George Harrison had already written a surplus of songs to get him started on his first solo album following the breakup of The Beatles. As the enduring classic rock chestnut “What Is Life” proved, not all of those leftover songs were intended for the Fab Four.
What is the song about? How did Harrison end up releasing it, after initially intending it for another artist? And how did Harrison eventually land on the finished version of the song? Read on as we explore George Harrison’s “What Is Life,” an anthemic song that asks the questions and yields the answers all at once.
A Beatle’s Backlog
The commonly told tale is George Harrison was only given one or two songs to write on each Beatles album because his writing wasn’t up to par with what John Lennon and Paul McCartney delivered. But that doesn’t accurately tell the whole story. Harrison’s songs were often judged harshly by Lennon and McCartney in spite of their quality.
Evidence of that is many of the songs that appeared on Harrison’s breakout 1970 triple album All Things Must Pass had been introduced during the Fab Four years, but had received a cold shoulder from the band. Classic songs from that record like “Isn’t It a Pity” and the title track were among those songs that could potentially have been Beatles hits.
On top of that, Harrison was shopping his songs around to other artists, who were more than willing to take advantage of his unsung writing gifts. For example, “Badge,” a hit for Cream, was written in part by Harrison. Meanwhile, “What Is Life,” as Harrison explained in his autobiography I Me Mine, was originally intended for Billy Preston, who famously helped The Beatles on Let It Be:
“‘What Is Life’ was written for Billy Preston in 1969. I wrote it very quickly, 15 minutes or half an hour maybe, on my way to Olympic Studios, London, when I was producing one of his albums. … At the session it seemed too difficult to go in there and say, ‘Hey I wrote this catchy pop song’ while Billy was playing his funky stuff. I did it myself later on All Things Must Pass.”
That proved to be a wise move, but Harrison first had to put together a recording worthy of the song. Over the years, various reissues of All Things Must Pass revealed different paths Harrison didn’t take in recording the song. In the case of “What Is Life,” he at one point had oboes and piccolo trumpets, the latter of which were famously used on The Beatles’ “Penny Lane,” adorning the track.
In the end, he scrapped those extras, although he did keep other horns prominently in the mix. The version of “What Is Life” that landed in the U.S. Top 10 when released as a single in 1971 mainly featured Harrison’s indelible fuzz guitar riff, along with players including Eric Clapton and many of the musicians who would join Clapton in his Derek and the Dominos project.
What is the Meaning of “What Is Life”?
As different as he was in temperament and interests from his fellow Beatles, George Harrison united with them in always promoting love as an answer to a multitude of problems. In “What Is Life,” he offers that love up to someone special right from the beginning of the song: What I feel, I can’t say / But my love is there for you any time of day.
The narrator also realizes how important it is to receive it in return, as Harrison sings in the urgent refrains: Tell me, what is my life without your love? / Tell me, who am I without you by my side? In fact, it’s her example that inspires him: What I know, I can do / If I give my love now to everyone like you.
“What Is Life” is part of an embarrassment of riches on All Things Must Pass. George Harrison sings in moving fashion about giving away his love throughout the track. Good thing he didn’t give away the song as well.
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