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}} "What Is Life" is a song by English musician George Harrison, released on his 1970 triple album ''All Things Must Pass''. In many countries, it was issued as the second single from the album, in February 1971, becoming a top-ten hit in the United States, Canada and elsewhere, and topping singles charts in Australia and Switzerland. In the United Kingdom, "What Is Life" appeared as the B-side to "My Sweet Lord", which was the best-selling single there of 1971. Harrison's backing musicians on the song include Eric Clapton and the entire Delaney & Bonnie Friends band, with whom he had toured during the final months of the Beatles. Harrison co-produced the recording with Phil Spector, whose Wall of Sound production also employed a prominent string arrangement by John Barham and multiple acoustic rhythm guitars, played by Harrison's fellow Apple Records signings Badfinger. An uptempo composition in the soul genre, "What Is Life" is one of several Harrison love songs that appear to be directed at both a woman and a deity. Harrison wrote the song in 1969 and originally intended it as a track for his friend and Apple protégé Billy Preston to record. Built around a descending guitar riff, it is one of Harrison's most popular compositions and was a regular inclusion in his live performances. ''Rolling Stone'' magazine has variously described it as a "classic"〔 and an "exultant song of surrender".〔 "What Is Life" has appeared in the soundtrack for feature films such as ''Goodfellas'' (1990), ''Patch Adams'' (1998), ''Big Daddy'' (1999) and ''This Is 40'' (2012). Harrison's original recording was included on the compilations ''The Best of George Harrison'' and ''Let It Roll'', and live versions appear on his album ''Live in Japan'' (1992) and in Martin Scorsese's 2011 documentary ''George Harrison: Living in the Material World''. In 1972, Olivia Newton-John had a UK hit with her version of the song. Ronnie Aldrich, the Ventures, the Four Freshmen and Shawn Mullins are among the other artists who have covered the track. ==Background and composition== Even before his temporary departure from the Beatles in January 1969 (documented in the song "Wah-Wah"),〔Rodriguez, p. 379.〕 their Apple Records label was an "emancipating force" for Harrison from the creative restrictions imposed on him within the band, according to his musical biographer, Simon Leng.〔Leng, pp. 55, 85.〕 In his "definitive" article on ''All Things Must Pass'' for ''Mojo'' magazine, John Harris has written of Harrison's "journey" as a solo artist beginning in November 1968 – when he spent time in Woodstock with Bob Dylan and the Band – and incorporating a series of other collaborations through the following eighteen months, including various Apple projects and a support role on Delaney & Bonnie and Friends' brief European tour.〔Harris, pp. 68–73.〕 One of these projects, carried out intermittently from April to July 1969,〔Castleman & Podrazik, p. 80.〕 was his production of ''That's the Way God Planned It'', an album by Billy Preston, whom Harrison had met during the Beatles' Hamburg years and had recently recruited to guest on the band's troubled ''Get Back'' sessions.〔Jim Irvin, "Close to the Edge", ''Mojo'', December 2003, p. 82.〕〔("Encouraging Words" ), Apple Records (retrieved 16 February 2012).〕 It was while driving up to a Preston session in London from his home in Esher, Surrey, that Harrison came up with the song "What Is Life".〔Spizer, p. 222.〕 In his autobiography, ''I, Me, Mine'', Harrison describes it as having been written "very quickly" and recalls that he thought it would be a perfect, "catchy pop song" for Preston to record.〔George Harrison, p. 162.〕 His lyrics, while simple, were similarly uplifting and universal:〔Inglis, p. 26.〕〔 These lyrics have caused some debate among biographers and music critics, as to whether "What Is Life" should be viewed as a straightforward love song – perhaps a "lovingly crafted paen" to Harrison's wife Pattie, as Alan Clayson puts it〔Clayson, p. 298.〕 – or a devotional song like many of Harrison's compositions.〔〔Allison, p. 158.〕 Ian Inglis writes that the song title suggests a "philosophical debate about the meaning of life", yet its rendering as "''what is my life''" in the choruses "reshapes (meaning ) completely".〔 Theologian Dale Allison finds no religious content in "What Is Life" but notes the "failure of words to express feelings" implied in the opening line ("''What I feel, I can't say''"), a recurring theme of Harrison's spiritual songs such as "That Is All", "Mystical One" and "Pisces Fish".〔Allison, pp. 124, 158.〕 Joshua Greene, another religious academic, identifies the song as part of its parent album's "intimately detailed account of a spiritual journey": where "Awaiting on You All" shows Harrison "convinced of his union with God", "What Is Life" reveals him to be "uncertain that he deserved such divine favor".〔Greene, p. 181.〕 The song's second verse repeats what Inglis refers to as the "somewhat confusing promise" from Harrison (in lines 3 and 4) should his love be "rejected":〔 Musically, Simon Leng describes "What Is Life" as "Motown-spiced" and a comparatively rare example of its composer's willingness to embrace the role of "entertainer" in his songwriting.〔Leng, pp. 87–88.〕 In ''I Me Mine'', Harrison recalls that he changed his mind about offering "What Is Life" to Preston once he'd arrived at Olympic Studios and found the singer busy working on more typical material – or "playing his funky stuff" as Harrison puts it.〔〔 Rather than attempt it with the Beatles during the band's concurrent ''Abbey Road'' sessions, he stockpiled the track with his many other unused songs from the period – "All Things Must Pass", "Let It Down", "I'd Have You Anytime" and "Run of the Mill" among them〔The Editors of ''Rolling Stone'', p. 187.〕 – and revisited it a year later, after completing work on Preston's second Apple album, ''Encouraging Words''.〔Madinger & Easter, p. 426.〕 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「What Is Life」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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