"In January 1968, I was in Bombay (India) working on the
soundtrack for the film 'Wonderwall' - a Sixties hippy movie directed by Joe
Massot," George Harrison relates in the book "Beatles Anthology."
He continues, "He asked me if I would do the music, but I told him I
didn't write music for films. Then he said that Whatever I gave him, he would
use. That sounded pretty simple, and I thought, 'I'll give them an Indian music
anthology, and who knows, maybe a few hippies will get turned on to Indian
Music.'"
George started recording the soundtrack for this movie using
conventional instrumentation in EMI Studio Two on January 5th, 1968, but flew
to India on January 7th for a five days of recording sessions at EMI's Bombay
Studio. “I worked with Indian musicians at the EMI/HMV studios in Bombay,”
George continues. “Mr. Bhaskar Menon brought a two-track stereo machine all the
way from Calcutta on the train for me, because all they had in Bombay was a
mono machine.”
The five days that George had booked for recording in India were
January 9th through 13th, 1968. Each of these sessions ran from 10 am to 7 pm.
On January 12th, the “Wonderwall” project was just about complete but he didn't
want to waste the studio time for that day or the next. He thereby decided to
utilize the Indian session musicians that he recruited and record a selection
of ragas (traditional Hindu musical pieces) for possible use on Beatles
recordings. One in particular that he had in mind was what became known as “The
Inner Light,” although it was simply referred to as “Untitled” on the
documentation for that day.
Five takes of the song were recorded on this day, documentation
showing 'take five' being the keeper. All the instrumentation for the song was
recorded on this day, all vocals to be added in at a later date back in London.
According to Andy Babiuk's book “Beatles Gear,” the instruments used on “The
Inner Light” comprise the following: “Harmonium and flutes and sitars, plus a
plethora of Indian instruments including dholak and pakhavaj (double-headed
drums), shehnai (conical oboe), santur (box zither), sarod (a lute-like
instrument with double sound box), surbahar (bass sitar), tabla (pair of
hand-drums), and tar sahnai (a fiddle with an amplifying horn).”
Back at EMI Studios in London on February 6th, 1968, The Beatles
turned their attention to completing what was now titled “The Inner Light” by
adding George's vocals. The Beatles minus Ringo (who was busy rehearsing and
then appearing as a guest on Cilla Black's television show “Cilla” that
evening) entered EMI Studio One at 2:30 pm with intentions of completing the
song. A tape copy of the originally recorded music from Bombay needed to be
done first, documentation showing the two-track tape containing “take five”
being copied onto a four-track tape to open up two extra tracks for recording
vocal overdubs. They now called this "take six."
Tape operator Jerry Boys remembers the reluctance of George
Harrison to perform his vocal part for the song. “George had this big thing
about not wanting to sing it because he didn't feel confident that he could do
the song justice. I remember Paul saying 'You must have a go, don't worry about
it, it's good.'”
Engineer Geoff Emerick concurs and, in his book “Here, There And
Everywhere,” adds his recollections. “Abbey Road's Studio One was a cold,
cavernous place even on the sunniest summer day. In the dead of winter, it was
like a cross between a meat locker and an airplane hangar. But that's where I
found myself on a frigid February afternoon, working with George Martin and
three of the Beatles...We would be working on George Harrison's
Indian-influenced song 'The Inner Light' that day...Mal Evans lit some candles
and incense to create a vibe for George...Harrison, in particular, was quite
nervous about doing his lead vocal. He felt that he couldn't do the song
justice, but with encouragement from Paul, he actually did a good job of it.
John had little to say that day – I had the impression he wasn't too keen on
the song – but he and Paul stayed on anyway, alternating between the control
room and the studio, where they would sit behind George, perched up on high
stools, the lights turned down low.”
Just before the 8 pm mark, when they brought in a television to
watch Ringo on live TV, the first mono mix of what was thought to be the
completed song was done by the engineering team of George Martin, Geoff Emerick
and Jerry Boys. A second recording session followed after the television show
was over, them adding overdubs to the previously recorded McCartney song “Lady
Madonna.” They all left for the night around 2 am the following morning.
On February 8th, 1968, it was decided that one finishing touch
needed to be done to “The Inner Light.” The Beatles entered EMI Studio Two at
about 2:30 pm with the first thing on the agenda being adding a very brief
harmony vocal overdub by John and Paul toward the end of the song on the lyric
“do all without doing” as well as George double-tracking his vocals on the line
"arrive without traveling." This was undoubtedly completed rather
quickly, followed by another mono mix being created by the engineering team of
George Martin, Geoff Emerick, Ken Scott and Richard Lush. A decision was made
that an earlier 'take' of the instrumental first verse, as recorded in Bombay,
sounded better. Therefore, the engineering team first edited together this
better sounding first verse from what possibly was "take four" onto
the newly created "take six" just before George's vocals kick in.
Three attempts at a mono mix were made at this point, numbered 2 through 4, the
final one becoming the finished mono master. By around 4:30 pm, more work was
done on the previously recorded Lennon composition “Across The Universe.”
Interestingly, it was decided sometime during the remainder of
this session that “Across The Universe” was to be shelved because it didn't
meet with John's satisfaction. It was given away for use on a charity album
called “No One's Gonna Change Our World,” which was conceived by comedian Spike
Milligan who happened to be in attendance at this recording session. With this
decided, George's “The Inner Light” was earmarked to be the B-side of their
next single “Lady Madonna.” By 12:15 am the following morning, the recording
session was complete.
Since “The Inner Light” was only destined to be on a single at the
time, and was even overlooked to be a part of the compilation album “Hey Jude,”
no stereo mix was needed any time soon since Beatles singles were only printed
in mono up to that point. But for some reason, on January 27th, 1970, Geoff
Emerick (acting as producer), along with engineers Peter Bown, Jeff Jarratt and
John Barnett,
entered the control room of EMI Studio Two to create a stereo mix
of the song. It took them an hour and a half to make the one attempt needed to
create a suitable stereo mix, from 10 to 11:30 pm. This engineering team,
however, did not go to the effort of editing in the better sounding first
instrumental verse, so the full "take six" as originally performed is
contained on this stereo mix. As the need arose in upcoming years, this stereo
mix was dusted off and used on later compilation releases.
The Beatles did actually touch on "The Inner Light"
briefly one additional time in the studio. On the seventeenth day of rehearsals
for the "Get Back / Let It Be" project, which was on January 28th,
1969 at Apple Studios in London, the group delved back into their back catalog
and ran through a few numbers, including "Love Me Do" and, surprisingly,
"The Inner Light." This impromptu version lasted less than a minute
and never saw official release anywhere.
Then, sometime between 2004 and 2006, George Martin and his son
Giles Martin returned to the master tapes of “The Inner Light” for inclusion on
a track for the soundtrack to the Cirque du Soliel production “Love,” which was
put together using all newly mixed versions and mash-ups of Beatles music. The
track it is included in is called “Here Comes The Sun (with 'The Inner Light'
transition),” which features a small snippet of the final moments of “The Inner
Light” at the track's conclusion.
Also, as mentioned above, the instrumental 'take' of the song as
recorded in Bombay on January 12th, 1968, that features the first instrumental
verse as heard on the mono mix (possible 'take four') was mixed sometime in
2014 for inclusion as a bonus track on the remastered compact disc release of
George's “Wonderwall Music” album. The track begins with instructions from
George to the Indian musicians as to how the song should be played, which make
for a very interesting listen
Then, sometime in 2018, Giles Martin created a new stereo mix of
the instrumental backing track of the song for inclusion in the "'White
Album' 50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Box Set." This new mix was made from
the tape copy created on February 6th, 1968, that transferred the instrumental
two-track tape made of "take five" onto the four-track tape to allow
for vocal overdubs, which was then called "take six." After Geoff
Emerick verbally documents the tape copy that was being made, we hear the
original instrumental backing as produced by George Harrison with a vibrance
never before available.
Song Structure and Style
The structure of the song is quite simple, namely, 'verse/ chorus/
verse/ chorus/ verse' (or ababa). The
first two verses are instrumental while the final verse has vocals. Both
choruses are relatively identical and have vocals. A brief two measure
introduction starts things off, which consist of a faded-in harmonium drone and
then a sitar.
The first instrumental verse is ten measures long and consists of
the drone of the harmonium in the background with the tar sahnai playing a lead
melody line for measures one and two with a simple single note sitar pattern
playing in the background. The sitar then plays an interesting twice-descending
melodic phrase in the foreground on measures three and four while the tar
sahnai takes a break. All the while, the percussive sounds of the pakhavaj,
tabla and santur keep the beat. Measures five through eight display both the
tar sahnai and the sitar playing an intricate melody line in unison until the
percussive instruments fade away by the ninth measure. The ninth and tenth
measures, then, consist of the final ringing note of the tar sahnai and sitar
with the drone of the harmonium acting as a segue into the first chorus that
follows.
This first chorus is fifteen measures long and features the
wonderfully delivered single-tracked vocal by George while the dholak and tabla
keep the beat in half-time. The harmonium and surbahar hang back in the mix to
create a low toned pad which work nicely for the chord changes. A shehnai is
playing a finely-crafted counter melody throughout the chorus while a sitar
plays a quick melodic phrase in measures two, four, six and eight to fill in
the gaps left from the vocalist. Measures thirteen through fifteen see the
return of the tar sahnai playing in virtual unison to George's sung melody line
which then brings the chorus to its conclusion.
The second instrumental verse is nearly identical to the first
except for the inverted order of the melody lines played by the lead
instruments. First to occur this time, in measures one and two, is the sitar
while the tar sahnai appears in measures three and four followed by the sitar
again in measures five and six only to play in unison again for the remaining
measures. This verse is followed by the second chorus which is also nearly
identical to the first, the only noticeable difference being the slight lyrical
change from it being George's personal experience to one we can have personally.
For instance, “Without going out of your door,” instead of “my door” from the
first chorus, and so on.
The third verse is similar instrumentally to the second verse but
is different in that it features lead vocals from George in measures two, five
and six, the line “arrive without traveling” in the second measure being
double-tracked for added affect. George's lead vocals are joined with harmony
vocals from John and Paul in the sixth measure on the line “do all without
doing.” Another notable difference this time around is two added measures at
the end of the song, making it a twelve-measure verse. Measures nine through
twelve feature the final three notes of the tar sahnai melody line being
repeated three times and then allowing the final note to fade out with the
droning harmonium.
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