Beatles Involved:
George and Ringo
Listenability: 3.5 out of 5
The official songwriting credits for Ringo's trademark song from 1970 (released in 1971) mention Ringo as the sole composer. In 1997 he revealed however that he wrote it with George Harrison who had also produced the song. Lyrically the song include lyrics about peace and love. Musically the song seems to owe some of its structure to Eric Clapton's 'Let It Rain' which was co-written by Clapton and Bonnie and Delaney Bramlett. Both songs open to similar effect with a guitar riff played through twice then share the same chord structure for the verses. The similarity is too great to be coincidental particularly given that Bonnie, Delaney, Eric and George were all playing and jamming together in 1970.
Beatles Involved:
What they said about it:
Ringo:
This next song we're gonna do is gonna be called "It Don't Come Easy".I wrote this song with the one and only George Harrison! Let's hear it for George!!And we wrote it in the early seventies and, you know, George was very much into spiritual things, and so we were writing this song and we got to like the last verse and he sang "God""Oh no, George, I don't sing about God, you sing about God. "So he, hum, hum, "Hare Krishna""No, no, I don't, you sing about Hare Krishna, I don't think so""But what about "Peace" ok?""Peace, ok!"So we settled on the word "peace" and you'll hear it when we get to it."
Taken from VH1 Storytellers.
Other bits and pieces:
- George Harrison also sang lead vocals on an early demo version of It Don't Come Easy. Listening to this version it is to conclude that George was possibly the main song writer of the song, with Ringo merely contributing a few lyrical changes.
- A fan has also mixed Ringo's and George's vocals and come up with this:
- Compare 'It Don't Come Easy' with Eric Clapton's 'Let It Rain':
- The connection between Delaney Bramlett and George goes beyond a few shared chords. In an interview with Mark Shapiro, Delaney reveals how George took Delaney's idea for My Sweet Lord.
Delaney Bramlett:
George came up to me one night after a show on that tour and said “You write a lot of gospel songs and I’d like to know what inspires you to do that.” And so I gave him my explanation.I told him that I get things from the Bible, from what a preacher may say or just the feelings I felt toward God. George said, “Well can you give me a for instance?” He wanted to know how I would start. So I grabbed my guitar and started playing The Chiffons melody from ‘He’s So Fine’ and then sang the words My Sweet Lord/Oh My Lord/Oh My Lord/ I Just Wanna Be With You… George said okay. Then I said “Then you praise the Lord in your own way.”
As it happened Rita Coolidge, who was on the tour, and my wife at the time – Bonnie – were sitting there and so I told them that when we got to this one part, they should sing “Hallelujah.” They did. We ran down the example a few times. George seemed satisfied. He said okay and that was the end of it....
[When] All Things Must Pass album came out and My Sweet Lord was released as the single. I was surprised and not very happy about it. I immediately called George up and told him that I didn’t mean for him to use the melody of He’s So Fine. He said “Well it’s not exactly the same,” and I guess it really wasn’t. I could tell by listening to the song that he did put some curves on it. But I guess that didn’t stop him from being sued.
Taken from RockCellar Magazine. For more of this interview go to:
- According to Delaney Bramlett's daughter Michele, Delaney also helped teach George how to play slide guitar.
In December 1969, “Delaney & Bonnie & Friends” played the Royal Albert Hall in London, “and all the Beatles were right there in the front row,” Dad said in an interview. He said… “George Harrison came backstage, and he said, ‘Will you teach me how to play that slide?’ And I said, ‘You ain’t done too bad, the Beatles aren’t slouches, George.’ And he said, ‘But I don’t know how to play like you play slide.’ So I did.” That was our dad’s heart…he had “a big’n” George had his first “slide bottle” placed in his hand by Dad who quickly taught George how to play slide and write a Gospel song. Out of that lesson came “My Sweet Lord”.
Taken from: An Interview with the Bramlett sisters Written by Hank “Hitman” Hart Monday, 29 March 2010
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