How George Harrison Found Inspiration to Write ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’
George Harrison’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” is one of the best songs he wrote for The Beatles. He didn’t write many hits for the fab four, but this White Album song is one of his highlights. While this track would take many writers years to think up, Harrison found inspiration for it relatively quickly.
George Harrison found the title of ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ in a book
Harrison didn’t write many hits for The Beatles, as most songwriting duties fell to Paul McCartney and John Lennon. However, when he did get the opportunity to write, he shined. A few of his tracks, like “Something” and “Here Comes the Sun”, remain classic hits in The Beatles’ discography.
“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” is a song from 1968’s The White Album. The track is another of Harrison’s philosophical ballads that sees the singer wondering why people are filled with love but struggle to express it. It’s an underappreciated song, with many citing it as evidence of Harrison’s untapped potential within the group.
In an interview with Richard Yorke, Harrison said “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” came to him when he found part of the title in a book. Once he saw that, inspiration struck, and he finished the rest of the song.
“If I haven’t got particularly an idea for a song, then I believe in – a bit like I Ching, y’know, where it’s – everything is – at that moment is relative to that situation,” Harrison said. “So with – ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, I think, was typical of that. I just opened a book that, uh, that was around. I just opened it, and the first thing I looked at became the song, and it was something about “gently weeps”. And then from that, it – my – the whole thought started going, and I just wrote the song then. Just closed the book again and I had the idea.”
Harrison asked Eric Clapton to play on the song to surprise the other Beatles
“While My Guitar Gently Weeps” is regarded today as one of George Harrison’s best Beatles songs, but the band initially didn’t see it that way. In The Beatles Anthology, Harrison said the other Beatles showed little interest when they first recorded it. This made Harrison believe the track wasn’t great. However, instead of giving up on it, he played dirty to get the band to record it.
One of Harrison’s best friends outside of the fab four was guitarist Eric Clapton. Without telling the other Beatles, he asked Clapton to play a solo on the song. While Clapton initially hesitated, he convinced him to come into the studio.
“I was driving into London with Eric Clapton,” Harrison shared. “And I said, ‘What are you doing today? Why don’t you come to the studio and play on this song for me?’ He said, ‘Oh, no – I can’t do that. Nobody’s ever played on a Beatles record, and the others wouldn’t like it.'”
When George Harrison showed up with Clapton, the rest of the band took “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” more seriously. They recorded it that day, and the track was included in the album, even if the other members were originally more reluctant.
“It was good because that then made everyone act better,” Harrison said. “Paul got on the piano and played a nice intro, and they all took it more seriously.”
The song wasn’t released as a single, but it’s still appraised as one of the strongest songs The Beatles ever released. It also has the bonus of being one of the rare Beatles tunes that features an outside artist.
