“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” is one of the most memorable and poignant works of The Beatles. This song was created in 1968, at a time when the preconditions for the band’s breakup were already in place. But the contradictions in the quartet that eventually led to the band’s demise did not have a negative impact on Harrison. On the contrary, he devoted more and more time to his art and became more and more popular.
Why are we talking about this particular member of the band? It’s because this song was written entirely by George Harrison. And the majority of the Liverpool Four fans thought that all the songs belonged to McCartney and Lennon. And the band members themselves underestimated the compositional ability of George.
In addition, he had no advisor in the team. Lennon and McCartney competed with each other, but still supported each other when faced with difficulties. The two also perfected writing together.
Harrison, on the other hand, always stayed on the sidelines, creating something that didn’t fit in with The Beatles’ usual creativity, mostly because of his “eastern hobbies”.
How the hit about the gently weeping guitar was created
Harrison began writing the music for the future “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” while in India. And the lyrics were written in England while George was visiting his parents’ home in Warrington, pondering the I-Tsing, the Book of Changes. This philosophical text asserts that everything that happens is destined to happen. That there are no coincidences. That everything always has a meaning.
The lyrics of the song “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” arose out of Harrison’s desire to test this judgement. The musician decided to create a work based on the first lines of a randomly opened book picked out of a shelf. That’s how the phrase “gently weeps” came to be the starting point of the text.
The difficulties of recording a future hit
When Harrison introduced his creation to the other members of the quartet, they took it with skepticism. The creator of the hit claims that such a reaction was due to the desire to promote only their work.
The work on the record was very hard. A lot of versions were recorded. Some were purely acoustic, others were more electric. But they weren’t good enough for the album. George Harrison wanted the song to be recorded in the acoustic version, but Paul McCartney opposed it. He said the song sounded “un-Beatlesque.
Some believe that McCartney, who had recorded several acoustic songs, was simply afraid that Harrison’s work would overshadow them.
There was also no guitar “wail” that was needed in this song. Harrison and Lennon took turns performing the solo part. But neither of them could achieve that very sound.