How The Beatles used Indian music theory

For many western listeners, the first time they heard Indian classical music, or at least something resembling it, was on a Beatles record. One of the many flavours that makes up the sound of The Beatles is there free and open use of Indian instrumentation, practices and techniques. Ranging from small seasonings, like Lucy In The Sky, to full on tributes, like Within You Without You, The Beatles discography features various excursions to the subcontinent.
SOURCES:
Sgt Pepper's Musical Revolution with Howard Goodall: www.dailymotion.com/video/x6t...
Vh1 interview with George and Ravi: • George Harrison Interv...
George and Ravi on Dick Cavett: • George Harrison & Ravi...
George’s lesson with Ravi: • Ravi Shankar teaches G...
The Beatles and India: www.beatlesbible.com/features...
Anuja Kamat on Taal & Laya: • Ep8: Concept of Rhythm...
Anuja Kamat on Indian instruments: • Ep11: Indian Music Ins...
“Tomorrow Never Knows” anthology clip: • Video
The Beatles Anthology (2000): www.wingspan.ru/bookseng/ant/1...
You can listen to my own original music on my Spotify: sptfy.com/davidbennett 🎶
And, an extra special thanks goes to Douglas Lind, Vidad Flowers, Ivan Pang, Waylon Fairbanks, Jon Dye, Austin Russell, Christopher Ryan, Toot & Paul Peijzel, the channel’s Patreon saints! 😇
SUPPORT ME ON PATREON: / davidbennettpiano 🎹
0:00 Introduction
0:59 how did The Beatles discover Indian music?
2:30 Love You To
5:31 Tomorrow Never Knows
8:35 Within You Without You
12:16 The Inner Light
13:09 Blue Jay Way
13:39 If I Needed Someone
13:57 Strawberry Fields Forever
14:20 Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
16:21 Here Comes The Sun
17:42 Outro

[@thesuncollective1475]

George was like a secret weapon, it's one of the reason Beatles were so hip

[@DavidBennettPiano]

True!

[@ondrejkratochvil4589]

Definitely :) George is my personal Beatle #1 :) great sense of dry humor, and I love his stuff from 70s and 80s - Cloud Nine is for me the best ex-Beatle album... and Traveling Wilburys... and saving Life of Brian :)

[@Mexxx65]

All the Beatles were already born Hip! I know, its new news to you.

[@0321Dave]

Amen to that! Plus he could play Raunchy at 14…..

[@abbeybelanger8118]

Ikr! I always thought I liked Lennon n McCartneys wrighting more yet most of my top 10 songs are Harrison songs. Hes my favorite Beatle

[@reidfar3646]

Just to clarify, Harrison was influenced by Hindustani music, not the other dominant Indian tradition, Carnatic music. The latter has different musical conventions.

[@tovarischkarno4390]

Many of the concepts do carry across though. The ragas and taal are almost identical, and anything else is probably exactly the same (seeing as I didn't scratch my head going "what's that in Carnatic again?"

[@ribbonofablesmotionpicture102]

Indeed. Though the niceties are similar, the soundscapes both these traditions create are way different

[@anu2601]

Absolutely! And ends up sounding vastly different in the musical portraits each creates. (I'm Indian, not that it should necessarily make a difference)

[@srajan5286]

Ur absolutely correct... Carnatic music is far more greater ...it's calculation... approach...etc....they should have explored ..not just taking one part of .....perhaps if u ask to the experts.. the answer would be Carnatic music....

[@markop.1994]

The melakarta of carnatic theory is the best thing ive ever discovered as a guitarist

[@adaddinsane]

Ravi Shankar had two daughters: Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar. Both brilliant musicians, and their work together is out of this world.

[@harrypalmer5890]

Son?

[@voidpointer398]

Yeah they are just next level

[@zyoteesunuwar4825]

Wait I did not know Norah Jones was Ravi Shanker daugher.

[@tvoommen4688]

@@zyoteesunuwar4825 Because she was not interested to be known so.

[@jevinday]

I had no idea that was Norah Jones' father! Thank you for enlightening me

[@WesCoastPiano]

Tomorrow Never Knows is a masterpiece

[@DavidBennettPiano]

100%!

[@parasharkchari]

Back when I was an undergrad, I got to enjoy dinner with Ravi Shankar after a concert on campus. I distinctly remember him being so irate about the way kids in the 60s and 70s would just hear the particular sound of a sitar (most of which comes from the sympathetic strings) and think they're creating a brand new sound just by twanging the strings once or twice... but on the flipside, he would wax poetic and wistful about George Harrison. He had respect for all the Beatles, but George held a special place for him because he took it so seriously and not only immersed himself in it culturally, but intellectually as well. In this, at least, he held George a notch above even Yehudi Menuhin (who started learning Indian classical after being floored by M.S.Gopalakrishnan playing half a concert with 1 finger and 1 string). It was only a few months after that that George died.

[@annoschreier1860]

There are also a number of less direct Indian influences on Beatles songs, for example the drone-based harmony in "Ticket To Ride", "Paperback Writer" and "Rain", or McCartney's outstanding guitar solo on "Taxman".

[@diegocarlin1727]

I believe there is also a drone on across the universe!

[@darraghchapman]

I'd love to know when The Beatles first got into Indian music (i.e. before going to Rishikesh), because Taxman and Rain are obviously both directly influenced (about '66, '67 I think?), but Ticket to Ride and Paperback Writer are really early comparatively, and you could argue that bits of those are not Afro-European in their harmonies. Maybe they had that in them beforehand and it flourished under Indian influence, or in other words that way of thinking about scales/raga/harmony justified what they had written or performed before. Think about This Boy in sixty-blummin-three and the sumptuous crunchy dissonances in Yes It Is, which I guess is '65! 'Taint the blues, and it sure ain't classical, let's put it that way.

[@muchanadziko6378]

@@darraghchapman The Beatles were influence by Indian music way before going to rishikesh. Honestly, all you had to do is watch the video. It was during the filming of Help! that they were exposed to Indian music. (1965) In 1966 The Beatles released Love You To and Tomorrow Never Knows In 1967 Within You Without You Btw in between the two records, the Kinks released "See My Friends" - another songs inspire b Indian music, as acknowledged by Ray Davis himself - fun fact

[@annoschreier1860]

Another interesting topic would be the influence of Jamaican music on the Beatles, because there's not only the most obvious example "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", but ska beats can also be found in "She's A Woman" or the really fascinating instrumental middle section of "I Call Your Name".

[@bobsbigboy_]

I Feel Fine intro!

[@vasantsarthi9625]

As someone of Indian heritage and a massive Beatles fan myself: fantastic analysis and presentation and very informative! Pronunciation could use a bit of work though 😅 loved the video regardless!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thank you! And yeah I was always going to fall down on pronunciations 😅

[@timespace.productions7513]

@@DavidBennettPiano Would love to hear your particular take on the Get Back documentary.

[@lefkytheshin]

Pronunciation? Perhaps you could post a videos about Celtic music and we can criticize your misprouncing the words.

[@alankwellsmsmba]

I was just a child in the early seventies, 19 and a typical midwestern hippie (Cincinnati). Long story short, I asked my parents if I could attend a Ravi Shankar concert at the Shubert theatre (hence demolished). Fear of drugs was everywhere (in retrospect with reasons) and my parents relented - on the condition I would attend with my father. A CalTech engineer by training, dad loved classical music and dressed as he normally would for such an event in a business suit and tie while I went in tye-dye. He had purchased tickets in center orchestra and he stood out in the crowd for obvious reasons. The 3 hour concert began. It was not the Beatles, not what I expected and it was a long concert. At 19 with no musical training I hated every minute of it. Dad loved it and talked about it for the next 3 weeks comparing and contrasting with Western music and in that inculcated a love of classical music I retain to this day.

[@y4nic519]

fun story, thanks for sharing!

[@paulhaynes8045]

Born in 53, I grew up with Beatles music, and absolutely loved every second of it. But I just accepted it as it was (that was the 60s - everything was different, everything was changing - or so we thought). Now, at nearly 70, I find out just what was involved in this music, and just how clever it really was (and why). How lucky I was to be born when I was - and still be alive now to appreciate it. Thank you.

[@anshumandas6849]

I'm from India, and I was obviously introduced to Indian music way before, but ever since I became a Beatles fan I learned more about my own country's music than I had ever been before. It's amazing to be honest, how a bunch of Englishmen taught me more about Hindustani Music than my own country lmfao. Love indian music, Love beatles, Love david bennet piano (you have taught me a shit ton). Peace and Love, RIP George!

[@2112jonr]

Nothing says how universal music is than this reflection.☺️☺️

[@datavalisofficial8730]

Hindustani... I saw this word in 4chan and thought it was a swear word or a mock word or a joke like kekistan English is not my 1st language btw, and i dont see this word being used that much So its a real actual serious word The more you know ✨

[@jahidfasal]

For the same reason, my favorite Beatle is George. He is strong advocate for world peace. He belived in spiritualism rather than religion. Such a beautiful soul. 🌹

[@yogee0007]

Ha ha - did you ever try to find the Indian classical master in the corner House of your street - ?

[@yogee0007]

By the way beatles was only a monetary success and it was a bunch of sex,drugs addicts that resonates with that time. Beatles lifestyle is no inspiration for an ideal society or healthy society - the ones who followed bands and people like beatles have turned out to be overly self centric individualized disorder that has given birth to a traumatized Western society which can very easily be spotted on the kids with no parents and parents with disrespectful kids .

[@DenisPopov888]

Since I love Indian music and The Beatles, George and John's psychedelic tracks to the fore, this video is a real treat to me. Thank you from Russia!!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thanks!

[@DenisPopov888]

@@DavidBennettPiano thank you, David! It is always cool to watch your videos but this particular one is must see

[@edwardspencer9397]

One of my fav song is kzbin.info/www/bejne/hoLQaGCjZdukhM0 It is based on Raag Khamaj. Wonderful to hear!

[@argmined]

As a pakhawaj player (and a piano learner) it's humbling to see the extent of Indian theory detailed here. That neither raga nor tala correspond to scale and rhythm might leave some folks confused but it's a distinction worth elaborating - a confusion which the video could have avoided is that khamaaja is both a scale (thaata) and a raga(convention). It is easy to discard Beatles' Indian experiment as an exoticism that mixed drugs and sitar - but the video shows how their music was inspired at a deeper level. Still, I think George Harrison gets more credit than the violinist Yehudi Menuhin - who had been a friend of R Shankar since latter's childhood in Paris. R Shankar's interest in teaching Westerners is what made him accessible to Beatles - before whom, he was not popular in India, struggled with his wife being more influential than him and left her despite her having abandoned all music performances to save their marriage (Beatles groupies helped). The point is - it isn't that music breaks barriers - it's often barriers that create music.

[@himadrimukherjee2381]

Nicely put.

[@137_mrugmaymali4]

Can we be friends on insta or fb im a pakhawaj learner too

[@mugdhanbapat]

So well said and concluded!

[@charleslucas1714]

Bravo.

[@ankhor9252]

I didn't know Here Comes the Sun was so beautifully screwed up. Great work David. This is first class. You made my evening David.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thank you!

[@aishwarya2359]

Awesome video David! 🔥 As an Indian, it fills me with immense pride that it was the Beatles who spread word about Hindustani classical music around the world! A special mention of Pattie Boyd's contribution is imminent, as it was she who convinced them to visit India, and the frickin White Album was a result of that! 🤍 And who can forget the lifelong friendship Pandit Ravi Shankar and George Harrison shared! ✨

[@rangitsengupta3025]

Ravishankar and George had a great collab , I being an Indian and from Ravi's hometown in Bengal always cherish the Beatles as well as Indian classical music

[@dipanka]

There is a music shop called Rikhi Ram in Cannaught Place, New Delhi where George bought his first sitar. There are pictures of the Beatles buying the sitar from master craftsman Rikhi Ram displayed in the shop. Its a piece of musical history. Having said that, what the Beatles did with the sitar and Indian music was barely scratching the surface. What they did was make a few people aware of Indian musical traditions that are literally thousands of years old and incredibly rich.

[@jacobevanoski1221]

This is an actively impressive video, one of your best no doubt.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thank you!

[@becauseisaidso92]

@@DavidBennettPiano incredible Bravo 👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻👌🏻❤️❤️❤️

[@michaelzahnwehgitarre8957]

Hobbyist Sitar-Player and guitarist here. I didn't watch any of your videos before and kind of expected this to be a total mess, as it often is witch the hippiesque Sitar-spiritual crowd. Instead this was a very comprehensive and well crafted episode, great work, you really researched some stuff here ! I lately transcribed Harrisons Solo in "Something" and thought to myself: He probably got the Idea for the passage with the fast Bendings from the "Gamaka" Sitar- and Vocal-ornamentation technique...

[@jwallah346]

The Beatles changed my life completely with their Indian sounds. In high school, in the early 80s, I heard the sitar and tabla on a Beatles record, went and saw Ravi Shankar and Alla Rakha, decided I had to play tabla. Ended up getting completely sucked in to Indian music and culture, spent years learning tabla and sarangi in India with some of the great musicians that played with George. I didn't realize some of the spots that were Indian influenced before. FYI, it's pronounced Sarod, rhyming with toad, and Gat is pronounced like it rhymes with "what."

[@noahh6186]

Another fantastic video! Always excited to hear how major artists were influenced by other music and cultures, especially ones I'm personally less familiar with. The only real opinions I've heard on this subject are more cynical and refer to it as "the imperializing of Indian music" so I appreciate your more unbiased, objective view on the subject. Whether it was detrimental to Indian culture or welcomed in new listeners, the fact is the Beatles *were* influenced by Indian music and after this video I've realized that influence spread far further throughout their music catalogue than I thought.

[@joetowers4804]

It's sad that so many people fail to see how we can admire different cultures and enrichen each other.

[@julin9544]

I gave a presentation about the Beatles at school today, of couse mentioning their Indian style. What a coincidence.. Well, not a coincidence at all to see a new Beatles video on your channel.

[@singhabs2007]

Awesome analysis - as a lover of both Indian Classical Music (ICM) and the Beatles this really hit the spot (maybe two spots!). Being a practitioner of Indian Classical Music, I wanted to add a bit more detail on harmonics/chords in ICM. The Tanpura (or Tamboura) doesn't play just one note, but actually a repeated broken chord (4 to 6 notes depending on the Tanpura). Also the tuning doesn't have to be to C. The singer or instrumentalist choses her/his tonic note (C to D# for most male vocalists, G to A# for most female vocalists). The tuning is typically 5-8-8-1 (so do′ do′ do), 4-8-8-1 (fa do' do' do), or 7-8-8-1 (ti do' do' do) in the chosen scale. Now comes the fun part - the tanpura strings are tuned to have some serious resonance and overtones (controlled by the bridge and small threads inserted below the strings). Played all together the tanpura strings create a complex tapestry of chords and harmonics. This then becomes the canvas that the vocalist or instrumentalist improvises over in the given raag. Tuning (and properly playing) a tanpura is challenging and many musicians consider it an art form in of itself. rudiseitz.com/2016/01/12/tanpura-tuning/ baithak.org/featured/a-comprehensive-guide-to-tanpura-its-construction-significance-and-relevance-in-indian-classical-music/ P.S. Love all your posts! Thanks and please keep them coming!

[@kaushik_632]

As a lover of Beatles and Indian music, I know a bit of both worlds because I practiced Indian classical music on Synthesizer and I know how to play the guitar. This video broadened my musical horizon to a whole new level as I never thought that Beatles had so much to do with Indian music. Thank you for making this video.

[@leftyguitarist8989]

An interesting coincidence about many of these songs is that they contain hidden guitar parts: On Love You To, there's a barely audible acoustic guitar strumming a Cm, an electric guitar being played with a volume pedal, and a bass part that was likely wiped. On Tomorrow Never Knows, George's playing his electric guitar through a volume pedal and one of the tape loops contains a scale on what appears to be either a guitar or a sitar. On Within You, Without You, there's supposedly acoustic guitar somewhere although i can't hear it and if anyone knows where it is, i'd love to know. On Across The Universe, Paul's apparently on acoustic guitar in addition to John. On Here Comes The Sun, George's doubling some of his acoustic guitar part on an electric guitar.

[@muchanadziko6378]

This video is amazing. As someone who is writing music for over 6 years (I'm 21), and is n love with both the Beatles and Indian Classical music, this video was highly educative, informative, and captivating from start to finish. I was trying to write an "Indian" classical song for some time now (a month or two), and thanks to you David, I now have the means to do it. For those interested, yes, I do have a sitar, a harmonium, and a tabla at home

[@paulsto6516]

Very compact yet intensive seminar! And Oh the flood of memories. Thank you David.

[@Slydeil]

I think the eclecticism of The Beatles and openness to experiment was the key to their success and opening my ears (and mind) through their influence. One of the songs I think used Indian influence to great effect was Baby You're A Rich Man in the verses. And lastly credit to George Martin who took the ideas and wove these sounds in beautifully to the arrangements and recordings.

[@Goatchild90]

The most underrated quality of the Beatles, expanding the pop music consciousness. People still, STILL wonder why no musical act can top the Beatles, this is why P.S .they are the reason I own a Ravi Shankar album on vinyl

[@fantafanta2823]

Here's another example: at the very end of "I Want to Tell You" (Harrison) the vocal lines display that kind of ornamentation that you talked about from Indian classical music! It's very brief and just in the fadeout, but I always thought of that as a very clear Indian influence.

[@brianrocks2087]

And then that element was used in many pop or rock songs from there

[@theju3939]

Being an Indian I'm very proud of this

[@sabrinaruff7182]

I cannot get enough of your videos!! I just discovered you last night and this is my 12th video of yours. Amazing!! Keep up the great work

[@capstan50g]

I want to thank you, David, for the seriousness with which you treat the music that's so dear to my heart: the music of The Beatles. Your insights and examples of their approach to composition have given me new understanding of the depth of their inventiveness and the consistency of their musical taste. Once again, many thanks for your wonderful channel!

[@AF-fb6yp]

Brilliant video. Love the Beatles and these particular songs with the Indian musical influence are among my favourites. Thanks for putting the effort in to break it down and explain what is going on in these songs.

[@tiasdas4466]

Being both an indian classical musician and a Beatles fan I would say it was a serious piece of work. Great great! Liked it very much!

[@thegenxnoob9755]

This is a bit of nitpicking, but I'm a student of the sitar. One term that's essential in a discussion of Indian music is "thaat". "Love You To" is in Kafi thaat. There are 10 thaats, those are the equivalent of Western scales. There are hundreds of Raags. For instance, the two Raags I first learned were Raag Yaman and Raag Bhupali. Both are in Kalyan thaat, which is the same as Dorian mode. However, assuming the Sa (the root) is in C, instead of an F, it uses an F#. One major difference between a Raag and a thaat is illustrated by these two Raags. Raag Yaman's ascending scale (again, assuming C as the Sa) is .B D E F# G A B C., and the descending scale is C. B A G F# E D C. Note the ascending scale doesn't start on the Sa, but the Ni (7th), which is a leading note in Western music. An incredibly important feature that adds flavor to Raag Yaman are the resting notes. Yaman's resting notes are Ga (3rd) and Ni. Also in every Raag the Pa (5th) and Sa are acceptable resting notes. ["Love You To"'s main resting note is Pa.] Raag Bhupali is also technically in Kalyan thaat, however, it's a pentatonic Raag that drops the Ma (4th) and Ni, leaving a scale of C D E G A C. However, it's considered acceptable during fast ornamentation to touch on the Ma and Ni to preserve the Kalyan thaat flavor. I understand this discussion is beyond the scope of this particular video, but I wanted to point it out. I'm currently actually learning the sitar part on Love You To, and I can tell you it blends a lot of Western music into it. Even in the beginning, you'll hear him play a strum up to G, then he strikes a sympathetic string (C), then does a meend (bend) from F# to G, then another C, then F natural. You can hear the thunk of the plectrum hitting the neck of the sitar when he's playing that sympathetic string. While sympathetic strings are played as accents, but using them in an alap melody like that is highly unusual. For a sitar player, it's an intimate glimpse into Harrison's exploration of the instrument.

[@SanjayKumar-dj5kt]

Awesome..

[@ananyasengupta]

Thank you! I grew up with Hindusthani music tradition myself, and thought he really meant that when he said Raag. But great video, learnt a lot about the Beatles here.

[@thegenxnoob9755]

@@ananyasengupta the funniest thing that's happening to me now is I'm hearing the notes in Hindustani tuning, so sometimes American music sounds out of tune lol

[@pkcowzah3369]

A very well made video..helps in understanding what's going on in some of the Beatles offbeat tracks and how they sound so bloody good!

[@jagjitisher]

Marvelous fusion & amalgamation of Indian & western music.

[@beardyman]

Love this!!!!

[@nsnoesuarez]

Indian Music limited George's Harrison skill to play guitar. He stopped playing the guitar just to play the sitar, by the time he went back to guitar playing, his contemporaries got ahead of him and had a hard time catching up.

[@batterieman3001]

This is a joke, I was just listening to the Revolver album minutes ago, focusing on the Indian instruments they used, and now this video!

[@PlanetoftheDeaf]

Great video. I had no idea about Indian music theory! This is another example of what made The Beatles great, which was musical curiosity. Hearing something interesting, and wanting to incorporate it into their music, not to directly copy it, but create something interesting and new.

[@sianevans9318]

Thanks! I have to learn some basic features of Indian classical music for GCSE and this has really helped explain some things that didn't really make sense :)

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Great!

[@jahnvisingh8015]

You can check out Anuja Kamat's KZbin channel. She is Hindustani Classical vocalist and the way in which she explains the concepts is impeccable.

[@DavidBennettPiano]

@@jahnvisingh8015 yeah her channel is great!

[@leonardohonorato3652]

Came back just to mention "You Won't See Me" by Rubber Soul. All the verses have a bittersweet chord progression with an A note dronning out. It creates a tonal center and keep you from going too far away, despite other elements like melody and bass line trying to be as dinamic as possible

[@DavaHerian]

If I'm not wrong, Paul's guitar lead on the songs like "Taxman" and "Good Morning Good Morning" is Indian-Influenced. Also, the "Getting Better" long tambura rhythm.

[@pameladeering2450]

This has been very edifying for me and I deeply appreciate this content. Thanks so much.

[@akileish23]

Great video as usual, David! If I could nitpick on just one thing, the tambura doesn't play just the root note but also has one of its four strings tuned to the fifth of the root note. So, it's a droning power chord basically! :) Also here are two things that I think would qualify for this video: 1) Paul's solo on 'Taxman' sounds distinctively Indian, particularly the descending bit. 2) George's solo on 'Something', which might not immediately sound Indian, has one particular portion where he rapidly oscillates between D and E notes, which is reminiscent of the 'gamaka' technique in Indian classical music.

[@canofdandelions]

Love your videos!! They are really educational!!

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thank you!

[@Sleevemonger]

Very thoughtfully put together, this.

[@chrisgillespie7557]

I was lucky enough to see Ravi Shankar in 2003. He introduced one raga by saying that it was in the time signature of 10 and a half/ 9. 😳😳😳

[@RudraSingh08309]

India is the only Country that has Two Classical music Hindustani Classical and Carnatic Classical . The Depth of Indian Classical Music is like the center of a Blackhole . David thanks for Educating us, apricate ur Work . All the best

[@ThroughBirdEye]

Indian classical is very spiritual and enlightening 🙏🖤

[@ShredmasterScott]

Really cool ideas to play with here David

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thanks!

[@r2x3258]

Beautifully done mate! Cheers :) especially the ornamental version of Within you without you...need to lookup that version and hear the whole thing!

[@composer7325]

Another excellent video, thank you, David.

[@KevinMcKinneyFilms]

10:06 wonderful Indian rendition of Within You Without You.

[@gensonaris3316]

as always - a greatly researched video - keep up the good work

[@happyron]

Amazing I’ve been a fan since 1980 I never thought of Here comes the Sun as being influenced by Indian music due to the time signatures thank you for the Great Songwriting insight

[@shahzebaamir2863]

Amazing Video!!

[@Mo-MuttMusic]

As someone who hopes to blend various musical styles into my own compositions, and as a longtime Beatles fan, I'm glad you shared this. Excellent. Shawn R., Mo-Mutt Music/Sacred & Secular

[@varali915]

Correction, there are three (two different) notes droned in the Tanpura, The lower octave tonic, the root tonic and either the fifth, fourth or the sixth. It doesn't drone a single note.

[@varali915]

although you can certainly tune it to sound a single note it's very unusual

[@gunjaneighteen]

Fantastic video.

[@robotmonkey6871]

David, this is fantastically researched and presented. Learned a lot and have a different appreciation of my own Indian classical music and total admiration for musicians like Beatles and others who constantly stive to incorporate other music and creat something truly memorable in the process. Your deep dive through some of their songs was very educational. How come you didn't include George Harrison's even more well known song "Across the Universe"? Would've loved to get your expert commentary on that. Any chance of an encore?

[@farhansadiksiddiquey3924]

George Harrison will be remembered forever to the Bangladeshi people for the help he provided in our worst time,1971

[@frankzelazko]

Great educational video. Cheers David! BTW "Tomorrow Never Knows" is absolutely spot on!

[@jcarty123]

Perhaps you've overlooked the Indian influence on some of Paul McCartney's guitar work. Example: the solos on George's song "Taxman" and John's song "Good Morning" (both of which solos were Paul). Also, Strawberry Fields' use of swarmandal was in fact "a first", and there is a nice tamboura drone on some versions of John's "Across the Universe".

[@thewhorrorable]

Paul is also the whole reason they got into tape loops: he made the others tapes for Christmas 1965 "It was called Unforgettable and it started with Nat ‘King’ Cole singing ‘Unforgettable'. Then I came in over the top as the announcer: ‘Yes, unforgettable, that’s what you are! And today in Unforgettable …‘ It was like a magazine program: full of weird interviews, experimental music, tape loops, some tracks I knew the others hadn’t heard. It was just a compilation of odd things.” - Paul "It was a peculiar overall sound. John, Ringo and I played it and realized Paul was on to something new. Paul has done a lot in making us realize that there are a lot of electronic sounds to investigate.” - George

[@tymime]

Another good example is the fadeout of "I Want to Tell You", where Paul is improvising an Indian-inspired melody.

[@himadrimukherjee2381]

Great video!

[@shashiprabha8283]

Thanks for recognizing & appreciating Indian music 🙏

[@John_Fugazzi]

Nice to see these influences pulled together and explained in one place. Everyone can at least identify the obvious ones like Within You and Without You, but many others were more subtle or even practically invisible, like Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds.

[@ThreeBeatsAndTheRest]

Wonderful and so informative. Thank you for the effort and research. I too have been experimenting with fusing Western melodies with Indian influences, albeit without strict application of theory. Your video will help me take my melodic (and rhythmic) approach to a whole new level.

[@lilac2698]

Ravi Shankar had three children, two of which are Norah Jones and Anoushka Shankar. Both are very renowned musicians. His nephew, Ananda Shankar, used to make beautiful music which compiled Western and Eastern styles. Please do give a listen to 'Snow Flower' by Ananda Shankar, I have a feeling a lot of people here will like it, and he was and is a very underrated guy. Seriously, what a family. All of them were dancers, concert arrangers, musicians, etc. etc. Very good ones too. A family destined for the arts.

[@dante_ele]

I respect you for mentioning SnowFlower.

[@pastichemusic3568]

As an Indian classical music fan and Beatles fan, this video enlightened me hugely

[@user-ov8ei2ep8o]

there is this indian-marathi movie Sairat which music were recorded in an orchestra in america, there the instrument artist said that it was different from how they make there music, but i dont understand the craft of music so i didnt understood what they were saying, there is this another song Mera Naam Tu from the hindi movie Zero, by the same composers ajay-atul with western orchestra, and i love that song, i think this western orchestra music with indian influence would be interesting for u to listen to

[@aynangshusaha7398]

Coming from Indian classical music background I am amazed at the scholarly research and effort that is evident in this video... Amazing amazing content... True treasure for Musicians and Music Lovers No words to praise you.... You are just Brilliant 🙏

[@hamaho1738]

very nice and informative, keep 'em coming

[@pinkmark4047]

Really well-made video. You’ve changed how I hear Here Comes The Sun.

[@michelefrogan7150]

Very Good. Congratulations for the serious research. And thanks so much.

[@jaliebs3988]

Awesome video! King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard did something similar in 2017, but with Turkish music - you've mentioned how it's microtonal before. I'd love to see a head to head comparison/history of band video like this about their album Flying Microtonal Banana!

[@jont4638]

Not directly comparable though, the Beatles were more subtle and varied whereas King Gizzard fail to really make the source material better or more interesting. There is no way that their codging of Kara Toprak is better or more interesting than, say, Ricardo Moyano's version of it, or the original. And King Gizzard are pretty heavy handed - no one is going to make a video about them in 60 years time because that album was kind of like "HEY GUYS WE ARE GOING TO MAKE A MICROTONAL ALBUM DID YOU SEE WHAT WE DID THERE DID YOU DID YOU SEE"

[@zarzaparrilla67]

@@jont4638 KGLW are the new Beatles but you aren't ready for this conversation yet

[@StratsRUs]

Awesome video.Thanks

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thank you!

[@Marina-pe1gx]

Ahh so excited to watch this! David, did you watch the Peter Jackson Get back documentary? And if so, what did you think?

[@DavidBennettPiano]

I’m halfway through Get Back and I’m bloody loving it!

[@Marina-pe1gx]

@@DavidBennettPiano Loved it too! Ahhh 😍

[@guprovasi]

@@DavidBennettPiano Can we expect a review/react on it soon? 🙏🏻😍

[@peterkelley6344]

@@guprovasi Rick Beato did a review of it this week too. Would love to hear your take on the documentary.

[@cesarvaldivia4811]

Another brilliant video David

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thank you!

[@peterintoronto6472]

Worth noting that George Martin was the producer on Peter Sellers' album that parodied "Wouldn't It Be Loverly" with Indian instruments that take over -- this is before the Beatles (1959). So he had prior experience with Indian music.

[@humanracerracer7052]

Gracias, que buen contenido en tu canal !!!!

[@CuminPepper]

Very informative. Thanks

[@AmlanBhattacharyaSong]

This is a very well researched video 🤍

[@gilaschannel1855]

Thank you, informative and interesting.

[@Mozzarella-and-Tomato]

This was so good!

[@DhruvMalikk]

George is my favourite Beatle

[@AL-jg4pr]

great content!

[@kartickgupta4118]

Thanks for the insights...

[@spockboy]

Excellent work. SO happy The Beatles are still getting their due.

[@timfronimos459]

Very enjoyable video.

[@findtheothers]

you always post the topics most specific to my interest. This one, Strawberry Fields analysis. I love your content, man!

[@dazitmane8905]

This video is so good I rewatch it everyday at least.

[@QHarefield]

Very interesting. Thank you.

[@marivg8948]

I loved this video! After watching Get Back, I am convinced George was horrifically under-rated. He had so many fantastic ideas ❤

[@familycollins4366]

So helpful for A Level Music students studying the Beatles and also Anoushka Shankar. Thank you.

[@danielhoffheins2068]

One of your best.

[@Zemaj]

Thank you for that, David. 🙏

[@DavidBennettPiano]

Thanks for watching!

[@pcatful]

I live in such a a unique time! I am listenting to Love You To by the Beatles and seeing footage amd commentary by Ravi Shankar whom I listened to as a kid. It all comes around if you can catch it. I am so impressed by your knowledge . Thanks for sharing with us!

[@marshwetland3808]

Love this. Great to hear the Indian style vocal for Within you without you at 9:40.