Widely considered one of their greatest love songs, ‘Something’ by The Beatles has garnered its fair share of admirers, including pop music royalty. The song has been covered dozens of times by singers from Shirley Bassey to Frank Sinatra. In fact, Sinatra once called the song his favourite by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, not realising that it was actually penned by another budding young songwriter in the group.
By 1968, George Harrison was coming into his own as a composer, with his songs now appearing regularly on albums released by The Beatles. In September of that year, he brought the band something new to listen to. ‘Something’ indeed, the composition would become one of Harrison’s most celebrated and enduring.
While he initially planned to give the song away, by April 1969, the song was slated for the upcoming Beatles record. Harrison had already made a solo demo of the track before Joe Cocker sang another demo version. But it was The Beatles’ second attempt at recording the piece on May 2nd, which would form the basic track of the version we know today.
The band would return to the song during the summer, adding vocal tracks, extra drum parts and orchestral overdubs. Incredibly, Harrison recorded his lead guitar part in a single live take at the same time as the orchestral recording.
Who is ‘Something’ written about?
‘Something’ was likely written for Harrison’s wife at the time, Pattie Boyd (as its music video suggests), although he was later dismissive of its lyrics. The ballad would nevertheless help turn Boyd into arguably rock’s most famous muse, along with Eric Clapton’s magnum opus ‘Layla’.
Its descending minor chords make the perfect complement for the swooning first vocal line, “Something in the way she moves”. Harrison’s guitar solo, meanwhile, decorated with tonal embellishments inspired by the gamakas of Indian music, is among his finest moments as a guitarist.
As well as being included on the album Abbey Road, in October 1969, ‘Something’ was the first George Harrison-penned Beatles song to be released as a single. It would also go on to be the penultimate hit by The Beatles before the band’s break-up became official.
When was Abbey Road released?
Abbey Road went on sale worldwide on September 26th, 1969, with ‘Something’ second on its track listing. Unusually for the time, this meant that the album came out two weeks before its lead single. That didn’t stop the double A-side combining Harrison’s song with Lennon’s ‘Come Together’ reaching number one in the US, Canadian, Australian and German singles charts.
In addition to ‘Something’, the album includes another Harrison composition, ‘Here Comes the Sun’. Written in Eric Clapton’s garden, this track’s breezy acoustic guitar sound and simple, uplifting sequence of major chords have made it a summer staple. In fact, it’s the first Beatles song to pass one billion plays on Spotify.
What other Beatles songs did George Harrison write?
Leaving aside his Abbey Road hits, there are plenty of other Harrison classics furnishing The Beatles’ catalogue. Following on from his first foray into songwriting on 1963’s With the Beatles, he averaged two songs per album from 1965 until the band’s demise.
He was most prolific on The Beatles (commonly known as ‘The White Album’), which features four of his compositions, including the stunning ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’. His 1966 piece ‘Taxman’ opens the group’s groundbreaking LP Revolver, and Rubber Soul includes the underrated ‘Think for Yourself’, complete with fuzz-tone bass, as well as the jangly, Byrds-inspired ‘If I Needed Someone’.