@@ROOTSMUSICHISTORY in the coffee I invited you, I pasted the best version of the song. It’s incredible the performers present in that concert for that song 👇🏻 ruclips.net/video/0y1m4s1rbK4/видео.htmlsi=r_-FbwMwcw-rLmUl
Although when I was young Paul was my favorite Beatle but after I started writing myself George became my favorite. I feel like his songs were so much deeper I also liked his personality best. Good job! 🎼🎸🎤🎼
Thanks for an insightful analyses of this great song. I learned a lot from it As a “Boomer” born in ‘54, I am absolutely locked in to the music of The Beatles.
As a teen in the 60's I experienced Beatlemania first hand. But this is the first time I have heard this song in such a deep light. I am going to play your podcast to my granddaughters who are Beatles fans. Thank you!
George didn’t audition for the Quarrymen at Rory Storm’s house. He interviewed on the empty top deck of a double decker bus. Both Paul and George have described this audition location in interviews.
Thank you for this. I to am in Nashville and am from Detroit and lived the 60’s and 70’s there, which I now realize was a special time. You do a great job here. Tks for that. 😉
🎸 I don't believe he is talking to an individual person in the song, I always had the impression he was speaking to humanity as a whole. George always had a big picture view of the world, he stepped back and observed. His observations became his music. George wanted to save the whole world. He was the first of the four to truly understand the value of humility which is what allowed his spiritual side to thrive. Enjoyed the video, thank you!
George often did both...spoke generally then focused in one person. The verses sound general but the I don't know how chorus he is talking to McCartney. Same with Ob-La-Di verse in Savoy Truffle... he starts song lecturing Clapton about sweets or drugs or women but he ends up pointing at McCartney that his happy songs may bev sweet now but the reality of being a commercial songwriting success will end badly.
@@melamineflorentine8134 Don't think George was lecturing Clapton but poking fun at his addiction to sweets. After all it was the box of Good News Choclates Clapton enjoyed at Geprges house that supplied the lyrics. Thanks though for mentionikng Ob-La-Di though. I never made that connection. i know the other three Beatles were bitter over the many takes on that song which none of them really cared for.
normally - when a songwriter writes a song - they are writing about something they have observed or experienced - or sometime just something they made up - but - they also write about their feelings and their inner struggles. As you stated, George was a couple of years into a journey of self-discovery and introspection. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" - strikes me more as a song that is introspective as if George is having a conversation with himself - about himself
George had more to say than you know if you listen carefully to his songs. In "While my guitar gently weeps", George is talking to Paul and John. "I don't know how you were diverted You were perverted too I don't know how you were inverted No-one alerted you" George is telling them that they have lost their way. This line is to tell John and Paul that George is no fool and knows they are laughing behind his back: " I look at the world and I notice it's turning" This is to tell them that he knows that they think he (George) is The Fool On The Hill. It is a direct reply to: " But the fool on the hill sees the sun going down And the eyes in his head see the world spinning 'round" Listen to what Paul and John think about George in Fool On The Hill: " Well on the way Head in a cloud The man of a thousand voices talking perfectly loud But nobody ever hears him, or the sound he appears to make And he never seems to notice" Translated: George is the quiet one, but when he talks, he wants to talk about his Far East religion. Indian religion is called the religion of one thousand Gods. "The man of one thousand voices talking perfectly loud. But nobody ever hears him or the sound he appears to make, and he never seems to notice." Paul and John are basically saying, "Nobody wants to listen to you talk about your religion, dude." George was treated as an outsider by Paul and John and that's why they didn't respect his song writing for more than one song per album. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" was George letting Paul and John know he's nobody's fool.
nicely thorough. even as i'm already a fan of the band and the song, you showed me more. it is my theory that patty boyd has more songs written about her than any other woman in history after mary, mother of jesus.
I think one or two of your early date lines are a little askew. I attended the institute and lived very close to Paul in Speke, where George also lived . I remember George coming at the end of term to practice with Paul thanks to our benevolent history teacher mr Edge. This was in 1956. It would have been nice if you had included the song in question in the video. However I enjoyed your story, well done.
Hello, young lady. This is my first visit to your channel. I am impressed and pleased with the way you interpret George's beautiful, soulful song. I have loved this song since it's release in 1968, when I was just eight years of age. All my life, I'd hoped to meet a woman who loved music and the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment, as I did. Alas, I'm an old man now, nearer the end than the beginning. Perhaps, if I've lived rightly in this life, I will be rewarded with such a partner in the next. But I have not always stayed on the path. Ah, but I digress. This beautiful song is, to me, more like a prayer. I am so glad you have found it. Namaste.
Hi Steppenwolf, 666, first time here as well, also same age, born 6-6-60, so you see have spiritual convictions to be positive about, lol. Because I am just now meeting the first lady of my life that makes me feel like no other...so young and youthful. I would like to say don't look to the next life when you may still have plenty of life left, and by the straying from the path is all in perfect sequence to "Being" in harmony with truth and love for it.
Thank you Roots for a beautiful and well-researched video of the Gorge Harrison’s “Best Rock & Roll Song.” Please keep performing your in-depth analysis and commentary.
The White Album is 4 separate artist contributing to a double album. This is not a “Beatles” song but a George Harrison composition on a Beatles album. Thank-you George. Oh yeah, it’s not “qwerrymen” but Quarry Men, like a place where stone is quarried.
Thanks! - recently discovered your channel and podcasts. This was a song I used to jam to with my friends. I thought about the music and the cord progression which was soloed over, and never realized the significance of the lyrics. Thanks for the enlightenment- today I try to live a spiritual existence so this Video struck a chord - no pun intended.
I hate pointing this out to our dear hostess and narrator who is very kind and gracious but it's pronounced "QUARRY men". As in a you're having Quarrel with your parents or you have a Quarter in your pocket to spend. It's so named after a Rock Quarry. The Quarrymen". But really great in depth look at the song! Thank you so much.
Further to my previous comment, I think you have understood the essence of this beautiful song. I bought All Things Must Pass when I was young, all the songs were deeply influenced by Harrison's spirituality. It is one of my treasured albums. Thanks for your work.
Good video. I appreciate the background on Indian music especially. One correction, according to George, Paul and John were not interested in recording While My Guitar, which is why he brought Clapton in to get them to change their mind. Clapton's clout won the day, thank God. I agree with another commenter that the song was likely written to humanity.
I enjoyed this. You provided a good history of George and his music. Very well done. One thing ... the original band was the QUARRYMEN not the QUERYMEN as you pronounced it.
I appreciate how you established the literary, cultural, religious, and musical influences that led to the Harrison transformation. The song itself is made self referential by the heavy use of Clapton's slide vibrato and Harrison's moaning vocals, but it works. The bass parts are particularly well arranged imo and are either mic'ed close, direct into the board, or possibly doubled on guitar. (Somebody might be able to comment on that). It seems to me that Harrison grew as a person at a rate appropriate for the extraordinary conditions he found himself in and perhaps the other members did not. I always felt like his material from that era was a bit preachy but we could certainly use more of that message in the mainstream today. I also appreciated your heartfelt response and interpretation of the lyrics.
I wish they had left the last stanza on the original demo, on the final. Most people don't even know it existed. Both beautiful, sadness, and perhaps tragic. "I stand in the wings, see the play you are staging, While my guitar gently weeps..... I sit here alone, doing nothing but aging, While my guitar gently weeps......'"
“I look at the floor and I see it needs sweeping” is not just a poetic rhyme. May I submit that the floor is a metaphors for ones path in life, and in this case the person whom can't share this love has cluttered their path with things that get in the way of sharing love, maybe material stuff or resentment or unable to let go of the past, holding on to some sort of anger or pain. Sweep that anger and pain off your floor.
Good job! I love the same things and you get it done brilliantly. Can't wait for the Tom Petty episode. Looking forward to delving in to your "back issues." I am a relatively new viewer/listener. Love it. Keep up the great work, friend in music, Jeffrey...
George was a phenomenal musician and songwriter. Although he wrote some of The Beatle's most famous songs, ironically, he wasn't encouraged more by those around him. John, Paul, and George Martin all admitted Something and Here Comes The Sun were standout pieces on Abbey Road.
This led to him discovering Paramahansa Yogananda the author of " Autobiography of a Yogi " . He moved to the US in 1920 and introduced the Us to the practice of meditation, which, spiritually influenced both him and Steve Jobs. Yogananda started the spiritual group, Self Realization Fellowship which is still active today.
In Beatle's Anthology, Paul tells a different rendition of how George auditioned; on the top of a double decker bus; George played the lead from "Raunchy" and George was IN. I'd have to believe Paul knew how it went down.
Thanks, this video was a nice piece of work. The line "I look at the floor and I see it needs sweeping" makes me think of the saying: Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water. To me it is the very ordinariness of the image, in your ordinary life enlightenment dwells. Be aware, live with clarity, in the moment, even amongst ordinary things.
Your enthusiasm is awesome and the video very interesting. Perhaps some of those original videos you had access to would show how Quarrymen is pronounced by the Beatles themselves. A quarry is an open cut mine where stone is extracted.
Excellent analysis. You are showing me how much I missed because of only focusing on the music composition and production, not at all on lyrics. Except Beach Boys songs, they were all about fun.
Thanks for your excellent review. Listening to your explanation and registering, I think he is talking about the sleeping masses that have been enslaved and controlled. Thanks for opening it up for me. Love and Peace, Mike
Quarry rhymes with sorry. She has pronounced it as query (rhyming with Kerry, but not Carrie!) every single time. I don't know how you can think that's the case.
@@hueyiroquois3839 Quarry doesn't rhyme with pronunciation no matter what accent you use. If you want to hear the proper pronunciation of Quarrymen, listen to a video of the Quarrymen talking about their band. It doesn't sound much like Kerrymen.
My first time on your channel. I've actually never looked at the lyrics of this song anything like as closely as you have. I think I have always looked on the lyrics mostly as wordplay, just as George's dear friend, Bob Dylan, sometimes likes to do. Now you've got me thinking! When I first started listening to this song, I soon began to feel that it was The Complete Rock Song - it had everything, both musically and lyrically. As you have it that this is the greatest R & R song ever written, do I take it that 'Here Comes the Sun' and 'Something' do not fall into the category of R & R? Certainly, the latter is a much-loved ballad. May I point out two things in your account? 1. George's father, Harry, was actually a bus driver and not a conductor. 2. Before the group became The Beatles (with an A), they called themselves The Silver Beetles (with an E). Thanks very much for all your work in preparing and presenting this video.
Not to nit-pick... but because I am sure you appreciate accuracy - there were actually 3 verses originally... the last one being.. "I look from the wings, of the play you are staging...WMGGW.. while I'm sitting here, doing nothing but aging... WMGGW.." This might be my favorite song - not just Beatles song.. It is a work of art that will survive for centuries. Thank you for calling attention to Clapton's lead guitar - which is truly sublime. I also encourage everyone to look up Jake Shimabakuro's live version on ukulele that he recorded in Central Park.. it is sublime.
Some day i hope you get to present the changes in 1966-67 in Paul's physical appearance, like how he got taller relative to bandmates and his girlfriend Jane Asher, his changed mouth and nose shape, and the way he held a guitar. Was it a rebirth or reinvention thing?
Are you really bringing up that tired old nonsense about Paul being dead? He was just barely into his 20s at that time. LOTS of people are still growing at that age. It's not the norm, and the rate of growth is pretty low, but it IS a fact. And people never grow such that every feature remains strictly identically proportional. They change. Not so radically as to be unrecognizable. But they continue to change, slowly and subtly, throughout the course of their lives. At that age many are still undergoing changes which are more pronounced than they will be for most of the rest of their lives.
Thank you.. loved the video.. It is so cute you didnt know how to pronounce Ravi Shankar's name.. He was once (almost) a house-hold name. How times change.
It’s an interesting theory that the song is about a man who never learned how to love, and was bitter and twisted in his outlook on others, because the one person he knew to whom this could be applied, was none other than John Lennon. Due in part to his history, Father left him as a child, being raised by a caring, but also stern Aunt, and his Mother dying as a result of being hit by a car, driven by an off-duty policeman under the influence of alcohol, shortly after John had reconnected with her, all contributed to his outlook on the world and people in general. John was abusive, both physically and mentally towards women; occasionally physically abusive towards men, but only if he thought he could win. He married Cynthia Powell, not out of his love for her, but because she was pregnant with their first child, Julian, and “Marriage was seen as the right thing to do” in that era. He had affairs and was a wife-beater, was a nasty tempered drunk, and sued for divorce, claiming Cynthia was unfaithful to him, despite her discovering John with Yoko Ono, a talentless heroin addict, in the kitchen of their home wearing bathrobes. The other three Beatles loved Cynthia; especially Paul and George, who coming from loving families, and growing up with siblings, could relate to Julian, and play games with him. Lennon was not the first target for Ono; apparently it was Paul. So that would fit in with your idea. But, I tend to believe the song refers to George’s growing dissatisfaction with being treated like he was unimportant compared to Lennon and McCartney, and only being allowed one or two of his compositions on every album, and the state of the world in general. The original lyrics suggest this to be the case: I look at you all, and the play you are staging While my guitar gently weeps And I’m sitting here doing nothing but aging While my guitar gently weeps
There is so much mythology around the Beatles. One of them is that they were these absolute musical geniuses from day one and had no "help from their friends" along the way. They could pop in the studio and with hardly any effort whip up one pop hit after another in record time (excuse the pun). They were so good they only needed a few takes to get it down perfectly- even though they just created the song. Not likely to convince any die-hards, but that is very unlikely- especially with the diverse style of tunes they produced. The White album however was an exception. It took much longer and many, many takes to get anything down. So they likely did more of that themselves and why it is the most uneven of their recordings with gems and not so gems.
WMGGW is about mocking people who don't have love in there heart and George is absolutely right about people who don't have love in there heart because after all that is what we are here for and love is it. Another great song is " All you need is love" written by John Lennon. 🚶🚶🚶🚶🎸🎸🎸🥁🇺🇲☮️
Great job. George auditioned on an empty public bus riding home with Paul & John. The name Beatles was actually Stu Sutcliffe's idea. Stu wasn't even mentioned here, why? John loved Stu.
Great job, but you mentioned Phil Spector which is incorrect . The only Beatles album he produced was Let it be, and even then it was very controversial and not highly regarded. In fact George Martin was the genius behind the Beatles production,, the fifth Beatle, responsible for most of their early vocal arrangements and of course all the unbelievable strings, he had perfect pitch, & was the one who signed the Beatles, at that time, because they were charming and funny, not because they had good songs - which they didn't in 1962. He challenged them to write better songs. George Martin's classical music background transformed the Beatles sound, Phil spector's best days were long past by the time in produced Let it Be.
„They bought you and sold you“ - George know about the music code. Elites rule the world. But he just scratched the surface. Otherwise they would eliminate him earlier. He kept in the whole truth. Beatles were ruled after their popularity and power.
I agree that "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is the Beatles' greatest song. Paul McCartney's piano intro is the most potent and emotional intro in any song. I always thought George Harrison was the most talented Beatle, and couldn't understand why John Lennon got all the praise, other than Lennon being a darling of the Left.
Stopping at 1643. “They” did not decide to bring in Clapton. George snuck him in. But he had a nap unless Paul ready for him to use. George knew the Beatles we have to take a song seriously and try their best if one of their heroes was there. Otherwise, he never helped George work on his songs. Paul and John had A publishing agreement did not include George. Think of all the songs there would’ve been on Beatles records that ended up on Harrison solo records later and what they would’ve sounded like if Paul or John helped him finish the song. That Solo has never been surpassed
I really enjoy your posts but I have my own interpretation of what this song is about. To me, it has always been directed at humankind in general. The line "I look at you all, see the love there that's sleeping" is looking at the potential of humans if they would just awaken. The line "I look at the floor and I see it needs sweeping" is referring to the fact that humankind needs to get its house in order to progress. The bridge "I don't know why nobody told you, how to unfold your love. I don't know how someone controlled you, they bought and sold you" is about most people selling out, being controlled by the system, and not being true to themselves and their true spirit. The "I look at the world and I notice its turning" verse of course refers to the fact that despite all the strife, suffering, and silliness in the world, it keeps turning and that as it does, we are undoubtedly learning and growing. Bridge number 2 also refers to the fact that with all the mistakes we make, they are understandable because we are not taught to connect to our source and develop our gifts. While I love George's songs (especially those on Abbey Road) and have great respect for While My Guitar Gently Weeps, I do not think it is the greatest rock song of all time. That stated, it is damn good and certainly one of the most underrated gems in the Beatles' catalog. In my humble opinion, the lyrics are some of the best George ever wrote. Keep up the good work! Cheers.
George brought Eric on because he felt since he had been playing sitar that he just couldn't play the solo right. Clapton brought in a cherry red Les Paul Custom( a one off colour) After he played he gave it to George and said play. You see it in the video for Hey Jude, Revolution, and in Get back. Great break down of the song! Life flows on within you and without you....( another great George song)!
That Les Paul was originally a Gold Top that was beat up, so Rick Derringer sent it back to Gibson to paint it red. When he got it back he didn't like it and sold it to a guitar store. Clapton saw it while on tour with Cream and bought it. He later gave it to George during the White Album sessions, and George named it " Lucy " after Lucille Ball because it was red. In the 70's it was stolen while George was in California. He paid to get it back from thieves in Mexico and got it returned. It is in Dani Harrison's collection today.
@drvee1983 Hmm. BB King had several identical Gibson electric guitars over time, all named Lucille. He has told the story many times of how the original Lucille was named, after a girl who was being fought over in a juke joint BB was playing in. The combatants wound up knocking over a kerosene heater, and BB was lucky to make it out alive - AFTER first grabbing his precious guitar. I have to take a coincidence like this, George just happening to give his own Gibson electric guitar essentially the same name, with a grain of salt. I've never heard this story, either, which is certainly not conclusive, but it is a bit surprising to me - that is, IF your story is true.
You did a good job on why George play the sitar I didn't know that 😅 and that cheese book I should pronounce like a short e like eat that is more close to Chinese prounce Way I can be a long I or short I but I'm Chinese and I have no clue on how to pronounce the alphabet 😂 like th sound it's hard for most Chinese to pronounce it 😅
As always. You are Amazing. Thank you 🙏🏻
Thank you so much !!!
@@ROOTSMUSICHISTORY in the coffee I invited you, I pasted the best version of the song. It’s incredible the performers present in that concert for that song 👇🏻
ruclips.net/video/0y1m4s1rbK4/видео.htmlsi=r_-FbwMwcw-rLmUl
Thanks for that. Funny to preach all this, but can't even pronounce the easy word properly...lol
@@ROOTSMUSICHISTORY
Lil tidbit of information. Ravi Shankar was the father of Nora Jones.
So somebody else said that his guitar gently wept because he didn't get any respect from John and Paul
George is a true Super Star. Thank you George for all the pleasure you have given the me and the world
Although when I was young Paul was my favorite Beatle but after I started writing myself George became my favorite. I feel like his songs were so much deeper I also liked his personality best. Good job! 🎼🎸🎤🎼
Thanks for an insightful analyses of this great song. I learned a lot from it
As a “Boomer” born in ‘54, I am absolutely locked in to the music of The Beatles.
George really did write the most insightful music. He was not given while with the Beatles the opportunity to expand their music to another level
❤Great backstory. Mahalo nui loa for this. My other favorite is "Isn't it a Pity". Very melancholi wistful.
I am a long time Beatles freak. But this video really added a new perspective to this song. Great work!
I’m so happy you liked it ! Thank you for being here ♥️🎶
@@ROOTSMUSICHISTORY, your understanding of "Hinduism" is ALMOST as hilarious as your mispronunciations of Sanskrit terms, Slave.
As a teen in the 60's I experienced Beatlemania first hand. But this is the first time I have heard this song in such a deep light. I am going to play your podcast to my granddaughters who are Beatles fans. Thank you!
George didn’t audition for the Quarrymen at Rory Storm’s house. He interviewed on the empty top deck of a double decker bus. Both Paul and George have described this audition location in interviews.
Thank you for this. I to am in Nashville and am from Detroit and lived the 60’s and 70’s there, which I now realize was a special time. You do a great job here. Tks for that. 😉
🎸 I don't believe he is talking to an individual person in the song, I always had the impression he was speaking to humanity as a whole. George always had a big picture view of the world, he stepped back and observed. His observations became his music. George wanted to save the whole world. He was the first of the four to truly understand the value of humility which is what allowed his spiritual side to thrive. Enjoyed the video, thank you!
she's wayyyyyyyy over thinking this
George often did both...spoke generally then focused in one person. The verses sound general but the I don't know how chorus he is talking to McCartney. Same with Ob-La-Di verse in Savoy Truffle... he starts song lecturing Clapton about sweets or drugs or women but he ends up pointing at McCartney that his happy songs may bev sweet now but the reality of being a commercial songwriting success will end badly.
@@melamineflorentine8134 Don't think George was lecturing Clapton but poking fun at his addiction to sweets. After all it was the box of Good News Choclates Clapton enjoyed at Geprges house that supplied the lyrics. Thanks though for mentionikng Ob-La-Di though. I never made that connection. i know the other three Beatles were bitter over the many takes on that song which none of them really cared for.
normally - when a songwriter writes a song - they are writing about something they have observed or experienced -
or sometime just something they made up - but - they also write about their feelings and their inner struggles.
As you stated, George was a couple of years into a journey of self-discovery and introspection.
"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" - strikes me more as a song that is introspective as if George is having a conversation with himself - about himself
Great talk on George ,spiritual culture and awareness .
You've awoken a spiritual understanding and acknowledgement in me - very many thanks
Thank you for the backstory, I was 21 when that song came out, you have given me a much better perspective of that song!!!
Your comments are so profound, going into every detail of the soul's nooks and crannies. This is certainly a masterpiece of literary criticism.
Comments like this make my day thank you!
Beautiful observations of a infinitely beautiful song ❤
George had more to say than you know if you listen carefully to his songs. In "While my guitar gently weeps", George is talking to Paul and John. "I don't know how you were diverted You were perverted too I don't know how you were inverted No-one alerted you" George is telling them that they have lost their way. This line is to tell John and Paul that George is no fool and knows they are laughing behind his back: " I look at the world and I notice it's turning" This is to tell them that he knows that they think he (George) is The Fool On The Hill. It is a direct reply to: " But the fool on the hill sees the sun going down And the eyes in his head see the world spinning 'round" Listen to what Paul and John think about George in Fool On The Hill: " Well on the way Head in a cloud The man of a thousand voices talking perfectly loud But nobody ever hears him, or the sound he appears to make And he never seems to notice" Translated: George is the quiet one, but when he talks, he wants to talk about his Far East religion. Indian religion is called the religion of one thousand Gods. "The man of one thousand voices talking perfectly loud. But nobody ever hears him or the sound he appears to make, and he never seems to notice." Paul and John are basically saying, "Nobody wants to listen to you talk about your religion, dude." George was treated as an outsider by Paul and John and that's why they didn't respect his song writing for more than one song per album. "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" was George letting Paul and John know he's nobody's fool.
You are beautiful and talented 💕
Clapton's lead guitar on the song makes you feel it in your soul.
It DOES
Great job on this 🎥🎬 Love Your attention to detail 🎼❤️ Thank You for sharing with us. 🙏🕉️
I heard George's mother listened to Indian music while she was pregnant with George because she thought it was calming.
Fabulous presentation! I was a Roots virgin until today. Your knowledge and related research taught me much more than expected. Great Work, Thanks ❤
nicely thorough. even as i'm already a fan of the band and the song, you showed me more. it is my theory that patty boyd has more songs written about her than any other woman in history after mary, mother of jesus.
I think one or two of your early date lines are a little askew. I attended the institute and lived very close to Paul in Speke, where George also lived . I remember George coming at the end of term to practice with Paul thanks to our benevolent history teacher mr Edge. This was in 1956. It would have been nice if you had included the song in question in the video. However I enjoyed your story, well done.
I really liked this. Very informative and ENLIGHTENING.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Hello, young lady. This is my first visit to your channel. I am impressed and pleased with the way you interpret George's beautiful, soulful song. I have loved this song since it's release in 1968, when I was just eight years of age. All my life, I'd hoped to meet a woman who loved music and the pursuit of spiritual enlightenment, as I did. Alas, I'm an old man now, nearer the end than the beginning. Perhaps, if I've lived rightly in this life, I will be rewarded with such a partner in the next. But I have not always stayed on the path. Ah, but I digress. This beautiful song is, to me, more like a prayer. I am so glad you have found it. Namaste.
Hi Steppenwolf, 666, first time here as well, also same age, born 6-6-60, so you see have spiritual convictions to be positive about, lol. Because I am just now meeting the first lady of my life that makes me feel like no other...so young and youthful. I would like to say don't look to the next life when you may still have plenty of life left, and by the straying from the path is all in perfect sequence to "Being" in harmony with truth and love for it.
@@abelmcguire1951 Thanks for the encouragement, much appreciated!
Thank you that was some Awesome information about George Harrison.
Thankyou ..This is brilliant
Thank you Roots for a beautiful and well-researched video of the Gorge Harrison’s “Best Rock & Roll Song.” Please keep performing your in-depth analysis and commentary.
Obla-di obla-dah!? Sounded so funny when you said it :) So nice what and how you enrich us! 👍👍👍
The White Album is 4 separate artist contributing to a double album. This is not a “Beatles” song but a George Harrison composition on a Beatles album. Thank-you George.
Oh yeah, it’s not “qwerrymen” but Quarry Men, like a place where stone is quarried.
Thanks! - recently discovered your channel and podcasts. This was a song I used to jam to with my friends. I thought about the music and the cord progression which was soloed over, and never realized the significance of the lyrics. Thanks for the enlightenment- today I try to live a spiritual existence so this Video struck a chord - no pun intended.
I hate pointing this out to our dear hostess and narrator who is very kind and gracious but it's pronounced "QUARRY men". As in a you're having Quarrel with your parents or you have a Quarter in your pocket to spend. It's so named after a Rock Quarry. The Quarrymen". But really great in depth look at the song! Thank you so much.
Further to my previous comment, I think you have understood the essence of this beautiful song. I bought All Things Must Pass when I was young, all the songs were deeply influenced by Harrison's spirituality. It is one of my treasured albums. Thanks for your work.
Extraordinary your explanation PC the song! Thank you so much!
Thanks for your analysis, it was very informative.
Gracias Roots por contarnos historias maravillosas, y a usted señorita por tan fina información.
Good video. I appreciate the background on Indian music especially. One correction, according to George, Paul and John were not interested in recording While My Guitar, which is why he brought Clapton in to get them to change their mind. Clapton's clout won the day, thank God. I agree with another commenter that the song was likely written to humanity.
Agreed! this is his best song
Great video. Thank You.
I enjoyed this. You provided a good history of George and his music. Very well done. One thing ... the original band was the QUARRYMEN not the QUERYMEN as you pronounced it.
I appreciate how you established the literary, cultural, religious, and musical influences that led to the Harrison transformation. The song itself is made self referential by the heavy use of Clapton's slide vibrato and Harrison's moaning vocals, but it works. The bass parts are particularly well arranged imo and are either mic'ed close, direct into the board, or possibly doubled on guitar. (Somebody might be able to comment on that). It seems to me that Harrison grew as a person at a rate appropriate for the extraordinary conditions he found himself in and perhaps the other members did not. I always felt like his material from that era was a bit preachy but we could certainly use more of that message in the mainstream today. I also appreciated your heartfelt response and interpretation of the lyrics.
I wish they had left the last stanza on the original demo, on the final. Most people don't even know it existed. Both beautiful, sadness, and perhaps tragic.
"I stand in the wings, see the play you are staging, While my guitar gently weeps..... I sit here alone, doing nothing but aging, While my guitar gently weeps......'"
“I look at the floor and I see it needs sweeping” is not just a poetic rhyme. May I submit that the floor is a metaphors for ones path in life, and in this case the person whom can't share this love has cluttered their path with things that get in the way of sharing love, maybe material stuff or resentment or unable to let go of the past, holding on to some sort of anger or pain. Sweep that anger and pain off your floor.
Thank you, really liked this one and looking forward to your Petty episode. I hope one day you will do an Albert King one.
Good job! I love the same things and you get it done brilliantly. Can't wait for the Tom Petty episode. Looking forward to delving in to your "back issues." I am a relatively new viewer/listener. Love it. Keep up the great work, friend in music, Jeffrey...
Good….BUT…..George is not singing/writing to “a person.” He’s singing to / addressing all of current humanity.
George was a phenomenal musician and songwriter. Although he wrote some of The Beatle's most famous songs, ironically, he wasn't encouraged more by those around him. John, Paul, and George Martin all admitted Something and Here Comes The Sun were standout pieces on Abbey Road.
This led to him discovering Paramahansa Yogananda the author of " Autobiography of a Yogi " . He moved to the US in 1920 and introduced the Us to the practice of meditation, which, spiritually influenced both him and Steve Jobs. Yogananda started the spiritual group, Self Realization Fellowship which is still active today.
I've always taken the lyrics to pertain to society, not an 'individual' person. Looked at that way, it becomes much more deep & meaningful.
In Beatle's Anthology, Paul tells a different rendition of how George auditioned; on the top of a double decker bus; George played the lead from "Raunchy" and George was IN.
I'd have to believe Paul knew how it went down.
thats exactly how I heard it
I thought something . Was one
Of his best work. And a lot of
Singers loved singing it. Like
Frank Sinatra. Beautiful song
Frank said cheers
Thanks, this video was a nice piece of work.
The line "I look at the floor and I see it needs sweeping" makes me think of the saying:
Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.
After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.
To me it is the very ordinariness of the image, in your ordinary life enlightenment dwells. Be aware, live with clarity, in the moment, even amongst ordinary things.
Your enthusiasm is awesome and the video very interesting. Perhaps some of those original videos you had access to would show how Quarrymen is pronounced by the Beatles themselves. A quarry is an open cut mine where stone is extracted.
Excellent analysis. You are showing me how much I missed because of only focusing on the music composition and production, not at all on lyrics. Except Beach Boys songs, they were all about fun.
Thanks for your excellent review. Listening to your explanation and registering, I think he is talking about the sleeping masses that have been enslaved and controlled. Thanks for opening it up for me. Love and Peace, Mike
Excellent story about George Harrison Miss Roots
Quarry men .. rhymes with Cory, not Carrie, as in stone quarry, 😊
Quarry rhymes with sorry. She has pronounced it as query (rhyming with Kerry, but not Carrie!) every single time. I don't know how you can think that's the case.
@@JamesThompson-zk1ht Quarry rhymes with the Canadian pronunciation, not the correct pronunciation.
Thanks for that.
@@hueyiroquois3839 Quarry doesn't rhyme with pronunciation no matter what accent you use. If you want to hear the proper pronunciation of Quarrymen, listen to a video of the Quarrymen talking about their band. It doesn't sound much like Kerrymen.
Great song. But greatest rock song? You really got me.
Eric Clapton played the guitar solo on this song..
Amazing analysis, wow!
Your discussion of Hinduism and Indian music is much more relevant to his greatest composition "Within You, Without You" on Sargent Pepper.
Great work.
Thank you! Cheers!
My first time on your channel. I've actually never looked at the lyrics of this song anything like as closely as you have. I think I have always looked on the lyrics mostly as wordplay, just as George's dear friend, Bob Dylan, sometimes likes to do. Now you've got me thinking!
When I first started listening to this song, I soon began to feel that it was The Complete Rock Song - it had everything, both musically and lyrically. As you have it that this is the greatest R & R song ever written, do I take it that 'Here Comes the Sun' and 'Something' do not fall into the category of R & R? Certainly, the latter is a much-loved ballad.
May I point out two things in your account? 1. George's father, Harry, was actually a bus driver and not a conductor. 2. Before the group became The Beatles (with an A), they called themselves The Silver Beetles (with an E).
Thanks very much for all your work in preparing and presenting this video.
❤❤❤❤...thank You
I’ve been looking forward to an upload all week! ROOOTS! 🫚🤘
More to come!!! 😀😀
@@ROOTSMUSICHISTORY I mean it!! Yes!!!!
The way you explain it sounds like it could about John and or Paul and his preciveevd place in the band...
Well said! Thx!
WMGGW is my favorite Beatkes song!
Thanks!
Not to nit-pick... but because I am sure you appreciate accuracy - there were actually 3 verses originally... the last one being.. "I look from the wings, of the play you are staging...WMGGW.. while I'm sitting here, doing nothing but aging... WMGGW.." This might be my favorite song - not just Beatles song.. It is a work of art that will survive for centuries. Thank you for calling attention to Clapton's lead guitar - which is truly sublime. I also encourage everyone to look up Jake Shimabakuro's live version on ukulele that he recorded in Central Park.. it is sublime.
i’ve sung and played this song for fifty years and did not truly appreciate the poetry and insight in this song. doh! thank you
❤Je t'aime ♥️
Some day i hope you get to present the changes in 1966-67 in Paul's physical appearance, like how he got taller relative to bandmates and his girlfriend Jane Asher, his changed mouth and nose shape, and the way he held a guitar. Was it a rebirth or reinvention thing?
Ahhh now I wish I had talked about that too!! Thank you for adding that!
Are you really bringing up that tired old nonsense about Paul being dead? He was just barely into his 20s at that time. LOTS of people are still growing at that age. It's not the norm, and the rate of growth is pretty low, but it IS a fact.
And people never grow such that every feature remains strictly identically proportional. They change. Not so radically as to be unrecognizable. But they continue to change, slowly and subtly, throughout the course of their lives. At that age many are still undergoing changes which are more pronounced than they will be for most of the rest of their lives.
Here comes the sun is the most played Beatles song!
Nice job on this one
Thank you.. loved the video.. It is so cute you didnt know how to pronounce Ravi Shankar's name.. He was once (almost) a house-hold name. How times change.
You cool.forward.this is put together doooo well.t.u.
It’s an interesting theory that the song is about a man who never learned how to love, and was bitter and twisted in his outlook on others, because the one person he knew to whom this could be applied, was none other than John Lennon.
Due in part to his history, Father left him as a child, being raised by a caring, but also stern Aunt, and his Mother dying as a result of being hit by a car, driven by an off-duty policeman under the influence of alcohol, shortly after John had reconnected with her, all contributed to his outlook on the world and people in general.
John was abusive, both physically and mentally towards women; occasionally physically abusive towards men, but only if he thought he could win. He married Cynthia Powell, not out of his love for her, but because she was pregnant with their first child, Julian, and “Marriage was seen as the right thing to do” in that era. He had affairs and was a wife-beater, was a nasty tempered drunk, and sued for divorce, claiming Cynthia was unfaithful to him, despite her discovering John with Yoko Ono, a talentless heroin addict, in the kitchen of their home wearing bathrobes. The other three Beatles loved Cynthia; especially Paul and George, who coming from loving families, and growing up with siblings, could relate to Julian, and play games with him. Lennon was not the first target for Ono; apparently it was Paul. So that would fit in with your idea. But, I tend to believe the song refers to George’s growing dissatisfaction with being treated like he was unimportant compared to Lennon and McCartney, and only being allowed one or two of his compositions on every album, and the state of the world in general.
The original lyrics suggest this to be the case:
I look at you all, and the play you are staging
While my guitar gently weeps
And I’m sitting here doing nothing but aging
While my guitar gently weeps
You spoke one of the greatest on religion.
Also the original name was the Silver Beatles, ‘Silver’ being dropped fairly soon after.
How do you remember a song George says ‘ write the words down and remember the melody in your head
There is so much mythology around the Beatles. One of them is that they were these absolute musical geniuses from day one and had no "help from their friends" along the way. They could pop in the studio and with hardly any effort whip up one pop hit after another in record time (excuse the pun). They were so good they only needed a few takes to get it down perfectly- even though they just created the song. Not likely to convince any die-hards, but that is very unlikely- especially with the diverse style of tunes they produced. The White album however was an exception. It took much longer and many, many takes to get anything down. So they likely did more of that themselves and why it is the most uneven of their recordings with gems and not so gems.
WMGGW is about mocking people who don't have love in there heart and George is absolutely right about people who don't have love in there heart because after all that is what we are here for and love is it. Another great song is " All you need is love" written by John Lennon.
🚶🚶🚶🚶🎸🎸🎸🥁🇺🇲☮️
Great job. George auditioned on an empty public bus riding home with Paul & John. The name Beatles was actually
Stu Sutcliffe's idea.
Stu wasn't even mentioned here, why?
John loved Stu.
Great job, but you mentioned Phil Spector which is incorrect . The only Beatles album he produced was Let it be, and even then it was very controversial and not highly regarded. In fact George Martin was the genius behind the Beatles production,, the fifth Beatle, responsible for most of their early vocal arrangements and of course all the unbelievable strings, he had perfect pitch, & was the one who signed the Beatles, at that time, because they were charming and funny, not because they had good songs - which they didn't in 1962. He challenged them to write better songs. George Martin's classical music background transformed the Beatles sound, Phil spector's best days were long past by the time in produced Let it Be.
Meh!
Lennon recorded an album with Spector of old Rock and roll classics. But Soector would never give Lennon the tapes. Idt he ever did.
For all you kids out there, "The White Album" is merely a nickname for the album (for the obvious reason); the actual album title is "The Beatles".
„They bought you and sold you“ - George know about the music code. Elites rule the world. But he just scratched the surface. Otherwise they would eliminate him earlier. He kept in the whole truth. Beatles were ruled after their popularity and power.
I agree that "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is the Beatles' greatest song. Paul McCartney's piano intro is the most potent and emotional intro in any song. I always thought George Harrison was the most talented Beatle, and couldn't understand why John Lennon got all the praise, other than Lennon being a darling of the Left.
It’s not A person. ‘I look at you ALL …’ It addresses the collective condition …
cool
Weird that she would get the pronunciation wrong given that’s it’s arguably one of the most famous pre-fame names in history …..
Just proof that I’m not AI 😂🙃
Stopping at 1643. “They” did not decide to bring in Clapton. George snuck him in. But he had a nap unless Paul ready for him to use. George knew the Beatles we have to take a song seriously and try their best if one of their heroes was there. Otherwise, he never helped George work on his songs. Paul and John had A publishing agreement did not include George. Think of all the songs there would’ve been on Beatles records that ended up on Harrison solo records later and what they would’ve sounded like if Paul or John helped him finish the song.
That Solo has never been surpassed
It’s shocking how popular music lyrics have become so degraded since then. Thanks for the analysis.
I really enjoy your posts but I have my own interpretation of what this song is about. To me, it has always been directed at humankind in general.
The line "I look at you all, see the love there that's sleeping" is looking at the potential of humans if they would just awaken. The line "I look at the floor and I see it needs sweeping" is referring to the fact that humankind needs to get its house in order to progress. The bridge "I don't know why nobody told you, how to unfold your love.
I don't know how someone controlled you, they bought and sold you" is about most people selling out, being controlled by the system, and not being true to themselves and their true spirit.
The "I look at the world and I notice its turning" verse of course refers to the fact that despite all the strife, suffering, and silliness in the world, it keeps turning and that as it does, we are undoubtedly learning and growing. Bridge number 2 also refers to the fact that with all the mistakes we make, they are understandable because we are not taught to connect to our source and develop our gifts.
While I love George's songs (especially those on Abbey Road) and have great respect for While My Guitar Gently Weeps, I do not think it is the greatest rock song of all time. That stated, it is damn good and certainly one of the most underrated gems in the Beatles' catalog. In my humble opinion, the lyrics are some of the best George ever wrote. Keep up the good work! Cheers.
George feels pity for the souls that don't know what he knows who haven't been turned on to the spiritually he was shown. No one alerted you.
George brought Eric on because he felt since he had been playing sitar that he just couldn't play the solo right. Clapton brought in a cherry red Les Paul Custom( a one off colour)
After he played he gave it to George and said play. You see it in the video for Hey Jude, Revolution, and in Get back. Great break down of the song! Life flows on within you and without you....( another great George song)!
That Les Paul was originally a Gold Top that was beat up, so Rick Derringer sent it back to Gibson to paint it red. When he got it back he didn't like it and sold it to a guitar store. Clapton saw it while on tour with Cream and bought it. He later gave it to George during the White Album sessions, and George named it " Lucy " after Lucille Ball because it was red. In the 70's it was stolen while George was in California. He paid to get it back from thieves in Mexico and got it returned.
It is in Dani Harrison's collection today.
@drvee1983 Hmm. BB King had several identical Gibson electric guitars over time, all named Lucille. He has told the story many times of how the original Lucille was named, after a girl who was being fought over in a juke joint BB was playing in. The combatants wound up knocking over a kerosene heater, and BB was lucky to make it out alive - AFTER first grabbing his precious guitar.
I have to take a coincidence like this, George just happening to give his own Gibson electric guitar essentially the same name, with a grain of salt. I've never heard this story, either, which is certainly not conclusive, but it is a bit surprising to me - that is, IF your story is true.
@@JamesThompson-zk1ht
" Lucille " isnt " Lucy ".
Completely unrelated.
You did a good job on why George play the sitar I didn't know that 😅 and that cheese book I should pronounce like a short e like eat that is more close to Chinese prounce Way I can be a long I or short I but I'm Chinese and I have no clue on how to pronounce the alphabet 😂 like th sound it's hard for most Chinese to pronounce it 😅
Carlos Santana does a nice cover of this song. I recommend you listin to his version.
Let's not forget " Gimme Shelter", "A day in the life" and "Can't find my way home".
What? Did I miss something? Like, the start of a whole other video?
😂@@JamesThompson-zk1ht