Balarama Music

Originals Week: To Do It First Child

Jun 02

Doug1960s george harrison, james ray, originals week, the beatles No Comments

Up until now we’ve been dealing with songs that were mostly covered on top of each other. Aretha covered Otis two years later. The Monkees covered Neil Diamond directly after he recorded it. Why don’t we bridge the gap a bit and also discuss one of the best bands of all time, shall we?

The Beatles.

Everyone knows the story of the dynamic of the group, but this is pivotal to the point of this song so let’s discuss it again briefly and kind of haphazardly. The band was Paul and John. That’s pretty much it. Ringo was a media darling, did a good job making recognizable drumbeats part of rock music, and mostly expand the role of the drummer in the band. George Harrison pushed them into new genres and kept his lead guitar a signature sound of The Fab Four. But in the end, it was the songs that made The Beatles great and Paul & John were the driving force behind that. It’s not like they didn’t let the others try: Harrison had at least one track of his on most of The Beatles albums and Ringo eventually scored with two, one of which became a better known Beatles song. But in the end, it was the Paul & John songs that sold the records and had the critics in awe. Imagine then who had the pull in the band? If John came up with an idea for a song, do you think they would go for it? Of course! If George did? Probably not so much. Now, this is not the way it went down for them, but it’s a rough sketch to get my point across.

So enter The Beatles early in their career. George hasn’t even done anything at this point to warrant them to pay attention. The man’s songs are, at this point, regarded as the low point on the albums to be blunt. How seriously are they going to take him? But in 1963, the music-sponge traveled to America to visit his sister and got a copy of James Ray’s album, which contained the minor hits “If You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody” and “Itty Bitty Pieces.” Through all the good tracks on the album though, it was one that made Harrison want to listen over and over again. It was one that he just adored. One he loved so much, he thought he’d take the song to the group to see if they would like to record it despite their usual response. Sure enough, like the recording of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” years later, the idea was met with apathy and rumored laughter from Paul. Sadly, I think George was used to this occurrence by this point.

However, he remembered the song throughout his career. There are certain interviews with George’s take on American soul music and he repeatedly brings up the song and artist. But it wasn’t until his 1987 comeback album that he decided to cover it. You know the album, I’ve already talked about it here and talked about the one song that brought George Harrison back to the spotlight and made his album a success. That’s right: his comeback song.

Don’t act like you don’t know the song. It would take tiiiiiiiiiiiiime to explain it; a whole lot of precious time. Actually, it’s going to take patience and time…to do it, to do it, to do it, to do it, to do it, to do it right child.

That’s right. “Got My Mind Set On You.” The song Harrison is known most for and the breakaway pop hit of 1987 was originally done in a completely different setting, tone, and style. George Harrison’s version is clearly superior and it’s amazing to see how he re-worked the song, but on the flip side, it’s always cool to see how it once was…

Song:I’ve Got My Mind Set On You
Artist: James Ray
Album: I’ve Got My Mind Set On You (Single)
Year: 1963

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