Did George Harrison predict the future with ‘Devil’s Radio’?
His songwriting may have been overshadowed during the Fab Four’s prime, up against Lennon-McCartney’s songbook, but George Harrison‘s contributions produced some of The Beatles’ greatest songs.
Not much more can be said of The Beatles’ combined genius that hasn’t been echoed already, but it is worth reminding that Harrison pioneered the band’s emphasis on collective consciousness, writing not just as a reflection of the times, but encouraging fans to recognise their place within it. Where his bandmates honed their strengths in collaboration, the ‘Quiet Beatle’ found his own in solitude and introspection.
Listen to a song like ‘Within You, Without You’ and hear a man who has reached a personal nirvana, finding peace in the complex human experience, while the track stands as a beacon of his experimentation with Indian instrumentals and his studies under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Even in the lovesong tradition of ‘Something’, Harrison taps into a deeper understanding of a life altered by love, and when he debuted his solo post-Beatles career with 1970’s All Things Must Pass, he shone as a storyteller, conveying narratives of devotion and heartbreak that sincerely stand the test of time.
By 1987, Harrison’s career was prolific, with ten albums to his name. Following the release of 1982’s Gone Troppo, he had stayed under a relative hiatus for five years after, until he resurfaced with 1987’s Cloud Nine. The album, notable for its artwork alone, with Harrison smiling widely with a guitar in hand, superimposed on a bed of clouds, rejuvenated the musician, as he leaned into the decade’s pop sensibilities with his wistful guitar in tow.
One song in particular continues to stand out to his son, Dhani, who, in an interview with NBC News in 2018, commemorating what would have been his father’s 75th birthday, confessed, “He wrote ‘Devil’s Radio’ in 1987, about the world we inhabit today, 30 years ago. So it’s no surprise to me that his perspective resonates so strongly today.”
‘Devil’s Radio’ appears in the middle of Cloud Nine, written about the then-state of the media and its spread of gossip-induced misinformation.
“The world we inhabit now, the really noxious world of constant, terrifying news that’s built around fame and gossip, he lived in that world long before anyone else,” Dhani continued.
If anyone were to understand the double-edged sword of fame and its repercussions, it would be Harrison, who was in a position where he could have easily chosen a path of blatant criticism and disdain, yet opted to reflect on his own terms, using his stature as a way to communicate in his own language.
“Whereas when you’re creating, the way my dad did, it’s very contemplative and solitary,” Dhani said, “It helps to be self-reflective and to have self-compassion and self-love when the world is so hectic and there’s so much information hitting your eyeballs.”
On ‘Devil’s Radio’, Harrison sings of the dangers of thoughtless words, spoken “like vultures swoopin’ down below”, calling gossip “pollution of the highest degree”, posing the question, “You wonder why I don’t hang out much / I wonder how you can’t see”. He had grown tired of the rumour mill churning and, singing over a catchy tune, he urged everyone to recognise its effects. “It’s across all our lives,” he warned, “Like a weed, it’s spread / ‘Til nothing else has space to grow”.
Dhani compared his father to Bob Dylan, highlighting that both stalwarts are known for being able to craft a story through their music, adding, “Good art reflects its time, but it also tells the story of what’s happening to you. So because my dad’s music was ahead of its time and so honest, I think, it really resonates today in a meaningful way.”
The fact that a song like ‘Devil’s Radio’ holds resonance today is slightly worrying, but most of all, it shows how Harrison’s songwriting managed to tap into a world that not many others could and speak as a premonition of what is to come.
