This was my favorite Leon Russel song. I liked his style. Even his Jambalaya song in the mid 60's. But, I was 20 yrs young in 1971. I was long haired hippy who was on a search for God and meaning of life and a return to the Garden of Eden. We were Star Dust, we were Golden, and we had to get ourselves Back to the Garden. I understood the song to be about Jesus's return. And about getting free from the madness of commercial consumerism. Besides liking Leon's singing style, i liked the message i took from this song. I used to play 12 string guitar at the time, and met a musician in 1972 who gave me a personal written invitation to come to Edgar Winter's house in Aspen CO. He told that Elton John and Leon Russel were going to be there to hold jamming sessions with new musicians to put together some new bands. This musician, Jim McCartney, told me he would introduce me to Leon personally and ask him to help me get my own back up band and start my own group. I got home and took out that invitation and had to decide if that was really what i wanted in life. I had found Krishna. That day I was at the crossroads in my life. I could decide to go to Aspen and meet Leon Russel and try to make it in the music world and life the life of a rock star, or i could give up everything and go join the Hare Krishna temple. I prayed to Jesus to help me out, to guide me and tell me which way to go? The answer i got back was this was not His decision to make, it was my decision. Without giving it another thought, i took out a lighter and set the invitation on fire. I joined the Hare Krishna temple and never looked back, never regretted it. Today I was just looking up the lyrics to that song as i was writing about my life at that time and how i had come to this crossroads in my life that day, and made the decision to go the path i did, rather then a path that most likely would have taken me more and more into the type of life Leon is here singing out against. One thing was, I really wanted to play with George Harrison, who was also into Krishna at the time. A few years later I did meet George a number of times when he came to the temple in Los Angeles. I took him through a multi media museum i was working on and met him not as a musician, but as God brother and friend. All Things Must Pass - a-way...
This was my favorite Leon Russel song. I liked his style. Even his Jambalaya song in the mid 60's. But, I was 20 yrs young in 1971. I was long haired hippy who was on a search for God and meaning of life and a return to the Garden of Eden. We were Star Dust, we were Golden, and we had to get ourselves Back to the Garden. I understood the song to be about Jesus's return. And about getting free from the madness of commercial consumerism. Besides liking Leon's singing style, i liked the message i took from this song. I used to play 12 string guitar at the time, and met a musician in 1972 who gave me a personal written invitation to come to Edgar Winter's house in Aspen CO. He told that Elton John and Leon Russel were going to be there to hold jamming sessions with new musicians to put together some new bands. This musician, Jim McCartney, told me he would introduce me to Leon personally and ask him to help me get my own back up band and start my own group. I got home and took out that invitation and had to decide if that was really what i wanted in life. I had found Krishna. That day I was at the crossroads in my life. I could decide to go to Aspen and meet Leon Russel and try to make it in the music world and life the life of a rock star, or i could give up everything and go join the Hare Krishna temple. I prayed to Jesus to help me out, to guide me and tell me which way to go? The answer i got back was this was not His decision to make, it was my decision. Without giving it another thought, i took out a lighter and set the invitation on fire. I joined the Hare Krishna temple and never looked back, never regretted it. Today I was just looking up the lyrics to that song as i was writing about my life at that time and how i had come to this crossroads in my life that day, and made the decision to go the path i did, rather then a path that most likely would have taken me more and more into the type of life Leon is here singing out against. One thing was, I really wanted to play with George Harrison, who was also into Krishna at the time. A few years later I did meet George a number of times when he came to the temple in Los Angeles. I took him through a multi media museum i was working on and met him not as a musician, but as God brother and friend. All Things Must Pass - a-way...