“It’s so simple”: the song George Harrison wrote in just three minutes
George Harrison was, in no uncertain terms, the most philosophical of all The Beatles, extending into every corner of his life, from his religious beliefs to his songwriting process. Particularly on the latter, when it came to his own solo efforts, spirituality became a driving force of Harrison’s songbook – although the answers to some of life’s great ponderances revealed themselves to him more obviously than others.
This was especially true for a song whose lyrics quite literally flowed from the ether onto Harrison’s page, and all in a pretty hasty manner. While his 1973 tune ‘Ding Dong, Ding Dong’ may represent all the spiritual rebirth and fresh beginnings that a new year brings, the process of actually writing the track was a lot more straightforward than its ethereal lyrical content suggests.
The words of the song quite literally came from within Harrison’s own walls, namely the run-down Victorian gothic mansion he had bought three years earlier, Friar Park. While it may seem like the set of a horror film to some, it was a real place of homely comfort to the musicians, where he could rest, connect with his religion, and ultimately, get creative.
To that end, his lyrical divine intervention did not come from any kind of god but the house itself. The original builder of the estate, Sir Frank Crisp, had carved various inscriptions into the walls, all of which provided a path for one worldly rock star. Harrison allegedly found the words “Ring out the old, Ring in the new” on the left of his fireplace and “Ring out the false, Ring in the true” on the right. He also discovered, “Yesterday, today was tomorrow. And tomorrow, today will be yesterday”, scribed into the wall of his ‘garden building’ – a shed to the rest of us.
From there, a song had been born. Later, recalling the process in his memoir I, Me, Mine, Harrison said: “‘Ding Dong, Ding Dong’ was the quickest one I ever wrote. It took me three minutes, except it took me four years of looking at the thing, which was written on the wall at my home, ‘Ring out the old, ring in the new. Ring out the false, ring in the truth,’ before I realised it was a hit song. It makes me laugh because it’s so simple. That song evaded me for four years.”
With the spirit of the new year quite literally ringing in the ears, the singer hoped that: “Instead of getting stuck in a rut, everybody should try ringing out the old and ringing in the new… [People] sing about it, but they never apply it to their lives,” he said. Becoming a reasonable hit in the US, that sense was captured into the hearts and minds of all who heard it.
Harrison’s opines and outlook on the world never ceased to permeate through every aspect of his musicianship, whether that was lamenting the gods above or, as in this case, just looking at his own four walls. It proves that gems of inspiration can truly be found anywhere one turns – well, admittedly, it does help if you’re a creative mind who lives in a Victorian mansion.
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