| "You" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 UK picture sleeve | ||||
| Single byGeorge Harrison | ||||
| from the albumExtra Texture (Read All About It) | ||||
| B-side | "World of Stone" | |||
| Released | 12 September 1975 | |||
| Genre | Pop,soul | |||
| Length | 3:44 | |||
| Label | Apple | |||
| Songwriter | George Harrison | |||
| Producer | George Harrison | |||
| George Harrison singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Alternative cover | ||||
 US picture sleeve | ||||
| "A Bit More of You" | |
|---|---|
| Song byGeorge Harrison | |
| from the albumExtra Texture (Read All About It) | |
| Released | 22 September 1975 |
| Genre | Pop,soul |
| Length | 0:45 |
| Label | Apple |
| Songwriter | George Harrison |
| Producer | George Harrison |
"You" is a song by the English musicianGeorge Harrison, released as the opening track of his 1975 albumExtra Texture (Read All About It). It was also the album'slead single, becoming a top 20 hit in America and reaching number 9 in Canada. A 45-second instrumental portion of the song, titled "A Bit More of You", appears onExtra Texture also, opening side two of the originalLP format. Harrison wrote "You" in 1970 as a song forRonnie Spector, formerly ofthe Ronettes, and wife of Harrison'sAll Things Must Pass co-producerPhil Spector. The composition reflects Harrison's admiration for 1960s Americansoul/R&B, particularlyMotown.
In February 1971, Ronnie Spector recorded "You" in London for a proposed solo album onthe Beatles'Apple record label, but the recording remained unissued. Four years later, Harrison returned to this backing track while making his final album for Apple Records, in Los Angeles. The released recording features the 1971 contributions fromLeon Russell,Jim Gordon and others, with further instrumentation and vocalsoverdubbed in 1975, notably a series of saxophone solos byJim Horn. On release, the song was well received by the majority of music critics, who viewed it as a return to form for Harrison after his disappointing 1974 North American tour and the accompanyingDark Horse album.Dave Marsh ofRolling Stone hailed it as Harrison's best work since his 1970–71 hit song "My Sweet Lord"; author Ian Inglis describes "You" as "a near-perfect pop song".[1]
Capitol Records included "You" as one of just six Harrison solo hits, alongside compositions of his performed with the Beatles, on the 1976 compilationThe Best of George Harrison. For the first time since the debut CD release ofExtra Texture in the early 1990s, "You" was remastered, along with its parent album, as part of Harrison's 2014Apple Years reissues.
George Harrison's admiration for Americansoul/R&B acts dated back to the early 1960s, to singles byDoris Troy,Marvin Gaye,Mary Wells and others.[2] A similar influence on him and his fellowBeatles was that era'sgirl group sound, as reflected in the band's choice of cover versions during 1962–63.[3] In 1969, while producingBilly Preston'sdebut album onApple Records,[4] Harrison worked with Doris Troy in London and signed her to the label as a recording artist, songwriter and producer.[5] Another of his favourite female vocalists wasRonnie Spector[6] – formerly known as Veronica Bennett,[7] lead singer of girl groupthe Ronettes until 1967, and latterly married to American producerPhil Spector.[8] After co-producing Harrison'sAll Things Must Pass triple album in 1970, following thebreak-up of the Beatles,[9] Spector was granted an unofficial role as head ofA&R for Apple Records,[10] and had previously insisted that his wife record for the label.[11] That year, Harrison wrote thesoul-inspired "You" as what he later termed "a Ronettes sort of song", specifically for Ronnie Spector.[12]
The main lyrics – "I ... love ... you" and "You ... love ... me", in verses one and two, respectively[13] – make it one of Harrison's simplest compositions.[14][15] Author Ian Inglis comments that Harrison's lyrics here recall the Beatles' use of personal pronouns in songs such as "Love Me Do", "From Me to You" and "She Loves You" to effectively "include the listener in the song's narrative".[1]
A deviation from these lines occurs only with the repeatedbridges:[16]
And when I'm holding you, what a feeling
Seems so good to be true
That I'm telling you all that I must be dreaming.
Harrison musical biographer Simon Leng notes the importance of soul music in Harrison's solo career during the 1970s and views "You" as a song that most obviously demonstrates the influence ofMotown on its composer.[17][nb 1] Inglis suggests that Harrison's former Beatles bandmatePaul McCartney adopted part of the melody of "You" for his 1976 hit single withWings, "Silly Love Songs".[1]
According to Leng, Harrison taped demos of "You" during the lengthy recording sessions forAll Things Must Pass.[19] The sessions for a proposedRonnie Spector solo album[20] began at London'sAbbey Road Studios on 2 February 1971,[21] with Harrison and Phil Spector again co-producing[11] andPhil McDonald as recording engineer.[22]
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Since the Ronettes' break-up in early 1967, Ronnie Spector had worked only sporadically,[23] and she later claimed to have been a virtual prisoner in her husband's 23-room Los Angeles mansion during this period.[24][25] She flew in from California for the sessions,[26] which featured three musicians who had been part of the so-called "blue-eyed soul school" of the late 1960s, via their association withDelaney & Bonnie:[27] multi-instrumentalistLeon Russell on piano,Jim Gordon on drums, andCarl Radle on bass.[28][nb 2] In addition to Harrison, who supplied guitar, another participant wasGary Wright, on keyboards, reprising his role onAll Things Must Pass.[33] For two days,[34] this group of musicians taped the basic tracks for "You" and five other songs written or co-written by Harrison, with Ronnie Spector recording guide vocals only.[28] The sessions then "broke down", according to authors Chip Madinger and Mark Easter, due to "Phil's health issues", which had similarly interrupted the recording ofAll Things Must Pass in 1970.[35]
Despite the fact that "You" was tailor-made for his wife, Phil Spector opted not to issue the song as her comeback single;[12] he had likewise held back recordings by the Ronettes andthe Crystals,[36] another act signed to his label,Philles Records, in the 1960s.[37] With the solo-album plan abruptly abandoned,[12][20] another Harrison original from the sessions, "Try Some, Buy Some", was completed and selected for release as a Ronnie Spector single on Apple.[9][38] A minor hit in America only, that song's disappointing commercial reception led to the cancellation of a second single, which was to be "You".[39][40][nb 3]
Four years after the Abbey Road sessions, Harrison revisited "You" while completing his final album for Apple Records, the soul-influencedExtra Texture (Read All About It),[43] atA&M Studios in Los Angeles.[44][45] His standing with music critics had recently plummeted following a North American tour withRavi Shankar in November–December 1974 and his accompanying album,Dark Horse.[46][47] These two projects had been marred by Harrison'slaryngitis-ravaged singing voice;[48][49] in addition, a number of concert reviewers had condemned Harrison for refusing to indulge the public's nostalgia for the Beatles, and for his on-stagespiritual pronouncements.[50][51][nb 4] Looking to rehabilitate himself with critics and his audience in early 1975,[55] Harrison had what author Robert Rodriguez describes as "at least one ace in the commercial hole ... the Motown-esque 'You'".[56]
Harrison recorded his own lead vocal onto the 1971 basic track, as he had done earlier with "Try Some, Buy Some", forLiving in the Material World (1973).[57][58] On 31 May 1975, furtheroverdubs were carried out on "You", comprising a second drum part, byJim Keltner; tenor sax solos fromJim Horn; and ambient keyboards, played byDavid Foster.[59] Harrison said that Horn's saxophone playing on the track was "one of the nicest rock-n-roll sounds I've heard in years".[60] The overdubs added to the song's radio-friendly qualities, particularly through the use ofARP String Synthesizer,[61] but Madinger and Easter note that Keltner's drum part, which is higher in the mix than Gordon's and was played in half-time, produces an effect whereby the song'stempo appears to be slower than on the 1971 recording.[41] With a significant amount of post-production work having been carried out in Los Angeles,[28] Spector did not receive a co-producer's credit for "You" as he had for Harrison's version of "Try Some, Buy Some".[62]
In September 1975 Harrison toldBBC Radio 1'sPaul Gambaccini that it was "such a good backing track" originally, yet he had forgotten about its existence until coming across the tape years later.[63][64] In a 1987 interview, Harrison acknowledged the difficulty he had in singing the song in so high akey;[65] "it was recorded in Ronnie's register," he explains in his1980 autobiography, "a bit high for me."[12] Although Ronnie Spector's name did not appear in the album credits,[66] snippets of her 1971 guide vocal remain on Harrison's released recording.[14][67] Spector's voice can be heard intermittently from the two-minute mark onwards,[41] with her signature "woh oh-oh oh-oh"s audible during the song's playout.[68]
An upbeat pop song in a similar vein to Harrison's 1971 hit "What Is Life",[45] "You" was the most obvious choice for a single offExtra Texture.[14] It was released in advance of the album, backed by "World of Stone", on 12 September 1975 in Britain (as Apple R 6007) and three days later in the United States (as Apple 1884).[69][70] The picture sleeve in Britain featured a photo of a smiling Harrison taken on stage by 1974 tour photographerHenry Grossman; the US picture sleeve incorporated Roy Kohara's humorous design for the album, showing blue lettering on a vivid orange background.[71] In another example of the upbeat mood that was otherwise lacking in the musical content ofExtra Texture,[72][73] the single's face labels showed the familiar Apple Records logo as an apple core, a pun on the demise of the company.[74]
In the UK, where Harrison had undertaken promotional activities for the first time forExtra Texture,[75][76] "You" was Radio 1's Record of the Week,[77] guaranteeing it substantial airplay.[14] The song peaked no higher than Harrison's previous hit there, "Ding Dong, Ding Dong", at number 38, however.[78][nb 5] As with hisDark Horse singles, "You" performed better in America,[80] where it held the number 20 position for two weeks on theBillboard Hot 100.[45][81] On the US charts compiled byCash Box andRecord World, the single peaked at number 19 and number 39, respectively.[45]
The song served as both the opener forExtra Texture as well as, in the form of a 45-second instrumental portion titled "A Bit More of You", the first track on side two of the originalLP.[82][83] Harrison biographerDale Allison dismisses thisreprise with the words "It's filler",[84] while Leng suggests its purpose was to "fashion a soul mood" for the song that follows, the pop-soul ballad "Can't Stop Thinking About You".[85] The full version of "You" appears on the 1976 compilationThe Best of George Harrison as one of only six selections from Harrison's solo career up to the end of 1975.[86][nb 6] Having last been remastered for the 1991–92 CD release ofExtra Texture,[90] the song was remastered for inclusion on Harrison'sApple Years 1968–75 reissues, released in September 2014.[91][92]
After the so-called"DarkHoarse" debacle in 1974,[93] and with his singing voice now healed, music critics viewed "You" as a return to form for Harrison.[94] The tone of the song suggested that, in the words of Robert Rodriguez, "the irritable, gravel-voiced mystic on tour the previous year had been but an illusion"[95] – an impression that was supported by the lightheartedness evident in theparent album's artwork and Harrison's self-deprecating "Ohnothimagen" producer's moniker.[96][nb 7]
Dave Marsh ofRolling Stone wrote of the song: "'You,' the single which precededExtra Texture ... is not only the best thing he has done since 1971's 'My Sweet Lord,' but also promised some of the prestige and credibility he lost with last year's sourvoiced album (Dark Horse) and fizzled tour."[98] In theNME,Neil Spencer opined: "'You' seems at least to proclaim a return to energy. It has the kind of semi-Spector production that was spread all over All Things Must Pass. It bounds along OK, Harrison's double-tracked vocals gasp convincingly, and it deserves to be the hit that it will be."[99][100]
Reviewing forMelody Maker,Ray Coleman highlighted Harrison's vocal and the musical contributions from Horn and Russell, and said: "It's a dead cert disco smash, his finest single since 'My Sweet Lord'." Coleman added that the lyrics were "deceptively simple" since, as with Harrison's 1969 composition "Something", "they say a lot by saying a little."[60]Billboard called "You" a "catchy cut highlighted by his strongest singing in some time", saying that it had an effectivehook and sounded like it could have fitted onAll Things Must Pass.[101]Cash Box said the song had a "wall-of-sound approach a la 'What Is Love' (theBangladesh concert sound)" and predicted high sales for the single, but added, "we're still looking for the next change from Harrison themusician."[102]Record World said "George once again shows his flair for the love ballad. With extra texture provided by a stellar cast of backing musicians headed by Tom Scott, who takes a great saxophone break, George is once again a chart contender."[103] Writing later in the 1970s, in their bookThe Beatles: An Illustrated Record,Roy Carr andTony Tyler dismissed "You" with the words: "Doleful, lacklustre, [with] would-be singalongs which quite fail to arouse."[104]
In his review of Harrison's 1987 albumCloud Nine, forCreem magazine, Bill Holdship included the song among the "scattered brilliant moments" of Harrison's career post-All Things Must Pass, saying: "'You' from theExtra Texture LP sounds like punk (depends on your definition) pop as Phil Spector might've done it, and remains a killer to this day. And when I saw Harrison perform in 1974, he put on a far better show than the one I would later see Wings do."[105] Writing in the posthumous Rolling Stone Press tribute,Harrison, in 2002,Mikal Gilmore similarly identified "You" as a highlight of the artist's work in the mid to late 1970s.[106] In the same publication,Greg Kot deemed it "a terrific single", adding: "Its roaring Wall of Sound arrangement suits Harrison well, right down to its closing quote of the Ronettes' 'Be My Baby'."[68] In a January 2002 review of Harrison's solo releases, forGoldmine magazine,Dave Thompson described the song as "magnificent".[107]
AllMusic's Lindsay Planer admires it as a "propulsive and rocking love song ... backed by one of Harrison's most liberated and driving melodies"; Planer also notes the "nonstop powerhouse instrumental track", driven by Gordon and Keltner's "double-barreled percussive assault".[108] Richard Ginell, also writing for AllMusic, calls the song an "instantly winning" single and album-opener, and rates it among the best tracks of Harrison's solo career.[109]
Among reviewers of Harrison's 2014Apple Years reissues, Walter Tunis of theLexington Herald-Leader considersExtra Texture to be "a delight", from the opening, "brightly orchestrated pop of You" through to the closing track, "His Name Is Legs".[110] Conversely, Paul Trynka ofClassic Rock says that the song "sounds dull today, with its dated sessioneer funk", whereas "it's the confessional songs [onExtra Texture] that have worn well."[111]
Simon Leng views it as "a great pop record", adding: "'You' has the same surging spirit as [Motown classics] "Dancing in the Street" and "Heat Wave" and, as the lyrics are full of boy-meets-girl triteness, the groove is what carries it."[19] Ian Inglis identifies the song's strengths as its lyrical simplicity, a "soaring, galloping melody ... [that] encapsulates the joy of reciprocated love and the liberation of rock 'n' roll at its most exuberant", and the quality of the musicianship on the recording, particularly Jim Horn's contribution. Inglis concludes: "Even the slight unease [Harrison] has in striving to maintain some of the higher notes cannot detract from what is, quite simply, a near-perfect pop song."[1]
Two years after Harrison's death from cancer in November 2001,[112] American singer-songwriter Lisa Mychols covered "You" for the multi-artist compilationHe Was Fab: A Loving Tribute to George Harrison[113] – a reading that Lindsay Planer describes as "affective" and a highlight of the album.[108] At the New York Celebrates George Harrison Concert on 26 February 2011, in honour of what would have been Harrison's 68th birthday, New York band the 253 Boys performed "You" in amedley with hisCloud Nine track "This Is Love".[114]
* denotes May–June 1975 overdubs
| Chart (1975) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| CanadianRPM 100 Singles[115] | 9 |
| JapaneseOricon Singles Chart[116] | 66 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart[117] | 35 |
| SwedishTopplistan Singles[118] | 19 |
| UK Singles Chart[78] | 38 |
| USBillboard Hot 100[119] | 20 |
| USCash Box Top 100[120] | 19 |
| USRecord World Singles Chart[121] | 39 |
| West GermanMedia Control Singles Chart[122] | 43 |