"Art of Dying" (sometimes titled "The Art of Dying") is a song by English rock musician George Harrison from his 1970 triple album All Things Must Pass. Harrison began writing the song in 1966 while still a member of the Beatles and during a period when he had first become enamoured with Hindu-aligned spirituality and other aspects of Indian culture. The subject matter is reincarnation and the need to avoid rebirth, by limiting actions and thoughts that lead to one's soul returning in another, earthbound life form.
Harrison recorded "Art of Dying" in London shortly after the Beatles' break-up in April 1970. The song was co-produced by Phil Spector and features a hard rock arrangement. The backing musicians include Eric Clapton and the rest of Clapton's short-lived band Derek and the Dominos, as well as Gary Wright, Billy Preston, Bobby Keys and Jim Price. The song has received praise from several music critics; among these, James Hunter of Rolling Stone described it as a "spookily proto-disco" performance by "a rock orchestra recorded with sensitivity and teeth and faraway mikes".
Since Harrison's death in November 2001, the lyrics have received further recognition as a comment on the nature of human existence. The song has been interpreted in a jazz style by American guitarist Joel Harrison and as a grunge song by the band Black Rebel Motorcycle Club.
Background and composition For the last 30 or more years of his life, George Harrison repeatedly identified his first experience of taking the hallucinogenic drug LSD, with bandmate John Lennon and their wives Pattie Boyd and Cynthia Lennon, as being responsible for his interest in spirituality and Hinduism.The Editors of Rolling Stone, pp. 144, 145.George Harrison, in The Beatles, pp. 179–80.George Harrison, pp. 36, 44, 106.Olivia Harrison, p. 190. The "trip" occurred by accident in March 1965 when the four drank coffee spiked with the drug,George Harrison, p. 41.George Harrison and John Lennon, in The Beatles, p. 177.Lennon, p. 241. and he later recalled a thought coming to his mind during the experience: "'Yogis of the Himalayas.' I don't know why ... It was like somebody was whispering to me: 'Yogis of the Himalayas.'" An August 1967 visit to San Francisco's Haight-Ashbury district, then the epicentre of the hippie movement, persuaded him to abandon LSD and instead pursue a spiritual path through meditation.Clayson, p. 223.Tillery, pp. 53–54, 160. By that point, Harrison had already immersed himself in Indian classical music, which is irrevocably tied to spirituality,Leng, pp. 24, 29.Mick Gold, "The Act You've Known For All These Years: The Beatles and Sgt. Pepper", unpublished, 1974; available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required). and dealt with what author Ian MacDonald terms "the spiritual aridity of modern life"MacDonald, p. 215. in his Indian-influenced song "Within You Without You" from the Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.MacDonald, p. 15.Leng, pp. 29, 98.
Harrison began writing "Art of Dying" in 1966. Citing comments made by Harrison in a 1969 interview, musicologist Walter Everett says that Harrison possibly drew inspiration from the book The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead.Everett, p. 323. The song is inspired by the Hindu conception of reincarnation and the inevitability of death, as outlined in the opening verse:Leng, p. 98.
According to author Alan Clayson, the song's title and subject matter suggest a familiarity with the fifteenth-century Latin text Ars moriendi (lit. "The Art of Dying").Clayson, p. 215. The mention of "Sister Mary" refers to the Catholic faith in which Harrison had been raised.Leng, p. 95. Speaking to author Peter Doggett, Harrison's sister Louise qualified his embrace of Hinduism with regard to his upbringing: "Our family were Catholics, but we always had a global outlook. We were spiritual, not religious as such. George didn't change as a person after he went to India [in 1966] …"Doggett, p. 22. Rather than "Sister Mary", Harrison's original lyric named "Mr Epstein" (Brian Epstein, the Beatles' former manager).George Harrison, p. 182. Author Bruce Spizer speculates that Harrison was "contemplating life after the Beatles" as early as mid 1966, since "most of the song's original verses recognise that even Mr. Epstein won't be able to keep the group together or help out when it's over..."
Harrison says in his autobiography, I, Me, Mine, that in most cases one's soul does not in fact "leave here" after death, due to the karmic debt, or "load", accrued through actions and thoughts carried out in one's lifetime.George Harrison, pp. 180–81. This point is illustrated in the third verse of "Art of Dying":Tillery, p. 89.
The mention of "a million years of crying" is a reference to the endless cycle of rebirth associated with reincarnation, where the soul repeatedly fails to leave the material world and attain nirvanaO'Dell, p. 141. or moksha.Allison, p. 87."George Harrison & the Art of Dying: How a lifetime of spiritual search led to a beautiful death", Beliefnet, December 2002 (retrieved 1 November 2020).
Written in a period shortly before "karma", "mantra", "guru" and "māyā" all became key words in his vocabulary,Clayson, pp. 208, 217–18, 293, 295. Harrison shows an acknowledgment of possible confusion on the part of his listeners, and a degree of humour, with the questions that appear at the end of the verses, "Are you still with me?" and "Do you believe me?" The subject of rebirth was one he would return to frequently throughout his solo career, notably on "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)", with its pleas "Keep me free from birth" and "Help me cope with this heavy load".Schaffner, p. 159.Stephen Holden, "George Harrison, Living in the Material World" , Rolling Stone, 19 July 1973, p. 54 (retrieved 26 June 2012).
Recording
"Art of Dying" was one of many compositions that Harrison stockpiled during the Beatles' careerMadinger & Easter, p. 427.Unterberger, p. 286. due to the continued dominance of Lennon and Paul McCartney as the band's principal songwriters. When discussing his plans for a solo album in an October 1969 interview, Harrison referred to "Art of Dying", saying that he had been "working on a song about reincarnation since 1966".Harry, p. 10. On 26 May 1970, a month after the Beatles' official break-up, it was one of at least fifteen songs performed by Harrison for producer Phil Spector's benefit at Abbey Road Studios in London,Badman, p. 10. with a view to narrowing down the material under consideration for All Things Must Pass.Leng, p. 77. Harrison performed the song on acoustic guitar, but as with "Isn't It a Pity", "Run of the Mill", "Let It Down" and other selections, its arrangement was expanded significantly as the sessions progressed.Spizer, p. 225. In the case of "Art of Dying", Spector gave the track a heavy production for the official release;Harry, p. 21. authors Chip Madinger and Mark Easter describe the production as a "[big] 'kitchen sink' job".Madinger & Easter, p. 432. A widely bootlegged version known as "Art of Dying (Take 9)", comprising a band performance dominated by acoustic rhythm guitars and pianoUnterberger, p. 290. with Ringo Starr on drums, sees the song somewhere between the solo run-through and the All Things Must Pass arrangement. This take, played in the key of B minor (a semitone up from that of the official version of the song), was still in contention for release during the album's mixing phase.
In a chapter discussing All Things Must Pass in his 2010 autobiography, American musician Bobby Whitlock writes of recording the song: "It was awesome when we were doing 'The Art of Dying,' Eric [Clapton] on that wah-wah and it was all cooking, Derek and the Dominos with George Harrison."Whitlock, p. 75. The sessions led to the formation of Derek and the Dominos,Rodriguez, p. 77.Leng, p. 101. whose four members – Clapton, Whitlock, Carl Radle and Jim Gordon – all played on the track.Spizer, pp. 220, 225. In a 1990 interview, Clapton said, "We made our bones, really, on that album with George", since the four musicians had no formal plans to work as a band prior.Timothy White, "Rollin' & Tumblin'", Spin, March 1990, p. 36.
The released version of "Art of Dying" is in a hard rock style. The track begins with what author Elliot Huntley terms Clapton's "firecracking" lead guitar,Huntley, p. 59. and is propelled by Gordon's drumming and Radle's bass guitar. Jim Price's horn arrangement provides a countermelody to the various A minor voicings in the song's instrumental passagesLeng, p. 97. through to its "galloping" ending. Testifying to the ferocity of the performance, Phil Collins later recalled that his hands were so badly blistered during the run-throughs of the song, he was unable to play his congas with any force once they came to record the track.Will Hodgkinson, "Home Entertainment: Phil Collins", The Guardian, 15 November 2002 (retrieved 8 May 2019). Although congas are absent in the final mix,John Harris, "A Quiet Storm", Mojo, July 2001, p. 72.Clark Collis, "How George Harrison Pranked Phil Collins", EW.com, 17 February 2016 (retrieved 10 December 2020). the recording includes other percussion parts.
Harrison listed Collins as a contributor on the 2001 reissue of All Things Must Pass.Huntley, p. 305.Leng, p. 78. However, Collins writes in his 2016 autobiography that this credit was merely out of kindness, and that he did not play on the released version of "Art of Dying".Collins, pp. 69, 75. In Collins' recollection, the session he attended for the song was an earlier take from May 1970, featuring a different musical arrangement and with Starr, Klaus Voormann and Billy Preston as the other musicians.Collins, pp. 63, 66, 69–70. Before giving Collins the mistaken credit in 2001, Harrison sent him a tape that he said was a recording of the song with his conga playing. Collins recalled in a 2016 interview, "I thought, Oh, my god, this sounds terrible." Collins added that the tape was a practical joke at his expense, since Harrison had asked percussionist Ray Cooper to deliberately play poorly, saying: "Play bad, I'm going to record it and send it to Phil."Jordan Runtagh, "10 Things You Didn't Know George Harrison Did", Rolling Stone, 29 November 2016 (retrieved 8 May 2019).
Release and reception
Apple Records released All Things Must Pass on 27 November 1970,Castleman & Podrazik, p. 94. with "Art of Dying" sequenced as the second track on side four, in the triple album's original, LP format.Spizer, pp. 219–20. While describing the positive response to the album, author Robert Rodriguez includes the song as an illustration of how Harrison's talent had been "hidden in plain sight" behind Lennon and McCartney during the Beatles' career.Rodriguez, p. 147. Rodriguez writes: "That the Quiet Beatle was capable of such range – from the joyful 'What Is Life' to the meditative 'Isn't It a Pity' to the steamrolling 'Art of Dying' to the playful 'I Dig Love' – was revelatory." On 10 December, a portion of the song was included in a segment on the UK television show Top of the Pops that focused on All Things Must Pass.Badman, pp. 16–17.