Here Comes the Sun

Here Comes the Sun

The Beatles

From the album

Legends, Icons & Rebels: Music That the Changed the World (2013)

Written by

George Harrison

Key:A Major
Duration:3:04

Listen to the Song

Summary

Written by George Harrison during a moment of personal reprieve, this 'Abbey Road' masterpiece is a landmark of folk-rock. It perfectly captures a universal sense of relief through its warm melodic structure and groundbreaking incorporation of electronic textures.

Folk-rockAcousticSunshine PopClassic Rock1960s

Musical Analysis

The song's harmony is characterized by the juxtaposition of bright A-major folk tonality with sophisticated modal borrowing in the bridge. While the verse/chorus use standard major-key functions and a secondary dominant for lift, the bridge utilizes a sequence…

Chords

verse:A - D - E7
chorus:A - D - B7 - A - E7
bridge:C - G - D - A - E7

History

George Harrison wrote the song while 'playing truant' from a series of stressful business meetings at Apple Corps. He spent the day at his friend Eric Clapton's country house, walking around the garden with one of Clapton's acoustic guitars when the lyrics and…

“John Lennon does not appear on the track at all.”

Full Musical Analysis

The song's harmony is characterized by the juxtaposition of bright A-major folk tonality with sophisticated modal borrowing in the bridge. While the verse/chorus use standard major-key functions and a secondary dominant for lift, the bridge utilizes a sequence of fourths and borrowed chords (bIII, bVII) that, when combined with shifting time signatures (11/8, 4/4, 7/8), creates a unique tension and release cycle that mimics the rising of the sun.

George Harrison wrote the song while 'playing truant' from a series of stressful business meetings at Apple Corps. He spent the day at his friend Eric Clapton's country house, walking around the garden with one of Clapton's acoustic guitars when the lyrics and melody came to him.

Written by George Harrison during a moment of personal reprieve, this 'Abbey Road' masterpiece is a landmark of folk-rock. It perfectly captures a universal sense of relief through its warm melodic structure and groundbreaking incorporation of electronic textures.

Deep Analysis Available

Detailed analysis of this section is not yet available for this song.

Song DNA

Genre

Folk Rock

Era

60s

Mood

Uplifting

Tempo

Mid-tempo

Key

Major

Texture

Layered

Sound

Acoustic-driven

Feel

Syncopated

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Listen & Learn

Statistics

8.5M

Plays

1.0M

Listeners

1.5M

Genius Views

11

Annotations

100%

Popularity

3:04

Duration

4/4

Time

Credits

Written by

George Harrison

Produced by

George Martin

From the album The Beatles (The Original Studio Recordings)