Here Comes the Sun
| "Here Comes the Sun" | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song by The Beatles | ||||||
| from the album Abbey Road | ||||||
| Released | 26 September 1969 | |||||
| Recorded | 7 July-19 August 1969 | |||||
| Genre | Folk rock, progressive rock | |||||
| Length | 3:05 | |||||
| Label | Apple Records | |||||
| Songwriter(s) | George Harrison | |||||
| Producer(s) | George Martin | |||||
| Abbey Road track listing | ||||||
| ||||||
"Here Comes the Sun" is a song by George Harrison from The Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road.
Origin
Harrison stated in The Beatles Anthology:
"Here Comes the Sun" was written at the time when Apple was getting like school, where we had to go and be businessmen: 'Sign this' and 'sign that'. Anyway, it seems as if winter in England goes on forever, by the time spring comes you really deserve it. So one day I decided I was going to sag off Apple and I went over to Eric Clapton's house. The relief of not having to go see all those dopey accountants was wonderful, and I walked around the garden with one of Eric's acoustic guitars and wrote "Here Comes the Sun".[1]
Recording
Harrison, McCartney and Starr recorded the song in 13 takes on July 7, 1969. John Lennon did not contribute to the song as he was recovering from a car crash.[2] Towards the end of the session, Harrison spent an hour re-recording his acoustic guitar part. Harrison capoed his guitar on the 7th fret, resulting the final key of A major. He also used the same technique on his 1965 song "If I Needed Someone," which shares a similar melodic pattern. The following day he taped his lead vocals, and he and McCartney recorded their backing vocals twice to give a fuller sound.
A harmonium and handclaps were added on July 16. Harrison's guitar solo was overdubbed on 6 August, and the orchestral parts were added on 15 August. "Here Comes the Sun" was completed four days later with the addition of Harrison's Moog synthesizer part.[3]
Personnel
- George Harrison – vocal, backing vocal, acoustic guitar, Moog synthesizer, handclaps
- Paul McCartney – backing vocal, bass, handclaps
- Ringo Starr – drums, handclaps
- Uncredited – four violas, four cellos, double bass, two piccolos, two flutes, two alto flutes, two clarinets
- Personnel per Ian MacDonald[2]
Notes
- ↑ The Beatles 2000, p. 339.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 MacDonald 2005, p. 356.
- ↑ The Beatles Bible 2008.
Other websites
- The Beatles (2000). The Beatles Anthology. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. ISBN 0-8118-3636-3.
- "Here Comes the Sun". The Beatles Bible. 2008. Retrieved 26 October 2008.
- "Here Comes the Sun". Fretbase.com. 2010. Retrieved 7 January 2010.
- MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (Second Revised ed.). London: Pimlico (Rand). ISBN 1-844-13828-3.
- Sagan, Carl; Drake, Frank D.; Lomberg, Jon; Sagan, Linda Salzman; Druyan, Ann; Ferris, Timothy (1978). Murmurs of Earth: The Voyager Interstellar Record. New York: Random House. ISBN 0-394-41047-5.