News The Meaning Behind “Blow Away” by George Harrison and How It Helped Revitalize His Solo Career
It’s fair to say the two high points of George Harrison‘s solo career were All Things Must Pass, his first post-Beatles solo release, and Cloud Nine, his incredible 1987 comeback. But he delivered a lot of good stuff in between, if admittedly on a less consistent basis. His 1979 single “Blow Away,” for just one example, stands out as a breezy, thoughtful gem.
What was the song about? What inspired Harrison to write it? And how did it bring him back into the world of songwriting and recording at a time when he’d largely abandoned it? Well, to paraphrase “Blow Away,” all you got to do is read on and find out.
A Beatle on a Break
John Lennon wasn’t the only ex-Beatle to take a little break from the album-making grind in the late ’70s. George Harrison largely walked away from the music world for a two-year period as well. After releasing four albums in a four-year stretch, ending with Thirty Three & 1/3 in 1976, the Quiet Beatle lived up to his name by not releasing anything until his self-titled 1979 album, for which “Blow Away” was chosen as lead single.
Why the layoff? Well, Harrison had become a bit fed up with the scene. He never enjoyed the promotional aspects of the record-making process. And he didn’t feel the urge to tour, especially after his earlier ’70s live shows led him to get a bit carried away with excess (and caused his infamous “Dark Hoarse” period when his voice was shot).
Harrison used the time off to dive into a new hobby of his: auto racing. He became good friends with British driving legend Jackie Stewart and followed the racing tour around for a while. As a matter of fact, Harrison might not have found his way back into music so quickly, if not for a bad mood caused by a rainy day, as he explained in an interview with Rolling Stone in 1979:
The third verse presents a man completely transformed: Breezes a-singing, now feeling good / The moment had passed like I knew that it would. “Blow Away” displayed George Harrison delivering his cosmic worldview in succinct fashion, three-verse-and-a-chorus fashion. And he knew whereof he sang, considering the song was a byproduct of a particularly transformative experience in his own life.
