George Harrison’s most celebrated song on The Beatles’ White Album, ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ was inspired by the I Ching, and featured his friend Eric Clapton on lead guitar.
Harrison began writing the music for the song in India, although the lyrics were mostly completed upon his return to England.
I wrote ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ at my mother’s house in Warrington. I was thinking about the Chinese I Ching, the Book of Changes… The Eastern concept is that whatever happens is all meant to be, and that there’s no such thing as coincidence – every little item that’s going down has a purpose.‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ was a simple study based on that theory. I decided to write a song based on the first thing I saw upon opening any book – as it would be a relative to that moment, at that time. I picked up a book at random, opened it, saw ‘gently weeps’, then laid the book down again and started the song.
Anthology
A demo version of the song was recorded by The Beatles at Harrison’s bungalow in Esher, Surrey, in May 1968. It featured several lines which were later left out:
I look at you all, see the love there that’s sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
Problems you sow are the troubles you’re reaping
Still my guitar gently weepsI look at the trouble and hate that is raging
While my guitar gently weeps
As I’m sitting here, doing nothing but ageing
Still my guitar gently weeps
A solo version of ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ was recorded at Abbey Road on 25 July 1968, featuring just Harrison on acoustic guitar, with a subtle organ part appearing towards the end. These early versions deploy the fingerpicking guitar style taught to The Beatles by Donovan in Rishikesh.
Recorded in a single take, the June version was later included on Anthology 3, and, with a new orchestral arrangement written by George Martin, on the Love album.
It also included a verse that was dropped from later recordings:
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
Harrison later complained that John Lennon and Paul McCartney did not give ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ the attention he felt it deserved. The presence of Eric Clapton on lead guitar, at Harrison’s request, made the rest of the group take the song more seriously.
We tried to record it, but 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, and so I went home that night thinking, ‘Well, that’s a shame,’ because I knew the song was pretty good.The next day I was driving into London with Eric Clapton, and I said, ‘What are you doing today? Why don’t you come to the studio and play on this song for me?’ He said, ‘Oh, no – I can’t do that. Nobody’s ever played on a Beatles record and the others wouldn’t like it.’ I said, ‘Look, it’s my song and I’d like you to play on it.’
So he came in. I said, ‘Eric’s going to play on this one,’ and it was good because that then made everyone act better. Paul got on the piano and played a nice intro and they all took it more seriously.
Anthology
In the studio
Following the 25 July solo demo, The Beatles returned to ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ on 16 August. They recorded 14 takes with George Harrison on guitar, John Lennon on organ, Paul McCartney on bass guitar, and Ringo Starr on drums.
The song was left alone until 3 September, when a series of overdubs were added – the first on Abbey Road’s new eight-track recording equipment. Harrison worked alone, spending the entire eight-hour session trying to record a backwards guitar solo.
On 5 September Harrison recorded two lead vocal parts, and maracas, drums and lead guitar were also added. However, upon hearing a playback of the recording so far, he decided to scrap it and begin afresh.
The remake was started that same day. The Beatles recorded 28 takes; the basic track had Harrison on acoustic guitar and guide vocals, Lennon on organ, McCartney playing piano, Starr on drums, and Eric Clapton on electric guitar.
Clapton played on each of the takes in this session, playing live with The Beatles in the studio. He used the Gibson Les Paul guitar, nicknamed Lucy, that he had given to Harrison a month previously. Clapton’s presence in the studio reportedly made the other Beatles more attentive and enthusiastic about the song, doubtless to Harrison’s relief.
‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ was completed on the following day, 6 September, with the addition of a distorted bass part, played by McCartney, some organ by Harrison, and percussion by Starr. Finally, Harrison taped his lead vocals, with backing harmonies from McCartney.
I just want to observe that the best version I heard of this great composition (the best on The White Album by far) is to be found on the “soundtrack” of the documentary dedicated to George Harrison, made by Martin Scorsese (Living in the material world), where unfortunately… only two fragments can be heard: the opening part of about 1 minute, with the great intro of the piano and groovy-heavy, slightly distorted Fender bass (both played by Paul), a great, syncopated rhythm section with a freshly returned Ringo on drums – a truly a genial way to open the song, and the (amazing) end part, where Clapton excels with some very colorful/chromatic solo twists. It sounds so great because it was obviously carefully remastered, and could have only been done so only from original tapes and single tracks. Which makes one wonder if Giles Martin was involved in remastering the Beatles songs, as he did recently for the 50th anniversary of Sgt. Pepper, for this film. The drums and the bass line sound so clear and powerful – dominant, the piano repeating notes, all the guitars, and especially Clapton’s leading solo are so well separated and have such a nicer definition – while the latter guitar solo sounds less distorted. It was almost strident, dirty and noisy in ALL the previous versions, but now it sound more clear and pleasant (not too screechy…). Most importantly, one of the most truly annoying features of the original (full version) of the song was the high-pitched, sustained, intruding and disturbing one-note whistling sound, which was coming form some sort of an “organ” (it was mixed as too loud and noisy in all previous versions, including the remasters done in 2009 or the Apple 24-bit FLAC version from the USB stick), a whistle that covered and doubled gratuitously the vocals in the mid section … “I don’t know how…”, towering ominously over a cluttered mix, in which tracks lacked separation, instruments interfered with each other, George’ vocals were thin and covered by the instruments etc. However, these 2 fragments used in the Scorsese documentary have amazingly fixed all these shortcomings of the original and previous (re)masters and mixes (either mono or stereo). The bass and drums have more clarity and oomph, the vocals are spacious and sound full, Clapton guitar distortion has been scaled back, and God bless the soul who did this, the whistling high-pitched sound was very much reduced, scaled down to an almost windy, soft whisper which does not cover and does not interfere with the song’s main chorus anymore. Oh, and did I mention that this has been remastered in multi-channel surround format (DTS HD-Master Audio etc.) for the Blu-Ray version? It sounds absolutely gorgeous, spacious, the whole song breathes, the vocals are beautiful and the entire production works so well, having the instrumental tracks so nicely separated and distinct now. You can also hear the famous moans toward the end, in much better definition, perhaps mixed-in at a slightly higher level, and new/extra notes/inflections are heard even in the moaning… I always thought these moans sounded like John’s (voice), reminiscent of his signature artistic contributions and adding a fine touch to an outstanding finale. Of course, it is such a pity that you cannot enjoy the full song in this splendid new condition, only 2 bits taken out of it. Clearly the full version must exist somewhere, but it has not been released as such. We need to have the full remastered song released, as it was done for the Scorsese documentary, in full Blu-Ray +/- surround format, we need to start a petition or something!… to have the surviving Beatles indulge us with the best sonic versions of this song. A very deft, masterful hand was involved in this touch-up – he has to be assigned to remaster the entire White Album and Abbey Road, if not also to go back and redo Revolver, Rubber Soul, Help, all their great singles etc. Ringo clearly wants it, as he declared recently, that he thinks they should remaster The White Album and Abbey Road, as they did with Sgt. Pepper for the 50th Anniversary. The music sounds so much better, and hence, if the newer technology can make these improvements starting from the original tapes, there is no rational explanation for not doing them.
Gently Weeps has been my favorite Beatles tune since it was first released, and to find out tonight after reading its genesis was due to my beautiful George’s reading…and loving…the I Ching: Book of Changes is more than amazing… I have used the I Ching for the last 50 years in my spiritual studies as a guide for proper action. There ARE NO COINCIDENCES. Thank you, George Harrison, for letting the Light shine forth in your music. What a gift you gave us!
Frankly, I’m not sure whether the remastered version of Sgt. Pepper from 2017 sounds better indeed than the older one, from 2009. And the original record mono mix from 1967 is still beyond compares to me.
What does any of that have to do with WMGGW ?
Ha ha ha here here!
No doubt you’ve heard the newly-released remix of the White Album by Giles, with the full track. Shivers, man, shivers!
I did and it is good, of course, but I have to say, and I hope Giles and all the stakeholders read this! the version remixed for “Living in the material world” is far superior. It is quite surprising if Giles actually did both. Please, please… release the full version of the song from this documentary in HD audio, also.
Agree. Also the remastered version of YER BLUES in that film is outstanding.
Absolutely. It is just one of the best songs ever written, and fixing it preserves its greatness. There is really nothing inauthentic about fixing it, since the fix relies on original recordings which themselves were tweaked quite a bit by make-shift sonic manipulations. Indeed, remixing it is like washing a great Renaissance painting whose true original beauty is covered by the accumulation of the years.
I wouldn’t assume a full cut of that one version you like does indeed exist somewhere. It’s also quite possible there’s some error or technical issue with the master that’s ruining an otherwise excellent take. Extremely frustrating and does happen. Much more so in the pre-digital days. Or the original recording, they’re grooving right along then Clapton farted loudly during the last solo or some such; messes up the whole thing. Or the master tape could’ve been damaged later. Anyway, just some other possibilities to consider. I was trying to think why I would just sample parts of a superior version and this is what promptly came to mind
What is the instrument that links the intro to the first verse? I’ve always assumed cello or violin, but see that neither is credited here. Thanks!
That’s Clapton’s guitar, bro
Actually, the basic take was:
George Harrison: Acoustic Guitar and Lead Vocals;
Paul McCartney: Piano; Maybe some backing vocals too;
Ringo Starr: Drums;
John Lennon: Organ (he plays only during the bridges, and stops after “how to unfold your love”, “they bought and sold you”, etc., when the chord is E);
Eric Clapton: Lead Guitar.
Just listen to take 27 (it was recently broadcasted by a radio station): these are the basic instruments.
Then, they did a number of overdubs:
– Castanets;
– Tambourine;
– Another lead vocals (Harrison) and backing vocals (McCartney);
– Organ (which did not erase Lennon’s original organ part, but actually goes along with it, creating a sort of strange vibrato effect when they are on top of each other); It goes on, for some moments, during the first verse, then it continues during the bridges (also after the “how to unfold your love”, “they bought and sold you”, … parts), during the clapton solo, during the last verse and also in the outro. It masks a small mistake Lennon did just before the line “I don’t know how you were inverted”.
– The main Bass part (McCartney);
– Another Bass part, which doubles the main Bass part, a octave higher, only during the bridges;
– Another Guitar overdub, which doubles the main Bass part, two octaves higher, only during the bridges.
I don’t really know who overdubbed these last two instruments. McCartney and Harrison, maybe?
“Another Guitar overdub, which doubles the main Bass part, two octaves higher, only during the bridges.”
Actually, that’s a 12 string guitar overdub.
I don’t think so: it seems to me that there are two guitars (not a bass and a guitar, as I erroneously wrote), and they are doing two different notes at some point (one plays a B, the other a C#).
And, at the end of the first bridge, there’s a 6-string guitar slide up.
You can hear them here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUJExQxjdyg
(The different notes are at 0:15 and 0:33, while the slide up is at 0:50).
Yes, it is a 12string – I listened to the isolated track and realized this for the first time today!
I myself did not know that John was actually contributing organ and even a video posted by DLD2 music for the isolated outro vocals shows that he also joined in on backing vocals as well.
I also agree that his and George’s organ parts went very well together, but I don’t get why Giles Martin erroneously believed that John played baritone guitar or six-string bass when in reality, he was on the organ and Paul overdubbed the bass parts himself, just as you stated.
Giles wasn’t even born until 1969, coincidentally on John’s 29th birthday, so he wouldn’t have known what went on during that period and Chris Thomas, not George Martin, was producing.
I agree. John really paid little attention to that song. Paul recorded additional musical parts with George after the sessions with Clapton, not John. John was not the overdubbing type especially by that stage.
Actually, John was capable of adding overdubs to his songs as well as his bandmates’ songs whenever it was relevant or appropriate, be it instrumentation or vocals – e.g. he constructed and added the grunting pigs tape loops for “Piggies” and as I have stated, a YouTube isolated vocals video reveals that he contributed backing vocals on the coda for WMGGW alongside George and Paul. Ringo also overdubbed some percussion as well onto WMGGW.
On My Guitar Gently Weeps there are 2 bass sections – i believe Paul played a Fender Jazz and also his Rickenbacker
The overdub on the bridges was actually a 12-string guitar, but I believe those two bass sections were played with the notes, pretty much an overdub.
According to Giles Martin, who mixed the brand new 2018 deluxe version of the album, the bass part was played by John Lennon. And it sounds like it.
According to Giles Martin, who mixed the brand new 2018 deluxe version of the White Album, the bass in the verse is played by John Lennon, and it sounds like it. It was a six string Fender VI. The same instrument plyed by John on Helter Skelter.
That’s nonsense. It’s Paul playing the bass on WMGGW. It’s also Paul playing bass on the released version of Helter Skelter. He can be heard in between outtakes giving instructions ti his bandmates while accompanying himself on bass!, not guitar. John plays bass on the slow version.
I agree with Showman. Giles Martin was guessing, but surely he got this wrong. The bass is overdubbed, so why would it be John doing it? John only ever played bass when it had to be done live to fill the gap while Paul played another instrument. On Pepper, Paul often overdubbed bass after the main take so it would have been natural for him to do it here. Also from the sound, the main bass recording is obviously a Rickenbacker bass, and I’ve never heard that anyone in the band had a right-handed Rickenbacker bass.
Wrong, as a bass player you can clearly hear that many songs on the white album are overdubbed or just played on a bass VI… Helterskelter is definately on a Bass VI, neither a jazz bass or a rickenbacker sounds like that. On while my guitar gently weeps its paul playing the main track and whoever on the bas VI is playing almost the same thing and they also overdubbed a 12 string rickenbacker playing the same line in the chorus.
Helter Skelter is definitely Paul on bass, as stated by Showman. The outtakes prove beyond a doubt. Only one bass on WMGGW, not two, and also played by Paul on his Jazz bass (as played on HS also.) A 12 string doubles (triples?) the bass line in the bridges of WMGGW.
So this was one of the few Harrison songs that Lennon bothered to show up for?
Of course John played on it and contrary to what some biographers like to state, he never purposely went AWOL from the recordings of George’s songs. Yes, he didn’t feature on “Here Comes the Sun” (car accident) or “I Me Mine” (holiday in Denmark), but the most likely reason he wasn’t on “Savoy Truffle” or “Long, Long, Long” was because although he was away from the sessions for a week, he most likely had to attend divorce hearings in court – Cynthia was suing him for divorce – and Yoko was pregnant.
I can’t understand why some ignorant biographers draw the conclusion that John skipped the recordings of George’s songs, out of indifference or personal dislike, but there is no evidence to prove it. The facts don’t add up, as he was almost always present for the recording of George’s songs.
Dhani Harrison’s version is now my favorite. Give it a listen.
I also like the version with Dhani Harrison, Geoff Lynne, Steve Winwood, and the brilliant Prince who killed it with his guitar playing.
I recently found myself next to two guys who were six sheets to the wind arguing about whether Paul McCartney “came up with” (as in wrote/helped write) the haunting piano part he plays . A routine search came back with the usual ambiguous “Paul added the piano” without specifying further. One of the drunk guys kept saying that John and Paul helped George on his songs even if they received no credit (certain lyrics to “Something”, for instance), and that George wrote many of his guitar solos (similarly without credit). Anyone have a source confirming or disproving this notion about the piano part of WMGGW?
I don’t have a source to confirm or deny this. But it does sound like how the Beatles worked. It’s WHY the Beatles were greater than the sum of it’s parts.
George said in a magazine interview that Paul came up with and played the piano in WMGGW.
George: “His galloping piano part in “Gently Weeps” and his bassline in “Something” proved Paul could give a lot when he wanted to.”
I clearly recall on the Anthology video George saying that despite all the problems he was having with Paul he had contributed greatly to the song, particularly noting the “galloping piano part” that is so obvious in the intro.
“I look from the wings at the play you are staging…
As I’m sitting here doing nothing but ageing.”
With these words, George might be describing his relationship with Paul in the studio, going back to “Taxman.” His guitar is weeping because he rarely plays it anymore.
I’m glad you wrote this; I always felt the same way about that verse.
I believe it’s referring specifically to the Sgt. Pepper’s sessions which the “fake band” (Lonely Hearts Club Band) is the play that’s being staged and George didn’t really want to participate much on the album except for on his track “Within You Without You”…
Sour milk sea needed a great attempt with a strong vocal and needed to be on white album. George didn’t get fair shake white album forward.
Who’s really played the bass for this song?
Well according to Giles Martin it was Lennon who played the bass and Paul played the organ.
But here, it’s Paul who played the bass and distorted bass while John played the organ.
You’re right – Paul did play bass, via overdubbing that is, and John was on the Hammond organ. Giles Martin was wrong and as I said, he wasn’t even born yet, so he wouldn’t have been privy to what went on.
I don’t disagree with anything you’ve said except that Giles wasn’t there so he couldn’t have known. Prior to Anthology and continuing through the various remasters all of the known original tapes were reviewed and digitized. Giles was involved in much of that effort. So while he wasn’t there when they were recorded he did have the opportunity to review the original recordings in minute detail. He had access to tape labels and production notes as well as being able to listen to every isolated track on state of the art equipment. So if he saw a note and/or listened to the isolated bass track(s) he might have uncovered evidence that indicated John was playing or singing. So I’m just saying that stating that Giles couldn’t possibly know the answer because he wasn’t there ignores the fact that he had access to everything written or recorded in the vault.
I will rephrase what I meant about Giles not being there – I was referring to when those sessions in 1968 took place.
Paul did play on his jazz bass and John lennon played on the bass VI which is more distorted a jazz bazz doesnt sound like that on its own
Actually, if you listen to Take 27, it’s evidently clear that Paul is on piano and John is on organ, so Ken Scott’s recollection was incorrect. John had no problem playing the Bass IV in guitar mode (just watch him playing it in the footage of “Dig It”), but he clearly didn’t like playing it in bass mode.
Does anyone know what amp and effects Eric used for the leads?
I heard they dirtied it up in the mix, to suit the Beatles sound. They probably used a flanger on it. You could use a phaser or chorus or flanger pedal might be able to emulate that sound through an amp.
Chris Thomas has said the wobbly effect, added during the mixing, was ADT and that he waggled the oscillator speed manually. Clapton has said the amp was a Marshall. This YouTube video by Chris Buck documents these quotes.
Isn’t there an alternate Clapton (solo and-) take on the big white album box, absent the tape effect? Might be interesting to compare….
To be honest, I’ve always hated this recording and always skip it. The organ and the wobbling lead guitar just grate on my ears. It was when I heard the demo version on Anthology 3 that I realized it wasn’t the song, but the recording. The song itself is beautiful and it makes me a little angry that George screwed it up so badly.
I’m so glad to hear you say that Mike P. I‘ve felt that way for years about this recording and never understood why it was so universally praised. It’s nice to know I’m not alone. For me the enjoyable part of the song has always ended with the dramatic intro and Paul’s great piano riff. The moment Clapton‘s guitar shrieks in it’s time to skip ahead to Happiness is a Warm Gun. Like you, my opinion of the song changed when I heard the Anthology 3 demo version by Harrison. It has a beauty and a power that is missing in the poorly produced and arranged White Album recording. I’ve also seen the song performed live a number of times by various artists including Beatles tribute bands and Harrison and Clapton themselves. It always impresses. But the shrill tone of the album version, particularly when the high-end vocals mesh with the organ, is incredibly difficult to listen to and your use of the word “grate” is quite appropriate.