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Within You Without You

George Harrison: Vocals, sitar, tamboura, acoustic guitar

Musicians From Asian Music Circle: Dilrubas, svarmandal, tabla, tamboura
Neil Aspinall: Tamboura
Eric Gruenberg: Violin
Alan Loveday: Violin
Julien Gaillard: Violin
Paul Scherman: Violin
Ralph Elman: Violin
David Wolfsthal: Violin
Jack Rothstein: Violin
Jack Greene: Violin
Reginald Kilbey: Cello
Allen Ford: Cello
Peter Beavan: Cello

Recorded March 15, 22 and April 3, 4 1967.

Available on:
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Anthology 2

Within You Without You was the only Harrison composition that made it to the Sgt. Pepper album, despite the fact that he had written several new songs at the time (including Only A Northern Song, which was recorded during the Sgt. Pepper sessions, but released on the Yellow Submarine album).

Harrison began to study the Indian sitar under the master Ravi Shankar in 1965. He introduced the instrument for the first time on Lennon's Norwegian Wood from the album Rubber Soul the same year. The sitar appeared frequently on Beatles recordings after that.

Within You Without You was Harrison's second Indian composition, thew first was Love You To from 1966's Revolver.

Harrison started writing Within You Without You after a dinner party at the home of Klaus Voorman, a German artist and musician he first met in Hamburg. Voorman had designed the cover of Beatles' Revolver album, and he also played bass in the band Manfred Mann.

Harrison had gone into an adjoining room to play on Voorman's harmonium (an organ adapted for Indian music), and by the end of the evening the song Within You Without You was beginning to take shape.

The lyrics are inspired by Hindu religion, and the conception that all people are as one. It also reflects on the battle against materialistic values, hence the line:

"The people who gain the world and lose their soul - they don't know - they can't see - are you one of them?"

One interesting fact about Within You Without You is that the song blends Eastern and Western classical instruments together.

Musicians From Asian Music Circle were hired (but not credited) for the recording, and George Martin wrote a score for the strings. The combination of classical European and Indian instruments is highly unique, and although Martin was a bit unsure about the recording back in 1967, he recognizes it as a good song today.

John, Paul and Ringo were not present during the recording of Within You Without You, but Lennon later said it was one of Harrison's best songs.

Within You Without You

We were talking
about the love we all could share
When we find it
to try our best to hold it there
with our love, with our love
we could save the world
if they only knew

Try to realize it's all within yourself
no one else can make you change
And to see you're really only very small
and life flows on within you and without you

We were talking
about the love that's gone so cold
and the people who gain the world
and lose their soul
They don't know, they can't see
Are you one of them

When you've seen beyond yourself
then you may find
peace of mind is waiting there
And the time will come
when you see we're all one
and life flows on within you and without you