Bangla Desh (song) - Composition

Composition

Foreign journalists had been deported from East Pakistan shortly before the Pakistani army's Operation Searchlight, and even after Mascarenhas' first-hand observations had been published, Shankar and Harrison were concerned that the mainstream media in the West were showing a reluctance to report all the facts. Of his dedication to the Bengalis' cause, Harrison would state in his autobiography eight years later: "I got tired of people saying 'But what can I do?' Also, the reluctance of the press to report the full details created the need to bring attention to it." That summer, it also emerged that America was supporting General Khan's military offensive, both financially and with weaponry − despite the infamous Blood telegram in April, in which officials at the US Consulate in Dacca advised their State Department of the "genocide" taking place and accused the US Government of "moral bankruptcy". Realising the need to create greater awareness of the situation in Bangladesh, and particularly the refugee camps of India that had become "infectious open-air graveyards" with the outbreak of cholera, Harrison quickly composed a song for the cause. "Bangla Desh" was "written in ten minutes at the piano", he would later recall. The title translates as "Bengal nation", and the fact that Harrison spelt it as two words is indicative of how little the new country name had been acknowledged by the western media at this time.

As with the concerts, Harrison made a point of steering clear of the politics behind the problem, his lyrics focusing instead on the human perspective. At the suggestion of Leon Russell, who had participated in the recent Ronnie Spector and Badfinger sessions, Harrison began the song with a brief verse outlining his own introduction to the Bangladesh crisis:

My friend came to me with sadness in his eyes
Told me that he wanted help before his country dies
Although I couldn't feel the pain, I knew I had to try
Now I'm asking all of you to help us save some lives.

These lines refer to Shankar's request for help, and " deference to the Shankar context", musical biographer Simon Leng suggests, Harrison set the opening verse as a rock version of Indian music's traditional alap − "a slow introductory statement of the main ideas". Lyrically, the remainder of the song concentrates on the uncompromising message "We've got to relieve Bangla Desh" as thousands of refugees, particularly children, fell victim to the effects of famine and disease.

Bangla Desh, Bangla Desh
Where so many people are dying fast
And it sure looks like a mess
I've never seen such distress
Now won't you lend your had, try to understand
Relieve the people of Bangla Desh.

The final verse-chorus reflects a point that former US Fund for UNICEF president Charles Lyons has identified as a perennial obstacle when addressing global issues of poverty − that the problems appear to be too big and too distant for individuals to be able to solve:

Bangla Desh, Bangla Desh
Now, it may seem so far from where we all are
It's something we can't reject
That suffering, I can't neglect
Now won't you give some bread to get the starving fed
We've got to relieve Bangla Desh
Relieve the people of Bangla Desh.

The line "Now won't you give some bread to get the starving fed" contains a "clever pun", Harrison biographer Ian Inglis notes, whereby the word "bread" is used to refer to both money and food.