Within You Without You
From Beatles Wiki - Interviews, Music, Beatles Quotes
| "Within You Without You" | ||
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| Song by The Beatles | ||
| Album | Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band | |
| Released | 1 June 1967 | |
| Recorded | 15 March 1967 22 March 1967 |
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| Genre | Raga Rock | |
| Length | 5:05 | |
| Label | Parlophone, Capitol, EMI | |
| Writer | George Harrison | |
| Producer | George Martin | |
| Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band track listing | ||
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Side one
Side two
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| “ | There are so many people who don't understand the sentiment of 'Within You Without You.' They can't see outside themselves, they're too self-important and can't see how small we all are. 'Within You Without You' was just my way of trying to make a Western pop song using some of those instruments and some of those sounds. | „ |
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—George Harrison |
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| “ | I think that this is George's best song, one of my favorites. I like the arrangement, the sound and the words. He is clear on that song. You can hear his mind is clear and his music is clear. It's his innate talent that comes through on that song. George is responsible for Indian music getting over here. That song is a good example. | „ |
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—John Lennon |
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| “ | George has done a great indian one. We came along one night and he had about 400 indian fellas playing, and it was a great swinging event, as they say. | „ |
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—John Lennon, 1967 |
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| “ | Klaus (Voorman) had a harmonium in his house, which I hadn't played before. I was doodling on it, playing to amuse myself, when 'Within You' started to come. The tune came first, and then I got the first sentence. It came out of what we'd been doing that evening. | „ |
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—George Harrison |
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| “ | I'm writing more songs now that we're not touring. The words are always a bit of a hangup for me. I'm not very poetic. 'Within You Without You' was written after dinner one night at Klaus Voorman's house. He had a harmonium, which I hadn't played before. I was doodling on it when the tune started to come. The first sentence came out of what we'd been doing that evening... 'We were talking.' That's as far as I got that night. I finished the rest of the words later at home. | „ |
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—George Harrison, 1967 |
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| “ | There are some Indian musicians who worked on Sgt. Pepperwho still haven't been paid simply because George doesn't know their names. | „ |
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—George Martin |
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| “ | My job was to add Western strings to the song — that is, to find classically trained European fiddle players (frequently of Jewish stock) and get them to mimic their Indian counterparts. This intrigued me no end. I couldn't wait to see the titanic clash of cultures in the studio! When it came to it, the European string players min gled well with the Indian players, but musically the Europeans were sliding around all over the place. This was especially true in the second, or middle section of 'Within You Without You,' where the tabla changes rhythm from a 4/4 to a much more Indian-feeling 5/4 tempo; here, too, the song gets quite fast and tricky. We had a lot of fun getting that right. | „ |
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—George Martin, Summer of Love, 1994 |
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| “ | George, as usual, set joss sticks smouldering in the corners. He looked a bit like the Lone Ranger with his Indian friends. Although the other Beatles were there, they stuck around for the fun of it. None of them played or sang a note. In order to get them to play what he wanted, George would simply sing to the Indian musicians, or occasionally pick a few notes on the sitar. | „ |
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—George Martin, Summer of Love, 1994 |
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Have a listen:
