The Story Behind The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun”

Steve Jobs founder of Apple loved music and in some ways his direction at Apple helped save the music business with the iTunes Music Store but when it launched in 2003 there were some notable artists missing from the service for one the Beatles who Jobs adored what the Beatles when they were together they did truly brilliant innovative work and when they split up they did good work but it was it was never the same it wasn't until 2010 that the Beatles released their catalog to iTunes of all the big hits the band had over the decades their first best-selling song on the US iTunes charts wasn't previously a number one it was an on single the beloved and revered here comes the Sun and still nearly a decade after the Beatles made their songs available on iTunes and 50 years after the song itself was created here comes the Sun is keeping up with the times playing the top songs by the Beatles on Amazon music in this video we're taking a look at the story behind the classic George Harrison track on the Beatles Abbey Road here comes the Sun howl here comes the Sun was written is a beautiful little story and it starts in the backyard of George Harrison's neighbor in the first part of 1969 hurt would edge is the name of Eric Clapton's estate purchased in the late 60s for just thirty thousand pounds the estate was about a 30 minute drive from George and patty Harrison's home in Essure Clapton describes the grounds at hurt wood in his autobiography when I walked around the garden I was amazed to find five or six fully grown red woods there which I imagined must have been hundreds of years old and planted long before the place was built what I liked most about her wood was the solitariness in the piece it was here that Harrison wrote the song in the presence of the guitar god it was one of those beautiful spring mornings I think it was April and we were just walking around the garden with our guitars and the sun was shining and and it was a beautiful morning and we started to sing started just saying here comes the Sun I know the opening lines you know clapton continued the story in his book by saying George fleshed it out bit by bit until it was lunchtime Harrison told David wig later that year and it was just really nice sunny day and I picked up the guitar which was the first time I'd played the guitar for a couple of weeks because I've been so busy and the first thing that came out was that song they just came and I finished it later when I was on holiday in Sardinia there's more to the story though it wasn't just the peace and sunshine of that day that inspired George it was how this peace and sunshine came when there had been little of it in George's life first as for the weather the previous winter had been especially dreary even by English standards it's been a long cold lonely winter wasn't fiction beyond that George was in the middle of some personal battles he had recently had his tonsils taken out been arrested for drugs and learned his mother had terminal cancer and there was also business trouble as noted in my series on the Beatles rooftop gig George left the band a few months prior he returned but this didn't remotely resolve the business and creative turbulence within the group we are lucky we got here comes the Sun instead of something really dark it's like he wrote it to console himself when George sings it's alright we can believe that he means it I just writes a song and it just comes out however it wants to to me that just songs things that have to be cut out it a final note on the lyrics this part is practically universally known but at one point George thought of this bit as scooby-dooby as this undated handwritten lyrics sheet shows there's more - here comes the Sun than its lyrics though besides live performances all of what we know about the music of here comes the Sun comes from the master recording unlike many other Beatles compositions certainly ones of this era there are no demos or early takes of here comes the Sun currently available now that may change with future releases like say an Abbey Road box set I'm not gonna analyze the music theory of this song but in the description for this video I'll link to some excellent resources that really detail things like this video from Beatle scholar Aaron Kidd ovitch but the meter of here come the Sun is inconsistent this is but there are a few musical details that George Harrison brings our attention to first here comes the Sun is musically related to another of George's Beatles tunes I'm know where it Clapton when it comes to playing but check this out [Music] Harrison himself mentioned the similarities it's a bit like if I needed someone you know like that basic sort of riff going through it it's the same as all those bells of REM knees sort of bird type things and another glance at the lyric sheet shows that George was thinking of badge a song he co pinned with Clapton months prior can you hear the resemblance [Music] on to the studio here comes the Sun was completed over the course of six sessions at EMI ware studios one two and three were all used the first parts were recorded on the 7th of July 1969 take 13 the final take of the day was chosen as best and this became the backing track it's comprised of drums by birthday boy Ringo Starr Paul's effortless sounding bassline and George's work for the day a scratch vocal and an acoustic part with his gibson j-200 likely the one shown here a quick aside and back to the dicey business situation for the band author Peter Doggett writes that manager Allen Klein showed up at one of these first sessions for the song to discuss a tense contract situation thankfully this didn't disrupt the songs progress even author Mark Lewisohn points out that good-natured banter can be heard on the session tapes the next few studio dates would see new vocal and guitar takes and other additions including harmonium extra drumming and manually double-tracked vocals some of this stuff is buried in the mix and some of it is right up front unlike most harmonies on Beatles records this one is missing someone John Lennon he doesn't appear at all and ium eyes nose for the here comes the Sun sessions Lennon was recovering from a car accident on the 1st of July receiving 14 stitches and a 5 day stay in the hospital nevertheless some fans claim they hear John and the harmonies or they heard through the grapevine that he was there for the Handclap overdubs take that for whatever it's worth Alan Parsons tape operator for the session toda thir Andy Babb uke that someone else did join Paul George and Ringo for the handclaps but this was Glyn John's who quote dropped out because he kept screwing up [Music] the studio session on the 15th of August took place exactly one week after the Abbey Road cover photo was taken this session welcomed orchestral players for five of the Abbey Road album tracks including here comes the Sun [Music] now let's talk about some really fun stuff first there are two bits that weren't used on the final track Mark Lewisohn writes that there were tape loops considered for the song on August 5th at least for now we don't know what they sounded like but it's really interesting to imagine there's also the quote-unquote lost solo which was released as part of the 2011 Martin Scorsese documentary on George Harrison I won't play it here but I'll link to it in the description proceed with caution I listen to it once and it's hard to unhear this solo did not make the cut and in my opinion for a good reason it just doesn't fit the song but there is an electric guitar part in the mix that does blend right in neither recording sessions nor Chronicles mentions it but it's there and it sounds like it was played through a Leslie speaker in the epic book recording The Beatles the authors include this part on the 8-track tape also seen here is the presence of the Moog synthesiser a quick pronunciation note by the way from its inventor well there are three ways of pronouncing mo oh gee mo mogh Moog I just happen to like the sound of mogh better than Moog in November of 1968 George Harrison bought one of the earliest synthesizers available Amogh 3p now this was way before modern digital sets and as George Harrison said it was enormous with hundreds of jack plugs and two keyboards although the P and 3 P stood for portable this thing was unwieldy and as such occupied its own room at EMI studios room 43 John Lennon was interviewed by Tony MacArthur in September of 1969 and talked about the new album he mentioned George and the mode yeah George can work it a bit you know I mean it would take you only life to learn all the variations on it but George has got one George Harrison recorded his mug part on the 19th of August 1969 [Applause] [Music] an interesting note about the mogh from Eddie veal with whom I spoke in 2018 for my short film about the Beatles assured demos veal was a close associate of Bob Moog as well as Mike Vickers seen here with the Beatles and the instrument in room 43 during the sessions for here comes the Sun veal was called in by EMI studio staff to assist yeah I was looking after the synthesizers over here for Bob and I got a call from Abbey Road that there was a photon synthesizer on a session which I went and had a look at and it was one of the Jewish brought over from the states and that was the time I met George and I was actually a keyboard fault that I was so he'd lost it sustained so played a note on the keyboard took your finger off and it would glide down to the lowest note and that was Houston but that fort was actually used on here comes the Sun this is a story I've never read or heard about but Eddie he's a trustworthy source for some reason he's not quoted in many Beatles related books but remarkably he led the installations of the professional home studios for both George at for our Park and John Lennon at tinton Hurst [Music] accolades abound for here comes the Sun and perhaps the best come from inside the Beatles family for one producer George Martin called here comes the Sun in some ways one of the best songs ever written on Abbey Road the song begins side two if you haven't listened to this album on vinyl you really should it's a different experience after the intensity and weight of I want you she's so heavy at the end of side one you get to decide when to flip the record and virtually bask in the sunshine of here comes the Sun even without this dramatic effect though the song seems to perpetually speak to new generations in 2016 streaming service Spotify detailed how users listen to the Beatles here comes the Sun was the top Beatles track for listener 17 and younger in a close second for those between 18 and 24 here comes the Sun is uplifting its optimistic and these feelings come through in both word and tune even the recording is a masterpiece and that has connected with multiple generations spanning 50 years George Harrison wrote and enduring favorite and this isn't likely to change anytime soon hello hello it's Lance and before you go this is important because it's about my wife these videos take a long time to put together my wife has an awesome amount of patience as I leave everything together so I think it could go a long way if you would just say hey to her or maybe thank you in the comments if you enjoyed this video another way to show your appreciation for this channel what I'm up to is of course to subscribe to the channel or hit that like button for this video you can also see what I've got going on on patreon.com slash effect for Archivist alright that's it for this one see all that sound [Music] you

Channel: FabFourArchivist

Views: 1,174,868

Rating: 4.9252434 out of 5

Keywords: Beatles, Here Comes the Sun, Story Behind Here Comes the Sun, #HereComestheSun50, Abbey Road album, EMI studios, Room 43, George Harrison songwriting, Eddie Veale, Beatles bootlegs, #Beatles50th, the beatles, john lennon, paul mccartney, george harrison, ringo starr, fabfourarchivist, Mike Vickers, Bob Moog, Moog documentary, Beatles multitrack, Eric Clapton, Hurtwood Edge, Esher, Beatles video essays, The Beatles, Beatles Moog, Here Comes the Sun Meaning, #AbbeyRoad

Id: OB4Ofy5eVms

Length: 13min 3sec (783 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 10 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/fabfourarchivist]

New deep dive vid on "Here Comes the Sun" on my channel. Hope y'all enjoy.

I spent a ton of time researching this one, and it goes way beyond the "he wrote it at Clapton's" story many of us know. It made me appreciate the tune in a whole new way.

Don't miss a) the "Badge" comparison, and b) the section about the Moog part which was new info not previously covered anywhere (not in Recording Sessions, etc.).

Enjoy!

[u/tplgigo]

So a Moog technical problem and mistake was kept in the song. Interesting how mistakes in recording can give a song it's flavor.

[u/spicywookiee]

I love watching all of your videos man! Keep up the good work! I always look forward to watching your videos. Hope to see more!