Here Comes the Sun: The Song George Harrison Wrote in Eric Clapton’s Garden

Here Comes the Sun: The Song George Harrison Wrote in Eric Clapton’s Garden

This article is part of our 7 Iconic Beatles Songs and Their Stories series. For the complete Beatles song catalogue, visit our Every Beatles Song Ever Recorded database.

Playing Truant from Apple Corps

In the spring of 1969, George Harrison had had enough of business meetings. The Beatles’ Apple Corps company – the ambitious multimedia enterprise they had launched the previous year – was in chaos. The meetings were long, fractious, and dispiriting. On one particular morning, Harrison simply didn’t go.

Instead, he drove to the Surrey home of his close friend Eric Clapton, borrowed a guitar, and sat in the garden. It was a warm spring day – the kind of day that feels, after a long English winter, like a genuine gift. He started playing. Within about twenty minutes, he had written ‘Here Comes the Sun’.

It is one of the most beloved songs in the history of popular music. It took twenty minutes to write. George Harrison considered it simply one of many songs he had written. He was, characteristically, wrong about its significance.

The Song That Is Impossible to Hate

Far Out magazine has ranked ‘Here Comes the Sun’ as the number one song considered ‘impossible to hate’ – a designation that, while informal, captures something genuinely true about the song’s emotional character. There is no darkness in it, no ambiguity, no irony. It is a song about relief – about winter ending, about tension lifting, about something good arriving after a long wait.

The lyric is almost childlike in its simplicity: “Here comes the sun / And I say it’s all right.” But Harrison’s genius was in understanding that simplicity, in the right hands, is not a limitation – it is a superpower. The song says exactly what it means, and it means exactly what it says. In a world of complexity and ambiguity, that is an extraordinarily rare and valuable thing.

The Most Streamed Beatles Song: Harrison’s Digital Triumph

In the Spotify era, ‘Here Comes the Sun’ has consistently been the most streamed Beatles song – outperforming tracks by Lennon and McCartney that were, in their time, far more commercially successful. It has accumulated billions of streams, introducing the song to generations who were not alive when it was recorded.

This is, in some ways, the ultimate vindication of Harrison’s songwriting. During his lifetime, he was always the third Beatle – the one whose compositions were limited by the dominance of Lennon and McCartney. In the streaming age, his song is the one that people reach for most often. The quiet Beatle, it turns out, wrote the song that endures longest.

Abbey Road: Harrison’s Greatest Album

‘Here Comes the Sun’ appears on Abbey Road – the last album The Beatles recorded together, released in September 1969. On Abbey Road, Harrison contributed two songs: ‘Here Comes the Sun’ and ‘Something’. Both are masterpieces. Together, they constitute the strongest pair of songs on the album – and, arguably, the strongest pair of songs on any Beatles album.

Frank Sinatra called ‘Something’ “the greatest love song of the past fifty years.” ‘Here Comes the Sun’ is the most streamed Beatles song in history. By 1969, George Harrison had not merely caught up with his bandmates as a songwriter – he had, by some measures, surpassed them.

The Abbey Road album cover – the four Beatles crossing the road outside the studio – is the most iconic image in music history. Celebrate it with our Abbey Road merch:

And for George Harrison merch specifically, explore our George Harrison Collection.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who wrote Here Comes the Sun?

‘Here Comes the Sun’ was written by George Harrison and appears on The Beatles’ Abbey Road album, released in September 1969. Harrison wrote it in Eric Clapton’s garden in the spring of 1969.

Where did George Harrison write Here Comes the Sun?

George Harrison wrote ‘Here Comes the Sun’ in the garden of Eric Clapton’s Surrey home in the spring of 1969. He had skipped an Apple Corps business meeting and spent the morning playing guitar in Clapton’s garden, writing the song in approximately twenty minutes.

Is Here Comes the Sun the most streamed Beatles song?

Yes. ‘Here Comes the Sun’ by George Harrison is consistently the most streamed Beatles song on Spotify, with billions of streams. It regularly outperforms songs by Lennon and McCartney in digital listening figures.

What album is Here Comes the Sun on?

‘Here Comes the Sun’ appears on Abbey Road, The Beatles’ eleventh studio album, released on 26 September 1969. It is one of two George Harrison compositions on the album, alongside ‘Something’.

Further Reading

Explore more Beatles history at Beatles Deep Dives and shop officially licensed Beatles merch at Beatles Fabdom.

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