So yesterday I finally picked up George Harrison's final musical release, BRAINWASHED. I suppose, being the diehard Beatle fan that I am, I should be embarrassed to have waited so long to pick it up. But the truth is that I haven't honestly enjoyed George's music over the past several albums. Individual songs, yes. I loved "When We Was Fab" from his CLOUD NINE album, for example, but disliked the rest of it. And that's how most of his releases since the 70s have been for me: one or two tracks I like, and the rest is disposable.
But I bought it for two main reasons. First, it's his last release, and that's something significant all by itself. Second, it's gotten some very good reviews. Now, reviews are pretty subjective, of course, but I guess I was excited to have found myself agreeing with the positive reviews of David Bowie's new album, HEATHEN (to my surprise, since I haven't liked anything he's done for two decades, either). So I figured it was worth $9.99 (on sale at Target).
Overall, the album is okay. Nothing spectacular. But I was deeply turned off by one song on it: the title track, which closes the album.
Now, it's no secret that George was a very spiritual person, and much of his music reflects his ongoing quest for the answer to life, the universe, and everything. But the song "Brainwashed" goes further than this. It reflects his pessimism and cynicism toward the world in general, essentially saying that pretty much everything in the mundane world brainwashes us, and only God can help us get free of that. It contains a reading from "How to Know God" (The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali) right in the middle of it, and even ends with a lengthy Hindu chant. Frankly, it's so preachy (something George wasn't known for) that it borders on being offensive… essentially suggesting that if we don't have God, we're brainwashed.
I don't deny that many things in life can "brainwash" us, to use his chosen term. But the real irony here is that the biggest brainwashing thing on the planet is religion, and his plea in the song (for God to brainwash him) is a very sad thing, from the perspective of someone who acknowledges this aspect of religion.
I hope in his later years that George didn't view the world as nothing but a potpourri of nastiness. I hope he was able to see the beauty in the world. (There are certainly many such people out there.) But if he truly did think that goodness lives only in the spiritual… well, all I can sadly say is that he was the brainwashed one.
