Introduction: More Than a Song About Spring
When most people hear the opening fingerpicked riff of Here Comes The Sun, they think of warmth, optimism, and the simple joy of a season turning. But behind one of the most beloved songs in the entire Beatles catalogue lies a story of frustration, escape, and an almost prophetic awareness that the greatest band in history was quietly unravelling.
Written by George Harrison in the spring of 1969 and recorded for Abbey Road, Here Comes The Sun is a song about relief ā specifically, the relief of walking away from the suffocating commercial machinery of Apple Corps for a single afternoon. That it became a timeless anthem of hope is one of rock history's most beautiful ironies.
In this deep dive, we explore the full story behind the song: the tensions at Apple Records, the afternoon at Eric Clapton's house, the musical genius of the composition itself, and why John Lennon ā years later ā came to believe that Harrison had predicted his own departure from England.
Apple Corps in 1969: When the Dream Became a Business
To understand Here Comes The Sun, you first need to understand what Apple Corps had become by early 1969. Founded in 1968 as a creative utopia ā a label and company that would support artists, filmmakers, and innovators ā Apple had rapidly descended into financial chaos. By the time Allen Klein arrived as manager in early 1969, the company was haemorrhaging money and the four Beatles were spending increasing amounts of time in boardrooms rather than recording studios.
For George Harrison, this was particularly galling. Already the most marginalised Beatle in terms of songwriting credits ā typically afforded just two or three slots per album against the Lennon-McCartney juggernaut ā Harrison now found himself trapped in endless meetings with accountants, lawyers, and business managers. The creative freedom he craved was being strangled by spreadsheets.
Harrison described the atmosphere plainly: "Apple was getting like school, where we had to go and be businessmen: 'Sign this' and 'Sign that'."
It was a world away from the Hamburg clubs and the Cavern. And for a man whose spiritual journey had taken him to India, to Ravi Shankar, and to a deeply personal relationship with Eastern philosophy, the corporate grind of Apple in 1969 felt almost physically oppressive.
The Afternoon That Changed Everything: Eric Clapton's Garden
One morning in the spring of 1969, Harrison made a decision. He was going to skip Apple. He was going to sack off the accountants, the contracts, and the endless meetings, and go and see his friend Eric Clapton.
"One day, I decided I was going to sack off Apple, and I went over to Eric Clapton's house," Harrison recalled. "The relief of not having to go and see all those dopey accountants was wonderful, and I walked around the garden with one of Eric's acoustic guitars and wrote 'Here Comes The Sun'."
The image is almost impossibly idyllic: one of the greatest guitarists of his generation, wandering through an English garden on a spring morning, finally free ā if only for a few hours ā from the weight of being a Beatle. The song that emerged from that afternoon carries every ounce of that relief.
Harrison and Clapton's friendship was one of the most significant of the era. Clapton had already played lead guitar on Harrison's While My Guitar Gently Weeps on the White Album ā a remarkable act of creative generosity from Harrison, who invited his friend into the studio partly to encourage the other Beatles to behave professionally. Their bond was deep, genuine, and musically fertile.
That Clapton's garden became the birthplace of Here Comes The Sun feels entirely fitting. It was a space outside the Beatles' orbit ā a place where Harrison could simply be a musician again.
The Music: Why the Song Works So Brilliantly
The genius of Here Comes The Sun lies in how perfectly its musical structure mirrors its emotional content. The song opens with one of the most recognisable guitar figures ever recorded ā a fingerpicked pattern in A major that feels simultaneously simple and sophisticated. Harrison's use of a capo at the seventh fret gives the guitar a bright, almost mandolin-like quality that perfectly evokes the lightness of a spring morning.
The song's harmonic language is deceptively rich. Harrison moves through unexpected chord changes ā particularly the shift to the flattened seventh ā that give the song a sense of yearning even within its optimism. This is not a naive celebration of sunshine; it is the relief of someone who has been through something difficult and is only now beginning to emerge.
The middle section, with its shifting time signatures (moving between 11/8, 4/4, and 7/8), is a masterclass in rhythmic sophistication disguised as simplicity. Most listeners never notice the time signature changes because Harrison and producer George Martin integrate them so seamlessly. It is the work of a songwriter operating at the very peak of his powers.
Notably, John Lennon does not appear on the recording. The track features Harrison on acoustic guitar and lead vocals, Paul McCartney on bass and backing vocals, Ringo Starr on drums, and an orchestra arranged by George Martin. Lennon's absence ā whether by circumstance or design ā gives the song a quality distinct from most Beatles recordings. It feels, in retrospect, like a preview of what Harrison's solo career would become.
The Prophetic Dimension: What John Lennon Said
Years after the Beatles dissolved, John Lennon gave an interview in which he reflected on Harrison's longstanding fascination with sunshine and warmth ā and came to a startling conclusion.
Lennon explained that he had never been someone who sought out the sun the way many English people do. "I'm not a person who looks for the sun like a lot of the English who like to get away to the South of France or go to Malta or Spain or Portugal," he said. "George was always talking about 'Let's all go and live in the sun.'"
And then Lennon made the connection: "He's always looking for the sun because he's still living in England. And then it clicked on me, 'Jesus, that guy predicted I was going to leave England!' Though at the time he said that to me, I was thinking, 'Are you kidding?'"
Lennon had left England for New York City ā a move he insisted was not tax-driven but rather a genuine desire for a new life with Yoko Ono. In retrospect, he saw Harrison's sun-seeking as a kind of prophecy: a signal that the world the Beatles had built in England was finite, that each of them would eventually need to find their own light elsewhere.
Whether Lennon was speaking literally or poetically, the observation is striking. Here Comes The Sun was written at the precise moment the Beatles were beginning to fracture ā and its central metaphor, the arrival of warmth after a long winter, maps almost too neatly onto the story of four men who were about to go their separate ways.
Abbey Road: The Album That Ended an Era
Here Comes The Sun sits on the A-side of Abbey Road, the Beatles' final recorded album (though Let It Be was released later, Abbey Road was the last they recorded together). It appears alongside Harrison's other masterpiece from the sessions, Something ā widely regarded as one of the greatest love songs ever written, and the first Harrison composition to appear as a Beatles A-side single.
The fact that Harrison contributed two of the album's most celebrated tracks is significant. By 1969, his songwriting had matured to a point where it was unambiguously the equal of anything Lennon and McCartney were producing. The tragedy ā and perhaps the inevitability ā of the Beatles' breakup is that it came precisely at the moment Harrison was hitting his stride.
His solo debut, All Things Must Pass (1970), released just months after the Beatles officially dissolved, contained a vast reservoir of songs that had been stockpiled during years of being sidelined. It remains one of the greatest debut albums in rock history ā and a testament to what the Beatles might have continued to produce had they stayed together.
ā Explore our Abbey Road Collection ā official merchandise celebrating the album that closed the Beatles' studio era.
George Harrison's Legacy: The Quiet Beatle Who Saw It Coming
George Harrison spent much of his Beatles career in the shadow of Lennon and McCartney. He was the youngest, the quietest, the one most likely to be overlooked in the mythology of the Fab Four. And yet, again and again, it was Harrison who seemed to see most clearly ā who understood, perhaps better than any of the others, that the Beatles could not last forever.
His spiritual journey, his friendship with Clapton, his frustration with Apple, his longing for something simpler and more honest than the machinery of fame ā all of it is encoded in Here Comes The Sun. The song is not just a celebration of spring. It is a document of a man finding his way back to himself at the precise moment everything around him was beginning to fall apart.
More than five decades later, the song endures because that feeling ā the relief of stepping outside, of breathing fresh air, of remembering that the world is larger than whatever room you've been trapped in ā is universal. Harrison captured something true about the human experience, and he did it in under three minutes, in a garden, on a borrowed guitar.
That is the measure of his genius.
ā Browse our George Harrison Collection ā official merchandise celebrating the Quiet Beatle's extraordinary legacy.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where was 'Here Comes The Sun' written?
'Here Comes The Sun' was written in the garden of Eric Clapton's home in Surrey, England, in the spring of 1969. George Harrison had skipped a meeting at Apple Corps and spent the afternoon at Clapton's house, where he picked up one of Clapton's acoustic guitars and wrote the song.
What is the meaning of 'Here Comes The Sun'?
The song is about relief and renewal ā specifically, the relief Harrison felt at escaping the pressures of Apple Corps and the Beatles' increasingly fraught business affairs. The sun serves as a metaphor for personal freedom and optimism after a long period of stress and tension.
Did John Lennon play on 'Here Comes The Sun'?
No. John Lennon does not appear on the recording. The track features George Harrison, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, and an orchestra arranged by George Martin. Lennon's absence is one of the notable features of the song.
Did 'Here Comes The Sun' predict the Beatles' breakup?
John Lennon later reflected that Harrison's longstanding fascination with sunshine and warmth ā embodied in the song ā had, in retrospect, predicted Lennon's own eventual departure from England. Whether taken literally or metaphorically, the song was written at the precise moment the Beatles were beginning to fracture, and its themes of escape and renewal feel prophetic in hindsight.
What album is 'Here Comes The Sun' on?
'Here Comes The Sun' appears on Abbey Road (1969), the Beatles' final recorded album. It sits alongside Harrison's other celebrated Abbey Road composition, Something.
Why is 'Here Comes The Sun' so popular?
The song combines a deceptively simple but brilliantly crafted guitar figure with a universal emotional message ā the relief and joy of emerging from a difficult period. Its warmth, optimism, and musical sophistication have made it one of the most streamed Beatles songs of the streaming era.
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