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"The Light That Has Lighted the World" is a song by English musician George Harrison released on his 1973 album ''Living in the Material World''. It is viewed as a statement on Harrison's discomfort with the attention afforded him as an ex-Beatle and features a prominent contribution from English session pianist Nicky Hopkins, along with a highly regarded slide guitar solo from Harrison. Around the time it was recorded, in late 1972, "The Light That Has Lighted the World" was rumoured to be the title track of the forthcoming album. Harrison originally intended it as a song for English singer Cilla Black, whose version of his 1970 composition "When Every Song Is Sung" he produced before starting work on ''Living in the Material World''. An early acoustic demo of the song, a solo performance by Harrison, appeared as the closing track on the 2012 compilation ''Early Takes: Volume 1'' compilation. Whether intentionally or not, "The Light That Has Lighted the World" is an approximation of a verse from the Bible (John 8:12): "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." ==Background and composition== In early August 1972, in between overseeing the UK release of Saul Swimmer's ''Concert for Bangladesh'' documentary and heading up to Liverpool to catch Ravi Shankar's recital at the Philharmonic Hall,〔Badman, pp. 79, 80.〕 George Harrison tried recording "When Every Song Is Sung", a ballad from the ''All Things Must Pass'' era, as a single for Cilla Black.〔Clayson, p. 332.〕〔("'I'll Still Love You (When Every Song Is Sung)' – a 'lost' song penned for Cilla by George Harrison receives May 2003 release" ), CillaBlack.com, 1 April 2003 (retrieved 13 March 2012).〕 Although the project was not completed, just like Harrison's attempt to record the same song with Ronnie Spector the year before,〔〔Madinger & Easter, pp. 434, 440.〕 he later decided to write a B-side for her, which would become "The Light That Has Lighted the World".〔Harrison, p. 268.〕〔Kevin Howlett, booklet accompanying ''Living in the Material World'' reissue (EMI Records, 2006; produced by Dhani & Olivia Harrison).〕 In his autobiography, ''I, Me, Mine'', Harrison explains that the lyrics dealt with the "Local boy/girl makes good" phenomenon, where the public initially supports someone who achieves success yet are then disapproving if fame or success changes that person.〔 Both he and Black were from Liverpool and had become famous quickly, after which many people considered their personalities had changed〔Inglis, p. 39.〕 – a common link that Harrison thought of basing the intended B-side around.〔 After he had come up with the opening two lines, however, the theme soon evolved into something more personal.〔Spizer, p. 254.〕 At the 27 July 1971 press conference preceding the Bangladesh concerts,〔Badman, p. 43.〕 Harrison had admitted he was "flattered" and "honour()" to be receiving the same attention and acclaim once reserved for the Beatles.〔''The Concert for Bangladesh Revisited with George Harrison and Friends'' DVD, Apple Corps, 2005 (directed by Claire Ferguson; produced by Olivia Harrison, Jonathan Clyde & Jo Human).〕〔Pieper, p. 26.〕 A year later, though, his words to "The Light That Has Lighted the World" were a plea for freedom from public scrutiny regarding his Beatle past, musical biographer Simon Leng writes, to allow him to "pursue his spiritual quest" unencumbered by the weight of others' expectations.〔Leng, p. 128.〕 This negative scrutiny Harrison found "''hateful to anyone that is happy or 'free' ''", the lyrics continue, while he targets its purveyors as living "''their lives without looking to see / The light that has lighted the world.''" Harrison argues in ''I Me Mine'' that things can never stay the same – "the whole of life is a change: from the morning to the evening, from spring to winter ... from birth to death ..."〔 This viewpoint is reflected in the song's second verse, where he bemoans those who make a point of resisting change,〔 "''As if nature itself, they'd prefer rearranged''", because for them, "''there's so little chance to experience soul''". The song ends more optimistically, with his declaration:〔 Instead of giving the track to Cilla Black, Harrison used it for his own album, ''Living in the Material World'',〔 recording for which began in October 1972.〔 While analysing the song's lyrics, Leng opines that, like "Who Can See It", "The Light That Has Lighted the World" betrays Harrison's tendency towards "internalization of world events", and the fact that he wrote these words while still in his twenties is a "testament to the sheer psychological pressure" of the Beatles experience and superstardom generally.〔Leng, pp. 127–28, 129–30.〕 At its core, Leng suggests, the song is asking: "What right do you have to inspect me, just because I made a few records?"〔 "He didn't like celebrity," Elton John observed of Harrison in a 2002 Rolling Stone Press tribute book. "I think he'd had enough by 1970 to last three lifetimes ... He found something worth more than fame, more than fortune, more than anything."〔The Editors of ''Rolling Stone'', pp. 232–33.〕 In her introductory piece to the same publication, written two months after his death, Olivia Harrison quoted from the words to "The Light That Has Lighted the World" as an example of her late husband providing the "live background music to our lives": "If I played three chords on the uke (compulsory instrument in our home), he would be my band. George was so generous and 'grateful to anyone that is happy or free.' A good moment to him was always worth making better."〔Olivia Harrison, "A Few Words About George", in The Editors of ''Rolling Stone'', p. 11.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「The Light That Has Lighted the World」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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