Within You Without You

From BeatlesWiki

(Redirected from Within You, Without You)
Jump to: navigation, search

Within You Without You is a song off The Beatles' 1967 album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was written by George Harrison.

Contents

[edit] AKA and Working Titles

[edit] Writing

George wrote Within You Without You on a harmonium at artist and musician Klaus Voorman's house after a dinner party. It ended up being George's only contribution to Sgt. Pepper, although he did submit Only a Northern Song around this time, but it did not appear on the final album. This was George's second Indian-styled song, after Love You To. The song includes spiritual themes, which were popular in the Summer Of Love in 1967. He references the counterculture in the lyrics, as well as ego death from LSD, and Hindu religion. It was George's idea to put laughter at the end to bring back a more happy mood, after five minutes of serious, meaningful, music. Many fans interpreted this laughter as being Lennon and McCartney mocking Harrison's music. George recalled, "Within You Without You came about after I had spent a bit of time in India and fallen under the spell of the country and its music. I had brought back a lot of instruments. It was written at Klaus Voormann's house in Hampstead after dinner one night. The song came to me when I was playing a pedal harmonium. I'd also spent a lot of time with Ravi Shankar, trying to figure out how to sit and hold the sitar, and how to play it. Within You Without You was a song that I wrote based upon a piece of music of Ravi's that he'd recorded for All-India Radio. It was a very long piece - maybe 30 or 40 minutes - and was written in different parts, with a progression in each. I wrote a mini version of it, using sounds similar to those I'd discovered in his piece. I recorded in three segments and spliced them together later." John Lennon was a fan of the song, saying, "It's one of George's best songs. One of my favourites of his, too. He's clear on that song. His mind and his music are clear. There is his innate talent; he brought that sound together." On Anthology 2, an instrumental version in it's original key was used.

[edit] Recording

George Harrison was the only Beatle to play on Within You Without You. During the recording, he and Neil Aspinall played tambura. Recording began on March 15, 1967, when the first take was recorded. Even though Harrison later claimed that the song was taped in three parts and later edited together, it in fact was not. It was taped in one section lasting six minutes and twenty-five seconds. The names of the Indian musicians are unknown, although it is known that they were taken from the Asian Music Circle in Finchley, north London. They played tabla, dilruba, and tambura. A dilruba is an instrument similar to a sitar, although played with a bow. Two more dilrubas were overdubbed on March 22. On April 3, the last day of recording Sgt. Pepper, George Martin conducted three cellos and eight violins, with parts suggested by Harrison. Later that evening, George recorded lead vocals, a sitar part, and acoustic guitar.

[edit] Recording Sessions

  • April 3, 1967: Recording Session. Songs Recorded: Within You Without You. →


[edit] LOVE Mix

On the 2006 remix album LOVE, a mix of this song is included. It features the drums and bass, as well as some sound effects and the vocals at the very beginning, from Tomorrow Never Knows. It transitions into Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.

[edit] Personnel

[edit] The Beatles

[edit] Guest Musicians

[edit] Production

[edit] Available Versions

[edit] Available On

[edit] Cover Versions

[edit] Source

Retrieved from "http://www.beatleswiki.org/wiki/Within_You_Without_You"
Personal tools