The Final Song The Beatles Recorded for ‘Abbey Road,’ Written by John Lennon, Became One of George Harrison’s Favorites

During a promotion for The Beatles’ eleventh album, Abbey Road, George Harrison picked some of his favorite tracks, including “She Came In Through the Bathroom Window,” a song Paul McCartney wrote about fan Diane Ashley, who was once hanging outside of his home in St. John’s Wood in London and eventually broke in. Harrison called it “a very good song of Paul’s with great lyrics.”

He also praised “Golden Slumbers,” a McCartney ode to finding solace in love, inspired by a 17th-century poem by Thomas Dekker, and John Lennon’s more atmospheric “Because.”

The track, featuring the Beatles’ three-part harmony, overdubbed twice more to give the effect of nine vocals, was the last song Lennon brought in during the Abbey Road sessions, and the final one recorded for the album.

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[RELATED: How a Random Beach Sign Inspired George Harrison’s Last Single “Any Road”]

Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata”

A classically trained pianist, one day in 1969, Yoko Ono was playing around with Beethoven’s “Piano Sonata No. 14” in C-sharp minor. Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” struck Lennon, who asked Ono to play the chords backwards and started writing “Because.”

“Yoko was playing ‘Moonlight Sonata’ on the piano,” recalled Lennon. “I said, ‘Can you play those chords backward?’ and wrote ‘Because’ around them. The lyrics speak for themselves; they’re clear. No bulls–t. No imagery, no obscure references.”

Because the world is round
It turns me on
Because the world is round

Because the wind is high
It blows my mind
Because the wind is high

Love is old, love is new
Love is all, love is you

Because the sky is blue
It makes me cry
Because the sky is blue

Running just under three minutes, “Because” is a gentler respite between Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun” and another Lennon-McCartney “You Never Give Me Your Money.”

“The backing is a bit like Beethoven and three-part harmony right throughout,” said Harrison. “Paul usually writes the sweeter tunes, and John writes the sort of more rave-up things, or the freakier things. But John’s getting to where he doesn’t want to. He just wants to write twelve bars.”

Harrison continued, “But you can’t deny it, I think this is possibly my favorite one on the album. The lyrics are so simple. The harmony was pretty difficult to sing. We had to really learn it. But I think that’s one of the tunes that will impress most people. It’s really good.”

Photo: The Beatles’ ‘Abbey Road’ album cover, shot by Iain Macmillan