While My Guitar Gently Weeps: Introduction

“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” is a Beatles’ song on their 1969 “White Album.” This is George Harrison at his best—his song together with his guitar playing!

In Detail

Publisher: Harrisongs
Recorded: July 25; August 16; September 3, 5 & 7, 1968
Released: November 22, 1968 (UK), November 25, 1968 (US)
Studio: EMI Studios, London
Genre: Hard rock, blues, rock
Track Duration: 4:46
Record Label: Apple
Songwriter: George Harrison
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Ken Scott

Performers And Instruments

White Album Version:

George Harrison: double-tracked vocals, backing vocals, acoustic guitar, and also the Hammond organ
John Lennon: electric guitar with tremolo
Paul McCartney: harmony vocal, piano; also the bass guitar
Ringo Starr: drums, tambourine; also the castanets
Eric Clapton: lead guitar

Anthology 3 Version:

George Harrison: vocals, acoustic guitar; also the harmonium

White Album Anniversary Edition:

George Harrison: vocals; also the acoustic guitar
Paul McCartney: organ

Esher** Demo:

George Harrison: vocals; also acoustic guitar

**To clarify, this was George Harrison’s home in Surrey, UK, Kinfauns (May 1968).

Where To Find “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”

You can still buy this song because it is on a famous album. If you need the original version, you should get the 1968 White Album because the others may only be demos or a mash-up. Before you splash your cash, click on an image to see what other songs it contains.

Beatles Discord

Clearly, The Beatles were not seeing eye to eye following their return from studying Transcendental Meditation in India in early 1968. However, the individual band members continued to work together for two more years. This is despite them moving in different directions.

Although the White Album is arguably the best Beatles’ album ever, there was much disharmony within the band. This discord is noticeable in this offering by George Harrison.

It is obviously Harrison’s best effort for the famous album. But there was a loss of interest from the band members in Harrison’s song. The lack of camaraderie shows even further when George Harrison brought in his friend, Eric Clapton, to help with the recording.

“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.

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.”
George Harrison
Anthology

While My Guitar Gently Weeps: Background

As well as wondering why humankind is not embracing universal love, the song vaguely attempts to highlight the divide within The Beatles at the time. However, it was also an act of randomness with inspiration from the Chinese I Ching.

“I wrote While My Guitar Gently Weeps at my mother’s house in Warrington. I was thinking about the Chinese I Ching, the Book of Changes. 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.”
George Harrison
Anthology

Since 1965, George Harrison spent a lot of time with the sitar and incorporated the instrument in a number of songs. For example, one of the first Beatles’ songs to feature the sitar was “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown).” In short, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” gave Harrison a chance to concentrate on the guitar once again.

Recording Studio

On July 25, 1968, George Harrison recorded a solo effort of the song at the EMI Studios in London. Harrison used his Gibson J-200 acoustic guitar with a harmonium overdub, and this version appears on the “Anthology 3” album.

The double album, simply called “The Beatles,” was going to be epic, and deep down, they knew it. After all, this was going to be two LPs brimming with music from the best band ever! So, even though the band members were not getting along as well as they should, they eventually got around to completing this track on August 16 and made 14 takes.

George Harrison spent his time alone on the recording on September 3, adding a backwards guitar solo. You can hear this backmasking technique on “I’m Only Sleeping,” of course.

Not happy with the results of previous recordings, George Harrison decided to abandon them and start again from scratch. At this stage, he still believed that other band members were being apathetic towards the song. However, on September 5, the band members, including Eric Clapton, recorded another 28 takes of the basic track.

This session also saw Ringo Starr return to the fold after walking out on the band previously because of the bad atmosphere. Finally, George Harrison was happy with the results and continued by singing the lead vocal and overdubbing the next day.

As we can see, there are also other versions of this song. But what do you think about it?

Take A Listen To “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”

Are you ready for this piece of magic from George Harrison? Brace yourself, because it will blow you away. Once you hear it, take some time to reflect on it and leave some comments below.