"WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS"

(George Harrison)

When The Beatles' "White Album" was first released in November of 1968, any George Harrison compositions that would be included were destined to be considered by most as secondary in stature among the offerings of Lennon and McCartney. George's compositions through 1966 were held in minimal regard by producer George Martin and the rest of the band in the recording studio, thereby receiving less attention than they so rightfully deserved. Harrison's songwriting output for 1967 and early 1968 consisted of five songs, only three of which were released at that point, these having their emphasis mostly on Indian instrumentation. Sadly, it was probably this period that John Lennon had in mind when he said: "There was an embarrassing period where his songs were not that good and nobody wanted to say anything, but we all worked on them."

This all changed for the final year-and-a-half of The Beatles' career, although no one really expected it. In the first few months after the “White Album” was released, most attention seemed to be given to Paul's “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” as the stand out track of the new LP. In fact, when the needle landed on George's composition “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” three songs afterward, most probably thought of it as yet another impressive Lennon / McCartney offering (as did my young ears). However, after some years went by, the public at large began to gain appreciation for this unexpected gem from George, no doubt helped along by its appearance as the b-side to the “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” single in many countries. By 1973, it gained enough notoriety to be one of only three “White Album” tracks that appeared on their official compilation album “The Beatles/1967-1970” (aka, the “Blue Album”).

As the decades have passed, praise for the song has grown to almost legendary status. Rolling Stone Magazine's “The Beatles 100 Greatest Songs” special edition listed “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” as #10. Mick Jagger stated: “It's lovely, plaintive. Only a guitar player could write that. I love that song.” David Quantick, in his 2002 book titled “Revolution, The Making Of The Beatles' White Album” stated: “Harrison had never sounded so confident on record before, nor had he attemped such a powerful and emotive song. In creating 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps,' George also inadvertently invented '70s rock.” Testimony to the truth of this last statement is the fact that the song became an absolute mainstay on all classic rock radio stations.

In Paul's 2021 Hulu series "McCartney 3,2,1," he related his surprise about George's development as a songwriter, especially regarding "Whiile My Guitar Gently Weeps." "From the little guy I met on the bus, a little guy with that quiff in his hair, a little guitar player, he became a very wise man. When I use the word 'magical,' that's what I mean. That didn't have to happen. We could have had five years and then gone back to the facory...no groups were supposed to last more than five years...he became one of the greats!"

George himself humbly admitted: “I knew the song was pretty good.”

Songwriting History

As quoted in the book accompanying the "Super Deluxe" 50th Annivery edition of the "White Album," George himself has stated that the song was written "at my mother's home in Warrington in the north of England - the spiritual home of George Formby!" This bungalow, that was named "Sevenoaks," was located in the village of Appleton Thorn, Warrenton, and was bought by George Harrison in 1965 for his parents to live in after his Beatles' fame took root, making living in Liverpool intolerable. He apparently visited them shortly after his return from India with The Beatles and, during this visit in either April or May, 1968, he had written the majority of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."

It is known that, while The Beatles were in India, fellow visitor Donovan taught John Lennon a particular finger-picking style of guitar playing that was used in songs such as “Dear Prudence” and “Julia.” It appears that Harrison picked up on this new style also, as evidenced in his early attempt in July of 1968 at recording an acoustic version of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”

As to the lyrics of the song, Harrison explained: "I had a copy of the 'I Ching, The Book Of Changes.' In the West we think of coincidence as something that just happens - it just happens that I am sitting here and that the wind is blowing my hair, and so on. But the Eastern concept is whatever happens is all meant to be, and that there is no such thing as coincidence, every little item that is going down has a purpose....That idea was in my head when I visited my parents' home in the North of England. So, I decided to write a song based on the first thing I saw upon opening any book – as it would be 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. Some of the words to the song were changed before I finally recorded it." As quoted in the above mentioned "White Album" book, George elaborated on this further: "'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' was just a simple study based on a theory that everything has some purpose for being there at that given moment...So I open this book and I saw 'gently weeps.' I shut the book and then I started the tune."

In an attempt to identify the book George randomly took off of the shelf on that day, the Rolling Stone Magazine “The Beatles 100 Greatest Songs” explained: “Its source might have been Coates Kinney's much-anthologized 1849 poem entitled 'Rain On The Roof,' which includes the lines 'And the melancholy darkness / Gently weeps in rainy tears.'”

The lyrics were pretty much in place as of May 28th, 1968, when Harrison recorded his first demo of the song at his home in Esher, Surrey. However, this composition still went through multiple lyrical changes thereafter. Right then, the third line of the first verse was “Problems you sow are the troubles you're reaping,” George dropping this shortly afterwards. The final verse was also different, this being “I look at the trouble and hate that is raging...As I'm sitting here doing nothing but aging." Harrison's original lyric sheet displays various other lyrical differences as well. It appears here that the title of the song could very easily have been "Whilst My Guitar Gently Weeps," and he originally ended the first bridge with the words "I don't know how someone controlled you, how they blindfolded you." The second verse began with "I look at the sky and I notice it's clouding," while a further lyric in this verse was "I'm wondering why your cigars keep on burning." The final verse was originally conceived to be "I look at the powers around everywhere...I think of the wars of the world that are raging."

By June 25th, 1968, the acoustic rendition George recorded at EMI Studios changed the lyrics in the first verse to what we all are familiar with in the released "White Album" version, which is “I look at the floor and I see it needs sweeping,” Harrison expressing the same sentiments as before but with a less preachy tone. The opening lyric of the final verse changed here as well, this becoming “I look from the wings at the play you are staging,” also lightening the accusatory bent of the composer's message somewhat. In his October 1969 BBC interview, George reiterated this metaphor: "All I am doing is acting out the part of Beatle George and we are all acting out our parts. Y'know, the world is a stage and the people are the players. Shakespeare said that...and he's right."

However, these lyrics were even further refined during the EMI recording session that produced the released version, his lead vocals being recorded on September 6th, 1968. At this point George decided to drop the final verse altogether, replacing it with a variation of a repeated first verse. This means that the writing of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” stretches all the way from either April or May (at George's parent's house in Warrington) to September of 1968 (at EMI Studios).

Not that this was unusual for George Harrison. During a 1965 interview with reporter Larry Kane, he spoke candidly about his compositional technique. “My main problem is trying to write lyrics...I'll leave it for about five weeks, then I'll suddenly remember. Then I'll add a bit more to it, so it will probably take me about three months before I will complete one song. I'm so lazy it's ridiculous.”

All in all, it appears that the lyrics George was going for were expressing his disillusion at the state of world affairs in contrast to his recent assimilation of Eastern spiritual beliefs. While unconditional love is inherently inside each one of us, so he believed, when George viewed mankind, it was apparent to him that this love was “sleeping,” or was dormant and left unexpressed. “Nobody told you how to unfold your love,” Harrison explained, thus revealing mankind's state of affairs as being “controlled” by others, or “bought and sold” so to speak. The common man had become “diverted,” “perverted” and “inverted” too, mankind not being “alerted” to our dire condition by anyone who was spiritually qualified to do so.

The most revealing line of the whole song, one that even the most casual of listeners could easily catch, was “With every mistake we must surely be learning.” With the political turmoil apparent at the time, this sarcastic but poignant phrase stands out as unmistakable testimony to the plight of mankind's existence.

Recording History

On May 28th, 1968, The Beatles met up at Harrison's "Kinfauns" home in Esher, Surry, as detailed above, to record demos of songs they all had recently written in preparation for recording their next album. After he sat back and allowed John to record a large body of his recently written songs, the homeowner finally got the opportunity to preview some of his, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" being the first one of his recorded that day on the Ampex 4-track recording unit they were using.

This demo version was only two-and-a-half minutes long and was performed at a faster tempo than what became the finished product much later in the year. George double-tracked himself on acoustic guitar as well as vocals while someone, probably Paul, played an organ during both bridges and at the conclusion of the song, this conclusion differing quite a bit from the finished version. Despite the slight differences in the lyrics detailed above, you can hear Paul exclaim “Cool!” after the demo ended as if to suggest he was impressed with George's new song. This demo, as contained on 50th Anniversary editions of the "White Album" released in 2018, omits the tracks containing Paul's contributions.

The Beatles entered EMI Studios on May 30th, 1968, to begin the process of recording what eventually became the “White Album,” but it was not until July 25th, 1968, that George got the opportunity to start working on one of his songs. “I always had to do about ten of Paul and John's songs before they'd give me the break,” George has been quoted as saying. After his patiently cooperating through a multitude of his cohorts latest compositions, including the extensive working and reworking of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” George decided to premier “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” as the first of five songs he wanted to contribute to their album. (One of these, “Not Guilty,” while being fully recorded, was dropped at the last minute.)

The group entered EMI Studio Two on July 25th, 1968 sometime after 7 pm to work on the song. It appears that George and Paul were the first to arrive on this day, which prompted them to lay down a couple attempts of the song acoustically, just George on acoustic guitar and vocals with Paul playing a harmonium. "Take one" was a beautiful rendition performed primarily by George, Paul joining in on the final bridge and verse as he was getting acquainted with the chord changes and arrangement. At the end of this take, Harrison called up to the control room "Let's hear that back!" Then, the tape began rolling again as they went through the song yet another time with McCartney playing throughout the song, this unannounced second take not being discovered until 2018 in preperation for the 50th Anniversary releases of the "White Album." Midway through this second take, George stops and instructs the engineering staff, "Yeah, maybe you'll have to give him his own mic" before continuing the song through to completion with Paul fumbling somewhat at times on harmonium. 

While most writers consider "take one" as recorded on this day as just another demo of the song, the professionalism displayed here could very easily indicate that this beautiful version may have been considered the 'keeper,' not unlike Paul's acoustic solo performance of “Blackbird” that was already in the can by this time, not to mention John's song “Julia” which was also featured on their album in a similar acoustic state. However, this was not the case with "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," "take 1" not being released to the general public until 1996 on the “Anthology 3” compilation album.

Hindsight leads many to believe that the song would have worked perfectly on the “White Album” in this state, but even back then many thought this was the case. Engineer Brian Gibson recalled: "The song changed considerably by the time they had finished with it. They completed the song on eight-track tape (at a later date) and this gave them immediate temptation to put more and more stuff on. I personally think it was best left uncluttered."

However, George must have thought the song required a group arrangement on this day, so they all rehearsed several takes of this song, all of these committed to tape and taken away by George for him to listen to at home to help him decide what to do next. This extended the session to 3:15 am the following morning.

Interestingly, George needed to excercise yet more patience before his band would finally devote more studio time to “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” The next song on the agenda was Paul's “Hey Jude,” which they continued to work on until the second week of August. George then decided to postpone work on “Gently Weeps,” opting to introduce another of his compositions, the ill-fated “Not Guilty,” on August 7th, 1968.

A full three weeks after they first worked on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” the group turned their attention to this again on August 16th, 1968. The Beatles entered EMI Studio Two sometime after 7 pm for recording a full group version of the song, Harrison deciding during the past three weeks that the acoustic version he previously recorded wasn't what he had envisioned for the song after all. Sadly, that that time, this beautiful acoustic rendition was considered as yet another demo recording of the song.

They recorded fourteen takes of the instrumental rhythm track which featured Paul on bass (track one), George on guitar (track two), John on organ (track three) and Ringo on drums (track four). "I like the way it suddenly changes into a song," the composer said during these takes, indicating that Harrison was becoming pleased with the full band arrangement. "Take 14" was deemed the best and, since it filled up the four-track tape, it required a remix to open up more tracks for future overdubs. They decided to combine the drums and bass onto track one of the new tape, while the organ and guitar were mixed together onto track two, Harrison's guitar being treated with a process referred to as "flanging" in the process. This now became "take 15," the tape now slowed down to 42 ½ cycles per second to extend it from 3:53 to 4:53.

A note of interest is that while the recording sheet indicated the usual George Martin as producer of this session, one of the tape boxes were clearly marked: “The Beatles; Produced by The Beatles.” Technical engineer Brian Gibson recalled: “The 'White Album' was a period when George Martin was starting to relinquish control over The Beatles. There were a number of occasions, such as on holidays and when he had other recording commitments, when he just wasn't available for their sessions and they would just get on and produce it themselves. George Martin certainly wasn't around for quite a considerable period of time, although they would always fall back on him for scoring and arranging things.” In any event, the recording studio finally cleared out around 5 am the following morning, George Harrison flying out a little later that day to the Greek island of Corfu for a short break.

Another two-and-a-half weeks passed before the band focused their attention on George's song again, September 3rd, 1968 being that day. Since The Beatles had recently recorded Lennon's song “Dear Prudence” at London's Trident Studios utilizing the facility's eight-track recording equipment, which they didn't think EMI possessed, they wished to record at their familiar EMI Studios but with those same accommodations. But, low and behold, The Beatles discovered that EMI did indeed have, not one, but two eight-track machines on the premises, although they weren't ready for use yet. These 3M models were held up in Francis Thompson's office and were being inspected and readied for eventual installation.

Technical engineer Dave Harries recalled: “The studios were never allowed to use any equipment until Francis (Thompson) had said that it was up to standard, which was great, fine, but when you have four innovative lads from Liverpool who all want to make better recordings, and they've got a smell of the machine, matters can take a different course. The Beatles must have been getting on to (engineer) Ken Scott about it 'cause Ken (Townshend) called me and suggested that we get (one of the machines) out of Francis (Thompson)'s office and take it along to (EMI Studio Two)...I very nearly got the sack over that." Engineer Ken Townshend added: "The eight-track machines were not suitable at that stage for pop recordings. The Beatles had become reliant on the use of Automatic Double Tracking and phasing, so before the 3M machines could be pressed into service, extensive modifications, particularly to the head block, were then designed and implemented by Francis Thompson at the studios.”

Testimony for implementing an eight-track machine into use before it was ready was given by engineer Mike Sheady. “Unless the tape operator remembered to mute the output from the machine when you spooled back and wanted to hear the tape traveling past the heads, it would send the spooling noise straight into the Beatles' (headphones), almost blasting their heads off. They got very uptight about that, understandably, because it can be very disconcerting.”

This session in EMI Studio Two got under way at their usual 7 pm, or thereabouts, the first line of business being transferring their previous recording of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” over from the four-track machine to the newly installed eight-track machine. This meant that, because only tracks one and two were filled on the previous four-track tape of "take 15," there were now six available tracks for overdubbing, tracks three through eight. With Ringo still absent from the group (see “Back In The U.S.S.R.” for the details), George Harrison was the only Beatle working on the song on this day, possibly being the only member of the group present. In fact, George Martin wasn't even there, the producer's chair being empty for the day.

Onto this new eight-track tape, which was now referred to as "take 16," Harrison overdubbed his lead vocals for the song and then double-tracked them. Afterward, onto track five, George attempted a very concise guitar overdub. This is explained by Brian Gibson: “George particularly wanted to get the sound of a crying guitar but he didn't want to use a wah-wah (or tone) pedal, so he was experimenting with a backwards guitar solo. This meant a whole lot of time-consuming shuttling back and forth from the studio to the control room. We spent a long night trying to get it to work but in the end the whole thing was scrapped.” George, recalling the backward guitar effect that worked so well on their 1966 song “I'm Only Sleeping,” thought this would work well to spruce up “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” After a tape copy of the rhythm track for “Revolution” was created for use in their promo film to be shot the following day, the session ended at 3:30 am.

In the 2000 book “Beatles Anthology,” Harrison described the mood of these sessions along with the events that led up to the following recording session. “We tried to record it, but Paul and John were so used to just cranking out their tunes that it was difficult at times to get serious and record one of mine. It wasn't happening. They were not taking it seriously, so I went home that night thinking, 'Well, that is a shame,' because I knew the song was pretty good.”

Their next recording session, the first with the returning Ringo, was in EMI Studio Two on September 5th, 1968. To welcome Ringo back into the fold, his drums, as well as the recording studio itself, were all completely decked out with flowers. Beginning at 7 pm or so, they worked at adding yet more overdubs to “Gently Weeps.” George added two separate lead vocal parts and also a new lead guitar track, while Ringo added maracas and a new drum track, all of this filling only six of the tape's eight tracks.

Because the band now had eight tracks at their disposal, instead of four, their tendency was to keep adding more overdubs than they needed, thereby overproducing the recording until it all sounded somewhat muddy. Technical engineer Brian Gibson described an occurrence with a particular Beatles song, which may very easily have been this track: “There was one song, I can't remember the title, in which they had added so many instruments that you just couldn't hear the drums any more. So they then overdubbed Ringo playing a chair, a red plastic Abbey Road chair, slapping the drum sticks upon the cushion making a thwack to emphasize the snare beat, because they'd buried it”

In any event, the song at this point was described by Mark Lewisohn in his book “The Beatles Recording Sessions” to be “quite different from the released version, with less prominent Harrison vocals and the backwards guitar and organ parts to the fore.” George Harrison had listened to a playback of the song at this point and didn't like what he heard, deciding to scrap the whole thing and start fresh. I am sure that most Beatles fans would love to hear this version one day, since it has never surfaced on any bootlegs or official releases.

In an understandably frustrated mood, Harrison took the group through 28 more takes of the song in his attempt to start from scratch. At some point during the recording of this re-remake, however, a special guest entered the studio. George had explained what transpired on his trip to EMI Studios on that day. “I was driving into London with Eric Clapton, and I asked him, 'What are you doing today? Why don't you come to the studio and play guitar on this song for me?' He said, 'Oh, no – I can't do that. Nobody has 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.'”

Eric Clapton, who had recently made known his decision to dissolve his popular band Cream and was then gearing up for their farewell tour in the Autumn of that year, was, in fact, giving George a lift to EMI Studios in London from Surrey, where they both lived. They had known each other since the days when Eric Clapton was a member of The Yardbirds and had even shared the bill with The Beatles during their series of Christmas shows in late 1964 and early 1965. Eric Clapton apparently dropped Harrison off and reluctantly agreed to arrive sometime later to lend a hand in recording George's new song. “So he came in," George later explained. "I said, 'Eric's going to play on this one,' and it was good because that then made everyone act better...It's interesting to see how nicely people behave when you bring a guest in, because they don't really want everybody to know that they're so bitchy...Paul got on the piano and played a nice intro and they all took it more seriously...Also it left me free to just play the rhythm and do the vocal...It was a similar situation when Billy Preston came later to play keys on 'Let It Be' and everybody was arguing. Just bringing a stranger in amongst us made everybody cool out."

In this quote, George explains a more personal reason why he wanted Eric Clapton to perform on this song: "I admired him as a guitar player and I had no confidence in myself as a guitarist, having spent so many years with McCartney. He ruined me as a guitarist. I rated Eric as a guitar player and he treated me like a human...I had been through this sitar thing. I had played the sitar for three years, and I had just listened to classical Indian music and practiced sitar, except for when we played dates, studio dates, and then I'd get the guitar out and just play, you know, learn a part and play for the record. But I had really lost a lot of interest in the guitar." In Paul's 2021 Hulu series "McCartney 3,2,1," he explained that Eric Clapton was an "on the scene" musician and then stated his personal feelings about George bringing him into the session for this song. "It was very generous to give Eric this moment when he could have had it for himself...George was very like that. He was very open."

Before Eric Clapton arrived, however, Harrison began leading his bandmates through this fresh new recording of "While My Guitar Genly Weeps." He announces the first take as “Take one!” when this one would actually amount to "take 17." He then told Paul: "You, me and Ringo just for the intro chords. Everybody or whoever's left, and Eric, comes in on the other bit." The following 28 takes, numbered 17 through 45, consisted of Ringo on drums (track one), John on guitar (track two), Paul alternating between piano and Hammond RT-3 organ (track three) and George on acoustic guitar and lead vocals with Paul on harmony vocals (track four). Then, when Eric Clapton arrived, he took over Lennon's place on track two with lead guitar. Eric Clapton played with The Beatles on the majority of these takes, leaving four open tracks on the eight-track tape for later overdubs.

Technical engineer Brian Gibson described Eric Clapton's work in the studio on this day by stating that he "behaved just like any session musician; very quiet, just got on and played. That was it, no theatrics involved. I do remember Eric telling George that Cream's approach for recording was to rehearse, rehearse, rehearse and spending very little time in the studio itself, whereas The Beatles' approach seemed to be to record, record, record, and then eventually getting the right one. The sessions were their rehearsals."

"Take 25" was deemed to be the best, although "take 27" was included on the Super Deluxe edition of the 'White Album' 50th Anniversary releases. It begins with Harrison's food order, "I'll just have cheese and lettuce and marmite sandwich and coffee," and then George moves right into his countdown for this take. During the second bridge, it becomes clear that this would not be acceptable for the completed version. Just after George tries and fails at something vocally, Eric Clapton plays the wrong chord, which prompted Paul to call out, "Hold it Harry!" After Eric Clapton apologized for his mistake, George then stated, "It's ok. I sang, eh, tried to do a Smokey and I just aren't Smokey," Lennon stating in the background, "Amen!" George attempted a falsetto melisma that was typical of Smokey Robinson, one of his favorite singers, which he just couldn't master.

Another interesting footnote concerning this session is "take 40," which broke into an impromptu jam including Paul singing parts of both “Lady Madonna” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” The Beatles were compiling a tape entitled “Beatles Chat” which preserved bits and pieces that they thought would be worthy of keeping for posterity, this take of the song now being included. Also rehearsed between takes was a new Paul song entitled "Let It Be," which included McCartney substituting the lyric "Mother Mary" with "Mother Malcolm," this being undoubtedly in reference to Beatles assistant Mal Evans who was present. This impromptu version is interupted by Harrison who instructed engineer Ken Scott, "Ok, roll it, Ken, roll it - Make a note of this one 'cause this is the one." He then prompts his guest guitarist with the words, "Cans on, Eric!"

“So Eric (Clapton) played that and I thought it was really good," George explained. "Then we listened to it back and Eric said, 'Ah, there is a problem, though; it is not Beatley enough.' So we put it through the ADT (Artificial Double Tracking) to wobble it up a bit.” This wobbling effect was done at the mixing stage, which wasn't until October 14th, 1968. Nevertheless, by 3:45 the next day (this now being September 6th, 1968), this monumental recording session by The Beatles with guest guitarist Eric Clapton, this session again being producer-less, was finally complete.

Most fans assumed it was George playing guitar on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" when they heard the "White Album." Harrison remembered, "Some people wrote letters to me that said, 'You have got a really good blues feel in the way that you play that guitar.' We did not publicize Eric (Clapton)'s playing really but we also did not try and conceal it. Eric is a good friend of mine and I really liked him as a guitarist and as a guy...We used to hang out such a lot at that period and Eric gave me a fantastic Les Paul Guitar, which is the one he plays on that date. So, it worked out well." This was the classic red 1957 Gibson Les Paul that Eric had named "Lucy."

The Beatles returned to add more overdubs onto the song the following day, September 6th, 1968, in EMI Studio Two at approximately 7 pm. This was also a producer-less session, George Martin about to go on vacation and leaving younger recruit Chris Thomas in charge of production. The remaining tracks of the tape were filled with George double-tracking his lead vocal as well as performing a few very high pitched organ notes, Ringo on tambourine as well as a stick tapping beat, a lead guitar part played presumably by Paul in the song's bridges and, surprisingly, John on bass. "Very aggressive sound, isn't it," Paul remarked during his 2021 Hulu series "McCartney 3,2,1," undoubtedly forgetting it was John on bass and not him. "When I hear that tone on it, I say 'Wow,'" he remarked. This overdub session, which ended at around 2 am the next morning, completed "While My Guitar Gently Weeps."

On October 7th, 1968, stereo and mono mixes of the song were made in the control room of EMI Studio Two by the engineering team of George Martin, Ken Scott and Mike Sheady. Neither of these mixes, however, made it onto the released album because it was felt they could be improved upon.

October 14th, 1968, was the day chosen to improve upon these mixes by George Martin, Ken Scott and John Smith in the EMI Studio Two control room. This is when, upon Eric Clapton's request, ADT was applied to his lead guitar work, as well as the organ, to make it more 'Beatley,' this being done by a quite interesting method. Producer Chris Thomas explained: “I was given the grand job of waggling the oscillator on the 'Gently Weeps' mixes. Apparently Eric insisted to George (Harrison) that he didn't want the guitar solo so typically Clapton, so we did this flanging thing, really wobbling the oscillator in the mix. I did that for hours. What a boring job!”

There are subtle differences between the mono and stereo mixes of the song. The mono mix is a few seconds longer than the stereo and has Eric Clapton's guitar playing staying at a higher volume after his solo break. Additionally, the feature of George yelling “yeah, yeah, yeah...” during the song's final moments are only heard in the stereo mix.

Sometime between 2004 and 2006, George Martin and son Giles Martin used the master tapes of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” for two separate tracks on the compilation album “Love.” First, Eric Clapton's guitar appears in the mash-up track “Lady Madonna.” Second, George Martin created a beautiful orchestral score for George's gorgeous acoustic rendition of the song he had recorded as “take one” back on July 25th, 1968. This was George Martin's final piece of work for The Beatles, this being 36 years after the break up of the band. George Harrison's widow Olivia went on record to say how impressed she was with the producer's string arrangement on this piece. "He was really sympathetic to the music. He really understood what George was trying to say in that song."

Giles Martin returned to the master tapes sometime in 2018 to create a vibrant new stereo mix of the song for the 50th Anniversary editions of the "White Album." While at it, he also created a stereo mix of the original Esher demo George made in May of 1968, a stereo mix of the newly discovered "take two" as recorded on July 25th, 1968, and a stereo mix of "take 27" featuring an alternate lead guitar from Eric Clapton.

After the Beatles' break-up, George recorded and released three live renditions of this song, the first recorded on August 1st, 1971 at their afternoon program of “The Concert For Bangladesh,” which began at 2:30 pm. This rendition featured three musicians that performed on the original version, namely George, Eric Clapton and also Ringo. The second recorded and released version of the song was on June 5th, 1987, at the Prince's Trust Rock Gala in London that featured George, Eric, Ringo, Elton John, Jeff Lynne and a host of other celebrity musicians, this released in various countries (but not the US) on the album “The Prince's Trust Concert 1987.” The third recorded and released rendition of the song was performed in December of 1991 during George's short-lived Japanese tour and featured on his album “Live In Japan.” This version featured George and Eric as well.

Interestingly, as a tribute to Harrison after his untimely death, a live rendition of the song was recorded at the Royal Albert Hall in London on November 29th, 2002 at “The Concert For George,” this being released on audio and video shortly thereafter. The musicians that were involved with this rendition include three from the original recording: Paul on piano, Ringo on drums and Eric Clapton on lead guitar and vocals, with the addition of Jeff Lynne, Dhani Harrison, Jim Keltner and Billy Preston.

Song Structure and Style

The song's structure is somewhat standard fare for The Beatles, it being 'verse/ bridge/ verse/ verse (solo)/ bridge/ verse' (or abaaba) with an introduction and conclusion thrown in, both of which consist of the identical chord pattern heard in the verses.

The intro is eight measures in length, which is equivalent to half the length of each verse. This introduction consists of Harrison on acoustic rhythm guitar, Ringo displaying a scaled down drum pattern alternating two kick drum beats with a single hi-hat flare per measure, Lennon performing a single bass note per measure for the first seven measures (adding a bit more in the eighth measure) and, strikingly, Paul playing a lead piano part without any chords, a single key at a time. The eighth measure adds Eric Clapton's first lead guitar fill, this acting as a suitable segue into the opening verse that follows directly afterwards.

The opening verse, which is sixteen measures in length, continues with the identical instrumentation for the first eight measures, along with some added elements. These include Harrison's double-tracked lead vocals and Eric Clapton improvising his electric rhythm guitar pattern throughout, ending with a nice guitar fill in the seventh and eighth measures. Paul plays a full-chord piano part as performed during the rhythm track, although this is quite low in the mix. Ringo chimes in on the eighth measure with his first drum fill in anticipation of his full drum beat pattern as heard in the rest of the verse.

The second half of the opening verse changes things up a bit, Ringo adding his stick tapping pattern on top of his drum beat from the rhythm track while Paul adds in some nice backing harmonies in the ninth through twelfth measures. John plays dual notes on his bass during the thirteenth through sixteenth measures, with Eric Clapton adding another tasty guitar lick in the final two measures to go along with Ringo's drum fill.

The first sixteen-measure bridge comes next, consisting of Harrison on double-tracked lead vocals, acoustic guitar strumming and high pitched organ playing. Lennon performs an interesting bass part that McCartney (presumably) double-tracks on a lead guitar, performing the exact same part while his piano from the rhythm track is heard quietly in the background. Ringo plays a steady drum beat and adds nice drum fills in the eighth and sixteenth measures. Eric Clapton meanders around with a suitable electric rhythm guitar performance while accenting the lyric-less spaces with guitar fills.

The second verse is next to be heard which contains quite similar instrumentation to the second half of the first verse, meaning it includes Paul's harmony vocals and Ringo's stick tapping pattern. Lennon's bass has now evolved into bass chord-like playing which adds a nice full dirty sound to the song. Eric Clapton's final guitar phrase of this verse is actually the beginning of his landmark guitar solo for the following instrumental verse. Other than Eric Clapton's lead guitar, the full instrumentation found in this sixteen-measure verse consists of acoustic guitar and organ by Harrison, bass and piano by Paul, bass by John, and drums and stick tapping by Ringo, along with Ringo's tambourine which comes in quietly in the tenth measure and increases in volume as the measures progress.

The second bridge is then heard which is similar to the first bridge instrumentally, with the addition of Ringo's tambourine hits that, during the first half, accent the fourth beat of most measures and, in the second half, accent the second beat in most cases. Did Ringo get mixed up? If George Martin had been there that day, this probably would have been set right.

The last verse is then heard which is mostly similar to the second verse but, since George leaves a gap in the vocals in the tenth through twelfth measures, Ringo's tambourine appears to fill in this gap. Paul then sings harmony with George on the final vocal line of the song, which is “Still my guitar gently wee-eee-eeeps,” the tambourine blazing back as the final word is ringing out.

This wanders directly into the song's faded conclusion, this approximately stretching to the length of two verses, or 32 measures in length. While Eric Clapton flails away with his appropriately melodic closing guitar solo, the remainder of the instrumentation is firing on all cylinders to great effect, Harrison's double-tracked vocalizing “awe”s and “yeah”s being heard as the song slowly lessens in volume. Ringo's tambourine keeps disappearing and reappearing throughout these measures as if his arm was getting tired, but this just adds to the highly infectious spontaneous atmosphere of the recording. Also of note is Paul's organ glissando in the eighth measure of this conclusion, adding to the feeling of general camaraderie in the studio on this day.

The recording shows that The Beatles did stop being “bitchy” in Eric Clapton's presence, putting in for some very spirited performances to enliven the track in order for it to meet its true potential. It appears that George finally got what he wanted, with everyone giving their all to present the song as they did.  

American Releases

The group's double-album titled "The Beatles," aka the "White Album," was released in America on November 25th, 1968, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" being included on side one. As it turned out, the four sides of the album each contained one George Harrison composition, which balanced out quite nicely. The first compact disc release of the album set was on August 24th, 1987, the album then being re-released on CD for a 30th Anniversary limited edition release on November 23rd, 1998. The remastered CD came out on September 9th, 2009, while the first mono vinyl release of the album in the US was on September 9th, 2014. A vibrant new stereo mix of the album was then released on vinyl on November 9th, 2018.

Enough attention was being heaped upon this song that, by 1973, it was deemed worthy to be included within the official compilation album “The Beatles/1967-1970,” aka the “Blue Album.” This double-album was released on April 2nd, 1973, first making it onto CD on October 5th, 1993, and then as a remastered CD on October 19th, 2010 and remastered vinyl on October 31st, 2014.

A surprising release of this track was on November 8th, 1976, this being on the LP entitled "The Best Of George Harrison." While the other Beatles had individual 'best of' packages released around this time, George's was the only one that included group material alongside selections from his solo career. This Capitol album was certified gold and was released on CD in 1987.

An interesting American vinyl edition of the “White Album” was released on January 7th, 1982 that was manufactured by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab located in Chatsworth, California as part of their "Original Master Recording" series. They made a new master utilizing half-speed mastering technology from the original master tapes, in this case by using the leased sub-master from Capitol Records. This 1982 release, which sounded far superior to previous UK and US pressings, was packaged within a non-embossed unnumbered cover that did not include the usual poster/lyric sheet or individual Beatles portraits as contained in standard releases. This nonetheless excellent edition of the album was only available for a short time and is quite collectible today.

“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” may not have been initially released as a single in the US like it was in many other countries (as the b-side of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"), but it did eventually appear as an American single on January 24th, 1996. As a part of the Capitol Cema series “For Jukeboxes Only,” with “Blackbird” as the b-side, this single was printed on blue vinyl. Most interestingly, the beginning of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" on this single release has a faded-up intro, not unlike what is heard on "Eight Days A Week." The beginning of the first measure was missing entirely while the song comes to full volume during the fourth measure. It can be assumed that the engineer who prepared this release was making sure he did not inadvertently include Lennon's "Eh-up!" heard in the closing second of the previous "White Album" track "The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill."

Later that same year, or on October 28th, 1996, the compilation album “Anthology 3” was released which included the splendid acoustic rendition of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” that was recorded on July 25th, 1968. Also released around this time was the Anthology 3 “CD Sampler” which was distributed to radio stations as a promotional tool for the compilation album. This song was viewed as enough of a highlight on the general release that it warranted inclusion on the sampler as well.

On November 20th, 2006, the song appeared on two different tracks of the Grammy Award winning LP “Beatles Love.” As mentioned above, Eric Clapton's guitar solo can be heard on the track “Lady Madonna” and, with new orchestration from George Martin, the July 25th, 1968 acoustic recording from Harrison gets the attention it rightfully should. It even earned inclusion on the “Love 4 Track Sampler” that radio stations received around this time.

On September 9th, 2009, the group's entire mono catalog was released within the CD box set “The Beatles In Mono,” which included the rare mono mix of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” that had not been available in the US until then. The vinyl edition of this box set was released on September 9th, 2014.

On November 9th, 2018, multiple editions of the "White Album" were released to commemorate the album's 50th Anniversary that featured interesting versions of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." The "Deluxe" edition, which was made available in a 3CD set and as a limited edition 180-gram 4LP vinyl set, contains the newly created Giles Martin mix of the "White Album" as well as the complete set of Esher demos that The Beatles recorded in late May of 1968. The "Super Deluxe" 6CD + 1Blu-ray edition also contains the newly discovered "take two" of the song as performed acoustically by George and Paul on July 25th, 1968, as well as "take 27" from their September 6th, 1968 session with an alternate Eric Clapton performance.

A 50th Anniversay edition of the compilation set "The Beatles / 1967 - 1970" ("The Blue Album") was released on November 10th, 2023, the current Giles Martin stereo mix of the song included here. This newly expanded set included 12 added songs for a total of 38 tracks, and was made available as a double comapct disc set and also as a triple vinyl set on either black and blue vinyl.

On November 21st, 2025, "Anthology 4" was released on both CD and vinyl, this album also being made available within the "Anthology Collection" box set on CD and on vinyl. "Take 27" of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" as they recorded at EMI Studio Two on September 5th, 1968, as detailed above, was also included on this new release as it had been in the "White Album" "Super Deluxe" edition.

As for the solo releases of this song, “The Concert For Bangladesh,” the triple LP live set performed by “George Harrison And Friends” was released on December 20th, 1971 in the US. As mentioned above, the show-stopping live rendition of “Gently Weeps” is included therein, with George, Ringo and Eric Clapton playing their respective parts for a highly appreciative crowd at Madison Square Garden in New York. This album was first released on CD on July 30th, 1991, and then as a remastered set on October 24th, 2005.

Also, Harrison's “Live In Japan” came out in America on July 14th, 1992, which included “Gently Weeps” as performed with Eric Clapton. A remastered CD of this album was released sometime in 2004.

On November 7th, 2003, "Concert For George" was released, this album set containing a stunning all-star performance of music in George Harrison's honor at the Royal Albert Hall in London. As mentioned above, the performance of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" contained here included Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton and Dhani Harrison among various other musical luminaries.

Live Performances

Since "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" had later become such an iconic George Harrison composition, it became a given that he would probably perform the song whenever he would take a concert stage somewhere. This trend started on August 1st, 1971 with two live performances of "The Concert For Bangladesh" at New York's Madison Square Garden. Both benefit shows, at 2:30 and 8 pm respectively, had been organized by George and Ravi Shankar for raising funds and public awareness for the refugees from East Pakistan following the Bangladesh Liberation War related genocide. As detailed above, George, Ringo, Eric Clapton, Billy Preston and many others worked at recreating on stage the Beatles "White Album" classic.

In November of 1974, George began a 45 date tour of North America in promotion of his soon-to-be-released LP “Dark Horse.” The group included Billy Preston, Tom Scott, Andy Newmark and Jim Horn among many others, the two-and-a-half hour shows also featuring Ravi Shankar and his friends performing traditional and contemporary Indian music. There were a few Beatles songs performed during this tour, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” being one of them.

Since this tour got its share of criticism from reviewers and fans alike, George shied away from live performances for quite a long time, only periodically returning to the stage. His appearance at the Prince's Trust Rock Gala in London on June 5, 1987 was a big surprise, his performance of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” being almost expected but very well received. Harrison's tour of Japan was equally surprising, this stretching from December 1st through 17th, 1991, “Gently Weeps” being part of his extensive set list. Then on April 6th, 1992, George performed a benefit concert at the Royal Albert Hall in London for the Natural Law Party, this version of “Gently Weeps” including Ringo Starr on drums.

Surprisingly, Paul performed a rendition of the song with Eric Clapton on June 3rd, 2002 in London at the "Party At The Palace" event during the "Golden Jubilee Of Queen Elizabeth II," the Queen herself being in attendance. And, as stated previously, the “Concert For George” also featured the song, performed by a star studded group including Eric Clapton, Paul, Ringo, Billy Preston and Jeff Lynne among others. This concert was on November 7th, 2003 at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Conclusion

Throughout most of his career as a Beatle, George Harrison downplayed the compositions he offered up to the group, his opinion being his songwriting skills weren't of the caliber of his bandmates, but felt he could make a go at contributing something perfunctory to hone his skills. He dismissed early works, such as "Don't Bother Me," "I Need You" and "You Like Me Too Much," rather unfairly, his assessments coming across as overly critical at times.

As time went on, however, his enlightened outlook on life, courtesy of his study of Eastern spirituality, culture and music, couldn't help but reveal itself in his writing. His later songs, such as “Within You Without You” and “The Inner Light,” were viewed higher by their writer, him proud to explain their inspiration in interviews. But when “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” came about, he knew he had something quite special here and worked painstakingly with the other Beatles at getting the recording on par with how he envisioned it. Thereafter, George was proud enough to feature the song on stage whenever the opportunity presented itself. He even reprised it on his 1975 LP “Extra Texture” with a song called “This Guitar (Can't Keep From Crying).”

Beatle enthusiasts around the world had been impressed with George's songwriting skills throughout the early '60s. But as of late 1968, it appears that he finally had written something that actually impressed himself. And indeed it should have. As stated above, even Paul, when discussing Harrison's song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" in the 2021 Hulu program "McCartney 3,2,1," had to acknowledge regarding its writer, "He became one of the greats!"

Song Summary

“While My Guitar Gently Weeps”

Written by: George Harrison

• Song Written: April - September. 1968
• Song Recorded: September 5 and 6, 1968
• First US Release Date: November 25, 1968
• First US Album Release: Apple #SWBO-101 “The Beatles”
• US Single Release: Capital Cema #S7-18892
• Highest Chart Position: n/a
• British Album Release: Apple #PCS 7067-7068 “The Beatles”
• Length: 4:46 (stereo)  4:49 (mono)
• Key: A minor
• Producer: The Beatles (no producer present for the recording of the released version of the song)
• Engineers: Ken Scott, John Smith

Instrumentation (most likely):

• George Harrison - Lead Vocals, Rhythm / Lead Guitar (1968 Gibson J-200), Organ (Hammond RT-3)
• Paul McCartney - Piano (Hamburg Steinway Baby Grand), Organ (Hammond RT-3), Lead Guitar? (1964 Fender Esquire?), harmony vocals
• John Lennon - Bass (1961 Fender VI)
• Ringo Starr - Drums (1964 Ludwig Super Classic Black Oyster Pearl), tambourine, sticks
• Eric Clapton - Lead Guitar (1957 Gibson Les Paul)

Written and compiled by Dave Rybaczewski

"Clarity" by Dave Rybs

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