TOP 100 SONGS OF THE BEATLES ― 6

“Something" (Harrison – October 1, 1969)  

Abbey Road – Side 1, Track 2 (3:03)
YouTube (McCartney, Concert for George)

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

"Something" is a song by the Beatles, featured on their 1969 album Abbey Road. It was released that same year as a double A-sided single with another track from the album, "Come Together". "Something" was the first Beatles song written by lead guitarist George Harrison to appear as an A-side, and the only song written by him to top the US charts while he was in the band. The single was also one of the first Beatles singles to contain tracks already available on an LP album.

John Lennon and Paul McCartney, the band's principal songwriters, both praised "Something" as one of the best songs Harrison had written, or that the group had to offer. As well as critical acclaim, the single achieved commercial success, topping the Billboard charts in the United States and making the top five in the United Kingdom. The song has been covered by over 150 artists, making it the second-most covered Beatles song after "Yesterday". Artists who have covered the song include Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, James Brown, Shirley Bassey, Tony Bennett, Ike & Tina Turner, the Miracles, Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker, Isaac Hayes, Julio Iglesias, Mina and Phish. Harrison is quoted as saying that his favorite version of the song was James Brown's, which he kept in his personal juke box.

Composition –

During the 1968 recording sessions for The BEATLES (also referred to as the White Album), Harrison began working on a song that eventually became known as "Something". The song's first lyrics were adapted from the title of an unrelated song by fellow Apple artist James Taylor called "Something in the Way She Moves" and used as filler while the melody was being developed. The song's second line, "Attracts me like no other lover," was the last to be written; during early recording sessions for "Something", Harrison alternated between two placeholder lyrics: "Attracts me like a cauliflower" and "Attracts me like a pomegranate."

Harrison later said that "I had a break while Paul was doing some overdubbing so I went into an empty studio and began to write. That's really all there is to it, except the middle took some time to sort out. It didn't go on the White Album because we'd already finished all the tracks." A demo recording of the song by Harrison from this period appears on the Anthology 3 collection, released in 1996.

Many believe that Harrison's inspiration for "Something" was his wife at the time, Pattie Boyd. Boyd also claimed that inspiration in her 2007 autobiography, Wonderful Tonight, where she wrote: "He told me, in a matter-of-fact way, that he had written it for me."

However, Harrison has cited other sources of inspiration to the contrary. In a 1996 interview he responded to the question of whether the song was about Pattie: "Well no, I didn't [write it about her]. I just wrote it, and then somebody put together a video. And what they did was they went out and got some footage of me and Pattie, Paul and Linda, Ringo and Maureen, it was at that time, and John and Yoko and they just made up a little video to go with it. So then, everybody presumed I wrote it about Pattie, but actually, when I wrote it, I was thinking of Ray Charles.

The original intention had been for Harrison to offer the song to Apple Records signing Jackie Lomax, as he had done with a previous composition, "Sour Milk Sea". When this fell through, "Something" was given to Joe Cocker (who had previously covered the Lennon−McCartney song "With a Little Help from My Friends" with great success); his version came out two months before the Beatles'. During the Get Back recording sessions for what eventually became Let It Be, Harrison considered using "Something", but eventually decided against it due to his fear that insufficient care would be taken in its recording; his earlier suggestion of "Old Brown Shoe" had not gone down well with the band.

Musical structure –

The lead vocalist for "Something" was Harrison. The song runs at a speed of about sixty-six beats per minute and is in common time throughout. The melody begins in the key of C major. It continues in this key throughout the intro and the first two verses, until the eight-measure-long bridge, which is in the key of A major. After the bridge, the melody returns to C Major for the guitar solo, the third verse, and the outro. Although the Beatles had initially attempted an edgier acoustic version of the song, this was dropped along with the counter-melody. A demo of the acoustic version with the counter-melody included was later released as part of Anthology 3. On the final release, the counter-melody was replaced by an instrumental break, and the song was given a softer tone with the introduction of a string arrangement by George Martin, the Beatles' producer.

Simon Leng said the song's theme is doubt and uncertainty. Richie Unterberger of Allmusic described it as "an unabashedly straightforward and sentimental love song" at a time "when most of the Beatles' songs were dealing with non-romantic topics or presenting cryptic and allusive lyrics even when they were writing about love".

History –

Inspired by fellow Apple label mate James Taylor's song "Something In The Way She Moves," this celebrated ballad was composed by George Harrison during the sessions for The BEATLES (a/k/a The White Album). Finding himself with some time alone while Paul McCartney was overdubbing an unspecified song, George went into a separate studio in Abbey Road, sat down at the piano, and began to write.

Harrison's original intention was to write a homage to the sort of soulful ballads Ray Charles was known for, but in order to jump-start the writing process he used the first line of Taylor's tune, which actually begins "There's something in the way she moves / Or looks my way, or calls my name / That seems to leave this troubled world behind." George followed the opening line with the placeholder "attracts me like a pomegranate," which eventually became "attracts me like no other lover." 

The song never made the White Album due to the wealth of material already in later stages of development. "Something" lay dormant for over six months until February 25, 1969 (Harrison's 26th birthday), when band demos were recorded for three of his latest songs, including "All Things Must Pass" and "Old Brown Shoe." ("Shoe" made it to the b-side of the "Ballad of John and Yoko" single; "Pass" was never officially released by the Beatles, though the band version can be heard on Anthology 3.) In April, another demo was recorded for singer Joe Cocker for consideration; the song was also briefly considered for fellow Apple label mate Jackie Lomax, who had just released a version of George's "Sour Milk Sea." (Cocker would eventually record the song, which didn't get released until two months after the Beatles' version.) George himself confessed that he thought the song came to him "too easy" to be taken seriously as a Beatles release, and didn't want it subjected to the raw, anti-production style of the Get Back project (later released as Let It Be.)

John and Paul felt differently, however, and at the second session for the band's new Abbey Road album on April 16, the band recorded the first version of "Something." Originally envisioned as a harder-driving, acoustic number, the bridge contained a vocal counter-melody and a piano part by John. The extraneous vocal was later edited out, as was most of the piano; John's entire contribution to "Something" in its final form consists of the descending piano chords heard intermittently in the bridge.

Finally, on May 2nd, the band reconvened and turned "Something" into the gentle ballad we know today, albeit not without a great deal of infighting, most of it related to Paul's bass line, which George saw as too busy. (Ironically, this feature of the song is a favorite of many fans.) In addition, the counter-melody was replaced with a George guitar solo; most of the track's 35 takes at this session were dedicated to getting the solo correct. Take 36 was nearly eight minutes long, devolving into an extended jam; this and take 35 were edited together to form the basic track.

Three days later on the 5th, Paul and George overdubbed extraneous bass and guitar parts, along with a lead vocal by George that went unused. Another lead vocal was attempted on July 11, and perfected on July 16. Finally, George Martin arranged a string accompaniment, which was overdubbed on August 15, 1969. At that same session, George attempted the solo again, but because there were no available tracks left to record on, George recorded his famous solo live, with the orchestra, on the same track.

This song is viewed by many as the moment when George Harrison announced himself as a major songwriting force. John remarked publicly that "Something" was the best song on Abbey Road, while Paul considered it the best song in George's catalog. This was also the first Harrison-penned song to make it to the a-side of a Beatles single.

From Rolling Stone –

On February 25th, 1969, his 26th birthday, George Harrison recorded three demos at EMI studios. He did two takes each of "Old Brown Shoe," which would end up as the B side of "Let It Be," and "All Things Must Pass," the title song of his 1970 solo album. He also took a pass at a winsome ballad that he had written on piano during a break in the White Album sessions in 1968: "Something." "George's material wasn't really paid all that much attention to — to such an extent that he asked me to stay behind after [everyone else had gone]," says engineer Glyn Johns, who recorded the demos. "He was terribly nice, as if he was imposing on me. And then he plays this song that just completely blows me away."

Harrison initially believed the song was so catchy he must have heard it before: "I just put it on ice for six months because I thought, 'That's too easy!'" The opening lyric — "Something in the way she moves" — was a James Taylor song from his 1968 Apple Records debut. (Harrison had attended sessions for Taylor's record and sang backup vocals on another song.) "In my mind," Harrison said, "I heard Ray Charles singing 'Something.'" Still, he didn't necessarily think it was good enough for the Beatles.

He even gave the song to Joe Cocker, who recorded it first. When Harrison finally presented "Something" to the other Beatles, they loved it. John Lennon said "Something" was "the best track on the album." Paul McCartney called it the best song [Harrison has] written." "It took my breath away," producer George Martin later said, "mainly because I never thought that George could do it. It was tough for him because he didn't have any springboard against which he could work, like the other two did. And so he was a loner."

The other Beatles worked on "Something" for several months, editing, arranging and rerecording it to perfection. In a reversal, Harrison became musical director, telling McCartney how to play the bass line. "It was a first," engineer Geoff Emerick said. "George had never dared tell Paul what to do." At the final session, Harrison shared the conductor's podium with Martin during the string overdubs and recut his guitar solo, a sparkling combination of dirty-blues-like slide and soaring romanticism, live with the orchestra.

"Something" went to Number Three and eventually became the second-most-covered Beatles song, behind "Yesterday." Charles would in fact sing it, on his 1971 album, Volcanic Action of My Soul. Frank Sinatra would describe it as "the greatest love song of the past 50 years" (although he often introduced it as a Lennon-McCartney composition).

"He was nervous about his songs," Martin said of Harrison, "because he knew that he wasn't the number-one [songwriter] in the group. He always had to try harder." But with "Something," the guitarist proved himself to his peers, and to the world.

Recording and production –

Abbey Road (album)

"Something" was recorded during the Abbey Road sessions. It took 52 takes in two main periods, the first session involved a demo take on Harrison's 26th birthday (featured on Anthology 3), 25 February 1969, followed by 13 backing track takes on 16 April. The second main session took 39 takes and started on 2 May 1969 when the main parts of the song were laid down in 36 takes, finishing on 15 August 1969 after several days of recording overdubs.

The original draft that the Beatles used lasted eight minutes, with an extended coda with Lennon on the piano. The middle also contained a small counter-melody section in the draft. Both the counter-melody and Lennon's piano piece were cut from the final version. Still, Lennon's piano was not erased totally. Some bits can be heard in the middle eight, in particular the line played downwards on the C major scale, i.e. the connecting passage to Harrison's guitar solo. The erased parts of Lennon's piano section is similar to the style on Lennon's song "Remember".

Takes: 39

Personnel –

John Lennon – Piano (Alfred E. Knight) (1965 Epiphone E230TD(V) Casino)
Paul McCartney – Harmony vocals, bass guitar (1964 Hofner 500/1)
George Harrison – Lead vocals (double-tracked), lead guitar (1966 Gibson Les Paul Standard SG)
Ringo Starr – Drums (1968 Ludwig Hollywood Maple)
Billy Preston – Organ (Hammond RT-3)
Unknown studio musicians – 12 violins, 4 violas, 4 cellos, 1 double-bass

First released: October 6, 1969 (US: Apple 2654), October 31, 1969 (UK: Apple R5814), double a-side with "Come Together".

Reception –

The Abbey Road album was the first Beatles release to feature "Something"; it was released on 26 September 1969 in the United Kingdom, with the United States' release following on 1 October, and performed well, topping the charts in both countries.

A few days later on 6 October, "Something" was nominally released as a double A-side single with "Come Together" in the United States, becoming the first Harrison composition to receive top billing on a Beatles' single. In actuality, it was the A-side in both form and cataloging: it appears on the side displaying the outer skin of Apple's logo, and is listed first in Apple's catalog. In many other countries, it was explicitly labeled as the A-side.

Although it began charting a week after its release on 18 October, doubts began to arise over the possibility of "Something" topping the American charts. It was the prevailing practice at the time to count sales and airplay of the A- and B-sides separately, which allowed for separate chart positions. With "Come Together" rivaling "Something" in popularity, it was hardly certain that either side of the single would reach number one. However, on 29 November, Billboard started factoring the combined performance of both A- and B-sides into their calculations, as one single. The result was that "Come Together"/"Something" topped the American charts for a week, before eventually falling out of the charts about two months later (on the concurrent Cash Box singles chart, which continued to measure the performance on both sides of a single separately, "Something" peaked at number two while "Come Together" spent three weeks at number one). The single was certified Gold just three weeks after its initial release, but was not heard of again in terms of sales until 1999, when it was declared Platinum.

In the UK, "Something" came out on 31 October. It was the first Beatles' single to have a Harrison song on the A-side, and it was also the Beatles' first single to feature songs already available on an album. "Something" first entered the chart on 8 November, eventually peaking at number four, before falling out of the charts three months after its initial release. In the UK Shirley Bassey's version also reached #4.

Although Harrison himself had been dismissive of the song—he later said that he "put it on ice for about six months because I thought 'that's too easy'"—Lennon and McCartney both stated that they held "Something" in high regard. Lennon said "I think that's about the best track on the album, actually", while McCartney said "For me I think it's the best he's written." Both had largely ignored Harrison's compositions prior to "Something", with their own songs taking much of the limelight. Lennon later explained:

“There was an embarrassing period when George's songs weren't that good and nobody wanted to say anything. He just wasn't in the same league for a long time—that's not putting him down, he just hadn't had the practice as a writer that we'd had.”

Awards –

In 1970, the same year the Beatles announced they had split, "Something" received the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. "Something" continues to garner accolades from the musical establishment decades after its release, with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) website naming it as the 64th-greatest song ever. According to the BBC, the song "shows more clearly than any other song in The Beatles' canon that there were three great songwriters in the band rather than just two." The Beatles' official website itself said that "Something" "underlined the ascendancy of George Harrison as a major song writing force". In 1999, Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) named "Something" as the 17th-most performed song of the 20th century, with five million performances in all. Other Beatles' songs on the list were "Yesterday" and "Let It Be", both written by Paul McCartney (though attributed to Lennon and McCartney). In 2004, "Something" was ranked number 273 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". In 2010, the magazine ranked it #6 on The Beatles' 100 Greatest Songs.

Live performances (by Harrison) –

In 1971, Harrison played this song in The Concert for Bangladesh with Eric Clapton, Starr, and many others. Although the guitar solo differed from the studio version, it was in the key of C#, while the lyrics remained the same. The new guitar solo was very similar to the guitar intro to the Live in Japan version of this song. In 1991, Harrison and Clapton played "Something" live in Japan and in London, such that the third verse gets repeated after the bridge is played again, but without the guitar solo. This was also done in the Concert for George.

Trivia –

Harrison's wife at the time, Pattie Boyd, has stated that George told her "Something" was written about her, but George always maintained the song had no real subject.

This is one of the most-covered Beatles songs of all time, second only to "Yesterday." The publishing rights organization BMI has clocked 5 million performances of "Something" through 1999, making it 17th on the list of most performed songs of all time.

John Lennon eventually used the deleted piano part he'd come up with for "Something" as the basis for his solo track "Remember."

A little over a month after its release, on November 29, 1969, Billboard magazine began ranking a- and b-sides of singles as one entity, just in time to drive "Something" to the Number 1 spot.

Although Ray Charles did indeed cover this song, the versions by James Brown and Smokey Robinson were said to be Harrison's favorites.

The Foo Fighters' song "Oh, George" is said to be named after George, with the solo based on "Something," the first Beatles song that Foo front man Dave Grohl ever learned to play on guitar.

Once, at an early-Eighties concert, Frank Sinatra infamously pronounced "Something" his favorite Lennon-McCartney composition. (He also called it "the greatest love song of the past fifty years.") Harrison took it in stride, and even changed the lyrics in concert to reflect Frank's version: where George originally sang "You stick around, now, it might show," he began using Sinatra's phrasing of "You stick around, Jack, it might show."

After George's death in 2002, Paul McCartney and Bob Dylan both played this song live as a tribute, Paul on a ukelele George had given him.

Today in Beatles History (From The Internet Beatles Album) April 4 –

1946 – Jane Asher is born, in London.

1962 – Performance at the Cavern.

1963 – EMI House, ground floor studio. Performance before EMI executives, journalists and photographers from British pop newspapers. The Beatles are presented with awards.
– Evening. New Public Baths, Leyton, London. Main Bath Hall. Beatles live performance.

1964 – 'El club de los Beatles' ('The Beatles Club'), the first Chilean radio program dedicated to the Beatles, is first broadcast.

– Shooting of opening scene of A Hard Day's Night, at Boston Place, London, and other opening scenes at the Marylebone Station.

1967 – Paul and Jane spend the day in the Colorado Rocky Mountains and go to the theater in Denver.

1969 – Yellow Submarine LP, 12th week in the Top 100 (Billboard).
Dick James does not convince the Beatles to sell their shares to ATV. John and Paul reject 900,000 pounds for them.

1996 – Anthology 2 number 3, 1st week in the Top 5 ("Feria del Disco" record stores English music sales, Chile).