John Lennon and Paul McCartney were usually the de facto leaders of everything when it came to most Beatles recordings. Even in the documentary “Get Back,” you can hear Macca referring to himself as the group’s secondary boss. He also mentions Lennon as the group’s leader during a casual private conversation. John Lennon and Paul McCartney left little opportunity for originality in their songs. Although the Nerk Twins appreciated George Harrison’s use of Indian music, they weren’t entirely sure about “Within You Without You.”
It was impossible for anyone who had followed Harrison up until that point to miss this. Harrison has spent the past few years working to popularize the spiritual and musical aspects of his newfound love, Indian instrumentation. He has been dedicated to this pursuit ever since he first became interested in it. There was no getting in the way of it on this song, even though “Taxman” was the more enjoyable version.
“Within You Without You” was an oddity even though Sgt Pepper wasn’t intended to be a commercial album with hit singles on it. Harrison is the only Beatle performing on it. Other Indian musicians fill in the rest of the track with tabla, sitar, and tabura performances.
Nevertheless, the song is intriguing in its own right. Harrison muses about him and his friends talking about those who hide behind walls of illusion. There’s not a central hook like in many Fab songs, but listening to it is more about experiencing the lyrics than anything else.
In “Here, There and Everywhere,” engineer Geoff Emerick recalled Lennon and McCartney’s reluctance to proceed, despite their spirit of adventure. He stated, “I could tell that they were a bit dubious.” They were probably thinking, “Yes, it’s all very nice, and it’s all played very well, but it’s not the Beatles, is it?”. They probably agreed to it to keep the band together.
“Within You Without You” was a bit long by Beatles standards. However, it was still a powerful song. Especially in the last part. That’s when the different Indian musicians began exchanging lines. Then, they became quiet again. Finally, the verses returned. Furthermore, it’s not like the group was going to start writing pop songs the old-fashioned way again.
Every Beatle ended up delving even deeper into experimentation after Sgt Pepper set the world on fire. Lennon composed the avant-garde pieces that would appear on the album, while Harrison created some of the purest Indian-flavored music he could come up with, whether it was by fusing unusual rhythms into ‘Here Comes the Sun’ or creating amazing pieces like ‘The Inner Light’.
Harrison wasn’t just following a fad; most musicians would have been proud to get that kind of music out of their system. This was music as a way of life. Throughout the rest of his solo career, his melodies and lyrics would pay homage to Indian music icons such as Ravi Shankar.
