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TL;DR:

  • George Harrison’s “Got My Mind Set on You” came from his album Cloud Nine.
  • The album Cloud Nine was originally going to feature covers of Bob Dylan songs.
  • “Got My Mind Set on You” was a No. 1 single in the United States but not in the United Kingdom.
"Got My Mind Set on You" singer George Harrison in a suit
George Harrison | Aaron Rapoport / Contributor

George Harrison‘s “Got My Mind Set on You” was a cover of a song by another artist. Someone told George it sounded different from all of his other songs. George agreed and subsequently explained why this was the case.

George Harrison worked with the Electric Light Orchestra’s Jeff Lynne to make his album ‘Cloud Nine’

The book George Harrison on George Harrison: Interviews and Encounters features an interview from 1987. In it, George discussed how his album Cloud Nine came together.

“I had a lot of demos,” he said. “I played them to [the Eclectic Light Orchestra’s] Jeff [Lynne]; he picked them out. I asked him to write me a song, too. Since I’ve been not making albums, I’ve done a lot of other people’s songs. Just as demos, some old tunes, I do a quick version. I like the idea of singing somebody else’s songs.”

George Harrison’s ‘Got My Mind Set on You’ had a unique drum pattern, according to George himself

George said he covered several songs while trying to put the album together. “Dylan’s ‘Every Grain of Sand,’ a great song,” he said. “I did a version of that, a couple of other Dylan songs, writing other crazy songs. He wrote me a song, we wrote a couple together, and the song that they’re putting out as a single is one that neither of us wrote, from the very early 1960s, called ‘I’ve Got My Mind Set on You.'”

For context, none of George’s Dylan covers appear on Cloud Nine. However, George’s cover of James Ray’s “I’ve Got My Mind Set on You,” simply called “Got My Mind Set on You,” appears on the album.

George was told “Got My Mind Set on You” was different from all his other songs. He said this was true because of the song’s drum pattern. “It’s true, that came about because [session drummer] Jim Keltner just started playing that drum pattern, and the song seemed to fit right on there,” he said.

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How ‘Got My Mind Set on You’ performed

“Got My Mind Set on You” became a massive hit in the United States. There, the song reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for a single week, staying on the chart for 22 weeks in total. Meanwhile, Cloud Nine reached No. 8 on the Billboard 200 and remained on the chart for 31 weeks.

According to The Official Charts Company, “Got My Mind Set on You” reached No. 2 in the United Kingdom, staying on the chart for 15 weeks. On the other hand, Cloud Nine reached No. 10 in the U.K. and lasted on the chart for 23 weeks.

“Got My Mind Set on You” was different from George’s previous work and it became one of his most famous songs.

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