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While My Guitar Gently Weeps

December 01, 2023

"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 double album The Beatles (also known as "the White Album"). It was written by George Harrison, the band's lead guitarist. Harrison wrote "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" as an exercise in randomness inspired by the Chinese I Ching. The song conveys his dismay at the world's unrealised potential for universal love, which he refers to as "the love there that's sleeping". The recording features a lead guitar part from Harrison's friend, Eric Clapton, although he was not formally credited for his contribution.[5] Harrison first recorded it with a sparse backing of acoustic guitar and harmonium – a version that appeared on the 1996 Anthology 3 outtakes compilation and, with the addition of a string arrangement by George Martin, on the Love soundtrack album in 2006. The full group recording was made in September 1968, at which point the song's folk-based musical arrangement was replaced by a production in the heavy rock style. The recording was one of several collaborations between Harrison and Clapton during the late 1960s and was followed by the pair co-writing the song "Badge" for Clapton's group Cream.

"While My Guitar Gently Weeps"
Cover of the Apple Publishing sheet music
Song by the Beatles
from the album The Beatles
Released22 November 1968 (1968-11-22)
Recorded5–6 September 1968[1]
StudioEMI, London
Genre
Length4:46
LabelApple
Songwriter(s)George Harrison
Producer(s)George Martin
Audio sample
Music video
"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" on YouTube

On release, the song received praise from several music critics, and it has since been recognised as an example of Harrison's maturing as a songwriter beside his Beatles bandmates John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Rolling Stone ranked "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" 136th on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", seventh on the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time", and at number 10 on its list of "The Beatles 100 Greatest Songs". Clapton's performance was ranked 42nd in Guitar World's 2008 list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Solos". Harrison and Clapton often performed the song together live, during which they shared the lead guitar role over the closing section. Live versions featuring the pair were included on the Concert for Bangladesh album in 1971 and Live in Japan in 1992. Backed by a band that included McCartney and Ringo Starr, Clapton performed the song at the Concert for George in November 2002, a year after Harrison's death.

Background and inspiration edit

The Eastern concept is that whatever happens is all meant to be ... every little item that's going down has a purpose. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" was a simple study based on that theory ... I picked up a book at random, opened it, saw "gently weeps", then laid the book down again and started the song.[6]

– George Harrison

George Harrison wrote "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" after his return from India, where the Beatles had been studying transcendental meditation under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi during the spring of 1968. Harrison re-engaged with the guitar as his primary instrument during the visit, after focusing on the Indian sitar for the previous two years,[7] and entered a prolific period as a songwriter.[8][9] Inspiration for the song came while visiting his parents in Warrington, Cheshire, and he began reading the I Ching, or "The Book of Changes".[6] As Harrison put it, "[the book] 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."[10] Embracing this idea of relativism, he committed to writing a song based on the first words he saw upon opening a book, which happened to be "gently weeps".[11] Eric Clapton, with whom Harrison collaborated on several recordings throughout 1968,[12] said that "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" conveyed Harrison's spiritual isolation within the group.[13]

A demo that Harrison recorded at his home in Esher includes an unused verse: "I look at the trouble and hate that is raging / While my guitar gently weeps / As I'm sitting here, doing nothing but ageing …"[14] This version also includes the line "The problems you sow are the troubles you're reaping", which he also discarded.[15] An early acoustic guitar and harmonium performance of the song features a slightly different third verse: "I look from the wings at the play you are staging / While my guitar gently weeps / As I'm sitting here, doing nothing but ageing …"[14] This version was released on the 1996 compilation Anthology 3 and was used as the basis of the 2006 Love remix, with a string arrangement by George Martin.[16]

Composition edit

Music edit

"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" was one of the few Beatles compositions from early 1968 that changed markedly from demo form to the official recording.[17] Harrison's demos suggest the influence of folk music, yet the Beatles' version is in the heavy rock style typical of much of the band's late 1960s work.[18] While noting the importance of Harrison's return to the guitar during this period, Gould describes the song as "virtually a declaration of his recommitment to rock".[19]

The song as originally issued by the Beatles is in the key of A minor,[20] changing to A major over the bridges.[21] Aside from the intro, the composition is structured into two rounds of verse and bridge, with an instrumental passage extending the second of these verse sections, followed by a final verse and a long instrumental passage that fades out on the released recording.[21] All the sections consist of an even sixteen bars or measures, which are divided into four phrases.[21]

The chord progression over the verses includes a descending bass of A–G–F♯–F (8–♭7–6–♭6) over an A-minor chord, leading to F-major on the F bass note. According to musicologist Dominic Pedler, the 8–♭7–6–♭6 progression represents a hybrid of the Aeolian and Dorian modes.[22] The change to the parallel major key is heralded by a C chord as the verse's penultimate chord (replacing the D used in the second phrase of each verse) before the E that leads into the bridge.[21] Musicologist Alan Pollack views this combination of C and E as representing a sense of "arrival", after which the bridge contains "upward [harmonic] gestures" that contrast with the bass descents that dominate the verse.[21] Such contrasts are limited by the inclusion of minor triads (III, VI and II) played over the E chord that ends the bridge's second and fourth phrases.[23]

Lyrics edit

In his lyrics to "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", Harrison revisits the theme of universal love and the philosophical concerns that were evident in his overtly Indian-influenced compositions, particularly "Within You Without You".[24] The song is a lament for how a universal love for humankind is latent in all individuals yet remains unrealised.[24][25] In the description of theologian Dale Allison, the song "conveys spiritual angst and an urgent religious point of view without being explicitly theological".[26] Harrison sings of surveying "you all" and seeing "the love there that's sleeping".[27] Musicologist Walter Everett comments that the change from the minor-mode verse to the parallel major might express hope that "unrealized potential" described in the lyrics is to be "fulfilled", but the continued minor triads "seem to express a strong dismay that love is not to be unfolded".[23] During the bridges, Harrison adopts a repetitive rhyming scheme in the style of Bob Dylan[28] to convey how humankind has become distracted from its ability to manifest this love.[27] He sings of people that have been "inverted" and "perverted" from their natural perspective.[29]

"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" follows in a lyrical tradition established by Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and Bo Diddley, whereby emotions and actions are attributed to a musical instrument.[30] According to an NME reviewer, writing in 1998, the song conveys "serious concern" for the Beatles' "dwindling esprit de corps".[31] Harrison biographer Joshua Greene says that its message reflects the pessimism encouraged by world events throughout 1968, such as the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy in the United States, and the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia.[32][nb 1] Allison writes that the lyrics represent the "antithesis of spiritual triumphalism", in which Harrison "mourns because love has not conquered all".[29]

Recording edit

Early attempts and basic track edit

The Beatles recorded "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" several times during the sessions for their self-titled double album, also known as "the White Album".[35] The recording sessions, which began in late May 1968, were characterised by a lack of cooperation among the four band members,[36][37] and by what Lennon's bandmates regarded as the overly intrusive presence of his new romantic partner, Yoko Ono.[38][39] In this atmosphere, Harrison had initially been reluctant to present his new compositions to the group.[40][41] Take 1 on 25 July – the version later issued on Anthology 3 – was a solo performance by Harrison, playing his Gibson J-200 acoustic guitar, with an overdubbed harmonium part.[16][23][nb 2]

Sessions on 16 August and 5 September produced full band recordings of the song. In the case of the 16 August version, an overdubbing session on 3 September marked the first time the Beatles had used eight-track recording at EMI Studios.[40][44] According to Ken Scott, the band's recording engineer, Harrison saw the eight-track recorder in a corridor and, defying EMI regulations that new equipment should be thoroughly tested, insisted they use it immediately.[45] At the same session, Harrison overdubbed a backwards (or "backmasked") guitar solo, as he had done two years before on "I'm Only Sleeping" from the Revolver album, but he was not satisfied with the results.[46] The Beatles then remade the basic track on the 5 September[23] session that marked Ringo Starr's return to the group after he had walked out on 22 August, upset at the unpleasant atmosphere.[47] While Harrison led the band in welcoming back their drummer by installing a floral display over Starr's drum kit,[48][49] he continued to think that his bandmates were not giving their best to the song.[50][51][nb 3]

Overdubs edit

 
Clapton had given Harrison his red Gibson Les Paul shortly before the session and subsequently used it on the song.

On 6 September, during a ride from Surrey into London, Harrison asked Clapton to play guitar on the track. Clapton, who considered Harrison's abilities as a songwriter had been held back by Lennon and McCartney,[53] later recalled that his initial response was: "I can't do that. Nobody ever plays on Beatles records."[54] Harrison convinced him, and Clapton's lead guitar part, played on Harrison's Gibson Les Paul electric guitar "Lucy" (a recent gift from Clapton), was overdubbed that evening.[5][55] Recalling the session in his 2007 autobiography, Clapton says that, while Lennon and McCartney were "fairly non-committal", he thought the track "sounded fantastic", adding: "I knew George was happy, because he listened to it over and over in the control room."[56]

Harrison recalled that Clapton's presence also ensured that his bandmates "tr[ied] a bit harder" and "were all on their best behaviour".[5] The Beatles carried out the remaining overdubs, which included an ascending piano motif, played by McCartney, over the introduction,[57] Hammond organ by Harrison, and further percussion by Starr.[55] McCartney also added a second bass part, played on his Fender Jazz Bass rather than on either of his usual Höfner or Rickenbacker models.[58]

Mixing edit

Still wary that his contribution might present too much of a departure from the band's sound, Clapton requested that Harrison give the lead guitar track a more "Beatley" sound when mixing the song.[59][60] During final mixing for the White Album, on 14 October,[59] the guitar part was run through an ADT circuit with "varispeed", with engineer Chris Thomas manipulating the oscillator to achieve the desired "wobbly" effect.[61][nb 4] According to Everett, Lennon's tremolo-rich guitar part, recorded on 5 September, was retained only in the song's coda.[62]

Everett credits Clapton's guitar contribution with making the Beatles recording a "monumental" track. As particularly notable features, he highlights the increasing lengths of thrice-heard first scale degrees (0:17–0:19), the restraint shown by rests in many bars then unexpected appearances (as at 0:28–0:29), commanding turnaround phrases (0:31–0:33), expressive string bends marking modal changes from C to C♯ (0:47–0:53), power retransition (1:21–1:24), emotive vibrato (2:01–2:07), and a solo (1:55–2:31) with a "measured rise in intensity, rhythmic activity, tonal drive and registral climb".[57] In October 1968, Harrison reciprocated by co-writing "Badge" with Clapton and playing on Cream's recording of the track.[63][64] Released on Cream's final album, Goodbye, "Badge" reflected Harrison's pop sensibilities[64] and helped Clapton transition from the heavy blues style and its reliance on extended soloing, and onto the more song-based approach that he and Harrison admired in the Band's 1968 album Music from Big Pink.[65]

Release and reception edit

Apple Records released The Beatles on 22 November 1968.[66] One of four Harrison compositions on the double album, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" was sequenced as the penultimate track on side one. The song was issued in several international markets as the B-side of "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da",[67], which topped charts in Australia, Austria, Switzerland[68] and West Germany,[69] but was not released in Britain or the United States.[43][67][nb 5]

 
LP cover of The Beatles. Some music critics have recognised "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" as a highlight of the Beatles' 1968 double album.

Recalling the release in his 1977 book The Beatles Forever, Nicholas Schaffner said that, in returning to pop/rock songwriting after his excursions into the Indian classical style, Harrison's four White Album songs "firmly established him as a contender" beside Lennon and McCartney. In Schaffner's description, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" was the most instantly popular of "a quartet of more conventionally accessible pop songs [written by Harrison] that many felt were among the finest on the album".[71][nb 6] According to Beatles historian Erin Torkelson Weber, the release of the White Album marked the start of a period when many observers began to consider his songs "equal to some of Lennon and McCartney's best compositions", a view that was heightened with his two contributions to the Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road, "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun".[73] New Yorker columnist Mark Hertsgaard, writing in his 1995 book A Day in the Life, said "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" was "the first great composition of George's career and perhaps the single most impressive song on the White Album".[17]

Among contemporary reviews, Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone said that "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" was "one of George Harrison's very best songs", and likened it to "Blue Jay Way" in that it "recalls California, the simple Baja California beat, the dreamy words of the Los Angeles haze, the organic pace lapping around every room as if in invisible waves". Wenner found the lyrics "slightly self-righteous and preaching", representing "a general set of incidents, a message, like a sermon, impersonally directed to everyone", and concluded: "I am willing to bet something substantial that the lead guitarist on this cut is Eric Clapton, yet another involution of the circular logic on which this song [is] so superbly constructed as a musical piece."[74] In his review for the International Times, Barry Miles said the song was a "great tune" with "nice hi-hats" but a "lifeless" guitar part.[75]

Alan Smith of the NME credited the "warm voice" and "very strong melody" to McCartney and said that the track was one of the "highlights ... moving into a slightly Hendrix thing" and was bound to be "another hit for somebody".[76] Three weeks later, Smith acknowledged that the singer and composer was in fact Harrison, and added: "the words are evocative and the melody line is creeping into my mind to stay."[77] Geoffrey Cannon wrote in The Guardian: "George Harrison has seen the truth, and is anxious that we should see our truth. He's a preacher, man of fire. When his songs speak of 'you', the address is direct. He achieves his character in 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps', which, with Phil Ochs's 'Tape from California', is the first track I know that succeeds in making magnanimous love serious and touching."[78]

Retrospective assessment and legacy edit

"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" became a staple of US rock radio during the early 1970s,[79] on a par with songs such as "Layla" by Clapton's short-lived band Derek and the Dominos, Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" and the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again".[72] In 1973, it appeared on the Beatles' double album compilation 1967–1970,[80] as one of only three tracks representing the White Album.[81] Capitol Records included it on The Best of George Harrison in 1976;[82] a year before this, Harrison released a sequel to the song, titled "This Guitar (Can't Keep from Crying)", which also served as the final single issued by Apple in its original incarnation.[83][84] The Beatles' recording appeared on the soundtrack to Withnail and I, a 1987 comedy film set in late-1960s London and produced by Harrison's company HandMade Films.[85]

Writing for The Observer in 2004, Pete Paphides described "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" as "George Harrison's startling coming of age as a songwriter" and one of the few tracks that "pick themselves" when listeners attempt to edit the double album down to a single disc.[86] In his book Revolution in the Head, Ian MacDonald was less impressed with the track,[87] saying that it "exudes a browbeating self-importance which quickly becomes tiresome".[88] McCartney identified it as one of his favourite selections on the 1995–96 Anthology outtakes series,[89] and he grouped the song with "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun" as candidates for Harrison's "greatest track".[90] Starr paired it with "Something" as "Two of the finest love songs ever written", adding: "they're really on a par with what John and Paul or anyone else of that time wrote."[90] In their written tributes to Harrison following his death in November 2001, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards each expressed their admiration for the song.[91] Jagger said: "It's lovely, plaintive. Only a guitar player could write that ..."[92]

Rolling Stone ranked "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" 136th on its list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time",[93] seventh on the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time",[94] and at number 10 on its list of "The Beatles 100 Greatest Songs".[95][96] Clapton's performance was ranked 42nd in Guitar World's 2008 list of the "100 Greatest Guitar Solos".[97][98] Among other critics' lists of the best Beatles songs, Paste magazine and Ultimate Classic Rock each ranked it at number 4,[99][100] while Mojo placed it at number 17.[101] In his commentary for the Mojo selection, English songwriter Chris Difford said that he had only come to fully appreciate the lyrics following Harrison's death in 2001; describing them as a "riposte" to Harrison's bandmates, particularly Lennon and McCartney, Difford added: "George was the one who came back from India with the spiritual awakening and carried it through to the rest of his life, whereas the others came back with the postcards."[101] In 2018, the music staff of Time Out London ranked "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" 20th on their list of the best Beatles songs.[102] Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the White Album's release, Jacob Stolworthy of The Independent listed it at number 1 on his ranking of the album's 30 tracks. He said the song was "hands down one of The Beatles' greatest" and, having been conceived through "disharmony – in the world, as well as in the band he'd grown up with", "testament to Harrison's genius".[103]

Harrison live performances edit

Harrison played "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" at every one of his rare concerts as a solo artist. Writing for Mojo in 2003, Ashley Kahn attributed the track's "classic" status to its evocation of "a band falling out of harmony" and, with regard to the enduring musical bond between Harrison and Clapton, its standing as "their song".[104] At Harrison's Concert for Bangladesh, held at Madison Square Garden in New York on 1 August 1971, Clapton performed the song on a Gibson Byrdland, a hollow-body guitar more suited to jazz[105] or country music than rock.[106] He later said that this was a poor decision and, as with his substandard playing at the event, one that was indicative of his descent into heroin addiction.[106][107] In his entry for The Concert for Bangladesh in the book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die, Tom Moon nevertheless describes Clapton and Harrison's interplay as "one of the more thrilling two-man guitar explorations in rock", adding: "As they finish each other's thoughts, the two extend and amplify the song's intent: You haven't heard the full gamut of gentle (and not so) guitar weeping until you've heard this."[108][nb 7]

The version performed by Harrison during his brief set at the 1987 Prince's Trust Concert reunited him with Starr and Clapton,[110] and features an extended coda with the guitars of Harrison and Clapton interweaving.[111] On their 1991 tour of Japan, Harrison and Clapton performed "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" with additional background vocals. An edit combining parts of the 14 December and 17 December Tokyo Dome performances of the song was included on Harrison's 1992 double album Live in Japan.[112]

Harrison also featured the song in the set list for his only other tour as a solo artist, a series of North American concerts over November–December 1974 with Ravi Shankar.[113][114] Harrison shared the lead guitarist's role with Robben Ford, often extending the piece to eight minutes.[115] While it was a popular inclusion in a set list that barely acknowledged Harrison's past as a former Beatle, his alteration of some of the lyrics – so that his guitar "gently smiles" and "tries to smile" – disappointed many concert-goers and reviewers.[113][116] Author Simon Leng comments that on Harrison's return to Madison Square Garden towards the end of the tour, his playing on the song nevertheless received a standing ovation.[117]

Cover versions edit

Canadian guitarist Jeff Healey covered "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" on his 1990 album Hell to Pay. Harrison participated in the recording, contributing on acoustic guitar and backing vocals.[118] Also issued as a single, Healey's version peaked at number 27 in Canada,[119] number 85 in the UK[120] and number 25 in New Zealand.[121]

During the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II concert at Buckingham Palace Garden on 3 June 2002, McCartney performed the song with Clapton, as a tribute to Harrison.[114] The performance appears on the DVD release Party at the Palace.[122] On 29 November the same year, Clapton, backed by a large band that included McCartney, Starr, Dhani Harrison, Jeff Lynne and Marc Mann, performed "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" at the Concert for George in memory of Harrison.[114] Author Ian Inglis writes that while Clapton was already "permanently associated" with "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" due to his presence on the White Album recording and the Concert for Bangladesh and Live in Japan versions, his long, closing solo at the Concert for George contained "perhaps the most expressive" playing of all those versions.[123]

American musician Todd Rundgren covered "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" for the 2003 album Songs from the Material World: A Tribute to George Harrison. Rundgren said of his contribution to the multi-artist tribute: "[Before the Beatles], I'd never heard the term 'lead guitarist.' George created the job description for my first paying gig, the vocation that I'm still lucky enough to practice today …"[124] Johnny Loftus of AllMusic views the recording as one of the collection's highlights, saying that Rundgren "effortlessly replicates the grandeur" of the Beatles' track.[125] As his personal tribute to Harrison,[126] Peter Frampton released a version of the song on his 2003 album Now.[127]

In 2004, when Harrison was inducted posthumously into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" was played in tribute by a large band that included Tom Petty, Lynne, Steve Winwood, Mann, Dhani Harrison, Prince and Steve Ferrone.[114] The performance concluded with a highly acclaimed extended guitar solo by Prince, who was also being inducted into the Hall of Fame.[128][129][130][131][132][133][134]

Among other cover versions, the song has also been recorded by guitarists such as Marc Ribot, Phish and Charlie Byrd, and on ukulele by Jake Shimabukuro.[135][136] Toto did a cover version for their album Through the Looking Glass and in a live performance in Live in Amsterdam.[135] Santana did a cover for his twentieth album Guitar Heaven: The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time, in 2010, featuring singer India Arie and cellist Yo-Yo Ma.[137] Released as a single, it charted on Billboard's Adult Contemporary.[138] A recording of the song by Regina Spektor appears in the 2016 film Kubo and the Two Strings.[139]

2016 music video edit

In June 2016, Apple Corps and Cirque du Soleil released a music video for "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". The video was created for the tenth anniversary re-staging of Cirque du Soleil's Love theatrical production.[140] The video was directed by Dandypunk, André Kasten and Leah Moyer. Ryan Reed, describing the clip for Rolling Stone, wrote that "Dandypunk's hand-drawn illustrations depict Harrison's lyrics falling off the page into the air, transporting LOVE performer Eira Glover into a series of fantastical locations. Projection mapping – and no CGI – was used to create the clip."[141]

Personnel edit

According to Ian MacDonald,[142] Walter Everett[62] and John C. Winn:[55]

The Beatles

Additional musician

Notes edit

  1. ^ Greene comments that "Wilting Flowers" was the title of Time magazine's article summarising the year.[32] By contrast, at the start of 1968, Life had declared it "the Year of the Guru", partly as a result of the Beatles' championing of Eastern religion,[33] and had featured the Maharishi on the cover of the magazine.[34]
  2. ^ This version remained in EMI's archives through the 1980s.[41] It was first presented for public hearing when Abbey Road Studios (formerly EMI Studios) hosted The Beatles at Abbey Road in 1983,[16] at which point EMI reported that Harrison was keen that the song be released "as soon as possible".[42] When remixing the recording for inclusion on the planned Sessions compilation album in 1984, however (and as later heard on Anthology 3),[43] Geoff Emerick looped and repeated Harrison's concluding guitar phrase into a fadeout and increased the volume of the harmonium.[16]
  3. ^ In the Beatles Anthology book, Harrison recalls of this 5 September session: "Paul and John were so used to just cranking out their own tunes that it was very difficult at times to get serious and record one of mine. It wasn't happening ... so I went home that night thinking 'Well, that's a shame', because I knew the song was pretty good."[52]
  4. ^ In Scott's recollection, the need to manually work the ADT oscillation was a result of the Beatles' impatience to use EMI's new eight-track recording equipment. The company's technical engineers had yet to carry out the conversion necessary to allow the effect to be applied automatically.[45]
  5. ^ "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" was listed with "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", as a double A-side, when the single topped Australia's Go-Set National Top 40 chart.[70]
  6. ^ According to music critic Tim Riley, Harrison's writing contributions "regain[ed] the promise" evident in his three songs on the Beatles' 1966 album Revolver.[72]
  7. ^ The Concert for Bangladesh performance of the song was included on Harrison's 2009 compilation album Let It Roll.[109]
  8. ^ According to Giles Martin (George Martin's son), Lennon played six-string bass on the track.[143] In his 2012 autobiography, Ken Scott recalls "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" as being one of several songs on the White Album where the four-string bass is doubled by a six-string bass, and that the two basses were "always played together, and never overdubbed individually".[144]

References edit

  1. ^ Lewisohn 2005, pp. 153–54.
  2. ^ MacDonald 2005, p. 300.
  3. ^ Riley 2002, p. 268.
  4. ^ Wyman, Bill (7 June 2017). "All 213 Beatles Songs, Ranked From Worst to Best". Vulture. Retrieved 31 December 2018.
  5. ^ a b c Lewisohn 2005, p. 154.
  6. ^ a b The Beatles 2000, p. 306.
  7. ^ Leng 2006, pp. 34, 36.
  8. ^ Everett 1999, p. 199.
  9. ^ Quantick 2002, p. 110.
  10. ^ Harrison 2002, p. 120.
  11. ^ Everett 1999, pp. 200–01.
  12. ^ Everett 1999, pp. 305–06.
  13. ^ Scorsese, Martin (dir.) (2011). George Harrison: Living in the Material World (2 DVDs). Roadshow Entertainment/Grove Street Productions. R-112294-9.
  14. ^ a b Spizer 2003, p. 106.
  15. ^ Unterberger 2006, p. 199.
  16. ^ a b c d Winn 2009, p. 194.
  17. ^ a b Hertsgaard 1996, p. 252.
  18. ^ MacDonald 2005, pp. 297, 300.
  19. ^ Gould 2007, p. 523.
  20. ^ MacDonald 2005, p. 498.
  21. ^ a b c d e Pollack, Alan W. (2001). "Notes on 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'". Soundscapes. Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  22. ^ Pedler 2003, pp. 435–37.
  23. ^ a b c d Everett 1999, p. 201.
  24. ^ a b Inglis 2010, pp. 12, 26.
  25. ^ Greene 2006, pp. 110–11.
  26. ^ Allison 2006, p. 158.
  27. ^ a b Tillery 2011, p. 68.
  28. ^ Inglis 2010, p. 12.
  29. ^ a b Allison 2006, p. 70.
  30. ^ Inglis 2010, p. 51.
  31. ^ writer (12 September 2005) [7 November 1998]. . nme.com. Archived from the original on 9 April 2013. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  32. ^ a b Greene 2006, p. 110.
  33. ^ Greene 2006, p. 98.
  34. ^ Gould 2007, p. 465.
  35. ^ Spizer 2003, pp. 106–07.
  36. ^ MacDonald 2005, p. 305.
  37. ^ The Editors of Rolling Stone 2002, p. 38.
  38. ^ Hertsgaard 1996, pp. 238–41.
  39. ^ Ingham 2006, pp. 49–50.
  40. ^ a b Winn 2009, p. 209.
  41. ^ a b Lewisohn 2005, p. 145.
  42. ^ Badman 2001, pp. 318–19.
  43. ^ a b Everett 1999, p. 349.
  44. ^ Lewisohn 2005, p. 153.
  45. ^ a b Buskin, Richard (June 2012). . Sound on Sound. Archived from the original on 17 June 2016. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
  46. ^ Lewisohn 2005, pp. 78, 153.
  47. ^ Lewisohn 2005, pp. 151, 153.
  48. ^ The Beatles 2000, p. 312.
  49. ^ Quantick 2002, p. 28.
  50. ^ Hertsgaard 1996, pp. 252–53.
  51. ^ Winn 2009, pp. 209–10.
  52. ^ Unterberger 2006, p. 214.
  53. ^ Harris, John (July 2001). "A Quiet Storm". Mojo. p. 69.
  54. ^ Hertsgaard 1996, p. 253.
  55. ^ a b c Winn 2009, p. 210.
  56. ^ Clapton 2007, p. 105.
  57. ^ a b Everett 1999, p. 202.
  58. ^ Everett 1999, pp. 202, 300–02.
  59. ^ a b Lewisohn 2005, p. 162.
  60. ^ Ingham 2006, p. 203.
  61. ^ Womack 2007, pp. 225–26.
  62. ^ a b Everett 1999, pp. 201–02.
  63. ^ Inglis 2010, p. 134.
  64. ^ a b The Editors of Rolling Stone 2002, p. 176.
  65. ^ Leng 2006, pp. 53–54.
  66. ^ Miles 2001, p. 314.
  67. ^ a b Spizer 2003, p. 107.
  68. ^ Womack 2014, p. 684.
  69. ^ "The Beatles – Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
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External links edit

 
Wikiquote has quotations related to The Beatles (album).
  • Full lyrics for the song at the Beatles' official website

December 01, 2023
while, guitar, gently, weeps, song, english, rock, band, beatles, from, their, 1968, double, album, beatles, also, known, white, album, written, george, harrison, band, lead, guitarist, harrison, wrote, exercise, randomness, inspired, chinese, ching, song, con. While My Guitar Gently Weeps is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 double album The Beatles also known as the White Album It was written by George Harrison the band s lead guitarist Harrison wrote While My Guitar Gently Weeps as an exercise in randomness inspired by the Chinese I Ching The song conveys his dismay at the world s unrealised potential for universal love which he refers to as the love there that s sleeping The recording features a lead guitar part from Harrison s friend Eric Clapton although he was not formally credited for his contribution 5 Harrison first recorded it with a sparse backing of acoustic guitar and harmonium a version that appeared on the 1996 Anthology 3 outtakes compilation and with the addition of a string arrangement by George Martin on the Love soundtrack album in 2006 The full group recording was made in September 1968 at which point the song s folk based musical arrangement was replaced by a production in the heavy rock style The recording was one of several collaborations between Harrison and Clapton during the late 1960s and was followed by the pair co writing the song Badge for Clapton s group Cream While My Guitar Gently Weeps Cover of the Apple Publishing sheet musicSong by the Beatlesfrom the album The BeatlesReleased22 November 1968 1968 11 22 Recorded5 6 September 1968 1 StudioEMI LondonGenreHard rock 2 blues 3 rock 4 Length4 46LabelAppleSongwriter s George HarrisonProducer s George MartinAudio sample source source track filehelpMusic video While My Guitar Gently Weeps on YouTubeOn release the song received praise from several music critics and it has since been recognised as an example of Harrison s maturing as a songwriter beside his Beatles bandmates John Lennon and Paul McCartney Rolling Stone ranked While My Guitar Gently Weeps 136th on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time seventh on the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time and at number 10 on its list of The Beatles 100 Greatest Songs Clapton s performance was ranked 42nd in Guitar World s 2008 list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos Harrison and Clapton often performed the song together live during which they shared the lead guitar role over the closing section Live versions featuring the pair were included on the Concert for Bangladesh album in 1971 and Live in Japan in 1992 Backed by a band that included McCartney and Ringo Starr Clapton performed the song at the Concert for George in November 2002 a year after Harrison s death Contents 1 Background and inspiration 2 Composition 2 1 Music 2 2 Lyrics 3 Recording 3 1 Early attempts and basic track 3 2 Overdubs 3 3 Mixing 4 Release and reception 5 Retrospective assessment and legacy 6 Harrison live performances 7 Cover versions 8 2016 music video 9 Personnel 10 Notes 11 References 12 Sources 13 External linksBackground and inspiration editThe Eastern concept is that whatever happens is all meant to be every little item that s going down has a purpose While My Guitar Gently Weeps was a simple study based on that theory I picked up a book at random opened it saw gently weeps then laid the book down again and started the song 6 George Harrison George Harrison wrote While My Guitar Gently Weeps after his return from India where the Beatles had been studying transcendental meditation under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi during the spring of 1968 Harrison re engaged with the guitar as his primary instrument during the visit after focusing on the Indian sitar for the previous two years 7 and entered a prolific period as a songwriter 8 9 Inspiration for the song came while visiting his parents in Warrington Cheshire and he began reading the I Ching or The Book of Changes 6 As Harrison put it the book 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 10 Embracing this idea of relativism he committed to writing a song based on the first words he saw upon opening a book which happened to be gently weeps 11 Eric Clapton with whom Harrison collaborated on several recordings throughout 1968 12 said that While My Guitar Gently Weeps conveyed Harrison s spiritual isolation within the group 13 A demo that Harrison recorded at his home in Esher includes an unused verse I look at the trouble and hate that is raging While my guitar gently weeps As I m sitting here doing nothing but ageing 14 This version also includes the line The problems you sow are the troubles you re reaping which he also discarded 15 An early acoustic guitar and harmonium performance of the song features a slightly different third verse I look from the wings at the play you are staging While my guitar gently weeps As I m sitting here doing nothing but ageing 14 This version was released on the 1996 compilation Anthology 3 and was used as the basis of the 2006 Love remix with a string arrangement by George Martin 16 Composition editMusic edit While My Guitar Gently Weeps was one of the few Beatles compositions from early 1968 that changed markedly from demo form to the official recording 17 Harrison s demos suggest the influence of folk music yet the Beatles version is in the heavy rock style typical of much of the band s late 1960s work 18 While noting the importance of Harrison s return to the guitar during this period Gould describes the song as virtually a declaration of his recommitment to rock 19 The song as originally issued by the Beatles is in the key of A minor 20 changing to A major over the bridges 21 Aside from the intro the composition is structured into two rounds of verse and bridge with an instrumental passage extending the second of these verse sections followed by a final verse and a long instrumental passage that fades out on the released recording 21 All the sections consist of an even sixteen bars or measures which are divided into four phrases 21 The chord progression over the verses includes a descending bass of A G F F 8 7 6 6 over an A minor chord leading to F major on the F bass note According to musicologist Dominic Pedler the 8 7 6 6 progression represents a hybrid of the Aeolian and Dorian modes 22 The change to the parallel major key is heralded by a C chord as the verse s penultimate chord replacing the D used in the second phrase of each verse before the E that leads into the bridge 21 Musicologist Alan Pollack views this combination of C and E as representing a sense of arrival after which the bridge contains upward harmonic gestures that contrast with the bass descents that dominate the verse 21 Such contrasts are limited by the inclusion of minor triads III VI and II played over the E chord that ends the bridge s second and fourth phrases 23 Lyrics edit In his lyrics to While My Guitar Gently Weeps Harrison revisits the theme of universal love and the philosophical concerns that were evident in his overtly Indian influenced compositions particularly Within You Without You 24 The song is a lament for how a universal love for humankind is latent in all individuals yet remains unrealised 24 25 In the description of theologian Dale Allison the song conveys spiritual angst and an urgent religious point of view without being explicitly theological 26 Harrison sings of surveying you all and seeing the love there that s sleeping 27 Musicologist Walter Everett comments that the change from the minor mode verse to the parallel major might express hope that unrealized potential described in the lyrics is to be fulfilled but the continued minor triads seem to express a strong dismay that love is not to be unfolded 23 During the bridges Harrison adopts a repetitive rhyming scheme in the style of Bob Dylan 28 to convey how humankind has become distracted from its ability to manifest this love 27 He sings of people that have been inverted and perverted from their natural perspective 29 While My Guitar Gently Weeps follows in a lyrical tradition established by Woody Guthrie Pete Seeger and Bo Diddley whereby emotions and actions are attributed to a musical instrument 30 According to an NME reviewer writing in 1998 the song conveys serious concern for the Beatles dwindling esprit de corps 31 Harrison biographer Joshua Greene says that its message reflects the pessimism encouraged by world events throughout 1968 such as the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy in the United States and the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia 32 nb 1 Allison writes that the lyrics represent the antithesis of spiritual triumphalism in which Harrison mourns because love has not conquered all 29 Recording editEarly attempts and basic track edit The Beatles recorded While My Guitar Gently Weeps several times during the sessions for their self titled double album also known as the White Album 35 The recording sessions which began in late May 1968 were characterised by a lack of cooperation among the four band members 36 37 and by what Lennon s bandmates regarded as the overly intrusive presence of his new romantic partner Yoko Ono 38 39 In this atmosphere Harrison had initially been reluctant to present his new compositions to the group 40 41 Take 1 on 25 July the version later issued on Anthology 3 was a solo performance by Harrison playing his Gibson J 200 acoustic guitar with an overdubbed harmonium part 16 23 nb 2 Sessions on 16 August and 5 September produced full band recordings of the song In the case of the 16 August version an overdubbing session on 3 September marked the first time the Beatles had used eight track recording at EMI Studios 40 44 According to Ken Scott the band s recording engineer Harrison saw the eight track recorder in a corridor and defying EMI regulations that new equipment should be thoroughly tested insisted they use it immediately 45 At the same session Harrison overdubbed a backwards or backmasked guitar solo as he had done two years before on I m Only Sleeping from the Revolver album but he was not satisfied with the results 46 The Beatles then remade the basic track on the 5 September 23 session that marked Ringo Starr s return to the group after he had walked out on 22 August upset at the unpleasant atmosphere 47 While Harrison led the band in welcoming back their drummer by installing a floral display over Starr s drum kit 48 49 he continued to think that his bandmates were not giving their best to the song 50 51 nb 3 Overdubs edit nbsp Clapton had given Harrison his red Gibson Les Paul shortly before the session and subsequently used it on the song On 6 September during a ride from Surrey into London Harrison asked Clapton to play guitar on the track Clapton who considered Harrison s abilities as a songwriter had been held back by Lennon and McCartney 53 later recalled that his initial response was I can t do that Nobody ever plays on Beatles records 54 Harrison convinced him and Clapton s lead guitar part played on Harrison s Gibson Les Paul electric guitar Lucy a recent gift from Clapton was overdubbed that evening 5 55 Recalling the session in his 2007 autobiography Clapton says that while Lennon and McCartney were fairly non committal he thought the track sounded fantastic adding I knew George was happy because he listened to it over and over in the control room 56 Harrison recalled that Clapton s presence also ensured that his bandmates tr ied a bit harder and were all on their best behaviour 5 The Beatles carried out the remaining overdubs which included an ascending piano motif played by McCartney over the introduction 57 Hammond organ by Harrison and further percussion by Starr 55 McCartney also added a second bass part played on his Fender Jazz Bass rather than on either of his usual Hofner or Rickenbacker models 58 Mixing edit Still wary that his contribution might present too much of a departure from the band s sound Clapton requested that Harrison give the lead guitar track a more Beatley sound when mixing the song 59 60 During final mixing for the White Album on 14 October 59 the guitar part was run through an ADT circuit with varispeed with engineer Chris Thomas manipulating the oscillator to achieve the desired wobbly effect 61 nb 4 According to Everett Lennon s tremolo rich guitar part recorded on 5 September was retained only in the song s coda 62 Everett credits Clapton s guitar contribution with making the Beatles recording a monumental track As particularly notable features he highlights the increasing lengths of thrice heard first scale degrees 0 17 0 19 the restraint shown by rests in many bars then unexpected appearances as at 0 28 0 29 commanding turnaround phrases 0 31 0 33 expressive string bends marking modal changes from C to C 0 47 0 53 power retransition 1 21 1 24 emotive vibrato 2 01 2 07 and a solo 1 55 2 31 with a measured rise in intensity rhythmic activity tonal drive and registral climb 57 In October 1968 Harrison reciprocated by co writing Badge with Clapton and playing on Cream s recording of the track 63 64 Released on Cream s final album Goodbye Badge reflected Harrison s pop sensibilities 64 and helped Clapton transition from the heavy blues style and its reliance on extended soloing and onto the more song based approach that he and Harrison admired in the Band s 1968 album Music from Big Pink 65 Release and reception editApple Records released The Beatles on 22 November 1968 66 One of four Harrison compositions on the double album While My Guitar Gently Weeps was sequenced as the penultimate track on side one The song was issued in several international markets as the B side of Ob La Di Ob La Da 67 which topped charts in Australia Austria Switzerland 68 and West Germany 69 but was not released in Britain or the United States 43 67 nb 5 nbsp LP cover of The Beatles Some music critics have recognised While My Guitar Gently Weeps as a highlight of the Beatles 1968 double album Recalling the release in his 1977 book The Beatles Forever Nicholas Schaffner said that in returning to pop rock songwriting after his excursions into the Indian classical style Harrison s four White Album songs firmly established him as a contender beside Lennon and McCartney In Schaffner s description While My Guitar Gently Weeps was the most instantly popular of a quartet of more conventionally accessible pop songs written by Harrison that many felt were among the finest on the album 71 nb 6 According to Beatles historian Erin Torkelson Weber the release of the White Album marked the start of a period when many observers began to consider his songs equal to some of Lennon and McCartney s best compositions a view that was heightened with his two contributions to the Beatles 1969 album Abbey Road Something and Here Comes the Sun 73 New Yorker columnist Mark Hertsgaard writing in his 1995 book A Day in the Life said While My Guitar Gently Weeps was the first great composition of George s career and perhaps the single most impressive song on the White Album 17 Among contemporary reviews Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone said that While My Guitar Gently Weeps was one of George Harrison s very best songs and likened it to Blue Jay Way in that it recalls California the simple Baja California beat the dreamy words of the Los Angeles haze the organic pace lapping around every room as if in invisible waves Wenner found the lyrics slightly self righteous and preaching representing a general set of incidents a message like a sermon impersonally directed to everyone and concluded I am willing to bet something substantial that the lead guitarist on this cut is Eric Clapton yet another involution of the circular logic on which this song is so superbly constructed as a musical piece 74 In his review for the International Times Barry Miles said the song was a great tune with nice hi hats but a lifeless guitar part 75 Alan Smith of the NME credited the warm voice and very strong melody to McCartney and said that the track was one of the highlights moving into a slightly Hendrix thing and was bound to be another hit for somebody 76 Three weeks later Smith acknowledged that the singer and composer was in fact Harrison and added the words are evocative and the melody line is creeping into my mind to stay 77 Geoffrey Cannon wrote in The Guardian George Harrison has seen the truth and is anxious that we should see our truth He s a preacher man of fire When his songs speak of you the address is direct He achieves his character in While My Guitar Gently Weeps which with Phil Ochs s Tape from California is the first track I know that succeeds in making magnanimous love serious and touching 78 Retrospective assessment and legacy edit While My Guitar Gently Weeps became a staple of US rock radio during the early 1970s 79 on a par with songs such as Layla by Clapton s short lived band Derek and the Dominos Led Zeppelin s Stairway to Heaven and the Who s Won t Get Fooled Again 72 In 1973 it appeared on the Beatles double album compilation 1967 1970 80 as one of only three tracks representing the White Album 81 Capitol Records included it on The Best of George Harrison in 1976 82 a year before this Harrison released a sequel to the song titled This Guitar Can t Keep from Crying which also served as the final single issued by Apple in its original incarnation 83 84 The Beatles recording appeared on the soundtrack to Withnail and I a 1987 comedy film set in late 1960s London and produced by Harrison s company HandMade Films 85 Writing for The Observer in 2004 Pete Paphides described While My Guitar Gently Weeps as George Harrison s startling coming of age as a songwriter and one of the few tracks that pick themselves when listeners attempt to edit the double album down to a single disc 86 In his book Revolution in the Head Ian MacDonald was less impressed with the track 87 saying that it exudes a browbeating self importance which quickly becomes tiresome 88 McCartney identified it as one of his favourite selections on the 1995 96 Anthology outtakes series 89 and he grouped the song with Something and Here Comes the Sun as candidates for Harrison s greatest track 90 Starr paired it with Something as Two of the finest love songs ever written adding they re really on a par with what John and Paul or anyone else of that time wrote 90 In their written tributes to Harrison following his death in November 2001 Mick Jagger and Keith Richards each expressed their admiration for the song 91 Jagger said It s lovely plaintive Only a guitar player could write that 92 Rolling Stone ranked While My Guitar Gently Weeps 136th on its list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time 93 seventh on the 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time 94 and at number 10 on its list of The Beatles 100 Greatest Songs 95 96 Clapton s performance was ranked 42nd in Guitar World s 2008 list of the 100 Greatest Guitar Solos 97 98 Among other critics lists of the best Beatles songs Paste magazine and Ultimate Classic Rock each ranked it at number 4 99 100 while Mojo placed it at number 17 101 In his commentary for the Mojo selection English songwriter Chris Difford said that he had only come to fully appreciate the lyrics following Harrison s death in 2001 describing them as a riposte to Harrison s bandmates particularly Lennon and McCartney Difford added George was the one who came back from India with the spiritual awakening and carried it through to the rest of his life whereas the others came back with the postcards 101 In 2018 the music staff of Time Out London ranked While My Guitar Gently Weeps 20th on their list of the best Beatles songs 102 Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the White Album s release Jacob Stolworthy of The Independent listed it at number 1 on his ranking of the album s 30 tracks He said the song was hands down one of The Beatles greatest and having been conceived through disharmony in the world as well as in the band he d grown up with testament to Harrison s genius 103 Harrison live performances editHarrison played While My Guitar Gently Weeps at every one of his rare concerts as a solo artist Writing for Mojo in 2003 Ashley Kahn attributed the track s classic status to its evocation of a band falling out of harmony and with regard to the enduring musical bond between Harrison and Clapton its standing as their song 104 At Harrison s Concert for Bangladesh held at Madison Square Garden in New York on 1 August 1971 Clapton performed the song on a Gibson Byrdland a hollow body guitar more suited to jazz 105 or country music than rock 106 He later said that this was a poor decision and as with his substandard playing at the event one that was indicative of his descent into heroin addiction 106 107 In his entry for The Concert for Bangladesh in the book 1 000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die Tom Moon nevertheless describes Clapton and Harrison s interplay as one of the more thrilling two man guitar explorations in rock adding As they finish each other s thoughts the two extend and amplify the song s intent You haven t heard the full gamut of gentle and not so guitar weeping until you ve heard this 108 nb 7 The version performed by Harrison during his brief set at the 1987 Prince s Trust Concert reunited him with Starr and Clapton 110 and features an extended coda with the guitars of Harrison and Clapton interweaving 111 On their 1991 tour of Japan Harrison and Clapton performed While My Guitar Gently Weeps with additional background vocals An edit combining parts of the 14 December and 17 December Tokyo Dome performances of the song was included on Harrison s 1992 double album Live in Japan 112 Harrison also featured the song in the set list for his only other tour as a solo artist a series of North American concerts over November December 1974 with Ravi Shankar 113 114 Harrison shared the lead guitarist s role with Robben Ford often extending the piece to eight minutes 115 While it was a popular inclusion in a set list that barely acknowledged Harrison s past as a former Beatle his alteration of some of the lyrics so that his guitar gently smiles and tries to smile disappointed many concert goers and reviewers 113 116 Author Simon Leng comments that on Harrison s return to Madison Square Garden towards the end of the tour his playing on the song nevertheless received a standing ovation 117 Cover versions editCanadian guitarist Jeff Healey covered While My Guitar Gently Weeps on his 1990 album Hell to Pay Harrison participated in the recording contributing on acoustic guitar and backing vocals 118 Also issued as a single Healey s version peaked at number 27 in Canada 119 number 85 in the UK 120 and number 25 in New Zealand 121 During the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II concert at Buckingham Palace Garden on 3 June 2002 McCartney performed the song with Clapton as a tribute to Harrison 114 The performance appears on the DVD release Party at the Palace 122 On 29 November the same year Clapton backed by a large band that included McCartney Starr Dhani Harrison Jeff Lynne and Marc Mann performed While My Guitar Gently Weeps at the Concert for George in memory of Harrison 114 Author Ian Inglis writes that while Clapton was already permanently associated with While My Guitar Gently Weeps due to his presence on the White Album recording and the Concert for Bangladesh and Live in Japan versions his long closing solo at the Concert for George contained perhaps the most expressive playing of all those versions 123 American musician Todd Rundgren covered While My Guitar Gently Weeps for the 2003 album Songs from the Material World A Tribute to George Harrison Rundgren said of his contribution to the multi artist tribute Before the Beatles I d never heard the term lead guitarist George created the job description for my first paying gig the vocation that I m still lucky enough to practice today 124 Johnny Loftus of AllMusic views the recording as one of the collection s highlights saying that Rundgren effortlessly replicates the grandeur of the Beatles track 125 As his personal tribute to Harrison 126 Peter Frampton released a version of the song on his 2003 album Now 127 In 2004 when Harrison was inducted posthumously into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist While My Guitar Gently Weeps was played in tribute by a large band that included Tom Petty Lynne Steve Winwood Mann Dhani Harrison Prince and Steve Ferrone 114 The performance concluded with a highly acclaimed extended guitar solo by Prince who was also being inducted into the Hall of Fame 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 Among other cover versions the song has also been recorded by guitarists such as Marc Ribot Phish and Charlie Byrd and on ukulele by Jake Shimabukuro 135 136 Toto did a cover version for their album Through the Looking Glass and in a live performance in Live in Amsterdam 135 Santana did a cover for his twentieth album Guitar Heaven The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time in 2010 featuring singer India Arie and cellist Yo Yo Ma 137 Released as a single it charted on Billboard s Adult Contemporary 138 A recording of the song by Regina Spektor appears in the 2016 film Kubo and the Two Strings 139 2016 music video editIn June 2016 Apple Corps and Cirque du Soleil released a music video for While My Guitar Gently Weeps The video was created for the tenth anniversary re staging of Cirque du Soleil s Love theatrical production 140 The video was directed by Dandypunk Andre Kasten and Leah Moyer Ryan Reed describing the clip for Rolling Stone wrote that Dandypunk s hand drawn illustrations depict Harrison s lyrics falling off the page into the air transporting LOVE performer Eira Glover into a series of fantastical locations Projection mapping and no CGI was used to create the clip 141 Personnel editAccording to Ian MacDonald 142 Walter Everett 62 and John C Winn 55 The Beatles George Harrison double tracked vocals backing vocal acoustic guitar Hammond organ John Lennon electric guitar with tremolo Paul McCartney harmony vocal piano bass guitars nb 8 Ringo Starr drums tambourine castanetsAdditional musician Eric Clapton lead guitar uncredited Notes edit Greene comments that Wilting Flowers was the title of Time magazine s article summarising the year 32 By contrast at the start of 1968 Life had declared it the Year of the Guru partly as a result of the Beatles championing of Eastern religion 33 and had featured the Maharishi on the cover of the magazine 34 This version remained in EMI s archives through the 1980s 41 It was first presented for public hearing when Abbey Road Studios formerly EMI Studios hosted The Beatles at Abbey Road in 1983 16 at which point EMI reported that Harrison was keen that the song be released as soon as possible 42 When remixing the recording for inclusion on the planned Sessions compilation album in 1984 however and as later heard on Anthology 3 43 Geoff Emerick looped and repeated Harrison s concluding guitar phrase into a fadeout and increased the volume of the harmonium 16 In the Beatles Anthology book Harrison recalls of this 5 September session Paul and John were so used to just cranking out their own tunes that it was very difficult at times to get serious and record one of mine It wasn t happening so I went home that night thinking Well that s a shame because I knew the song was pretty good 52 In Scott s recollection the need to manually work the ADT oscillation was a result of the Beatles impatience to use EMI s new eight track recording equipment The company s technical engineers had yet to carry out the conversion necessary to allow the effect to be applied automatically 45 While My Guitar Gently Weeps was listed with Ob La Di Ob La Da as a double A side when the single topped Australia s Go Set National Top 40 chart 70 According to music critic Tim Riley Harrison s writing contributions regain ed the promise evident in his three songs on the Beatles 1966 album Revolver 72 The Concert for Bangladesh performance of the song was included on Harrison s 2009 compilation album Let It Roll 109 According to Giles Martin George Martin s son Lennon played six string bass on the track 143 In his 2012 autobiography Ken Scott recalls While My Guitar Gently Weeps as being one of several songs on the White Album where the four string bass is doubled by a six string bass and that the two basses were always played together and never overdubbed individually 144 References edit Lewisohn 2005 pp 153 54 MacDonald 2005 p 300 Riley 2002 p 268 Wyman Bill 7 June 2017 All 213 Beatles Songs Ranked From Worst to Best Vulture Retrieved 31 December 2018 a b c Lewisohn 2005 p 154 a b The Beatles 2000 p 306 Leng 2006 pp 34 36 Everett 1999 p 199 Quantick 2002 p 110 Harrison 2002 p 120 Everett 1999 pp 200 01 Everett 1999 pp 305 06 Scorsese Martin dir 2011 George Harrison Living in the Material World 2 DVDs Roadshow Entertainment Grove Street Productions R 112294 9 a b Spizer 2003 p 106 Unterberger 2006 p 199 a b c d Winn 2009 p 194 a b Hertsgaard 1996 p 252 MacDonald 2005 pp 297 300 Gould 2007 p 523 MacDonald 2005 p 498 a b c d e Pollack Alan W 2001 Notes on While My Guitar Gently Weeps Soundscapes Retrieved 29 December 2017 Pedler 2003 pp 435 37 a b c d Everett 1999 p 201 a b Inglis 2010 pp 12 26 Greene 2006 pp 110 11 Allison 2006 p 158 a b Tillery 2011 p 68 Inglis 2010 p 12 a b Allison 2006 p 70 Inglis 2010 p 51 writer 12 September 2005 7 November 1998 NME Album Reviews The Beatles nme com Archived from the original on 9 April 2013 Retrieved 19 March 2019 a b Greene 2006 p 110 Greene 2006 p 98 Gould 2007 p 465 Spizer 2003 pp 106 07 MacDonald 2005 p 305 The Editors of Rolling Stone 2002 p 38 Hertsgaard 1996 pp 238 41 Ingham 2006 pp 49 50 a b Winn 2009 p 209 a b Lewisohn 2005 p 145 Badman 2001 pp 318 19 a b Everett 1999 p 349 Lewisohn 2005 p 153 a b Buskin Richard June 2012 The Beatles While My Guitar Gently Weeps Sound on Sound Archived from the original on 17 June 2016 Retrieved 5 November 2021 Lewisohn 2005 pp 78 153 Lewisohn 2005 pp 151 153 The Beatles 2000 p 312 Quantick 2002 p 28 Hertsgaard 1996 pp 252 53 Winn 2009 pp 209 10 Unterberger 2006 p 214 Harris John July 2001 A Quiet Storm Mojo p 69 Hertsgaard 1996 p 253 a b c Winn 2009 p 210 Clapton 2007 p 105 a b Everett 1999 p 202 Everett 1999 pp 202 300 02 a b Lewisohn 2005 p 162 Ingham 2006 p 203 Womack 2007 pp 225 26 a b Everett 1999 pp 201 02 Inglis 2010 p 134 a b The Editors of Rolling Stone 2002 p 176 Leng 2006 pp 53 54 Miles 2001 p 314 a b Spizer 2003 p 107 Womack 2014 p 684 The Beatles Ob La Di Ob La Da austriancharts at Retrieved 27 December 2017 Go Set Australian charts 23 April 1969 poparchives com au Archived from the original on 25 February 2021 Retrieved 7 January 2018 Schaffner 1978 p 115 a b Riley 2002 p 262 Weber 2016 p 82 Wenner Jann S 21 December 1968 Review The Beatles White Album Rolling Stone p 10 Retrieved 26 June 2019 Miles Barry 29 November 1968 Multi Purpose Beatles Music International Times p 10 Smith Alan 9 November 1968 Beatles Double LP in Full NME p 3 Smith Alan 30 November 1968 Beatles Chart History by Getting Double LP In NME p 3 Available at Rock s Backpages subscription required Cannon Geoffrey 26 November 1968 Back to Spring The Beatles The Beatles White Album Apple The Guardian Available at Rock s Backpages subscription required Rodriguez 2010 p 280 Castleman amp Podrazik 1976 pp 123 24 Spizer 2003 p 232 Schaffner 1978 pp 188 209 Rodriguez 2010 pp 280 81 Womack 2007 p 247 Pirnia Garin 19 March 2016 13 Loaded Facts About Withnail and I Mental Floss Retrieved 7 December 2017 Paphides Pete 20 June 2004 Sgt Pepper s Lonely Hearts Club Band amp The White album The Beatles The Observer theguardian com Retrieved 19 March 2019 Weber 2016 p 191 MacDonald 2005 p 311 Tillery 2011 p 140 a b The Beatles 2000 p 340 The Editors of Rolling Stone 2002 pp 227 229 The Editors of Rolling Stone 2002 p 227 The RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time Rolling Stone 9 December 2004 Archived from the original on 20 August 2006 Retrieved 10 November 2009 The 100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time Rolling Stone 12 June 2008 Archived from the original on 31 May 2008 Retrieved 12 June 2008 Womack 2014 p 989 100 Greatest Beatles Songs 10 While My Guitar Gently Weeps Rolling Stone Retrieved 21 May 2013 Guitar World Staff 30 October 2008 100 Greatest Guitar Solos guitarworld com Retrieved 25 February 2015 Womack 2014 pp 989 90 Saunders Hilary 28 August 2015 The 50 Best Beatles Songs Paste Retrieved 19 March 2019 Gallucci Michael 7 February 2014 The Top 50 Beatles Songs 10 1 Ultimate Classic Rock Retrieved 19 March 2019 a b Alexander Phil et al July 2006 The 101 Greatest Beatles Songs Mojo p 90 Time Out London Music 24 May 2018 The 50 Best Beatles songs Time Out London Archived from the original on 15 December 2018 Retrieved 31 July 2019 Stolworthy Jacob 22 November 2018 The Beatles White Album tracks ranked from Blackbird to While My Guitar Gently Weeps The Independent Retrieved 27 March 2019 Khan Ashley 2003 Gun for Hire Mojo Special Limited Edition 1000 Days of Revolution The Beatles Final Years Jan 1 1968 to Sept 27 1970 London Emap p 48 Rodriguez 2010 p 50 a b The Concert for Bangladesh Revisited with George Harrison and Friends DVD 2005 Clapton 2007 pp 146 47 Moon Tom 2008 1 000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die New York NY Workman Publishing Company ISBN 9780761139638 Quoted in The Super Seventies Classic 500 The Concert For Bangla Desh George Harrison and Friends superseventies com Retrieved 19 March 2019 Inglis 2010 p 128 Badman 2001 p 389 Fanelli Damian 23 February 2016 George Harrison Eric Clapton and Ringo Starr Play the Beatles While My Guitar Gently Weeps in 1987 guitarworld com Retrieved 28 November 2019 Madinger amp Easter 2000 p 483 a b Rodriguez 2010 pp 59 60 a b c d Womack 2014 p 990 Leng 2006 pp 167 170 71 Schaffner 1978 p 178 Leng 2006 p 167 The Editors of Rolling Stone 2002 p 195 RPM 100 Hit Tracks November 3 1990 Library and Archives Canada Archived from the original on 23 October 2012 Retrieved 27 June 2011 While My Guitar Gently Weeps Official Charts Company Retrieved 10 September 2016 The Jeff Healey Band While My Guitar Gently Weeps charts nz Retrieved 9 September 2016 Party at the Palace The Queen s Concerts Buckingham Palace booklet Various Artists Opus Arte 2002 OA 0845 D a href Template Cite AV media notes html title Template Cite AV media notes cite AV media notes a CS1 maint others in cite AV media notes link Inglis 2010 p 127 Rock Vets Fete Harrison on Tribute Disc billboard com 11 December 2002 Retrieved 6 October 2015 Loftus Johnny Various Artists Songs From The Material World A Tribute To George Harrison AllMusic Retrieved 22 April 2016 Peter Frampton interviewsofrecordingartists com Archived from the original on 26 November 2010 Retrieved 11 September 2016 Horowitz Hal Peter Frampton Now AllMusic Retrieved 10 September 2016 Pareles Jon 21 April 2016 Prince an Artist Who Defied Genre Is Dead at 57 The New York Times Retrieved 22 April 2016 Phull Hardeep 21 April 2016 Prince was so good he made his own competition New York Post Retrieved 21 April 2016 Scapelliti Christopher Tom Petty and Others Tell the Story Behind Prince s While My Guitar Gently Weeps Solo GuitarPlayer com Retrieved 28 February 2020 Greene Andy 21 April 2016 Watch Prince s While My Guitar Gently Weeps Solo Rolling Stone Retrieved 28 February 2020 Baldwin Brett What happened to Prince s guitar after While My Guitar Gently Weeps www thecurrent org Retrieved 28 February 2020 Revisit Tom Petty and Prince s classic performance of While My Guitar Gently Weeps EW com Retrieved 28 February 2020 The Anatomy of Prince s Legendary 2004 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Guitar Solo www yahoo com Retrieved 28 February 2020 a b DaveO 11 October 2011 Cover Wars While My Guitar Gently Weeps The Beatles Glide Magazine Glide Magazine Retrieved 15 December 2016 Gehr Richard 22 April 2009 Jake Shimabukuro The Village Voice Retrieved 18 November 2018 Carlos Santana Covers Classics on Guitar Heaven Billboard 23 September 2010 Retrieved 2 October 2016 Gary Trust 15 September 2010 Santana Michael Buble Kings of Leon Preview New Albums Billboard Retrieved 2 October 2016 Reed Ryan 5 August 2016 Hear Regina Spektor s Haunting While My Guitar Gently Weeps Cover rollingstone com Retrieved 18 March 2022 Renner Brown Eric 29 June 2016 Cirque du Soleil s Beatles music video Show debuts clip for While My Guitar Gently Weeps ew com Retrieved 28 December 2017 Reed Ryan 5 August 2016 Watch the Beatles Hypnotic While My Guitar Gently Weeps Video rollingstone com Retrieved 18 March 2022 MacDonald 2005 pp 300 01 Boilen Bob 13 November 2018 How The Beatles Made The White Album Radio broadcast NPR Event occurs at 25 48 Scott Ken Owsinski Bobby 2012 Abbey Road to Ziggy Stardust Alfred Music pp 37 57 ISBN 978 0739078587 Sources editAllison Dale C Jr 2006 The Love There That s Sleeping The Art and Spirituality of George Harrison New York NY Continuum ISBN 978 0 8264 1917 0 Badman Keith 2001 The Beatles Diary Volume 2 After the Break Up 1970 2001 London Omnibus Press ISBN 978 0 7119 8307 6 The Beatles 2000 The Beatles Anthology San Francisco CA Chronicle Books ISBN 0 8118 2684 8 Castleman Harry Podrazik Walter J 1976 All Together Now The First Complete Beatles Discography 1961 1975 New York NY Ballantine Books ISBN 0 345 25680 8 Clapton Eric 2007 Eric Clapton The Autobiography London Century ISBN 978 1 84605 309 2 The Editors of Rolling Stone 2002 Harrison New York NY Rolling Stone Press ISBN 978 0 7432 3581 5 Everett Walter 1999 The Beatles as Musicians Revolver Through the Anthology New York NY Oxford University Press ISBN 978 0 19 512941 0 Gould Jonathan 2007 Can t Buy Me Love The Beatles Britain and America London Piatkus ISBN 978 0 7499 2988 6 Greene Joshua M 2006 Here Comes the Sun The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison Hoboken NJ John Wiley amp Sons ISBN 978 0 470 12780 3 Harrison George 2002 I Me Mine San Francisco CA Chronicle Books ISBN 978 0 8118 5900 4 Hertsgaard Mark 1996 A Day in the Life The Music and Artistry of the Beatles London Pan Books ISBN 0 330 33891 9 Huntley Elliot J 2006 Mystical One George Harrison After the Break up of the Beatles Toronto ON Guernica Editions ISBN 978 1 55071 197 4 Ingham Chris 2006 The Rough Guide to the Beatles 2nd edn London Rough Guides ISBN 978 1 84353 720 5 Inglis Ian 2010 The Words and Music of George Harrison Santa Barbara CA Praeger ISBN 978 0 313 37532 3 Leng Simon 2006 While My Guitar Gently Weeps The Music of George Harrison Milwaukee WI Hal Leonard ISBN 978 1 4234 0609 9 Lewisohn Mark 2005 1988 The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years 1962 1970 London Bounty Books ISBN 978 0 7537 2545 0 MacDonald Ian 2005 Revolution in the Head The Beatles Records and the Sixties 2nd rev edn Chicago IL Chicago Review Press ISBN 978 1 55652 733 3 Madinger Chip Easter Mark 2000 Eight Arms to Hold You The Solo Beatles Compendium Chesterfield MO 44 1 Productions ISBN 0 615 11724 4 Miles Barry 2001 The Beatles Diary Volume 1 The Beatles Years London Omnibus Press ISBN 0 7119 8308 9 Pedler Dominic 2003 The Songwriting Secrets of the Beatles London Omnibus Press ISBN 978 0 7119 8167 6 Quantick David 2002 Revolution The Making of the Beatles White Album Chicago IL A Cappella Books ISBN 1 55652 470 6 Riley Tim 2002 1988 Tell Me Why A Beatles Commentary Cambridge MA Da Capo Press ISBN 978 0 306 81120 3 Rodriguez Robert 2010 Fab Four FAQ 2 0 The Beatles Solo Years 1970 1980 Milwaukee WI Backbeat Books ISBN 978 1 4165 9093 4 Schaffner Nicholas 1978 The Beatles Forever New York NY McGraw Hill ISBN 0 07 055087 5 Spizer Bruce 2003 The Beatles on Apple Records New Orleans LA 498 Productions ISBN 0 9662649 4 0 Tillery Gary 2011 Working Class Mystic A Spiritual Biography of George Harrison Wheaton IL Quest Books ISBN 978 0 8356 0900 5 Unterberger Richie 2006 The Unreleased Beatles Music amp Film San Francisco CA Backbeat Books ISBN 978 0 87930 892 6 Weber Erin Torkelson 2016 The Beatles and the Historians An Analysis of Writings About the Fab Four Jefferson NC McFarland ISBN 978 1 4766 6266 4 Winn John C 2009 That Magic Feeling The Beatles Recorded Legacy Volume Two 1966 1970 New York NY Three Rivers Press ISBN 978 0 307 45239 9 Womack Kenneth 2007 Long and Winding Roads The Evolving Artistry of the Beatles New York NY Continuum ISBN 978 0 8264 1746 6 Womack Kenneth 2014 The Beatles Encyclopedia Everything Fab Four Santa Barbara CA ABC CLIO ISBN 978 0 313 39171 2 External links edit nbsp Wikiquote has quotations related to The Beatles album Full lyrics for the song at the Beatles official website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title While My Guitar Gently Weeps amp oldid 1187296679, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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