It Is 'He' (Jai Sri Krishna)
"It Is 'He' " is a song by English musician George Harrison, released as the final track of his 1974 album Dark Horse. Harrison was inspired to write the song while in the Hindu holy city of Vrindavan, in northern India, with his friend Ravi Shankar. The composition originated on a day that Harrison describes in his autobiography as "my most fantastic experience", during which his party and their ascetic guide toured the city's temples. The song's choruses were adapted from the Sanskrit chant they sang before visiting Seva Kunj, a park dedicated to Krishna's childhood. The same pilgrimage to India led to Harrison staging Shankar's Music Festival from India in September 1974 and undertaking a joint North American tour with Shankar at the end of that year.
The Yamuna River at Vrindavan, at sunset – Harrison and Shankar stayed at a riverside ashram during their visit to the town.
A fourteenth-century fresco showing Krishna playing his flute
Harrison (left), with his Hare Krishna friends Shyamasundar Das and Mukunda Goswami, in Vrindavan in 1996
Dark Horse (George Harrison album)
Dark Horse is the fifth studio album by the English rock musician George Harrison. It was released on Apple Records in December 1974 as the follow-up to Living in the Material World. Although keenly anticipated on release, Dark Horse is associated with the controversial North American tour that Harrison staged with Indian classical musician Ravi Shankar in November and December that year. This was the first US tour by a member of the Beatles since 1966, and the public's nostalgia for the band, together with Harrison contracting laryngitis during rehearsals and choosing to feature Shankar so heavily in the programme, resulted in scathing concert reviews from some influential music critics.
Dark Horse (George Harrison album)
Harrison's dedication to his Dark Horse Records act Splinter (pictured performing in 1977) was one of the factors that compromised his focus on Dark Horse; photo: Jean Helfer.
Benares in India. Harrison's visit in early 1974 inspired the idea behind his and Ravi Shankar's joint North American tour at the end of the year.
A&M Studios main gate (pictured in 1988). Harrison completed the album there while rehearsing for the 1974 tour.