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Difference between revisions of "If I Needed Someone"

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{Infobox song
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| Name    = If I Needed Someone
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| Writer  = [[George Harrison]]
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| Artist  = [[The Beatles]]
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| Album    = [[Rubber Soul]]
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| Released = 3 December 1965
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| track_no = 13
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| Recorded = 16 October 1965,<br>[[Abbey Road Studios|EMI Studios]], London
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| Genre    = [[Folk rock]]{{sfn|Ames Carlin|2006|p=75}}
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| Length  = 2:23
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| Writer  = [[George Harrison]]
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| Label    = [[Parlophone]]
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| Producer = [[George Martin]]
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| Tracks  = {{Rubber Soul tracks}}
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}}
 
{{cquote|George gave Derek Taylor a copy and asked him to hand deliver it to us, before the release of the song, along with the explanation that he had put it together with the riff from the "Bells of Rhymney.|Roger McGuinn, The Byrds, [http://earcandy_mag.tripod.com/rogerm.htm Interview]|1999}}
 
{{cquote|George gave Derek Taylor a copy and asked him to hand deliver it to us, before the release of the song, along with the explanation that he had put it together with the riff from the "Bells of Rhymney.|Roger McGuinn, The Byrds, [http://earcandy_mag.tripod.com/rogerm.htm Interview]|1999}}
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{{cquote|Paul used a fuzz box on the bass on 'Think For Yourself'. When [[Phil Spector]] was making 'Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah', the engineer who'd set up the track overloaded the microphone on the guitar player and it became very distorted. Phil Spector said 'Leave it like that, it's great.' Some years later everyone started to try to copy that sound and so they invented the fuzz box. We had one and tried the bass through it and it sounded really good.|quotewidth=500px|George Harrison, ''The Beatles Anthology'', p.196|2000}}
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{{cquote|'Think For Yourself' must be written about somebody from the sound of it &#151; but all this time later I don't quite recall who inspired that tune. Probably the government.|quotewidth=500px|George Harrison|1980}}
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{{cquote|[The title] was cooked up later in the evening. At first it was announced by [[Normal Smith]] as 'Won't Be There With You'. Whatever the moniker, it was finally recorded &#151; with overdubs &#151; in one take, with lead, rhythm and bass guitars, plus a fuzz bass, tambourine, maracas and electric piano. The technical people at Abbey Road built fuzz boxes for use with guitars. 'It was an electronic device in which you could have controlled distortion,' says [[Ken Townsend]], then one of the technical engineers. 'You actually made the sound overload.'|quotewidth=500px|Mark Lewisohn, ''The Beatles Recording Sessions'', p.67|1988}}
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{{#ev:youtube|yXGSBgr8sbg}}
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==Additional Resources==
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* [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/If_I_Needed_Someone Wikipedia Entry]
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* [http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/iins.shtml Alan W. Pollack's Musicological Analysis]
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* [http://www.beatlesebooks.com/if-i-needed-someone About 'If I Needed Someone' - Beatles Music History]
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[[Category:Songs]][[Category:George Harrison]][[Category:Rubber Soul]]

Revision as of 13:50, 27 August 2011

{Infobox song | Name = If I Needed Someone | Writer = George Harrison | Artist = The Beatles | Album = Rubber Soul | Released = 3 December 1965 | track_no = 13 | Recorded = 16 October 1965,
EMI Studios, London | Genre = Folk rockTemplate:Sfn | Length = 2:23 | Writer = George Harrison | Label = Parlophone | Producer = George Martin | Tracks =

}}

George gave Derek Taylor a copy and asked him to hand deliver it to us, before the release of the song, along with the explanation that he had put it together with the riff from the "Bells of Rhymney.

—Roger McGuinn, The Byrds, Interview, 1999

Paul used a fuzz box on the bass on 'Think For Yourself'. When Phil Spector was making 'Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah', the engineer who'd set up the track overloaded the microphone on the guitar player and it became very distorted. Phil Spector said 'Leave it like that, it's great.' Some years later everyone started to try to copy that sound and so they invented the fuzz box. We had one and tried the bass through it and it sounded really good.

—George Harrison, The Beatles Anthology, p.196, 2000

'Think For Yourself' must be written about somebody from the sound of it — but all this time later I don't quite recall who inspired that tune. Probably the government.

—George Harrison, 1980

[The title] was cooked up later in the evening. At first it was announced by Normal Smith as 'Won't Be There With You'. Whatever the moniker, it was finally recorded — with overdubs — in one take, with lead, rhythm and bass guitars, plus a fuzz bass, tambourine, maracas and electric piano. The technical people at Abbey Road built fuzz boxes for use with guitars. 'It was an electronic device in which you could have controlled distortion,' says Ken Townsend, then one of the technical engineers. 'You actually made the sound overload.'

—Mark Lewisohn, The Beatles Recording Sessions, p.67, 1988

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