10 Songs That Prove George Harrison’s Solo Years Were Better Than You Think
2. Cheer Down
This track co-written by Tom Petty was a song George Harrison initially offered his long-time friend Eric Clapton for the latter’s Journeyman album.
Instead Clapton used Harrison’s own recording of the song for the soundtrack to Lethal Weapon 2. The combination of action movie and George “The Quiet One” Harrison might seem like an odd fit. Nonetheless the song plays over the 1989 film’s end credits.
Cheer Down is a catchy, mid-tempo tune coloured with more of George’s trademark slide guitar playing. The playful lyric was inspired by his wife Olivia. She would tell George to “Cheer Down” if he was getting carried away about something.
With this song following 1987’s successful comeback album Cloud Nine, fans at the time probably hoped there was more to come. Sadly George didn’t capitalise on the momentum. Instead, Cheer Down became the last single George released in his lifetime.