Post by Kaleidoscope Eyes on Nov 3, 2009 21:57:43 GMT 1
A forgotten and half-finished Beatles song, written by George Harrison, has finally been completed - 40 years on.
www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/the-beatles/6491700/Beatles-song-completed-after-40-years.html
Harrison gave the original 10 lines of the track - called Silence (Is It's Own Reply) - to biographer Hunter Davies for inclusion in his band biography, first published in the late 1960s.
They had been discarded as scrap paper on the floor of the legendary Abbey Road studio until being found by cleaners.
The lyrics remained ignored until BBC Radio Merseyside presenter Spencer Leigh approached contemporary songwriter Dean Johnson about turning them into a finished song.
Dean, from Oxton, Wirral, said: "The words were both brutally honest and compassionate and Harrison was obviously writing from the heart.
"I just tried by my best ability to get into the mind of someone in George's position and I am so pleased that most people who have heard it, think I achieved a credible continuity with the original lyrics."
The song's lyrics were first thought to about unrequited love but are now believed to allude to Harrison's uneasy relationship with John Lennon.
Harrison wrote: "I'm happy to say that it's only a dream/When I come across people like you/It's only a dream and you make it obscene/With the things that you think and you do/You're so unaware of the pain that I bear/And jealous for what you can't do."
On the reverse side of the lyrics are instructions on how to reach Beatles manager Brian Epstein's country house in Sussex, written in Epstein's hand.
The are now on display in the British Library's Beatles collection, along with more material loaned by Hunter who plans to donate everything to the library after his death.
The lost lyrics are in the latest edition of Hunter's Beatles biography, republished later this month.
The completed song lyrics:
Silence (Is It's Own Reply)
I'm happy to say that it's only a dream
When I come across people like you,
It's only a dream and you make it obscene
With the things that you think and you do.
You're so unaware of the pain that I bear
And jealous for what you can't do.
There's times when I feel that you haven't a hope
But I also know that isn't true.
Every time I ask you why
Silence is its own reply
It's so hard to prove what I can do
Compared to someone like you
You make it look easy but you still tease me
When you have got nothing better to do
When the tears are falling and its dawning
The truth will ring out so clear
That no-one's above you and nobody can love you
Until all that pain disappears
Every time I ask you why
Silence is its own reply
By the time we have talked it over
It's time to say goodbye
www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/the-beatles/6491700/Beatles-song-completed-after-40-years.html
Harrison gave the original 10 lines of the track - called Silence (Is It's Own Reply) - to biographer Hunter Davies for inclusion in his band biography, first published in the late 1960s.
They had been discarded as scrap paper on the floor of the legendary Abbey Road studio until being found by cleaners.
The lyrics remained ignored until BBC Radio Merseyside presenter Spencer Leigh approached contemporary songwriter Dean Johnson about turning them into a finished song.
Dean, from Oxton, Wirral, said: "The words were both brutally honest and compassionate and Harrison was obviously writing from the heart.
"I just tried by my best ability to get into the mind of someone in George's position and I am so pleased that most people who have heard it, think I achieved a credible continuity with the original lyrics."
The song's lyrics were first thought to about unrequited love but are now believed to allude to Harrison's uneasy relationship with John Lennon.
Harrison wrote: "I'm happy to say that it's only a dream/When I come across people like you/It's only a dream and you make it obscene/With the things that you think and you do/You're so unaware of the pain that I bear/And jealous for what you can't do."
On the reverse side of the lyrics are instructions on how to reach Beatles manager Brian Epstein's country house in Sussex, written in Epstein's hand.
The are now on display in the British Library's Beatles collection, along with more material loaned by Hunter who plans to donate everything to the library after his death.
The lost lyrics are in the latest edition of Hunter's Beatles biography, republished later this month.
The completed song lyrics:
Silence (Is It's Own Reply)
I'm happy to say that it's only a dream
When I come across people like you,
It's only a dream and you make it obscene
With the things that you think and you do.
You're so unaware of the pain that I bear
And jealous for what you can't do.
There's times when I feel that you haven't a hope
But I also know that isn't true.
Every time I ask you why
Silence is its own reply
It's so hard to prove what I can do
Compared to someone like you
You make it look easy but you still tease me
When you have got nothing better to do
When the tears are falling and its dawning
The truth will ring out so clear
That no-one's above you and nobody can love you
Until all that pain disappears
Every time I ask you why
Silence is its own reply
By the time we have talked it over
It's time to say goodbye
