|
If I Needed Someone
(George Harrison)
George
Harrison: Vocals, electric guitars
John Lennon: Electric guitar, vocals
Paul McCartney: Bass guitar, vocals
Ringo Starr: Drums, tambourine
George Martin: Harmonium
Recorded
October 16, 18 1965.
Available
on:
Rubber Soul
If I Needed
Someone was perhaps George Harrison's strongest composition
so far into his career.
The song's
gentle guitar riff is likely to have been inspired by two
songs by the Byrds; The Bells Of Rhymney and She Don't Care
About Time. Harrison and Byrds' guitarist Robert McGuinn
knew each other well, and both were fascinated by Indian
music.
Harrison
said in his book I Me Mine that he can hear the same guitar
line in many other songs.
"That
guitar line, or variations on it, is found in many a song
and it amazes me that people still find new permutations
of the same notes," he said.
One of
the great things about If I Needed Someone is that it could
go on forever. The guitar line and the vocals make a perfect
combination, and Paul's creative bass lines give the song
the right depth.
It's a
highly unusual, original and perhaps underrated song, and
a clear signal from George that he had matured as a songwriter
and that great things were to come.
If I Needed
Someone also has a slight Indian feel to it, and this is
of course no coincidence since Harrison already had developed
an interest in Indian music (he played the sitar on Lennon's
Norwegian
Wood on the same album.)
Only the
lyrics let the song down a couple of places ("Had you
come some other day then it might not have been like this/But
you see now I’m too much in love).
The Hollies
also recorded a version of If I Needed Someone, which was
released in December 1965. The Hollies' version only made
it to number 20 on the UK charts, and Harrison was quoted
in newspapers saying that he disliked their version.
A live
version of If I Needed Someone is available on Harrison's
album Live In Japan from 1991, which also features Eric
Clapton and his band.
If I Needed Someone
(George Harrison)
If I needed
someone to love you’re the one that I’d be thinking
of
If I needed someone if I had some more time to spend
Then I guess I’d be with you my friend if I needed
someone
Had you come some other day then it might not have been
like this
But you see now I’m too much in love
Carve your number on my wall and maybe you will get a call
from me
If I needed someone
Had you come some other day then it might not have been
like this
But you see now I’m too much in love
Carve your number on my wall and maybe you will get a call
from me
If I needed someone
|
