Video will appear as you scroll through the story
The Beatles · S10 E5
Something
George's love song for Pattie Boyd. Frank Sinatra calls it the greatest love song of the past fifty years. The quiet Beatle finally steps into the spotlight
Sometime in the early 1970s, Frank Sinatra steps up to a microphone and introduces "Something" as "the greatest love song of the past fifty years." He credits it to Lennon and McCartney. They didn't write it.
"For You Blue" (The Beatles, 1970). George's other love song for Pattie, a loose and joyful acoustic blues recorded during the Get Back sessions. While "Something" shows Harrison the sophisticated songwriter, this shows George just having fun, grinning through the whole take. John's steel guitar solo is played with a Zippo lighter slid across the strings, and it's the lightest, happiest thing on Let It Be.
For You Blue, The Beatles (1970)
This is George in his purest form: twelve-bar blues, acoustic guitar, and a lyric that's just a straightforward declaration of love. John's lap steel guitar gives the track its distinctive sliding quality, played with a Zippo lighter instead of a proper slide. Listen for George whispering encouragement to the others during the take, and Paul's upright piano bouncing along underneath. The whole thing was done in a handful of takes because there was nothing to overthink.
Sources
Lewisohn, Mark. "The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions." Hamlyn, 1988.
Jackson, Peter. "The Beatles: Get Back." Apple Corps/Disney+, 2021.
The Quiet One Steps Forward
"Something" is released as the A-side of a single in October 1969, backed with "Come Together." It's the first time a George Harrison composition has ever appeared on the A-side of a Beatles single. After years of fighting for two or three album slots while Lennon and McCartney dominated, George has written the song that outshines them both.
Sources
The Beatles. "The Beatles Anthology." Chronicle Books, 2000.
Lewisohn, Mark. "The Complete Beatles Chronicle." Hamlyn, 1992.
“I think it's the best song on the album, actually. I think it's the best thing he's written.”
— John Lennon
TAP TO REVEAL: Who did George originally write 'Something' about?
Sinatra
Frank Sinatra performs "Something" regularly in his live shows throughout the 1970s, calling it the greatest love song written in fifty years. For years he credits it to "Lennon and McCartney," and nobody corrects him. George reportedly found this both flattering and infuriating. Sinatra eventually got the credit right, but the mistake tells you everything about how the world saw the Beatles' songwriting hierarchy.
Sources
Clayson, Alan. "George Harrison." Sanctuary Publishing, 2003.
The Beatles. "The Beatles Anthology." Chronicle Books, 2000.
Something
I Want You (She's So Heavy), The Beatles (1969)
The other great love song on Abbey Road, and the complete opposite of "Something." Where George is elegant and restrained, John is obsessive and overwhelming. The song repeats the same lyric over and over, building in weight and distortion until the music becomes physically oppressive. Then, without warning, it cuts to absolute silence mid-note: John told the engineers to chop the tape at the heaviest moment, and the sudden void hits like a punch.
I Want You (She's So Heavy), The Beatles (1969)
"I want you so bad, it's driving me mad." The entire lyric is fourteen words repeated in different combinations for nearly eight minutes. John strips away every bit of cleverness and wordplay he's known for and just states the feeling as plainly as possible. The Moog synthesizer adds white noise that builds steadily throughout the final section, and the abrupt ending was achieved by literally cutting the master tape with a razor blade at the peak of intensity.
What distinction does 'Something' hold in the Beatles' singles catalogue?
One spring afternoon in 1969, George Harrison walks into Eric Clapton's garden, picks up an acoustic guitar, and writes a song so full of warmth and hope that it will eventually become the most streamed Beatles track of all time.
0 XP earned this session