Here Comes the Sun

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HERE COMES THE SUN
 
 
“Here Comes the Sun”  is a song written by George Harrison that was first released on the Beatles’ 1969 album Abbey Road.  Along with “Something” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”, it is one of Harrison’s best-known compositions from the Beatles era.  The lyrics reflect the composer’s relief at both the arrival of spring and the temporary respite he was experiencing from the band’s business affairs.  Reflecting the continued influence of Indian classical music on Harrison’s writing, the composition includes a series of unusual time changes over the “Sun, sun, sun, here it comes” refrain.  “Here Comes the Sun” has received acclaim from music critics.  Combined with his other contribution to Abbey Road, “Something”, it gained for Harrison the level of recognition as a songwriter that had previously been reserved for his bandmates John Lennon and Paul McCartney.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 
Following the break-up of the BeatlesGeorge Harrison released a mammoth two-record album in 1970 called All Things Must Pass that also included a third disk called Apple Jam.  Clearly Harrison was creating a lot of music that wasn’t winding up on the Beatles albums.  By the time “Something” and “Here Comes the Sun” showed up on Abbey Road, nearly all rock critics were acknowledging that George Harrison was a songwriter equal to John Lennon and Paul McCartney; but I had noticed that at least as far back as Revolver, where his songs were “Taxman”, “Love You To” and “I Want to Tell You”. 
 
(September 2014)
 
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On Revolver, which I bought after Sgt. Pepper actually, George Harrison wrote the lead-off song, Taxman plus Love You To and I Want to Tell You.  George wrote the first song on Side 2 of Abbey Road, “Here Comes the Sun” – whose title is reflected in a later song on the album, “Sun King” in the lyric, “Here comes the sun king” – as well as Something, perhaps George Harrison’s finest composition for the Beatles.  As a double-A–sided single with “Come Together”, Something is the only song Harrison wrote that the Beatles took to the top of the charts.  Also, Something has been recorded by about 150 other artists, making it the second most covered Beatles song (after Yesterday). 
 
(June 2015)
 
Last edited: March 22, 2021