The Answer's at the End

This aphorism, beginning "Scan not a friend with a microscopic glass", had resonated with Harrison since he bought Friar Park in 1970, and it was a quote he often used when discussing his difficult relationship with his former Beatles bandmate Paul McCartney.

[15][16] As a result, paint masked some of Crisp's inscriptions inside the house,[17] but outside, signs reading "Don't keep off the grass", "Herons will be prosecuted" and "Eton boys are a Harrowing sight" remained intact.

[26] In October 1974 – towards the end of what Harrison termed a "bad domestic year", following his split with Boyd[27] – he used the same quote in an interview with BBC Radio's Alan Freeman,[28] when again discussing the current relationship among the four ex-Beatles.

[35] In 1975, it provided the central theme to "The Answer's at the End",[36][37] a composition that, theologian Dale Allison has written, "expresses the personal doubts and religious uncertainty George experienced in the mid-1970s".

[39] It was also a period marked by Harrison's excessive use of alcohol and cocaine[40][41] – a symptom of his despondency following his troubled 1974 North American tour with Ravi Shankar, and the generally unfavourable reception afforded his Dark Horse album.

[45] In its musical mood, authors Robert Rodriguez and Elliot Huntley liken the released recording to "Isn't It a Pity",[37][46] which, like "Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp", was co-produced by Phil Spector and issued on Harrison's 1970 triple album All Things Must Pass.

[47][48] Harrison biographer Simon Leng describes "The Answer's at the End" as a ballad set to a "mellow, reflective soul mood", like much of its parent album, Extra Texture (Read All About It).

[52] There were disasters all around at that time ... [B]ut the thing about Sir Frank with his advice, like: "scan not a friend with a microscopic glass ..." I mean, that helped me actively to ease up on whomsoever I thought I loved, gave me that consciousness not to hang on to the negative side of it, to be more forgiving.

"[39] As a further reference to the sentiment regarding friendship expressed in "Isn't It a Pity",[57] the middle section of "The Answer's at the End" reflects the influence of Nina Simone's 1972 cover of that earlier song.

[62] Leng views this composition as "a deliberate tempering of tone rather than a change in fundamental beliefs", however, with the song's choruses "attenuat[ing] the search for universal solutions to a simpler, earthbound observation".

[76] "The timing was perfect", Leng writes of Harrison's approach to making Extra Texture, "as this latest signing to Dark Horse provided a ready-made backup band, close at hand.

"[77] Although Attitudes guitarist Danny Kortchmar did not play on the album, "The Answer's at the End" was one of two songs that featured all three of the other band members:[78] Keltner, pianist/musical arranger David Foster and bassist/lead singer Paul Stallworth.

[54] Writing in 1981, author and critic Bob Woffinden paired the song with "This Guitar" as examples of Harrison asking for tolerance from his detractors, and considered that the inclusion of orchestral strings on the album was an attempt to achieve a "commercial bias".

[100][101] In his favourable review for Melody Maker, Ray Coleman wrote that Extra Texture represented "a re-statement of the fundamentals we should all cherish" and that "The Answer's at the End" was Harrison "at his most expressive, vocally", as well as "by far the most majestic track on the album".

[102] Simon Leng admires the "warm sonic scenes" of "The Answer's at the End" and recognises it as an "interesting" composition, one that "ponders the nature of relationships" in a similar way to Bob Dylan's 1975 album Blood on the Tracks.

[104][nb 6] While similarly noting the bleakness of the subject matter, Ian Inglis opines: "The lack of optimism in his words is matched by a largely inconspicuous melody and an inconsistent production in which alternate piano, strings, and guitar interludes fail to provide a coherent musical context.

[107] In his book covering the Beatles' first decade as solo artists, Fab Four FAQ 2.0, Robert Rodriguez includes "The Answer's at the End" in a chapter discussing eight overlooked Harrison compositions, and comments that the song's "grace and majesty" is reminiscent of "Isn't It a Pity".

[111] In his review for Paste magazine, Robert Ham views the song as a "[moment] when Harrison's focus returns" on Extra Texture and one of the album's ballads that "cut deep".