Full disclosure, David Bedford & friends: while I know that it may be politic to say that I love all of the chapters in the book equally (like our kids, right?), I have to say that the combination of the outstanding song and the wonderful back story of the song to follow are absolutely my favorites. I hope you enjoy it. Tim Hatfield
From
by Tim Hatfield
[Search amazon.com for “Tim Hatfield Beatles,” then download the free App to read on your device]
“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” from The White Album
George Harrison had written songs previously for the Beatles, but the Lennon/McCartney duo continued to dominate. After the residence in the Maharishi’s Rishikesh ashram in 1968, however, George wrote a song and fought to have it included in The White Album. It was worth fighting for.
While My Guitar Gently Weeps
George was more and more interested in Eastern music and philosophy, and when the group returned to England he decided to do a song based on the Chinese Book of Changes, the I Ching. Harrison described it in some detail in the Beatles’ Anthology:
The Eastern concept is that whatever happens is all meant to be, and that there’s no such thing as coincidence – every little item that’s going down has a purpose.
“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” was a simple study based on that theory. I decided to write a song based on the first thing I saw upon opening any book – as it would be a relative to that moment, at that time. I picked up a book at random, opened it, saw “gently weeps,” then laid the book down again and started the song.
A simple acoustic version was recorded by George at his country home – one of the several so-called “Esher demos”—when he invited all the Beatles to do some pre-rehearsals of songs before they went to the studio in the summer of 1968 to record The White Album. But when the song, which George knew was a good one, kept getting ignored, he took matters into his own hands. Again, in Harrison’s own words from Anthology:
We tried to record it, but John and Paul were so used to just cranking out their tunes that it was very difficult at times to get serious and record one of mine. It wasn’t happening. They weren’t taking it seriously and I don’t think they were even all playing on it, and so I went home that night thinking, “Well, that’s a shame,” because I knew the song was pretty good.
Eric Clapton
The next day I was driving into London with Eric Clapton, and I said, “What are you doing today? Why don’t you come to the studio and play on this song for me?” He said, “Oh, no I can’t do that. Nobody’s ever played on a Beatles record and the others wouldn’t like it.” I said, “Look, it’s my song and I’d like you to play on it.”
So he came in. I said, “Eric’s going to play on this one, and it was good because that then made everyone act better. Paul got on the piano and played a nice intro and they all took it more seriously.“
They did. Multiple takes later, the song was completed, and it has had a life of its own long past the demise of the Beatles as a group. The Cirque du Soleil Love show has featured it as a dreamy, slow tempo pas de deux:
And the remembrance for George Harrison at a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony by an all-star band including Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne, Steve Winwood, and George’s son Dhani (who won’t be difficult to identify) is astounding. Most notably, at the end of the song my fellow Minnesotan Prince plays an unbelievable solo – he absolutely goes off, and symbolically throws his guitar up to George in heaven at the end of his performance:
Regardless of what kind of difficulty or time of trouble you are experiencing at this moment, I hope that there is no weeping for you today.
