I want to tell you

The disturbing mood of the song is neatly emphasized by a sharp chord , which occurs at the end of each verse. On “ Taxman, ” he played D7 # 9, and on “I Want to Tell You” - a completely desperate E7b9 - a chord that Lennon would later use ( 1968 ) in the tragic “ I Want You (She's So Heavy) ”, included in the album Abbey Road 1969 ^[1] .

The original versions of the song title were “Laxton's Supreme” and “I Don't Know” ^[2] (the latter name appeared after George Martin’s question “What is this song called?”, To which George replied: “I don’t know” ( Eng. "I don't know")). Although the melodic pop composition shares similarities with other songs on the album, the song “I Want to Tell You” is built on the sound of Indian music . However, this sound is less pronounced than in the song “ Love You To ”, (another Harrison song from this album). Harrison reopens a deliberately realistic and somewhat absurd picture of unfulfilled relationships to the listener, the listener has a feeling that this is in the order of things. ^[3] The song is built on the organ point with a rare deviation from the key in A major . Here, as in “ If I Needed Someone, ” the cornerstone is the unique harmony of The Beatles - Lennon and McCartney . This largely makes the bass sound continuous and almost hypnotic. The sound of another musical instrument that played a leading role in the composition ( piano ) can be heard throughout the composition. The song begins and ends with the solo guitar part , and also periodically repeats between the verses of the song. Thus, the guitar sound in this composition gives the structure of the song the necessary musical form.

It is noteworthy that this is one of the few songs of The Beatles, which uses a characteristic increase in the introduction (another famous example is the song “ Eight Days a Week ”). The ending - where the band repeats the phrase “I have time” along the introductory reef of the guitar — shows the famous method of using melisma that belongs to Paul McCartney .

In “I Want to Tell You”, the bass was superimposed on the finished rhythm track. Later, the musicians also acted in the work on their other recordings ^[4] .

According to Harrison himself: “The song“ I Want to Tell You ”is about an avalanche of thoughts that are so difficult to write down, express or transmit” ^[5] . The disorder in the lyrics is reinforced by the controversial atmosphere of the song - the product of numerous elements, including a continuous piano chord in the background and the contrast between Harrison's low-key lead vocal and Lennon - McCartney vocal harmonies, creating a sense of anxiety and excitement. In an interview with the 1980s, McCartney told:

We owe this Indian sound to George . We were just starting to listen to Indian music and listen to it, we liked this idea, because we had inserted similar parts into our songs before. But George became seriously interested in Indian music, visited Ravi Shankar's concerts, then met him and said: “He shook me as a person. He is incomparable. He is one of the greatest! ” Ravi Shankar did not know that George was serious about all of this, and when he found out, he was also shocked. Therefore, I think they found each other. So we learned about Indian music. It’s quite good to try to combine two types of music, we started with the simplest, and the album became noticeably better. It was now something from Indian music, and it helps people understand it, because immediately to love this music is very difficult. But you should listen to it, and you will understand that it is amazing ^[5] .

The energetic version of "I Want to Tell You" opens the live album Live in Japan , recorded during a 1992 tour in Japan . The song sounds longer thanks to the solo guitars of George Harrison and Eric Clapton . George also changed the lyrics. Instead of “But if I am not being kind, this is not my mind, this is me,” he proposed the opposite option “it’s not me, it's just the mind” ^[6] .

• George Harrison performed this song as an intro at a concert for the Natural / Natural Law Party on April 6, 1992 .
• Jeff Lynn ( Concert for George album, 2003 ).
• Ted Nugent ( 1979 ).
• The Grateful Dead (summer concert tour, 1994 ).
• Jerry Garcia Band (winter concert tour, 1986-1987 ).
• The Smithereens ( God Save the Smithereens album, 1999 ).

• George Harrison - lead dubbed vocals, lead guitar , clapping hands.
• Paul McCartney - bass , piano , harmonic vocals, clapping hands.
• John Lennon - tambourine , harmonic vocals, clapping hands.
• Ringo Starr - drums , maracas .

• Song Chords (Eng.)
• Notes by Alan V. Pollack (English)
• About the song on the site music-facts.ru (rus.)