One of the songs from George Harrison‘s All Things Must Pass was inspired by Yoko Ono screaming while filming the documentary Let It Be. George explained how the headache Yoko gave him influenced some of his lyrics. In addition, George revealed why the Let It Be era was strange for him.
1 song from George Harrison’s ‘All Things Must Pass’ was inspired by an argument
The book George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters features an interview from 1977. In it, he discussed the origin of “Wah-Wah” from All Things Must Pass. “That was the song — when I left during the Let It Be movie, there’s a scene where Paul and I are having an argument … and we’re trying to cover it up,” he recalled.
“Then the next scene I’m not there and Yoko’s just screaming, doing her screeching number,” he added. “Well, that’s where I’d left, and I went home and wrote ‘Wah-Wah.’ It’d given me a wah-wah, like I had such a headache with that whole argument, it was such a headache.”
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George Harrison said The Beatles’ ‘Let It Be’ era gave him ‘weird vibes’
In the same interview, George discussed the awkwardness of the Let It Be era. “I got back to England for Christmas and then on January the first we were to start on the thing which turned into Let It Be,” he said. “And straightaway again, it was just weird vibes.
“You know, I found I was starting to be able to enjoy being a musician, but the moment I got back to The Beatles, it was just too difficult,” George recalled. “There were too many limitations based upon our being together for so long. Everybody was sort of pigeonholed. It was frustrating.”
George said he didn’t like that John Lennon and Paul McCartney prioritized their songs over his. They would go through 10 of their songs before listening to one of George’s. The “My Sweet Lord” singer revealed All Things Must Pass was so long because he had a backlog of material that The Beatles didn’t record.
How ‘Wah-Wah’ and ‘All Things Must Pass’ performed on the pop charts
“Wah-Wah” was never a single, so it did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100. The tune’s parent album, All Things Must Pass, was George’s most prominent solo album in the United States. It topped the Billboard 200 for seven weeks, spending 41 weeks on the chart in total.
The Official Charts Company says “Wah-Wah” did not chart in the United Kingdom either. On the other hand, All Things Must Pass was No. 1 there and remained on the chart for 32 weeks. All Things Must Pass lasted longer on the U.K. chart than any of George’s other albums.
“Wah-Wah” is an awesome album track and it wouldn’t be the same without Yoko’s trademarked screeching.
