"Blood from a Clone" is a song by the English musician and former Beatles guitarist George Harrison from his 1981 album Somewhere in England. The song saw a re-release on The Dark Horse Years 1976–1992.[2]
| "Blood from a Clone" | |
|---|---|
| Song by George Harrison | |
| from the album Somewhere in England | |
| Released | 1 June 1981 |
| Recorded | November 1980 – February 1981 |
| Studio | FPSHOT (Oxfordshire) |
| Genre | Ska[1] |
| Length | 4:03 |
| Label | Dark Horse |
| Songwriter(s) | George Harrison |
| Producer(s) |
|
| Somewhere in England track listing | |
10 tracks
| |
| Music video | |
| "Blood from a Clone" on YouTube | |
Background
editIn 1980, Harrison had finished recording the original track listing for Somewhere in England and was ready to present it to Warner Records. Mo Ostin rejected his original version of the album, because the label thought none of the songs were radio ready, which made Harrison upset, so he decided to write the song after the occasion.[3][4] Harrison's label was "looking for the mathematical equation for making the perfect single for the pop market."[5] Harrison's original plan was to write songs that were aimed at "14-20-year-olds", but he had to write another song.[6][7]
Recording
editThis was the one of the many songs that Harrison was recording for his next album when the murder of John Lennon occurred. The expectations were that the day's work would be postponed, but after a couple of hours following the news, Harrison decided to continue on. Session musician Ray Cooper recalls Harrison thought "trying to make music would be more therapeutic than him sitting around and being besieged by press and God knows what else."[8]
Reception
editElliot J. Huntley said that "Blood from a Clone", "That Which I Have Lost", "Teardrops" and "All Those Years Ago" were "certainly more commercial but were also more throwaway and unbalanced than Harrison's original vision of the album".[9] AllMusic's Lindsay Palmer called it a "biting satire that relates the difficulty the former Beatle was concurrently having with his record company" and goes on to state that it "became one of the submitted alternates. The lyrics that accompany the bopping and otherwise affable midtempo melody were nothing short of a stab at the age-old 'artist versus suits' dilemma".[2] Author Peter Doggett called it "an assault on the shortsightedness of record executives".[10] Author Andrew Jackson Grant called it "bitter".[11] Far Out Magazine said that it was a "last-ditch attempt to jump on the funk bandwagon that was popular in England at that time."[12]
Personnel
editAccording to Simon Leng[3]
- George Harrison – vocal, guitar
- Herbie Flowers – bass
- Dave Mattacks – drums, percussion
- Mike Moran – keyboards
References
edit- ^ Clayson, pp. 380–381.
- ^ a b ""Blood from a Clone" by George Harrison – Track Info". AllMusic. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
- ^ a b Leng, p. 218.
- ^ Inglis, p. 73.
- ^ "The song George Harrison wrote hating his label". Far Out. 18 June 2023. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
- ^ Kordosh, J. (December 1987). "Fab! Gear! The George Harrison Interview". CREEM | The Complete Archive. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
- ^ Tanenbaum, Ross (5 May 2023). "The Song George Harrison Wrote After One of His Albums Was Rejected". Showbiz Cheat Sheet. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
- ^ "Why George Harrison Recorded on the Day of John Lennon's Death". Far Out. 9 May 2023. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
- ^ Huntley, p. 179.
- ^ Doggett, p. 267.
- ^ Jackson, p. 227.
- ^ "Ranking all George Harrison albums from worst to best". Far Out. 31 January 2022. Retrieved 26 November 2023.
Sources
edit- Alan Clayson, George Harrison, Sanctuary (London, 2003; ISBN 1-86074-489-3).
- Peter Doggett, You Never Give Me Your Money: The Beatles After the Breakup, It Books (New York, NY, 2011; ISBN 978-0-06-177418-8).
- Elliot J. Huntley, Mystical One: George Harrison – After the Break-up of the Beatles, Guernica Editions (Toronto, ON, 2006; ISBN 1-55071-197-0).
- Ian Inglis, The Words and Music of George Harrison, Praeger (Santa Barbara, CA, 2010; ISBN 978-0-313-37532-3).
- Andrew Grant Jackson, Still the Greatest: The Essential Solo Beatles Songs, Scarecrow Press (Lanham, MD, 2012; ISBN 978-0-8108-8222-5).
- Simon Leng, While My Guitar Gently Weeps: The Music of George Harrison, Hal Leonard (Milwaukee, WI, 2006; ISBN 1-4234-0609-5).