Love You To
From BeatlesWiki
Love You To is a song off The Beatles' 1966 album Revolver. It was written by George Harrison.
Contents |
AKA and Working Titles
- Granny Smith, working title.
Writing
The song is The Beatles' first full attempt to create a composition based on classical Indian music. During that time, George was learning from Ravi Shankar, who inspired him to learn more about Indian music and religion. George later said, "I wrote Love You To on the sitar, because the sitar sounded so nice and my interest was getting deeper all the time. I wanted to write a tune that was specifically for the sitar. Also it had a tabla part, and that was the first time we used a tabla player." He also said "Norwegian Wood was an accident as far as the sitar part was concerned, he said, but this was the first song where I consciously tried to use the sitar and tabla on the basic track. I overdubbed the guitars and vocal later." The song shows George's growing interest in Eastern philosophy and his wife Patti Harrison, whom he married on January 21, 1966.
Recording
It was first recorded under the title "Granny Smith" on April 11, 1966. The first take featured just Harrison and an acoustic guitar, with no indian instruments at all. The sitar intro was added onto Take 3, which appeared again as a take six overdub, along with tabla, bass, and fuzz bass. It was finished on April 13. George added more vocals, Ringo added tambourine, and Paul added falsetto vocals, which were left out of the final mix of the song.
Recording Sessions
- April 11, 1966: Recording Session. Songs Recorded: Got To Get You Into My Life and Love You To. →
- May 16, 1966: Recording Session. Songs Recorded: Taxman and For No One. Songs Mixed: Love You To and Taxman. Tape Copies: Love You To, Taxman, and Tomorrow Never Knows. →
- June 21, 1966: Four takes of She Said She Said. Stereo mixes of Love You To, Here, There And Everywhere, I Want To Tell You, For No One and Taxman. Mono mixes of Here, There And Everywhere, For No One, Taxman and Eleanor Rigby →
In The Film Yellow Submarine
The sitar intro was played in the film Yellow Submarine. It is played when George is introduced in the film as he is seen meditating.
Personnel
The Beatles
- Lead Vocals: George Harrison
- Rythm Guitar: George Harrison
- Lead Guitar: George Harrison
- Sitar: George Harrison
- Backing Vocals: Paul McCartney
- Bass: Paul McCartney
- Tambourine: Ringo Starr
Guest Musicians
- Tabla: Anil Bhagwat
Production
- Producer: George Martin
- Engineer: Geoff Emerick
Available Versions
Available On
- Revolver, 1966
- Yellow Submarine Songtrack, 1999
