one who potentially benefited the most from the group's break-up.Anthony DeCurtis, "George Harrison All Things Must Pass", Rolling Stone, 12 October 2000 (archived version retrieved 17 February 2014).Schaffner, p. 140. His 1970 triple album, All Things Must Pass, was a major commercial and critical success,Peter Doggett, "The Apple Years", Record Collector, April 2001, pp. 36, 37. eclipsing releases by both Lennon and McCartney.Woffinden, p. 39.Lambert Ramirez, "George Harrison: The not-so-quiet Beatle", philstar.com, 17 March 2014 (retrieved 14 October 2015). According to author Ian Inglis, Harrison became "popular music's first statesman" as a result of both All Things Must Pass and his 1971–72 Bangladesh aid project.Inglis, p. 36. The last of these established humanitarianism as a new direction for rock music,Tillery, p. 100.Rodriguez, pp. 41, 49, 51. in addition to focusing on Harrison the level of attention previously afforded the Beatles.Bruce Eder, "George Harrison", AllMusic (archived version retrieved 31 October 2017).Clayson, p. 318. While Leng describes "Who Can See It" as a "plea for understanding from a private man living his life in public", Inglis writes that, after the "euphoria" of his recent achievements as a solo artist, Harrison was forced to confront "some of the more unpleasant realities of his everyday life".Inglis, p. 37.
Composition "Who Can See It" is in the musical key of E. The melody incorporates various augmented and diminished chords,"Who Can See It", in George Harrison Living in the Material World: Sheet Music for Piano, Vocal & Guitar, Charles Hansen (New York, NY, 1973), p. 72. which Harrison describes in I, Me, Mine as "all kinds of suspended chords", since he played them in an open tuning on the guitar. The song starts with a solitary guitar figure and then builds in intensity through the verse and into the chorus, as musical tension matches the emotion of the lyrics.
Leng views "Who Can See It" as a "new type of ballad" from Harrison, one that combines a "dramatic edge" with rhythmic sophistication.Leng, p. 129. The time signature shifts throughout the composition, from 4/4 to 6/4 and 5/8, with brief portions in 5/4 and 3/4."Who Can See It", in George Harrison Living in the Material World: Sheet Music for Piano, Vocal & Guitar, Charles Hansen (New York, NY, 1973), pp. 27–29. In Leng's description, the melody features "sweepingly large chromatic intervals", beginning with the verse's third line – a four-semitone swoop that recalls the ascending melismas commonly used in Indian music. Harrison later remarked, with reference to the boldness of the tune: "['Who Can See It'] reminds me of Roy Orbison for some reason. He could do this good."
Among the material Harrison wrote or finished for Living in the Material World, several songs reflect on his years with the Beatles,Leng, p. 126. and in the case of "Who Can See It", with bitterness.Allison, p. 159.Rodriguez, p. 156. In the opening verse, he states:Harrison, p. 237.
Inglis views these lines as a reference to Harrison's working-class upbringing as well as his years as a member of the Beatles. In the chorus that follows, Harrison contends that, having personally lived through these experiences, his sole wish is that his feelings "Should not be denied me now", and he concludes: "I can see my life belongs to me / My love belongs to who can see it."Song lyrics and commentary, booklet accompanying Living in the Material World reissue (EMI Records, 2006; produced by Dhani & Olivia Harrison), p. 22. Inglis offers a simple précis of this statement: "he has paid his dues. Now he is his own man ..."Inglis, p. 40.
In the song's second verse, Harrison sings of having "lived in fear" and witnessed the hatred created by "this sad world". While later discussing his aversion to performing live after 1966, Harrison presented a similar imagery, citing the Beatles' concerns regarding the threat of assassination. He also referred to the band's fame as "very one-sided", since the Beatles "gave their nervous systems" while receiving the adulation of their fans.The Beatles, p. 354.
Leng finds the words to verse two typical of Harrison's tendency towards "internalization of world events" in some of his songs from this period, whereby "hate, conflict and strife" are projected onto the "wider world" in the likes of "Who Can See It" and "The Light That Has Lighted the World".Leng, p. 130. Theologian Dale Allison views the mention of "this sad world" as a further reference to the essentially "tragic" nature of human existence, after "All Things Must Pass" and in anticipation of later Harrison songs such as "Stuck Inside a Cloud", in that "notwithstanding all the success and adulation", ultimately, "we are all alone".Allison, pp. 117–18. Allison writes of the message behind "Who Can See It": "Here he declares his freedom from his Beatle past, his freedom to be himself."
Recording
Harrison had intended to co-produce his long-awaited follow-up to All Things Must Pass with Phil Spector, a mainstay of his career since 1970.Madinger & Easter, p. 439.Timothy White, "George Harrison – Reconsidered", Musician, November 1987, p. 53. Spector's unreliability meant that Harrison was forced to produce Living in the Material World alone – an outcome that music critics Greg Kot and Zeth Lundy find regrettable, in light of how Spector's signature Wall of Sound treatment might have suited ballads such as "Who Can See It" and "The Day the World Gets 'Round". Another regular Harrison collaborator, John Barham, provided orchestral arrangements as before,Huntley, p. 90. and noted an "austere quality" in some of the new songs.Leng, p. 137. "George was under stress during Living in the Material World," Barham said later. "I felt that he was going through some kind of a crisis. I think it may have been spiritual, but I cannot be sure."
Harrison taped the basic track for "Who Can See It" between October and December 1972,Badman, p. 83. either at the Beatles' Apple Studio in London or at FPSHOT, his home studio in Henley, Oxfordshire.Spizer, p. 254. He recorded his vocals during the first two months of the new year,Badman, pp. 83, 89. and Barham's orchestration and choir were added in late February.Madinger & Easter, pp. 439, 440.
Harrison's twin electric-guitar parts recall the sound of the Beatles' Abbey Road album, through his use of a Leslie rotary effect – a detail that Leng finds significant, given the song's subject matter. In another Beatles comparison, music journalists Alan Clayson and John Metzger consider Harrison's production on Material World to be similar to George Martin's work with the band.Clayson, p. 323.John Metzger, "George Harrison Living in the Material World", The Music Box, vol. 13 (11), November 2006 (retrieved 17 February 2014). Leng writes of "Who Can See It" having been "conceived with an Orbison vocal",Leng, p. 259. and the singing duly reflects Orbison's more dramatic style. Harrison's vocal reaches falsetto in places, while, in Clayson's description, "swerving from muttered trepidation to strident intensity" during the course of the song.