The Lord Loves The One (That Loves The Lord)

‘The Lord Loves The One (That Loves The Lord)’ is the seventh song on George Harrison’s fourth solo album Living In The Material World.

As with the song ‘Living In The Material World’, it was inspired by AC Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, the founder and leader of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON), the Hare Krishna movement.

‘The Lord Loves The One (That Loves The Lord)’ I wrote after Swami AC Bhaktivedanta came to my house one afternoon. His life is an example to us all. The things that most people are struggling for is fame or fortune or wealth or position: always that’s their main ambition and desire in life, to be rich or famous or to have a good reputation, and really none of that is important because in the end, death will take it all away. So you spend your life struggling for something which is in effect a waste of time. After talking with Swamiji about all that I wrote the song ‘Lord Loves The One’.

It’s as he said (paraphrased):

We are all making out
Like we own this whole world
While the leaders of nations
They are acting like big girls
With no thoughts for their God
Who provides us with all
But when death comes to claim them
Who will stand (leave the Body in peace)
And who will fall?

Most of the world is fooling about, especially the people who think they control the world and the community. The presidents, the politicians, the military, etc., are all jerking about acting as if they are Lord over their own domains. That’s basically Problem One on the planet.

Everybody thinks mistakenly that they are ‘Lord’ over their ‘trip’ and after imposing their will on others, fall into an unhappy state, because they are not the Lord. The Lord doesn’t manifest through ego. So many are thinking they own it or are in control of it. This is a big joke, and damaging.

Some people have thought that in certain songs like this one, I was giving them a telling-off or that I was implying that I was ‘holier than thou’. I do not exclude myself and write a lot of things in order to make myself remember.

Harrison performed ‘The Lord Loves The One (That Loves The Lord)’ during the opening date of his 1974 tour of North America, although it was dropped from subsequent shows.

During the tour Harrison raised $66,000 from two shows at San Francisco’s Cow Palace. A donation box at the venue was underneath a sign stating: “Put In Here All Your Loose, Dirty And Filthy Money!”

The money was donated to the Haight-Ashbury Free Medical Clinic in San Francisco. Harrison visited the clinic and sang the chorus of ‘The Lord Loves The One (That Loves The Lord)’ to the staff.