Part of
"The Beatles" (aka the White Album) sessions
May 30 - Oct 18, 1968 • Songs recorded during this session appear on The Beatles (Mono)
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- Album Songs recorded during this session officially appear on the The Beatles (Mono) LP.
- Studio:
- EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Timeline
More from year 1968
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About
George Harrison and Paul McCartney had tried recording George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” on July 25, 1968, in an acoustic version close to the demo played at Kinfauns, in late May.
On this day, from 7 pm to 5 am, The Beatles returned to it as a band. Fourteen instrumental-only takes were recorded with George Harrison on acoustic guitar, Paul McCartney on bass, John Lennon on organ, and Ringo Starr on drums. At some point, George declared:
I like the way it suddenly changes into a song
George Harrison
Take 14 was considered to be the best. A reduction mix (named take 15) was done to open up more tracks for overdubs. In the process, the tape was slowed down to lengthen the song from 3:53 to 4:53.
Shortly after leaving the studio, George Harrison flew to Greece for a short holiday, returning to London on August 21. The Monday, August 19 session was cancelled. August 20 and August 21 went without him, and overdubs onto take 15 would be only worked on, on September 3.
One intriguing detail is that one of the tape boxes of this session was marked “The Beatles; Produced by The Beatles“.
The ‘White Album’ was a time when George Martin was starting to relinquish control over the group. There were a number of occasions – holidays, and when he had other recording commitments – when he wasn’t available for sessions and they would just get on and produce it themselves. He certainly wasn’t around for quite a considerable period of time, although they’d always fall back on him for scoring and arranging things.
Brian Gibson, technical engineer – From “The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions” by Mark Lewisohn
Last updated on September 5, 2021
Songs recorded
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Written by George Harrison
Tape copying • Tape reduction take 14 into take 15
Staff
Musicians on "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"
Production staff
Going further
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions • Mark Lewisohn
The definitive guide for every Beatles recording sessions from 1962 to 1970.
We owe a lot to Mark Lewisohn for the creation of those session pages, but you really have to buy this book to get all the details - the number of takes for each song, who contributed what, a description of the context and how each session went, various photographies... And an introductory interview with Paul McCartney!
The fourth book of this critically acclaimed series, "The Beatles Recording Reference Manual: Volume 4: The Beatles through Yellow Submarine (1968 - early 1969)" captures The Beatles as they take the lessons of Sgt. Pepper forward with an ambitious double-album that is equally innovative and progressive. From the first take to the final remix, discover the making of the greatest recordings of all time. Through extensive, fully-documented research, these books fill an important gap left by all other Beatles books published to date and provide a unique view into the recordings of the world's most successful pop music act.
If we like to think, in all modesty, that the Paul McCartney Project is the best online ressource for everything Paul McCartney, The Beatles Bible is for sure the definitive online site focused on the Beatles. There are obviously some overlap in terms of content between the two sites, but also some major differences in terms of approach.
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