 |
| Beathoven |
| Studying the Beatles |
The Harrisong
Songs
Home
Mail
(c) Ian Hammond 1999
All rights reserved
Our hero has given up songwriting again and writes only at friend's houses when he had nothing better to do, as had been the case with Don't Bother Me. That was a song which he said "did, however, provide me with an occupation".
Despite his apathy, Harrison's quietly acquired tenure in his 'occupation': it was no longer possible to sell an album as a true Beatles album without having his material present. No longer an optional extra, he had become essential to the fabric.
1967 is George Harrison's Year Of The Organ: Within You Without You was written on organ at Klaus Voorman's house. Harrison plays organ on Only A Northern Song. He wrote Blue Jay Way on organ, and plays organ on the track. He plays organ on It's All Too Much. Organ was intimately involved in all four tracks for the year and his instrument of choice on three of them.
Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
When pushed for Pepper material, George produced Only A Northern Song, an anti-song song which Martin rejected, forcing Harrison to write his epic Within You Without You.
Within You Without You
It was Harrison who wanted to ensure that people did not take him too seriously by adding the little snigger at the end of the song. This is a Beatle track that has grown in stature over the years. A delicate balance is struck between his Laconica Morosa (without you) and his love of God (within you). What now emerges from the cocoon is Gentle George, one of evolution's lovelier biological life forms.
Harrison's Indian ensemble no longer needs strengthening with rock instruments. Martin's taut strings toughen up the texture although the original unadorned Anthology instrumental version makes good listening. I can see George's motley group of Indian musicians on the carpets he had spread at Abbey Road, and smell the sticks of incense. No wonder he complained about the glaring crassness of the studio's plain white neon lights.
Harrison's miracle was that when he released this track, he had already convinced millions of us listen to classical Indian music. Ravi Shankar was now the opening act at Rock Festivals. When did something equivalent happen in pop music in previous generations?
The vocal of the first verse works particularly well. The instrumental section, executed in fast 5/8, is a clever reworking of the verse, twice over, with a free-form return. The section is exceptionally intricate.
Looking back, it becomes apparent that Harrison's study of Indian music enhanced his skills in a number of ways. Improvements in manual dexterity, melody and rhythm are the most visible improvements. Less tangible is his facility for devising more complex structures within the framework of the pop song forms. This track and Love You To lead to It's All Too Much, Not Guilty and the songs of All Things Must Pass -- many of them songs that the Beatles may have found too complex to perform.
The track was written at Klaus Voorman's house on organ. Five minutes of music -- the longest Beatle song until his own It's All Too Much. The introduction alone takes 30 seconds. Placed on the Words Most Popular Album Of All Time, Within You Without You was and remains more culturally radical and more influential than Revolution 9.
Magical Mystery Tour
Along with his respective 25% of Flying, Harrison contributed one new song to Magical Mystery Tour (as did Lennon).
Blue Jay Way
Written on harmonium at a rented house in Blue Jay Way in Los Angeles, Blue Jay Way is a remarkable fusion of George's Indian and rock styles. The one-chord song becomes the one-root song as Harrison plays C diminished, C major, C six and C major seven, along with the tritone f# over the root. Harrison's love affair with the diminished chord goes public right here.
Blue Jay Way is the track that makes the most sophisticated use of backwards techniques. The music paints the picture of fog filled streets. I have always felt this was one the best tracks produced by Peppertime in terms of sonic qualities.
George's evocative foggy organ opening leads to three verse/chorus pairs, which grow in intensity, reaching a peak with the first of three incomplete outro refrains where the refrain is bathed in high harmony and genuine passion. Two truncated choruses with a modified tune close the piece.
The form of the song is an interesting case of Beatlesque development in the coda. The refrain begins life as a full-blown western chorus, but is transformed, in two stages, to more of a chant or mantra. Here's the form in shorthand:
| I VC VC VC' C' C' C'' C'' |
Blue Jay Way
has a very complex internal structure. It seems that the
band track consisted only of Harrison and Starr on organ
and drums. The bass part is almost indetectable. The
Beatles were clearly able to visualise the dubbing
process many steps in advance, leading to these sparse
band tracks.
Let's visualise the recording session. Harrison most
plays held chords, only pushing every second beat in the
chorus. George would almost certainly have sung a guide
vocal. McCartney's part is very quiet and not very
informative. Thus, the band track would have come close
to an extended solo for Starr who would have taken his
cues from the Harrison's guide vocal. But, for the main
part Starr would have visualised the song.
Listen in particular to the fills in the verses, and the
verse returns, which feature backwards instruments and
voices. The drums begin with an almost Amerindian
pattern. From the first chorus on the drums are phased
and also grow in complexity.
Harrison's lyric and voice are just right for the track.
The song tells the story of someone impatient for his
friends to show up, but the setting makes it an allegory
for something more spiritual. The lyric is ultra trippy:
| They'll be over
soon they said Now they've lost themselves instead |
Harrison's L.A. fog
represents the loopy space inhabited many heads in 1967.
His opening primordal organ part paints the fog. The
climax of the song acts as a "clearing" of the
fog, as does the sudden close. Very evocative tone
painting.
It would have been a good fit for Pepper. The repetition
of the words "be long" reminds me of Lennon's
word play in It Won't Be Long.
The song matchs Fool On The Hill and I
Am The Walrus on Magical Mystery Tour
and points to some of George's music on Wonderwall.
The use of backwards and electronic effects returns in
his updated version of Only A Northern Song.
The next article deals with Only A Northern Song
and It's All Too Much and closes with a
summary of his 1967 activities.