Something (Beatles song)
"Something" | ||||
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![]() 1989 UK reissue picture sleeve | ||||
Single by the Beatles | ||||
from the album Abbey Road | ||||
A-side | "Come Together" (double A-side) | |||
Released | 6 October 1969 | |||
Recorded | 2 May, 5 May, 16 July, 15 August 1969 | |||
Studio | EMI Studios, London; Olympic Sound Studios, London | |||
Genre | Rock, pop[1] | |||
Length | 2:59 | |||
Label | Apple | |||
Songwriter(s) | George Harrison | |||
Producer(s) | George Martin | |||
The Beatles singles chronology | ||||
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Song sample | ||||
Music video | ||||
"Something" on YouTube |
"Something" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1969 album Abbey Road. It was written by George Harrison, the band's lead guitarist. Soon after the album's release, the song was issued as a single, coupled with "Come Together", making it the first Harrison composition to become a Beatles A-side. Its pairing with "Come Together" was also the first time in the United Kingdom that the Beatles issued a single containing tracks that were already available on an album. The single topped the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States as well as charts in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and West Germany, and peaked at number 4 in the UK.
"Something" is widely viewed by music historians as having marked Harrison's ascendancy as a composer to the level of the Beatles' principal songwriters, John Lennon and Paul McCartney. It is described as a love song to Pattie Boyd, Harrison's first wife, although Harrison offered alternative sources of inspiration in later interviews. Due to the difficulty he faced in getting more than two of his compositions onto each Beatles album, Harrison first offered "Something" to Joe Cocker. As recorded by the Beatles, the track features a guitar solo that several music critics identify among Harrison's finest playing. The song also drew praise from the other Beatles and their producer, George Martin, with Lennon stating that it was the best song on Abbey Road.[2] The promotional film for the single combined footage of each of the Beatles with their respective wife, reflecting the estrangement in the band during the months preceding the official announcement of their break-up in April 1970.
"Something" received the Ivor Novello Award for the "Best Song Musically and Lyrically" of 1969. Harrison subsequently performed the song at his Concert for Bangladesh shows in 1971 and throughout the two tours he made as a solo artist. Up to the late 1970s, it had been covered by over 150 artists, making it the second-most covered Beatles composition after "Yesterday". Shirley Bassey had a top-five UK hit with her 1970 recording, while Frank Sinatra regularly performed the song. Other artists who have covered "Something" include Elvis Presley, Ray Charles, Peggy Lee, James Brown, Tony Bennett, Andy Williams, Smokey Robinson and Ike & Tina Turner. In 1999, Broadcast Music Incorporated named "Something" as the 17th-most performed song of the twentieth century, with 5 million performances. In 2004, it was ranked at number 278 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", while two years later, Mojo placed it at number 7 in the magazine's list of the Beatles' best songs. A year after Harrison's death in November 2001, McCartney and Eric Clapton performed it at the Concert for George tribute at London's Royal Albert Hall.
Background and inspiration
George Harrison began writing "Something" in September 1968, during a session for the Beatles' self-titled double album, also known as "the White Album".[3] In his autobiography, I, Me Mine, he recalls working on the melody on a piano, at the same time as Paul McCartney recorded overdubs in a neighbouring studio at London's Abbey Road Studios.[4] Harrison suspended work on the song,[5] believing that with the tune having come to him so easily, it might have been a melody from another song.[6] In I, Me, Mine, he wrote that the middle eight "took some time to sort out".[4]
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ae/Ray_Charles_%281967%29_-_square_crop.jpg/200px-Ray_Charles_%281967%29_-_square_crop.jpg)
The opening lyric was taken from the title of "Something in the Way She Moves", a track by Harrison's fellow Apple Records artist James Taylor.[7][8] While Harrison imagined the composition in the style of Ray Charles,[9] his inspiration for "Something" was his wife, Pattie Boyd.[10][11] In her 2007 autobiography, Wonderful Today, Boyd recalls: "He told me, in a matter-of-fact way, that he had written it for me. I thought it was beautiful ..." Boyd discusses the song's popularity among other recording artists and concludes: "My favourite [version] was the one by George Harrison, which he played to me in the kitchen at Kinfauns."[12]
Having begun to write love songs that were directed at both God and a woman, with his White Album track "Long, Long, Long",[13] Harrison later cited alternative sources for his inspiration for "Something".[14] In early 1969, according to author Joshua Greene, Harrison told his friends from the Hare Krishna Movement that the song was about the Hindu deity Krishna;[15] in an interview with Rolling Stone in 1976, he said of his approach to writing love songs: "all love is part of a universal love. When you love a woman, it's the God in her that you see."[16] By 1996, Harrison had denied writing "Something" for Boyd.[8] That year, he told music journalist Paul Cashmere that "everybody presumed I wrote it about Pattie" because of the promotional film accompanying the release of the Beatles' recording, which showed the couple together.[17][18]
Composition
In the version issued on the Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road, which was the first release for the song,[19] "Something" runs at a speed of around 66 beats per minute and is in common time throughout. It begins with a five-note guitar figure, which functions as the song's chorus, since it is repeated before each of the verses and also closes the track.[20] The melody is in the key of C major until the eight-measure-long bridge, or middle eight, which is in the key of A major.[21][22] Harrison biographer Simon Leng identifies "harmonic interest ... [in] almost every line" of the song, as the melody follows a series of descending half-steps from the tonic over the verses, a structure that is then mirrored in the new key, through the middle eight.[23] The melody returns to C major for the guitar solo, the third verse, and the outro.[21]
While Leng considers that, lyrically and musically, "Something" reflects "doubt and striving to attain an uncertain goal",[23] author Ian Inglis writes of the confident statements that Harrison makes throughout regarding his feelings for Boyd.[24] Referring to lines in the song's verses,[25] Inglis writes: "there is a clear and mutual confidence in the reciprocal nature of their love; he muses that [Boyd] 'attracts me like no other lover' and 'all I have to do is think of her,' but he is equally aware that she feels the same, that 'somewhere in her smile, she knows.'"[24] Similarly, when Harrison sings in the middle eight that "You're asking me will my love grow / I don't know, I don't know",[25] Inglis interprets the words as "not an indication of uncertainty, but a wry reflection that his love is already so complete that it may simply be impossible for it to become any greater".[24] Richie Unterberger of AllMusic describes "Something" as "an unabashedly straightforward and sentimental love song" written at a time "when most of the Beatles' songs were dealing with non-romantic topics or presenting cryptic and allusive lyrics even when they were writing about love".[1]
Pre-Abbey Road recording history
The Beatles' Get Back/Let It Be rehearsals
Harrison first introduced "Something" at a Beatles session on 19 September 1968, when he played it to George Martin's stand-in as producer of The Beatles, Chris Thomas, while the latter was working out the harpsichord part for Harrison's track "Piggies".[3] Despite Thomas's enthusiasm for the new composition, Harrison chose to focus on "Piggies".[26] He told Thomas that he intended to offer "Something" to singer Jackie Lomax,[3] whose debut album Harrison was producing for Apple Records.[27] "Something" was not among the tracks released on Lomax's album, however,[28] much of which was recorded in Los Angeles following the completion of the White Album.[29]
After Harrison rejoined the Beatles in January 1969 for their Get Back film project (later released as Let It Be), "Something" was one of many recent compositions that he offered to the group.[30] Leng describes this period as a prolific one for Harrison as a songwriter, comparing it with John Lennon's peak of creativity over 1963–64,[31] yet Harrison's songs received little interest from Lennon and McCartney amid the tense, uncooperative atmosphere within the band.[32][33] Martin was also unimpressed by "Something" at first, considering it "too weak and derivative", according to music journalist Mikal Gilmore.[32]
The Beatles rehearsed the song at Apple Studio on 28 January.[34] With the proceedings being recorded by director Michael Lindsay-Hogg for the planned documentary film,[35] tapes reveal Harrison discussing his unfinished lyrics for "Something" with Lennon and McCartney, since he had been unable to complete the song's second line, which begins "Attracts me ..."[36] To serve as a temporary filler, Lennon suggested "like a cauliflower", which Harrison then altered to "like a pomegranate".[3][37] In their study of the available tapes, Doug Sulpy and Ray Schweighardt write that the Beatles gave the song two run-throughs that day, which was the only occasion that they attempted it during the Get Back/Let It Be project.[38]
Harrison solo demo
Following the Beatles' brief efforts with "Something" on 28 January,[39] Harrison talked with Lennon and Yoko Ono about recording a solo album of his unused songs, since he had already stockpiled enough compositions "for the next ten years", given his usual allocation of two tracks per album,[40] and in order to "preserve this, the Beatle bit, more".[41] Lennon offered his support for the idea,[41] similarly keen that his and Ono's recording projects outside the Beatles could continue without jeopardising the band's future.[39] On 25 February 1969 – his 26th birthday – Harrison entered Abbey Road Studios and taped solo demos of "Something", "Old Brown Shoe" and "All Things Must Pass",[42][43] the last two of which had also been rejected recently by Lennon and McCartney.[44]
With Ken Scott serving as his engineer,[45] he recorded a live take of "Something", featuring electric guitar and vocal.[46][47] By this point, Harrison had completed the lyrics, although he included an extra verse, sung to a counter-melody, over the section that would comprise his guitar solo on the Beatles' subsequent official recording.[23] This demo version of "Something" remained unreleased until its inclusion on the Beatles' outtake collection Anthology 3 in 1996.[48][nb 1]
Joe Cocker demo
In March 1969, Harrison gave "Something" to Joe Cocker to record,[51] having decided that it was more likely to become a hit with Cocker than with Lomax.[52] Referring to this and similar examples where Harrison placed his overlooked songs with other recording artists, Ken Scott has refuted the idea that he lacked confidence as a songwriter in the Beatles, saying:
I think he was totally confident about the songs. The insecurity may have been, if the Beatles kept going, "How many songs am I going to be able to get on each album?", and with the backlog sort of mounting up ... [to] get it out there, and get something from it.[53]
Assisted by Harrison, Cocker recorded a demo of the song at Apple.[3] While musicologist Walter Everett suggests that this was the same recording of "Something" that appeared on the Joe Cocker! album in November 1969,[51] Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn writes that Cocker subsequently remade the track.[3]
Recording and production
George's "Something" was out of left field. It was about Pattie, and it appealed to me because it has a very beautiful melody and is a really structured song ... I think George thought my bass-playing was a little bit busy. Again, from my side, I was trying to contribute the best I could, but maybe it was his turn to tell me I was too busy.[54]
– Paul McCartney, 2000
The Beatles undertook the recording of Abbey Road with a sense of discipline and cooperation that had largely been absent while making the White Album and Let It Be.[55][56] Having temporarily left the group in January 1969 partly as a result of McCartney's criticism of his musicianship, Harrison exhibited a greater level of assertiveness regarding his place in the band, particularly while they worked on his compositions "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun".[57] In addition, like Lennon and McCartney, Martin had come to fully appreciate Harrison as a songwriter, later saying: "I first recognised that he really had a great talent when we did 'Here Comes the Sun.' But when he brought in 'Something,' it was something else ... It was a tremendous work – and so simple."[58]
The group recorded "Something" on 16 April before Harrison decided to redo the song, a new basic track for which was then completed at Abbey Road on 2 May. The line-up was Harrison on Leslie-effected rhythm guitar, Lennon on piano, McCartney on bass, Ringo Starr on drums, and guest musician Billy Preston playing Hammond organ. On 5 May, at Olympic Sound Studios, McCartney re-recorded his bass part and Harrison added lead guitar.[51] At this point, the song ran to eight minutes, due to the inclusion of an extended coda led by Lennon's piano.[7]
After taking a break from recording,[59][60] the band returned to "Something" on 11 July, when Harrison overdubbed what would turn out to be a temporary vocal.[51][61] With the resulting reduction mix, much of the coda, along with almost all of Lennon's playing on the main part of the song, was cut from the recording. The piano can be heard only in the middle eight, specifically during the descending run that follows each pair of "I don't know" vocal lines.[51][nb 2] On 16 July, Harrison recorded a new vocal,[64] with McCartney overdubbing his harmony vocal over the middle eight and Starr adding both a second hi-hat part and a cymbal.[51]
Following another reduction mix, at which point the remainder of the coda was excised from the track, Martin-arranged string orchestration was overdubbed on 15 August, as Harrison, working in the adjacent studio at Abbey Road, re-recorded his lead guitar part live.[51] Writing for Rolling Stone in 2002, David Fricke described the Beatles' version of "Something" as "actually two moods in one: the pillowy yearning of the verses ... and the golden thunder of the bridge, the latter driven by Ringo Starr's military flourish on a high-hat cymbal".[58] Leng highlights Harrison's guitar solo on the recording as "a performance that is widely regarded as one of the great guitar solos", and one in which Harrison incorporates the gamaks associated with Indian classical music, following his study of the sitar in 1965–68, while also foreshadowing the expressive style he would adopt on slide guitar as a solo artist.[65]
Release
Selection for single release
They blessed me with a couple of B-sides in the past, but this is the first time I've had an A-side. Big deal, eh?[3]
– George Harrison to BBC reporter David Wigg, 8 October 1969
Apple Records issued Abbey Road on 26 September 1969,[66] with "Something" sequenced as the second track, following Lennon's "Come Together".[67] Lennon considered "Something" to be the best song on the album.[8][68] Having ensured that "Old Brown Shoe" was chosen as the B-side for the Beatles' single "The Ballad of John and Yoko", according to his later recollection,[69] Lennon now pushed Allen Klein to release "Something" as a single from Abbey Road. Coupled with "Come Together", the single was issued on 6 October in America (as Apple 2654) and 31 October in Britain (as Apple R5814).[67][70]
The release marked the first time that a Harrison composition had been afforded A-side treatment on a Beatles single,[71] as well as the only time during their career that a single was issued in the UK featuring tracks already available on an album.[72] In a 1990 letter to Mark Lewisohn, Klein refuted a claim made by Lewisohn in his book The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, that the single was intended as a money-making exercise: Klein said it was purely a mark of Lennon's regard for "Something" and "to point out George as a writer, and give him courage to go in and do his own LP. Which he did."[3][nb 3] Following the Beatles' break-up in April 1970, Harrison's ascendancy as a songwriter would continue with his triple album All Things Must Pass,[74][75] building on the promise of White Album tracks such as "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"[76] and his two contributions to Abbey Road.[77][78]
Promotional film
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/1/1c/Harrison_and_boyd_in_promotinal_video.jpg/220px-Harrison_and_boyd_in_promotinal_video.jpg)
The promotional clip for "Something" was shot in late October 1969, not long after Lennon had privately announced that he was leaving the band. By this time, the individual Beatles had grown apart and so the film consisted of separate clips of each Beatle walking around his home, accompanied by his wife, edited together.[79] Harrison's segment shows him and Boyd together in the garden at Kinfauns; in author John Winn's description, Harrison appears "solemn" while Boyd is seen "smiling sweetly" and "sporting leather and fur coats". Winn also comments on the attractiveness of all the wives in contrast to the unkempt appearance of McCartney, especially, who had sunk into depression at the realisation that the Beatles were over.[79] The four segments were edited and compiled into a single film clip by Neil Aspinall.[80] Writing in The New York Times following Aspinall's death in 2008, Allan Kozinn said: "What Mr. Aspinall's idyllic film avoided showing was that the Beatles were at that point barely on speaking terms. In the film, no two Beatles are seen together."[80]
In 2015, following restoration overseen by Apple's Jonathan Clyde,[81] the "Something" promo film was included in the Beatles' video compilation 1 and its expanded edition, 1+.[82] Rolling Stone journalist Rob Sheffield comments on the significance of the clip, with regard to the band's history:
[E]ach couple projects a totally different vibe – George and Patti peacocking in their hippie-royalty finery, Paul and Linda on the farm in Scotland with Martha the sheepdog, Ringo and Maureen goofing around on motorbikes, John and Yoko serene in their matching black robes. Each Beatle looks like he's found what he was looking for – but they're heading for four separate futures.[83]
In her review of 1+, for Paste, Gillian Gaar says that with the Beatles' promotional films of their singles, from "Love Me Do" to "Something" (the last one they made during their career), "you can see the development of the promo clip, progressing from a short film that simply served up a straight performance to a piece of work that was striving to be something more artistic."[84]
Commercial performance
Although its commercial impact was lessened by the ongoing success of the parent album,[85] "Something" / "Come Together" was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on 27 October.[86] During the single's chart run on Billboard in the US, "Something" peaked at number 3 until the magazine changed its practice of counting sales and airplay separately for each song; following this change on 29 November,[87] the single topped the Billboard Hot 100,[88][89] for one week.[90][91] "Come Together" / "Something" became the Beatles' eighteenth number 1 single in Billboard, surpassing Elvis Presley's record of seventeen.[92] In the other US national charts, Record World listed "Something" / "Come Together" at number 1 for two weeks and "Come Together" / "Something" for the remaining three weeks at number 1,[93] while in Cash Box magazine, which continued to rank each song separately, "Something" peaked at number 2 and "Come Together" spent three weeks at number 1.[94]
As the preferred side, "Something" was number 1 in Canada (for five weeks), Australia (five weeks), West Germany (two weeks), New Zealand and Singapore.[77] The combined sides reached number 4 in Britain.[95] There, the release was highly unusual,[3] given the traditional preference for non-album singles.[96] In addition, according to former Mojo editor Paul Du Noyer, "so enormous were sales of Abbey Road that demand for the single was inevitably dampened."[8]
On 17 February 1999, "Something" was certified double Platinum by the RIAA.[97] In its 2014 list titled "The Beatles' 50 Biggest Billboard Hits", Billboard places the double A-side single in sixth place, immediately after "Let It Be" and ahead of "Hello, Goodbye". Additionally, "Something" is placed again at number 30, representing the song's performance before the November 1969 Hot 100 rule change.[98]
Critical reception, awards and legacy
Among contemporary reviews, Time magazine declared "Something" to be the best track on Abbey Road,[99] while John Mendelsohn wrote in Rolling Stone: "George's vocal, containing less adenoids and more grainy Paul tunefulness than ever before, is one of many highlights on his 'Something,' some of the others being more excellent drum work, a dead catchy guitar line, perfectly subdued strings, and an unusually nice melody. Both his and Joe Cocker's version will suffice nicely until Ray Charles gets around to it."[100] Writing in Saturday Review magazine, Ellen Sander described "Something" as "certainly one of the most beautiful songs George Harrison has ever written" and added: "He feels his way through the song, instinctively cutting through its body and into the core, emoting so clearly and so gracefully that at the moment he peals 'I don't know, I don't know,' it is shown that even what is not known can be understood."[101] Lon Goddard of Record Mirror described the song as "another beautiful Harrison composition" in the style of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", saying that "It leaps scales in its heavy orchestral arrangement, then drifts down to George's simple but effective guitar style."[102] In his review of the single, Derek Johnson of the NME lauded the track as "a real quality hunk of pop" with a "strident lead guitar which exudes a mean and moody quality". Johnson stated his regret that Harrison "isn't featured more regularly as a singer", and concluded of "Something": "It's a song that grows on you, and mark my words, it will – in a big way!"[103][104]
Harrison and Apple publicist Derek Taylor had a standing joke. Whenever either of them had an idea, they would quip "This could be the big one." "Something", written in mid-1968 on a piano in Abbey Road during a break from work on The Beatles, really did become the big one for Harrison.[105]
– Author Ian MacDonald
Writing in his book Revolution in the Head, author and critic Ian MacDonald described "Something" as "the acme of Harrison's achievement as a writer". MacDonald highlighted the song's "key-structure of classical grace and panoramic effect", and cited the lyrics to verse two as "its author's finest lines – at once deeper and more elegant than almost anything his colleagues [Lennon and McCartney] ever wrote".[7]
Like Lennon, both McCartney and Starr held the song in high regard.[106][107] In the 2000 book The Beatles Anthology, Starr paired "Something" with "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" as "Two of the finest love songs ever written", adding, "they're really on a par with what John and Paul or anyone else of that time wrote"; McCartney said it was "George's greatest track – with 'Here Comes the Sun' and 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'".[54] Among Harrison's other peers, Paul Simon described "Something" as a "masterpiece" and Elton John said: "'Something' is probably one of the best love songs ever, ever, ever written ... It's better than 'Yesterday,' much better ... It's like the song I've been chasing for the last thirty-five years."[108]
In a 2002 article for The Morning News, Kenneth Womack included Harrison's guitar solo on the track among his "Ten Great Beatles Moments".[109] Describing the instrumental break as "the song's greatest lyrical feature – even more lyrical, interestingly enough, than the lyrics themselves", Womack concluded: "A masterpiece in simplicity, Harrison's solo reaches toward the sublime, wrestles with it in a bouquet of downward syncopation, and hoists it yet again in a moment of supreme grace."[110][111] Guitar World included the performance as the magazine's featured solo in June 2011.[112] Later that year, "Something" was one of the two "key tracks" highlighted by Rolling Stone when the magazine placed Harrison at number 11 on its list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists".[113]
In July 1970, "Something" received the Ivor Novello Award for "Best Song Musically and Lyrically" of 1969.[114][115] In 2005, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) named it as the 64th-greatest song ever. According to the BBC, the song "shows more clearly than any other song in The Beatles' canon that there were three great songwriters in the band rather than just two".[5] The Beatles' official website states that "Something" "underlined the ascendance of George Harrison as a major songwriting force".[91]
"Something" became the second most covered Beatles song after "Yesterday".[58][116][117] By the end of the 1970s, over 150 artists had recorded the song.[118] In 1999, Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) named "Something" as the 17th-most performed song of the twentieth century, with 5 million performances.[119] In 2004, the track was ranked at number 278 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time".[120] In 2010, "Something" appeared at number 6 on the magazine's "100 Greatest Beatles Songs" list.[116] Four years before this, Mojo placed it 7th in a similar list of the Beatles' best songs.[121]
Cover versions
Shirley Bassey
"Something" | ||||
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A-side label of the UK single | ||||
Single by Shirley Bassey | ||||
from the album Something | ||||
B-side | "Easy to Be Hard" | |||
Released | June 1970 | |||
Genre | Pop, easy listening | |||
Length | 3:35 | |||
Label | United Artists | |||
Songwriter(s) | George Harrison | |||
Producer(s) | Johnny Harris, Tony Colton | |||
Shirley Bassey singles chronology | ||||
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Among the song's many cover versions, Welsh singer Shirley Bassey recorded a successful version of "Something".[122] It was released in 1970 as the title track to her album of the same name.[123] Also issued as a single, it became Bassey's first top-ten hit in the UK since "I (Who Have Nothing)" in 1963, peaking at number 4 and spending 22 weeks on the chart.[124] The single also reached the top twenty in other European countries[125] and peaked at number 6 on Billboard's Easy Listening (later Adult Contemporary) chart.[126]
Bassey said she had been unaware of the song's origins when recording "Something".[123] She later suggested that she and Harrison could become a singer-and-songwriter pairing on the scale of Dionne Warwick and Burt Bacharach.[8] After reading these comments in 1970,[127] Harrison wrote "When Every Song Is Sung" with Bassey in mind, although it was not a composition that she ever recorded.[128]
Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra was particularly impressed with "Something", calling it "the greatest love song of the past 50 years".[5][129] According to Du Noyer, he "especially admired the way the lyric evokes a girl who isn't even present".[8] Aside from performing "Something" numerous times in concert, Sinatra recorded the song twice: in October 1970[130] as a single for Reprise Records (a version that later appeared on Frank Sinatra's Greatest Hits, Vol. 2),[131] and for his 1980 triple album Trilogy: Past Present Future.[132] With the sides flipped to favour the B-side, "Bein' Green",[133] the 1970 single peaked at number 22 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart.[134]
During his live performances, Sinatra was known to mistakenly introduce "Something" as a Lennon–McCartney composition. By 1978, however, he had begun correctly citing Harrison as its author.[135] Harrison went on to adopt Sinatra's minor lyrical change (in the song's middle eight, singing "You stick around, Jack ...") in his live performances over 1991–92.[136] In The Beatles Anthology, Harrison says he viewed Sinatra as being part of "the generation before me" and so only later came to appreciate the American singer's adoption of the song.[54]
Other artists
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/99/James_Brown_Live_Hamburg_1973_1702730029.jpg/170px-James_Brown_Live_Hamburg_1973_1702730029.jpg)
Harrison's composition began accumulating cover versions almost immediately after the release of Abbey Road. In addition to Joe Cocker, Peggy Lee and Tony Bennett each issued recordings of the song at the end of 1969.[137] Lena Horne recorded "Something" in the jazz style for her 1970 album with guitarist Gabor Szabo, titled Lena & Gabor.[138] An instrumental version by Booker T. & the M.G.'s, from their Abbey Road tribute album McLemore Avenue,[139] peaked at number 76 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1970.[140] Other artists who released covers of the song that year include Della Reese, Nancy Sinatra, Perry Como, Karina, Duane Eddy, the Ray Conniff Singers, Jerry Butler, Johnny Mathis, Engelbert Humperdinck, Isaac Hayes, King Curtis, Martha Reeves & the Vandellas, Ferrante & Teicher and the Shadows.[137] Former Motown recording artist Kim Weston included her version on her 1970 album Big Brass Four Poster. Ray Charles issued his version on the album Volcanic Action of My Soul in 1971,[116] the same year that recordings appeared by Andy Williams and Junior Walker & the All Stars, while Buddy Rich, Blue Mink and Ike & Tina Turner were among the acts who covered it in 1972.[137] Referring to the song's popularity among easy-listening artists, Harrison later said: "When even Liberace covered it [in 1970], you know that it's one of them that ends up in an elevator ..."[8][141]
At the time I wasn't particularly thrilled that Frank Sinatra did "Something" … I was more interested when Smokey Robinson did it and when James Brown did it. But I'm very pleased now, whoever's done it. I realise that the sign of a good song is when it has lots of cover versions.[54]
– George Harrison, 2000
"Something" was one of the rare Beatles songs that Elvis Presley chose to play,[142] when he introduced it into the setlist for his third season at the International Hotel in Las Vegas, in August 1970.[143] He also performed it on his 1973 Aloha from Hawaii TV special, the recording from which appeared on the accompanying bestselling album.[144] A live version from the 1970 Las Vegas concerts subsequently appeared on the Presley box sets Walk a Mile in My Shoes: The Essential '70s Masters (1995)[145] and Live in Las Vegas (2001).[146] In 1974, a recording by Johnny Rodriguez reached number 6 on Billboard's Hot Country Singles chart[147] and number 85 on the Hot 100.[148] In Canada, the song peaked at number 11 on the RPM country chart.[149]
Other versions of "Something" include recordings by James Brown, Peggy Lee, Willie Nelson,[137] Smokey Robinson,[141] Julio Iglesias,[150] James Booker[151] and Musiq Soulchild.[152] Harrison referred to James Brown's recording as his favourite cover of the song,[141] saying: "It was one of his B sides. I have it on my jukebox at home. It's absolutely brilliant."[153] In 1995, Tanya Tucker recorded the song for the album Come Together: America Salutes the Beatles.
Harrison tributes
Bruce Springsteen opened his first show after Harrison's death on 29 November 2001 by playing an acoustic version of "Something" with violinist Soozie Tyrell, followed by a rendition of Harrison's solo hit "My Sweet Lord".[154] Elton John gave a solo performance of the song at New York's Carnegie Hall in April 2002, as part of a one-hour Harrison tribute during the eleventh annual Rainforest Foundation concert.[155]
In honour of Harrison's fondness for the instrument, Paul McCartney played a ukulele rendition of "Something" throughout his 2002–03 world tour[156] and included the track on his Back in the U.S. live album.[157] At the Concert for George, held at London's Royal Albert Hall on 29 November 2002,[158] he and Eric Clapton performed a version that begins with McCartney alone, on ukulele, and then reverts to the familiar, rock arrangement, with Clapton taking over as lead singer and backing from Starr, Preston and others.[159] Following its appearance in David Leland's film Concert for George (2003) and on the accompanying live album, this performance of "Something" was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.[160] Bob Dylan also played the song live during his November 2002 concerts, as a tribute to Harrison.[161][162] McCartney has continued to perform "Something", adopting the Concert for George mix of ukulele and rock backing;[163] a version with this musical arrangement was included on his 2009 album Good Evening New York City.[164]
Live performances by Harrison
Harrison played "Something" at the two Concert for Bangladesh shows, held at Madison Square Garden in New York on 1 August 1971.[165] His first live performance as a solo artist, he was backed by a large band that included Starr, Preston, Clapton and Leon Russell.[166][167] The version used on the live album and in the 1972 concert film was taken from the evening show that day, when Harrison played it as the final song before returning to perform "Bangla Desh" as an encore.[168]
Harrison included "Something" in all of his subsequent, and rare, full-length concert appearances.[169] For his 1974 North American tour with Ravi Shankar, he had been reluctant to feature any material from the Beatles' catalogue,[170] but at the urging of Shankar and Preston during rehearsals, he added "Something" to the setlist.[171] To the disappointment of many fans, however, he chose to alter some of the song's lyrics (such as changing the first line to "If there's something in the way, remove it").[172] Further distancing himself from the Beatles' legacy, Harrison told journalists at the start of the tour that he would join a group with Lennon "any day" but rejected the idea of working again with McCartney, since he preferred Willie Weeks as a bassist.[173] MacDonald comments that this statement was likely in reference to McCartney's "too fussily extemporised" bass part on the Beatles' 1969 recording.[7] With Boyd having left Harrison for Clapton earlier in 1974,[174] Larry Sloman of Rolling Stone described the reworked "Something" as "a moving diary of his love life".[175]
A version from Harrison's December 1991 tour of Japan with Clapton – Harrison's only other tour as a solo artist[176] – appears on the Live in Japan double album (1992).[177] Inglis writes of the track having "extra poignancy" by this time, "in that the woman for whom it was written had been married to, and divorced from, Harrison and Clapton in turn".[178] Inglis adds: "It is not a new interpretation of the song, but it does suggest a new perspective, in which words and music are used by two close friends to reflect on the lives they have led."[179]
Personnel
According to Walter Everett[51] and Bruce Spizer:[180]
The Beatles
- George Harrison – lead vocal, lead guitar, rhythm guitar
- John Lennon – piano
- Paul McCartney – bass guitar, backing vocal
- Ringo Starr – drums
Additional musicians
Charts and certifications
Beatles version
Shirley Bassey version
|
Certifications (Beatles version)
|
Notes
- ^ The Anthology 3 track omits a piano overdub that was present on the acetate from Harrison's birthday session.[49][50]
- ^ Lennon later reprised the piano chords from the discarded coda in his 1970 song "Remember".[62][63] Music critic Richie Unterberger describes this coda as "unclassifiably strange" and at odds, in melody, mood and team signature, with Harrison's composition.[61]
- ^ Allan Steckler, Klein's colleague, dismissed another claim made by Beatles biographers, that Klein was merely attempting to win Harrison's support. Steckler said: "Klein believed in George's talent and wanted to enhance his reputation as a songwriter."[73]
References
- ^ a b Unterberger, Richie. "The Beatles 'Something'". AllMusic. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
- ^ ""Album: Abbey Road"". Archived from the original on 17 February 2006. Retrieved 2004-08-17.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). Retrieved 30 March 2006. - ^ a b c d e f g h i Mark Lewisohn, "Something Else", in Mojo Special Limited Edition, p. 118.
- ^ a b Harrison 2002, p. 152.
- ^ a b c "Sold on Song – Top 100 – Something". BBC Radio 2. April 2005. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
- ^ Clayson 2003, p. 250.
- ^ a b c d MacDonald 1998, p. 306.
- ^ a b c d e f g Du Noyer, Paul (January 2002). "George Harrison's Uncertain Something". Mojo. Archived from the original on 26 May 2013. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
- ^ The Editors of Rolling Stone 2002, p. 177.
- ^ Clayson 2003, pp. 250–51, 271.
- ^ Welch, Chris (1 December 2001). "George Harrison 1943–2001". The Guardian. Available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required).
- ^ Boyd 2007, p. 117.
- ^ Schaffner 1978, p. 115.
- ^ Allison 2006, p. 155.
- ^ Greene 2006, p. 142.
- ^ The Editors of Rolling Stone 2002, p. 132.
- ^ Cashmere, Paul (1996). "George Harrison Gets 'Undercover'". abbeyrd.net. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
- ^ Cashmere, Paul (23 April 2016). "George Harrison Interview from the Noise11.com Archives". Noise11.com. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
- ^ Clayson 2003, p. 251, 283.
- ^ Everett 1999, pp. 248, 249.
- ^ a b Pollack, Alan W. (1999). "Notes on 'Something'". soundscapes.info. Retrieved 20 February 2015.
- ^ MacDonald 1998, pp. 306, 452.
- ^ a b c Leng 2006, p. 41.
- ^ a b c Inglis 2010, p. 15.
- ^ a b Harrison 2002, p. 154.
- ^ MacDonald 1998, p. 278.
- ^ Leng 2006, pp. 55–56.
- ^ Castleman & Podrazik 1976, pp. 75, 77.
- ^ Miles 2001, pp. 312, 313.
- ^ Martin O'Gorman, "Film on Four", in Mojo Special Limited Edition, p. 73.
- ^ Leng 2006, p. 39.
- ^ a b The Editors of Rolling Stone 2002, p. 38.
- ^ Sulpy & Schweighardt 1997, pp. 1–2, 292–93.
- ^ Sulpy & Schweighardt 1997, pp. 291–92.
- ^ Martin O'Gorman, "Film on Four", in Mojo Special Limited Edition, pp. 70–71.
- ^ Hertsgaard 1996, p. 119.
- ^ Unterberger 2006, p. 259.
- ^ Sulpy & Schweighardt 1997, pp. 291–92, 330.
- ^ a b Sulpy & Schweighardt 1997, pp. 292–93.
- ^ Spizer 2005, p. 220.
- ^ a b Hertsgaard 1996, p. 283.
- ^ Miles 2001, p. 335.
- ^ Winn 2009, pp. 264–65.
- ^ Huntley 2006, pp. 18–19.
- ^ MacDonald 1998, p. 302.
- ^ Mark Lewisohn, liner notes in booklet accompanying the Beatles' Anthology 3 CD (Apple Records, 1996; produced by George Martin), p. 37.
- ^ Unterberger 2006, pp. 264–65.
- ^ Spizer 2005, p. 225.
- ^ Winn 2009, p. 264.
- ^ Unterberger 2006, p. 265.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Everett 1999, p. 249.
- ^ Clayson 2003, p. 251.
- ^ Ken Scott, in George Harrison: Living in the Material World DVD. Village Roadshow, 2011. (Directed by Martin Scorsese; produced by Olivia Harrison, Nigel Sinclair, Martin Scorsese.) Disc 2: event occurs between 6:26 and 6:57.
- ^ a b c d The Beatles 2000, p. 340.
- ^ Hertsgaard 1996, pp. 173, 294.
- ^ Harper, Simon (12 November 2009). "Classic Album: The Beatles – Abbey Road". Clash. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
- ^ Inglis 2010, pp. 15–16.
- ^ a b c The Editors of Rolling Stone 2002, p. 178.
- ^ MacDonald 1998, p. 311.
- ^ Lewisohn 2005, p. 177.
- ^ a b Unterberger 2006, p. 269.
- ^ Spizer 2003, p. 58.
- ^ MacDonald 1998, p. 306fn.
- ^ Winn 2009, p. 315.
- ^ Leng 2006, p. 42.
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- ^ a b Castleman & Podrazik 1976, p. 81.
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- ^ Castleman & Podrazik 1976, p. 332.
- ^ Schaffner 1978, p. 133.
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- ^ Sutherland, Steve (ed.) (2003). NME Originals: Lennon. London: IPC Ignite!. p. 67.
{{cite book}}
:|author=
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- ^ The Editors of Rolling Stone 2002, pp. 233, 235.
- ^ Womack 2006, pp. xi, 189.
- ^ Womack, Ken (17 May 2002). "Ten Great Beatles Moments". The Morning News. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
- ^ Womack 2006, p. 189.
- ^ Aledort, Andy (13 June 2011). "In Deep: Learn to Play the Guitar Solo from The Beatles' 'Something'". guitarworld.com. Archived from the original on 25 February 2015. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
- ^ "George Harrison – 100 Greatest Guitarists". rollingstone.com. 23 November 2011. Retrieved 25 February 2015.
- ^ Badman 2001, p. 12.
- ^ "'1' - The Beatles Compilation Album". h2g2. Retrieved 15 February 2012.
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- ^ a b Bush, John. "Shirley Bassey Something". AllMusic. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
- ^ a b "Shirley Bassey". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
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- ^ Inglis 2010, p. 56.
- ^ MacDonald 1998, pp. 305–06.
- ^ White, Timothy (15 December 2001). "The Answer's at the End: George Harrison, 1943–2001". Billboard. p. 86. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
- ^ Albin, Steve (1 December 2013). "Frank Sinatra – The Reprise Years" > "Date: October 28, 1970". jazzdiscography.com. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
- ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Frank Sinatra Trilogy: Past, Present & Future". AllMusic. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
- ^ "Frank Sinatra – Something (Vinyl)". Discogs. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
- ^ "Billboard Top 40 Easy Listening". Billboard. 13 February 1971. p. 29. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
- ^ "The Movable Buffet: Los Angeles Times". Vegasblog.latimes.com. 13 December 2006. Archived from the original on 17 December 2006. Retrieved 12 December 2012.
- ^ Marck, John T. (2006). "Oh Look Out! Part 12, Abbey Road". Retrieved 1 April 2006.
- ^ a b c d "Cover versions of Something written by George Harrison". SecondHandSongs. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
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- ^ "Billboard Hot 100". Billboard. 15 August 1970. p. 72. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
- ^ a b c Ellen, Mark (January 1988). "A Big Hand for The Quiet One". Q. p. 56.
- ^ Simpson 2004, p. 212.
- ^ "1969–77 Concert Database > Search Results ('Something')". elvisconcerts.com. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
- ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Elvis Presley Aloha from Hawaii via Satellite". AllMusic. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
- ^ Jorgensen, Ernst Mikael; Semon, Roger; Rasmussen, Erik (1995). "Recording Data". Walk a Mile in My Shoes: The Essential '70s Masters booklet. RCA Records/BMG. pp. 50–51.
- ^ Planer, Lindsay. "Elvis Presley Live in Las Vegas". AllMusic. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
- ^ "Billboard Hot Country Singles". Billboard. 25 May 1974. p. 42. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
- ^ "Billboard Hot Country Singles". Billboard. 18 May 1974. p. 64. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
- ^ "RPM Country Playlist (8 June 1974)". Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
- ^ "Best Beatles Love Songs – 'Something'". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
- ^ "A Taste Of Honey: Live In New Orleans 1977 - James Booker | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 23 January 2019.
- ^ Erlwine, Stephen Thomas. "Musiq (Soulchild) Juslisen". AllMusic. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
- ^ "George Harrison – In His Own Words". superseventies.com. Retrieved 15 February 2012.
- ^ "2001 Setlists > December 3 / Asbury Park, NJ / Convention Hall". backstreets.com. Retrieved 26 February 2015.
- ^ Friedman, Roger (15 April 2002). "Sting Strips for Charity, Elton Puts on Pearls". FoxNews.com. Archived from the original on 5 December 2013. Retrieved 27 February 2015.
- ^ Sounes 2010, pp. 512–13.
- ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Paul McCartney Back in the U.S.". AllMusic. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
- ^ Du Noyer, Paul (March 2003). "Concert for George, Royal Albert Hall, London, November 29, 2002". Blender. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
- ^ Inglis 2010, pp. 126–27.
- ^ "Grammy Win For 'The Concert For George'" Archived 16 February 2006 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2 April 2006.
- ^ Pareles, Jon (16 November 2002). "Dylan's After-Hours Side". New York Times. Retrieved 28 February 2007.
- ^ "New York City, NY – Nov 13, 2002 – Madison Square Garden". bobdylan.com. 13 November 2002. Retrieved 15 February 2012.
- ^ Sounes 2010, pp. 519, 561–63.
- ^ Raposa, David (3 December 2009). "Paul McCartney: Good Evening New York City". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
- ^ Badman 2001, pp. 43–44.
- ^ Lavezzoli 2006, pp. 188, 189.
- ^ The Editors of Rolling Stone 2002, p. 42.
- ^ Madinger & Easter 2000, pp. 437–38.
- ^ Madinger & Easter 2000, pp. 446–47, 481–82, 485.
- ^ Woffinden 1981, p. 83.
- ^ The Editors of Rolling Stone 2002, p. 128.
- ^ Lavezzoli 2006, pp. 195–96.
- ^ Doggett 2011, pp. 224–25.
- ^ Tillery 2011, p. 94.
- ^ Leng 2006, p. 165.
- ^ Simmons, Michael (November 2011). "Cry for a Shadow". Mojo. p. 86.
- ^ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "George Harrison Live in Japan". AllMusic. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
- ^ Inglis 2010, p. 109.
- ^ Inglis 2010, p. 110.
- ^ Spizer 2003, pp. 58–59.
- ^ "Go-Set Australian Charts – 20 December 1969". poparchives.com.au. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
- ^ "Discography The Beatles". austriancharts.at. Archived from the original on 22 March 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
- ^ "RPM Top Singles – Volume 12, No. 15, November 29, 1969". Library and Archives Canada. Archived from the original on 23 February 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
- ^ "Search by Artist > The Beatles". irishcharts.ie. Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
- ^ "Search NZ Listener > 'The Beatles'". Flavour of New Zealand. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
- ^ "Discography The Beatles". norwegiancharts.com. Retrieved 23 February 2015.
- ^ "Swedish Charts 1969–1972/Kvällstoppen – Listresultaten vecka för vecka > 'December 1969' (in Swedish)" (PDF). hitsallertijden.nl. Archived from the original on 20 February 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ a b Whitburn, Joel (2015). The Comparison Book. Menonomee Falls, Wisconsin: Record Research Inc. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-89820-213-7.
- ^ Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 25.
- ^ "The Beatles Single-Chartverfolgung (in German)". musicline.de. Archived from the original on 13 December 2013. Retrieved 20 September 2015.
- ^ "Go-Set Australian Charts – 16 January 1971". poparchives.com.au. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
- ^ "Shirley Bassey – Something". austriancharts.at. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
- ^ "Shirley Bassey – Something". ultratop.be. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
- ^ "Tous les Titres par Artiste > Shirley Bassey (in French)". infodisc.fr. Archived from the original on 20 September 2013. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
- ^ "Search by Artist > Shirley Bassey". irishcharts.ie. Archived from the original on 3 June 2009. Retrieved 24 February 2015.
Sources
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: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Badman, Keith (2001). The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After the Break-Up 1970–2001. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-7119-8307-6.
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(help) - The Beatles (2000). The Beatles Anthology. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books. ISBN 0-8118-2684-8.
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(help) - Boyd, Pattie; with Junor, Penny (2007). Wonderful Today: The Autobiography. London: Headline Review. ISBN 978-0-7553-1646-5.
- Castleman, Harry; Podrazik, Walter J. (1976). All Together Now: The First Complete Beatles Discography 1961–1975. New York, NY: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-25680-8.
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(help) - Clayson, Alan (2003). George Harrison. London: Sanctuary. ISBN 1-86074-489-3.
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(help) - Doggett, Peter (2011). You Never Give Me Your Money: The Beatles After the Breakup. New York, NY: It Books. ISBN 978-0-06-177418-8.
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(help) - The Editors of Rolling Stone (2002). Harrison. New York, NY: Rolling Stone Press. ISBN 978-0-7432-3581-5.
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has generic name (help); Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Everett, Walter (1999). The Beatles as Musicians: Revolver Through the Anthology. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509553-7.
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: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Greene, Joshua M. (2006). Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-470-12780-3.
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(help) - Harrison, George (2002) [1980]. I, Me, Mine. San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-0-8118-5900-4.
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(help) - Hertsgaard, Mark (1996). A Day in the Life: The Music and Artistry of the Beatles. London: Pan Books. ISBN 0-330-33891-9.
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(help) - Hoffmann, Frank (1983). The Cash Box Singles Charts, 1950–1981. Metuchen, NJ: The Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-1595-7.
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(help) - Hunt, Chris (ed.) (2005). NME Originals: Beatles – The Solo Years 1970–1980. London: IPC Ignite!.
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(help) - Lavezzoli, Peter (2006). The Dawn of Indian Music in the West. New York, NY: Continuum. ISBN 0-8264-2819-3.
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(help) - Leng, Simon (2006). While My Guitar Gently Weeps: The Music of George Harrison. Milwaukee, WI: Hal Leonard. ISBN 978-1-4234-0609-9.
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(help) - Lewisohn, Mark (2005) [1988]. The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years 1962–1970. London: Bounty Books. ISBN 978-0-7537-2545-0.
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(help) - MacDonald, Ian (1998). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties. London: Pimlico. ISBN 0-7126-6697-4.
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(help) - Madinger, Chip; Easter, Mark (2000). Eight Arms to Hold You: The Solo Beatles Compendium. Chesterfield, MO: 44.1 Productions. ISBN 0-615-11724-4.
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(help) - Miles, Barry (2001). The Beatles Diary Volume 1: The Beatles Years. London: Omnibus Press. ISBN 0-7119-8308-9.
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(help) - Mojo Special Limited Edition: 1000 Days of Revolution (The Beatles' Final Years – Jan 1, 1968 to Sept 27, 1970). London: Emap. 2003.
- Rodriguez, Robert (2010). Fab Four FAQ 2.0: The Beatles' Solo Years, 1970–1980. Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books. ISBN 978-1-4165-9093-4.
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(help) - Romanowski, Patricia; George-Warren, Holly (eds) (1995). The New Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll. New York, NY: Fireside/Rolling Stone Press. ISBN 0-684-81044-1.
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(help) - Sheff, David (2010) [1981]. All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. London: Macmillan. ISBN 978-1-4299-5808-0.
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(help) - Simpson, Paul (2004). The Rough Guide to Elvis. London: Rough Guides. ISBN 1-84353-417-7.
{{cite book}}
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(help) - Sounes, Howard (2010). Fab: An Intimate Life of Paul McCartney. London: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-00-723705-0.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Spizer, Bruce (2003). The Beatles on Apple Records. New Orleans, LA: 498 Productions. ISBN 0-9662649-4-0.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Spizer, Bruce (2005). The Beatles Solo on Apple Records. New Orleans, LA: 498 Productions. ISBN 0-9662649-5-9.
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: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Sullivan, Steve (2013). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings, Volume 2. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press. ISBN 978-0-8108-8296-6.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Sulpy, Doug; Schweighardt, Ray (1997). Get Back: The Unauthorized Chronicle of The Beatles' Let It Be Disaster. New York, NY: St. Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0-312-19981-3.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Tillery, Gary (2011). Working Class Mystic: A Spiritual Biography of George Harrison. Wheaton, IL: Quest Books. ISBN 978-0-8356-0900-5.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Unterberger, Richie (2006). The Unreleased Beatles: Music & Film. San Francisco, CA: Backbeat Books. ISBN 978-0-87930-892-6.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Winn, John C. (2009). That Magic Feeling: The Beatles' Recorded Legacy, Volume Two, 1966–1970. New York, NY: Three Rivers Press. ISBN 978-0-307-45239-9.
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: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Woffinden, Bob (1981). The Beatles Apart. London: Proteus. ISBN 0-906071-89-5.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help) - Womack, Ken (2006) [2002]. "Ten Great Beatles Moments". In Skinner Sawyers, June (ed.). Read the Beatles: Classic and New Writings on the Beatles, Their Legacy, and Why They Still Matter. London: Penguin. ISBN 978-0-14-303732-3.
{{cite book}}
: Invalid|ref=harv
(help)
External links
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fa/Wikiquote-logo.svg/34px-Wikiquote-logo.svg.png)
- Full lyrics for the song at the Beatles' official website
- "Something" singles at Discogs
- Alan W. Pollack's Notes on "Something (Beatles song)"
- Use dmy dates from July 2013
- 1969 songs
- 1969 singles
- The Beatles songs
- Apple Records singles
- Songs written by George Harrison
- Song recordings produced by George Martin
- Music published by Harrisongs
- Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
- RPM Top Singles number-one singles
- Number-one singles in Australia
- Number-one singles in Germany
- Number-one singles in New Zealand
- Joe Cocker songs
- Shirley Bassey songs
- Frank Sinatra songs
- 1960s ballads
- Pop ballads
- Rock ballads