Photograph of office 305 of Hoffmann-LaRoche Inc. in Nutley, New Jersey, November 17, 1943
It's interesting that this song popped up on the jukebox because I've been thinking about George Harrison lately. I've been listening to the Beatles remasters A LOT, and one thing that has stood out to me has been Harrison's songwriting arc over the Beatles' seven year recording career. Harrison's songwriting ambitions started modestly enough with "Don't Bother Me" from With the Beatles, the first of many songs he'd write on the subject of just wishing people would politely sod off. Depending on your point of view, Harrison's songwriting either turned interesting and ambitious or took an unfortunate detour with his discover of Indian music and philosophy, which resulted in the "Eastern" sounds in songs like "Love You To", "Blue Jay Way", and "The Inner Light".
During the later years, he joined John and Paul in exploring more bluesy sounds ("Savoy Truffle", "Old Brown Shoe"). He also wrote three perfect pop songs during his last years with the Beatles - "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", "Here Comes the Sun", and "Something". Who would have guessed that nine short years later, Harrison would be hanging out on a tropical island, writing laid-back pop songs (and thereby opening the door to unpleasant comparisons to Jimmy Buffett)?
Harrison's self-titled album from 1979 is not highly regarded, and I admit that it does have an odd combination of unchallenging written-on-a-beach compositions and too-slick '70s LA production. But Harrison was always as consistent as a vocalist and guitarist as he was an uneven songwriter, and George Harrison sounds great even if some of the songs aren't his most interesting. "Soft Touch" was written while Harrison was in the Virgin Islands (Margaritaville?) - in a scenario that basically says "EXTRA EXTRA - SONGWRITER RECYCLES MATERIAL!", Harrison was playing around with the horn melody from "Run of the Mill" (one of the best songs on his best solo album, All Things Must Pass), when the riff turned into something else. And that became the basis for "Soft Touch", one of many inconspicuous but excellently executed mid-tempo songs found on George Harrison - it has some goofy romantic lyrics (another problem with the album generally) but it has that nice descending guitar riff anchoring a nice, breezy melody that makes you wish you were right there with George on the beach watching the boats on the horizon.
"Soft Touch" by George Harrison
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