Written by: Harrison
Recorded: c.1988-2002
Producers: George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, Dhani Harrison
Released: 18 November 2002
Available on:
Brainwashed
Personnel
George Harrison: vocals, electric guitar, keyboards, finger cymbals
Jeff Lynne: acoustic guitar, keyboards
Dhani Harrison: acoustic guitar
Ray Cooper: percussion
Unknown: strings
‘Marwa Blues’ is the sixth track on George Harrison’s Brainwashed album.
‘Marwa Blues’, when I first got it to work on, it was like this complete jumble, there was like five lead guitar tracks all going at once, doing different tunes. I thought, ‘How the hell are we going to sort this out?’ And gradually, over a period of days, after listening to every single one, every single note that he played in every one, we realised what it was and we found the tune amongst all these extra ones where he was just noodling and trying out the tune.I remember Dhani just being over the moon because we’d finally solved the puzzle of the ‘Marwa Blues’.
Brainwashed press kit
It is based loosely upon ‘Raga Marwa’, a classical Indian raga traditionally played at sunset, which Harrison first heard in the 1960s. The string arrangement is by Marc Mann.
The instrumental track won the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance, coming ahead of pieces by Ry Cooder and Manuel Galbán, Dave Koz, Randy Newman, and The Brian Setzer Orchestra.
‘Any Road’ was Harrison’s final single, released in the UK on 12 May 2003 with ‘Marwa Blues’ on the b-side. It spent two weeks on the UK singles chart, peaking at number 37.
‘Marwa Blues’ was included on the 2009 compilation Let It Roll: Songs By George Harrison.
