Here Comes the Sun

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Overview

Background

Pattern analysis

Recording

Mix variants & recording techniques

Documented mix variants

• 1969 UK stereo LP Abbey Road (26 September 1969, Apple [Parlophone] PCS 7088, stereo only) — Released master = remix stereo 1 (RS1) from take 15, Tuesday 19 August 1969, Studio Two (Lewisohn p. 190 + K/R p. 522). P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick / Phil McDonald. 2E: Alan Parsons. The eight-track playback ran at ~51 cycles/second during mix-down, raising the pitch ~2% and shortening duration to 3′05″ (Lewisohn p. 190 verbatim, K/R p. 522 corroborated). George’s acoustic guitar was treated with ADT during mixing, fully engaging only after the lead vocal entry (K/R p. 522). The Moog parts carry the deliberate Alan-Parsons STEED-roller wow per K/R p. 522 (quoted in the editorial preamble above). No second stereo remix was attempted in the primary-source canon. Abbey Road was issued stereo-only worldwide; no dedicated mono LP master exists.
• 1969 US stereo LP Abbey Road (1 October 1969, Apple / Capitol SO 383, stereo only) — The same 19 August 1969 RS1 stereo master was forwarded to Capitol for US pressing.
• 8 July 1969 unnumbered rough mono remix (unreleased) — Lewisohn p. 179 documents an “unnumbered rough remix” (mono) from take 15 made in Studio Two control room 10.45–11.15pm at the close of the 8 July session. P: George Martin. E: Phil McDonald. 2E: John Kurlander. Per Lewisohn p. 179 verbatim: “a rough mono remix of take 15 was made for George to take away”. Cut as a working reference for Harrison, not a commercial release.
• 4 August 1969 unnumbered rough stereo remix (unreleased) — Lewisohn p. 184 documents an “unnumbered rough remix, from take 15” (stereo) made in Studio Three control room 7.15–8.45pm. P: George Harrison. E: Phil McDonald. 2E: Alan Parsons. Cut in the same session as the parallel Something rough stereo remix from take 39 (see Something §Mix variants). Per Lewisohn p. 184 verbatim, the rough remixes “revealed to him that both required additional overdubbing” — not given to Martin for orchestral scoring (that route was the Something acetate), but used as a working reference that drove the subsequent 11 August Leslie’d guitar SI.
• Anthology 3 (28 October 1996, Apple) — Post-Lewisohn release. The Anthology 3 compilation documents an alternate take of Here Comes The Sun; per §1 less-specific-when-uncertain, the page flags the variant without making claims beyond the primary-source canon, since Anthology 3’s liner notes (1996) post-date Lewisohn’s 1988 catalogue.
• 2019 Abbey Road 50th-anniversary remix (27 September 2019, Apple) — Giles Martin and Sam Okell stereo remix from the multitracks. Post-Lewisohn; documented in the album’s 50th-anniversary liner notes rather than in the primary-source canon; flagged here for completeness rather than independently characterised. (Note: the 1969 RS1 was a single mix-down pass at 51 cps with built-in STEED wow on the Moog; the 2019 remix has more flexibility to address those choices.)

Recording techniques

• 7 July 1969 — backing track, Studio Two (Lewisohn p. 178 + K/R p. 522) — Studio Two, 2.30–11.45pm. P: George Martin. E: Phil McDonald. 2E: John Kurlander. Recording: Here Comes The Sun (takes 1–13). Lineup: bass (Paul), drums (Ringo), acoustic guitar/guide vocal (George). John Lennon absent (recovering from his 1 July car accident in Scotland, per Lewisohn p. 179). Lewisohn p. 178 quoted directly: “the recording captures that feeling to perfection, right from the opening acoustic guitar chords which ring out, joyously.” Take 4 birthday aside (Ringo’s 29th birthday): Lewisohn p. 178 quoted directly — “‘Turn me down a little bit, if you don’t mind’ — meaning, reduce the level of the drum sound in his headphones”. Take 13 best. Last hour 10.45–11.45pm: George re-recorded the acoustic guitar as an overdub onto take 13 per Lewisohn p. 178.
• 8 July 1969 — vocal SI + reduction take 13 → takes 14 and 15 (Lewisohn p. 179 + K/R p. 522) — Studio Two, 2.30–10.45pm. P: George Martin. E: Phil McDonald. 2E: John Kurlander. Lewisohn p. 179 quoted directly: “The overdubbing of George’s lead vocal, wiping the previous guide track, and of superb harmonised backing vocals by George and Paul, manually double-tracked. These were sufficient to complete the eight-track tape, so take 13 was given a reduction mixdown (done twice to achieve the optimum version) and then a rough mono remix of take 15 was made for George to take away.” K/R p. 522 specifies the ‘sun, sun, sun…’ backing-vocal lyric and Paul’s simultaneous double-tracking. Take 15 = ‘best’ reduction; take 14 superseded.
• 16 July 1969 — harmonium + handclaps SI, Studio Three (Lewisohn p. 180 + K/R p. 522) — Studio Three, 2.30–7.00pm. P: George Martin. E: Phil McDonald. 2E: Alan Parsons. Recording: Here Comes The Sun (SI onto take 15). Lewisohn p. 180 lists “handclaps and a harmonium being added to ‘Here Comes The Sun’” (verbatim). K/R p. 522 adds: “George overdubbed harmonium, and then he and Paul double-tracked more backing vocals and handclaps on Tracks 7 and 8” (K/R p. 522, quoted directly — the per-track Tracks 7/8 attribution is K/R’s; Lewisohn p. 180 lists the overdubs without per-track routing).
• 4 August 1969 — unnumbered rough stereo remix, Studio Three (Lewisohn p. 184) — Studio Three (control room only), 7.15–8.45pm. P: George Harrison. E: Phil McDonald. 2E: Alan Parsons. Stereo mixing: Here Comes The Sun (unnumbered rough remix, from take 15). Same session as the parallel Something rough stereo remix. Per Lewisohn p. 184 verbatim: “to produce rough stereo remixes of ‘Something’ and ‘Here Comes The Sun’. These revealed to him that both required additional overdubbing”. The Something rough remix was committed to an acetate sent to George Martin for orchestral scoring; the Here Comes The Sun rough remix appears to have been working-reference only (Lewisohn p. 184 does not document an acetate for HCTS at this point).
• 11 August 1969 — Leslie’d guitar + drum-overdub SI, Studio Two (Lewisohn p. 187 + K/R p. 522) — Studio Two, 2.30–11.30pm (shared booking with I Want You (She’s So Heavy) + Oh! Darling completions). P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick / Phil McDonald. 2E: John Kurlander. Recording: Here Comes The Sun (SI onto take 15). Lewisohn p. 187 verbatim: “then George ended the session by adding more guitars to ‘Here Comes The Sun’”. K/R p. 522 specifies these additions as “some Leslie’d electric guitar, along with intermittent drum overdubs by Ringo, reinforcing certain fills and transitions”. K/R also catalogues the drum-overdub positions: “26 seconds into the song, a brief half-measure overdub can be heard panned Left; 40 seconds into the song, there is a one measure overdub; and at 0:51, another two measure overdub can be heard, reinforcing the fill on his proper drum track” (K/R p. 522, quoted directly — the per-second positions are K/R’s, not in Lewisohn p. 187’s prose; per §1 the page records K/R’s additional attribution alongside Lewisohn’s session-sheet header).
• 15 August 1969 — orchestral SI via cross-studio CCTV, Studio One into Studio Two (Lewisohn p. 190) — Studio One into Studio Two, 7.00pm–1.15am. P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick / Phil McDonald. 2E: Alan Parsons. Recording: Here Comes The Sun (SI onto take 15). Same cross-studio CCTV booking that covered Something, Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight, and The End — see Something §Mix variants for the full Lewisohn p. 190 CCTV narrative + Phil McDonald “All right, Bert? Are you ready?” quote + Alan Brown “mammoth session” walkie-talkie quote, all verbatim. Orchestra distinct from Something — per Lewisohn p. 190 verbatim: “For ‘Here Comes The Sun’: four violas, four cellos, one string bass, two clarinets, two alto flutes, two flutes, two piccolos”. NO violins (contrast Something’s 12 violins) — HCTS used an 8-piece woodwind section (2×clarinets + 2×alto flutes + 2×flutes + 2×piccolos) in place of violins, giving the orchestral overdub its characteristic woodwind-led colour. Recorded onto the free tracks of take 15 (per K/R p. 522 take-15 diagram: T5 = Strings / Woodwinds).
• 19 August 1969 — Moog SI + one-and-only stereo remix, Studio Two (Lewisohn p. 190 + K/R p. 522) — Studio Two, 2.00pm–4.00am (shared booking with the medley crossfade/edit work for The End / Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight + the Something stereo remixes 1–10). P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick / Phil McDonald. 2E: Alan Parsons. Recording: Here Comes The Sun (SI onto take 15) = Moog synthesiser played by George Harrison. Stereo mixing: Here Comes The Sun (remix 1, from take 15). Lewisohn p. 190 quoted directly: “George’s two songs were completed this day, ‘Here Comes The Sun’ receiving a Moog synthesizer overdub onto take 15, played by the composer, and then both this song and ‘Something’ being mixed for stereo”. The Moog (K/R p. 522: “his Moog synthesiser, still installed in Room 43”) was recorded onto two tracks — per K/R p. 522: “He recorded some Moog on the same track as the harmonium, as well as some on the electric guitar/drum overdub track”. The stereo remix was the song’s sole mix — one-and-only (Lewisohn p. 190 + K/R p. 522 RS1).
• Alan Parsons STEED-roller wow trick on the Moog (K/R p. 522, verbatim) — The released master’s “fluty Moog parts which have unstable pitch” (K/R p. 522) come from a deliberate tape-handling modification on the BTR2 STEED (Send Tape Echo Echo Delay) machine routed in the Moog’s chamber-send path. Parsons placed vertical strips of editing tape around one of the rollers so the tape capstan-feed wobbled badly; the audible wow is on the chamber-treated Moog signal, not the dry Moog itself. K/R p. 522 likens the technique to the Lovely Rita piano-solo treatment. Parsons — via K/R p. 522, verbatim: “I hated the idea at the time and I do to this day!”
• 51 cycles/second mixdown speed-up (Lewisohn p. 190 + K/R p. 522) — The 19 August stereo remix from take 15 was made with the eight-track tape running at the 51 Hz capstan-speed setting (UK mains standard is 50 Hz). The result: playback during mixdown ran ~2% faster than nominal, raising the pitch slightly and shortening the running time from the take-15 master’s original duration to the released 3′05″. Lewisohn p. 190 verbatim: “done with the original tape running at approximately 51 cycles per second, bringing the duration of the remixed song down to 3′05″”. K/R p. 522 corroborates verbatim: “The mix was also carried out with the eight-track tape playing at 51 cycles/sec, raising the pitch of the song and reducing its length”. The 2-track stereo master captures the sped-up version permanently; every commercial Abbey Road pressing carries that pitch and that duration.
• ADT on George’s acoustic guitar (K/R p. 522) — K/R p. 522 quoted directly: “During mixing, George’s acoustic guitar track was treated with ADT, though the effect wasn’t fully applied until his vocal entered (portions of the guitar were apparently legitimately double-tracked as well)”. The ADT engagement is deliberately asymmetric — the intro is dry-ish, then ADT fades in as the vocal arrives. (ADT is the in-house Townsend Artificial Double Tracking system — K/R Ch 8.)
• Take 15 eight-track layout (K/R p. 522 diagram) — Per the K/R take-15 diagram (printed p. 522): T1 = Bass; T2 = Harmonium + Moog; T3 = Drums + Leslie’d Guitar + Drum Overdub + Moog; T4 = Acoustic Guitar; T5 = Strings + Woodwinds; T6 = Lead Vocal + Backing Vocals; T7 = Handclaps + Backing Vocals; T8 = Handclaps + Backing Vocals. The Moog occupies two tracks of the eight (the harmonium-share T2 and the drum-overdub-share T3) — consistent with K/R’s p. 522 prose narrative.
• Two-generation tape stack on the released master — The 19 August stereo remix sits on top of: (1) the 7 July 1969 take-13 basic (Studio Two, M23 8-track); (2) the 8 July 1969 reduction take 13 → take 14/15. All subsequent overdubs (harmonium + handclaps 16 July; Leslie’d guitar + drum overdubs 11 August; orchestral SI 15 August; Moog SI 19 August) were SI’d directly onto take 15, not via additional tape-generation reductions. Contrast Something’s four-generation stack (J37 basic + Olympic SI + 11 July reduction + 16 July second reduction). Come Together sits between: two tape generations + a cross-machine J-37→M23 transfer.
• Stereo only — no mono LP master — Abbey Road was issued stereo-only worldwide; the EMI stereo-mandate that had been softening through 1968 was fully in force by mid-1969. No dedicated mono Here Comes The Sun mix exists in the primary-source canon. The 8 July 1969 rough mono remix (Lewisohn p. 179) was a working reference, not a commercial release.
• Source conflict per §1 — whether Leslie’d-guitar SI date was 11 August or earlier. Lewisohn p. 187 places the Leslie’d guitar + drum-overdub SI on Monday 11 August 1969 (canonical session header). K/R p. 522’s narrative says George “returned to Studio Three” (note: Lewisohn p. 187 has the session in Studio Two, not Three — further conflict) “three weeks” after the 16 July harmonium SI, which would imply ~6 August. K/R’s “three weeks” is loose (the actual gap is ~3.5 weeks). Per §1, the page records both and follows Lewisohn p. 187 as the tier-1 authority on session date and studio assignment.

Legacy & release history

Mono & stereo

• Stereo only on UK release — the band's last three LPs were mixed for stereo; no UK mono LPs were issued.

Documented alternate versions

• Anthology 3 (1996) — alternate take or demo
• 2009 Stereo Remasters — Allan Rouse / Guy Massey remaster
• Abbey Road 50th Anniversary (2019) — Giles Martin stereo remix

Released on

• Abbey Road — LP, 26 September 1969

Cross-references

Other songs sharing themes (claptons-garden, george-classic, acoustic, moog, much-streamed)

Other songs led by the same vocalist

Other songs from this era

claptons-gardengeorge-classicacousticmoogmuch-streamed

Cultural appearances

Related songs