“George had never dared tell Paul what to do. “It was a first in all my years working with The Beatles,” Emerick wrote in Here, There and Everywhere. When Paul came up with a bass line for “Something,” George told him to try harder. As Beatles engineer Geoff Emerick recalled, George got a bit of revenge during the Abbey Road sessions. George wasn’t above rubbing it in a bit, either. Then following year, when George composed “Something,” no one could deny the power of his songwriting ability. John and Paul mainly because they had to, you know, act more handsomely.” “Because the others would have to control themselves a bit more. “What happened when Eric was there on that day, and later on when Billy Preston … I pulled in Billy Preston on Let It Be… it helped,” George said in 1977.

In fact, George recalled them being on their best behavior with Clapton in the room. When George brought him along to the White Album sessions, John and Paul noticed. | WATFORD/Mirrorpix via Getty Imagesīy 1968, anyone in the rock scene knew Clapton was among the best guitar players of the day. George wanted his fellow Beatles to take his brilliant new song seriously.īeatle George Harrison poses with pop group Delaney and Bonny and friends in 1969. Paul McCartney worked on many White Album songs by himself, and at times John Lennon couldn’t be bothered with George’s songs. What people didn’t know was The Beatles had lost their spirit of cooperation by then. By the time of these White Album sessions (summer 1968), just about everyone on the planet knew what George played in the Fab Four. Beatles fans would be right to wonder why George needed anyone to solo on his latest composition.įor one thing, George was the Beatles’ lead guitar player. However, George finally convinced him to shrug off these concerns and deliver the memorable solo on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Of course, that’s only part of the story. It basically hadn’t been done, and Clapton wasn’t keen on being the first to try. After all, The Beatles weren’t known for guests playing on their records.

When George Harrison asked his friend Eric Clapton to play the guitar solo on his new song, Clapton was understandably nervous about the situation. David Quantick, in his book Revolution, The Making Of The Beatles White Album states: Harrison had.

My guitar gently weeps original