Spring, 1969. Eric Clapton\u2019s<\/strong> garden in Surrey, England. George Harrison<\/strong> is playing hooky. He\u2019s supposed to be at yet another soul-crushing business meeting at Apple Corps, the Beatles\u2019 increasingly dysfunctional company headquarters, signing contracts and listening to accountants drone on about tax implications and licensing agreements. Instead, he\u2019s wandering around his friend\u2019s garden with an acoustic guitar, soaking up what turns out to be record-breaking April sunshine, and writing a song that will become\u2014decades later\u2014the most popular Beatles recording in history. 🌤️<\/p> Not \u201cHey Jude.\u201d Not \u201cLet It Be.\u201d Not \u201cCome Together\u201d or \u201cYesterday\u201d or any of the Lennon-McCartney juggernauts that dominated the charts and the culture and the band\u2019s reputation. \u201cHere Comes the Sun,\u201d<\/strong> written by the \u201cquiet Beatle,\u201d the junior partner, the guy who was lucky to get two songs per album while John and Paul split the rest. The guy who had to fight for every scrap of recognition, who watched his bandmates dismiss his compositions, who eventually quit the band temporarily because he was so tired of being treated like he didn\u2019t matter. 💔<\/p> As of 2023, \u201cHere Comes the Sun\u201d became the first Beatles song to surpass one billion streams on Spotify. It\u2019s also the first song from the entire 1960s to hit that milestone. It remains their most-streamed track globally, sitting comfortably ahead of every Lennon-McCartney classic in the catalog. Gen Z, discovering the Beatles fresh without the baggage of boomer nostalgia or classic rock radio programming, consistently chooses George\u2019s song about escaping a business meeting and enjoying some goddamn sunshine. 🎯<\/p> The reason for all that listening is pretty simple. The song transcends time. It feels as contemporary now as the day it was recorded.<\/p> And the irony is almost too perfect. The story is about way more than streaming numbers\u2014it\u2019s about the underdog winning in the end, about simplicity outlasting complexity, and about how sometimes the person nobody\u2019s paying attention to is the one who understands what actually matters. ☀️<\/p> To understand why \u201cHere Comes the Sun\u201d resonates so deeply, you need to understand what George Harrison was escaping from when he wrote it. Early 1969 was an absolute disaster for him personally and for the Beatles collectively. This wasn\u2019t just garden-variety rock band drama\u2014this was a slow-motion implosion of the biggest musical act in history. 💥<\/p> George had temporarily quit the band in January during the miserable Get Back\/Let It Be sessions, where tensions were so high that cameras captured the whole ugly mess. He\u2019d been arrested for marijuana possession, adding legal hassles to everything else. He\u2019d just had his tonsils removed, which seems mundane until you realize singing is kind of important when you\u2019re in a band. And through all of this, the Beatles were being forced to play businessmen, attending endless meetings about their company Apple Corps, which was hemorrhaging money and drowning in dysfunction. 😤<\/p> The Apple Corps meetings were soul-sucking. The Beatles had started Apple as a utopian experiment in artist-run business, and it had become exactly what you\u2019d expect when four musicians try to run a company: chaos. As George described in his autobiography I, Me, Mine<\/em>, \u201cApple was getting like school, where we had to go and be businessmen: \u2018Sign this\u2019 and \u2018sign that.\u2019\u201d Imagine being George Harrison\u2014you became a musician to create art and experience beauty, and now you\u2019re stuck in conference rooms with accountants arguing about percentages. 📊<\/p> One day in April 1969, instead of attending that day\u2019s business meeting, George went to Eric Clapton\u2019s house, Hurtwood Edge in Ewhurst, Surrey. Clapton recalled in Martin Scorsese\u2019s documentary that George just showed up, got out of the car with his guitar, and started playing. \u201cI just watched this thing come to life,\u201d Clapton said. \u201cI felt very proud that it was my garden that was inspiring it.\u201d 🌳<\/p> The relief George felt at skipping that meeting\u2014at choosing beauty and friendship over obligation and drudgery\u2014became the emotional core of the song. When George sang about a \u201clong, cold, lonely winter,\u201d he wasn\u2019t being metaphorical\u2014that winter genuinely sucked, and the April sun genuinely felt like salvation. ☀️ It poured out of him in Clapton\u2019s garden, this simple, perfect expression of relief. Relief from the cold. Relief from the meetings. Relief from being a Beatle, which had become more burden than blessing. 🎸<\/p> He finished the lyrics in June while on holiday in Sardinia, probably the first peace he\u2019d had in months. The song that emerged from all this chaos\u2014personal, professional, meteorological\u2014was about the simplest, most universal experience possible: feeling the sun on your face after a long, dark period. No complex metaphors. No clever wordplay. Just pure, honest gratitude for warmth and light. 🌅<\/p> The Lennon-McCartney songwriting partnership was the engine that drove the Beatles. They\u2019d been writing together since they were teenagers, developing an almost telepathic creative connection that produced some of the greatest songs in popular music history. They split most of the album space between them, trading off lead vocals, pushing each other to be better. Ringo got his one song per album (usually), and George got whatever scraps were left\u2014if he was lucky, two songs. Often just one. Sometimes none. 😔<\/p> This wasn\u2019t based on quality\u2014George was writing brilliant songs by the mid-60s. \u201cIf I Needed Someone,\u201d \u201cTaxman,\u201d \u201cWithin You Without You,\u201d \u201cWhile My Guitar Gently Weeps\u201d\u2014these weren\u2019t filler tracks. But the power dynamic had been established early when George was the youngest member, the kid who John and Paul had let into their band. Even as George matured as a songwriter, even as his compositions became more sophisticated and innovative, he was still fighting for space on albums that John and Paul considered theirs. 💔<\/p> Paul was particularly dismissive, often criticizing George\u2019s guitar playing and songwriting in ways that were both musically specific and emotionally devastating. John could be cruel through indifference, simply not engaging with George\u2019s songs or being elsewhere when they were recorded. The message was clear: your contributions are tolerated, not celebrated. You\u2019re here because we need a lead guitarist, not because you\u2019re an equal creative partner. 🎸<\/p> Which makes Abbey Road\u2019s two George songs\u2014\u201dHere Comes the Sun\u201d and \u201cSomething\u201d\u2014even more significant. These weren\u2019t just good songs that happened to be written by George. These were George, finally, undeniably proving that he could write at the same level as Lennon and McCartney. \u201cSomething\u201d became a single and a standard, covered by everyone from Frank Sinatra to James Brown. \u201cHere Comes the Sun\u201d became a fan favorite immediately. 🌟<\/p> For the first time in Beatles history, George Harrison was getting recognition as a composer who could match Lennon and McCartney\u2019s output. Critics noticed. Fans noticed. Even George Martin, <\/strong>the Beatles\u2019 producer, later said that \u201cHere Comes the Sun\u201d was \u201cin some ways one of the best songs ever written.\u201d Coming from a man who\u2019d produced every Lennon-McCartney classic, that\u2019s not faint praise. 🎵<\/p> They recorded the basic track for \u201cHere Comes the Sun\u201d at Abbey Road on July 7, 1969, in thirteen takes. John Lennon wasn\u2019t there\u2014he was recovering from a car crash in Scotland, which might have been the best thing that could have happened for this particular song. 🎙️ One of the most beloved Beatles songs was recorded without John Lennon. Not because he was being petty or difficult, but because he literally wasn\u2019t available. And the song didn\u2019t suffer from his absence. If anything, it benefited from George having creative space without John\u2019s dominating presence or potential dismissiveness. This was George\u2019s song, recorded with the two Beatles who were willing to support his vision. 🎸<\/p> The technical details are fascinating. George capoed his acoustic guitar on the 7th fret to get the bright, ringing tone that defines the track. He spent an hour at the end of that first session re-recording just his acoustic guitar part, getting it exactly right. The following day he recorded his lead vocals, and he and Paul recorded backing vocals twice to create a fuller sound. This wasn\u2019t a quick, thrown-together track\u2014this was George obsessing over every detail. 🎯<\/p> On July 16, they added harmonium and handclaps. On August 6, George overdubbed an electric guitar run through a Leslie speaker, creating that subtle swirling effect in the background. On August 15, George Martin\u2019s orchestral arrangement was added\u2014four violas, four cellos, double bass, two piccolos, two flutes, two alto flutes, and two clarinets. The orchestration is so subtle that you might not consciously notice it, but it provides the warmth and richness that makes the song feel complete. 🎻<\/p> The final, crucial addition came on August 19: the Moog synthesizer part. George had been experimenting with the Moog on his solo album Electronic Sound, and he\u2019d arranged to have one installed at EMI Studios. The Beatles were among the first UK artists to use the instrument effectively, and on \u201cHere Comes the Sun,\u201d the Moog\u2019s \u201cincreasing brilliance of timbre\u201d perfectly conveys the sun\u2019s increasing brightness, according to music historians Trevor Pinch and Frank Trocco. As the song builds, the Moog gets brighter, more present, more radiant\u2014just like the sun emerging from clouds. ☀️<\/p> The composition itself is deceptively complex. The song is in 4\/4 time for the verses, but the bridge shifts to 11\/8 + 4\/4 + 7\/8 time signatures\u2014patterns George drew from Indian classical music. Most listeners don\u2019t consciously notice the time signature changes because the melody flows so naturally, but that\u2019s the genius of the song. George made something rhythmically sophisticated feel effortless and intuitive. The bridge, with its mantra-like repetition of \u201csun, sun, sun, here it comes,\u201d has the quality of meditation without feeling pretentious or preachy. 🎵<\/p> When Abbey Road was released on September 26, 1969, \u201cHere Comes the Sun\u201d was immediately popular, but it wasn\u2019t the single. \u201cSomething\u201d got that honor, paired with \u201cCome Together.\u201d Radio stations focused on those two tracks and on the side-two medley that everyone wanted to analyze and decode. \u201cHere Comes the Sun\u201d was appreciated, but it wasn\u2019t considered THE standout George Harrison track from the album. That was \u201cSomething,\u201d which Frank Sinatra called \u201cthe greatest love song ever written.\u201d 🎤<\/p> For decades, that hierarchy held. \u201cSomething\u201d was George\u2019s masterpiece. \u201cHere Comes the Sun\u201d was the nice, pretty song about sunshine. When Beatles compilations were assembled, \u201cSomething\u201d was always included. \u201cHere Comes the Sun\u201d sometimes made the cut, sometimes didn\u2019t. When radio stations played Beatles blocks, they\u2019d play the Lennon-McCartney hits and maybe throw in \u201cSomething\u201d to represent George. \u201cHere Comes the Sun\u201d got less airplay than many far inferior Beatles songs simply because radio programmers had decided what the \u201cimportant\u201d Beatles tracks were. 📻<\/p> Why this song? Why did listeners, given complete freedom to choose, consistently pick George\u2019s song about escaping a business meeting? 🤔<\/p> Part of it is accessibility. \u201cHere Comes the Sun\u201d doesn\u2019t require any context to appreciate. You don\u2019t need to know anything about the Beatles, about 1960s culture, about the band\u2019s breakup. You just need to have experienced darkness followed by light, winter followed by spring, difficulty followed by relief. It\u2019s universal in a way that many Beatles songs aren\u2019t. 🌍<\/p> Part of it is the optimism. \u201cHere Comes the Sun\u201d is fundamentally hopeful without being naive. It acknowledges the long, cold, lonely winter\u2014the darkness is real\u2014but it promises that the sun will return. In anxious modern times, that message resonates. Things might be bad now, but they won\u2019t be bad forever. Light always follows darkness. Hope is justified. 🌟<\/p> Fifty-plus years later, when people reach for a Beatles song, they reach for this one more than any other. Not because critics told them to. Not because radio programmers decided it was important. But because when given the choice, when allowed to listen to their own hearts, that\u2019s the song that makes them feel better. That\u2019s the song that sounds like hope. ☀️<\/p> The quiet Beatle won. Not loudly. Not dramatically. Just by writing something beautiful and letting it exist. Sometimes that\u2019s enough. Sometimes that\u2019s everything. 🌟<\/p> What\u2019s your favorite George Harrison song? And did you realize \u201cHere Comes the Sun\u201d was the most-streamed Beatles track? Drop your thoughts in the comments. And if you want more Beatles deep dives, subscribe\u2014because we\u2019re just getting started with exploring the band\u2019s catalog from unexpected angles.<\/strong> 👍<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Harrison’s “Here Comes the Sun” dominates Spotify with 1.3 billion streams, sweet vindication for the Beatles’ junior partner<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"amazonpipp_noncename":"","amazon-product-isactive":"","amazon-product-single-asin":"","amazon-product-content-location":"","amazon-product-content-hook-override":"","amazon-product-excerpt-hook-override":"","amazon-product-singular-only":"","amazon-product-amazon-desc":"","amazon-product-show-gallery":"","amazon-product-show-features":"","amazon-product-newwindow":"","amazon-product-show-list-price":"","amazon-product-show-used-price":"","amazon-product-show-saved-amt":"","amazon-product-timestamp":"","amazon-product-new-title":"","amazon-product-use-cartURL":"","amazon_featured_post_meta_key":"","_amazon_featured_alt":"","amazon-product-template":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[33,1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2x2Mt-ciYSv","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weberbooks.com\/kindle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181839955"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weberbooks.com\/kindle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weberbooks.com\/kindle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weberbooks.com\/kindle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weberbooks.com\/kindle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=181839955"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.weberbooks.com\/kindle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181839955\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":194564260,"href":"https:\/\/www.weberbooks.com\/kindle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/181839955\/revisions\/194564260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weberbooks.com\/kindle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=181839955"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weberbooks.com\/kindle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=181839955"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weberbooks.com\/kindle\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=181839955"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Spring 1969: When Everything Was Falling Apart<\/h2>
The Junior Partner Problem: George\u2019s Decade in the Shadows<\/h2>
The Recording: Creating Magic While the Band Was Dying<\/h2>
From Overlooked to Unstoppable: The Streaming Vindication<\/h2>