Music critic Ian MacDonald described “ All Things Must Pass” as “ the wisest song never recorded by The Beatles“, while author Simon Leng considers it “ perhaps the greatest solo Beatle composition“. Widely regarded as one of Harrison’s finest compositions, its rejection by his former band has provoked comment from biographers and reviewers. On release, together with Barry Feinstein’s album cover image, commentators viewed the song as a statement on the Beatles’ break-up.
The subject matter deals with the transient nature of human existence, and in Harrison’s All Things Must Pass reading, words and music combine to reflect impressions of optimism against fatalism. The composition reflects the influence of the Band’s sound and communal music-making on Harrison, after he had spent time with the group in Woodstock, New York, in late 1968, while Timothy Leary’s poem “ All Things Pass“, a psychedelic adaptation of the Tao Te Ching, provided inspiration for his song lyrics. Billy Preston released the song originally – as “ All Things (Must) Pass” – on his Apple Records album Encouraging Words (1970), after the Beatles had rejected it for inclusion on their Let It Be album in January 1969. “ All Things Must Pass” is a song by English musician George Harrison, issued in November 1970 as the title track to his triple album of the same name.
