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Grey Cloudy Lies

November 03, 2023

"Grey Cloudy Lies" is a song by English rock musician George Harrison from his 1975 album Extra Texture (Read All About It). Harrison wrote it in 1973 during a period that he characterised as his "naughty" years, coinciding with the failure of his marriage to Pattie Boyd and his divergence from the ascetic path of his Hindu-aligned faith. He returned to the song two years later when filled with despondency and self-doubt in response to the scathing reviews that his 1974 North American tour with Ravi Shankar and Dark Horse album had received from several music critics.

"Grey Cloudy Lies"
Song by George Harrison
from the album Extra Texture (Read All About It)
Released22 September 1975
GenreRock, soul
Length3:41
LabelApple
Songwriter(s)George Harrison
Producer(s)George Harrison

Harrison recorded "Grey Cloudy Lies" in Los Angeles at a time when his disenchantment was increased through excessive use of cocaine. The track typifies the sombre, keyboard-oriented sound of Extra Texture, in comparison with the multitracked guitars typical of Harrison's previous work as a solo artist. Aside from musical contributions by David Foster, Jesse Ed Davis and Jim Keltner, the recording features Harrison playing various parts on ARP and Moog synthesizers. The song has received unfavourable comments from several reviewers, and particularly from some of Harrison's spiritual biographers. One of these, Dale Allison, describes the track as a "relentlessly despondent offering",[1] while author Ian Inglis views it as a song of "great charm, energy, and beauty".[2]

Background edit

It really is a test. I either finish the tour ecstatically happy or I'll end up going back into my cave for another five years.[3]

– George Harrison to Melody Maker, on the eve of his 1974 tour

George Harrison said he wrote "Grey Cloudy Lies" in 1973 on an upright piano in the hall of his Oxfordshire home, Friar Park,[4] about eighteen months before its release in September 1975.[5] In his 1980 autobiography, I, Me, Mine, he attributes the song to his "naughty" period of 1973–74,[4][6] when he indulged in rock star-type excess in response to the failure of his marriage to Pattie Boyd.[7][8] This behaviour marked a deviation from the spiritual path he had espoused on his 1973 album Living in the Material World. Having recently purchased Bhaktivedanta Manor in Hertfordshire for the Hare Krishna movement,[9][10] Harrison visited their leader, Swami Prabhupada, at the property in August 1973 and shared his doubts.[11] Harrison told Prabhupada that he feared alienating his loved ones through his commitment, and that he alternated between long periods of devotion to Krishna and others when he "turn[ed] into a demon again".[12]

Harrison reaffirmed his commitment while visiting India in early 1974,[13] when he also planned a joint concert tour with Indian classical musician Ravi Shankar for later that year.[14] The tour was the first in North America by a member of the Beatles since the band's visit in August 1966,[15] and the only major tour Harrison would undertake as a solo artist.[16][17] Harrison had been keen to present rock audiences with a new concert experience[18][19] – one that blended Shankar's Music Festival from India orchestra with his own, jazz-funk inspired musical direction,[3][20] while also promoting a Krishna-conscious message.[21] Instead, the tour frustrated music critics and fans who were nostalgic for the Beatles,[22] and many reviewers were scathing in their assessment of the concerts.[23][24] Chief among these detractors was Rolling Stone magazine,[3][25] which, amid what author Elliot Huntley terms the "tsunami of bile" unleashed on Harrison following the tour,[26] used its review of his delayed Dark Horse album to attack him personally and as an artist.[27] Writing in the 2002 Rolling Stone Press tribute book Harrison, Mikal Gilmore said that Harrison felt "battered" as a result of this critical mauling, which, combined with the failure of his marriage in 1974, led to a period of depression.[28]

Harrison returned to the United States in February 1975[29] to oversee projects by artists signed to his Dark Horse record label in Los Angeles,[30] and in order to spend time with his new girlfriend, Olivia Arias, in her hometown.[31][32] Having not written any songs since the previous October, he revisited "Grey Cloudy Lies", together with some other old or unfinished compositions, for inclusion on a new album, titled Extra Texture (Read All About It).[33] With regard to "Grey Cloudy Lies" and the similarly downbeat[34][35] "World of Stone", Arias recalls that Harrison "was being very hard on himself at that time".[6]

Composition edit

Although in his autobiography he makes light of the song's significance,[36] during a 1987 interview with Musician magazine,[37] Harrison said he was "in a real down place" when making Extra Texture.[38][nb 1] In September 1975, during his track-by-track discussion of the album with BBC Radio 1's Paul Gambaccini,[40] he described "Grey Cloudy Lies" as "one of those depressing, 4 o'clock in the morning sort of songs".[41] Harrison biographers Simon Leng, Dale Allison and Gary Tillery each view the composition as alarmingly direct in its depiction of the singer's despair.[1][42][43]

Leng identifies a similarity between the song's opening sequence of chords and those in Billy Preston's 1969 single "That's the Way God Planned It", which Harrison produced for the Beatles' Apple record label, yet "Grey Cloudy Lies" is "emotionally a million miles away from that stirring gospel mood".[44] The first verse sets the tone for what Leng describes as "an uncomfortable few minutes":[45]

Now, I thought to close my mouth
With a padlock on the night
Leave the battlefield behind me
Stay out the fight
Not lose my sight.

Harrison quoted these words in his interview with Gambaccini, to illustrate the point that "after talking for a lot, you know, sometimes it's nice to be quiet".[41] The depiction of human life as a battlefield is an allegory commonly associated with the ancient Hindu text Bhagavad Gita, in which the warrior-prince Arjuna is counselled by Krishna in the form of a charioteer.[46] The same theme appears in Harrison's songs from the early 1970s, beginning with "Let It Down".[47][nb 2]

Author Ian Inglis says that the song's slowly descending melody "parallels [Harrison's] personal descent into an aimless and isolated existence".[50] Common to Harrison compositions such as "Who Can See It" and "Ding Dong, Ding Dong",[51] its time signature shifts during the verses, implying missed beats within a bar. Harrison told Gambaccini that this rhythmic effect particularly interested him about "Grey Cloudy Lies".[41]

Inglis comments on Harrison's use of words such as "padlock" and "fight" to "immediately conjure images of imprisonment that convey the repressive nature of his life".[52] Another example is the word "pistol", in verse two:[53]

Now, I only want to be
With no pistol at my brain
But at times it gets so lonely
Could go insane
Could lose my aim.

You either go crackers and commit suicide or you try to realise something and attach yourself more strongly to an inner strength.[54]

– Harrison to Crawdaddy, December 1976

Interpretation of the "pistol at my brain" lyric varies among Harrison's biographers. While Leng and Inglis observe that the singer appears to have courted death[45] and even contemplated suicide,[53] Allison, a Christian theologian, attaches significant importance to the line, on an album that he identifies as "the anomaly" in Harrison's solo work, due to the absence of "positive theological statements" in any of the songs.[55] According to Allison: "['Grey Cloudy Lies'] documents the dreadful temptation to commit suicide ... It is natural to guess that the absence of God from the lyrics of Extra Texture mirrors a perceived absence of God in George's personal life; and the emptiness was so intensely troubling that it fostered, at least momentarily, thoughts of taking his own life."[1] Joshua Greene, another religious academic and an ISKCON devotee, instead interprets the song as part of its parent album's "modest appeal for tolerance".[56] "No longer an Arjuna", Greene writes of Harrison's deliberate "religious restraint" on Extra Texture, "all George wanted now was to leave the battlefield behind and simply live 'with no pistol at my brain'."[56][nb 3]

Tillery cites the same line as an example of "Grey Cloudy Lies"' place as the "darkest" of the "downbeat tracks" found on most of the album.[42] Tillery also highlights the hopelessness implicit in the song's final verse, where Harrison states he only wants to live "with no teardrops in my eyes", yet "at times there seems like no chance".[42] The song title appears only at the end of this third verse, within the couplet "No clear blue skies / Grey cloudy lies".[53]

Among other Harrison songs of the 1970s, Leng sees thematic parallels between this composition and two Dark Horse tracks that deal with the end of Harrison's marriage to Boyd: "So Sad" and "Bye Bye, Love".[59][nb 4] These three songs, Leng continues, constitute a cycle of "sheer unhappiness" in the singer's life that was only alleviated by the positive presence of Arias,[62] who, following their marriage in 1978, remained Harrison's life partner until his death in November 2001.[63][64] Leng also compares "Grey Cloudy Lies" to the posthumously released "Stuck Inside a Cloud", which he terms the lyrical "blood brother" to this 1975 song, due to its "harrowing" description of the cancer that would claim Harrison's life.[65]

Recording edit

Harrison recorded "Grey Cloudy Lies" in Los Angeles, while immersed in the city's music-business scene – and with it, author Robert Rodriguez notes, "LA's 1970s drug culture"[66] – during the spring and summer of 1975.[30] Harrison's role as owner of A&M-distributed Dark Horse Records saw him overseeing projects there by new signings Attitudes, Stairsteps and Henry McCullough,[67] as well as socialising in circles that he admitted to finding depressing.[68][nb 5] Harrison's friend since the Beatles' Hamburg years, German bassist Klaus Voormann, has spoken of the abundance of drugs at the sessions,[66] particularly cocaine.[71][72] He said of Harrison: "I didn't like his frame of mind when he was doing this album – I don't play on it too much."[30]

 
The recording features various parts played by Harrison on an ARP synthesizer.

Harrison taped the basic track for "Grey Cloudy Lies" at A&M Studios in Hollywood on 24 April 1975.[73][nb 6] The line-up on the track was Harrison on electric guitar; David Foster on piano; Jesse Ed Davis on Leslie-effected guitar,[78] played through a wah-wah pedal; Voormann on bass; and drummer Jim Keltner,[79] another regular participant at Harrison recording sessions.[80] In their book Eight Arms to Hold You, Chip Madinger and Mark Easter suggest that Foster may have added his piano part during the album's overdubbing phase, however, between 31 May and 6 June.[81] According to author Bruce Spizer, Harrison was dissatisfied with Voormann's contribution,[79] and so replaced it with a bass part he performed himself on Moog synthesizer.[73] The song also features ARP synthesizer extensively,[82] played by Harrison.[83] Dated 23 June, the album's master-reel tracking sheet lists separate ARP horn, string and "growl" tracks on "Grey Cloudy Lies", in addition to handclaps.[78]

The dominance of keyboards on the recording, particularly ARP synthesizer,[82] was typical of Harrison's choice of instrumentation on Extra Texture[84] and contrasts with what Rodriguez terms "the standard guitar-drenched Harrison sound".[85] In his comments to Gambaccini, Harrison said that he purposefully left space in the arrangement for this and other songs on the album. He also acknowledged that this approach differed from the sound he had achieved earlier in the 1970s, especially in his work with producer Phil Spector.[41] Inglis comments on the track's "dramatic" introduction and a "top-heavy" production that anticipates the power ballad style adopted by Whitney Houston and others during the 1980s.[50]

Release and reception edit

The song was sequenced as the penultimate track on Extra Texture (Read All About It),[86] between "Tired of Midnight Blue" and "His Name Is Legs".[87] The release took place on 22 September 1975 in the United States and early October in Britain.[87][88] Although the cover of Melody Maker carried a headline declaring "George Bounces Back!",[89] many reviewers bemoaned the album's preponderance of melancholic ballads such as "Grey Cloudy Lies".[90][91] According to author Nicholas Schaffner, "even his disciples tended to find the music plodding and aimless."[92]

Dave Marsh of Rolling Stone noted the lack of religious references in the album's lyrics before adding: "But 'Grey Cloudy Lies' makes up in its cathectic repetition of Krishna homiletics for whatever the others have skipped ... Witless and ponderous as any previous hymn to the godhead, they drag Extra Texture down with them after its brief flurry of excitement."[93] In Melody Maker, Ray Coleman said the album was a "lovely collection of songs by a musician with integrity" and that "Grey Cloudy Lies" was "perhaps the most difficult of all the tracks to grab hold of" on initial listening. He also highlighted the song's "unusual chords" and the "especially pretty" piano part.[5]

Retrospective assessments edit

Among Harrison's biographers, Simon Leng comments on "Grey Cloudy Lies": "Even though Leonard Cohen and, later, the Smiths made a living from songs about depression, the justification for recording a piece like this on what was ostensibly an entertainment product is questionable. This is one of the few Harrisongs that would have been better left in the can."[45] Dale Allison writes: "A profoundly depressing meditation on despair and suicide … One has trouble imagining anyone enjoying it."[94] Elliot Huntley considers the problem to be the musical arrangement rather than the composition itself, and laments how the Moog and ARP synthesizers "seem to soak the song".[82] Writing for the music website Something Else!, Nick DeRiso opines that, with Extra Texture, Harrison "couldn't have strayed further from his religious moorings – or from the free-spirited uplift that made his initial post-Beatles projects such pleasant surprises", and he dismisses "Grey Cloudy Lies" as "one of [the album's] most wrist-slashingly awful songs".[95]

Ian Inglis offers a favourable assessment, describing it as one of Harrison's "simplest and most poignant" compositions, and a song of "great charm, energy, and beauty" with lyrics that have "the status and structure of a poem".[96] Inglis concludes: "Despite the inappropriate production, Harrison gives a memorable performance of a beautiful song, whose absolute honesty is reminiscent of the music of Leonard Cohen and Townes Van Zandt."[53]

Reviewing the 2014 reissue of Extra Texture, for Paste magazine, Robert Ham views "the desperate 'Grey Cloudy Lies'" as a "[moment] when Harrison's focus returns", and a ballad that "cut[s] deep".[97] Shawn Perry of vintagerock.com considers the track to be a highlight of "a creative and introspective album that's aged well", and "a song that, despite its solemn, down-trodden lyrics, resonates with a level of reflection that somehow makes you feel everything is going to be OK".[98] In his review for Classic Rock, Paul Trynka similarly opines that this and other "confessional songs" on Extra Texture have "worn well". Trynka continues: "['Grey Cloudy Lies' is] a dark exploration of the depression into which he'd sunk in 1974, after being mocked for his spiritual homilies. Today, when pop stars swig Cristal and flash their pecs on Instagram, we can appreciate the irony of Harrison being attacked for preaching enlightenment."[99]

Personnel edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ In I, Me, Mine, Harrison offers little detail about the track, and instead makes a pun on the title "Grey Cloudy Lies":[36] "It's about a dishonest Red Indian Chief (JOKE)."[4] Harrison later said that the song "describes the clouds of gloom that used to come over me, a difficulty I had".[39]
  2. ^ When expressing doubt about his ability to adhere to a spiritual path in August 1973, Harrison told Swami Prabhupada that he still consulted the Bhagavad Gita regularly.[48] Prabhupada assured him: "If you take risk for Krishna, even if you stand to lose everything, Krishna comes to help and protect. Just like Arjuna. Because Krishna was there with him on the battlefield, he came out victorious. Krishna always protects his devotee."[49]
  3. ^ Citing "The Answer's at the End", which he pairs with "Grey Cloudy Lies" as "part calls for tolerance and part expression of downright despair", Leng also views Harrison's lyrics on the album as representing a calculated toning down of his religious message rather than "a change in fundamental beliefs".[57] In Leng's view, Extra Texture is characterised by a commercial sound in the soul style and "absolutely no references to Krishna".[58]
  4. ^ Although Harrison's "Bye Bye, Love" is ostensibly a cover version of the 1957 hit song by the Everly Brothers, it bears little resemblance to the earlier tune musically,[60] and Harrison is credited for having provided "parody lyrics".[61]
  5. ^ One night out became the focus of another Extra Texture track, "Tired of Midnight Blue".[69][70]
  6. ^ On the same day, Pete Ham, lead singer with the band Badfinger and a friend of Harrison's, hanged himself at home in Surrey.[74] During a radio interview with WNEW-FM's Dave Herman days later,[74] Harrison cited this tragedy as an example of the despondency then prevalent in the music industry, post-1960s, and suggested that Rolling Stone's recent dramatic reversal of editorial opinion about himself was another example.[75][76] Herman had sought an interview with Harrison out of indignation at how Rolling Stone, Creem and other publications had "murdered" the recent tour, and after he himself had been "blown away" by the New York show he attended.[77]

References edit

  1. ^ a b c Allison, p. 7.
  2. ^ Inglis, p. 141.
  3. ^ a b c The Editors of Rolling Stone, p. 44.
  4. ^ a b c Harrison, p. 274.
  5. ^ a b Ray Coleman, "Extra Texture: Back to the Sixties!", Melody Maker, 6 September 1975, p. 30.
  6. ^ a b Kevin Howlett's liner notes, Extra Texture (Read All About It) CD booklet (Apple Records, 2014; produced by George Harrison), p. 6.
  7. ^ Leng, p. 159.
  8. ^ Carol Clerk, "George Harrison 1943–2001", Uncut, January 2002, p. 55; available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required).
  9. ^ Tillery, pp. 111, 162.
  10. ^ Kahn, p. 175.
  11. ^ Greene, pp. 198–200.
  12. ^ Greene, pp. 200–01, 202.
  13. ^ Allison, p. 147.
  14. ^ Leng, pp. 148, 157.
  15. ^ Spizer, p. 259.
  16. ^ Rodriguez, Fab Four FAQ 2.0, p. 199.
  17. ^ Inglis, pp. 49, 107.
  18. ^ Clayson, p. 339.
  19. ^ Rodriguez, Solo in the 70s, p. i.
  20. ^ Lavezzoli, p. 196.
  21. ^ Tillery, pp. 113–14.
  22. ^ Leng, p. 166.
  23. ^ Schaffner, p. 178.
  24. ^ Greene, pp. 214–15.
  25. ^ David Cavanagh, "George Harrison: The Dark Horse", Uncut, August 2008, pp. 43–44.
  26. ^ Huntley, p. 114.
  27. ^ Leng, pp. 174–75.
  28. ^ The Editors of Rolling Stone, p. 46.
  29. ^ Badman, p. 151.
  30. ^ a b c Leng, p. 179.
  31. ^ Inglis, p. 50.
  32. ^ Rodriguez, Fab Four FAQ 2.0, p. 247.
  33. ^ Madinger & Easter, p. 451.
  34. ^ Allison, pp. 7–8, 159.
  35. ^ Tillery, pp. 116–17.
  36. ^ a b Allison, p. 22.
  37. ^ Clayson, pp. 348, 474.
  38. ^ Huntley, p. 128.
  39. ^ Clayson, pp. 350–51.
  40. ^ Badman, pp. 164, 165.
  41. ^ a b c d George Harrison interview, Rockweek, "George Harrison explains 'Grey Cloudy Lies'" on YouTube (retrieved 4 October 2017).
  42. ^ a b c Tillery, p. 116.
  43. ^ Leng, pp. 185, 186, 228.
  44. ^ Leng, pp. 59–61, 185.
  45. ^ a b c Leng, p. 185.
  46. ^ Tillery, p. 78.
  47. ^ Leng, pp. 90, 130, 185.
  48. ^ Greene, pp. 199–200.
  49. ^ Greene, p. 201.
  50. ^ a b Inglis, p. 53.
  51. ^ Leng, pp. 129, 154.
  52. ^ Inglis, pp. 53–54.
  53. ^ a b c d Inglis, p. 54.
  54. ^ Clayson, p. 341.
  55. ^ Allison, pp. 7, 8.
  56. ^ a b Greene, p. 221.
  57. ^ Leng, pp. 181, 186.
  58. ^ Leng, pp. 179–80.
  59. ^ Leng, pp. 152, 156, 207.
  60. ^ Inglis, pp. 45–46.
  61. ^ Spizer, p. 264.
  62. ^ Leng, p. 207.
  63. ^ Tillery, pp. 115, 120.
  64. ^ Rodriguez, Fab Four FAQ 2.0, pp. 424–45.
  65. ^ Leng, pp. 300–01.
  66. ^ a b Rodriguez, Fab Four FAQ 2.0, p. 85.
  67. ^ Clayson, pp. 347–48.
  68. ^ Huntley, p. 126.
  69. ^ Harrison, p. 308.
  70. ^ Spizer, p. 274.
  71. ^ Sounes, p. 320.
  72. ^ Leng, pp. 56, 179.
  73. ^ a b Madinger & Easter, p. 453.
  74. ^ a b Badman, p. 158.
  75. ^ Kahn, pp. 208–09.
  76. ^ "George Harrison – Interview (1975)", Paste (retrieved 12 November 2016); event occurs between 42:35 and 44:30.
  77. ^ Interviews: "Dave's Friend George", Dave Herman Music Project (retrieved 21 May 2013).
  78. ^ a b "24-track tape from Extra Texture sessions [master reel information]", Extra Texture (Read All About It) CD booklet (Apple Records, 2014; produced by George Harrison), p. 5.
  79. ^ a b Spizer, p. 275.
  80. ^ Rodriguez, Fab Four FAQ 2.0, pp. 79, 81.
  81. ^ Madinger & Easter, pp. 451, 453.
  82. ^ a b c Huntley, p. 127.
  83. ^ Castleman & Podrazik, p. 196.
  84. ^ Leng, pp. 179–80, 186.
  85. ^ Rodriguez, Fab Four FAQ 2.0, p. 385.
  86. ^ Spizer, p. 273.
  87. ^ a b Madinger & Easter, p. 635.
  88. ^ Castleman & Podrazik, p. 369.
  89. ^ Badman, p. 164.
  90. ^ Clayson, pp. 348–49.
  91. ^ Rodriguez, Fab Four FAQ 2.0, pp. 184, 248, 385.
  92. ^ Schaffner, p. 182.
  93. ^ Dave Marsh, "George Harrison Extra Texture" 20 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine, Rolling Stone, 20 November 1975, p. 75 (retrieved 9 March 2013).
  94. ^ Allison, p. 143.
  95. ^ Nick DeRiso, "Gimme Five: Solo Beatles records that, well, sucked", Something Else!, 27 September 2012 (retrieved 4 May 2015).
  96. ^ Inglis, pp. 53, 141.
  97. ^ Robert Ham, "George Harrison: The Apple Years: 1968–1975 Review", Paste, 24 September 2014 (retrieved 3 October 2014).
  98. ^ Shawn Perry, "George Harrison The Apple Years 1968–75 – Boxset Review", vintagerock.com, October 2014 (retrieved 4 May 2015).
  99. ^ Paul Trynka, "George Harrison: The Apple Years 1968–75", Classic Rock, November 2014, p. 105 (retrieved 29 November 2014).

Sources edit

  • Dale C. Allison Jr, The Love There That's Sleeping: The Art and Spirituality of George Harrison, Continuum (New York, NY, 2006; 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).
  • Alan Clayson, George Harrison, Sanctuary (London, 2003; 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).
  • George Harrison, I Me Mine, Chronicle Books (San Francisco, CA, 2002 [1980]; 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).
  • Ashley Kahn (ed.), George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters, Chicago Review Press (Chicago, IL, 2020; ISBN 978-1-64160-051-4).
  • 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).
  • Robert Rodriguez, Solo in the 70s: John, Paul, George, Ringo: 1970–1980, Parading Press (Downers Grove, IL, 2013; ISBN 978-0-9892555-0-9).
  • Nicholas Schaffner, The Beatles Forever, McGraw-Hill (New York, NY, 1978; ISBN 0-07-055087-5).
  • Howard Sounes, Fab: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney, HarperCollins (London, 2010; ISBN 978-0-00-723705-0).
  • Bruce Spizer, The Beatles Solo on Apple Records, 498 Productions (New Orleans, LA, 2005; ISBN 0-9662649-5-9).
  • Gary Tillery, Working Class Mystic: A Spiritual Biography of George Harrison, Quest Books (Wheaton, IL, 2011; ISBN 978-0-8356-0900-5).

November 03, 2023
grey, cloudy, lies, song, english, rock, musician, george, harrison, from, 1975, album, extra, texture, read, about, harrison, wrote, 1973, during, period, that, characterised, naughty, years, coinciding, with, failure, marriage, pattie, boyd, divergence, from. Grey Cloudy Lies is a song by English rock musician George Harrison from his 1975 album Extra Texture Read All About It Harrison wrote it in 1973 during a period that he characterised as his naughty years coinciding with the failure of his marriage to Pattie Boyd and his divergence from the ascetic path of his Hindu aligned faith He returned to the song two years later when filled with despondency and self doubt in response to the scathing reviews that his 1974 North American tour with Ravi Shankar and Dark Horse album had received from several music critics Grey Cloudy Lies Song by George Harrisonfrom the album Extra Texture Read All About It Released22 September 1975GenreRock soulLength3 41LabelAppleSongwriter s George HarrisonProducer s George HarrisonHarrison recorded Grey Cloudy Lies in Los Angeles at a time when his disenchantment was increased through excessive use of cocaine The track typifies the sombre keyboard oriented sound of Extra Texture in comparison with the multitracked guitars typical of Harrison s previous work as a solo artist Aside from musical contributions by David Foster Jesse Ed Davis and Jim Keltner the recording features Harrison playing various parts on ARP and Moog synthesizers The song has received unfavourable comments from several reviewers and particularly from some of Harrison s spiritual biographers One of these Dale Allison describes the track as a relentlessly despondent offering 1 while author Ian Inglis views it as a song of great charm energy and beauty 2 Contents 1 Background 2 Composition 3 Recording 4 Release and reception 5 Retrospective assessments 6 Personnel 7 Notes 8 References 9 SourcesBackground editIt really is a test I either finish the tour ecstatically happy or I ll end up going back into my cave for another five years 3 George Harrison to Melody Maker on the eve of his 1974 tour George Harrison said he wrote Grey Cloudy Lies in 1973 on an upright piano in the hall of his Oxfordshire home Friar Park 4 about eighteen months before its release in September 1975 5 In his 1980 autobiography I Me Mine he attributes the song to his naughty period of 1973 74 4 6 when he indulged in rock star type excess in response to the failure of his marriage to Pattie Boyd 7 8 This behaviour marked a deviation from the spiritual path he had espoused on his 1973 album Living in the Material World Having recently purchased Bhaktivedanta Manor in Hertfordshire for the Hare Krishna movement 9 10 Harrison visited their leader Swami Prabhupada at the property in August 1973 and shared his doubts 11 Harrison told Prabhupada that he feared alienating his loved ones through his commitment and that he alternated between long periods of devotion to Krishna and others when he turn ed into a demon again 12 Harrison reaffirmed his commitment while visiting India in early 1974 13 when he also planned a joint concert tour with Indian classical musician Ravi Shankar for later that year 14 The tour was the first in North America by a member of the Beatles since the band s visit in August 1966 15 and the only major tour Harrison would undertake as a solo artist 16 17 Harrison had been keen to present rock audiences with a new concert experience 18 19 one that blended Shankar s Music Festival from India orchestra with his own jazz funk inspired musical direction 3 20 while also promoting a Krishna conscious message 21 Instead the tour frustrated music critics and fans who were nostalgic for the Beatles 22 and many reviewers were scathing in their assessment of the concerts 23 24 Chief among these detractors was Rolling Stone magazine 3 25 which amid what author Elliot Huntley terms the tsunami of bile unleashed on Harrison following the tour 26 used its review of his delayed Dark Horse album to attack him personally and as an artist 27 Writing in the 2002 Rolling Stone Press tribute book Harrison Mikal Gilmore said that Harrison felt battered as a result of this critical mauling which combined with the failure of his marriage in 1974 led to a period of depression 28 Harrison returned to the United States in February 1975 29 to oversee projects by artists signed to his Dark Horse record label in Los Angeles 30 and in order to spend time with his new girlfriend Olivia Arias in her hometown 31 32 Having not written any songs since the previous October he revisited Grey Cloudy Lies together with some other old or unfinished compositions for inclusion on a new album titled Extra Texture Read All About It 33 With regard to Grey Cloudy Lies and the similarly downbeat 34 35 World of Stone Arias recalls that Harrison was being very hard on himself at that time 6 Composition editAlthough in his autobiography he makes light of the song s significance 36 during a 1987 interview with Musician magazine 37 Harrison said he was in a real down place when making Extra Texture 38 nb 1 In September 1975 during his track by track discussion of the album with BBC Radio 1 s Paul Gambaccini 40 he described Grey Cloudy Lies as one of those depressing 4 o clock in the morning sort of songs 41 Harrison biographers Simon Leng Dale Allison and Gary Tillery each view the composition as alarmingly direct in its depiction of the singer s despair 1 42 43 Leng identifies a similarity between the song s opening sequence of chords and those in Billy Preston s 1969 single That s the Way God Planned It which Harrison produced for the Beatles Apple record label yet Grey Cloudy Lies is emotionally a million miles away from that stirring gospel mood 44 The first verse sets the tone for what Leng describes as an uncomfortable few minutes 45 Now I thought to close my mouth With a padlock on the night Leave the battlefield behind me Stay out the fight Not lose my sight Harrison quoted these words in his interview with Gambaccini to illustrate the point that after talking for a lot you know sometimes it s nice to be quiet 41 The depiction of human life as a battlefield is an allegory commonly associated with the ancient Hindu text Bhagavad Gita in which the warrior prince Arjuna is counselled by Krishna in the form of a charioteer 46 The same theme appears in Harrison s songs from the early 1970s beginning with Let It Down 47 nb 2 Author Ian Inglis says that the song s slowly descending melody parallels Harrison s personal descent into an aimless and isolated existence 50 Common to Harrison compositions such as Who Can See It and Ding Dong Ding Dong 51 its time signature shifts during the verses implying missed beats within a bar Harrison told Gambaccini that this rhythmic effect particularly interested him about Grey Cloudy Lies 41 Inglis comments on Harrison s use of words such as padlock and fight to immediately conjure images of imprisonment that convey the repressive nature of his life 52 Another example is the word pistol in verse two 53 Now I only want to be With no pistol at my brain But at times it gets so lonely Could go insane Could lose my aim You either go crackers and commit suicide or you try to realise something and attach yourself more strongly to an inner strength 54 Harrison to Crawdaddy December 1976 Interpretation of the pistol at my brain lyric varies among Harrison s biographers While Leng and Inglis observe that the singer appears to have courted death 45 and even contemplated suicide 53 Allison a Christian theologian attaches significant importance to the line on an album that he identifies as the anomaly in Harrison s solo work due to the absence of positive theological statements in any of the songs 55 According to Allison Grey Cloudy Lies documents the dreadful temptation to commit suicide It is natural to guess that the absence of God from the lyrics of Extra Texture mirrors a perceived absence of God in George s personal life and the emptiness was so intensely troubling that it fostered at least momentarily thoughts of taking his own life 1 Joshua Greene another religious academic and an ISKCON devotee instead interprets the song as part of its parent album s modest appeal for tolerance 56 No longer an Arjuna Greene writes of Harrison s deliberate religious restraint on Extra Texture all George wanted now was to leave the battlefield behind and simply live with no pistol at my brain 56 nb 3 Tillery cites the same line as an example of Grey Cloudy Lies place as the darkest of the downbeat tracks found on most of the album 42 Tillery also highlights the hopelessness implicit in the song s final verse where Harrison states he only wants to live with no teardrops in my eyes yet at times there seems like no chance 42 The song title appears only at the end of this third verse within the couplet No clear blue skies Grey cloudy lies 53 Among other Harrison songs of the 1970s Leng sees thematic parallels between this composition and two Dark Horse tracks that deal with the end of Harrison s marriage to Boyd So Sad and Bye Bye Love 59 nb 4 These three songs Leng continues constitute a cycle of sheer unhappiness in the singer s life that was only alleviated by the positive presence of Arias 62 who following their marriage in 1978 remained Harrison s life partner until his death in November 2001 63 64 Leng also compares Grey Cloudy Lies to the posthumously released Stuck Inside a Cloud which he terms the lyrical blood brother to this 1975 song due to its harrowing description of the cancer that would claim Harrison s life 65 Recording editHarrison recorded Grey Cloudy Lies in Los Angeles while immersed in the city s music business scene and with it author Robert Rodriguez notes LA s 1970s drug culture 66 during the spring and summer of 1975 30 Harrison s role as owner of A amp M distributed Dark Horse Records saw him overseeing projects there by new signings Attitudes Stairsteps and Henry McCullough 67 as well as socialising in circles that he admitted to finding depressing 68 nb 5 Harrison s friend since the Beatles Hamburg years German bassist Klaus Voormann has spoken of the abundance of drugs at the sessions 66 particularly cocaine 71 72 He said of Harrison I didn t like his frame of mind when he was doing this album I don t play on it too much 30 nbsp The recording features various parts played by Harrison on an ARP synthesizer Harrison taped the basic track for Grey Cloudy Lies at A amp M Studios in Hollywood on 24 April 1975 73 nb 6 The line up on the track was Harrison on electric guitar David Foster on piano Jesse Ed Davis on Leslie effected guitar 78 played through a wah wah pedal Voormann on bass and drummer Jim Keltner 79 another regular participant at Harrison recording sessions 80 In their book Eight Arms to Hold You Chip Madinger and Mark Easter suggest that Foster may have added his piano part during the album s overdubbing phase however between 31 May and 6 June 81 According to author Bruce Spizer Harrison was dissatisfied with Voormann s contribution 79 and so replaced it with a bass part he performed himself on Moog synthesizer 73 The song also features ARP synthesizer extensively 82 played by Harrison 83 Dated 23 June the album s master reel tracking sheet lists separate ARP horn string and growl tracks on Grey Cloudy Lies in addition to handclaps 78 The dominance of keyboards on the recording particularly ARP synthesizer 82 was typical of Harrison s choice of instrumentation on Extra Texture 84 and contrasts with what Rodriguez terms the standard guitar drenched Harrison sound 85 In his comments to Gambaccini Harrison said that he purposefully left space in the arrangement for this and other songs on the album He also acknowledged that this approach differed from the sound he had achieved earlier in the 1970s especially in his work with producer Phil Spector 41 Inglis comments on the track s dramatic introduction and a top heavy production that anticipates the power ballad style adopted by Whitney Houston and others during the 1980s 50 Release and reception editThe song was sequenced as the penultimate track on Extra Texture Read All About It 86 between Tired of Midnight Blue and His Name Is Legs 87 The release took place on 22 September 1975 in the United States and early October in Britain 87 88 Although the cover of Melody Maker carried a headline declaring George Bounces Back 89 many reviewers bemoaned the album s preponderance of melancholic ballads such as Grey Cloudy Lies 90 91 According to author Nicholas Schaffner even his disciples tended to find the music plodding and aimless 92 Dave Marsh of Rolling Stone noted the lack of religious references in the album s lyrics before adding But Grey Cloudy Lies makes up in its cathectic repetition of Krishna homiletics for whatever the others have skipped Witless and ponderous as any previous hymn to the godhead they drag Extra Texture down with them after its brief flurry of excitement 93 In Melody Maker Ray Coleman said the album was a lovely collection of songs by a musician with integrity and that Grey Cloudy Lies was perhaps the most difficult of all the tracks to grab hold of on initial listening He also highlighted the song s unusual chords and the especially pretty piano part 5 Retrospective assessments editAmong Harrison s biographers Simon Leng comments on Grey Cloudy Lies Even though Leonard Cohen and later the Smiths made a living from songs about depression the justification for recording a piece like this on what was ostensibly an entertainment product is questionable This is one of the few Harrisongs that would have been better left in the can 45 Dale Allison writes A profoundly depressing meditation on despair and suicide One has trouble imagining anyone enjoying it 94 Elliot Huntley considers the problem to be the musical arrangement rather than the composition itself and laments how the Moog and ARP synthesizers seem to soak the song 82 Writing for the music website Something Else Nick DeRiso opines that with Extra Texture Harrison couldn t have strayed further from his religious moorings or from the free spirited uplift that made his initial post Beatles projects such pleasant surprises and he dismisses Grey Cloudy Lies as one of the album s most wrist slashingly awful songs 95 Ian Inglis offers a favourable assessment describing it as one of Harrison s simplest and most poignant compositions and a song of great charm energy and beauty with lyrics that have the status and structure of a poem 96 Inglis concludes Despite the inappropriate production Harrison gives a memorable performance of a beautiful song whose absolute honesty is reminiscent of the music of Leonard Cohen and Townes Van Zandt 53 Reviewing the 2014 reissue of Extra Texture for Paste magazine Robert Ham views the desperate Grey Cloudy Lies as a moment when Harrison s focus returns and a ballad that cut s deep 97 Shawn Perry of vintagerock com considers the track to be a highlight of a creative and introspective album that s aged well and a song that despite its solemn down trodden lyrics resonates with a level of reflection that somehow makes you feel everything is going to be OK 98 In his review for Classic Rock Paul Trynka similarly opines that this and other confessional songs on Extra Texture have worn well Trynka continues Grey Cloudy Lies is a dark exploration of the depression into which he d sunk in 1974 after being mocked for his spiritual homilies Today when pop stars swig Cristal and flash their pecs on Instagram we can appreciate the irony of Harrison being attacked for preaching enlightenment 99 Personnel editGeorge Harrison vocals electric guitar Moog synthesizer ARP synthesizers backing vocals David Foster piano Jesse Ed Davis electric guitars Jim Keltner drumsNotes edit In I Me Mine Harrison offers little detail about the track and instead makes a pun on the title Grey Cloudy Lies 36 It s about a dishonest Red Indian Chief JOKE 4 Harrison later said that the song describes the clouds of gloom that used to come over me a difficulty I had 39 When expressing doubt about his ability to adhere to a spiritual path in August 1973 Harrison told Swami Prabhupada that he still consulted the Bhagavad Gita regularly 48 Prabhupada assured him If you take risk for Krishna even if you stand to lose everything Krishna comes to help and protect Just like Arjuna Because Krishna was there with him on the battlefield he came out victorious Krishna always protects his devotee 49 Citing The Answer s at the End which he pairs with Grey Cloudy Lies as part calls for tolerance and part expression of downright despair Leng also views Harrison s lyrics on the album as representing a calculated toning down of his religious message rather than a change in fundamental beliefs 57 In Leng s view Extra Texture is characterised by a commercial sound in the soul style and absolutely no references to Krishna 58 Although Harrison s Bye Bye Love is ostensibly a cover version of the 1957 hit song by the Everly Brothers it bears little resemblance to the earlier tune musically 60 and Harrison is credited for having provided parody lyrics 61 One night out became the focus of another Extra Texture track Tired of Midnight Blue 69 70 On the same day Pete Ham lead singer with the band Badfinger and a friend of Harrison s hanged himself at home in Surrey 74 During a radio interview with WNEW FM s Dave Herman days later 74 Harrison cited this tragedy as an example of the despondency then prevalent in the music industry post 1960s and suggested that Rolling Stone s recent dramatic reversal of editorial opinion about himself was another example 75 76 Herman had sought an interview with Harrison out of indignation at how Rolling Stone Creem and other publications had murdered the recent tour and after he himself had been blown away by the New York show he attended 77 References edit a b c Allison p 7 Inglis p 141 a b c The Editors of Rolling Stone p 44 a b c Harrison p 274 a b Ray Coleman Extra Texture Back to the Sixties Melody Maker 6 September 1975 p 30 a b Kevin Howlett s liner notes Extra Texture Read All About It CD booklet Apple Records 2014 produced by George Harrison p 6 Leng p 159 Carol Clerk George Harrison 1943 2001 Uncut January 2002 p 55 available at Rock s Backpages subscription required Tillery pp 111 162 Kahn p 175 Greene pp 198 200 Greene pp 200 01 202 Allison p 147 Leng pp 148 157 Spizer p 259 Rodriguez Fab Four FAQ 2 0 p 199 Inglis pp 49 107 Clayson p 339 Rodriguez Solo in the 70s p i Lavezzoli p 196 Tillery pp 113 14 Leng p 166 Schaffner p 178 Greene pp 214 15 David Cavanagh George Harrison The Dark Horse Uncut August 2008 pp 43 44 Huntley p 114 Leng pp 174 75 The Editors of Rolling Stone p 46 Badman p 151 a b c Leng p 179 Inglis p 50 Rodriguez Fab Four FAQ 2 0 p 247 Madinger amp Easter p 451 Allison pp 7 8 159 Tillery pp 116 17 a b Allison p 22 Clayson pp 348 474 Huntley p 128 Clayson pp 350 51 Badman pp 164 165 a b c d George Harrison interview Rockweek George Harrison explains Grey Cloudy Lies on YouTube retrieved 4 October 2017 a b c Tillery p 116 Leng pp 185 186 228 Leng pp 59 61 185 a b c Leng p 185 Tillery p 78 Leng pp 90 130 185 Greene pp 199 200 Greene p 201 a b Inglis p 53 Leng pp 129 154 Inglis pp 53 54 a b c d Inglis p 54 Clayson p 341 Allison pp 7 8 a b Greene p 221 Leng pp 181 186 Leng pp 179 80 Leng pp 152 156 207 Inglis pp 45 46 Spizer p 264 Leng p 207 Tillery pp 115 120 Rodriguez Fab Four FAQ 2 0 pp 424 45 Leng pp 300 01 a b Rodriguez Fab Four FAQ 2 0 p 85 Clayson pp 347 48 Huntley p 126 Harrison p 308 Spizer p 274 Sounes p 320 Leng pp 56 179 a b Madinger amp Easter p 453 a b Badman p 158 Kahn pp 208 09 George Harrison Interview 1975 Paste retrieved 12 November 2016 event occurs between 42 35 and 44 30 Interviews Dave s Friend George Dave Herman Music Project retrieved 21 May 2013 a b 24 track tape from Extra Texture sessions master reel information Extra Texture Read All About It CD booklet Apple Records 2014 produced by George Harrison p 5 a b Spizer p 275 Rodriguez Fab Four FAQ 2 0 pp 79 81 Madinger amp Easter pp 451 453 a b c Huntley p 127 Castleman amp Podrazik p 196 Leng pp 179 80 186 Rodriguez Fab Four FAQ 2 0 p 385 Spizer p 273 a b Madinger amp Easter p 635 Castleman amp Podrazik p 369 Badman p 164 Clayson pp 348 49 Rodriguez Fab Four FAQ 2 0 pp 184 248 385 Schaffner p 182 Dave Marsh George Harrison Extra Texture Archived 20 September 2017 at the Wayback Machine Rolling Stone 20 November 1975 p 75 retrieved 9 March 2013 Allison p 143 Nick DeRiso Gimme Five Solo Beatles records that well sucked Something Else 27 September 2012 retrieved 4 May 2015 Inglis pp 53 141 Robert Ham George Harrison The Apple Years 1968 1975 Review Paste 24 September 2014 retrieved 3 October 2014 Shawn Perry George Harrison The Apple Years 1968 75 Boxset Review vintagerock com October 2014 retrieved 4 May 2015 Paul Trynka George Harrison The Apple Years 1968 75 Classic Rock November 2014 p 105 retrieved 29 November 2014 Sources editDale C Allison Jr The Love There That s Sleeping The Art and Spirituality of George Harrison Continuum New York NY 2006 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 amp Walter J Podrazik All Together Now The First Complete Beatles Discography 1961 1975 Ballantine Books New York NY 1976 ISBN 0 345 25680 8 Alan Clayson George Harrison Sanctuary London 2003 ISBN 1 86074 489 3 The Editors of Rolling Stone Harrison Rolling Stone Press Simon amp 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 amp Sons Hoboken NJ 2006 ISBN 978 0 470 12780 3 George Harrison I Me Mine Chronicle Books San Francisco CA 2002 1980 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 Ashley Kahn ed George Harrison on George Harrison Interviews and Encounters Chicago Review Press Chicago IL 2020 ISBN 978 1 64160 051 4 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 amp 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 Robert Rodriguez Solo in the 70s John Paul George Ringo 1970 1980 Parading Press Downers Grove IL 2013 ISBN 978 0 9892555 0 9 Nicholas Schaffner The Beatles Forever McGraw Hill New York NY 1978 ISBN 0 07 055087 5 Howard Sounes Fab An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney HarperCollins London 2010 ISBN 978 0 00 723705 0 Bruce Spizer The Beatles Solo on Apple Records 498 Productions New Orleans LA 2005 ISBN 0 9662649 5 9 Gary Tillery Working Class Mystic A Spiritual Biography of George Harrison Quest Books Wheaton IL 2011 ISBN 978 0 8356 0900 5 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Grey Cloudy Lies amp oldid 1156451043, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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