Not Guilty

This is the seventh in a series of blog entries about songs picked at random from my itunes library. For the post on the last song, "Flume" go (here). For "Ras Trent" go (here). For "Hole to Feed" go (here). For "Every Little Thing" go (here). For "No Surprises" go (here). For "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (Love Version)" go (here).

"Not Guilty" is a George Harrison song from his 1979 self-titled album, but actually written years earlier in 1968 while The Beatles were in Rishikesh.

As Wikipedia notes, the original version (featured on The Anthology 3) is "harsher, driven by electric guitar and harpsichord." That is the version that popped up on my itunes. I don't think I've ever actually heard the 1979 version. The only George Harrison albums I have are Living in the Material World, the Concert for Bangaladesh, and, of course, All Things Must Pass (My favorite album)! I haven't listened to the first two yet.

So, I decided to go on itunes and get the George Harrison version and write a comparison here! The thing is, once I listened to the free 30 second demo I could see I didn't need to buy it. The '79 version is all mellow and has none of what I love about the original. The '68 version is angry and heartfelt - why don't you guys let George have more than a couple of songs on the album!? The '79 version is a little too 1979. The soft keyboards (or whatever that bell-like sound is) in the background make it seem more like (gasp) elevator music. I don't want to hear dentist-office soft strains played to lyrics like, "Not Guilty of looking like a freak, making friends with every Sikh" (which, by the way, I always thought until now was "making friends you didn't seek").

For my money (which would be 99 cents if you could buy Beatles music on itunes) the 1968 version is the best. Go listen to it. Somehow.