The Beatles - The Inner Light
Copyright - 1968 EMI Records Ltd.
"The Inner Light" is a song written by George Harrison that was first released by The Beatles as a B-side to "Lady Madonna". It was the first ever Harrison composition to be featured on a Beatles single. The lyrics are a rendering of Chapter 47 in the Laozi's Dao De Jing, the foundational book of Daoism. It is also available on the Beatles' compilation albums Rarities and Past Masters, Volume Two.
The Beatles' recording of this song features lead vocals from Harrison and brief backing vocals from John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The instrumental track was recorded in Bombay (now Mumbai), India, during the sessions for Harrison's Wonderwall Music (a soundtrack album), during January 1968.
"The Inner Light," was one of the last Beatles songs to become readily available on an album in the English-speaking world. Although the song had been included in Por Siempre Beatles, a compilation album released only in Spain in 1971, it was not available on a British or American long-playing record until the release of Rarities (which had been included in the British and American boxed set, The Beatles Collection, in 1978, and released separately as an album in the United Kingdom in 1979). The first stand-alone American album to feature "The Inner Light" was The Beatles Rarities, which was released in 1980. "The Inner Light" is available on CD on Past Masters: Volume Two.
The mono version of the song that was released as the B-Side of the "Lady Madonna" single (and later on the Rarities compilation) is slightly different from the stereo version available on "Past Masters: Volume Two". The mono mix features an extra horn riff during the intro and overdubbed vocals, whereas the stereo mix lacks the extra horn and features a single vocal track.
Jeff Lynne of ELO, who worked heavily with George Harrison, sang the song accompanied by his acoustic guitar, Anoushka Shankar on sitar, and an ensemble of Indian musicians in 2002's Concert for George. Jake Battick of Rolling Stone magazine has stated that the song "...has the worst intro to any Beatles song".
Part of the song appears mixed alongside another Harrison composition, Here Comes the Sun, on the 2006 Cirque du Soleil album, Love.
Recorded 12 January 1968 & 6 and 8 February 1968
Wikipedia
Lyrics:
Without going out of my door
I can know all things of earth
Without looking out of my window
I could know the ways of heaven
The farther one travels
The less one knows
The less one really knows
Without going out of my door
You can know all things of earth
With out looking out of my window
You could know the ways of heaven
The farther one travels
The less one knows
The less one really knows
Arrive without travelling
See all without looking
Do all without doing
