Any Road

History

The only known public performance of "Any Road" was in 1997, by Harrison, at the suggestion of Sukanya Rajan during an interview with Ravi Shankar conducted by VH1 (it was the last known filmed performance by Harrison).

Composition

The refrain "If you don't know where you're going, any road'll take you there" was essentially a paraphrase of an exchange between Alice and the Cheshire Cat in Chapter 6 of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland:

"Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?" "That depends a good deal on where you want to get to," said the Cat. "I don't much care where—" said Alice. "Then it doesn't matter which way you go," said the Cat. "—so long as I get SOMEWHERE," Alice added as an explanation. "Oh, you're sure to do that," said the Cat, "if you only walk long enough."

John Lennon uses the expression "any road" on the Beatles track "Revolution 9", which also featured George; "so any road, he went to see the dentist instead ..." (at around 05:13). [Comment: the term "any road" as used in Revolution #9, is also a colloquial English expression meaning "anyway" rather than "any way," (or "as I was saying") rather the meaning interpreted here which suggests it could mean "any choice of road."]

Release

"Any Road" was the last Harrison song to be released as a single. The song was released on 12 May 2003 as a single in the United Kingdom and peaked at #37 in the UK Charts.

Grammy

"Any Road" was nominated at the 2004 Grammy Awards for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, and was also featured on the 2004 Grammy Nominees compilation album. Although the song lost the award to Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River," Harrison's "Marwa Blues" (the instrumental B-side to "Any Road") won in its category for Best Pop Instrumental Performance.

Later release

Both "Any Road" and "Marwa Blues" were included in Harrison's 2009 career-spanning compilation, Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison.

Covers

John Kadlecik plays "Any Road" with Furthur as well as his own John Kadlecik Band.

American ukulele player and singer, Ukulele Ray, covered this song on his Coming to Nothing album in 2010.

Joe Brown performed "Any Road" on his live Ukulele Album in 2012.

Butch Walker, American musician, former lead guitarist of metal band SouthGang performed "Any Road" during George Fest concert in 2014.

Track listing

7" R6601, CD CDRS6601

1. "Any Road" - 3:49
2. "Marwa Blues" - 3:40
3. "Any Road" (video) - CD only