The Inner Light

by

The Beatles

Album: Past Masters, Vol. 2      Released: 1968

US Chart: 96     

Get the Ringtone  Get Song @ Amazon
Get the Sheet Music

Send "The Inner Light" Ringtone to your Cell

View Lyrics

Songfacts:  You can leave comments about the song at the bottom of the page.

George Harrison wrote this. It was released as the B-side of "Lady Madonna" and was Harrison's first song to appear on a single.

All the music was recorded by Indian session musicians at the EMI studios in Bombay, India, while George was working on the soundtrack to the movie Wonderwall.

George Harrison had originally recorded this for the Wonderwall soundtrack in January, 1968. When the Beatles got together for recording sessions shortly before their trip to India, John and Paul added harmonies to the final line, "Do all without doing." (thanks, Adrian - Wilmington, DE)

The lyrics are a translation of a section of the Tao Te Ching. Juan Mascaro, a Sanskrit teacher at Cambridge University, sent the book to George.

This was Harrison's last Indian-themed Beatles song.

The original release was in mono; a stereo version was mixed in 1970 and used on the Past Masters compilation. The mono mix features an extra Indian instrument in the intro that did not make it to the stereo version.

Jeff Lynne from Electric Light Orchestra performed this at George Harrison's 2002 memorial show The Concert For George. Lynne was good friends with Harrison and played with him in The Traveling Wilburys. (thanks, Bertrand - Paris, France, for above 2)

Send "The Inner Light" Ringtone to your Cell

Comments:

So, that slighty annoying sound... what is that? I can't tell if it's an instrument or singing. Please forgive my ignorance, but I love George's music, especially his Eastern themed stuff.
- Davíd, Woburn, MA

Meditation song :)
- Catresse, Lawrenceville, GA

MY GOD!!! this is my life song. stunning.
- nady, adelaide, Australia

This song is totally awesome, george really knows how to make a sweet hit.
- Victor, New York, NY

In fact the stero version was first released in the UK in 1980 in the UK on "The Beatles EP - Past Masters did not vcome out until 1988. Greeny London,UK
- Murray, Liverpool, England, England

The instruments that were used are the Harmonium, Shenai, Sarod, Tabla, Pakavaj, and a Flute.
- Paul, Cleveland, OH

Another snippet of incredible harmony between George, Paul and John, right at the end of this song.
- Forrest, Rochester, MN

dirk, I can think of an example-Revolution 9.
- Peter Griffin, Quahog, RI

The other Beatles sing at the end, but those are Indian musicians, recorded in Mumbai, India, in January 1968.
- dirk, Nashville, TN

and martin, it is Tao Te Ching, but it is kind of pronounced like a sharp d.
- Laura, Mamaroneck, NY

I'm an Indian and I love the song..more so cos they have used instruments that are used in the folk music of north/north-west India. It's a nice way of getting introduced to Indian folk music. and the concept of an inner light is probably inspired from Hinduism (and maybe even Taoism). The Geeta speaks of an inner light being present in all beings.
- Chitra, Bangalore, India

hey, did the other Beatles play the instruments? Or did George have people from India play them?
- joey, Nowhere Land, CA

Stephanie--I read your comments on other songs. You'd like The Inner Light if you could hear it. You obviously know music. This one has a very strange secondary Indian melody working through the song between the lyrics--almost the Indian equivalent of a tenor sax. It sounds almost like a woman laughing. I'd love to read what you think of it.
- dirk, Nashville, TN

The poem is Chinese, the song is Indian, or at least in the Indian style.
- Chad, Huntington Station, NY

this is not the first indian-inspired song by george. love you to from the revolver album, released in 1966, is the first one. the first song to include the sitar was norweigian wood (this bird has flown) released in 1965.
- Patrickman, Makati City, Other

One of the few beatle songs I don't care for. Brillant none the less.
- Nathan, Defiance, OH

If you own the original single, you can get a quick lesson in Beatles history. Side A is Lady Madonna. Side B is The Inner Light.... It was 1968 and this is the first record to come out after the Summer of Love, which was giant for the Beatles (Sgt. Pepper, Magical Mystery Tour, record and movie, Love is All You Need, Strawberry Fields...) But this single is sort of like the Beatles were struggling to quickly shed and move beyond all that psychedelic love stuff. So Lady Madonna is very American, rootsy, almost Elvis in sound. The Inner Light B-side shows that they weren't ALL the way out of the trippy craze yet. But seriously--look at everything and anything released after Lady Madonna and see how much of it sounds remotely psychedelic. I can't think of anything... Arguably, you could say Across the Universe from 1970 is trippy, but that was actually recorded two years earlier and sat in a can. By the time they released it on Let It Be, they had scrubbed off George's sitar (later to be heard on the beautiful Anthology version).
- dirk, Nashville, TN

Geprge Harrison has been greatly missed on earth since he passed on...but I am sure he was also misseed in the Heavens on the day he was born... RIP
- Christopher, Greenfield Center, NY

i love the concert for george version of this song when his friend jeff and his son Dhani sings it
- Jude, Los Angeles, CA

Martin: It is spelled "Tao Te Ching" but pronounced "Dow De Ching." And yes, it is Chinese in origin, but much of all Eastern thought is very similar. So it wouldn't surprise me if George used its ideas in a Hindu-sounding song.
- Jo, Toronto, Canada

Um, if it was the last Indian-themed song... isn't the Tao Te Ching (wasn't it Dao De Ching, the foundation of Daoizm by Lao Tzi?) chinese?
- Martin Bonica, Sterling, VA

Send "The Inner Light" Ringtone to your Cell