"Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)" is a song by English musician George Harrison, released as the opening track of his 1973 album Living in the Material World. It was also issued as the album's lead single, in May that year, and became Harrison's second US number 1, after "My Sweet Lord". In doing so, the song pushed Paul McCartney and Wings' "My Love" from the top of the Billboard Hot 100, marking the only occasion that two former Beatles have held the top two chart positions in America. The single also reached the top ten in Britain, Canada, Australia, and The Netherlands.
"Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)" is one of Harrison's most popular songs, among fans and music critics, and features a series of much-praised slide-guitar solos from Harrison. The recording signalled a deliberate departure from his earlier post-Beatles work, in the scaling down of the big sound associated with All Things Must Pass and his other co-productions with Phil Spector over 1970–71. Aside from Harrison, the musicians on the track are Nicky Hopkins, Jim Keltner, Klaus Voormann and Gary Wright. In his lyrics, Harrison sings of his desire to be free of karma and the constant cycle of rebirth; he later described the song as "a prayer and personal statement between me, the Lord, and whoever likes it".
Harrison performed "Give Me Love" at every concert during his rare tours as a solo artist, and a live version was included on his 1992 album Live in Japan. The original studio recording appears on the compilation albums The Best of George Harrison (1976) and Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison (2009). At the Concert for George tribute to Harrison, in November 2002, Jeff Lynne performed "Give Me Love" with Andy Fairweather-Low and Marc Mann playing the twin slide-guitar parts. Marisa Monte, Dave Davies, Elliott Smith, Ron Sexsmith, Sting, James Taylor, Elton John, and Grace Vanderwaal are among the other artists who have covered the song.
Background and inspiration
As with most of the songs on his Living in the Material World album, George Harrison wrote "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)" over 1971–72. During this period, he dedicated himself to assisting refugees of the Bangladesh Liberation War,Kevin Howlett's liner note essay, The Apple Years 1968–75 book (Apple Records, 2014; produced by Dhani Harrison), p. 31. by staging two all-star benefit concerts in New York and preparing a live album and concert film for release.Lavezzoli, pp. 193–94. In addition, much of his time was spent occupied with the business and legal problems afflicting the humanitarian aid project.Doggett, pp. 37, 38. Author Andrew Grant Jackson writes that Harrison's frustration with this last issue resulted in a sombre quality pervading much of Material World, yet he "pushed his disillusionment aside for the lead single ['Give Me Love']".Jackson, pp. 94–95.
The same period coincided with the height of Harrison's devotion to Hindu spirituality.Leng, p. 124.Huntley, pp. 87, 89. As with his religious-themed 1970–71 hit, "My Sweet Lord", and his subsequent singles "What Is Life" and "Bangla Desh", Harrison wrote "Give Me Love" very quickly.Madinger & Easter, pp. 434, 444.Harrison, p. 162. Author Alan Clayson describes it as having "flowed from George with an ease as devoid of ante-start agonies as a Yoko Ono 'think piece'".Clayson, p. 322. In his autobiography, I, Me, Mine, Harrison recalls of the writing process: Sometimes you open your mouth and you don't know what you are going to say, and whatever comes out is the starting point. If that happens and you are lucky, it can usually be turned into a song. This song is a prayer and personal statement between me, the Lord, and whoever likes it.Harrison, p. 246.
Composition "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)" continues the precedent that Harrison set on "My Sweet Lord", through its fusion of the Hindu bhajan (or devotional song) with Western gospel tradition.Leng, p. 157.The Editors of Rolling Stone, p. 180. Author Simon Leng comments that the song repeats another of its composer's hit formulas, by using a three-syllable lyrical hook as its title, like "My Sweet Lord", "What Is Life" and "Bangla Desh".Leng, pp. 153, 209.
The song's time signature is primarily 4/4, with a meter change to 2/4 at the end of the intro, and to either 3/4 or 7/4 at the end of each pre-chorus (depending on the interpretation of the scorer). The musical key is F major. As on Harrison's recording, this can be accomplished by placing of a capo on the guitar's third fret, to transpose the chords from D up to the correct key."Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)", in George Harrison Living in the Material World: Sheet Music for Piano, Vocal & Guitar, Charles Hansen (New York, NY, 1973), pp. 63–65. The intro features strummed acoustic guitar, similar in style to the opening of Bob Dylan's "Mr. Tambourine Man".Lindsay Planer, "George Harrison 'Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)'", AllMusic (retrieved 19 July 2016). The song builds gradually from its understated introduction, with the rhythm section only fully arriving after the first bridge segment. Harrison biographer Gary Tillery describes the musical mood as "bouncy yet soothing".
In his lyrics, Harrison expresses his vision for life in the physical world.Kevin Howlett's liner notes, booklet accompanying Living in the Material World reissue (EMI Records, 2006; produced by Dhani & Olivia Harrison), pp. 7, 8. Following the opening instrumental passage, the song begins with a chorus"Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)", in George Harrison Living in the Material World: Sheet Music for Piano, Vocal & Guitar, Charles Hansen (New York, NY, 1973), p. 63. in which he first pleads for a life devoid of the karmic burden of reincarnation (rebirth): "Give me love, give me love, give me peace on earth / Give me light, give me life, keep me free from birth."Allison, pp. 79, 82, 142. These lyrics bear a simple, universal message,Huntley, p. 90. one that, in the context of the time, related as much to the communal "peace and love" idealism of the 1960s as it did Harrison's personal spiritual quest.Allison, p. 142.
Harrison also asks for divine assistance to "cope with this heavy load", while his stated attempt to "touch and reach you with heart and soul" recalls the same plea for a direct relationship with his deity that he expresses in "My Sweet Lord".Allison, pp. 21–22. These two lines, which complete the chorus, imply a deficiency or unfulfilment on the singer's part.Allison, p. 22. According to author Ian Inglis, they serve as "an acknowledgment of the trials and tribulations he was facing in a more earthly setting" in the aftermath to the Concert for Bangladesh.Inglis, pp. 37, 38
During the two bridge sections, Harrison incorporates the sacred term "Om" within his extended phrase "Oh ... my Lord".Tillery, p. 111.Allison, pp. 122, 142. Author Joshua Greene describes this as an example of a theme found in several songs on Material World, whereby Harrison "distilled" spiritual concepts into phrases "so elegant they resembled Vedic sutras: short codes that contain volumes of meaning".Greene, p. 194. The use of the word "Om" was a further comment from Harrison on the universality of faith,Greene, pp. 194–95. after his switching in "My Sweet Lord" from "hallelujah" refrains to the Hare Krishna mantra. Referring to the second half of the bridges in "Give Me Love",Harrison, p. 245. Inglis views the drawn-out "Please …" as "highly symbolic", given the "unresolved conflict" that appears to be at the heart of the composition.
Recording
Harrison's commitment to overseeing the release of the Concert for Bangladesh documentary film prevented him from being able to start on the follow-up to his All Things Must Pass triple album until midway through 1972.Leng, p. 123.O'Dell, p. 234. Another delay was caused by producer Phil Spector's unreliability, as Harrison waited for him to turn up for the start of the sessions.Madinger & Easter, p. 439. Author Bruce Spizer writes that "the eccentric producer's erratic attendance caused George to realize the project would never get done if he kept waiting for Spector",Spizer, p. 254. and by October that year, Harrison had decided to produce the album alone.
As for the majority of Living in the Material World, Harrison recorded the basic track for "Give Me Love" in the autumn of 1972Badman, p. 83. with the assistance of former Beatles engineer Phil McDonald. The recording location was either FPSHOT, Harrison's new home studio at Friar Park in Henley-on-Thames,Mat Snow, "George Harrison: Quiet Storm", Mojo, November 2014, pp. 70, 72. or Apple Studio in London. In a departure from Harrison's co-productions with Spector, where a large line-up of musicians had been standard, "Give Me Love" featured a pared-down arrangement and more subtle instrumentation.Leng, p. 126.Kevin Howlett's liner notes, booklet accompanying Living in the Material World reissue (EMI Records, 2006; produced by Dhani & Olivia Harrison), p. 8. Another contrast was Harrison's adoption of a production style that partly recalls George Martin's work with the Beatles.John Metzger, "George Harrison Living in the Material World", The Music Box, vol. 13 (11), November 2006 (retrieved 19 July 2016). On "Give Me Love", Inglis notes the same "supple and clear [acoustic] guitar-playing that distinguished 'Here Comes the Sun'" in 1969,Inglis, p. 38. while the less grand production, relative to All Things Must Pass, allowed greater expression for Harrison as a slide guitarist.Clayson, pp. 323–24.David Cavanagh, "George Harrison: The Dark Horse", Uncut, August 2008, p. 47.
Harrison carried out overdubs on the backing track, including twin slide-guitar parts, during the first two months of 1973.Madinger & Easter, pp. 439–40. Aside from Harrison's guitar work, the most prominent instrument on the recording is Nicky Hopkins' piano, double-tracked and played in his usual melodic style.Leng, pp. 125, 126. The rhythm section consisted of bassist Klaus Voormann and drummer Jim Keltner. The organ player on the song was American musician Gary Wright, whose 1971 album Footprint was one of many musical projects in which Harrison was involved between All Things Must Pass and Material World.Leng, pp. 108, 123, 126. Peter Lavezzoli, author of The Dawn of Indian Music in the West, comments on how quickly Harrison's "unique approach" to slide-guitar playing had matured since 1970, to incorporate sitar, veena and other Hindustani musical stylings, and rates the mid-song solo on "Give Me Love" as "one of his most intricate and melodic".Lavezzoli, pp. 194, 198.
Release "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)" was Harrison's first single in close to two years, after "Bangla Desh" in July 1971.Badman, pp. 43, 99.Clayson, pp. 318–19. As with Living in the Material World, however, its release was delayed to allow for other items on Apple Records' release schedule during the first half of 1973: the Beatles' compilations 1962–1966 and 1967–1970, and Paul McCartney and Wings' second album, Red Rose Speedway.Badman, pp. 94–95, 98. In the years since All Things Must Pass, according to author Robert Rodriguez, the public bickering between John Lennon and McCartney and their "subpar" music had done much to diminish the "cachet of being an ex-Beatle".Rodriguez, pp. 258–59. In his 1977 book The Beatles Forever, Nicholas Schaffner wrote that, because of the altruism inherent in the Bangladesh project compared to the twin "fiascos" of McCartney's Wild Life album and the Lennon–Ono collaboration Some Time in New York City, "[a] receptive audience was guaranteed" for Harrison's new songs.Schaffner, p. 159.