Simon Leng considers the song "alarmingly direct" lyrically, and melodically strong, but, in the wider context of Harrison's career during the first half of the 1970s, he detects a "scalded-cat reaction" that would encourage critics to pounce on his next release, "Dark Horse". Leng draws parallels with Joni Mitchell's "Ludwig's Song" and "Shadows and Light" – two tracks dealing with criticism and harsh judgement that duly attracted more of the same. Like Clayson and Holden, Leng views the mid-song soloing on "The Light That Has Lighted the World" as a highlight: "a rolling, lilting passage from Nicky Hopkins, topped by one of Harrison's finest performances," he writes. "In the closing bars of the statement, repeated as the song's coda, the guitar vocalizes a series of six-string sobs. George finally made his guitar gently weep." While echoing Leng's sentiments, "Guitar World" editor Damian Fanelli includes the slide soloing on his list of Harrison's best post-Beatles "Guitar Moments".