"Within You Without You" By The Beatles Video Showcase

"Within You Without You" is a song written by George Harrison and recorded with a group of Indian musicians, without any input from his fellow Beatles.

It was the second of Harrison's songs to be explicitly influenced by Indian classical music, after "Love You To", and was Harrison's only lyrical contribution to make the album.

It was released in 1967 on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the last song to be completed for the album. The song was also included on the 2006 remix album Love. For this album, George Harrison's lyrics and melody were mixed over the rhythm of Tomorrow Never Knows.

The blending of these two similar songs is considered the most effective form of mashup on the album. All of the music for Love was remixed and remastered by the Beatles producer Sir George Martin and his son Giles.

Harrison wrote this as a 30-minute piece. He trimmed it down into a mini-version for the album. The laughter at the end was Harrison's idea to lighten the mood and follow the theme of the album. Sped up to C#, an instrumental version at the original speed and key appears on the Anthology 2 album.

"Within You Without You" was written on a harmonium at the house of long-time Beatles friend, Klaus Voormann, while "there were lots of joints being smoked". Harrison sought out Indian musicians to aid him in the track's recording, although all of them went uncredited. Of those who were credited, producer George Martin arranged the string section, charging £33, and Harrison and assistant Neil Aspinall played the tambura.

Read the Wikipedia article about Within You Without You...

Photo author: robsoncassimiro from flickr.com