Taken as a metaphor for the album itself, the plea for tolerance inside the LP sleeve – "Be kindly Wanderer through this Garden's ways …" – was ridiculed at the time by some critics. In the 1978 edition of their book "", Roy Carr and Tony Tyler termed these lines of verse "a self-pitying slab of sub-Desiderata", while Woffinden described the album cover as "ghastly". Carr and Tyler conceded that the playing on "Dark Horse" was "impeccable", but opined that Harrison's lyrics were "sanctimonious, repetitive, vituperative and self-satisfied"; as for the album as a whole: "One wishes it had not come from an ex-Beatle."