george martin sang the original while my guitar gently weeps.
george martin sang the original while my guitar gently weeps.
who sang the original while my guitar gently weeps?
george martin
"rolling stone" ranked "while my guitar gently weeps" 136th on its list of "the 500 greatest songs of all time", seventh on the "100 greatest guitar songs of all time", and at number 10 on its list of "the beatles 100 greatest songs". clapton's performance was ranked 42nd in "guitar world"s 2008 list of the "100 greatest guitar solos". among other critics' lists of the best beatles songs, "paste" magazine and "ultimate classic rock" each ranked it at number 4, while "mojo" placed it at number 17. in his commentary for the "mojo" selection, english songwriter chris difford said that he had only come to fully appreciate the lyrics following harrison's death in 2001; describing them as a "riposte" to harrison's bandmates, particularly lennon and mccartney, difford added: "george was the one who came back from india with the spiritual awakening and carried it through to the rest of his life, whereas the others came back with the postcards." in 2018, the music staff of "time out london" ranked "while my guitar gently weeps" 20th on their list of the best beatles songs. coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the white album's release, jacob stolworthy of "the independent" listed it at number 1 on his ranking of the album's 30 tracks. he said the song was "hands down one of the beatles' greatest" and, having being conceived through "disharmony – in the world, as well as in the band he'd grown up with", "testament to harrison's genius".
while my guitar gently weeps
among contemporary reviews, jann wenner of "rolling stone" said that "while my guitar gently weeps" was "one of george harrison's very best songs", and likened it to "blue jay way" in that it "recalls california, the simple baja california beat, the dreamy words of the los angeles haze, the organic pace lapping around every room as if in invisible waves". wenner found the lyrics "slightly self-righteous and preaching", representing "a general set of incidents, a message, like a sermon, impersonally directed to everyone", and concluded: "i am willing to bet something substantial that the lead guitarist on this cut is eric clapton, yet another involution of the circular logic on which this song [is] so superbly constructed as a musical piece." in his review for the "international times", barry miles said the song was a "great tune" with "nice hi-hats" but a "lifeless" guitar part. alan smith of the "nme" credited the "warm voice" and "very strong melody" to mccartney and said that the track was one of the "highlights ... moving into a slightly hendrix thing" and was bound to be "another hit for somebody". three weeks later, smith acknowledged that the singer and composer was in fact harrison, and added: "the words are evocative and the melody line is creeping into my mind to stay." geoffrey cannon wrote in "the guardian": "george harrison has seen the truth, and is anxious that we should see our truth. he's a preacher, man of fire. when his songs speak of 'you', the address is direct. he achieves his character in 'while my guitar gently weeps', which, with phil ochs's 'tape from california', is the first track i know that succeeds in making magnanimous love serious and touching."
while my guitar gently weeps