Harrison’s music touches on contemporary feeling
By Daily Bruin Staff
Dec. 2, 2001 9:00 p.m.
 Jonah Lalas Lalas is a fourth-year
international development studies and political science student,
who urges you to question your assumptions. E-mail him at [email protected]. Click
Here for more articles by Jonah Lalas
When George Harrison wrote songs, he always said what was on his
mind. In songs like “Taxman,” where he expressed his
contempt for the English government and their exorbitant taxes, and
“Piggies,” which describes his disgust at establishment
figures and the police, he often demonstrated the ability to write
bitter and satirical songs, and his somber tones differentiated him
from the other Beatles. But two songs written by Harrison mean the
most to me: “I Me Mine” and “Here Comes the
Sun.”
“I Me Mine” was part of the “Let It Be”
album, which symbolized the break-up of the Beatles and best
describes the feeling of hostility and growing alienation from each
other. But it also represents the growing feeling of individualism
that accompanied the death of the 1960s’ spirit.
The song begins with an eerie guitar line in minor key signaling
the listener that this is not going to be a happy song. In a
desperate and weak voice, Harrison sings, “All through the
day I-me-mine, I-me-mine, I-me-mine.” Soon, “All
through the day” turns to “All through the night”
and by the end of the song, it reaches “All through your
life.” At certain points in the song, the familiar melody at
the beginning stops with the tapping of the cymbal. This is
followed by a change in rhythm as the song enters its contrasting
middle section where the music speeds up, the guitar sound becomes
more prominent and aggressive, and Harrison begins to scream over
and over, “I-me-me-mine, I-me-me mine.”
On the one hand, it describes how all of the members of the band
gradually grew farther apart as they developed new interests. Ringo
demonstrated a fascination for film. John Lennon was madly in love
with Yoko and began to play his own music. Paul developed a huge
interest in Linda Eastman and wanted a new manager. Meanwhile,
Harrison’s interest in Eastern philosophy and religion
gradually drew him away from the other members of the group, who
could not relate to his beliefs.
Yet this “I Me Mine” feeling began to take a
negative hold of the country at the same time the Beatles broke up
and America entered the 1970s. With the death of figures like
Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy in 1968, the election of
Richard Nixon, the rise of religious conservatism and the expansion
of U.S. bombing into Cambodia, many reactionary movements were
beginning to take form. Since then, the “I Me Mine”
attitude has dominated our culture of mass consumption, a culture
where the individual is valued over the collective. And as Harrison
repeats in the song, “No one is frightened of playing it,
everyone’s saying it.”
This “it” is this culture of individualism where
people would rather aim to make six-figure salaries without any
thought to those less privileged than them. This “it”
that “flows more freely than wine” is the greed that
drives people. “It” is the selfishness that drives the
student who seeks to use college as a means to become the next CEO
of a major company that profits off the backs of working people.
“It” is the individualism worshiped by Ayn Rand.
“It” is the “I Me Mine” attitude that
drives people to value an American life more than the life of a
person in another country. The song is a reminder of the bitterness
and disgust I sometimes feel.
But despite this, I am hopeful. There are people out there who
want to make a change and people on this campus who recognize as
privileged students, they have an obligation to work in the
interests of empowering others. This hope I hear in
Harrison’s voice in “Here Comes the Sun.” The
song begins with an optimistic tune that leads into
Harrison’s soft voice, which assures us that despite the
“long, lonely winter,” the potential for a better world
still exits.
There are union organizers in downtown, civil rights and human
rights advocates, feminists, queer activists, community coalitions
and critical students who want to make a difference. When I listen
to this song, I think of this and a smile comes to my face and I
know I am not alone. Harrison’s voice will continue to remind
me that the sun is coming and everything will be all right.
