If I Needed Someone
| "If I Needed Someone" | |
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B-side of 1995 "Norwegian Wood" jukebox single
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| Song by the Beatles from the album Rubber Soul | |
| Published | Northern Songs |
| Released | 3 December 1965 |
| Recorded | 16 and 18 October 1965, EMI Studios, London |
| Genre | Folk rock, pop rock,power pop |
| Length | 2:23 |
| Label | Parlophone |
| Writer(s) | George Harrison |
| Producer(s) | George Martin |
| "If I Needed Someone" | ||||
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| Single by The Hollies | ||||
| B-side | "I've Got a Way of My Own" | |||
| Released | 3 December 1965 | |||
| Format | 7-inch single | |||
| Recorded | 17 November 1965 EMI Studios, London |
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| Genre | Folk rock, pop | |||
| Length | 2:19 | |||
| Label | Parlophone | |||
| Writer(s) | George Harrison | |||
| Producer(s) | Ron Richards | |||
| The Hollies singles chronology | ||||
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"If I Needed Someone" is a song written by English rock musician George Harrison and first recorded by the Beatles for their 1965 album Rubber Soul. In North America, it was one of the tracks that Capitol Records omitted from Rubber Soul and instead included on the 1966 release Yesterday and Today. The Hollies issued a recording of the song as a single in the United Kingdom on the same day as the release there of Rubber Soul. This version peaked at number 20 in the UK, making "If I Needed Someone" the first Harrison composition to become a hit, although its commercial performance was modest by the Hollies' previous standards. Accompanying the latter release, Harrison was highly critical of the Hollies' performance, leading to a terse exchange in the press between the two English groups.
Harrison wrote "If I Needed Someone" as a love song to his fiancée Pattie Boyd, whom he married in January 1966. The ambivalent tone of the lyrics has nevertheless invited interpretation as a song addressed to a casual love interest. The composition reflects Harrison's nascent interest in Indian classical music, while also serving as an example of the reciprocal influences exchanged between the Beatles and the American folk rock band the Byrds during the mid 1960s. Harrison based the song's guitar riff, played on a Rickenbacker twelve-string electric guitar, on the riff that Roger McGuinn used in the Byrds' adaptation of "The Bells of Rhymney". Following its inclusion in the set list for the Beatles' 1965 UK tour, the song became the only Harrison composition performed live by the group during their years of international fame.
On release, "If I Needed Someone" was widely considered to be Harrison's best song to date. Aside from the Hollies, several artists covered the track in the first year after its release, including the American bands Stained Glass and the Kingsmen. A live recording by Harrison, taken from his 1991 tour with Eric Clapton, appears on the album Live in Japan. Clapton also performed the song at the Concert for George tribute to Harrison in 2002, while McGuinn released a cover version on his 2004 album Limited Edition.
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