Some songs try to convince me that everything will be all right. George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass” does something wiser: it reminds me that nothing stays the way it is.

Not happiness. Not heartbreak. Not youth, success, disappointment, friendship, love, grief—or even the darkest night.

That may sound melancholy, but the song has never felt depressing to me. I hear it as an act of consolation. George does not deny loss or decorate it with easy optimism. He simply places it inside a larger truth: whatever I am experiencing now will change. The difficult part of life is accepting that this applies to the things I treasure as well as the things I want to escape.

That emotional balance is one reason the song is so great. It mourns and reassures me at the same time.

Continue reading “What Makes “All Things Must Pass” Great” →