"...the greatest love song of the last fifty years."

Since it's Valentine's Day I thought I'd write about what Frank Sinatra called "...the greatest love song of the last fifty years." I'm referring to George Harrison's "Something."

"Something"--originally released on last album to be recorded by The Beatles, Abbey Road--is the second-most covered Beatles' song with about one thousand cover versions, trailing behind "Yesterday," which has three times that number. BMI has certified "Something" as the 17th most performed song of the 20th century, with over five million performances.

I'm posting three versions of "Something."

The first is Harrison's demo--just voice and shimmering electric guitar--recorded on his 26th birthday. Simply beautiful.

The second is Booker T and the MG's version of "Something." This particular cover takes the sweet love song into an unexpected path that rocks so hard you'll stop what you're doing and pick up your air guitar to play along.

The last version of "Something" comes from Frank Sinatra. Frank recorded it twice: with a traditionally-arranged version in 1970 and a lushy-arranged (and Harrison-preferred) recording in 1979. However, Sinatra made a gaffe – in his original statement, he mistakenly attributed it to the Lennon / McCartney partnership. Sinatra also made an innovation of his own on the song, changing one of its lines to "You stick around, Jack / And she might show" which Harrison loved – in all his future performances of "Something", he used Sinatra's modified lyric instead of his original.

Listen/Download:
George Harrison - Something (demo)
Booker T & the MG's - Something
Frank Sinatra - Something