George Harrison's Version
| "Far East Man" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song by George Harrison from the album Dark Horse | ||||
| Published | Oops (UK)/Ganga (US), Warner Chappell | |||
| Released | 9 December 1974 (US) 20 December 1974 (UK) |
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| Genre | Rock, soul | |||
| Length | 5:52 | |||
| Label | Apple | |||
| Writer | George Harrison, Ron Wood | |||
| Producer | George Harrison | |||
| Dark Horse track listing | ||||
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Harrison recorded the song himself in September−October that year for his 1974 album Dark Horse, having "brushed up the lyrics a bit" in the meantime and "generally made them better". Retaining Newmark from the Ron Wood session, he brought in Willie Weeks on bass (at Newmark's suggestion) and recruited old friends Billy Preston and Tom Scott, for what would be the nucleus of his tour band a month later.
On his recording of "Far East Man", Harrison recites a dedication to Frank Sinatra over the first few bars, stating: "This is for Frank Sinatra − we love you, Frank, and we hope you include this one at Caesars Palace on your next live album." The dedication was likely brought on by Sinatra's frequent live performance of Harrison's "Something"; it was not uncommon for Sinatra to introduce the song as "the greatest love song ever written", although he would often mistakenly credit its authorship to Lennon–McCartney.
A significant difference between the Wood and Harrison versions of "Far East Man" is Tom Scott's lyrical horn parts − coming at the expense of the flowing slide-guitar commentary that fills Wood's recording (Harrison's signature guitar style does make an appearance midway through the Dark Horse take, however). In what was an unusually, highly positive review for the Dark Horse album at the time, Michael Gross wrote in Circus Raves: "Scott again excells on 'Far East Man', with a horn solo that would vindicate any context in which it was put."
Recent commentators have identified the song as something of an overlooked gem: Harrison biographer Simon Leng considers "Far East Man" to be among his very best, while Allmusic's Richard Ginell describes it as "exquisite". Leng calls the song "one of its writer's most beguiling pieces ... a grin-making exploration of major and minor sevenths that oozes smoochy soul" and, within the context of Harrison's marital strife and transitional lifestyle at the time, "a wistful shrug of the shoulders set to music".
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