The Story and Meaning Behind "What Is Life," the Classic that George Harrison Nearly Gave Away
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.
Meaning Behind “You’re in My Heart' by Rod Stewart and the Famous Girl Who Inspired It
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:
Source: Jim Beviglia/americansongwriter.com
