"Far East Man" is a song written by English rock musicians George Harrison and Ronnie Wood, each of whom released a recording of the song in 1974. Wood's version appeared on I've Got My Own Album to Do, his debut solo album, and Harrison's on Dark Horse. Their only official songwriting collaboration, "Far East Man" is an affirmation of friendship in the face of life's obstacles and musically reflects the two guitarists' adoption of the soul genre. Written mostly by Harrison, the composition has been interpreted as a restatement of the humanitarian message expressed in his 1971 single "Bangla Desh", and a tribute to Indian musician Ravi Shankar.
The song originated during a period of romantic intrigue surrounding Harrison's marriage to Pattie Boyd and Wood's to his wife Krissie, which culminated in Boyd leaving Harrison for his and Wood's mutual friend Eric Clapton. Wood recorded "Far East Man" in July 1974 at The Wick, his Surrey home that had also become an established meeting place for many leading rock musicians. Harrison sang and played slide guitar on this version, while other contributors included Wood's Faces bandmate Ian MacLagan, Mick Taylor of the Rolling Stones, and drummer Andy Newmark. The Harrison recording took place at his Friar Park studio and features backing from Billy Preston, Tom Scott, Willie Weeks and Newmark, all of whom then played on his 1974 North American tour with Shankar. Opening with a spoken dedication to Frank Sinatra, the Dark Horse recording was marred by Harrison's damaged voice – a result of his rushing to complete the album's vocal parts in Los Angeles, while simultaneously rehearsing for the tour.
Several commentators have singled out "Far East Man" as a highlight of Harrison's 1974 album. While noting the two composers' troubled private lives during the song's creation, author Simon Leng describes it as "a wistful shrug of the shoulders set to music". In 2002, Wood released a concert DVD titled Far East Man, which included a live version of the track. Recorded in December 2001, two weeks after Harrison's death from cancer, this performance features Andrea Corr and Slash.
Background
According to author Robert Rodriguez, "Far East Man" resulted from the "informal musical round robin" that existed in England during the early 1970s among rock music's "elite".Rodriguez, p. 234. From 1972 onwards, guitarist Ronnie Wood's home in Richmond, Surrey – The Wick – was a regular location for these get-togethers, at which the participants included ex-Beatle George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Wood's Faces bandmates, and members of the Rolling Stones. Situated over a bend on the River Thames,Wood, pp. 96–97. The Wick was also where rehearsals took place for Clapton's comeback concerts at the Rainbow Theatre in January 1973.Townshend, pp. 243–44. Harrison and his wife Pattie Boyd attended the Rainbow shows, on 13 January,Badman, p. 89. and became friends with Wood and his wife, Krissie.Wood, pp. 105, 106.Boyd, pp. 171–72.
During this period, Harrison and Wood participated in Alvin Lee's recording of "So Sad",Castleman & Podrazik, pp. 129, 206–07. a Harrison composition reflecting the failure of his marriage to Boyd.Harrison, p. 240.Clayson, p. 320. In October 1973, the Woods stayed at Friar Park, Harrison's estate in Oxfordshire, where he and Wood recorded together.Badman, p. 109. They also began writing "Far East Man",Madinger & Easter, p. 444. about which Harrison says in his 1980 autobiography, I, Me, Mine: "We stumbled on it and other things ..."Harrison, p. 292.
Beatles biographer Peter Doggett describes Friar Park as having become "a haven of adventurous intrigue" in 1973,Doggett, pp. 208–09. with Harrison conducting an affair with Maureen Starkey, the wife of his former bandmate Ringo Starr,O'Dell, pp. 258–59, 263–65.Tillery, p. 93. and Clapton urging Boyd to leave her husband for him.Boyd, pp. 177–78.Townshend, pp. 265–66. The romantic entanglements and party lifestyle were reflected in the content of Harrison's subsequent album, Dark Horse,Nick Hasted, "George Solo: Dark Horse", Uncut Ultimate Music Guide: George Harrison, TI Media (London, 2018), p. 70. which he likened to the television soap opera Peyton Place.Kahn, p. 186.MacFarlane, p. 90. During their stay at Friar Park, Wood began an affair with Boyd and the couple flew to the Bahamas,Clayson, p. 329. while Harrison and Krissie Wood holidayed together in Portugal.Wood, pp. 106, 147.Doggett, p. 209. These details were kept from the press, but in late November 1973, Wood issued a statement from The Wick saying: "My romance with Patti Boyd is definitely on."Badman, p. 113. Given these developments, Rodriguez notes the irony in "Far East Man" being "a rumination on letting a friend down".Rodriguez, p. 235.
The song began as an instrumental collaboration, which Harrison then finished alone.Spizer, pp. 264–65. In I, Me, Mine, Harrison recalls that he and Wood came up with the melody to the verses together, but that, at Wood's request, he later turned it into a song by writing the words and adding a middle eight. The title came about because the Faces had just returned from a tour of the Far East and Wood was wearing a T-shirt that carried the slogan Far East Man, a play on the phrase "far out, man". Harrison also says he "brushed up the lyrics a bit" before recording his own version for Dark Horse.
Composition Harrison biographer Simon Leng describes the chord sequence in "Far East Man" as "a grin-making exploration of major and minor sevenths that oozes smoochy soul".Leng, p. 156. In the view of musicologist Thomas MacFarlane, the sequence "unfolds with such ease" as if in slow motion, and the song evokes an original style beyond its initial debt to soul artists such as Marvin Gaye and Al Green. He cites this as an example of Harrison's pan-cultural style, since the raw elements are Western yet the relaxed delivery conveys "an Eastern approach to worldly matters".MacFarlane, pp. 91–92.
Author Ian Inglis interprets "Far East Man" as being about Indian classical musician Ravi Shankar,Inglis, p. 47. at whose request Harrison had staged the Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971.Tillery, pp. 95–97.The Editors of Rolling Stone, p. 136. According to Inglis, with the new nation of Bangladesh still beset by problems in 1974, and conflict clouding the issue of friendship generally for Harrison, "this is one friendship he is determined to preserve". The choruses therefore promise: "I won't let him down ... I won't let him drown ..." Harrison later credited Shankar as "probably the person who has influenced my life the most", since "Indian music was like a stepping-stone to the spiritual path".Book accompanying Collaborations box set by Ravi Shankar and George Harrison (Dark Horse Records, 2010; produced by Olivia Harrison), p. 11.Michael Simmons, "Cry for a Shadow", Mojo, November 2011, p. 79. Inglis views the song as reflecting Harrison's commitment to "all the things that India has given him".Inglis, p. 48.
Leng identifies "Far East Man" as a "hopeful song", where, despite his confusion, Harrison's "answer is to follow his instinct, his heart". Leng sums up the conclusion that Harrison provides in the middle eight's final line ("Can only do what it tells me"): "He surveys the problems of love, social strife, and disconnection from spiritual values, but decides that taking his own advice is a good enough start."
While echoing this interpretation, theologian Dale Allison also highlights Harrison's "humanitarian impulse, his regrets about the world's current state, [and] his faint utopian hope for something better" as being evident in the lyrics to "Far East Man".Allison, pp. 15, 141. Allison likens the song to Harrison's 1971 compositions "Bangla Desh" and "The Day the World Gets 'Round", and suggests that in the choruses to "Far East Man", Harrison is stating "his determination to help impoverished and oppressed peoples half a world away".Allison, pp. 69–70.
As reproduced in his autobiography, Harrison's original lyrics for the final verse include lines that he changed after recording the song with Wood.Harrison, pp. 293–94. Referring to the lyrics in Harrison's version, Allison describes his outlook as offering "a melioristic hope ... that people might be able to make the world a truly better place":Allison, p. 73.
Ronnie Wood's version
Recording
In Ronnie, his 2007 autobiography, Wood writes that The Wick was "a hive of recording activity as well as a thriving debauchery camp" during the year-long creation of his first solo release, I've Got My Own Album to Do.Wood, pp. 101, 108. The album title originated from contributors such as Harrison and Mick Jagger "nagging me to let them go home" and work on their own projects.Wood, p. 99. Wood assisted Jagger in writing and recording the Rolling Stones' 1974 single "It's Only Rock 'n Roll" during this period,Bockris, pp. 176–77. and he similarly reciprocated Harrison, by playing on the former Beatle's Christmas single, "Ding Dong, Ding Dong".
The session for "Far East Man" took place at Wood's home studio in July 1974,Spizer, p. 264. during the same month that Boyd left Harrison and joined Clapton on tour in North America.Tillery, p. 94. According to his recollection in I, Me, Mine, Harrison wrote much of the song's lyrics while driving to Wood's house to record the track. The session was a significant one for Harrison, since it introduced him to the rhythm section he subsequently used on his North American tour with Shankar – bassist Willie Weeks and drummer Andy Newmark.Leng, pp. 156–57.
Discussing the song in 2012 on Sky Arts HD's The Ronnie Wood Show, Wood said that Weeks played on the track; however, his 1974 LP credits list Rolling Stones lead guitarist Mick Taylor on bass. The other musicians were Ian MacLagan of the Faces, on electric piano, and Jean Roussel, Cat Stevens' regular keyboard player, on organ. Wood produced the recording with Gary Kellgren,Castleman & Podrazik, p. 201. the co-owner of New York's Record Plant studios.Wood, p. 100.
Rodriguez describes the musical arrangement on the song as "a slow soul groove" and views Wood's version as "more Harrisonian" than Harrison's later reading.Rodriguez, pp. 234–35. Harrison's slide guitar and harmony vocals are prominent in the mix, but he was only credited for his songwriting contribution.Bud Scoppa, "Ronnie Wood I've Got My Own Album to Do", Rolling Stone, 7 November 1974; available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required; retrieved 4 April 2014).Inner sleeve credits, I've Got My Own Album to Do LP (Warner Bros. Records, 1974; produced by Ron Wood & Gary Kellgren). Wood recalled Harrison teaching him the song's vocal parts for "eighteen hours", since Harrison's own singing contribution had to be kept to a minimum in order to satisfy the requirements of "his publishers"."George Harrison and 'Far East Man'", The Ronnie Wood Show, episode 4, Sky Arts HD, 2012.
Release Warner Bros. Records released I've Got My Own Album to Do on 23 September 1974.Castleman & Podrazik, p. 113. "Far East Man" was sequenced as the second track, following Wood's collaboration with Jagger,Wood, pp. 99–100. "I Can Feel the Fire".Stephen Thomas Erlewine, "Ron Wood I've Got My Own Album to Do", AllMusic (retrieved 4 April 2014). The album also included contributions from Keith Richards and Faces vocalist Rod Stewart, and was critically well received.Bockris, pp. 177, 178.