SOMETHING

George Harrison didn’t make many dents in Lennon and McCartney’s songwriting predominance, but when he did he made them count. First worked on during sessions for the White Album, Something – with Harrison taking double-tracked lead vocal and delivering a soaring complementary guitar solo to die for – was his masterpiece. Lennon added piano and a four-minute extended instrumental coda (ultimately shelved but for a small snippet in the middle-eight), while McCartney’s overbusy bass vied for attention.

With a suggestion of Hammond organ from Billy Preston, Something was released as a double A-side (with Come Together) as Abbey

Road’s sole single. It’s second only to Yesterday as the most covered song in The Beatles’ catalogue, and both Lennon and McCartney admitted it was the best track on the album. Frank Sinatra, who regularly performed it, rated it as “the greatest love song ever written”, if slightly souring the compliment by mis-crediting its composition to Lennon/McCartney.

James Taylor’s eponymous debut album, issued by Apple the previous year, included the track Something In The Way She Moves, but Harrison’s misappropriation of its title for Something’s opening line didn’t concern a selfless Taylor, who said: “I was pleased to think that I’d had an impact on The Beatles.”