General · EdgepediaSeptember 17, 20265 min read

What Is Life

What Is Life is a song by the English rock musician George Harrison (1943–2001), released in November 1970 on his triple album All Things Must Pass and issued as a single in the United States in February 1971, where it reached number ten.¹^•² Written in 1969 for the keyboardist Billy Preston but kept by Harrison for his first post-Beatles solo album, it became one of the best-known songs from that record, built on a descending fuzz-guitar riff and a Phil Spector production of layered brass, strings, and multitracked vocals.³

Key fact	Detail
Written	1969, for Billy Preston; Harrison said he wrote it in "15 minutes or half an hour" on his way to Olympic Studios, London³
Recorded	26 May; 22, 23 June; 3 July; August; September 1970, at Abbey Road Studios and Trident Studios, London¹
Producers	George Harrison and Phil Spector¹
Album release	All Things Must Pass, 30 November 1970 (UK), 27 November 1970 (US)¹
Single	US release 15 February 1971 as Apple 1828, b-side "Apple Scruffs"; reached number ten in the US¹^•²
Session musicians	Eric Clapton, Pete Ham, Tom Evans, Joey Molland, Peter Frampton (guitar); Klaus Voormann, Carl Radle (bass); Billy Preston, Bobby Whitlock (keyboards); Jim Gordon, Alan White (drums)¹

Origin

Harrison wrote "What Is Life" in 1969 while producing one of Billy Preston's albums. In his autobiography I Me Mine he recalled that the song came quickly, on his way to Olympic Studios in London, but that at the session it seemed too awkward to offer "this catchy pop song" while Preston was playing his funk-oriented material, so he kept it for himself and recorded it later on All Things Must Pass.³ The song was therefore not one of the compositions Harrison had offered to the Beatles and seen rejected; it sat outside the stock of Beatles leftovers that filled much of the album.³

Recording

Sessions at Abbey Road and Trident. The song was among the tracks taped for All Things Must Pass, co-produced by Harrison and Phil Spector, with recording beginning at Abbey Road Studios in late May 1970.¹ The Beatles Bible session chronology lists work on 26 May, 22 and 23 June, 3 July, and in August and September 1970. The first full-band recording on 22 June produced eleven takes, none deemed good enough; eleven more followed on 23 June. The album master was recorded on 3 July, when takes 28 through 42 were cut and take 42 was marked best; that day was also the final All Things Must Pass session with a full band.¹

Because Harrison and Spector were running out of available tracks at Abbey Road, Harrison finished the song at Trident Studios, according to an account quoted by the Beatles Bible.¹ Earlier attempts had featured oboes and piccolo trumpets, an arrangement later scrapped, though horns remained prominent in the final mix.³

The Spector sound. The session roster was unusually deep: besides Harrison on vocals and guitar, the credited players include Eric Clapton and four guitarists associated with Badfinger and other acts, two bassists, two keyboardists, and two drummers, with Jim Price on trumpet and Bobby Keys on saxophone.¹ Ultimate Classic Rock notes that the background vocals were credited to the George O'Hara-Smith singers, in fact Bobby Whitlock and Clapton, the future nucleus of Derek and the Dominos.⁴

Release and chart performance

All Things Must Pass was released by Apple Records in November 1970, with "What Is Life" as the fifth track on side one of the triple album.¹^•⁵ It was issued as a single in the United States on 15 February 1971, backed with "Apple Scruffs", and became a top-ten hit in the US and several European countries.¹ AllMusic records the single reaching number ten in 1971, and describes it as, after "My Sweet Lord" and possibly "Isn't It a Pity", the most well-known song on the album.²

Meaning and musical character

Despite a title that invites a cosmic reading, the song is a love song rather than a religious meditation. AllMusic's reviewer Richie Unterberger describes it as Harrison affirming the vital importance of his lover, while allowing that, as with many Harrison songs of the period, it could also be heard as addressed to God.² The refrains ask "Tell me, what is my life without your love?" and "Tell me, who am I without you by my side?", and biographers have debated whether the song is a tribute to Harrison's wife Pattie or a devotional piece.³^•⁶

Musically, the song's primary hook is its opening guitar riff, one of Harrison's low, descending guitar lines, augmented by brass and horn lines. Unterberger notes a false ending that lets the riff return, launching a more urgent pass through the verse in which Harrison's slide guitar answers the vocals.²

Later life of the song

"What Is Life" has appeared in film and television: Martin Scorsese's 1990 crime drama Goodfellas uses the song.⁷ Richard Linklater considered it for a key scene in Boyhood (2014) but set it aside as "a bit on-the-nose", choosing Paul McCartney's "Band on the Run" instead.⁸ In a 2010 AOL Radio listeners' poll of the ten best George Harrison songs, "What Is Life" placed third, behind "My Sweet Lord" and "Blow Away".⁶ "Weird Al" Yankovic performed it at the 2014 George Fest tribute concert.⁹

References

Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Music › Musical works and recordings › Compositions and songs › Pop, rock, and metal songs › Pop rock songs › 1960s and 1970s pop rock songs

Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026

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