Register / Create an Account

Difference between revisions of "Within You Without You"

From Beatles Wiki - Interviews, Music, Beatles Quotes

Jump to: navigation, search
Line 2: Line 2:
 
| Name          = Within You Without You
 
| Name          = Within You Without You
 
| Artist        = [[The Beatles]]
 
| Artist        = [[The Beatles]]
| Album          = [[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]
+
| Album          = [[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (album)|Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]
 
| Released      = 1 June 1967
 
| Released      = 1 June 1967
 
| track_no      = 2 of side 1
 
| track_no      = 2 of side 1

Revision as of 00:40, 29 January 2010

"Within You Without You"
Song by The Beatles
Album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Released 1 June 1967
Recorded 15 March 1967

22 March 1967
3 April 1967

Genre Raga Rock
Length 5:05
Label Parlophone, Capitol, EMI
Writer George Harrison
Producer George Martin
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band track listing

Side one

  1. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"
  2. "With a Little Help from My Friends"
  3. "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"
  4. "Getting Better"
  5. "Fixing a Hole"
  6. "She's Leaving Home"
  7. "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite"

Side two

  1. "Within You Without You"
  2. "When I'm Sixty-Four"
  3. "Lovely Rita"
  4. "Good Morning Good Morning"
  5. "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)"
  6. "A Day in the Life"
There are so many people who don't understand the sentiment of 'Within You Without You.' They can't see outside themselves, they're too self-important and can't see how small we all are. 'Within You Without You' was just my way of trying to make a Western pop song using some of those instruments and some of those sounds.

—George Harrison

I think that this is George's best song, one of my favorites. I like the arrangement, the sound and the words. He is clear on that song. You can hear his mind is clear and his music is clear. It's his innate talent that comes through on that song. George is responsible for Indian music getting over here. That song is a good example.

—John Lennon

George has done a great indian one. We came along one night and he had about 400 indian fellas playing, and it was a great swinging event, as they say.

—John Lennon, 1967

Klaus (Voorman) had a harmonium in his house, which I hadn't played before. I was doodling on it, playing to amuse myself, when 'Within You' started to come. The tune came first, and then I got the first sentence. It came out of what we'd been doing that evening.

—George Harrison

I'm writing more songs now that we're not touring. The words are always a bit of a hangup for me. I'm not very poetic. 'Within You Without You' was written after dinner one night at Klaus Voorman's house. He had a harmonium, which I hadn't played before. I was doodling on it when the tune started to come. The first sentence came out of what we'd been doing that evening... 'We were talking.' That's as far as I got that night. I finished the rest of the words later at home.

—George Harrison, 1967

There are some Indian musicians who worked on Sgt. Pepperwho still haven't been paid simply because George doesn't know their names.

—George Martin

My job was to add Western strings to the song — that is, to find classically trained European fiddle players (frequently of Jewish stock) and get them to mimic their Indian counterparts. This intrigued me no end. I couldn't wait to see the titanic clash of cultures in the studio! When it came to it, the European string players min gled well with the Indian players, but musically the Europeans were sliding around all over the place. This was especially true in the second, or middle section of 'Within You Without You,' where the tabla changes rhythm from a 4/4 to a much more Indian-feeling 5/4 tempo; here, too, the song gets quite fast and tricky. We had a lot of fun getting that right.

—George Martin, Summer of Love, 1994

George, as usual, set joss sticks smouldering in the corners. He looked a bit like the Lone Ranger with his Indian friends. Although the other Beatles were there, they stuck around for the fun of it. None of them played or sang a note. In order to get them to play what he wanted, George would simply sing to the Indian musicians, or occasionally pick a few notes on the sitar.

—George Martin, Summer of Love, 1994


Have a listen:

Personal tools