All Those Years Ago

A hit for George Harrison in early 1981. Its lyrics were rewritten shortly after fellow Beatle John Lennon was murdered on December 8, 1980. It has fellow Beatles Paul McCartney on bass and Ringo Starr on drums. Technically, it's a 'Threetles' song since it has the three surviving Beatles on it. But since George wrote it, it's on his solo album 'Somewhere in England' and he sang lead on it and played guitar - it's considered to be a George Harrison solo song. Collaborations between the fellow Beatles on each others' solo albums are pretty common and continue to this very day. The video shows clips from Beatles movies.

'All Those Years Ago' is a tribute to the late John Lennon. It went to #2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart and it scored significantly elsewhere. At the same time there were other tributes to John and the Beatles. The Dutch studio group STARS ON 45 had a Number One hit all over the world with a dance medley of mostly Beatles covers (it even made it in Communist East Germany, imagine that!). The influential Roxy Music scored their only Number One with their cover of Lennon's 'Jealous Guy'. Lennon's 'Imagine' hit the top in the UK. Lennon himself hit Number One posthumously. There would be other 'tribute' songs by Elton John, fellow Beatle Paul, Pink Floyd, and others during the next few years.

by I Saw U2 Live Twice January 16, 2024

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