World Of Stone

‘World Of Stone’ is the fifth song on George Harrison’s sixth solo album Extra Texture (Read All About It).

‘World Of Stone’ speaks for itself:

Wise men you won’t be
To follow the like of me
In this world made of stone
Such a long way to go; we may disagree
We all have the right to be
In this world made of stone
Such a long way to go –
Such a long way from OM

That’s all it is, ‘Don’t follow me’ if you want to be a wise man.

I wrote that a couple of years ago, and only just got round to recording it. There’s not much of a story to it really, other than “Wise men you won’t be/To follow the like of me/In this world made of stone”. It’s really just down to saying that everybody has their own opinion and right to be, that’s really all. It’s a nice melody.

‘World Of Stone’ was recorded at A&M Studios in Los Angeles. The basic track was laid down on 2 May 1975, and the backing vocals were added on 2 June.

It was the last song to be completed for the album. The final overdub was a last-minute addition to the song on 27 June 1975.

‘World Of Stone’ was the b-side of the album’s first single, ‘You’. It was released as a single on 12 September 1975 in the UK, and three days later in the USA.

The single was most successful in Canada, where it reached number nine on the RPM singles chart. In the US it spent two weeks at its number 20 peak on the Billboard Hot 100, but in the UK it went no higher than 38.