TOP 100 SONGS OF THE BEATLES: 51

"If I Needed Someone" (Harrison – June 20, 1966)  

Rubber Soul – Side Two, Track 6 (2:20) 

YouTube (Harrsion live, audio only)

From Wikipedia, Rolling Stone, About.com, and Google –

"If I Needed Someone" is a song written by George Harrison. Versions by The Beatles and by The Hollies appeared simultaneously, both being released in the UK on 3 December 1965. The Hollies version appeared on a single. Most of the Hollies previous singles had been big top ten hits. When their version of "If I Needed Someone" only reached the lower half of the top 20 in the UK, they were quite critical and said they had made a mistake recording it. The Beatles recording of the song first appeared in the UK on the 1965 album Rubber Soul and was later included in the 1966 U.S. release Yesterday and Today.

The Beatles version was recorded on 16 October and 18 October 1965, the basic track being recorded right after sessions for "Day Tripper".

History –

"If I Needed Someone" was written by George Harrison as a musical response to his recent association with folk-rock icons the Byrds, who had also taken a great deal of their inspiration from earlier Beatles songs like "What You're Doing." During their 1965 US tour, the Beatles visited Los Angeles' World Pacific Studios and met the group, and member David Crosby taught George some tricks on sitar. (Contrary to legend, Harrison had already learned the basics from folkie Shawn Phillips.) When the song was released, George asked Beatles publicist Derek Taylor to send a note along to Byrds leader Roger McGuinn, acknowledging the similarity of the main guitar riff of "Someone" to McGuinn's "She Don't Care About Time" and the group's cover of Pete Seeger's "The Bells Of Rhymney." In staying very close to its main chord and using a mixolydian scale for the harmony, it also suggests the droning Indian influences steadily creeping into Harrison's compositions.

The lyrics of this song are representative of the change in the Beatles' outlook and also of its era: tender but ambivalent, they have suggested to more than one listener a song to a groupie or some other attempt by the singer to juggle two affairs at once: "Had you come some other day / Then it might not have been like this / But you see now I’m too much in love."

The basic track for "If I Needed Someone" was laid down in one take during the third session for Rubber Soul, just after work was completed on the single "Day Tripper." Two days later overdubs were added, just before work began on "In My Life." Though George later described the song as being written in D, he actually plays it in A, using a capo (almost certainly the first time any Beatle had used one).

Composition –

The song was heavily influenced by the music of The Byrds. In a 2004 radio interview with the BBC in London, Roger McGuinn confirmed that Harrison had sent a tape recording of the song to him in Los Angeles before it was released on record. Harrison did this to show McGuinn that the guitar riff he had used in "If I Needed Someone" was based on McGuinn's own riff in "The Bells of Rhymney." The song's introduction and coda are also very similar to those of the Byrds' song. Appropriately, the Byrds' own use of electric 12-string guitar was influenced by Harrison's use of the instrument in the film A Hard Day's Night.

The song as recorded by The Beatles is in the key of A, switching to B minor during the breaks. The verses are heavily harmonized: Harrison sings the first two lines of the first verse by himself—double-tracked, as was customary on Beatles recordings of the period—after which John Lennon and Paul McCartney join in, singing above him throughout on each subsequent verse. Harrison sings the bridge solo, once again double-tracked.

"If I Needed Someone" was the only Harrison composition played during any of The Beatles' tours; otherwise Harrison sang only covers onstage. "If I Needed Someone" was performed at The Beatles' Tokyo concerts in July 1966; the 1982 documentary The Compleat Beatles used a clip from The Beatles' haggard performance of the song on stage in Tokyo as an illustration of band's growing weariness with touring. The song was also performed at The Beatles' very last concert, in Candlestick Park on 29 August 1966. It is believed that "If I Needed Someone" was performed at every Beatles concert that year. It was the first song written by Harrison that he performed in concert.

Musical Structure –

The song is a playable track on The Beatles: Rock Band; despite the venue for the aforementioned Japanese shows appearing in the game, the song is on the level modeled after the group's legendary Shea Stadium performance, which took place before it had been recorded.

Recording –

The sessions for the Beatles version of "If I Needed Someone" were produced by George Martin, and engineered by Norman Smith. The second engineer was Ken Scott.

The rhythm track for the song was recorded in Abbey Road Studio Two, in a single take on Saturday 16 October 1965, squeezed in just before midnight in a session that had primarily been spent recording their next single, Day Tripper. McCartney's bass part was played on a 1964 left-handed Rickenbacker 4001S bass. Harrison's distinctive chiming guitar riff was played on his 1965 Rickenbacker 360-12, with a capo fixed at the seventh fret.

Returning to the studio on the afternoon of Monday 18 October 1965, the Beatles overdubbed Harrison's lead vocal and Lennon and McCartney's backing vocals. Starr added a tambourine.

A mono mix of the song was made on Monday 25 October, and a stereo mix on Tuesday, 26 October — the day the Beatles collected their MBEs from Buckingham Palace. Both these mixes can be found in The Beatles In Mono box set. 

George Martin created another stereo mix in 1987 for the release of Rubber Soul on CD. [This mix can be found on The Beatles Stereo Box Set.]

Takes: 1

Personnel

John Lennon – Harmony vocal, rhythm guitar (1961 Sonic Blue Fender Stratocaster)

Paul McCartney – Harmony vocal, bass guitar (1961 Hofner 500/1)
George Harrison – Lead vocal (double-tracked), lead guitar (1964 Rickenbacker "Fire-glo" 360-12)
Ringo Starr – Drums (Ludwig)


Trivia –

The Hollies were the first to cover this song, in a version that was released almost immediately after the Beatles' and which made it to #20 on the UK charts. George, perhaps miffed that his band had not released the original version as a single, publicly declared the cover "rubbish." Leader Graham Nash responded that perhaps Harrison should renounce his proceeds from their version and give them instead to charity. (He didn't.)

Despite it being listed in some reference books, there is no evidence of a harmonium being played on this track.

This is the only Harrison composition ever performed by the Beatles on stage. George would perform the song solo during his last tour of Japan in 1991; a version can be heard on the tour souvenir CD Live In Japan.


Today in Beatles History (From The Internet Beatles Album) February 17 – 

1933 – Yoko Ono is born in Tokyo.

1964 – Photograph session of the Beatles and Cassius Clay.

1965 – Studio 2 (control room only). 10.00am-1.00pm. Mono mixing: "Ticket to Ride" (remix 1, from take 2); "Another Girl" (from take 1); "I Need You" (from take 5); 'Yes It Is' (from take 14). 

– Studio 1. 3.30-5.15pm. Recording: "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away" (takes 1-9). – Studio 2 (control room only). 5.15-6.00pm. Mono mixing: 'The Night Before' (from take 2); "You Like Me Too Much" (from take 8). 
– Studio 2. 6.00-10.30pm. Recording: "If You've Got Trouble" (take 1); "Tell Me What You See" (take 1-4). Producer: George Martin; Engineer: Norman Smith; 2nd Engineer: Ken Scott. 
– First use (on "You've Got To Hide Your Love Away") of an outside musician---excepting Andy White---: Johnnie Scott (tenor and alto flutes).
– Northern Songs Limited becomes a public company on the London Stock Exchange. 1st song publishing company in this condition.

1968 – Ringo, Paul, Maureen and Jane go to India.

1993 – Paul's concert in Milano. Start of The New World Tour.