The Beatles - Here Comes the Sun - Abbey Road [Stereo Remastered] - 2009

All sound recording and images are copyrighted by their respective copyright owners.
Copyright: Apple Corps Ltd., EMI Records Ltd., Parlophone (UK), Capitol Records (USA)
Members: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr
Writer: George Harrison
Producer: George Martin
Original Album Released: September 26, 1969

The Beatles Official Web Page: http://www.thebeatles.com/
EMI Music: http://www.emimusic.com/
Parlophone Records: http://www.parlophone.co.uk/
Capitol Records: http://www.capitolrecords.com/

"Here Comes the Sun" is a song by George Harrison from The Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road.

Origin:

The song, one of Harrison's best-known Beatles contributions alongside "Something", originated from a song-writing collaboration between Harrison and close friend Eric Clapton called "Badge" (recorded by Clapton's group Cream), which featured an arpeggiated guitar riff that is similar to the one that forms the bridge of "Here Comes the Sun". The year 1969 was a difficult one for Harrison: he was arrested for marijuana possession, he had his tonsils removed, and he had quit the band temporarily. The song was written while Harrison was away from all of these troubles.

Harrison stated in The Beatles Anthology:

"Here Comes the Sun" was written at the time when Apple was getting like school, where we had to go and be businessmen: 'Sign this' and 'sign that'. Anyway, it seems as if winter in England goes on forever, by the time spring comes you really deserve it. So one day I decided I was going to sag off Apple and I went over to Eric Clapton's house. The relief of not having to go see all those dopey accountants was wonderful, and I walked around the garden with one of Eric's acoustic guitars and wrote "Here Comes The Sun".

Recording:

Harrison, McCartney and Starr recorded the rhythm track in 13 takes on 7 July 1969. John Lennon did not contribute to the song as he was recovering from a car crash. Towards the end of the session Harrison spent an hour re-recording his acoustic guitar part. Harrison capoed his guitar on the 7th fret, resulting the final key of A major. He also used the same technique on his 1965 song "If I Needed Someone," which shares a similar melodic pattern. The following day he taped his lead vocals, and he and McCartney recorded their backing vocals twice to give a fuller sound.

A harmonium and handclaps were added on 16 July. Harrison's guitar solo was overdubbed on 6 August, and the orchestral parts were added on 15 August. "Here Comes The Sun" was completed four days later with the addition of Harrison's Moog part.

Voyager Proposal:

Astronomer and science popularizer Carl Sagan had wanted the song to be included on the Voyager Golden Record, copies of which were attached to both spacecraft of the Voyager program to provide any entity that recovered them a representative sample of human civilization. Although the Beatles favoured the idea, EMI refused to release the rights and when the probes were launched in 1977 the song was not included.

Album:

Abbey Road is the eleventh studio album by English rock band The Beatles. Though work on Abbey Road began in April 1969, making it the final album recorded by the band, Let It Be was the last album released before the Beatles' dissolution in 1970. Abbey Road was released on 26 September 1969 in the United Kingdom, and 1 October 1969 in the United States. It was produced and orchestrated by George Martin for Apple Records. Geoff Emerick was engineer, Alan Parsons was assistant engineer, and Tony Banks was tape operator.

Abbey Road is regarded as one of The Beatles' most tightly constructed albums, although the band was barely operating as a functioning unit at the time.Rolling Stone magazine named it the 14th greatest album of all time.

Album cover photograph:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbey_Road#Album_cover_photograph

Genesis and more info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbey_Road#Genesis