Poll: George Harrison - "Got My Mind Set On You"

I know, but they may as well have used a raging overweight ginger for as much as that guy looked like George!

 

Not fussed. I like all of these artists individually but always thought collectively the Wilbury's were a bit naff.

 

I can't say I loved it when it came out, but I thought it was OK. It did get played to death though.

I cracked up when I saw that. I don't think there was any intention to really try to make people believe that was George dancing. I don't know, but I think that may have been the point.

 

ok, so does the "whole lot of money" line make sense in the original version?

 

That song jumped from the car radio in 1987. I didn't even realize it was George until later but it had a very Beatlesque sound. I'm so glad it charted for him so well.

 

The closest answer for me is "nothing special" because of the production. It is a great song but mix on it has that "ELO" sound to it.

 

Exactly. My first exposure to the sound that would annoy the hell out of me for the next decade. George, Wilburys, Beatles, Petty, etc. Ugh.

'87 was the year I started getting really into the Beatles. I remember the George cover/interview of Rolling Stone that fall - I devoured it. The song, though - and especially the video - just didn't register with me at all. I knew it was George, I knew it was a Beatle, I knew it was a big deal... I just think I purposely glazed over it so that it wouldn't taint, say, my first listen to the White Album. Especially the backflips - a total WTF moment. And this is coming from someone who was happily listening to Pool It! that year - it's not like I had the most discerning palate.

 

It gives me the chance to say, "Hey, this is George Harrison" when it comes on the radio at work, just so I can watch everybody my age and older nod in agreement while all the teens twenty-somethings have that stupefied look that seems to say, "That sounds like a famous person's name but I have no idea who they are."

 

JLs production works great on Electrtic Light Orchestra stuff, stuff that is not drum and guitar heavy. But it doesn't do well on rock music. It kicks rock music in the balls. A subdued over processed drum sound and vocals that sound like they have a digital room reverb cranked up on them sounds fine for ELO.
For rock music, not so much.

 

Nothing special. There are many George tracks I like better, including most of All Things Must Pass, The Day The World Gets Round, etc.

 

I like it, but, as the poll says, it's nothing special. I was in college when this song came out, and it was nice to see George with a hit. I sort of felt that George stooped to 80s convention with this song, but whatever, all the 60s and 70s greats went with the 80s sound to some extent--Bowie, The Stones, etc.

 

Paul McCartney upped his game after hearing it.

 

I like it, but it's nothing special.

Yet, this is the last solo Beatles single to make #1 .

 

Somewhere between 'One of my favorite George songs' and 'I like it but it's nothing special.'

 

I had to go with "nothing special," yet I never change the station if it comes on the car radio. I had never heard the original before this thread. I think George and Lynne did a good job taking some of the primary elements of the song and recasting them into things like the short guitar break and the more restrained horns.

I didn't realize this was the last solo Beatles number one. But, looking back on the singles I am aware of in the Nineties and later, that's not terribly surprising in retrospect. The listening public prefers them as they were.

 

Free as a Bird hit #2 in the UK and #6 in the US

 

I liked it a little when it was released. Was pleasantly surprised it became a big hit! Thought it was a simple Harrison song and no idea it was a cover.

 

I think that heavy video rotation on MTV played a huge part in the single making #1. Especially the version where a guy wins a toy in the arcade for a girl.

 

Technically My Sweet Lord was the first and last solo Beatles single to reach #1 due to it reaching number one again in 2002 after George died.

 

I didn't know this. In what country did this happen?

 

The UK. It also incidentally has the distinction of being the only posthumous number one to replace another posthumous number one.

 

That's very interesting, and thanks for filling me in. How did they figure the #1 status... through CD sales?

 

There was a reissue in 2001/2002, so it was probably that.

 

Solo Beatles

 

-- and #1 (not 2 or 6) .