After working with co-producer Phil Spector on his third album, All Things Must Pass, George Harrison started working on the producer’s then-wife, the Ronettes’ Ronnie Spector‘s comeback album, which would be released on the Beatles‘ Apple Records. For her, Harrison contributed two songs he’d recorded during the All Things Must Pass Sessions.
Though Spector’s album was later abandoned due to her husband’s erratic behavior during recording, some of the songs they recorded were later revived by Harrison.
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[RELATED: How a Random Beach Sign Inspired George Harrison’s Last Single “Any Road”]
“Try Some, Buy Some,” Ronnie Spector (1971) / George Harrison (1973)
Written by George Harrison
George Harrison originally wrote “Try Some, Buy Some” during the All Things Must Pass sessions in 1970. By April 1971, another version was released as a single by Ronnie Spector. Co-produced by Phil Spector and Harrison, the new version features the former Beatle on guitar and peaked at No. 77.
“The song itself, I think, is really good,” Harrison told Record Mirror in 1972. “It’s so simple yet so complicated. It was the sort of thing I found myself playing over and over again and being amazed by the simplicity of the movement of the bass lines.”
Way back in time
Someone said, try some
I tried some
Now buy some – I bought some…
Oh oh oh
After a while
When I had tried them
Denied them
I opened my eyes and
I saw you
Not a thing did I have
Not a thing did I see
‘Till I called on your love
And your love came to me
Unfortunately, Spector’s album was abandoned due to her husband’s erratic behavior, and Harrison revisited the song in 1973, adding his vocals onto a new mix of “Try Some, Buy Some” and releasing it on his fourth solo album, Living in the Material World. Though Phil Spector originally began working with Harrison on Living in the Material World, he was later removed as a co-producer.
Remembering “Try Some, Buy Some” in a 1999 interview, Ronnie Spector said it had become one of her favorite singles. “[It] was done to make me happy, and it did,” she said. “It might not have been made for the right reasons, but it’s a good record.”
Ronnie Spector’s version of “Try Some, Buy Some” was released again on the 2010 compilation Come And Get It: The Best Of Apple Records.
“Tandoori Chicken,” Ronnie Spector (1971)
Written by George Harrison and Phil Spector
The B-side to “Try Some, Buy Some” was another Harrison and Phil Spector collaboration. The more rockabilly “Tandoori Chicken” linked love and food around the Northern Indian dish.
I told Mal, my old pal
To go with Joe, and both of you go
And get Tandoori chicken (Tandoori chicken)
I said, Tandoori chicken (Tandoori chicken)
Tandoori chicken and a great big bottle of wine
“Phil [Spector] couldn’t last in the studio for more than a few hours,” recalled Harrison of the recording session with Spector in Timothy White’s 2013 book George Harrison: All Things Considered.”We did about four very rough backing tracks [for Ronnie Spector]. A couple of the songs Phil had written. One of them was very good in his pop vein.’
Harrison added, “The B-side’s a killer, ‘Tandoori Chicken.’ It’s a 12-bar thing done on the spot with Mal, our roadie, and Joe the chauffeur – “I told Mal/My old pal/To go with Joe/And they should go/And get some tandoori chicken.” And a great big bottle of wine. We did it in one take, with a lot of improvised scat singing in the middle. It’s hysterical.”
“You,” George Harrson (1975)
Written by George Harrison
With the more R&B and Motown-driven “You,” Harrison wanted to try to capture a “Ronnette” sound for Ronnie Spector’s comeback album. “‘You’ was written for Phil Spector’s wife, Ronnie,” said Harrison. “I wrote it and laid the track down with Leon Russell. I tried to write a Ronette sort of song. We never got to make a whole album.”
Spector originally recorded “You” at Abbey Road, but it was never released. Harrison later revived the song and recorded it for his sixth solo album—and his final one with Apple Records—Extra Texture (Read All About It), keeping some of her vocals on the track. Once released, the single went to No. 20 on the Billboard Hot 100, though it was challenging for Harrison to sing in Spector’s register.
“I forgot about it and years later dug the tape out and re-worked it,” added Harrison, “overdubbed on it and did it myself even though it was recorded in Ronnie’s register—a bit high for me.”
I, I, love, love
And I, and I love you
Oh you, you, yeah you
And you, you, love, love
And you, yes you, you love me
Yeah, you, you, yeah you
And when I’m holding you
What a feeling
Seems so good to be true
That I’m telling you all
That I must be dreaming
“Try Some, Buy Some,” David Bowie (2003)
In 2003, David Bowie released his version of “Try Some, Buy Some” on his album Reality. Produced by Tony Visconti and recorded between January and May 2003 at Looking Glass Studios in New York City. Bowie also performed “Try Some, Buy Some” during his 2003–2004 Reality tour.
“We were pretty true to the original arrangement,” said Bowie, “but the overall atmosphere is somewhat different. It’s a dense piece.”
Photo: George Harrison at the Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden, August 1, 1971, in New York City. (Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)
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