"Isn't It a Pity" is a song by English rock musician George Harrison from his 1970 solo album All Things Must Pass. It appears in two variations there: one the well-known, seven-minute version; the other a reprise, titled "Isn't It a Pity (Version Two)". Harrison wrote the song in 1966, but it was rejected for inclusion on releases by the Beatles. In many countries around the world, the song was also issued on a double A-side single with "My Sweet Lord". In America, Billboard magazine listed it with "My Sweet Lord" when the single topped the Hot 100 chart, while in Canada, "Isn't It a Pity" reached number 1 as the preferred side.
An anthemic ballad and one of Harrison's most celebrated compositions, "Isn't It a Pity" has been described as the emotional and musical centrepiece of All Things Must Pass and "a poignant reflection on The Beatles' coarse ending". Co-produced by Phil Spector, the recording employs multiple keyboard players, rhythm guitarists and percussionists, as well as orchestral and choral arrangements by John Barham. The track also serves as a showcase for Harrison's slide guitar playing, a technique he introduced with All Things Must Pass. In its long fadeout, the song references the closing refrain of the Beatles' 1968 hit "Hey Jude". Other musicians on the recording include Ringo Starr, Billy Preston, Gary Wright and the band Badfinger, while the reprise version features Eric Clapton on lead guitar.
The song appeared as the closing track on Harrison's career-spanning compilation Let It Roll (2009), and a live version, from his 1991 tour with Clapton, was included on Live in Japan (1992). Clapton and Preston performed the song together at the Concert for George tribute in November 2002. "Isn't It a Pity" has been covered by numerous artists, including Nina Simone, Dana, Matt Monro, Galaxie 500, Cowboy Junkies and Peter Frampton.
Background and composition While no longer the "really tight" social unit they had been throughout the chaos of BeatlemaniaGeorge Harrison, in The Beatles, p. 83. – or the "four-headed monster", as Mick Jagger famously called them"George Harrison – In His Own Words", superseventies.com (retrieved 3 October 2012).Caroline Gammell, "Rolling Stones envied The Beatles' singing prowess – Sir Paul", The Telegraph online, 23 May 2011 (retrieved 25 June 2012). – the individual Beatles were still bonded by genuine friendship during their final, troubled years as a band,Hertsgaard, p. 310. even if it was now more of a case of being locked together at a deep psychological level after such a sustained period of heightened experience.MacDonald, pp. 288, 300. Eric Clapton has described this bond as being just like that of a typical family, "with all the difficulties that entails".Eric Clapton interview, in George Harrison: Living in the Material World. When the band finally split, in April 1970 – a "terrible surprise" for the outside world, in the words of author Mark Hertsgaard, "like the sudden death of a beloved young uncle"Hertsgaard, p. 277. – even the traditionally most disillusioned Beatle, George Harrison, suffered a mild bereavement.Leng, p. 91.
Towards the end of May that year, among the dozens of tracks that would be considered for his All Things Must Pass triple album, Harrison returned to several unused songs that he had written in the late 1960s.The Editors of Rolling Stone, p. 39. Dating from 1966,Harrison & Cooper, p. 22. "Isn't It a Pity" had most recently been rejected by the Beatles during the January 1969 Get Back sessions that resulted in their final album, Let It Be.MacDonald, p. 302.Miles, p. 332. According to EMI engineer Geoff Emerick, Harrison had offered it for inclusion on 1967's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, while Beatles biographer Mark Lewisohn has stated that it was first presented during sessions for the previous year's Revolver.MacDonald, p. 302fn. In a taped conversation from the January 1969 Get Back sessions, Harrison reminds John Lennon that he had vetoed "Isn't It a Pity" three years before; Harrison also says he considered offering the song to Frank Sinatra.Sulpy & Schweighardt, p. 269. In addition, Harrison had hoped to record "Isn't It a Pity" for the band's 1968 double album The Beatles (also known as the "White Album").The Editors of Rolling Stone, p. 38.Michael Simmons, "Cry for a Shadow", Mojo, November 2011, p. 80.
Despite its relative antiquity by 1970, the song's lyrics lent themselves well to the themes of spiritual salvation and friendship that define All Things Must Pass,Leng, pp. 86–87, 91–92.The Editors of Rolling Stone, p. 40. being consistent with the karmic subject matter of much of the album.Matthew Greenwald, "George Harrison 'Isn't It a Pity'", AllMusic (retrieved 30 March 2014). In his 1980 autobiography, Harrison explains: "'Isn't It a Pity' is about whenever a relationship hits a down point ... It was a chance to realise that if I felt somebody had let me down, then there's a good chance I was letting someone else down."Harrison, p. 170. His lyrics adopt a nonjudgmental tone throughout:
According to musicologist and critic Wilfrid Mellers, writing in 1973,Schaffner, p. 219. "Isn't It a Pity" blends the three song types embraced by Harrison as a solo artist – love song, rock song and hymn. He viewed it as the "key-song" on Harrison's post-Beatles debut solo album.Mellers, p. 151.
Author Ian Inglis refers to its "surprisingly complex" lyrics, which in one sense can be seen as a personal observation on a "failed love affair" yet at the same time serve as a comment on "the universal love for, and among, humankind".Inglis, pp. 25, 26. This theme had featured in previous Harrison songs such as "Within You Without You" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and would remain prominent in many of his subsequent compositions.Inglis, p. 26. The same parallels regarding the universality of love in Harrison's work have been recognised by Dale Allison, author of the first "spiritual biography" on the ex-Beatle; "When George asks, 'Isn't It A Pity?'," Allison writes, "the scope of his question is vast: it embraces almost everything."Allison, p. 34.
Speaking to Billboard editor-in-chief Timothy White in 2000, Harrison said of "Isn't It a Pity": "It's just an observation of how society and myself were or are. We take each other for granted – and forget to give back. That was really all it was about."Timothy White, "George Harrison: 'All Things' in Good Time", billboard.com, 8 January 2001 (retrieved 21 January 2015).
Recording Two contrasting versions of the song were recorded in London in mid 1970 during the sessions for All Things Must Pass,Badman, p. 10.Harrison & Cooper, p. 50. both of which were intended for release from the outset. According to Harrison, after recording the first version, he decided he was unhappy with it, and the second version came about by chance "weeks later", when one of the backing musicians began playing the song during a session.A Conversation with George Harrison, Discussing the 30th Anniversary Reissue of "All Things Must Pass"; event occurs between 7:37 and 7:55.Harry, pp. 14–15. The so-called "Isn't It a Pity (Version Two)" is noticeably slower than the better known, seven-minute "epic" reading of the song.Leng, p. 98. Eric Clapton's lead guitar fills, phased piano from Tony Ashton, and John Barham-arranged woodwinds dominate Version Two, which is also more in keeping with the Beatles' earlier attempts on the track; as with "Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp", it features extensive use of the Leslie speaker sound so familiar from the band's Abbey Road album.Madinger & Easter, p. 432.
The first version of "Isn't It a Pity" betrays the influence of co-producer Phil Spector more so than Version Two. It is also the most extreme example of Harrison's stated intention to allow some of the songs on All Things Must Pass to run longer and feature instrumentation to a greater degree than had been possible within the confines of the more pop-oriented Beatles approach to recording. "Isn't It a Pity" (Version One, in its All Things Must Pass context) starts small and builds,Huntley, p. 55. and reflects Harrison and Barham's interest in incorporating orchestration into the album's rock sound.Frontani, pp. 157–58. Barham stayed at Harrison's home, Friar Park, and created the scores for "Isn't It a Pity" and other songs from melodies that Harrison sang or played to him on piano or guitar.Leng, p. 78.
Taping of the basic track took place at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) on 2 June.Spizer, p. 212.Harry, p. 238. According to Spector's comments regarding Harrison's early mixes, the orchestral arrangement was not added until late August at the earliest. The first slide-guitar break on the released recording uses a near-identical melody to the one Harrison had vocalised when playing the song for the other Beatles on 26 January 1969 – reflecting a quality admired by Elton John in the latter's 2002 tribute to Harrison: "All his solos are very melodic – you can almost sing his solos."The Editors of Rolling Stone, p. 233. "Isn't It a Pity" provided a showcase for Harrison's newly adopted slide guitar style, which incorporated aspects of Indian music, particularly in its evocation of a sarod,Tom Pinnock, "George Solo: All Things Must Pass", Uncut Ultimate Music Guide: George Harrison, TI Media (London, 2018), p. 54. and the Western blues tradition.Lavezzoli, p. 186. Inglis writes that the effect of Harrison's "elaborate patterns" on slide guitar is to "counterbalance the underlying atmosphere of pessimism with shafts of beauty", similar to the "notes of light and dark" provided by Pete Drake's pedal steel on the song "All Things Must Pass".Inglis, pp. 26, 30. Author Simon Leng comments on the similarity of Harrison and Barham's combined musical counterbalance in the first instrumental break with elements of Indian raga, in the number of swaras (tones) in both ascending and descending scales. He writes, "the song becomes a balancing act between a celebration of life (slide guitar and choir) and introspection (the orchestra and underlying harmony)."Leng, p. 87.
Now in the key of G (two semitones down from the Get Back performance), "Isn't It a Pity" begins with a two-note pedal point provided by layers of keyboards and acoustic guitars.Leng, p. 86. Only at the one-minute mark, at the start of verse two, does the rhythm section come in, after which the instruments begin to "break out of their metronomic straitjacket to attain an almost ecstatic release", as Beatles Forever author Nicholas Schaffner put it in 1977.Schaffner, p. 142. The "balmy" slide guitar passage, supported by Barham's string section, follows this second verse, and from that point on – around 2:38 – the same, circular chord structure continues for the remaining four-and-a-half minutes of the song. The long coda sees what Schaffner termed the "pseudo-symphonic tension" burst into a frenzy of brass and timpani, further slide guitar soloing, and the "What a pity" mantra joined by "Hey Jude"-style "Na-na-na-na" chorus. This section is underpinned by a droning "om"-like vocal refrain and a descending three-note horn motif.