If I Needed Someone

Album: Rubber Soul

Year: 1965

Written by: George Harrison

Last week was the first post featuring a song not written by Lennon-McCartney (John and Paul)... well, here's another one. The Beatles' lead guitarist George wrote If I Needed Someone, inspired by the jangly guitar riffs he had heard in songs by the folk-rock group The Byrds. The funny thing is, though, that Roger McGuinn of The Byrds admitted that George's cool guitar sounds on the 1964 album A Hard Day's Night had influenced him when he wrote those songs.

If I Needed Someone is the only George composition that The Beatles ever performed in concert. In this video, which was filmed when they played at The Budokan in Tokyo, Japan in 1966, the audio track is taken from the Rubber Soul version of the song, not from the concert itself... which explains why the audio and video are not in synch.

Like his bandmate John often does, George sings a double-tracked lead vocal, with John and Paul providing the harmonies. George also plays the newer version of his really cool 12-string Rickenbacker guitar on this track.