The Beatles founded Apple Corps Limited in 1968 as a multimedia conglomerate comprising a record label, filmmaking, publishing, and retail. The recording label, distributed by EMI, continued to release Beatles albums as well as a roster of new artists, including James Taylor, Ravi Shankar, Mary Hopkin, Doris Troy, Badfinger, and Billy Preston. After The Beatles broke up, Apple Records continued.
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In 1974, George Harrison founded his own record company. He was still under contract to EMI/Apple Records until 1976, but his label released albums by Ravi Shankar and Splinter before the former Beatle was free to sign. From Thirty Three & 1/3 on, Harrison’s albums were released on Dark Horse Records. Let’s take a look at the story behind the song “Dark Horse” by George Harrison.
You thought that you knew where I was and when
Baby, it looks like he is fooling you again
You thought that you had got me all staked out
Baby, it looks like I’ve been breaking out
“I’m a Dark Horse”
George Harrison recorded an early version of the song at his Friar Park residence in November 1973, with guitar, bass, and drums. He then recorded a version with only guitar and vocals with the intention of adding instruments and putting it on the album. As pressures mounted to finish projects with Ravi Shankar and Splinter, work on “Dark Horse” was suspended.
Harrison told author Keith Badman in his 2003 book The Beatles Off the Record: The Dream Is Over, “I wrote that at five in the morning on my way to bed. I was just playing my guitar, and I just thought of the line, ‘I’m a dark horse.’ When I was a kid, I always remember them saying, ‘Oh, have you heard about Mrs. Penguin from the co-op? She’s knocking off Mr. Jones. Oh, she’s a dark horse.’ It was always that sort of thing. I was brought up knowing that ‘dark horse’ was a phrase like that. So I thought, ‘I’m a dark horse. OK, I’m running on a dark racecourse,’ but that just cracked me up. I thought, ‘No, I can’t use that. It’s crummy.’ Then, the next day, it was still on my mind, and I thought, ‘A dark racecourse? It may be silly, but it’s so silly. It’s fantastic because that’s the way it is. I’m a dark horse, but I’m running on a dark racecourse, you know.’ What else do you expect? I was just born into it. Don’t blame me. I’m a victim of circumstance.”
I’m a dark horse
Running on a dark race course
I’m a blue moon
Since I stepped out of the womb
I’ve been a cool jerk
Just looking for the source
I’m a dark horse
Hoarse Dark Horse
Harrison ultimately abandoned his guitar and vocal recording of the song. While rehearsing for his upcoming North American Tour, he decided to start fresh and recorded the song in Los Angeles with his live band on October 31, 1974. Harrison wrote in his 1980 autobiography I Me Mine, “The pity with ‘Dark Horse’—the song—was that I hadn’t finished the record when I had to go to the States to rehearse the band for the American tour in 1974. So I taught the band the tune, and we recorded it ‘live’; and by that time, I had no voice, so it’s a shouting, hoarse version of it, while the other remains unfinished.”
You thought that you had got me in your grip
Baby, it looks like you was not so smart
And I became too slippery for you
But let me tell ya, that was nothing new
The Song Came First
Harrison released the single “Dark Horse” backed with “I Don’t Care Anymore” in the U.S. on November 18, 1974, and in the UK with “Hari’s On Tour (Express)” as the B-side on February 28, 1975. The A-side reached No. 15 in the U.S. but failed to chart in the UK. Harrison told Badman, “That album I made called Dark Horse was on Apple and distributed by Capitol. What I did was I wrote the song, and then we were forming that company, and my business manager said to me, ‘We’ve got to have a name for the company,’ and I couldn’t think of one. I had been thinking of so many different company names, and he said, ‘How about one of the songs?’ So I said, ‘Oh, “Dark Horse.” That sounds good.’ Most people thought I called the album Dark Horse after the company, but it was the other way round. I called the company after the song.”
I’m a dark horse
Running on a dark race course
I’m a blue moon
Since I picked up my first spoon
I’ve been a cool jerk
Just looking for the source
I’m a dark horse
“Like Louis Armstrong”
On February 14, 1979, during a press conference in Los Angeles, Harrison seemed to be less embarrassed about his vocal performance, “Actually, the album—there was only the one cut called ‘Dark Horse’ that I was singing with a hoarse voice, and that was because at the time I was rehearsing to go on the road, and I was losing my voice very quickly, and I hadn’t completed the studio version of ‘Dark Horse.’ I had almost finished, so I decided, well, as I’m gonna do this live with the band, I’ll rehearse the band, and also then we’ll just do it like a live take of the song and use that as the album cut, but actually, I just listened to it the other day, and I think it’s great. I love it. I wish I could sing like that more often, like Louis Armstrong.”
I thought that you knew it all along
Until you started getting me not right
Seems as if you heard a little late
I warned you when we both was at the starting gate
Photo by Mark Sullivan/Getty Images
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