Something (Harrison)
Something was the first Beatles A-side written by George and is the second most covered Beatles song after Yesterday.
Quotes
“Something was written on the piano. I had a break while Paul was doing some overdubbing so I went into an empty studio and began to write. That’s really all there is to it, except the middle took some time to sort out!” – George Harrison, from I Me Mine
“I didn’t (write it about Pattie); I just wrote it, and then somebody put together a video. And what they did was they went out and got some footage of me and Pattie, Paul and Linda, Ringo and Maureen, it was at that time, and John and Yoko and they just made up a little video to go with it. So then, everybody presumed I wrote it about Pattie, but actually, when I wrote it, I was thinking of Ray Charles.” – George Harrison
“If George, either consciously or unconsciously, took a line from one of my songs then I find it very flattering. All music is borrowed from other music. It’s certainly not an unusual thing to happen.” – James Taylor, on similarities between his ‘Something In The Way She Moves’ and George’s ‘Something’
“My personal favorite is the version by James Brown. It was one of his B sides. I have it on my jukebox at home. It’s absolutely brilliant.” – George Harrison, on his favorite of the many cover versions of Something
Personnel
- George Harrison – lead vocal, lead guitar, rhythm guitar
- John Lennon – piano
- Paul McCartney – bass guitar, backing vocal
- Ringo Starr – drums
- Billy Preston – Hammond organ
Release history
- Something/Come Together (single) (1969)
- Abbey Road (1969)
- 1967-1970 (1973)
- Love Songs (1977)
- The Beatles Ballads – 20 Original Tracks (1980)
- Anthology 3 (1996) [demo]
- 1 (2000)
- Love (2006) [LOVE mix]
- Anthology Highlights (2011) [demo]
- Abbey Road Anniversary Edition (2019) [2019 mix]
- Abbey Road Anniversary Edition (2019) [demo]
- Abbey Road Anniversary Edition (2019) [take 39 instrumental – strings only]
Chart performance
- #1, November 29, 1969 (1 week), Billboard (US)
Notable covers
- Frank Sinatra (from Sinatra And Company, 1971)
- Johnny Mathis (from Raindrops Keep Falling)
- Ray Stevens (from Everything Is Beautiful, 1970)
- Engelbert Humperdink (from We Made It Happen, 1970)
