George Harrison: “Give Me Love – (Give Me Peace on Earth)” (1973)

A love letter to our Lord by any other name would smell as sweet.

Kronomyth 4.9: My sweet lord, reincarnated.

I’ve always believed that all music (all art, really) emanates from God—not in a causal sense but in the panentheistic sense that all things exist within God (while God simultaneously exists outside of all things). It’s natural, then, that art would seek to express this connection by linking the temporal with the eternal. You might say a song like Miss O’Dell has nothing eternal in it, that it’s merely a song about a random moment in time, but I would disagree. What I hear is George Harrison expressing (with humor) the small sphere of control we have against the immovable force of a world of similarly self-directed spheres. He can’t fix the war, can’t fix pollution, can’t even fix his own record player, and his life boils down to waiting for others to take action (in this case, Apple employee Chris O’Dell). Give Me Love – (Give Me Peace on Earth) is, of course, a more obvious expression of the man-God connection. As with the earlier “My Sweet Lord,” Harrison is seeking a deeper connection with his God, an emotional outpouring of our innate desire to return to the godhead or, since we’re never truly detached from it, to consummate the quantum entanglement that each human being has with God. If that’s confusing, there’s a vide that does a much better job of explaining the whole panoply of panentheistic theories in this wonderful video from Inspiring Philosophy, Christianity and Panentheism…

Original 7-inch single version

A1. Give Me Love – (Give Me Peace on Earth) (George Harrison) (3:32)
B1. Miss O’Dell (George Harrison) (2:30)

The Players

George Harrison (vocals, acoustic guitar, harmonicas, slide guitar, backing vocals), Jim Keltner (drums, cowbell, shaker), Klaus Voormann (bass guitar) with Nicky Hopkins (piano on A1), Gary Wright (harmonium on A1).

The Plastic

Released on 7-inch single on May 7, 1973 in the UK (Apple, R 5988), the US (Apple, 1862), France and Germany (Apple, C006 05.354) and Yugoslavia (Jugoton, SAP88681). Also released on red vinyl 7-inch single in 1973 in Japan (Apple, EAR-10383). Also released as promotional 7-inch single in 1973 in the US (Apple, 1862PR) feat. A mono and stereo versions. Reached #8 on the UK charts and #1 on the US charts (charted on May 19, 1973 for 14 weeks).