So Sad is a song by English musician George Harrison, released on his 1974 album Dark Horse. Harrison originally gave the song to Alvin Lee Official, guitarist and singer with Ten Years After, who recorded it, as So Sad (No Love of His Own), with singer Mylon LeFevre for their 1973 album On the Road to Freedom. Harrison wrote So Sad in New York in 1972 and it is the only song known to have been written by him about the failure of his first marriage, to Pattie Boyd. Harrison recorded his version of the song at the couples home, Friar Park, in November 1973, eight months before Boyd left him for his friend Eric Clapton. Besides Harrisons extensive contributions, the other musicians on the recording include Nicky Hopkins and Ringo Starr. In interview with Derek Taylor for his 1980 autobiography, I, Me, Mine, George Harrison recalled starting So Sad in New York in 1972 – at the Park Lane Hotel, judging by his handwritten lyrics – and identified this as the time I was splitting up with Pattie. The marriage muddled on until midway through 1974, author Alan Clayson writes, by which time Eric Clapton had returned to their social circle following a three-year period of hibernation away from friends and the music business, partly as a result of Boyds rejection of his advances in November 1970. Claptons self-imposed exile had briefly been interrupted by a return to the concert stage, on 13 January 1973, with two Pete Townshend-organised charity shows at the Rainbow Theatre in north London, attended by the Harrisons, Ringo Starr, Elton John, Jimmy Page and others. During a visit to the Harrisons home, Friar Park, Little Malcolm star John Hurt later revealed, Harrison challenged Clapton to a guitar duel, the winning prize for which was Boyd herself. Clapton was judged the victor that night, Harrison – full of brandy, as usual, his ex-wife remembers – having let himself become riled, by resorting to uncharacteristic instrumental gymnastics. With Harrison already pursuing an affair with Starrs wife, Maureen Starkey, the couple finally parted on 4 July 1974, when Boyd joined Clapton on tour in support of his comeback album, 461 Ocean Boulevard. The Harrison–Boyd–Clapton entanglement soon became an infamous footnote in rock n roll, and just as remarkable was the fact that Harrison appeared to approve of the situation. Although his next album would include a version of the Everly Brothers hit Bye Bye, Love with lyrics altered to sarcastically address old Clapper and our lady, So Sad is the only song that Harrison ever acknowledged as dealing with his and Boyds marital problems; this is in contrast to contemporaries Bob Dylan and John Lennon, each of whom dedicated a significant portion of his album to reflecting the breakdown in his marriage around this time. Despite Harrisons apparent take her attitude and what Boyd has described as her husbands cold and indifferent behaviour, the songs lyrics refer to a hidden great despair. Returning to the weather imagery of earlier compositions such as All Things Must Pass, biographer Simon Leng observes, Harrisons opening verse sets the scene for a man who feels so alone / With no love of his own: Now the winter has come Eclipsing the sun That has lighted my love for some time And a cold wind now blows Not much tenderness flows From the heart of someone feeling so tired. The singers viewpoint changes to the third person from this point in the song, as the chorus repeatedly states: So sad, so bad / So sad, so bad ... In the third and final verse, Harrison returns to the unambiguous, first-person perspective, the lyrics appearing to wish his former lover well: Take the dawn of the day And give it away To someone who can build a part Of the dream we once held Now its got to be shelved Its too late for to make a new start. https://youtube/watch?v=5xBMcmTku1Y
Posted on: Fri, 12 Dec 2014 16:51:32 +0000
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