Video: 'Bangla Desh (Bonus Track)'

(Saturday, September 11, 1971) — “Bangla Desh”” by former Beatle George Harrison peaked at #23 on today’s Billboard Hot 100 singles chart for the first of two weeks.

The song was released to raise awareness for the millions of refugees from the country formerly known as East Pakistan, following the 1970 Bhola cyclone and the outbreak of the Bangladesh Liberation War.

Harrison’s inspiration for the song came from his friend Ravi Shankar, a Indian-Bengali musician, who approached Harrison for help in trying to alleviate the suffering.

Harrison would perform “Bangla Desh” as a rousing encore at The Concert for Bangladesh, a pair of benefit concerts organized by Harrison and Shankar held on Aug. 1 1971, at Madison Square Garden in New York City.