A Head Full of Wishes is a site for Galaxie 500, Luna, Damon & Naomi, Dean & Britta and Dean Wareham. With news, articles and lists of releases and past and future shows.
Originals
Isn't It a Pity by George Harrison (covered by Galaxie 500)
Isn’t It a Pity first saw the light of day on George Harrison’s triple album All Things Must Pass in 1970, but it had been kicking around for a while before that. It had been apparently been vetoed by John Lennon during The Beatles’ Get Back Sessions, and George may have put it forward as a Beatles track as early as 1966 for Revolver. If you’re interested there’s a lot more to the Isn’t It a Pity story over at Wikipedia
George recorded two versions for All Things Must Pass, here’s one…
Here’s a recording made during The Beatles’ Get Back sessions
And here’s George (although not sure of the source of this version)
Galaxie 500 covered the song on their second album On Fire
The band didn’t play it live because, according to this 1990 interview in Sounds, it was “too hard”:
I guess things get easier over time as Dean’s been playing it a few times of late:
With Britta and Jonathan and Grasshopper of Mercury Rev
With My Morning Jacket
And finally Dean & Britta struggling through it in Sweden
update 25th February 2021
It seems since I posted this the two versions from All Things Must Pass have arrived on YouTube… but not for embedding, so…