George Harrison Found His Inspiration for ‘All Things Must Pass’ in Woodstock
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'200 Greatest 70s Rock Songs' Book Excerpt
Frank Mastropolo
“All Things Must Pass,” the title song of George Harrison’s 1970 triple album, was inspired by Timothy Leary’s poem All Things Pass, an adaptation of the Tao Te Ching. The Beatles rehearsed the song in January 1969, but did not include it on the Let It Be album. Billy Preston was the first to release the song, as “All Things (Must) Pass,” in 1970.
Harrison cited The Band as an influence in the writing of “All Things Must Pass.” Harrison visited the group in Woodstock in late 1968.
“When I wrote ‘All Things Must Pass’ I was trying to do a Robbie Robertson-Band sort of tune and that is what it turned into,” Harrison wrote in I, Me, Mine. “I think the whole idea of ‘All Things Must Pass’ has been written up by all kinds of mystics and ex-mystics including Timothy Leary in his psychedelic poems.”
Harrison was accompanied on “All Things Must Pass” by Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, and keyboardist Bobby Whitlock, who recalled the session in Something Else Reviews.
“George walked up to me, and he said, ‘You come from a gospel background. Can you play piano on this one?’ I went, ‘Why, yes.’ I had never played piano. I had seen my mom do it and listened to my mom.
“Growing up, I heard Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Memphis Slim, guys like that, my whole life. But I had never sat down and played. I had played organ, but that’s a different instrument. Here you had George asking me to play, though, so I sat down and started playing. I just drew from that well, and out it fell. It’s a very spiritual song.”
Harrison performed the song with Leon Russell at 1971’s Concert for Bangladesh.
Frank Mastropolo is the author of 200 Greatest 70s Rock Songs, part of the Greatest Performances series. For more on our latest projects, visit Edgar Street Books.
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