Song Musings

What you always wanted to know about that tune

It’s hard to believe today is the final Wednesday of 2023. I hope everybody is feeling groovy. For the last time this year, welcome to my weekly feature, where I take a closer look at a song I’ve only mentioned in passing or not covered at all to date.

If you’ve visited this blog before or are aware of my music taste otherwise, you know The Beatles are my all-time favorite band. I also like a good deal of each member’s solo work and have featured them and the band on many other occasions but not in Song Musings except for John Lennon.

Today, I’d like to turn to George Harrison. While he had become a seasoned writer by the mid-’60s, many of the songs he presented to The Beatles were rejected by Lennon and Paul McCartney. My pick was one of them. Ironically, it’s titled Isn’t It a Pity.

Harrison wrote Isn’t It a Pity in 1966 and proposed it for inclusion on a Beatles album various times, including the Get Back sessions that resulted in Let It Be, as well as The Beatles (White Album), Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and Revolver. Like many other such songs it ended up on All Things Must Pass, Harrison’s massive first solo album after the break-up of The Beatles and his third overall.

“‘Isn’t It a Pity’ is about whenever a relationship hits a down point,” Harrison explained in his 1980 biography I, Me, Mine. “Instead of whatever other people do (like breaking each other’s jaws) I wrote a song. It was a chance to realize that if I felt somebody had let me down, then there’s a good chance I was letting someone else down. We all tend to break each other’s hearts, taking and not giving back – isn’t it a pity.”

Isn’t It a Pity, paired with My Sweet Lord, was released as a double A-side lead single on November 23, 1970, four days prior to the All Things Must Pass album. In the UK, My Sweet Lord was paired with What Is Life. The single became a massive hit worldwide, topping the charts in the U.S.; Canada; various European countries, including the UK, Republic of Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Norway and Sweden; as well as Australia.

It also became Harrison’s best-selling single, reaching Platinum status in the U.S. and the UK, and 2x Platinum in Japan. In the mid-’70s, that success got him into trouble with My Sweet Lord, and he was found guilty for subconsciously having plagiarized Ronnie Mack’s He’s So Fine, a 1963 hit for The Chiffons. Going back to Japan, here’s a live version of Isn’t It a Pity, captured there in 1991 during Harrison’s tour with his friend Eric Clapton. While it’s a pity the video is blurry, the audio is pretty good!

Co-produced by Harrison and Phil Spector, Isn’t It a Pity included a remarkable amount of high profile musicians: Tony Ashton (piano); Billy Preston (piano); Gary Wright (electric piano); Bobby Whitlock (harmonium), of Derek and the Dominoes; Badfinger’s Pete Ham, Tom Evans and Joey Molland (each acoustic guitar) and Mike Gibbins (tambourine); Klaus Voormann (bass); and Ringo Starr (drums). In addition to providing slide guitar and vocals, Harrison played acoustic guitar and Moog synthesizer. Orchestral and choral arrangements were done by John Barham. All of this creates a lush wall of sound, but I think it works magnificently for this song!

One of the things I absolutely love about Isn’t It a Pity is Harrison’s distinct slide guitar – a true signature sound. Apart from melodic playing and overdubbed harmony action, the soft tone is outstanding. The latter likely resulted from Harrison using his thumb instead of a pick. It’s also part of the equation for Jeff Beck’s magic tone.

In addition to the famous long 7:10-minute version, All Things Must Pass includes a shorter edit, Isn’t It a Pity (Version 2). At 4:48 minutes, this cut isn’t only significantly shorter but also noticeably slower. Apparently, Harrison initially wasn’t happy with the long version. The shorter version is said to have come about by chance on a separate occasion after one of the backing musicians began playing the song.

Taking a look at the credits for version 2 reveals the following: George Harrison (vocals, acoustic guitar), Eric Clapton (electric guitar), Tony Ashton (piano), Bobby Whitlock (organ), Carl Radle (bass), Ringo Starr (drums), Mike Gibbins (tambourine) and John Barnham (woodwind arrangement). It’s a more subdued cut, but I like it as well.

Isn’t It a Pity has been covered by many other artists, including Matt Monro, Nina Simone, Cowboy Junkies, Annie Lennox and Peter Frampton, among others. The songs was also performed during the commemorative Concert For George on November 29, 2002 by Eric Clapton and Billy Preston who were backed by a large band that included Jeff Lynne and Harrison’s son Dhani Harrison.

I’m leaving you with three of the above renditions, as well as the lyrics.

Isn’t It a Pity

Isn’t it a pity
Now, isn’t it a shame
How we break each other’s hearts
And cause each other pain

How we take each other’s love
Without thinking anymore
Forgetting to give back
Isn’t it a pity

Some things take so long
But how do I explain
When not too many people
Can see we’re all the same

And because of all their tears
Their eyes can’t hope to see
The beauty that surrounds them
Isn’t it a pity

Isn’t it a pity
Isn’t is a shame
How we break each other’s hearts
And cause each other pain

How we take each other’s love
Without thinking anymore
Forgetting to give back
Isn’t it a pity

Forgetting to give back
Isn’t it a pity
Forgetting to give back
Now, isn’t it a pity

[Repeat: x6]
What a pity
What a pity, pity, pity
What a pity
What a pity, pity, pity

Sources: Wikipedia; Songfacts; YouTube

The Sunday Six

Celebrating music with six random tracks at a time

It’s Sunday and I hope you’re in the mood to accompany me on another trip through space and time to explore the miraculous world of music. The magical time machine is all set to go, so hop on board and fasten your seatbelt.

Charles Mingus/Dizzy Moods

For our first stop today, I’ve set the time controls to November 1957. That’s when American upright jazz bassist, composer and bandleader Charles Mingus came out with Mingus Three. Unlike the title may suggest, this wasn’t his third album but rather a reflection of the trio format, a less common setting for Mingus who most often recorded and played with large ensembles. Dizzy Moods is one of his three original compositions on Mingus Three. He was backed by pianist Hampton Hawes and drummer Dannie Richmond. This is groovy stuff, so feel free to snip along!

Creamery Station/Crazy Night

From the past, we shall return to right back to the present and a cool six-piece group from Connecticut. Creamery Station, who have been around for four years, blend jam, blues, rock and bluegrass into what their website confidently guarantees is “a thrilling live experience you won’t be able to get enough of.” To my ears, they also sound pretty good on what is their third and latest album, Story to Tell, released on June 23. Here’s Crazy Night, a fun blues rock tune I previously considered for my weekly new music review – not really sure why it didn’t make the post at the time!

Art/Supernatural Fairy Tales

I hope you’re not afraid of things that you don’t understand. Our next stop takes us back to November 1967 and Supernatural Fairy Tales, the title cut of the only album by Art. Initially, the British band was known as The V.I.P.’s who had formed in 1963 out of an earlier group called The Ramrods. Seemingly, change was the main constant of the group. Art shortly dissolved after the album’s release, and their four members – Mike Harrison (vocals, piano), Luther Grosvenor (guitars, vocals), Greg Ridley (bass) and Mike Kellie (drums) – teamed up with American keyboarder and vocalist Gary Wright, best known for his mid-’70s hits Dream Weaver and Love Is Alive, to form rock band Spooky Tooth.

Steve Conn/River of Madness

Next, let’s pay a visit to the small central Louisiana city of Pineville, the home of Steve Conn, who his website notes has played piano, organ or accordion with the likes of Bonnie Raitt, Kris Kristofferson, Sonny Landreth and Albert King, among many others. He also writes his own music and to date has released five albums. His first, River of Madness, appeared in October 1995. Here’s the soulful title track featuring Landreth on slide guitar. Conn’s music sounds as rich and tasty as a Louisiana gumbo!

Climax Blues Band/Couldn’t It Right

Time for a stop-over in the ’70s with a groovy tune by Climax Blues Band I was reminded of the other day when I heard it on the radio. When the English blues rock band, which had come together in 1967, presented their nineth album Gold Plated to their record label RCA in 1976, they were told it lacked a hit, so they should try and write one. They did. Ironically titled Couldn’t Get It Right, it would become their biggest hit, climbing all the way to no. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Outside the U.S. it reached no. 8 and no. 10 on the mainstream charts in Canada and the UK, respectively – another great groovy tune!

Pete Townshend/White City Fighting

Our upcoming sixth stop means we need to wrap up another music time travel journey. To do that let’s go to November 1985 and the fourth solo studio album by Pete Townshend. It’s probably my favorite by the British rock artist who of course is best known as co-founder, leader, guitarist, second lead vocalist and principal songwriter of The Who. Off White City: A Novel, here’s the de facto title track, White City Fighting. It was penned by another famous guitarist, David Gilmour, of Pink Floyd fame, and originally intended for his second solo album About Face. At the time, he asked Townshend to write the lyrics. But he couldn’t relate to the words and ended up giving the song to Townshend who turn invited Gilmour to play guitar on it. It all worked out nicely!

Well, folks, that’s it for today, except of course for a Spotify playlist of the above tracks. As always, I hope there’s something there you dig and that you’ll be back for more. So long!

Sources: Wikipedia; Creamery Station website; Steve Conn website; YouTube; Spotify