While My Guitar Gently Weeps

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
The Beatles
publication November 22, 1968
length 4 min 46 s
Genre (s) skirt
Author (s) Harrison
album The Beatles

While My Guitar Gently Weeps ( English While my guitar gently weeps ) is a song by British rock band The Beatles in 1968, composed by George Harrison and published on 22 November 1968 on the so-called White Album .

History of origin

Harrison got the idea for the song when he decided to compose a song from the first words he would find in a book. The words were "gently weeps". Harrison recalled the making of the song in his autobiography I, Me, Mine :

“Around the time of writing While My Guitar Gently Weeps I had a copy of the 'I Ching - the [Chinese] Book of Changes' which seemed to me to be based on the Eastern concept that everything is relative to everything else, as opposed to the Western view that things are merely coincidental.
This idea was in my head when I visited my parents' house in the North of England. I decided to write a song based on the first thing I saw upon opening any book - as it would be relative to that moment at that time. I picked up a book at random - opened it - saw 'Gently weeps' - then laid the book down again and started the song. "

“When I was writing While My Guitar Gently Weeps , I had a copy of ' I Ching - the [ Chinese ] Book of Changes' which I understand is based on the Eastern concept that everything is related as opposed to the Western perspective that everything is random.
This thought crossed my mind while visiting my parents' house in the north of England. I decided to write a song about the first thing I would see when I opened any book - because that would be directly related to the moment at that point. I chose a book at random - opened it - read 'Gently weeps' - I put the book down again and started writing the song. "

- George Harrison, I, Me, Mine , 1980, p. 120.

admission

The recordings for the song took place on July 25, August 16, and September 3, 5 and 6, 1968 in London's Abbey Road Studios . On July 25, 1968, the simple version, as heard on Anthology 3 , was created exclusively with acoustic guitar, vocals (George Harrison) and organ ( Paul McCartney ). This demo version served as a guide for the group.

In the second recording session for the piece on August 16, 1968 Harrison had already changed the arrangement from the purely acoustic accompaniment to a more " rocky " version with drums, bass, organ and guitar.

During the recording of the album, the Beatles discovered the more diverse possibilities of eight-track recording technology during a session at Trident Studios . The older four-track technology was still used in the Abbey Road studios. When the group found out that such a device was available, just not yet installed, they arranged for it to be made available to them. On September 3, 1968, the Beatles first used the newly installed 3M eight-track recorder for While My Guitar Gently Weeps .

On September 5, 1968, the recording work continued. After Harrison listened to the previously recorded version, he was so dissatisfied with it that they started all over again. At the end of the session you had reached Take 28, decided on Take 25 as the best version, in order to record the further overdubs .

The recordings were completed the following day. There was a special contribution, because shortly before Harrison had spontaneously asked his friend Eric Clapton to play the lead guitar . Clapton hesitated: “[…] no one plays on Beatles sessions!”, What Harrison with: “So what? It's my song! " answered. Clapton also played two solos in the middle and at the end of the song on his Les Paul guitar, initially attributed to Harrison as Clapton was not named as a musician on the album for legal reasons.

The last re-release of the song can be found on the Beatles album Love , which was released on November 17, 2006.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2004

In March 2004, Tom Petty , Jeff Lynne , Steve Winwood and Prince played the piece in George Harrison's posthumous induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame . Petty and Lynne shared the vocals, and the talk ended with a three-minute guitar solo by Prince.

Cover versions

literature

  • George Harrison: I, Me, Mine . Guildford: Genesis Press, 1980.
  • Eric Clapton: The Autobiography . London: Century, 2007, p. 105.
  • Mark Lewisohn: The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions . London: Hamlyn, 1988.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mark Lewisohn : The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions . London, Hamlyn, 2004, ISBN 0-681-03189-1 . Pp. 145, 149, 153 and 154.
  2. ^ Performers Announced For Beatles Special , Recording Academy, January 6, 2014. Retrieved January 28, 2014.
  3. ↑ imdb.com: Kubo: The Brave Samurai (2016) - Soundtracks