Every time The Beatles members reunite, it’s always an unforgettable moment. Fab Four reunions don’t get any more legendary than the time George Harrison teamed up with Ringo Starr for a smokin’ jam on Harry’s greatest hit “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” The performance at the Prince’s Trust Rock Gala in 1987 wasn’t only distinguished by the two former Beatles, though. It also featured rock royalty such as Eric Clapton, Phil Collins, Elton John, Jools Holland, Mark King, and Jeff Lynne.
The studio recording of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” famously featured a guitar solo from Clapton. Such a feature was very rare in The Beatles discography, and Clapton’s smouldering licks came to define the song. Clapton and Harrison brought the song up to the next level live at the 3:40 mark by dropping a guitar solo duel that is up there with the great moments in rock ‘n’ roll. The Music Man has to say that the two legendary axemen show incredible chemistry and are just firing on all cylinders here.
This rendition of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” is also one of Harrison’s greatest vocal moments. The late great singer-songwriter sounds passionate and soulful here, and he really gives his pipes a workout on the number. Harrison was more of a guitarist than a singer in The Beatles, and he took some time to fully develop his style as a vocalist. Clearly, the hard yards over the years paid off, as he sounds absolutely thunderous here.
Fans couldn’t get enough of the legendary collab, as it drew 26 million views on YouTube, becoming the most viewed performance on the King’s Trust Music channel. Another great late-career performance from Harrison was his rendition of “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth).” The uplifting ballad was the highlight of Harrison’s 1973 album Living in the Material World. It’s a real vibe to hear him perform it live, and the positive message behind the lyrics makes it a feel-good listen.
The Beatles released “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” as the seventh track of their self-titled 1968 album, which is commonly known as The White Album. Harrison didn’t get a whole lot of Beatles writing credits, but the ones he did get are absolute belters, and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” is no exception. The Music Man readers might be interested to hear that while writing the song, Harrison drew inspiration from the ancient Chinese philosophical text I Ching (usually translated as the Book of Changes) during an exercise in randomness. In The Beatles Anthology, Harrison explained that “I decided to write a song based on the first thing I saw upon opening any book – as it would be a relative to that moment, at that time. I picked up a book at random, opened it, saw ‘gently weeps’, then laid the book down again and started the song.”
