The Beatles were never meant to go back to the same music whenever they made a record. They were always absorbing new songs all the time whenever they made their classics, and while George Harrison was fairly insular, he could still recognise great sounds when he heard them out in the wild.
But by the time that the band was breaking up, it looked like Harrison was fully leaving rock and roll behind. He had become fluent in the ways of Indian music and was starting to follow the lead of artists like Ravi Shankar, but he knew that he could never play that music forever. He had to find his own attitude, and that came from him embracing his guitar all over again once he was given a slide for the first time.
Because for as much as Harrison was known for his great licks across The Beatles’ discography, his slide is normally the best part of any of his solo songs. He had a unique touch with his slide that made it sound like a human voice nearly every single time he performed, but even with all the bells and whistles that he added, he knew that nothing could get in the way of a great song if he had a piano or a guitar to work with.
After all, that’s how some of his greatest inspirations at the time were looking at their craft. Despite the lineage between John Lennon and Bob Dylan half the time, Harrison was the true disciple of all things Dylan, and when his backing band left him to form their own outfit, every one of the Fabs was transfixed by what The Band was doing on Music From Big Pink. It was folk music, but there was a lot more Americana in the delivery.
Compared to the rustic voice of Dylan, hearing Robbie Robertson or Levon Helm take the mic made every song feel like an American standard that only happened to be released in the modern age. There were already pieces of The Band influencing the Fab Four’s rootsy sound on Let It Be, but Harrison felt that his solo career had the group’s fingerprints all over it.
Even though ‘All Things Must Pass’ will forever be associated with Harrison, he felt that it was always bound to work if Helm had used it, saying, “When you read of philosophy or spiritual things, it’s a pretty widely used phrase. I wrote it after Music From Big Pink album. When I heard that song in my head, I always heard Levon Helm singing it!” And it’s not like the pieces aren’t there for Helm to take over.
His boisterous baritone would have been perfect to glide over the verses of the song the same way that he did on ‘The Weight’, but Harrison is also among the only people who could actually do the tune justice. He was slowly turning into the wise sage of rock and roll, so hearing him impart this kind of wisdom on the next generation is exactly what we needed to hear from him around this time.
Because as much as The Beatles’ breakup was absolutely heartbreaking for every single fan that heard about it, this song is a gentle hug from Harrison, reminding us that it’s all going to be okay. It was never going to be easy to get around life’s problems, but every single step is a part of life and needs to be experienced so that we all can grow stronger as people.