While My Guitar Gently Weeps
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Song by The Beatles | ||
| from the album The Beatles | ||
| Released | 22 November 1968 | |
| Recorded | 25 July 1968 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 4:44 | |
| Label | Apple Records | |
| Writer(s) | George Harrison | |
| Producer(s) | George Martin | |
| The Beatles track listing | ||
| The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill (6 of disc 1) |
"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" (7 of disc 1) |
Happiness is a Warm Gun (8 of disc 1) |
"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is a rock song by The Beatles from the double album The Beatles (also known as The White Album).
It was written by George Harrison, who originally composed it with a solo acoustic guitar and an organ; an early longer version can be heard on the Anthology 3 album. Eric Clapton played lead guitar on the album version of the song with a Gibson Les Paul guitar. On The Concert for Bangladesh, he performed it with a Gibson Byrdland guitar, and later admitted that a solid-body guitar would've been more appropriate.[1]
The song was later covered by various groups and artists, such as Clapton, Jeff Healey (in 1990, on his Hell to Pay album), Peter Frampton, Marc Ribot and Spineshank, among others. Joe Jackson and Todd Rundgren (2005) collaborated on a cover version featuring the classical string quartet Ethel (video); this was performed on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.
In 2004 George Harrison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. "While my Guitar Gently Weeps" was played in tribute by fellow inductee Prince, along with Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, and Dhani Harrison (video).
The song is ranked #135 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
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[edit] Composition and recording
According to Harrison, inspiration for the song arrived from reading the I Ching, which, as he put it, "seemed to me to be based on the Eastern concept that everything is relative to everything else, as opposed to the Western view that things are merely coincidental."
Taking this idea of relativitism to his parents' home in North England, Harrison committed to write a song based on the first words he saw upon opening a random book. Those first words were "gently weeps", and he immediately began the song. The initial incarnation was not final, as Harrison would state, "Some of the words to the song were changed before I finally recorded it."
The composition was met with little to no interest by the other Beatles. Let down and yet undaunted, Harrison invited his friend Eric Clapton to join him during a day's recording session. Despite Clapton's doubts ("Nobody ever plays on The Beatles' records"), Harrison convinced him otherwise. The inclusion of Clapton allowed for two things: a moment's relief amidst the inner turmoil the band was experiencing and a chance for Harrison to free himself of lead guitar, playing only rhythm and vocal.
Some concerns are given whether or not the famous solo in "Gently Weeps" is actually Clapton, as rumors report that the solo was re-cut and that Clapton's solo was not the one that was pressed. Contrary to this is a quote by Harrison, which offers:
"So Eric played that, and I thought it was really good. Then we listened to it back, and he said, 'Ah, there's a problem though; it's not Beatley enough.' So we put it through the ADT [automatic double-track] to wobble it up a bit."
A popular belief and "clue" to the infamous Paul is Dead hoax is that in the end of the song during the Clapton solo, Harrison starts crying out a moan similar to "Paul, oh Paul, oh Paul. Kiubofibo"
On July 14, 1992, George Harrison and Eric Clapton performed a live version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" in Japan. This live version also has background vocals. During this song, the background singers unmistakably sing "Touch my bum" during key parts of the song.
The acoustic version on the 2006 Cirque du Soleil album Love, features an extra verse in its entirety, and a new string score by George Martin.
[edit] Concert for George
On November 29, 2002 Paul McCartney, Jeff Lynne and Eric Clapton performed "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" at the Concert for George in memory of George Harrison, who passed away a year earlier after a long battle with cancer.
[edit] Covered By
- Vinnie Moore, on his album Time Odyssey, made an instrumental version of it, playing the voice melody with his guitar.
- Blue Taxi, on the album Ridin' Shotgun.
- Peter Frampton, on the album Now.
- Russ Freeman, on the album (I got no kick against) Modern jazz.
- The Jeff Healey Band, on the album Hell To Pay.
- Kenny Lattimore, on the album From the Soul of a Man.
- Phish, on the albums Live Phish Volume 8, Live Phish Volume 13.
- Kenny Rankin, on the album The Kenny Rankin Album.
- The Rippingtons, on the album Brave New World (Rippingtons album).
- Dave Specter, on the album Is What It Is.
- Spineshank, on the album Strictly Diesel.
- Joe Louis Walker, on the album The blues White album.
- Floyd from The Muppets, on the album The Muppet Show Music Album
- Jake Shimabukuro, on the album Gently Weeps
- Toto, on the album Through The Looking Glass.Kiubofibo
- Powderfinger, live
- Eric Roche, on the album Spin
- ДДТ, live album Город без окон
[edit] References
- ^ The Concert for Bangladesh Revisited with George Harrison and Friends, DVD, 2005.
