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Crackerbox Palace

"Crackerbox Palace"
Dutch picture sleeve
Single by George Harrison
from the album Thirty Three & 1/3
B-side"Learning How to Love You"
Released24 January 1977
GenreRock, pop
Length3:58
LabelDark Horse
Songwriter(s)George Harrison
Producer(s)George Harrison with Tom Scott
George Harrison singles chronology
"This Song"
(1976) 		"Crackerbox Palace"
(1977) 		"True Love"
(1977)

"Crackerbox Palace" is the ninth track on George Harrison's 1976 album, Thirty Three & 1/3. The song was released as the second single from the album and reached number 19 on the American pop charts.

History

The song was inspired by Harrison's serendipitous meeting with George Greif.[1] At the 1975 Midem Music Festival, Harrison remarked to Greif that he resembled the late comedian Lord Buckley, whom Harrison had admired for many years.[1] Greif, who had been Buckley's manager, invited Harrison to Buckley's old Los Angeles home, "Crackerbox Palace".[1] Thinking that the phrase had the makings of a song, Harrison jotted the words "Crackerbox Palace" down on a cigarette pack, and later wrote the song.[1] The song includes references to Greif ("I met a Mr. Greif") and to Lord Buckley ("know that the Lord is well and inside of you").[1] ("Lord" could be a double entendre referring as well to either the Lord God or Lord Krishna.)

Harrison says "It's twoo, it's twoo" during an instrumental break, a line said by Madeline Kahn's German seductress-for-hire character Lili Von Shtupp in the 1974 Mel Brooks comedy Blazing Saddles.[2]

Video

A whimsical music video accompanied the single which was first shown on 20 November 1976 episode of Saturday Night Live. Directed by Monty Python's Eric Idle (who had a brief cameo in the video), the film featured Harrison, Neil Innes (as the carriage-pushing nanny/mother, a bathrobe-clad man with a duck on his head, and as a church authority),[3] Harrison's future wife Olivia Arias, and various other friends, in an array of wild costumes. The gnomes of Friar Park are also prominent. The film was shot in and around the grounds of Harrison's home, Friar Park, which Harrison had nicknamed "Crackerbox Palace" after Lord Buckley's home.[4][5]

Personnel

Reception

Cash Box said that "Harrison's melodic guitar work is here complemented by shimmering lines from the synthesized sax of Tom Scott, whose influence in the production is strongly felt."[6] Record World said that "a dreamy quality pervades the song and provides the hook that could send it to the top."[7] Ultimate Classic Rock critic Nick DeRiso rates it as the best song on Thirty-Three & 1/3, calling it an "incredibly fun Top 20 hit".[2]

Chart performance

Weekly charts

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Thirty Three & 1/3 (CD booklet). George Harrison. Dark Horse Records. 2004. p. 5.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  2. ^ a b DeRiso, Nick (26 January 2019). "The Best (and Worst) Song from Every George Harrison Album". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 9 June 2022.
  3. ^ "Words of Innespriation: The Lyrics and Unplanned Career of Neil Innes". NeilInnes.org. Archived from the original on 15 April 2013. Retrieved 29 April 2013.
  4. ^ Harrison, George (2002). I Me Mine. San Francisco, California: Chronicle Books. p. 354.
  5. ^ "George and Pattie Harrison move into Friar Park". The Beatles Bible. 12 March 1970. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
  6. ^ "CashBox Singles Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. 5 February 1977. p. 17. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
  7. ^ "Hits of the Week" (PDF). Record World. 29 January 1977. p. 1. Retrieved 16 February 2023.
  8. ^ Australian Chart Book (1970-1992) by David Kent pp134
  9. ^ "RPM Top Singles, March 26, 1977" Archived 13 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Library and Archives Canada (retrieved 11 April 2014).
  10. ^ "RPM Top Singles, April 9, 1977" Archived 19 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Library and Archives Canada (retrieved 12 May 2015).
  11. ^ "George Harrison > Charts & Awards > Billboard Singles", AllMusic (retrieved 11 April 2014).
  12. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 106.
  13. ^ "Top 100 1977-03-19". Cashbox Magazine. Retrieved 2015-07-16.
  14. ^ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. Archived from the original on 7 August 2016. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
  15. ^ Whitburn, Joel (1999). Pop Annual. Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. ISBN 0-89820-142-X.
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