Writer: Harrison
Recorded: April 16, May 2 and 5, July 11 and 16, August 15, 1969
Released: October 1, 1969
16 weeks; no. 3
About The Song
On February 25th, 1969, which happened to be his 26th birthday, George Harrison recorded three demos at EMI studios. He performed two takes each of “Old Brown Shoe,” which later became the B side of “Let It Be,” and “All Things Must Pass,” the title song of his 1970 solo album. He also made an attempt at a charming ballad that he had composed on the piano during a break in the White Album sessions in 1968: “Something.” Engineer Glyn Johns, who was responsible for recording the demos, shares, “George’s material wasn’t receiving much attention initially – to the extent that he asked me to stay behind after everyone else had left. He was incredibly polite, as if he was imposing on me. And then he plays this song that completely astonishes me.”
Harrison initially believed the song was so catchy that he must have heard it before: “I just put it on hold for six months because I thought, ‘That’s too easy!’” The opening lyric — “Something in the way she moves” — was a James Taylor song from his 1968 Apple Records debut. (Harrison had attended sessions for Taylor’s record and sang backup vocals on another song.) “In my mind,” Harrison said, “I heard Ray Charles singing ‘Something.’” Still, he didn’t necessarily think it was good enough for the Beatles.
He even handed the song over to Joe Cocker, who recorded it first. When Harrison finally presented “Something” to the other Beatles, they fell in love with it. John Lennon said “Something” was “the best track on the album.” Paul McCartney called it the best song Harrison has ever written.” “It took my breath away,” producer George Martin later said, “mainly because I never thought that George could do it. It was challenging for him because he didn’t have any springboard against which he could work, like the other two did. And so he was a loner.”
The other Beatles worked on “Something” for several months, editing, arranging, and re-recording it to perfection. In a reversal, Harrison became the musical director, instructing McCartney on how to play the bass line. “It was a first,” engineer Geoff Emerick said. “George had never dared to tell Paul what to do.” During the final session, Harrison shared the conductor’s podium with Martin during the string overdubs and re-cut his guitar solo, a brilliant blend of dirty-blues-like slide and soaring romanticism, performed live with the orchestra.
“Something” reached Number Three and eventually became the second-most-covered Beatles song, following “Yesterday.” Charles would, in fact, sing it on his 1971 album, Volcanic Action of My Soul. Frank Sinatra described it as “the greatest love song of the past 50 years” (although he often introduced it as a Lennon-McCartney composition).
Martin said of Harrison, “He was nervous about his songs because he knew he wasn’t the number-one songwriter in the group. He always had to try harder.” However, with “Something,” the guitarist proved himself to his peers and the world.