If I Needed Someone

Song_infobox
Name = If I Needed Someone
Writer = George Harrison


Artist = The Beatles
Album = Rubber Soul
Released = 3 December 1965
track_no = 13
Recorded = Abbey Road Studios 16 October 1965
Genre = Rock
Length = 2:23
Writer = George Harrison
Label = EMI, Parlophone, Capitol
Producer = George Martin
Misc = Extra tracklisting
Album = Rubber Soul
Type = studio
Tracks = ;Side one
# "Drive My Car"
# "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)"
# "You Won't See Me"
# "Nowhere Man"
# "Think for Yourself"
# "The Word"
# "Michelle";Side two
# "What Goes On"
# "Girl"
# "I'm Looking Through You"
# "In My Life"
# "Wait"
# "If I Needed Someone"
# "Run for Your Life"Infobox Single
Name =If I Needed Someone


Cover size =
Caption =
Artist =The Hollies
from Album =
A-side =
B-side = "I've Got a Way of My Own" (Ransford)
Released = December 1965
Format = 7" single
Recorded =
Genre = Pop music, Beat music
Length =
Label = Parlophone R5392
Writer =
Producer =
Certification =
Chart position = * #20 (UK)
Last single = "Look Through Any Window" (1965)
This single = "If I Needed Someone" (1965)
Next single = "I Can't Let Go" (1966)
Misc ="If I Needed Someone" is a song by The Beatles which first appeared in the UK on the 1965 album "Rubber Soul" (see 1965 in music) and was later included in the 1966 U.S. release "Yesterday...and Today" (see 1966 in music). It was written by George Harrison and recorded on October 16 and October 18, 1965, the basic track being recorded right after sessions for "Day Tripper".

History

The song was heavily influenced by the music of The Byrds. In a 2004 radio interview with the BBC in London, Roger McGuinn confirmed that Harrison had sent a tape recording of the song to him in Los Angeles before it was released on record. Harrison did this to show McGuinn that the guitar riff he had used in "If I Needed Someone" was based on McGuinn's own riff in "The Bells of Rhymney."Fact|date=January 2008 The song's introduction and coda are also very similar to those of The Byrds' song. Coincidentally, The Byrds' own use of electric 12-string guitar was influenced by George Harrison's use of the instrument in the film "A Hard Day's Night".

The song as recorded by the Beatles is in the key of A mixolydian, switching to B minor during the breaks. The verses are heavily harmonized, with George Harrison taking the lead line on the first two lines, and John Lennon and Paul McCartney singing above him throughout on each subsequent verse. Harrison sings the break solo, but double tracked in the studio with himself as was customary during the period the Beatles recorded "Rubber Soul".

"If I Needed Someone" was the only Harrison composition played during any of the Beatles' tours; The Quiet Beatle otherwise only sang covers onstage. "If I Needed Someone" is included in the Beatles' Tokyo concerts in July 1966; the documentary The Compleat Beatles used a clip from the Beatles' haggard performance of the song on stage in Tokyo as illustration of how the band was growing tired of touring. The song was also performed on the Beatles' very last concert in Candlestick Park on August 29, 1966. It is suspected, but not confirmed, that "If I Needed Someone" was performed at every Beatles concert in 1966.

Credits

*John Lennon – harmony vocal, rhythm guitar
*Paul McCartney – harmony vocal, bass
*George Harrison – double-tracked lead vocal, 12-string lead guitar
*Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine
*George Martin – harmonium

Other versions

Harrison included the song on his "Live In Japan" album in 1992. Harrison and Eric Clapton play considerably longer guitar interludes between verses. Harrison's voice is also much more prominent than on The Beatles' original.

Clapton played a cover of the song as a tribute at the Concert for George in 2002.

It was the first George Harrison song to be a hit for another act, when The Hollies covered it. Their version reached No. 20 in January 1966, but by their standards it was one of their least successful singles. Dismissive comments in the press led to angry exchanges between both groups.

It was covered by Type O Negative, as part of a medley also containing "Day Tripper" and "I Want You (She's So Heavy)". It appears on their 1999 album World Coming Down.

Les Fradkin has covered it twice: as a Guitar Instrumental rock version on his CD "While My Guitar Only Plays" and as a vocal version on "Love You 2".

Roots duo Show of Hands included a cover of the song on their studio album 'Witness'.

The Bacon Brothers covered it on their album "White Knuckles".

References

*MacDonald, Ian (1995). "Revolution In the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties". Vintage. ISBN 0-7126-6697-4.
*Harrison, George (1980). "I Me Mine". Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0-671-42787-3.
*Hammond, Ian. [http://www.geocities.com/~hammodotcom/beathoven/harris4.htm "The Harrisong, Part IV"] . Retrieved October 19, 2005.

External links

* [http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/iins.html Alan W. Pollack's Notes On "If I Needed Someone"]
* [http://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/if-i-needed-someone/ The Beatles Bible: If I Needed Someone]