All Those Years Ago

Infobox Single
Name = All Those Years Ago


Cover size =
Caption =
Artist = George Harrison (with Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney and Linda McCartney)
from Album = Somewhere in England
A-side =
B-side = Writing's On The Wall
Released = May 11, 1981
Format = Vinyl 45
Recorded = England
Genre = Rock
Length = 3:42
Label = Dark Horse
Writer = George Harrison
Producer = George Harrison & Ray Cooper
Certification =
Last single =
This single =
Next single =
Misc =

"All Those Years Ago" is a song written by George Harrison, released as a single from the album "Somewhere in England". The song was a personal tribute to the recently murdered John Lennon. It was released on May 11, 1981 in the United States, where it spent three weeks at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and on May 15, 1981 in the United Kingdom. [ [http://www.connollyco.com/discography/george_harrison/allthose7.html All Those Years Ago ] ] , where it reached #13 on the UK Singles Chart. In addition, the song spent one week at #1 on the American adult contemporary chart, Harrison's first #1 on this chart as a solo artist. ["The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits", 6th Edition, 1996]

Origins

Harrison originally wrote the song (with different lyrics) for Ringo Starr to record. Although recorded, Starr felt the vocal was too high for his range and he did not like the words. Harrison took the track back and after Lennon's death the lyrics were changed to reflect a tribute to Harrison's lost friend and colleague. In the song, Harrison makes reference to the Beatles song "All You Need is Love" and the Lennon song "Imagine".

Band lineup

The recording of the song featured all three remaining Beatles (Harrison, Starr, and Paul McCartney), though this was expressly a Harrison single. It is one of only a few non-Beatles songs to feature three members of the group. Harrison and Starr recorded the song at Harrison's Friar Park studios between 19 November 1980 and 25 November 1980, and after Lennon's death the following month, Harrison removed Starr's vocals to record his own with rewritten lyrics, and McCartney, his wife Linda, and their Wings bandmate Denny Laine visited Friar Park to record backing vocals. [ cite book | last=Badman | first=Keith | title=The Beatles After the Breakup 1970-2000: A day-by-day diary | year=1999 | publisher=Omnibus Press | location=London | isbn=0-7119-7520-5 ] The lineup was rounded out by Al Kooper on keyboards. The three surviving Beatles would not appear together on the same track for another thirteen years until "The Beatles Anthology".

Music video

The music video features a slide show-type presentation of stills and short archival video clips. The emphasis is on Lennon and, to a lesser degree, Harrison. The archival Beatles video was seemingly chosen to showcase the two together. The post-Beatles stills of Lennon at older ages are countered with stills of Harrison from the same time frame.

Personnel

*George Harrison on lead guitar, vocals
*Paul McCartney on backing vocals
*Linda McCartney on backing vocals
*Denny Laine on backing vocals
*Al Kooper on keyboards
*Herbie Flowers on bass
*Ringo Starr on drums

Chart positions

References