"It Is 'He' (Jai Sri Krishna)" is a song by English musician George Harrison, released as the final track of his 1974 album Dark Horse. Harrison was inspired to write the song while in the Hindu holy city of Vrindavan, in northern India, with his friend Ravi Shankar. The composition originated on a day that Harrison describes in his autobiography as "my most fantastic experience",George Harrison, p. 296. during which his party and their ascetic guide toured the city's temples. The song's choruses were adapted from the Sanskrit chant they sang before visiting Seva Kunj, a park dedicated to Krishna's childhood. The same pilgrimage to India led to Harrison staging Shankar's Music Festival from India in September 1974 and undertaking a joint North American tour with Shankar at the end of that year.
Despite the devotional nature of the song, Harrison wrote it part-way through a period of divergence from the spiritual goals he had espoused in his previous works, particularly Living in the Material World (1973). "It Is 'He'" serves as a rare example of an overtly religious song on Dark Horse. Recorded between August and October 1974, the track features an unusual mix of musical styles and instrumentation – including gospel-style keyboards, folk-rock acoustic guitar, Indian string and percussion instruments, and Moog synthesizer. Besides Harrison, the musicians on the recording include Billy Preston, Tom Scott and Emil Richards, all of whom played in his 1974 tour band and contributed to Shankar's concurrent release, Shankar Family & Friends.
"It Is 'He' (Jai Sri Krishna)" continued Harrison's fusion of the Hindu bhajan tradition with Western pop and rock. The song failed to gain the favourable reception afforded his earlier productions in that style, however, such as "My Sweet Lord", "Hare Krishna Mantra" and "Give Me Love". With his spiritual pronouncements during the tour proving similarly unwelcome to many music critics, Harrison subsequently withdrew from making such public statements of Hindu religiosity until producing Shankar's Chants of India album in 1996. "It Is 'He'" was the last overtly devotional song released under Harrison's name until the posthumously issued "Brainwashed" in 2002.
Background and inspiration
In a 1994 interview held at Ravi Shankar's home in California,Shankar, p. 309. George Harrison referred to the reluctance he used to feel before visiting Shankar in India or meeting with A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, founder of the Hare Krishna movement, or more formally the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON).Allison, pp. 45–46. This was due to the "craziness" taking place in his life, Harrison continued, which sat at odds with the spiritual goals represented by these friends.George Harrison: Living in the Material World DVD, Village Roadshow, 2011 (directed by Martin Scorsese; produced by Olivia Harrison, Nigel Sinclair & Martin Scorsese), Disc 2; event occurs between 14:38 and 15:35. In JanuaryOlivia Harrison, pp. 258, 302. and February 1974, he visited India part-way through a period that he describes in his autobiography, I, Me, Mine (1980), as "the naughty years", coinciding with the end of his marriage to Pattie Boyd.Leng, p. 148.Tillery, pp. 116–17. The visit led to Harrison writing two songs that would appear on his Dark Horse album later that year: "It Is 'He' (Jai Sri Krishna)" and "Simply Shady".George Harrison, pp. 282, 296. While the latter track reflected the singer's recent indulgences with drugs and alcohol,Inglis, pp. 44–45.Allison, pp. 100, 154. "It Is 'He'" documented what author Simon Leng terms "a spiritual epiphany for Harrison" in the Hindu holy city of Vrindavan.Leng, pp. 150–51, 157.
Harrison went to India in 1974 to attend a ceremony in honour of Shankar's new home,Leng, p. 157. in Benares, on the banks of the River Ganges.Shankar, p. 223. At this time, the two musicians came up with the idea for Ravi Shankar's Music Festival from IndiaOlivia Harrison, p. 302.Howlett, p. 5. – a revue of Indian folk music presented by an orchestra of eighteen pioneers of the genreLavezzoli, p. 195. – and a subsequent joint tour of North America. From Benares, Harrison and Shankar then travelled across the state of Uttar Pradesh to Vrindavan, where the Hindu deity Krishna is said to have spent his childhood, thousands of years before.Greene, p. 209.Tillery, p. 112. Discussing "It Is 'He' (Jai Sri Krishna)" in I, Me, Mine, Harrison recalls that they arrived there at dusk, and adds: "the whole town is Krishna conscious – everyone, everywhere was chanting 'Hare Krishna' and various permutations on that."
Touring Vrindavan's temples
Shankar had arranged for an English-speaking ascetic named Sripad Maharaj to serve as their guide on a tour of the local temples. Despite the bedraggled appearance of Maharaj, Harrison noticed that throughout the tour, swamis and other passers-by would greet the guide by kissing his feet – a sign of the utmost reverence.
The party slept for a few hours in rooms provided by one of the temples, during which Harrison heard "huge heavenly choirs" in his dreams and experienced "the deepest sleep I had ever had in my life".George Harrison, pp. 296–97. After they had attended morning puja at this temple, at 4 am, Maharaj began singing a bhajan, a Hindu musical prayer. In the tradition of communal chanting, or kirtana, Harrison and the others there sang in response, repeating Maharaj's lines,Tillery, pp. 107, 113. for a period lasting up to five hours.
Late that morning, Harrison and Shankar accompanied Maharaj to Seva Kunj, a park that commemorates Krishna's love for all-night dancing with his gopis (cow-herd girls).George Harrison, pp. 297, plate XXXVII/p. 390. Harrison later marvelled of Seva Kunj: "All the trees, which are so ancient, bow down and the branches touch the ground. Just to walk in that place is incredible."George Harrison, p. 297. In I, Me, Mine, he describes the Vrinadavan tour as "my most fantastic experience" and says that, at Maharaj's suggestion, he turned the bhajan into a song, titled "It Is 'He' (Jai Sri Krishna)".George Harrison, pp. 296, 297.
Other activities in Vrindavan Harrison and Shankar spent a few days in the city, at the Sri Chaitanya Prema Samastbana ashram, on the banks of the Yamuna River; there, they meditated, wrote music and discussed "the art of devotion".Greene, p. 210. Harrison also met with Prabhupada at this time and reunited with ISKCON disciples Gurudas and Yamuna.Greene, pp. 211, 221. The latter couple were among the founding devotees of the London Radha Krishna Temple,Dwyer & Cole, p. 30. whose recordings of chants, including a hit version of the Hare Krishna mantra,Clayson, pp. 268, 276. Harrison had produced for Apple Records in 1969–70.Spizer, p. 341. Theologian Dale Allison writes that "It Is 'He'" resulted from Harrison having "rediscovered his enthusiasm for chanting" while in India.Allison, p. 147.
Composition Leng describes the mood of the song as "upbeat pseudo-calypso". He views it as a further example of the musical approach that Harrison employed in songs such as "My Sweet Lord" and "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)", whereby the Hindu bhajan tradition is fused with Western gospel music. The inclusion of Sanskrit in "It Is 'He' (Jai Sri Krishna)" recalls both "My Sweet Lord", which incorporates part of the Hare Krishna mantra as well as other Hindu prayers,Greene, pp. 181–82, 183.Tillery, pp. 88–89. and "Gopala Krishna", an unreleased track that Harrison also recorded for his All Things Must Pass triple album in 1970.Madinger & Easter, p. 433.
Over a three-chord pattern in the key of G major,"It Is 'He' (Jai Sri Krishna)", in George Harrison Dark Horse: Sheet Music for Piano, Vocal & Guitar, Charles Hansen (New York, NY, 1974). Harrison adapted the words sung at the Vrinadavan kirtana, in a repetitive form typical of a mantra:
Aside from offering praise to Krishna, these lines address Radha, his consort and lover,Allison, p. 127. whom ISKCON devotees recognise as the female form of God.Greene, p. 107.Tillery, pp. 70–71. The words serve as the song's chorus and translate to mean, "All glories and praise to Lord Krishna; all glories and praise to Goddess Radha."Allison, p. 46.
Similar to Harrison's 1973 song "Living in the Material World" – where he contrasts the Western or "material" parts of the composition with its meditative, "spiritual sky" sectionsLeng, pp. 130–31. – "It Is 'He' (Jai Sri Krishna)" employs a change in tempo and rhythm, to differentiate between the Sanskrit choruses and the English-language verses. Lyrically, the latter sections outline the "It Is 'He'" element of the song title. In the first of the three verses, Harrison sings of his deity as "He whose eyes have seen / What our lives have been / And who we really are"; in the final verse, the description is: "He who is complete / Three worlds at His feet / Cause of every star ...George Harrison, p. 295.
Recording Throughout 1974, progress on Dark Horse was compromised by Harrison's commitment to setting up a new record label, also called Dark Horse,Snow, p. 72. and his dedication to projects by the label's first signings, Shankar and the English duo Splinter.Leng, pp. 147–48.Huntley, pp. 105–06, 108. With expectations high for his North American tour, the first by a former member of the Beatles,Schaffner, p. 176. Harrison later referred to the pressure he had imposed on himself that year as "ridiculous".Timothy White, "George Harrison – Reconsidered", Musician, November 1987, p. 59. As a further distraction, his return to less ascetic ways post-Vrinadavan was marked by what he termed "a bit of a bender to make up for all the years I'd been married",Doggett, pp. 209, 225.Huntley, p. 107. as Boyd left him in July.Tillery, p. 94.
Harrison taped an early version of "It Is 'He'" at his Friar Park studio, FPSHOT, in Oxfordshire, with Bobby Purvis and Bill Elliott of Splinter on backing vocals. On the officially released recording, he was backed by members of his 1974 tour band,Leng, pp. 157, 167. including Tom Scott (flute), Billy Preston (piano, organ), Willie Weeks (bass) and Andy Newmark (drums).Castleman & Podrazik, p. 197. These four American musicians attended the main sessions for Dark Horse, which took place at FPSHOT over August–September,Leng, p. 147. in between rehearsals there for the Music Festival of India's tour of EuropeHowlett, p. 4. and the recording of a studio album by Shankar's ensemble, which Harrison also produced.Olivia Harrison, p. 312. Harrison's own contributions to the track included 12-string acoustic guitar and Moog synthesizer.
In October, with his album still unfinished,Tillery, p. 114. Harrison flew to Los Angeles, California, where he rehearsed with his musicians and Shankar's orchestra for the upcoming tour, while carrying out further recording at A&M Studios. As additional members of the tour band,Leng, p. 167. Jim Horn and Chuck Findley played flutes on "It Is 'He'" and Emil Richards overdubbed percussion.Madinger & Easter, pp. 443, 444.
The completed recording features a mix of musical styles, with the R&B-funk rhythm section of Weeks and Newmark, gospel keyboards from Preston, and Richards' wobbleboard recalling pre-rock 'n' roll skiffle. Aside from the Western instrumentation he supplied on "It Is 'He'", Harrison provided Indian music textures through his use of the gut-stringed gubgubbi – described by Leng as a "banjo-meets-vocal sound" – as well as small hand-cymbals (or kartal),Leng, pp. 157–58. commonly played by Hare Krishna devotees during kirtana.Greene, pp. 108, 142, 144.Clayson, p. 247. In addition, according to Leng, the flute parts serve as a musical reference to Krishna, who is often shown playing a flute in scenes depicting his Lila (pastimes) in Vrindavan.Tillery, p. 67.