SAVOY TRUFFLE
“Savoy Truffle” is a song by the English rock group the Beatles from their 1968 album The Beatles (also known as “the White Album”). The song was written by George Harrison and inspired by his friend Eric Clapton’s fondness for chocolate. Along with Clapton’s guest appearance on the White Album track “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” and Harrison reciprocating on Cream’s “Badge”, it is one of several songs that mark the start of a long-lasting friendship between the two musicians. Through the lyrics’ reference to “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”, the song is also an example of the Beatles’ use of self-quotation in their later work. On release, “Savoy Truffle” was viewed by many commentators as a sign of Harrison’s growing maturity as a songwriter. Among more recent assessments, Ian MacDonald cited it as an example of the lesser material found on The Beatles, while Daryl Easlea of BBC Music describes it as one of the “doodles that delight” and “a fine counterweight” to “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”. (More from Wikipedia)
The other George Harrison songs on The Beatles are all standout cuts on the album and illustrate the variety that George has brought in his songwriting all along: “Piggies”, “Long, Long, Long”, and “Savoy Truffle”.
Many rock critics have noted that the sheer length of All Things Must Pass – the triple LP (including the bonus disk Apple Jam) that George Harrison released after the Beatles broke up – showed the volume of excellent Harrison compositions that never made it onto any Beatles albums. Eric Clapton was one of the key musicians in those recording sessions; the two also co-wrote one of my favorite songs by Cream, “Badge”.
(June 2015)
