George – lead
vocals, acoustic guitar, Hammond organ
Paul – harmony vocals, piano, organ, bass
John – guitar
Ringo – drums, tambourine
Eric Clapton – lead guitar
The Beatles recorded five tracks written by George Harrison during the sessions for the White Album – and interestingly none were traditionally “Indian” in style. The track ‘Not Guilty’ did not appear on the album, and, of the remaining four, ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ is the best known, and has become closely linked with George. So it is rather ironic that the guitar solo is actually by Eric Clapton.
George described the genesis of the song as being the result of a calculated and deliberate use of chance. On reading the classic Chinese text I Ching, he became aware of the idea that all events are interrelated and that nothing is coincidental. So “I decided to write a song based on the first thing that I saw upon opening any book – as it would be relative to that moment, at that time.” The phrase that he saw was “gently weeps”, and so began writing a song based on that.
The song itself had been around for a couple of months before the group got down to making a final version. A facsimile in George’s I Me Mine shows him testing out a lyric –
I don’t know how someone controlled you
How they blindfolded you
The same sheet also shows the search for an alliterative rhyming scheme to build into a lyric, though possibly not this one –
Tampering, tapering, tempering, thundering
Tittering, tottering, towering, toppling
Wandering, watering, wavering, weathering
Whimpering, wintering, whispering, wondering
The demo version that was recorded in May was topped and tailed with two extra verses, finely judged with interesting sentiments, including “The problems you sow are the troubles you’re reaping” and “I look at the trouble and pain that is raging”.
However, these lines were discarded and only the final, and arguably the weakest, couplet of the extra verses made it on to the end of the last verse of “take 1”, recorded on 25 July. This version is included on Anthology 3.
I look from the wings at the play you are staging
While my guitar gently weeps
As I’m sitting here doing nothing but ageing
Still my guitar gently weeps
Both of these early versions were notably simple, with George playing acoustic guitar to accompany his singing, gently supported by Paul’s overdubbed organ towards the end of the song. This take was beautifully adorned with an exquisite George Martin score for the Love album. Both Anthology and Love versions end with a loop of the final guitar phrase created by Geoff Emerick in 1984 when he prepared the track for the aborted Sessions LP, whereas George had ended on a full guitar flourish before calling up to the control room, “Let’s hear that back”.
“Take 1”, which Brian Gibson, who set up the microphones for the recording, recalls was recorded in the vast Studio One, was to serve as a second demo for the group because three weeks later, on 16 August, they recorded fourteen takes of a new version of the song. This remake had John playing organ and the others on their usual instruments. Some three weeks after that, George spent an entire evening session on his own, writing and attempting to record a reverse guitar part for the song. The recording for this session was carried out on Abbey Road’s newly unveiled eight-track tape machine, a four-track to eight-track copy of the song having first been made.
In the following session (the session that marked the return of Ringo after his ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’ walkout), new vocals, maracas and drums were added, as was another lead guitar track to complement the backwards guitar solo. But on hearing back what they had achieved so far, George decided they should start over and record a third version of the song, which is the one that appears on the album. So they recorded a basic track of drums, lead and acoustic guitar, and Paul switching between piano and organ. The following day a guest guitarist arrived in the studio. The story goes that Eric Clapton had given George a lift into London on the day of the recording, when George suggested that Eric should come in and play lead guitar, leaving him more freedom to work on the rhythm guitar and vocal. In fact, George had hatched his plan to introduce Clapton in advance and had called him to ask for a lift into town on that day. Despite the irregularity of a guest artist at a Beatles session, the rest of the group did not object. In fact, a guest in the studio put them on their best behaviour and the atmosphere lightened considerably (although John was possibly not present that day, which must have signalled to Clapton that all was not well within the group). George was later to recall this happy side-effect of having a visitor in the studio during the blackness of the Let It Be sessions and on that occasion approached Billy Preston in order to accentuate the positive. Using a blues guitarist to represent weeping was not George’s first choice – as evidenced by his reverse guitar experimentation – but undoubtedly finally made the right decision in calling in Eric Clapton. As well as Clapton’s solo, Paul played fuzz bass, George played a little Hammond organ and recorded his lovely lead vocal, with a little help from Paul.
The song has a highly compelling introduction. Hard on the heels of Bungalow Bill’s “Ayup”, an insistent, mesmeric A is played by Paul on the piano, until the daydream is broken and he moves up the scale, then begins what is recognisably a pared-down version of the chorus. Its sparse fuzz bass/hi-hat accompaniment and George’s acoustic guitar build, with the addition of John’s lead guitar, to the simple and direct vocal of the first verse. What’s easy to forget is that here we have a song about a guitar, but which is introduced by a highly effective, highly prominent piano-based section. Having set up the piece, the piano then takes a back seat for the rest of the song, but it has made its mark. The other feature of the introduction is the lovely syncopated hi-hat that continues into the verse, but then is heard no more once the drums proper move in. The continually descending bass line reinforces the pessimistic tone, dragging us downwards in constant cycles. The bass underpins the four-bar Am–Am–D9–Fmaj7 (i–i–IV9–VI∆7) progression with leisurely chromatic steps of A–G–F#–F natural. The acoustic versions extend this descent by an additional semitone to form an inversion of Am (although these versions are played in a lower key).
Although the song is clearly a guitarist’s guitar song, there are some fine vocal permutations within it. George can sound less than confident when singing solo, and does so here to some degree. Towards the end of the song, even the tambourine is taken out of the mix to avoid masking his vocals. But on “I look at the floor” he is joined by Paul on harmony, and another of the myriad facets of Paul’s vocal ability is demonstrated as he adds strength and depth to George’s voice – something he never had to do with John – but to such an extent that it is not in any way intrusive. And for now the accompaniment is only for a single line because, after just one verse, we move to the bridge where George is double-tracked with his own voice, to the accompaniment of some single high-pitched organ triads. This is accompanied by a key change from A minor to A major. Other songs have taken this route – verse in minor, bridge in parallel major – including ‘Things We Said Today’, but George can’t settle and we are already moving into C# minor.
The bridge forces George to the upper end of his vocal range – and he must have preferred the breathy, uncertain quality of his voice at this pitch as he could evidently have taken it down a step or two if he wanted. In fact he pitches the song a tone higher than both the demo and the take 1 versions, which were in G minor, so this is quite deliberate.
Clapton’s solo is perfectly judged and gels the song beautifully. The climax of the solo seems to climax the song, with what comes after seeming to be more of a coda than a development of the piece. A certain amount of frequency control was needed in the mix to give it a wobbly sound that was less Clapton and more Beatles, which works well. During the solo a tambourine sneaks in, which adds texture to the next bridge when the organ reappears more prominently.
The final verse recaps the first, with the neat “Look at you all …” twist as George points the finger back at the audience of onlookers. He sadly reveals the change that has taken place in them – their diversion-perversion-inversion. Weeping guitar is combined with forlorn moans from George for the long play-out, lasting over a minute. Things are just held in check to the very end, in keeping with the tenor of the song. Tim Riley points out that this is the kind of blues that “says more by holding back than it does by cutting loose”.
However, there is an interesting, probably unintentional, throwback to earlier songs such as ‘A Hard Day’s Night’, ‘I Feel Fine’ and ‘Got To Get You Into My Life’ which faded just as a new or potential change of direction was introduced, leaving the listener keen to hear more. The very last notes that can be heard come from the piano, which has not been much in evidence since the end of the middle guitar solo, as it breaks into a series of semiquavers, in readiness for … who knows what?
Knowing that the song was the first one to be recorded (by anyone) on Abbey Road’s eight-track facilities, we become aware that the production is very full, particularly of course compared to the Anthology 3 take. But not gratuitously so. The tambourine sneaking into the second half of the guitar solo, the organ being all but inaudible – none of the supplementary sounds are out of place. As ever, there is restraint.
George had to wait his turn to record the song, and was understandably irritated at having to hold back. Even Ringo was allowed his spot after just one song had been recorded for the album. George had to wait until session number thirty-one. “John and Paul were so used to just cranking out their tunes that it was very difficult at times to get serious and record one of mine. It wasn’t happening. They weren’t taking it seriously and I don’t think they were even all playing on it.” However, he undeniably has the last laugh. ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ is one of the musical, lyrical and production highlights, not only of the double album but of the group’s entire final era.
What’s more, the song is the first release to be published by Harrisongs Ltd, and so is the first of his compositions to avoid the vicissitudes that befell John and Paul’s compositions published by Northern Songs. Harrisongs Ltd was founded in 1964, but early the following year, George was persuaded to sign up with Northern Songs for a further three years to help with the flotation of the company. As soon as this three-year period expired, he and Ringo, whose share ownership in Northern Songs amounted to less than 1% each, published their songs with their own companies. In Ringo’s case this was Startling Music, which was established in July 1968, just in time to copyright his first composition, ‘Don’t Pass Me By’.