Those who picture George Harrison as the quiet Beatle might not know that he had a passion for one of the loudest sports there is. The sport of auto racing, in particular the Formula One circuit, informs his 1979 song “Faster,” which is found on his self-titled album released that year.
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What is the song about? When did Harrison become so passionate about racing? And how did he ensure the song worked both for auto racing fans and for those who knew nothing about the sport? Let’s start our engines and race to find out about “Faster.”
A Much-Needed Break
It was in the latter half of the 1970s when Harrison, to use a racing analogy, eased off the pedal a bit in terms of his music career. When The Beatles broke up, he thrived with his triple album All Things Must Pass. He churned out three more albums in the next five years, and he added touring to his busy schedule.
But Harrison was never a guy who loved to bask in the spotlight and perform the duties needed to promote records. The excess of his lifestyle started to catch up with him, leading to a period where his voice was unusually harsh. In addition, his marriage to wife Pattie was struggling. (They’d get divorced in 1977, by which time had already begun seeing Olivia Arias, whom he would marry the next year.)
Harrison sensed that he needed to get away from the hustle-bustle of the music scene, so he essentially took a year off in 1977. It allowed him the free time to recharge his batteries. And when he did start writing songs again for his next album, he wanted to pay tribute to one of the hobbies he took up while he was taking a break.
Racing to Record
Harrison spent a lot of time in 1977 traveling to watch the European championships of Formula One Racing. He became friendly with several of the drivers, especially the legendary Scotsman Jackie Stewart. And the drivers soon began asking him when he’d be writing and recording a song about the sport.
Well, Harrison didn’t forget. In 1978, while putting together the George Harrison album (which would arrive in ’79), he recorded the song “Faster,” which references auto racing and even includes the sound effects of revving engines. But Harrison told Rolling Stone he didn’t want to get overly specific, so that those who don’t follow racing might still enjoy it:
“I like ‘Faster’ because I fulfilled the thing the Formula One motor-racing people kept asking me—to write a song about racing—and I did it in a way I’m happy about because it wasn’t just corny. It’s easy to write about V-8 engines and vroom vroom—that would have been bulls–t. But I’m happy with the lyrics because it can be seen to be about one driver specifically or any of them, and if it didn’t have the motor-racing noises, it could be about the Fab Four really—the jealousies and things like that.”
What is “Faster” About?
Buoyed by an elegant rhythm created by acoustic guitars and strings, Harrison sketches out the type of character who might be able to handle the high-energy world of racing, or music for that matter. Chose a life in circuses, he begins. Jumped into the deepest end / Pushing himself to all extremes.
Such a vocation requires the willingness to go all-in: Right on the edge of do or die / Where there is nothing left to spare. It’s a life that tests his family: His wife held back her fears. Harrison also makes a canny statement in the song about why people become fans of athletes or whomever: The headlines gave acclaim / He had realized their dream.
He’s the master of going faster, he proclaims in the refrain. The odd thing about “Faster,” one of the more intriguing songs of George Harrison’s solo catalog, is that it came at a time when the ex-Beatle was consciously slowing things down.
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