{"id":438982,"date":"2025-12-11T01:06:15","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T01:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/438982\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T01:06:15","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T01:06:15","slug":"the-only-song-george-harrison-and-son-dhani-harrison-co-wrote-first-recorded-by-jools-holland-became-the-former-beatles-final-recording","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/438982\/","title":{"rendered":"The Only Song George Harrison and Son Dhani Harrison Co-Wrote\u2014First Recorded by Jools Holland\u2014Became the Former Beatle’s Final Recording"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the birth of his first and only child, Dhani<\/a>, in 1978, George Harrison<\/a>\u2018s wife, Olivia, encouraged him to write a song about their newborn son. The result was the tender calypso-like \u201cSoft Touch\u201d\u2014You\u2019re a soft touch baby \/ Like a snowflake falling \/ My whole heart is melting\u2014written while Harrison was in the Virgin Islands and released on his 1979 self-titled album. <\/p>\n

Several years later, Harrison wrote another song about Dhani, \u201cUnknown Delight,\u201d from his 1982 album Gone Troppo, but it would take nearly 20 years more before father and son co-wrote their first and only song together. Written by\u00a0George and Dhani, \u201cHorse to the Water\u201d was originally recorded by\u00a0Jools Holland\u2019s Rhythm and Blues Orchestra and Friends for the 2001 album\u00a0Small World, Big Band.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On the track, Dhani played guitar, and his father recorded the vocals while battling cancer. Their parts were recorded in Switzerland and sent to Holland, at his London studio, where they were worked into the band\u2019s recordings.<\/p>\n

[The Lost Song George Harrison and Bob Dylan Wrote Thanksgiving Weekend, 1968]<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Recorded nearly two months before Harrison\u2019s death, \u201cHorse to the Water\u201d marked the final recording by the Beatle and alludes to his reluctance to quit smoking despite knowing its dangers.<\/p>\n

You can take a horse to the water, but you can\u2019t make him drink
Oh no, oh no, oh no<\/p>\n

A friend of mine in so much misery
Some people sail through life, he is struggling
I said, \u201cHey man, let\u2019s go out and get some wisdom\u201d
First, he turned on me, then turned off his nervous system<\/p>\n

You can take a horse to the water, but you can\u2019t make him drink
Oh no, oh no, oh no
You can have it all laid out in front of you, but still won\u2019t make it think
Oh no, oh no, oh no<\/p>\n

Someone I love has got a problem
Some people thirst for truth, he would like a drink
I said, \u201cHey man, this could be risky\u201d
He said everything\u2019s okay, as he downed another bottle of whiskey<\/p>\n

\"\"George Harrison at Capitol Records in Los Angeles, 2000. (Photo: Lester Cohen\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Keeping his sense of humor until the end, Harrison copyrighted \u201cHorse to the Water\u201d under \u201cR.I.P Music Ltd\u201d instead of his usual music company, \u201cHarrisongs.\u201d\u00a0The song was released in December of 2001, just days after Harrison\u2019s death. A year later, Holland performed the song during the Concert for George, a tribute to Harrison,\u00a0with\u00a0Sam Brown\u00a0on vocals. <\/p>\n

Dark Horse Legacy<\/p>\n

Decades after Harrison\u2019s death, Dhani continued working on preserving his father\u2019s music and legacy, including overseeing the remastering of the 2014 box set The Apple Years. Dhani has also contributed to two tributes to his father, including the live\u00a0Concert for George, recorded in 2002 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, England and produced the 2016 live album and concert DVD,\u00a0A Night to Celebrate the Music of George Harrison, which was recorded from the George Fest tribute concert held at the\u00a0Fonda Theatre\u00a0in Los Angeles in 2014.<\/p>\n

In 2020, Dhani, along with David Zonshine, relaunched<\/a> Dark Horse Records, the label his father founded in 1974. There, Harrison\u2019s catalog is preserved, from his 1968 debut\u00a0Wonderwall\u00a0Music\u00a0through his 12th and final album,\u00a0Brainwashed,\u00a0released in 2002, a year after his death. The latter album is one Dhani also helped complete for his father with the help of Jim Keltner and Traveling Wilbury Jeff Lynne.<\/p>\n

Billy Idol, Yusuf\/Cat Stevens, Benmont Tench, Steve Perry, and the music of Joe Strummer, Nina Simone, and George Harrison\u2019s friend and collaborator, Ravi Shankar, are among the artists under the label today.<\/p>\n

Harrison received his first Grammy<\/a>\u00a0in 2022 for remastering the 50th anniversary release of his father\u2019s classic 1970 solo album,\u00a0All Things Must Pass<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When asked by Conan O\u2019Brien in 2014 about protecting his father\u2019s legacy, Dhani said<\/a>, \u201cIt\u2019s a labor of love.\u201d <\/p>\n

Photo: Lester Cohen\/Getty Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After the birth of his first and only child, Dhani, in 1978, George Harrison\u2018s wife, Olivia, encouraged him…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":438983,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[202819,171,46910,202820,975,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-438982","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-dhani-harrison","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-george-harrison","11":"tag-jools-holland","12":"tag-music","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115698256714411753","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438982","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438982"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438982\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438983"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438982"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438982"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438982"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}