Number 7 - While My Guitar Gently Weeps

Beatle involvement:  

George Harrison (posthumous)

Listenability: 5 out of 5

Like the original Beatles version of Yesterday, this 2006 version of 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' only features one Beatle and a string arrangement. George Martin wrote the new orchestra arrangement which was added to a demo version of the song. This demo featured George Harrison singing to his own acoustic guitar accompaniment. It was officially released in 2006 on 'Love' album as a Beatles song. For this to happen would've required the involvement and permission of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Olivia Harrison and Yoko Ono.

What they said about it:

Giles Martin:

The only digital thing we used a lot of was Waves' Z-Noise. It's really good at taking hiss off tracks. On 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps', we used that on the vocal and guitar and it gave us more of a dimension without affecting the sound. 

Sound On Sound March 2007

George Martin:

Dominic Champagne, the director of the show, loved George’s demo recording of ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, and it is very touching. It’s in a lower key than the master; it’s also slower, much more gentle and shorter. He wanted to put it in the show and Olivia didn’t think it was good enough – it had always sounded what it was, a demo, she said. It was done here, take three. So this was a revival and Dominic said ‘Well, What if we make it more official? Why don’t we ask George to write a score?’ I was put on the spot, y’know, because his widow is going to listen to it…But she did love it, thank the Lord.

Sound On Sound March 2007

I was really quite nervous about it because this song is such a tender song by George, and George isn’t with us anymore, and, my responsibility to adding music to this weighed very heavily on me. 

Taken from the documentary film 'All Together Now'.

Olivia Harrison:

They all wanted to use it. It was so intimate. I said, ‘no, no, I don’t think so.’ It was a demo and perhaps George never meant for it to be heard .... You think, well that’s not out there. Let’s not let it out there. I can keep it.

Vancouver Sun, 30 November 2006  

There was a version of ‘Guitar Gently Weeps’ that everyone wanted to use except me. It’s really beautiful and really intimate and I was worried that it would not sustain in a big theatre and it was really Dhani that said ‘No, no, no they have to use it’. 

Taken from the documentary film 'All Together Now'.

 Other Bits And Pieces:

On the occasion of the first anniversary of Cirque du Soleil Love show Paul, Ringo, Yoko Ono and Olivia Harrion appeared together on the Larry King Live.