On this day in 1973, George Harrison knocked his former bandmate from the top spot on the charts with “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)”

The song was written after Harrison’s experiences with attempting to assist refugees of the Bangladesh Liberation War. His frustrations during this period are evident on the the album the single is taken from Living in the Material World with a more sombre sound pervading the effort. Harrison pushed this to the side for a more hopeful quality in “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth”.

The songs lyrics detail Harrison’s vision for life, with strong themes of religion, reincarnation, a spiritual quest and of course, peace and love. In  his later autobiography, Harrison said of the song “Sometimes you open your mouth and you don’t know what you are going to say, and whatever comes out is the starting point. If that happens and you are lucky, it can usually be turned into a song. This song is a prayer and personal statement between me, the Lord, and whoever likes it.”

“Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)” was used as the lead single for Living in the Material World  and was released on the 7th May, ahead of the albums release on the 30th.  It reached number one a month later, using Paul McCartney to number 2 with his song with new band Wings’ song, “My Love”.