Don't Bother Me
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"Don't Bother Me" was the first song George Harrison ever wrote. It was recorded with The Beatles on September 11 and September 12, 1963. It originally appeared on the group's With the Beatles album in the UK (see 1963 in music) and on their Meet the Beatles! album in the U.S. (see 1964 in music).
Harrison wrote the song while sick in bed at a hotel room in Bournemouth, England (where the Beatles were playing some shows during the summer of 1963). Harrison never regarded it highly, stating on one occasion, "It was a fairly crappy song. I forgot all about it completely once it was on the album." He considered it an exercise in whether he could write a song, later saying, "At least it showed me that all I needed to do was keep on writing and then maybe eventually I would write something good."
The sullen mood and desolate lyrics--"So go away and leave me alone, don't bother me"--were unusual for the Beatles at the time but would become characteristic for Harrison. The song mostly stays in a minor key and achieves a thick sound through its double-tracked vocal, reverbed guitars, and busy drumming. The elaborate percussion lends the song a Latin rhythm accentuated by its stop-time structure.
"Don't Bother Me" is one of several songs featured in A Hard's Day's Night, during a scene where the Beatles dance at a nightclub while Paul's grandfather gambles elsewhere.
Instrumentation
- Paul McCartney on bass, claves
- John Lennon on rhythm guitar, tambourine
- George Harrison on lead guitar, vocal (double-tracked)
- Ringo Starr on drums, bongos, loose skinned arabian bongo
Earlier Harrisongs
Harrison receives a writing credit for two earlier songs, "In Spite of All the Danger" (McCartney/Harrison) and "Cry for a Shadow" (Harrison/Lennon). Both were recorded by the Beatles but neither was released officially by the band until 1995's Anthology 1 compilation (see 1995 in music). Because the former was largely a McCartney composition and the latter was an instrumental pastiche of The Shadows, "Don't Bother Me" is considered Harrison's first song by most (including the author himself).References
- Harrison, George (1980). I Me Mine. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 0671427873.
- MacDonald, Ian (1995). Revolution In the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties. Vintage. ISBN 0712666974.
External links
| The Beatles |
|---|
| John Lennon | Paul McCartney | George Harrison | Ringo Starr Pete Best | Stuart Sutcliffe |
| Management |
| Brian Epstein | Allen Klein | Apple Records |
| Production |
| George Martin | Geoff Emerick | Norman Smith | Phil Spector | Abbey Road Studios |
| Official studio albums |
| Please Please Me (1963) | With the Beatles (1963) | A Hard Day's Night (1964) | Beatles for Sale (1964) | Help! (1965) | Rubber Soul (1965) | Revolver (1966) | Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) | Magical Mystery Tour (1967) | The Beatles (1968) | Yellow Submarine (1969) | Abbey Road (1969) | Let It Be (1970) |
| A Hard Day's Night (1964) | Help! (1965) | Magical Mystery Tour (1967) | Yellow Submarine (1968) | Let it Be (1970) |
| History | Lennon-McCartney | Bootlegs | Discography | Anthology | Influence | The Quarrymen | London | Beatlemania | Beatlesque | Fifth Beatle | Paul Is Dead | British Invasion | Apple Corps | Northern Songs | Harrisongs | Startling Music |
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