George Harrison's "Brainwashed" Album Quiz

Answer: Jet

"I've been traveling on a boat, on a plane, in a car, on a bike, with a bus and a train." -the first line of "Any Road."

Answer: Michelangelo Buonarotti

"Gazed at the ceiling from below, a splendid Michelangelo," he sings, referring to the painting on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Listen for this: at 1:33, when George begins the line "I wish somebody would tell me," the "I" sounds just like a guitar string is being picked. I think he finally turned into his guitar. Also, for those who are wondering, when he sings ıthree Hail Marys," he is not trying to make it sound like "Murray." George's voice may have sounded different throughout the album because of his throat cancer.

Answer: My soul

This song features the first of two references to animal feces in the album ("Canadian geese crap along the bank;" the other being probably too profane to mention, but it is in the song "Brainwashed"). I actually have the same birthday as George, born 44 years to the minute after he was.

Answer: Jim Keltner

This recording was just George, Dhani, and Jeff. Jim Keltner, who played drums on 8 of the 12 songs, was not featured. The drums are actually not credited on the instrumentation notes in the booklet, but there definitely are drums.

Answer: The devil

This is the first line: "On the street of villians, taken for a ride, you can have the devil as a guide."

Answer: It is the album's only instrumental

"Marwa Blues" is a 3-minute 41-second instrumental featuring guitars, keyboards, finger cymbals, drums, and a string arrangement. George did compose it and also played the slide guitar. Several songs on the album do not feature the ukulele. This song opens the DVD featured in the Special Edition set.

Answer: 7 was George's favorite number

In the DVD, Dhani says that 7 was his father's favorite number and many of his songs were unintentionally placed at the #7 position (like "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "Long, Long, Long," and "Here Comes the Sun"), and that he would be doing him an honor by placing the albumıs best song at track 7.

Answer: (Can Only) Run So Far

In the CD booklet, above the lyrics, there is a handwritten title, "(can only) run so far."

Answer: Guitar

The first instrument is probably an electric guitar (though it might have been acoustic). Both guitars are played by George.

Answer: George Harrison wrote it while in the Beatles

This song was written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler. At 2:34, it is the shortest song on the CD. It has a false start where the ukulele is playing alone, and then George starts again and sings from the beginning. This is one of two songs in whose recordings Jeff Lynne and Dhani Harrison both did not participate. I think this is the most fun song on the whole album.

Answer: Electric guitar

George plays the dobro slide, the acoustic guitar, and the ukulele. Jeff Lynne plays the bass.

Answer: The BBC

The three correct choices are right next to each other in the song. This is the most interesting song on the whole album. It starts off my naming people that are responsible for the brainwashing and the forcing of people to conform and accept unreasonable rules.

Then comes the chorus, a prayer for guidance from the highest power to fight ignorance and stay individuals. Then it is repeated, followed by a girl reading a passage from Dr. Deepak Chopra's "How to Know God" with a beautiful, Indian-inspired melody in the background, and as the reader's voice softens up while saying "page 130," the drums come in and the "brainwashed" verses are repeated.

At the end, George joins his son Dhani in the chanting of "Namah Parvarti" that lasts nearly two minutes.

The last note intensifies and then quickly drops and the song ends, much in the form of "A Day in the Life." I consider this the best song on the album and urge anyone who owns this CD to listen to the whole song again.

Answer: November 19th, 2002

It came out on November 19th, 2002, ten days short of one year after George Harrison died. The single "My Sweet Lord" / "Let it Down" / "My Sweet Lord (2000)" was released on January 15th, and February 24th, 2003 would have been his 60th birthday ("Let it Down," by the way, is an excellent track.).

Answer: An alternate CD cover with a picture of George, Dhani, and Jeff Lynne

There couldnıt be an alternate cover, because the CD case is made out of paper. The sticker is purple and features the seven-headed Dark Horse symbol, the guitar pick is blue (not George's real autograph), and the two-sided poster features the image from the album cover on one side and a picture of George on the other.

There is also a DVD in the case about the making of the album. For those who donıt know, Dhani is Georgeıs only son and was born in 1978, and Jeff Lynne headed the Electric Light Orchestra, was a member (along with George) of the Traveling Wilburys (1988-1990), and produced "Brainwashed."

Answer: November 29th, 2001

George Harrison died in Los Angeles, California of a brain tumor in the evening of Wednesday, November 29th, 2001. December 31st, 1999 was the date he and his wife Olivia were attacked in their home. Keith Richards said, as quoted in "Revolution" by David Quantick, that George might have beaten cancer had he not been stabbed.

Thanks for playing.

"With our love we could save the world."
-George Harrison, "Within You Without You"