"Any Road" is a song by George Harrison

George Harrison

George Harrison, MBE was an English musician, guitarist, singer-songwriter, actor and film producer who achieved international fame as lead guitarist of The Beatles. Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison became over time an admirer of Indian mysticism, and introduced it to the other...

 and is the opening track to his posthumous album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

, Brainwashed

Brainwashed (album)

Brainwashed is the final studio album by George Harrison, released in 2002, almost a year after his death at age 58. As a posthumous release, Brainwashed garnered much attention upon its unveiling.-History:...

. It was written in 1988 during the making of a video for his 1987 album, Cloud Nine

Cloud Nine (George Harrison album)

-Personnel:The following personnel was credited in the liner notes.*George Harrison – vocals, guitars, keyboards, sitar*Jeff Lynne – guitars, bass, vocals, keyboards*Eric Clapton – guitar*Elton John – piano*Gary Wright – piano*Ringo Starr – drums...

.

The earliest known public performance of "Any Road" was in 1997, by Harrison, during an interview with Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar

Ravi Shankar , often referred to by the title Pandit, is an Indian musician and composer who plays the plucked string instrument sitar. He has been described as the best known contemporary Indian musician by Hans Neuhoff in Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart.Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent...

 conducted by VH1

VH1

VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...

 (it was the last known filmed performance by Harrison).

"Any Road" was the last Harrison song to be released as a single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

. The song was released on 12 May 2003 as a single in the United Kingdom

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 and peaked at #37 in the UK Charts.

"Any Road" was nominated at the 2004 Grammy Awards for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance

Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance

The Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance was awarded between 1966 and 2011...

, and was also featured on the 2004 Grammy Nominees compilation album. Although the song lost the award to Justin Timberlake

Justin Timberlake

Justin Randall Timberlake is an American pop musician and actor. He achieved early fame when he appeared as a contestant on Star Search, and went on to star in the Disney Channel television series The New Mickey Mouse Club, where he met future bandmate JC Chasez...

's "Cry Me a River

Cry Me a River (Justin Timberlake song)

"Cry Me a River" is the second single from Justin Timberlake's solo debut album Justified. Released on December 17, 2002, the single, which features guest vocals and production by Timbaland & Scott Storch, won Timberlake a Grammy Award for "Best Male Pop Vocal Performance" in 2004.-Background...

," Harrison's "Marwa Blues" (the instrumental B-side to "Any Road") won in its category for Best Pop Instrumental Performance

Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance

The Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance was awarded between 1969 and 2011.*In 1969 it was awarded as Best Contemporary-Pop Performance, Instrumental*From 1970 to 1971 it was awarded as Best Contemporary Instrumental Performance...

.

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 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."

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

Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison

Let It Roll: Songs by George Harrison is the third compilation of George Harrison's music, and the first to span his entire solo career after The Beatles era...

.

Track listing

• 7" R6601, CD CDRS6601

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

External links

• George Harrison - Any Road at Graham Calkin's Beatles Pages.