Written by: Harrison
Recorded: 11, 12 September 1963
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Norman Smith
Released: 22 November 1963 (UK), 20 January 1964 (US)
George Harrison: vocals, lead guitar
John Lennon: rhythm guitar, tambourine
Paul McCartney: bass, claves
Ringo Starr: drums, bongo
Available on:
With The Beatles
George Harrison's first original song was written on tour in August 1963.
Don't Bother Me I wrote in a hotel in Bournemouth, where we were playing a summer season in 1963, as an exercise to see if I could write a song. I was sick in bed.
Anthology
The song wasn't highly regarded either by Harrison or the other Beatles.
I don't think it's a particularly good song; it mightn't be a song at all. But at least it showed me that all I needed to do was keep on writing and maybe eventually I would write something good. I still feel now: I wish I could write something good. It's relativity. It did, however, provide me with an occupation.
Anthology
Don't Bother Me was meant as a plea for privacy, and the tone of the lyrics is reflected in the downbeat music. The Beatles took two sessions to get it right, ending up with a Latin-flavoured recording with percussion by Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney.
A lot of the girls were mad on him, so we always wanted to give him at least one track. Then George started to catch on: 'Why should you write my songs?' And he started writing his own.
From when George first started, he would deliver one song per album. It was an option to include George in the songwriting team. John and I had really talked about it. I remember walking up past Woolton Church with John one morning and going over the question: 'Without wanting to be too mean to George, should three of us write or would it be better to keep it simple?' We decided we'd just keep to two of us.
He wrote Don't Bother Me. That was the first one and he improved from that and became very good, writing a classic like Something.
Anthology
The mood of the song was uncharacteristic for The Beatles at the time, but negativity was a trait that reappeared in Harrison's later songs, including Only A Northern Song and Think For Yourself.
Originally attempted on 11 September 1963, the band returned to Don't Bother Me the following day. After taping the rhythm track, Harrison double-tracked his lead vocals, and Lennon, McCartney and Starr added percussion.
Don't Bother Me later featured in a nightclub scene in the A Hard's Day's Night film.
Related articles:
- Words Of Love
- Recording: I Wanna Be Your Man, Little Child, All I've Got To Do, Not A Second Time, Don't Bother Me
- Step Inside Love
- Recording: A Hard Day's Night
- While My Guitar Gently Weeps
I liked the song from the very first time I heard it. Funny, even George didn't care for it, but if you listen to all the songs on With The Beatles it ranks right up there.
Razor
I know what you mean. Its one of my favourite Songs from George. The sound is really great.
So did I. But I liked all of George's Beatles songs from the first time I heard them. I remember the first times I heard Only A Northern Song and It's All Too Much and wondered why they were so obscure. Great songs. VERY underated.
It's not a great song but I really love the five-note intro. It's very different sounding...
always one of my favorite Beatle songs - regardless of who wrote/sang it - precisely because it was so out of character with their other tunes.
Years later I was in a punk band and we did a cover of Don't Bother Me - most people thought we wrote it. It was still that fresh 17 years later.
Very good effort for a first song--and I think it stacks up well against the other songs on "Meet the Beatles". I detect some Yardbirds/Clapton influence on the song and the guitar sound George achieves. If I haven't heard it in a while, I make a point of listening to it.
This song predated Clapton's joining the Yardbirds, and (I think) any Yardbirds recordings.
The problem is that the song was written and recorded in September whereas Clapton joined The Yardbirds, who had only just started gigging, in October.
Dont Bother Me , hands down one of my all time fav songs , the haunting guitar style amazes me , something i have not heard since , and how George did that eludes me to this day , and i hate when George is looked down upon , in fact its always Georges songs on any Beatle album that stands out for me , i so miss the man ,, Love you George
Yes - George's guitar is, as always, superb. Haunting is a good description for this first full Harrison composed song. Not sure if this is one of the songs George wrote that George Martin claimed were "dead boring", but I was fond of it, and most of Harrison's other songs, long before I heard what their producer felt about them. There are many qualities to Harrisongs that make them anything but dead boring to fans. I am glad Martin, McCartney and Lennon "permitted" George to have a go at singing lead and writing songs (no matter how few) for the Beatles. Harrison definitely made valuable and worthy contributions to the band that made him famous.