All Things Must Pass Lyrics
Sunrise doesn't last all morning
A cloudburst doesn't last all day
Seems my love is up and has left you with no warning
It's not always gonna be this gray
[Chorus]
All things must pass
All things must pass away
[Verse 2]
Sunset doesn't last all evening
A mind can blow those clouds away
After all this, my love is up and must be leaving
It's not always gonna be this gray
[Chorus]
All things must pass
All things must pass away
[Bridge]
All things must pass
None of life's strings can last
So, I must be on my way and face another day
[Verse 3]
Now the darkness only stays at nighttime
In the morning it will fade away
Daylight is good at arriving at the right time
It's not always gonna be this gray
About
The music is George’s homage to Robbie Robertson and The Band, while the lyrics are based on the ideas of several Eastern mystics and philosophers, most directly Lao Tzu.
It was widely accepted to refer to the break-up of the Beatles, being rejected from their Let It Be album.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
George recalled the song’s origins to Billboard in 2000.
I think I got [the phrase] from Richard Alpert/Baba Ram Dass, but I’m not sure. When you read of philosophy or spiritual things, it’s a pretty widely used phrase. I wrote it after [the Band’s 1968] Music From Big Pink album; when I heard that song in my head I always heard Levon Helm singing it!
In a 2020 interview with website Louder.com, drummer Phil Collins explained how he got to play on the song:
That was when I was in Flaming Youth. Our manager got a call from Ringo Starr’s chauffeur, who said they needed a percussionist, and he suggested me. So I went down to Abbey Road and Harrison was there and Ringo and Billy Preston and Klaus Voormann and Phil Spector, and we started routining the song. No one told me what to play, and every time they started the song, Phil Spector would say: ‘Let’s hear guitar and drums,’ or ‘Let’s hear bass and drums.’ And I’m not a conga player, so my hands are starting to bleed. And I’m cadging cigarettes off Ringo – I don’t even smoke, I just felt nervous.
Anyway, after about two hours of this, Phil Spector says: ‘Okay congas, you play this time.’ And I’d had my mic off, so everybody laughed, but my hands were shot. And just after that they all disappeared – someone said they were watching TV or something – and I was told I could go. A few months later I buy the album from my local record shop, look at the sleeve notes and I’m not there. And I’m thinking: ‘There must be some mistake!’ But it’s a different version of the song, and I’m not on it.
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