Songs The Beatles "Stole": The Inner Light
Harrison's Lady Madonna B-Side Borrows from Taoism and Broadway
Apr 21, 2009
The Beatles are known as the best rock band of all time – geniuses. But as the saying goes, “Talent borrows, genius steals,” and there are a few Beatles songs which seem rather obviously cribbed from other sources. This hardly diminishes their status as musicians and songwriters, but it’s interesting to look at their back catalogue and see which songs they were more than just “inspired” by. George Harrison’s tune “The Inner Light” is a classic example.
Borrowing from Taosim
Released as the b-side to “Lady Madonna,” “The Inner Light” was written during The Beatles’ spiritual retreat in India in early 1968 and was the only song that they actually recorded there. The lyrics proclaim “Without going out my door I can know all things on earth,” and indeed it’s quite possible that George Harrison didn’t have to leave his room to find inspiration for the song.
The whole of the lyrics are in fact very closely adapted from Chapter 47 of the Tao Te Ching, a fundamental text of Philosophical Taoism, which Harrison likely had in his room at the spiritual retreat in Bombay. The words distill the central tenants of Taoism, and Harrison did little to change them for “The Inner Light.” A few words are changed around, but the meaning remains largely intact.
Harrison may have been introduced to Chapter 47 of the Tao Te Ching a few months earlier when a Sanskrit scholar who Harrison met on The David Frost Programme sent him a copy of his book with that passage highlighted, and a note that it might be turned into a song.
Inspiration from Early Beatles Recordings?
Although setting holy scriptures to music was far from common practice for rock bands, it can hardly be called unusual. What makes “The Inner Light” a bit more of an interesting case is the fact that the words weren’t the only thing adapted from and earlier source. The music itself bears a striking resemblance to an old pop tune, very far removed from the world of the Tao Te Ching. In fact, it may have been one of the first songs The Beatles ever recorded together.
The Fab Four first recorded together as session musicians in Hamburg, Germany and one of the three songs they were set to record was “September Song,” Broadway tune from 1938. No recordings of The Beatles performing this song have surfaced, but plenty of other acts have recorded it through the years, including Harrison’s frequent collaborator Jeff Lynne. “September Song” doesn’t have the haunting sitar sounds of “The Inner Light,” but the two songs very clearly share a melody. Perhaps it resurfaced in Harrison’s consciousness during meditation?
