"All Those Years Ago" is a song by English musician

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

, released in May 1981 as a single from his album '' Somewhere in England''. Having previously recorded the music for the song, Harrison tailored the lyrics to serve as a personal tribute to his former

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developme ...

bandmate John Lennon, following the latter's

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in 1980.

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

is featured on drums, and Paul McCartney (along with his Wings bandmates

Linda McCartney Linda Louise McCartney, Lady McCartney ( Eastman; September 24, 1941 – April 17, 1998) was an American photographer, musician, animal rights activist, vegetarian cookbook author and advocate, and entrepreneur. She was the keyboardist in th ...

and Denny Laine) overdubbed backing vocals onto the basic track. The single spent three weeks at number 2 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, behind " Bette Davis Eyes" by Kim Carnes, and it peaked at number 13 on the UK Singles Chart. It also topped Canada's ''

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'' singles chart and spent one week at number 1 on ''Billboard''s Adult Contemporary listings. "All Those Years Ago" was the first recording on which Harrison, McCartney and Starr all appeared since the Beatles' " I Me Mine" (1970), and their last recording together until " Free as a Bird" (1995). Other musicians performing on the track include Al Kooper and

Ray Cooper Raymond Cooper (born 19 September 1947) is an English musician who has worked as a session and road-tour percussionist. During his career, Cooper has worked and toured with numerous musically diverse bands and artists including Elton John (as ...

. The song has appeared on the Harrison compilations ''

Best of Dark Horse 1976–1989 ''Best of Dark Horse 1976–1989'' is a compilation album by English musician George Harrison, released in October 1989. His second compilation, after the Capitol/EMI collection ''The Best of George Harrison'' (1976), it contains songs from Harri ...

'' and '' Let It Roll'', and a live version recorded in 1991 with

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

was included on Harrison's '' Live in Japan'' double album. In 2010, AOL Radio listeners voted "All Those Years Ago" in sixth place on a list of the "10 Best George Harrison Songs". The track has been featured in the books ''1,001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die, and 10,001 You Must Download'' by Robert Dimery, and Bruce Pollock's ''The 7,500 Most Important Songs of 1944–2000''.

Origins

Prior to Lennon's death, Harrison originally wrote the song with different lyrics for

to record. Although he recorded it, Starr felt the vocal was too high for his range and disliked the lyrics. Harrison took the track back and, after Lennon's death, the lyrics were changed to reflect a tribute to him. In the song, Harrison makes reference to the Beatles song " All You Need Is Love" and the Lennon song " Imagine" ("you were the one who ''Imagined'' it all").

Band line-up

The recording of the song featured all three remaining

(Harrison, Starr and Paul McCartney), though this was expressly a Harrison single. It is one of only a few non-Beatles songs to feature three members of the band. Harrison and Starr recorded the song at Harrison's Friar Park studio between 19 November and 25 November 1980. The lineup was rounded out by Al Kooper on

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, Herbie Flowers on bass and percussionist

. Harrison co-produced the recording with Cooper. After Lennon's death the following month, Harrison removed Starr's vocals (but kept Starr's drumming track) and recorded his own vocals with rewritten lyrics honouring Lennon. McCartney, his wife Linda and their Wings bandmate Denny Laine visited Friar Park and recorded backing vocals as an overdub to the original track. The album's liner notes also thank the Beatles' former producer George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick, who were present at the session where the backing vocals were recorded. Martin, Emerick and the members of Wings were working on McCartney's ''Tug Of War'' album at the time, and had traveled to Harrison's studio to record a Harrison guitar overdub for that album. The session instead turned into a vocal session for "All Those Years Ago", and Harrison's guitar piece for McCartney's album was never recorded.

Music video

The music video features a slide show-type presentation of stills and short archival video clips. The emphasis is on Lennon and, to a lesser degree, Harrison. The post-Beatles stills of Lennon at older ages are countered with stills of Harrison from the same time frame.

Personnel

– vocals, electric guitars,

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, backing vocals * Al Kooper – electric piano * Herbie Flowers – bass *

– drums *

– tambourine * Paul McCartney – backing vocals *

– backing vocals * Denny Laine – backing vocals

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control George Harrison songs 1981 singles Songs written by George Harrison Song recordings produced by George Harrison Music published by Oops Publishing and Ganga Publishing, B.V. Dark Horse Records singles 1981 songs Songs about John Lennon