When people talk about The Beatles‘ “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” the first thing that’s usually mentioned is how Eric Clapton guest-starred on the song. There’s no doubt Clapton’s colossal soloing added a great deal to the recording.
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But don’t overlook the subtle beauty of the lyrics, manifested by the song’s writer, George Harrison. That beauty seems even more impressive when you delve into the process Harrison devised to write the song, which involved Eastern philosophy and random chance.
“Guitar” Hero
After taking a while to find his songwriting footing in the early days of The Beatles, George Harrison developed into an important contributor of material for the group’s later albums. Unfortunately, his work could occasionally be disrespected still by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
That very dynamic developed when it came to “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” which Harrison had presented for inclusion on the White Album in 1968. When he couldn’t drum up much interest from John and Paul in the song, he took matters into his own hands and invited his buddy Eric Clapton to play on the track. Suddenly, everyone was energized and the group, with Clapton, made a stellar recording of the song.
As for the lyrics, Harrison took a unique approach. While at his mother’s house one day, he began musing on the philosophical concept found in some Eastern religions that suggests every thing that happens is as it’s meant to be and nothing is coincidental. He decided to try it out, as he explained in The Beatles Anthology:
“‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ was a simple study based on that theory. I decided to write a song based on the first thing I saw upon opening any book—as it would be a relative to that moment, at that time. I picked up a book at random, opened it, saw ‘gently weeps,’ then laid the book down again and started the song.”
Examining the Lyrics to “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”
When you hear the early demos of the song found on various Beatles collections, you’ll notice George Harrison went through several different possibilities for the lyrics to “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” including some discarded verses. What he left in the song is a restrained lament about the lack of awareness within the human race, specifically how we sometimes fail to see what’s important.
Harrison takes the role of a narrator who can see the folly in front of him, yet is powerless to do anything about it. I look at you all / See the love there that’s sleeping, he moans. When he talks about a floor needing sweeping, you can imagine it’s the metaphorical broom he’s imagining, one that ushers away all ignorance.
As the world spins on in front of him, he’s at a loss to understand why no one else can see the error of their ways: With every mistake / We must surely be learning. His response is to channel his sorrow into his music, letting his guitar do the wailing for him.
In the middle eights, Harrison directly addresses what seems to be one person, although we can imagine it’s a much larger swath of people he’s targeting with his message. A mix of disappointment and disgust emanates from his words: I don’t know how someone controlled you / They bought and sold you. Diverted and perverted by some unseen force, these folks stumble on without correcting their paths.
When the final verse rolls around, Harrison seems so distressed he can’t even finish his thought. All he can do is mutter, I look at you all. You can groove all you want to Eric Clapton’s axe work on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Just remember to take heed of its important message, arrived at by George Harrison thanks to the turn of a page.
Photo by David Redfern/Redferns/Getty Images
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