1975 George Harrison – Dark Horse

1975 George Harrison – Dark Horse

George Harrison released two solo albums while the Beatles were still recording together. The songs on the albums were primarily instrumentals. Once the Beatles broke up and began releasing non-Beatles albums, George released a three-album set that included the biggest single of his career, My Sweet Lord. The number one single Give Me Love came from the following album.

In 1974, George released the album Dark Horse. He released the title song as the first single from the album in the US and as his second single from the album in the UK.

The single peaked at #15 on the Hot 100 in the US. When the single finally got released in the UK three months later, it became the first of George’s singles that completely missed reaching the UK chart. It would be 1981 before he released another top ten single in the US and 1987 before he did that well again in the UK.

The song is open to multiple interpretations. A dark horse is one that appears to be overlooked but later rises to success. The beginning of the song appears to refer to his deteriorating relationship with his wife (Patty Boyd) but the lyrics conclude with a verse that might well have addressed Paul and John.

Perhaps George had thought of himself as a dark horse for a long time; in the video for Penny Lane, while the other three Beatles rode white horses, George rode a dark horse.