George Harrison’s Material World Foundation has donated $500,000 to COVID-19 relief. The foundation — started by the late Beatle in 1973 with the release of the LP Living in the Material World — donated the funds to MusiCare’s COVID-19 Foundation, Save the Children, and Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders).
In addition, the foundation launched “The Inner Light Challenge,” in which users across the globe share a line, verse, or chorus from the Beatles’ 1968 B side — featured in a new lyric-video below. One dollar will be donated to pandemic relief for every person who posts the clip with the hashtag #innerlight2020, with a maximum of $100,000.
Harrison’s son, Dhani, covers “The Inner Light” in the clip above. “Without going out of my door/I can know all things on earth,” he sings, ringing a Tibetan singing bowl while sitting on a couch. “Without looking out of my window/I could know the ways of heaven.”
“These lyrics sung by George are a positive reminder to all of us who are isolating, in quarantine, or respecting the request to shelter in place,” Harrison’s widow, Olivia, said in a statement. “Let’s get and stay connected at this difficult time. There are things we can do to help, and we invite you to share your Inner Light.”
Dhani recently revived his father’s record label, Dark Horse Records, and has plans for previously unreleased material to see the light of day. “It’s the family business, as they say,” he recently told Rolling Stone. “It’s funny — if you’re a plumber and want to be in the family plumbing business, no one would think anything about that. That would be normal. But in our family, the family business is music, so I’m just doing what mum and dad did. No one is making us do it. We have to do it.”