"Got My Mind Set on You" (also written as "(Got My Mind) Set on You") is a song written and composed by

Rudy Clark Rudy or Rudi is a masculine given name, sometimes short for Rudolf, Rudolph, Rawad, Rudra, Ruairidh, or variations thereof, a nickname and a surname which may refer to: People Given name or nickname *Rudolf Rudy Andeweg (born 1952), Dutch poli ...

and originally recorded by James Ray in 1962, under the title "I've Got My Mind Set on You". An edited version of the song was released later in the year as a single on Dynamic Sound Records credited to James Ray with

Hutch Davie Robert Bunyan Davie III (August 4, 1930 – April 7, 2020), professionally known as Hutch Davie, or Bob "Hutch" Davie, and sometimes credited as Bun Davie, Budd McCoy, Clint Harmon or Chuck Harmon, was an American orchestra leader, arranger, pi ...

Orchestra & Chorus. In 1987,

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 a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of the song on his album '' Cloud Nine'', which he had recorded on his

Dark Horse Records Dark Horse Records is a record label founded by former The Beatles, Beatle George Harrison in 1974. The label's formation coincided with the winding down of the Beatles' Apple Records and allowed Harrison to continue supporting other artists' ...

label.

George Harrison version

The first time Harrison heard the song was during a visit to his sister in the United States in 1963–five months before

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

first appeared on ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television program, television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in Septembe ...

''. His sister lived in the countryside of Illinois. While there, Harrison visited record shops and bought a variety of albums. One was James Ray's 1962 album that contained the song "I've Got My Mind Set on You." In January 1987, Harrison began recording the song at his Friar Park home studio, with

Jeff Lynne Jeffrey Lynne (born 30 December 1947) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the co-founder of the rock music, rock band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), which was formed in 1970. As a songwriter, h ...

producing and playing bass and keyboards,

Jim Keltner James Lee Keltner (born April 27, 1942) is an American drummer and percussionist known primarily for his session work. He was characterized by Bob Dylan biographer Howard Sounes as "the leading session drummer in America".Howard Sounes. ''Down ...

on drums,

Jim Horn James Ronald Horn (born November 20, 1940) is an American saxophonist, woodwind player, and session musician. Biography Horn was born in Los Angeles, and after replacing saxophonist Steve Douglas in 1959, he toured with member Duane Eddy for f ...

on sax, 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 ...

on percussion. Of Harrison's three number-one singles in the US, it was the only song not written or composed by Harrison himself. Not only was it the last US No. 1 hit by Harrison, but, , his last top 10 hit in the US. When the song hit No. 1, it broke a three-way tie between Harrison,

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

, and

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 ...

, all of whom had two No. 1 hit singles as solo artists (discounting

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

's work with

Wings A wing is a type of fin that produces lift while moving through air or some other fluid. Accordingly, wings have streamlined cross-sections that are subject to aerodynamic forces and act as airfoils. A wing's aerodynamic efficiency is expresse ...

). It also happened to be the No. 1 single in the US the week immediately preceding the induction of the Beatles into the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and othe ...

, making Harrison one of the few inductees to have an active single on the US record charts at the time of induction. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' ranked the song as No. 3 for 1988. The single's B-side is "Lay His Head", a remixed version of the unreleased song from Harrison's originally intended ''

Somewhere in England ''Somewhere in England'' is the ninth studio album by English musician George Harrison, released on 1 June 1981 by Dark Horse Records. The album was recorded as Harrison was becoming increasingly frustrated with the music industry. The album's ...

'' album. The 12-inch version of the single also adds an extended version of "Got My Mind Set on You". In the UK, the single spent four weeks at number two. It was kept off the number 1 spot by T'Pau's " China in Your Hand" becoming the 5th best selling single of 1987. The song was included in the Harrison compilation albums ''

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 Harr ...

'' (1989) and '' Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison'' (2009). A live version was recorded for his '' Live in Japan'' (1992) album. In 2010, AOL radio listeners chose "Got My Mind Set on You" as one of the ''10 Best George Harrison Songs'', appearing at number 4 on the list.

Music videos

Two

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

s were released for the single, both directed by

Gary Weis Gary Weis (c. 1943) is an American filmmaker. He is known for creating multiple short films that aired on ''Saturday Night Live'' in the late 1970s. He co-produced and provided visual effects for the documentary ''Jimi Hendrix'' (1973); he co- ...

. The first features

Alexis Denisof Alexis Denisof (born February 25, 1966) is an American actor. He is primarily known for playing Wesley Wyndam-Pryce in the television series ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer'' and its spin-off ''Angel''. He also had a recurring role on ''How I Met Your ...

trying to win the heart of a girl in an amusement arcade. While the girl watches Harrison and his band (including

) in a movie viewer, the young man tries to win a toy ballerina for the girl. He succeeds, but the ballerina somehow drops into Harrison's performance, to the girl's amusement. The second video, inspired by the then-recently released

comedy horror Comedy horror, also known as horror comedy, is a literary genre, literary, television genre, television, and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as able to be categorized under three ty ...

film ''

Evil Dead II ''Evil Dead II'' (also known in publicity materials as ''Evil Dead 2: Dead by Dawn'') is a 1987 American comedy horror film directed by Sam Raimi. It is considered both a remake and sequel (or "re-quel") to the 1981 film ''The Evil Dead'', and wa ...

'', depicts Harrison playing a guitar while seated in a

study Study or studies may refer to: General * Education **Higher education * Clinical trial * Experiment * Observational study * Research * Study skills, abilities and approaches applied to learning Other * Study (art), a drawing or series of drawi ...

. As the song progresses, furniture and knick-knacks (including a stuffed squirrel, sentient chainsaw, a statue, and mounted stag and

warthog ''Phacochoerus'' is a genus in the family Suidae, commonly known as warthogs (pronounced ''wart-hog''). They are pigs who live in open and semi-open habitats, even in quite arid regions, in sub-Saharan Africa. The two species were formerly cons ...

), begin to sing or dance along with the song. In the middle of the video, Harrison (through the use of a stunt double) performs a backflip from his chair and follows it with a dance routine before jumping back to his seat. It was choreographed by

Vincent Paterson Vincent Paterson (born May 4, 1950) is an American director and choreographer who has had an expansive career in many parts of the entertainment industry including film, Broadway, concert tours, opera, music videos, television and commercials. He ...

. The second video received significant airplay and was nominated for three MTV VMAs.

Personnel

This is the personnel as listed. *

– vocals, guitar *

– bass, keyboard *

– drums *

– saxophone *

– percussion

Track listing

;7" #"Got My Mind Set on You" – 3:51 #"Lay His Head" – 3:51 ;12" #"Got My Mind Set on You" (Extended Version) – 5:17 #"Got My Mind Set on You" – 3:51 #"Lay His Head" – 3:51

Other covers and parodies

Harrison's version of the song was parodied by

"Weird Al" Yankovic Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic ( ; born October 23, 1959) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, record producer, actor and author. He is best known for creating comedy songs that make light of pop culture and often parody specifi ...

on his 1988 album ''

Even Worse ''Even Worse'' is the fifth studio album by "Weird Al" Yankovic, released on April 12, 1988. The album was produced by former The McCoys guitarist Rick Derringer. Recorded between November 1987 and February 1988, this album helped to revitaliz ...

,'' as "(This Song's Just) Six Words Long" poking fun at the repetitive nature of the lyrics.

Shakin' Stevens Michael Barratt (born 4 March 1948), known professionally as Shakin' Stevens, is a Welsh singer and songwriter. He was the UK's biggest-selling singles artist of the 1980s. His recording and performing career began in the late 1960s, althoug ...

recorded the song for his 2006 album ''Now Listen''. Irish singer Lee Matthews covered it in his 2015 album ''It's a Great Day to Be Alive''. British entertainer and musician, Warren James, performed the song following his 2003 live performance for the show business charity the

Grand Order of Water Rats The Grand Order of Water Rats is a British entertainment industry fraternity and charitable organisation based in London. Founded in 1889 by the music hall comedians Joe Elvin and Jack Lotto, the order is known for its high-profile membership a ...

—an organisation that Harrison was an active member of.

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

References

External links

Got My Mind Set On You by George Harrison - Songfacts
* {{authority control 1962 songs 1987 singles 1988 singles James Ray (singer) songs George Harrison songs Song recordings produced by Jeff Lynne Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Cashbox number-one singles Number-one singles in Australia Songs written by Rudy Clark RPM Top Singles number-one singles Song recordings produced by George Harrison Dark Horse Records singles Music videos directed by Gary Weis