Dark Horse (George Harrison song)

1974 song by George Harrison

"Dark Horse" is a song by English rock musician George Harrison and the title track to his 1974 solo album on Apple Records. The song was the album's lead single in North America, becoming a top 20 hit in the United States, but it was Harrison's first single not to chart in Britain when issued there in February 1975. The term "dark horse" had long been applied to Harrison due to his unexpected emergence as the most accomplished solo artist of the four former Beatles following the band's break up in 1970. In the song, however, he said he used the phrase in reference to gossip about someone who carries out clandestine sexual relationships. Commentators interpret the lyrics as a rebuttal to several possible detractors: Harrison's first wife, Pattie Boyd; reviewers who criticised the spiritual content of his 1973 album Living in the Material World; and his former bandmates John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Harrison named his Dark Horse record label after the song, and his 1974 North American tour with Ravi Shankar came to be known as the Dark Horse Tour. Harrison taped an early version of "Dark Horse" in November 1973, intending to finish this recording for the album. The officially released version was recorded live on a sound stage in Los Angeles during rehearsals for his 1974 concerts, at a time when Harrison's exhaustion through overwork contributed to him contracting laryngitis and losing his voice. His hoarse singing similarly marred the ensuing tour – the first in the US by a member of the Beatles since 1966 – leading to a critical backlash that was reflected in contemporaneous reviews of Dark Horse. Some music critics have since recognised the song as one of Harrison's best post Beatles compositions and believe that the single would have achieved greater success with a cleaner vocal performance. The recording features a musical arrangement incorporating aspects of folk and jazz, and includes contributions from musicians such as Tom Scott, Jim Horn, Billy Preston, Willie Weeks and Andy Newmark. Harrison played "Dark Horse" throughout the 1974 tour and his 1991 Japanese tour with Eric Clapton. A live version appears on his 1992 album Live in Japan. Recordings also exist of Harrison performing the song during radio and television appearances in the 1970s, although none are available on official releases. The studio recording was included on the 1976 compilation The Best of George Harrison. The 2014 Apple Years reissue of Dark Horse includes an acoustic demo of the song, which Harrison recorded in 1974 before the onset of laryngitis.

George Harrison wrote "Dark Horse" in 1973, having emerged as the unexpected front runner, or dark horse, among the former members of the Beatles. His ascendancy had begun before the group's break up in 1970, with his two song contributions to their 1969 album Abbey Road. Although his 1973 album Living in the Material World had divided music critics due to its overt religiosity, he was still widely viewed as the most accomplished solo artist of the four former bandmates. Harrison said the term "dark horse" was an accurate description for him as "The one nobody's bothered to put any money on [to win]. That's me I guess. "|source= – George Harrison commenting on the song in I, Me, Mine (1980)|width=25%|align=left|style=padding:8px;
In a 1974 BBC Radio 1 interview with Alan Freeman, Harrison recalled starting to write the song at five o'clock one morning as he was on his way to bed. – where a dark horse was someone who carries out clandestine sexual relationships. In the same interview, he compared his personal life to the radio drama Mrs Dale's Diary but added that he did not need to read gossip published in magazines such as Rolling Stone and Woman's Own, written by people who "think they know something" about him, when he was fully aware of his transgressions. In that context, he summed up the song's message as "I'll admit my sins or failings, as long as you all admit to yours too." Biographer Elliot Huntley describes "Dark Horse" as a song that addresses "people's perceptions" of Harrison. In November, Faces guitarist Ron Wood told the press that he and Boyd were having an affair, which Harrison dismissed in a statement the next day, and Harrison conducted an affair with Wood's wife. Harrison later described his behaviour during their final years together as "the naughty period, 1973−74". In addition, Harrison was reportedly stung by the criticism of the overt Vaishnava Hindu spirituality in his music. His purchase of Bhaktivedanta Manor in early 1973, as a UK headquarters for the Hare Krishna movement, led to ridicule in the British press. In his 1974 Dark Horse Radio Special interview, recorded with Nicky Horne of Capital Radio, Harrison dismissed his reputation as the "weird mystical ex Beatle, the gentle giant of pop" as media misrepresentation. Theologian Dale Allison writes that Harrison's comments on "Dark Horse" in his 1980 autobiography, I, Me, Mine, are as "obscure" as the song's lyrics. He adds that the lyrics lack religious imagery, and suggest instead either a song to Boyd about adultery or a message to detractors regarding his public image.

"Dark Horse" is in 4/4 time throughout. The composition consists of three verses and choruses, with a chord based guitar riff introducing each verse, Its musical key is B major in the verses, while the chords over the choruses suggest both G major and A major. The melody is thereby transposed so that the guitar riff is played over A7 and E7 chords. as do music journalists Nick Hasted and Lindsay Planer. In Leng's description, "Dark Horse" shows its composer addressing his critics by creating a "new persona". "This 'George' is a man one step ahead of his detractors," Leng continues, "triumphing with quicker feet and better gags. Commentators try to pin his character down at peril, for he is likely to change and take the least expected course." In the song's choruses, Harrison declares himself "a dark horse" on "a dark race course", "a blue moon", and a "cool jerk" who is "Looking for the source". Like Planer, Inglis recognises Harrison's former bandmates John Lennon and Paul McCartney as another possible target of his scorn. The sessions that month, which included contributions from Ringo Starr, Jim Keltner, Klaus Voormann and Gary Wright, marked the start of recording for his Dark Horse album. This early version is slower in tempo and more relaxed than the official release. In early 1974, Harrison included the song, along with rough mixes of "Ding Dong, Ding Dong" and recordings by Splinter and Ravi Shankar, on a tape he compiled for David Geffen, the head of Asylum Records in Los Angeles. At the time, with the Beatles' Apple record label being wound down, Harrison was looking for a way to release these projects. "Dark Horse" provided the name for the record label he subsequently founded, Dark Horse Records, Shankar and Splinter were the first acts signed to the label. Harrison then announced that he would be touring North America in November and December. Intended to promote Dark Horse Records, the tour featured Shankar as co headliner and it was the first US tour by a member of the Beatles since 1966.

By October, when he arrived in Los Angeles to prepare for the tour, a combination of Harrison's business commitments, his dedication to projects by Shankar and Splinter, and a lifestyle that Leng terms "one drink too many, too frequently" meant that production on Dark Horse was severely behind schedule. His personal life continued to be the source of public intrigue. Boyd left Harrison for his friend Eric Clapton in July and he holidayed with model Kathy Simmons the following month; in addition, rumours had reached the US about Harrison having an affair with Starr's wife, Maureen Starkey. Harrison recorded a version of the Everly Brothers' 1957 hit "Bye Bye Love" for Dark Horse, with new lyrics that wished Boyd and Clapton happiness while also stating that he "threw them both out". Along with speculation about the Beatles, Harrison's marriage was among the issues raised by reporters at his pre tour press conference in Los Angeles, on 23 October. Harrison stated that his new album was "like Peyton Place" and would reveal all the details regarding his private life.|source= – The Valley Advocate, reporting on Harrison's pre tour press conference|width=25%|align=right|style=padding:8px;
Starting on 15 October, In the evenings, he added vocals and other overdubs to some of the tracks recorded at Friar Park. Already exhausted through overwork before arriving in Los Angeles, Harrison lost his voice during the rehearsals and contracted laryngitis. The effects were especially evident on "Dark Horse". Harrison and his tour band – which included Tom Scott, Billy Preston, Willie Weeks and Andy Newmark – recorded the track live on a sound stage at A&M in late October, a few days before the opening concert on 2 November. Norm Kinney engineered the session. Lon and Derrek Van Eaton, who, like Preston, were a former Apple act now signed with A&M Records, overdubbed backing vocals soon afterwards. Harrison described his lead vocal on the song as sounding like the singer Louis Armstrong; he later told reporters that he quite liked the result. According to Newmark, however, Harrison was concerned about how concert goers would react to his shot vocals. Keltner, Harrison's regular drummer, provided hi hats, supporting Newmark's beat. It was one of only three tracks from Dark Horse that Harrison performed during the tour. The single was available in a white sleeve on which the song lyrics and a large dot appeared in blue print. before disappearing from the chart altogether two weeks later. In Canada, where the tour had begun on 2 November, The single failed to place on the UK Singles Chart, then just a top 50. It was Harrison's first single to miss the UK chart and the second by a former Beatle, after Starr's "Snookeroo", released shortly before "Dark Horse". "Dark Horse" appeared as the second track on side two of the LP, between "Ding Dong, Ding Dong", the album's other single, and the soul inflected "Far East Man". In his handwritten sleeve notes, Harrison lists A&M Records secretary and future wife Olivia Arias among the participating musicians, her contribution being "Blissed out". and Arias became his constant companion on the tour. "Dark Horse" appeared on the 1976 Capitol compilation The Best of George Harrison but it was omitted from the posthumous, career spanning Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison in 2009. Having last been remastered for Dark Horses debut release on CD, in January 1992, the song was remastered for inclusion on Harrison's Apple Years 1968–75 reissues, released in September 2014.

On release, Billboard magazine described "Dark Horse" as "a pleasing, acoustic flavored cut" with an "instantly catchy sound that should satisfy AM listeners and more 'critical' fans", adding that the use of flutes "spices [up]" the recording. The following month, the same magazine's album review referred to Harrison "riding high" with the title track and found "lots of FM potential" in the songs on Dark Horse. Cash Box said the song had "a strange lyric line that could be a metaphor for a lot of things even a record company" and commented on Harrison's "very melodic vocal and fine arrangement". Record World said that Harrison "makes a triumphant return astride yet another metaphysical masterpiece." With the US release coming two weeks into Harrison's high profile tour with Shankar, much of the critical reaction there to "Dark Horse" centred on the perilous state of Harrison's voice. his way through Beatles classics such as "Something" and "In My Life". Discussing this period of Harrison's career in an article for Mojo, in November 2014, Mat Snow writes that "George's '70s honeymoon with the public was over"; it also resulted in a critical backlash after his successes since 1970. In a highly unfavourable review of the album, for Rolling Stone, Jim Miller quoted the chorus of the title track to illustrate his point that the singer's "quest for illumination populates his lyrics with sermons and awkward mea culpas". Miller added that "thanks to Harrison's no voice and stilted lyrics, ['Dark Horse'] quite fails to evoke the self confident master of 'My Sweet Lord' or even 'Living in the Material World.'" Reviewing the album for the NME, Bob Woffinden took exception to Harrison's lyrics, ridiculing "Dark Horse" as "a putdown of Patti [Boyd], an affirmation of Harrison's male chauvinism – he was on top of the game all through". Among more favourable reviews, Michael Gross of Circus Raves defended the Harrison–Shankar tour as having been "plagued by untrue press reports [while] creating a new, unbounded music that defied labelling as easily as the men involved defied national boundaries". Gross wrote that "Dark Horse" "brings back memories of The White Album, as Chuck Findlay, Jim Horn and Scott dart through the intricate melody on flutes". In Melody Maker, Brian Harrigan found Harrison's gruff vocal a bonus, writing that he "coaxes a tremendous amount from his normally unimpressive voice" and sings "particularly well" on the title track. Harrigan highlighted "Dark Horse" as "easily the strongest number on the album", with Newmark and Preston "playing up a storm". Reviewing the single for the same publication, Colin Irwin gave it a "hit" prediction and described it as the "Best single for quite a long time from the galloping guru", with Harrison sounding "like a latter day Dylan wailing above an easy going backing that includes some attractive guitar and a crisp rhythm". In their 1975 book The Beatles: An Illustrated Record, NME critics Roy Carr and Tony Tyler approved of Harrison's husky singing on "Dark Horse", saying it was "definitely a style to pursue". Nicholas Schaffner, writing in The Beatles Forever, opined that "Dark Horse" could have been one of Harrison's most successful singles had he "only waited to recoup his voice before committing it to tape".

Writing for Rolling Stone in 2002, Greg Kot took issue with Harrison's strained vocal and viewed the song as "continu[ing] in the condescending autobiographical vein" of Material World tracks such as "The Light That Has Lighted the World". Conversely, author Alan Clayson has written of the song's "sandpapery appeal", with the lead vocal "a not unattractive cross between McCartney and Rod Stewart". Writing for Rough Guides, Chris Ingham describes it as one of the album's three best tracks, saying that Harrison "gamely struggles with a shot to pieces throat to deliver a pleasingly gruff vocal". Simon Leng considers "Dark Horse" to be a "jaunty and pleasing hit" and one of Harrison's best compositions, but rues that Harrison did not marry up his vocal from an earlier, bluesy demo with the backing he subsequently recorded in Los Angeles. Leng adds that the song would surely have been a bigger hit without a vocal that sounded "like the torments of a man swallowing razor blades". Dale Allison also subscribes to this view, This coupling would have provided Harrison with the necessary product to promote on tour, Huntley continues, without "temporarily derailing [his career] at full speed". Reviewing Harrison's 2014 Apple Years reissues for the Chicago Tribune, Mark Caro describes "Dark Horse" as "one of [Harrison's] most sublime creations despite his dark hoarse vocals". Paul Trynka, in a review for Classic Rock, deems it "a fine song marred by George's voice, tired, worn and sapped of its usual sweetness". Nick Hasted of Uncut bemoans that the song's "growled vocal" "squanders its brisk, appealing tune", and he describes Harrison's persona as a "mean, Jumping Jack Flash style alias" singing verses that "lash out at his ex".

Harrison performed the song throughout both the 1974 tour and his 1991 Japanese tour with Eric Clapton, his only other tour as a solo artist. He also recorded "Dark Horse" several before and after the officially released studio version. The tape sent to David Geffen, including the slower take from the November 1973 sessions and "Ding Dong", became available on bootleg compilations

The 2014 Apple Years reissue of Dark Horse includes a previously unreleased version of "Dark Horse". it features Harrison on vocals and acoustic guitar, with added backing vocals. refn|group=nb|The performance ends with what Hasted describes as Harrison "half jokingly" muttering: "So fucking watch it." While viewing "Dark Horse" as "a great personal theme song of sorts" for Harrison, Blogcritics' Chaz Lipp considers his lead vocal on this "excellent demo" to be an improvement. Trynka similarly writes that this version "puts things right", with Harrison's vocal "impassioned, but subtle". In addition to discussing the song, Harrison provided forthright opinions. He enthused about Clapton and Shankar, jokingly referred to John Lennon as "a saint" and "such a bastard", and claimed that Paul McCartney had "ruined" him as a guitar player. The interview, which begins with Harrison's performance of "Dark Horse",

In what Leng terms a "safe" setlist for his 1991 Japanese tour with Clapton, Harrison's inclusion of "Dark Horse" provided a rare example of a song from his post All Things Must Pass work from the 1970s. His performance of the song from the 11 December show at Osaka's Castle Hall appears on the Live in Japan double album, released in July 1992. It was also one of five tracks selected by Warner Bros. Records for the promotional CD Live in Japan Sampler. In Huntley's view, it was "a joy" to hear this live version, as "Unencumbered by problems with his throat, the catchiness of 'Dark Horse' positively shines through."