Crackerbox Palace

"Crackerbox Palace" is the ninth track on George Harrison's 1976 album, Thirty Three & 1/3. The song was released as the second single from the album and reached #19 on the American pop charts.

History

The song was inspired by Harrison's meeting with a man named George Greif.^[1] At the 1975 Midem Music Festival, Harrison met the man and remarked to him that he resembled the late comedian Lord Buckley (Harrison had admired Buckley for many years).^[1] As chance would have it, Greif was Buckley's former manager, and he invited Harrison to come see Buckley's old Los Angeles home, which he called "Crackerbox Palace."^[1] Thinking that it had the making of a song, Harrison jotted the words "Crackerbox Palace" down on a cigarette pack, and later wrote the song.^[1] The song includes references to Greif ("I met a Mr. Greif") and to Lord Buckley ("know that the Lord is well and inside of you").^[1]

A whimsical music video accompanied the single and was first shown on the November 20, 1976 episode of Saturday Night Live. Directed by Monty Python's Eric Idle, the video featured Harrison, Neil Innes (as the carriage-pushing nanny/mother), and various other celebrities. Harrison's then-girlfriend (and future wife), Olivia Arias, can briefly be seen as one of the two lingerie-clad women on his bed. The film was shot in and around the grounds of Harrison's home, Friar Park.

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