George Harrison - This Song

(Dark Horse, 1976)

Well, the weather’s gloomy and so am I. Spent yesterday inside listening to a few hours of the “Best Show” archives, and then sat in my office until about 11pm tonight half-heartedly following baseball action before trudging out into the rain. Depressing. Consider these my Torpor Memos (haw haw). Anyway, what I’m doing a terrible job of hinting at is the fact that this is NOT a time during which I’m likely to feel charitable towards the Thirty-Three and 1/3 album, which is a collection of peppy, bland soft-rock dressed up in grotesque synths and saxes. “This Song,” the record’s minor hit and Harrison’s commentary on the “My Sweet Lord” plagiarism lawsuit, isn’t nearly as clever as it (or its video) seems to think it is, with Eric Idle’s embarrassing vocal cameo (delivered in Python-esque lady-squawk) simply underscoring that this is a novelty single with a puzzlingly high opinion of its own wit. And, while catchy enough – especially when compared to its dire, sleep-inducing, mid-tempo, smooth-n-sensitive-’70s-man B-side “Learning How to Love You” – “This Song” marks a nadir in George’s frustrating love of prominent saxophone tootery, subjecting the listener to gales of gaudy blowin’ atop the boogie piano. Ugh. Heck, even the sleeve is hideous. Skip the single, skip the album. Not the best start for Harrison on his new label.