"Crackerbox Palace" is the ninth track on 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...

's 1976 album, Thirty Three & 1/3

Thirty Three & 1/3

Thirty Three & 1/3 is an album by George Harrison released in 1976. As his first release on his Dark Horse Records label, Thirty Three & 1/3 was beset with misfortune during its production, yet Harrison still managed to deliver one of his most celebrated albums.-Background:After satisfying his EMI...

. 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. At the 1975 Midem Music Festival, Harrison met the man and remarked to him that he resembled the late comedian Lord Buckley

Lord Buckley

Lord Richard Buckley was an American stage performer, recording artist, monologist, and hip poet/comic...

 (Harrison had admired Buckley for many years). 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." 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. 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").

A whimsical music video accompanied the single and was first shown on the November 20, 1976 episode of Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live

Saturday Night Live is a live American late-night television sketch comedy and variety show developed by Lorne Michaels and Dick Ebersol. The show premiered on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title of NBC's Saturday Night.The show's sketches often parody contemporary American culture...

. Directed by Monty Python

Monty Python

Monty Python was a British surreal comedy group who created their influential Monty Python's Flying Circus, a British television comedy sketch show that first aired on the BBC on 5 October 1969. Forty-five episodes were made over four series...

's Eric Idle

Eric Idle

Eric Idle is an English comedian, actor, author, singer, writer, and comedic composer. He was as a member of the British comedy group Monty Python, a member of the The Rutles on Saturday Night Live and author of the play, Spamalot....

, the video featured Harrison, Neil Innes

Neil Innes

Neil James Innes is an English writer and performer of comic songs, best known for his collaborative work with Monty Python, and for playing in the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band and later The Rutles.-Personal life:...

(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.