Dark Horse (song)

"Dark Horse" is a song by English rock musician George Harrison and the title track to his 1974 solo album on Apple Records. The song was the album's lead single in North America, becoming a top-20 hit in the United States, but it was Harrison's first single not to chart in Britain when issued there in February 1975. The term "dark horse" had long been applied to Harrison due to his unexpected emergence as the most accomplished solo artist of the four former Beatles following the band's break-up in 1970. In the song, however, he said he used the phrase in reference to gossip about someone who carries out clandestine sexual relationships. Commentators interpret the lyrics as a rebuttal to several possible detractors: Harrison's first wife, Pattie Boyd; reviewers who criticised the spiritual content of his 1973 album Living in the Material World; and his former bandmates John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Harrison named his Dark Horse record label after the song, and his 1974 North American tour with Ravi Shankar came to be known as the Dark Horse Tour.

Harrison taped an early version of "Dark Horse" in November 1973, intending to finish this recording for the album. The officially released version was recorded live on a sound stage in Los Angeles during rehearsals for his 1974 concerts, at a time when Harrison's exhaustion through overwork contributed to him contracting laryngitis and losing his voice. His hoarse singing similarly marred the ensuing tour – the first in the US by a member of the Beatles since 1966 – leading to a critical backlash that was reflected in contemporaneous reviews of Dark Horse. Some music critics have since recognised the song as one of Harrison's best post-Beatles compositions and believe that the single would have achieved greater success with a cleaner vocal performance. The recording features a musical arrangement incorporating aspects of folk and jazz, and includes contributions from musicians such as Tom Scott, Jim Horn, Billy Preston, Willie Weeks and Andy Newmark.

Harrison played "Dark Horse" throughout the 1974 tour and his 1991 Japanese tour with Eric Clapton. A live version appears on his 1992 album Live in Japan. Recordings also exist of Harrison performing the song during radio and television appearances in the 1970s, although none are available on official releases. The studio recording was included on the 1976 compilation The Best of George Harrison. The 2014 Apple Years reissue of Dark Horse includes an acoustic demo of the song, which Harrison recorded in 1974 before the onset of laryngitis.