Something

When George Harrison began working on *Something*, back in September 1968, he was in the middle of the sessions for the Beatles’ double album, the one known as *The White Album*. The melody came to him with such ease that he doubted whether it might already exist. He developed it on a piano while Paul McCartney was recording other parts in a nearby studio at Abbey Road Studios in London. The central section of the song, the “middle eight,” took him extra time to shape into its final form.

*Something* ended up being the first composition by George Harrison to appear on the A-side of a Beatles single. It was released alongside *Come Together* as a double A-side, shortly after the release of the album Abbey Road. It was a particular decision, as it was the first time they had issued a single featuring tracks already available on an album. Although this may have affected its commercial performance in the UK, the song reached the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States and topped charts in Australia, Canada, and Germany. The recording, which spanned from May to August 1969, featured George Martin as producer and Geoff Emerick as sound engineer.

The song, widely regarded as a love declaration to Pattie Boyd, Harrison’s then-wife, also inspired other musicians. John Lennon called it the best track on Abbey Road, and several music critics highlighted Harrison’s guitar solo as one of his finest. After the band’s breakup, *Something* became one of the most covered Beatles songs, surpassed only by *Yesterday*. Artists such as Frank Sinatra, who called it “the greatest love song in the last 50 years,” Elvis Presley, Shirley Bassey, and Joe Cocker included it in their repertoires. By 1999, it was estimated to have been performed over 5 million times, and later lists have ranked it among the greatest songs of the 20th century and of all time.