LONDON (Reuters) – Celebrities including fellow Beatle Ringo Starr have teamed up to honour George Harrison in the first official music video for his 1970 classic “My Sweet Lord”.
Harrison, who died in 2001, released the track from the album “All Things Must Pass” as his first solo single after the Beatles split and it went on to top charts around the world.
The song reflected Harrison’s exploration of eastern spiritual concepts and other religions.
The video, released on Wednesday, is a spoof in which “Star Wars” actor Mark Hamill plays the head of a secret service who sends two special agents – played by Fred Armisen and Vanessa Bayer of “Saturday Night Live” fame – on a metaphysical mission “to search for that which can’t be seen”, a press release on Harrison’s website said.
More than 40 musicians, actors and comedians appear in the video, sending themselves up as special agents and other characters.
“The approach was to represent the song visually while these agents and inspectors kept missing the metaphysical wonder around them,” Lance Bangs, who directed the video, said in a statement.
“Images are choreographed to the sounds of vocal melodies, guitar strums, drum patterns, chord changes. George threaded a sense of humour through all of his videos, so we kept that spirit and filled the cast with friends and admirers of his music, many coming from the current comedy landscape.”
Other celebrities in the video include ELO’s Jeff Lynne, the Eagles’ Joe Walsh, film director Taika Waititi as well as actors Jon Hamm, Rosanna Arquette and Darren Criss.
It also features cameos by Harrison’s wife Olivia and their son Dhani, an executive producer of the video.
(Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian; Editing by Susan Fenton)
