That Is All (song)

Harrison wrote and recorded the song during the height of his public devotion to Hinduism; on release, Rolling Stone described its lyrics as "a sort of Hindu In Paradisium".

As with all the songs on his 1973 album Living in the Material World except for "Try Some, Buy Some",[2] George Harrison wrote "That Is All" over 1971–72,[3] a period marked by both his heightened devotion to Hindu spirituality[4][5] and his commitment to providing humanitarian aid for the refugees of the Bangladesh Liberation War.

[6][7] With his own career taking second place to the latter endeavour,[8] following the Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971,[9][10] Harrison's musical activities included helping American musician Gary Wright establish himself as a solo artist.

[11][12][nb 1] Wright's album Footprint was released in November that year and included "Love to Survive",[19] a song that author Simon Leng cites as having been an influence on Harrison's composition "That Is All".

[35] He writes that a number of "characteristic" Harrison musical devices are found in "That Is All" – such as a melody that rises by a half step with each line, and an A minor chord sharpened to an augmented triad "to create drama".

[52] Having long admired Spector as a producer, he employed elements of his signature production style throughout Material World,[53] but with a degree of subtlety in comparison to the big sound synonymous with All Things Must Pass.

[61] Their collaborations had taken in Harrison's Wonderwall Music, All Things Must Pass and Living in the Material World,[62] as well as Apple projects for Billy Preston,[63] Jackie Lomax and Radha Krishna Temple (London).

[65] "That Is All" was sequenced to follow "The Day the World Gets 'Round",[66] a song that reflected Harrison's idealism after the Concert for Bangladesh,[67] as well as his frustration at the apathy of governments who had chosen not to intervene on the refugees' behalf.

[72] Writing in Melody Maker, Michael Watts described Living in the Material World as "Harrison's personal statement" documenting his journey towards "a spiritual goal which for the first time he has been able to define".

"[73] In his review for Rolling Stone, Stephen Holden praised the album's "inspirationally, opulently, romantic" qualities, and he wrote of "That Is All" and "The Day the World Gets 'Round" as "two devotional prayers whose solemn mantra-influenced melodies are barely able to sustain their lush orchestration.

[75] Among other Beatles biographers, Robert Rodriguez writes that the track "sums up the journey" in the same way as "Hear Me Lord" successfully concludes the song cycle on All Things Must Pass,[58] a view shared by Elliot Huntley, who admires "That Is All" as a "lush orchestral prayer where George really does prostrate himself at His feet".

[76] Reviewing the 2014 Apple Years reissue of Material World, Joe Marchese of The Second Disc highlights "That Is All" among songs that combine to provide the album's "earnest and intensely personal, yet wholly accessible, statement".