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The Beatles, Within You Without You - Amy’s First Listen and Analysis (Patreon)

Published:
2024-12-14 12:51:24
Imported:
2026-06
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 Is it Eastern music? Is it Western? Is it Classical? Is it Rock? Is it Indian? It’s just US!

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Lynn Poole

George: vocal, sitar, tamboura. Additional Instruments: Dilruba, swaramandala, tabla, eight violins, three cellos. I have read that there's a tambourine on one of the verses played by one of the Beatles "who walked through the studio" but is not named. There is no reference to that in the box set book. Additional musicians were from The London Symphony Orchestra and The Asian Music Circle. George Martin was not fazed producing a track with those instruments. He had worked with the Asian Music Circle when working with Peter Sellers. Paul recalled, "You were opening your mind to stuff other than early R&B, which up to now had been our main influence. There were other possibilities".

Lynn Poole

You are hearing cellos.

Lynn Poole

John rated "Within You Without You as one of George's best songs. His mind and his music are clear. There is his innate talent; he brought that sound together". The written copy of the lyrics in the SPLHCB book are different than those sung. There is no reference to why changes were made. He added the vocal after the instruments were recorded. Maybe the music influenced the changes in the lyrics?

Lynn Poole
>>158268257

"Gain the world and lose their soul" is not in the copy of the lyrics in the book.

Kristina Mathesen

What a pleasure to listen to this song and analysis with you, Amy! Thank you for calling attention to all of these delicious details without ever once diluting the beautiful mystery of the sound for me. I can tell you loved this one! 😉

Lynn Poole

As for the laughter, George said "It's a release after five minutes of sad music. You were supposed to hear the audience anyway, as they listen to Sgt. Pepper's show. That was the style of the album."

Ye_Humble_Scrivener

This is the most divisive song on the album; a lot of people think it's a load of pretentious twaddle. I'm almost (but not quite) in that camp -- I really like Indian music, and George brought in some world-class players for this track. I think I would appreciate it much more as an instrumental track, or a George Harrison solo piece (he is the only Beatle on it, after all). But I can't help thinking it's out of place on "Pepper", which is otherwise so steeped in Englishness -- specifically, a combination of Swinging London and Edwardian nostalgia. And then there's the lyrics, which strike me as preachy and condescending, as if Harrison is assuming a spiritual authority he hadn't earned.

Lynn Poole
>>158275982

The lyrics are different than those in the SPLHCB book. There is much more content than in the original copy. I love the Sgt. Pepper's album and listen to it frequently but more often than not, I skip this track or don't listen to it all the way through. It's not that I don't find it to be interesting and I appreciate a new sound, but I think it's too long and for me it becomes boring.

George Brady
>>158275982

I too love the musical portion, especially the center instrumental section after the initial verses, and would have preferred an outro there. The last verse is definitely too much. George hasn't developed the observational sensitivity of tracks like "Nowhere Man" - "a bit like you and me". George seems to say, "I talked it over with my friends, and we know, but you don't". I felt chastised.

Rea Lavi

I enjoyed that immensely. Thank you for helping me enjoy the music in this song which I had a hard time enjoying previously. As for the lyrics, to me they are overall more profound than the lyrics in "Love you to" and give one something to ponder over even if one isn't into Hindu philosophy. The laughter at the end seems to me like an English "reflex" of making sure one doesn't come across as self-important, which is warranted in a song that could otherwise come across as preachy.

Rea Lavi

George Martin's arrangement skills shine here. The back-and-forth with the Indian instruments is playful and, for its time, groundbreaking. They were fortunate to have him as their producer and this album is the best testament of that.

Lee Kennison

I absolutely loved this reaction, along with my rediscovery of how profound this piece is, both musically and more particularly lyrically. This song and its lyrics get to what I hold most fundamental in my spiritual, philosophical, and worldview perspectives, at least whenever I think about these things on a deeper level. Most of the time I'm pretty superficial.😉 You had such excellent commentary throughout this reaction Amy!

Paul D. Hoffmaster III

To my ear, the Harp has some of the sound of the Sitar, when you are playing Amy.

Rea Lavi
>>158275982

@George, interesting point about the instrumental break as the outro. I tend to agree - if they had done that with the laughter tacked on at the end I think it would've made for a better listening experience.

Lynn Poole
>>158297936

I listened to the out take disc earlier today and heard a harp like sound. But I didn't know which instrument reflected that sound.

David Taylor

Once again Amy, Vlad, great analysis. Amy, I think it has more Western time signatures than Eastern. But, played on Indian instruments by Indians, I recall that to my teenage ears, was quite exotic.

Rea Lavi
>>158275982

@George it's possible someone already created the mix you described.. there's so many different mixes of Beatles songs floating around the Web nowadays

Peter Buwen

You're right. Rock music is not exclusively rooted in classical music. And classical music, to ask rhetorically? Classical music has always lived by taking in impulses from outside - essentially: folk music. I'm thinking of Brahms, Dvorak or even Gorecki. In this respect, classical music naturally did not just grow from its own roots. Rock music is based on the blues on the one hand, but on the other hand on European, later Americanized, musical traditions that we classify as folk music, but which are also classical within their contexts. Irish folk music has just as much tradition and system as classical music - perhaps not to the same extent. What we experience with the Beatles in rock music, however - thanks to the classically trained George Martin - is an attempt to synthesize classical music with rock music - something that happened earlier, if you will, because rock music is now folk music. But this attempt "got stuck" in rock music, because classical music is afraid of contact with it. Something that is strange because it is new. Classical music used to always seek contact, as mentioned above. Music is a bit like our society today: there are two basic directions that people refer to and instead of seeking contact and consensus, they become more radical. Classical music and rock music have radically separated themselves from each other. If both directions manage to find a synthesis, we will experience a new era of music. Until then, however, there will only be exhaustive repetitions of what has already existed. But I agree with you on one point: rock music differs from classical music in its instrumentation and in the academic training that has only just begun in rock music. Please: that is my opinion. Everyone else can have a different opinion.

Peter Buwen

BTW: "...gain the world and loose their soul..." is Mathew 16,26.

TangoEliott

Ok I can't see it on my phone. I will try computer later

DJ Marquis Marc Rambeau du Tacoma

Wonderful, Amy. I've been looking forward to your reaction to this song only second to A DAY IN THE LIFE. I cannot, offhand, think of another song that blends classical eastern music with classical western music... EXCEPT ONE: As you know, Ravi Shankar (and his daughter, too!) is a master class sitar musician. Ravi was asked to score the movie GANDHI (starring Ben Kingsley - a movie that I DO recommend for your other channel)... and I liked the music so much, that I bought the soundtrack album. Ravi also uses a mix of eastern and western modalities. (Yeah... "eastern and western MODALITIES..." I might have sounded like I knew what I was saying there... but I really don't... I'm pretty sketchy on the concept of MODES... they're like simplified scales that were commonly used in medieval music???)

Scott Slater
>>160667859

@TangoEliott sometimes that happens to me too (only on the phone) and if I go back to the main Virgin Rock page, then collections, then Beatles ... Then the video magically shows up 🤷‍♂️

Rea Lavi
>>160670369

It took me a while to understand modes but they're basically like any scale you prob already know, but you take one or two of the notes in the scale and you either sharpen or flatten them. Major and minor are just the "standard modes", they're not essentially different from Lydian, Mixolydian, Dorian, etc. Sometimes though in a piece you could interpret it as set in a mode (say Lydian) or as using a borrowed chord, for example, while still being a "standard mode", say major.

Scott Slater

Maybe someone with more knowledge can weigh in but I seem to recall that it's very common practice for tabla players to also vocalize the tala (rhythm) they are currently playing; hence the "counting" you hear in that one section.

TangoEliott

As a 15 year old this song threw me for a loop. I remember just not getting it and barely giving it attention. However, I am not sure when, having the lyrics on the back, I read them and although I did not understand everything I did realize how important they were. And after reading a McCartney comment about the lyrics I decided to give the song more attention. I am first to admit I am not a huge sitar fan but over the years this song has become very dear to me and I am a fan of it. I do understand that George was a seeker, looking for the meaning of life and values different than he started out with. Perhaps they all did but unfortunately they did it in different directions. So I remember this album as the one where the group began their personal quests and were ending their group quests. So it is bitter sweet

RAD1

It's interesting that Ravi Shankar's other daughter Nora Jones has won nine Grammy awards and conquered the western world with her fusion of Jazz, Pop and Folk music.

Steve

This song is like General Tao’s Chicken. Influenced by eastern ideas but crafted for western tastes.

Kelly McNamara

George largely gave up on the sitar, probably because of what Shankar told him and also when he realized there were millions of people in India who could play it better than he ever could. He ended up going back and focusing on the guitar. In any case, I'm thankful George went down that road and I'm sure he was too.

Mike Clancey

I really enjoyed your thoughtful comments on this song. To me it's a beautifully exotic sound. But I liked how you linked the structure to the Western tradition. I don't have the knowledge to make that connection. For someone who really doesn't know how to play the sitar, I love it. But I hear he had some professional help. So much fun.

Frank Hoebert

Great review .. as is usual. I particularly enjoyed your concluding reflections. You were starting to sound like a summer of love participant. The magic lives on! :-)

Evelyn

Well said. Truth.

Evelyn
>>160670369

I thought Amy explained modes close to the beginning of her channel when she spoke of Gregorian chant and plain song. Where there is a “home “ note in the key you are playing in and the song keeps returning to that note as it’s hone base as it were.

Evelyn
>>158333150

What about symphonic metal that combines metal with full symphonic sound and choruses? Or bands like Marillion that often work with orchestras?

Evelyn
>>158307116

Except you cannot “bend” the notes on the harp as you can on the sitar., or the guitar got that matter

Evelyn
>>158297936

Except you cannot “bend” the notes on the harp as you can on the sitar., or the guitar got that matter

Evelyn
>>158275982

He’s just stating what was in his heart and mind at that point in time. What he had learned in India. Take it or leave it. Don’t know why you’d find it condescending. Just because they’re spiritual?

Evelyn

This song and Tomorrow Never Knows are two of my favorites in their catalogue. I sense a pattern there. 😁

gwool

Such an interesting reaction Thanks Amy and Vlad

Nick Lenz

I always found the song exceptionally boring. Alas, this applies to your reaction. In other cases I found a kind of appreciation for a song. Not in this case. It is still an incredible bore for me. Maybe it's just 2 minutes too long. In addition: I especially enjoy your musical commentation.