"You" is a song by the English musician George Harrison, released as the opening track of his 1975 album Extra Texture (Read All About It). It was also the album's lead single, becoming a top 20 hit in America and reaching number 9 in Canada. A 45-second instrumental portion of the song, titled "A Bit More of You", appears on Extra Texture also, opening side two of the original LP format. Harrison wrote "You" in 1970 as a song for Ronnie Spector, formerly of the Ronettes, and wife of Harrison's All Things Must Pass co-producer Phil Spector. The composition reflects Harrison's admiration for 1960s American soul/R&B, particularly Motown.
In February 1971, Ronnie Spector recorded "You" in London for a proposed solo album on the Beatles' Apple record label, but the recording remained unissued. Four years later, Harrison returned to this backing track while making his final album for Apple Records, in Los Angeles. The released recording features the 1971 contributions from Leon Russell, Jim Gordon and others, with further instrumentation and vocals overdubbed in 1975, notably a series of saxophone solos by Jim Horn. On release, the song was well received by the majority of music critics, who viewed it as a return to form for Harrison after his disappointing 1974 North American tour and the accompanying Dark Horse album. Dave Marsh of Rolling Stone hailed it as Harrison's best work since his 1970–71 hit song "My Sweet Lord"; author Ian Inglis describes "You" as "a near-perfect pop song".
Capitol Records included "You" as one of just six Harrison solo hits, alongside compositions of his performed with the Beatles, on the 1976 compilation The Best of George Harrison. For the first time since the debut CD release of Extra Texture in the early 1990s, "You" was remastered, along with its parent album, as part of Harrison's 2014 Apple Years reissues.
Background and composition George Harrison's admiration for American soul/R&B acts dated back to the early 1960s, to singles by Doris Troy, Marvin Gaye, Mary Wells and others.Clayson, pp. 170–71. A similar influence on him and his fellow Beatles was that era's girl group sound, as reflected in the band's choice of cover versions during 1962–63.MadDonald, pp. 65–66, 79, 81. In 1969, while producing Billy Preston's debut album on Apple Records,Andy Davis' liner notes, Doris Troy CD booklet (Apple/EMI, 2010; produced by Doris Troy & George Harrison). Harrison worked with Doris Troy in London and signed her to the label as a recording artist, songwriter and producer.Leng, pp. 60–61. Another of his favourite female vocalists was Ronnie SpectorKevin Howlett's liner notes, Living in the Material World CD booklet (EMI Records, 2006; produced by Dhani Harrison & Olivia Harrison), p. 7. – formerly known as Veronica Bennett,Clayson, p. 100. lead singer of girl group the Ronettes until 1967, and latterly married to American producer Phil Spector.Leng, p. 105. After co-producing Harrison's All Things Must Pass triple album in 1970, following the break-up of the Beatles,Rodriguez, p. 41. Spector was granted an unofficial role as head of A&R for Apple Records,Williams, p. 159. and had previously insisted that his wife record for the label.Spizer, p. 342. That year, Harrison wrote the soul-inspired "You" as what he later termed "a Ronettes sort of song", specifically for Ronnie Spector.Harrison, p. 218.
The main lyrics – "I ... love ... you" and "You ... love ... me", in verses one and two, respectivelyHarrison, p. 219. – make it one of Harrison's simplest compositions.Clayson, p. 349.Huntley, p. 123. Author Ian Inglis comments that Harrison's lyrics here recall the Beatles' use of personal pronouns in songs such as "Love Me Do", "From Me to You" and "She Loves You" to effectively "include the listener in the song's narrative".Inglis, p. 50.
A deviation from these lines occurs only with the repeated bridges:Harrison, pp 217, 219.
Harrison musical biographer Simon Leng notes the importance of soul music in Harrison's solo career during the 1970s and views "You" as a song that most obviously demonstrates the influence of Motown on its composer.Leng, pp. 70–71, 180. Inglis suggests that Harrison's former Beatles bandmate Paul McCartney adopted part of the melody of "You" for his 1976 hit single with Wings, "Silly Love Songs".
Recording
1971 basic track According to Leng, Harrison taped demos of "You" during the lengthy recording sessions for All Things Must Pass.Leng, p. 180. The sessions for a proposed Ronnie Spector solo albumHuntley, p. 65. began at London's Abbey Road Studios on 2 February 1971,Badman, p. 25. with Harrison and Phil Spector again co-producing and Phil McDonald as recording engineer.Madinger & Easter, pp. 434, 452.
Since the Ronettes' break-up in early 1967, Ronnie Spector had worked only sporadically,Spector, pp. 183–84. and she later claimed to have been a virtual prisoner in her husband's 23-room Los Angeles mansion during this period.Romanowski & George-Warren, pp. 850, 934.Cameron Matthews, "Ronnie Spector Remembers Amy Winehouse, Reveals She Went to Rehab to Escape from Phil Spector", Spinner, 2 August 2011 (archived version retrieved 30 October 2013). She flew in from California for the sessions,Huntley, p. 64. which featured three musicians who had been part of the so-called "blue-eyed soul school" of the late 1960s, via their association with Delaney & Bonnie:Clayson, p. 274. multi-instrumentalist Leon Russell on piano, Jim Gordon on drums, and Carl Radle on bass.Madinger & Easter, p. 434. In addition to Harrison, who supplied guitar, another participant was Gary Wright, on keyboards, reprising his role on All Things Must Pass.Huntley, pp. 52, 64. For two days,Badman, pp. 25–26. this group of musicians taped the basic tracks for "You" and five other songs written or co-written by Harrison, with Ronnie Spector recording guide vocals only. The sessions then "broke down", according to authors Chip Madinger and Mark Easter, due to "Phil's health issues", which had similarly interrupted the recording of All Things Must Pass in 1970.Madinger & Easter, pp. 427, 434.
Despite the fact that "You" was tailor-made for his wife, Phil Spector opted not to issue the song as her comeback single; he had likewise held back recordings by the Ronettes and the Crystals,Spector, pp. 55, 113, 114. another act signed to his label, Philles Records, in the 1960s.Bruce Eder, "The Crystals: Biography", AllMusic (retrieved 27 March 2013). With the solo-album plan abruptly abandoned, another Harrison original from the sessions, "Try Some, Buy Some", was completed and selected for release as a Ronnie Spector single on Apple.Phil Symes, "Ronnie Tries it Solo", Disc and Music Echo, 8 May 1971; available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required). A minor hit in America only, that song's disappointing commercial reception led to the cancellation of a second single, which was to be "You".Schaffner, p. 160.Clayson, p. 281.
1975 overdubs Four years after the Abbey Road sessions, Harrison revisited "You" while completing his final album for Apple Records, the soul-influenced Extra Texture (Read All About It),Leng, pp. 178, 186. at A&M Studios in Los Angeles.Madinger & Easter, pp. 451–52.Spizer, p. 271. His standing with music critics had recently plummeted following a North American tour with Ravi Shankar in November–December 1974 and his accompanying album, Dark Horse.Rodriguez, p. 64.The Editors of Rolling Stone, pp. 44, 46. These two projects had been marred by Harrison's laryngitis-ravaged singing voice;Lavezzoli, pp. 195–96.Madinger & Easter, pp. 442–43. in addition, a number of concert reviewers had condemned Harrison for refusing to indulge the public's nostalgia for the Beatles, and for his on-stage spiritual pronouncements.Schaffner, pp. 177–78.Tillery, pp. 114–15. Looking to rehabilitate himself with critics and his audience in early 1975,Woffinden, p. 86. Harrison had what author Robert Rodriguez describes as "at least one ace in the commercial hole ... the Motown-esque 'You'".Rodriguez, pp. 248, 280.
Harrison recorded his own lead vocal onto the 1971 basic track, as he had done earlier with "Try Some, Buy Some", for Living in the Material World (1973).Leng, pp. 133–34, 180.Kevin Howlett's liner notes, Extra Texture (Read All About It) CD booklet (Apple Records, 2014; produced by George Harrison), p. 4. On 31 May 1975, further overdubs were carried out on "You", comprising a second drum part, by Jim Keltner; tenor sax solos from Jim Horn; and ambient keyboards, played by David Foster.Spizer, p. 275. Harrison said that Horn's saxophone playing on the track was "one of the nicest rock-n-roll sounds I've heard in years". The overdubs added to the song's radio-friendly qualities, particularly through the use of ARP String Synthesizer,Rodriguez, p. 248. but Madinger and Easter note that Keltner's drum part, which is higher in the mix than Gordon's and was played in half-time, produces an effect whereby the song's tempo appears to be slower than on the 1971 recording. With a significant amount of post-production work having been carried out in Los Angeles, Spector did not receive a co-producer's credit for "You" as he had for Harrison's version of "Try Some, Buy Some".Castleman & Podrazik, pp. 125, 369.
In September 1975 Harrison told BBC Radio 1's Paul Gambaccini that it was "such a good backing track" originally, yet he had forgotten about its existence until coming across the tape years later.George Harrison interview, Rockweek, (retrieved 1 July 2012).Badman, p. 165. In a 1987 interview, Harrison acknowledged the difficulty he had in singing the song in so high a key;Timothy White, "George Harrison: Reconsidered", Musician, November 1987, p. 53. "it was recorded in Ronnie's register," he explains in his 1980 autobiography, "a bit high for me." Although Ronnie Spector's name did not appear in the album credits,Castleman & Podrazik, p. 376. snippets of her 1971 guide vocal remain on Harrison's released recording.Leng, p. 180fn. Spector's voice can be heard intermittently from the two-minute mark onwards,Madinger & Easter, p. 452. with her signature "woh oh-oh oh-oh"s audible during the song's playout.
Release An upbeat pop song in a similar vein to Harrison's 1971 hit "What Is Life", "You" was the most obvious choice for a single off Extra Texture. It was released in advance of the album, backed by "World of Stone", on 12 September 1975 in Britain (as Apple R 6007) and three days later in the United States (as Apple 1884).Castleman & Podrazik, p. 369.Madinger & Easter, pp. 632, 633. The picture sleeve in Britain featured a photo of a smiling Harrison taken on stage by 1974 tour photographer Henry Grossman; the US picture sleeve incorporated Roy Kohara's humorous design for the album, showing blue lettering on a vivid orange background.Spizer, pp. 271, 272. In another example of the upbeat mood that was otherwise lacking in the musical content of Extra Texture,Rodriguez, p. 184.Doggett, p. 238. the single's face labels showed the familiar Apple Records logo as an apple core, a pun on the demise of the company.Spizer, pp. 271, 275.
In the UK, where Harrison had undertaken promotional activities for the first time for Extra Texture,Ray Coleman, "Dark Horse", Melody Maker, 6 September 1975, p. 28.Hunt, p. 101. "You" was Radio 1's Record of the Week,Badman, p. 169. guaranteeing it substantial airplay. The song peaked no higher than Harrison's previous hit there, "Ding Dong, Ding Dong", at number 38, however. As with his Dark Horse singles, "You" performed better in America,Huntley, pp. 122, 123. where it held the number 20 position for two weeks on the Billboard Hot 100.Castleman & Podrazik, p. 355. On the US charts compiled by Cash Box and Record World, the single peaked at number 19 and number 39, respectively.