George Harrison’s favourite track from ‘Abbey Road’
Just before a lemon tree dies, it produces an excess of fruit. Abbey Road was The Beatles’ dying crop. Released on September 26th, 1969, the album came together as the Fab Four were disintegrating. And yet, it features some of their most outstanding work. Here, George Harrison discusses his favourite track from the pioneering album.
‘Because’, the very last song recorded during the Abbey Road sessions and was penned, rather surprisingly, by John Lennon. Featuring a warm harpsichord arpeggio and that unmistakable three-part harmony by John, Paul and George, the track came to Lennon after Yoko Ono, a trained classical pianist, performed Beethoven’s ‘Moonlight Sonata‘ for him one day in 1969. Laying supine on a nearby couch, Lennon asked Ono to play the chords in reverse. it was a trick Paul McCartney had used for ‘Blackbird’, and it worked a trick, giving birth to ‘Because’.
During a conversation with Ritchie Yorke in 1969, George Harrison explained that ‘Because’ had always been a favourite of his. The guitarist was charmed by the simplicity of Lennon’s lyrics: “I think this is possibly my favourite one on the album because it’s just so simple,” he said, “The lyrics are so simple.” Featuring just five lines, ‘Because’ is at once uncomplicated and oblique. “Ah, because the world is round, it turns me on,” Lennon, McCartney and Harrison sing in unison, “Because the wind is high, it blows my mind.”
Discussing the origins of ‘Because’ in his final interview with David Sheff, Lennon recalled: “Yoko was playing ‘Moonlight Sonata’ on the piano. She was classically trained. I said, ‘Can you play those chords backward?’ and wrote ‘Because’ around them. The lyrics speak for themselves; they’re clear. No bullshit. No imagery, no obscure references.”
Paul McCartney would later claim that Yoko had an influence over Lennon’s lyrics as well. “I wouldn’t mind betting Yoko was in on the writing of that,” he told Barry Miles. “It’s rather her kind of writing: wind, sky and earth are recurring, it’s straight out of [Yoko’s book] Grapefruit and John was heavily influenced by her at the time.”
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