A Beatle's Haunting Song Sets the Mood at Start of New Horror Movie ‘Weapons’ originally appeared on Parade.
Much like how the new Superman movie closes with a hidden gem from Iggy Pop, the new No. 1 movie in the U.S.—Zach Cregger's mystery horror, Weapons—drops the needle on a deep cut from the past. But fans of The Beatles' solo work probably recognized it right away.
Weaponsstars Josh Brolin, Julia Garner and Alden Ehrenreich. Its premise is summed up in its tagline: "Last night at 2:17 a.m. every child from Mrs. Gandy's class woke up, got out of bed, went downstairs, opened the front door, walked into the dark ... And they never came back." And what is the song that plays when those children go missing? George Harrison's "Beware of Darkness."
"Beware of Darkness" comes from Harrison's 1970 triple album All Things Must Pass, opening Side Three (aka the first track on the second LP).
"Watch out now / Take care, beware of the thoughts that linger / Winding up inside your head," he sings on the second verse. "The hopelessness around you / In the dead of night / Beware of sadness."
Harrison wrote about the origin of the song in his memoir, I, Me, Mine. "'Beware of Darkness' was written at home in England during a period when I had some of my friends from the Radha Krishna temple staying," he wrote. Harrison indicated that his guests had a saying: "Watch out for Māya."
Per Britannica'ssummation, Māya is a "fundamental concept in Hindu philosophy," one that means that "a god can make human beings believe in what turns out to be an illusion." It later came to represent the "powerful force that creates the cosmic illusion that the phenomenal world is real," or the illusion that distracts a person from their true purpose.
Harrison refers to Māya in the third verse: "As each unconscious sufferer / Wanders aimlessly / Beware of Māya."
Harrison famously performed “Beware of Darkness” at the Concert for Bangladesh in August 1971, both during the afternoon and evening performances; the latter of which was included on the Concert for Bangladesh live album and the corresponding concert film.
While many know "My Sweet Lord" as the big single from All Things Must Pass, Rolling Stoneonce considered "Beware of Darkness" the album's best song. "Musically enigmatic and strangely incomplete, it is both a warning and an affirmation," wrote author Ben Garson in 2011.
Related: ‘70s Music Legend, 78, Made Key Lyrical Tweaks to Song That Won’t Die
A Beatle's Haunting Song Sets the Mood at Start of New Horror Movie ‘Weapons’ first appeared on Parade on Aug 11, 2025
This story was originally reported by Parade on Aug 11, 2025, where it first appeared.
