Reception
In his discussion of Extra Texture in The Beatles Forever (1977), Nicholas Schaffner wrote of Harrison's "worldly critics" responding "like bulls to a red flag" to "This Guitar" and other "treatises on how reviewers always 'miss the point'". Aside from their objections to the song's subject matter, Robert Rodriguez observes, "Critics by nature tended to regard the Beatles' catalog as sacrosanct" and therefore "dissed for producing a sequel to 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'". The consensus of critical opinion was that "This Guitar" paled beside the Beatle original, with NME writers Roy Carr and Tony Tyler adding: "The lack of a tune doesn't help." With no lyric sheet provided in the album packaging, Dave Marsh of Rolling Stone appeared to miss the song's reference to "climb Rolling Stone walls", while opining that "there just isn't compensation here for the failed promise of 'This Guitar (Can't Keep from Crying)'".
More recently, Allmusic's Richard Ginell views the song as an "attractive" sequel to "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and includes it among Harrison's best solo compositions. Elliot Huntley has written of reviewers' derision of the track as a "lame" follow-up: "Harrison made a fatal mistake in making it sound like a sequel. 'This Guitar (Can't Keep From Crying)' is a good song in its own right, with excellent lead guitar work from the master ..."
Among other Harrison biographers, Alan Clayson sees it as the "soundest choice" for a second single off an album that represents Harrison's "lowest ebb". Simon Leng describes it as a "harrowing song", with a "passionate and powerful" Harrison vocal, and draws parallels between "This Guitar" and Neil Young's similarly anti-journalistic "Ambulance Blues". Ian Inglis writes of the "gulf" separating Harrison's 1968 composition from the 1975 song: "While the first was a poignant and satisfying commentary that drew attention to his newfound maturity as a songwriter, this is a petulant and rather arrogant statement in which he appears to want to put himself above criticism ... Both words and music depict a sour and troubled performer, whose resentment is all too clear." Dale Allison describes "This Guitar" as a "beautiful song" with "ardent lyrics", and groups it with Harrison compositions such as "Isn't It a Pity", "The Light That Has Lighted the World", "Blow Away" and "Sat Singing" – all songs that "remain close to the hearts of those familiar with them".
Read more about this topic: This Guitar (Can't Keep From Crying)
Famous quotes containing the word reception:
“To the United States the Third World often takes the form of a black woman who has been made pregnant in a moment of passion and who shows up one day in the reception room on the forty-ninth floor threatening to make a scene. The lawyers pay the woman off; sometimes uniformed guards accompany her to the elevators.”
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—Rémy De Gourmont (1858–1915)