Song of the Day 8/7: George Harrison, “Cosmic Empire”

A remastered box set of George Harrison’s “All Things Must Pass” is out to commemorate, one year late, the 50th anniversary of its initial release. The original three-LP set is accompanied by a number of the 40 demo recordings Harrison made, singing alone with just his acoustic guitar, on his first two days in the studio, including some tunes that have never had an official release. “Cosmic Empire” is one of them. Though it’s been available as a bootleg, the sound has been cleaned up, and it’s even got a video.

As it happens, modern recording tools make it possible for even internet randos to re-engineer old music. Some YouTuber put in a lot of work a few years back fleshing out those acoustic guitar-and-vocal demo tapes into fully realized songs. Here’s his version of “Cosmic Empire.”