Paul says: Here is the fourth out of six "Covered" volumes for George Harrison. Unfortunately, before the start of the time period of this volume, Harrison had already died. (He died in 2001 all too young, at the age of 58.) That means he wasn't putting out any more new music. So for this volume and the next two, we're basically playing catch up, with covers from earlier parts of his music career, including going back to his years with the Beatles.
The first song here is a special treat. It comes from the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ceremony in 2004, because Harrison was posthumously inducted that year. This version of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" has a lot of stars peforming on it, including some I didn't include in the song title, due to wanting to keep it short, like Steve Winwood and Dhani Harrison. But what really makes this version stand out is the wild guitar soloing by Prince. A lot of people were impressed, as you can see by the fact the YouTube video is up to 140 million views when I'm writing this in May 2026. But this version remains unreleased.
Generally speaking, I try hard to only include one version of each song in a Covered series like this. But every now and then, there are cases where I can't resist adding more than one. For this series, I have two versions of "Something" (on Volumes 1 and 2, by Shirley Bassey and James Brown). I also have two versions of "If I Needed Someone." I included the Hollies version of that song on Volume 1, because they had a hit with it back in 1965. It made the Top Twenty in Britain. That was Harrison's first hit song, actually.
However, I'm including a second version of that song here, even though it's not one of his most popular songs. That's because in 2004, Roger McGuinn did a version of it. McGuinn used to be the main singer for the Byrds, and Harrison wrote the song with a very obvious Byrds influence. It was one he openly acknowledged from the start. He even sent McGuinn an advanced copy of the song, along with a thank you note. So it's nice to finally hear what the Byrds might have done with this Byrdsy song.
This album is an hour and one minute long.
01 While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne & Prince)
02 All Things Must Pass (Paul McCartney)
03 If I Needed Someone (Roger McGuinn)
04 Love Comes to Everyone (Eric Clapton)
05 Handle with Care (Jenny Lewis with the Watson Twins)
06 Stuck Inside a Cloud (Herb Eimerman)
07 Dark Sweet Lady (Nelson Bragg)
08 I Want to Tell You (Thea Gilmore)
09 Blue Jay Way (Secret Machines)
10 Within You, Without You (Patti Smith)
11 That's the Way It Goes (Joe Brown)
12 I Live for You (Tift Merritt)
13 Blow Away (Den Fiori)
14 Hear Me Lord (Chip Mergott)
15 Deep Blue (Carolina Lima)
16 Be Here Now (Robyn Hitchcock)
