Comments on: Circles

By: Teddy Salad

Teddy Salad — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 17:11:19 +0000

I might have heard it on a bootleg as a kid YEARS ago, but as far as I can remember, this is the first time I’ve heard the song or even heard OF it. I always thought Long, Long, Long was a creepy sounding song, so maybe Circles was excluded as one too many creepy George songs for the album.

By: Travis

Travis — Thu, 03 Mar 2016 00:18:06 +0000

Also I too would like to know Paul’s contribution to “Long, Long, Long”. But wait, you KNOW, 100% that Paul wrote the “middle eight” to “I Me Mine”?? I love the verse but I simply cannot imagine that song without the chorus. Really one of the standouts on Let It Be, at least to me, because I love the straight rock of that section, something the Beatles didn’t do a lot of after Revolver. I always liked the Beatles “straight rock” (Day Tripper, Revolution, Some Other Guy, Money, Rock n Roll Music) than the more bluesy-type rock that made up a large part of Let It Be.

By: Travis

Travis — Wed, 02 Mar 2016 20:14:19 +0000

Well I can say Paul wrote the classic piano part that opens and somewhat dominates the instrumental intro to “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”. Always confused me when I was younger than a piano was playing the coolest parts in a song with such a title (bring on the Clapton-lovers). I def DID NOT know Paul wrote the dissonant piano in “I Want To Tell You”! Are we sure about that? That part virtually makes the song! (again bettering an otherwise cool guitar riff)

By: Joe Schmoe

Joe Schmoe — Sun, 25 Oct 2015 04:05:40 +0000

Love it. Very trippy.

By: SMiLE

SMiLE — Sat, 13 Jun 2015 04:46:00 +0000

Indeed, it is a very Syd Barett song. The 1968 demo is decidedly the creepiest song known to mankind: there is a swirling, hissing, demonic-sounding organ with no other accompaniment than George’s Leslie Speaker-equipped voice, which sounds, with no other way to describe it, like a 5,000-year-old ghost emerging from a tomb from a lost civilization. It’s the only song that has ever genuinely scared me: there are creepy songs, but the 1968 demo of “Circles” is R-rated for creepiness. And don’t even get me started on those whispering voices in the background, which I didn’t notice until I read this article which pointed them out. Now they gave me nightmares.

By: rickylee369

rickylee369 — Thu, 31 Jul 2014 05:24:39 +0000

Syd would have been proud…

By: poeticliaisons

poeticliaisons — Sat, 26 Apr 2014 23:43:39 +0000

I love this song and even this version though the recording quality’s not very good. Would have been awesome along with Not Guilty on the white album… Neither remake was very good owing to bland studio musicianship and unnecessary tinkering IMO.

By: Julian

Julian — Mon, 10 Feb 2014 01:17:59 +0000

The Inner Light, not Inner Circle. 🙂

By: kermy

kermy — Sun, 09 Feb 2014 16:54:52 +0000

This reminds me of the line from ‘Inner Circle’ – “The farther one travels
the less one knows
the less one really knows”

By: @kantelestani

@kantelestani — Sun, 19 Jan 2014 11:01:36 +0000

Anyway the Gone Troppo version is one of my all-time favourites.

By: Bungalow Bob

Bungalow Bob — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 01:33:38 +0000

This is interesting, Apple Scruff. I read somewhere that Paul DID add the distinctive, somewhat “dissonent” piano notes to the verses of “I Want To Tell You.” But I never read anything about him contributing to “Long, Long, Long” or “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” Let me know what YOU know about Paul’s collaborative efforts with these songs. Thanks! (Hmm… Maybe Paul felt he deserved a co-write on some of George’s tunes because of his help. I KNOW he added the rocking “middle bit” to “I, Me, Mine,” and DIDN’T get a co-writer’s credit; Did he want one?)

By: Apple Scruff

Apple Scruff — Sat, 09 Mar 2013 13:31:22 +0000

Well, it wasn’t because he discouraged collaboration because he was fine with Paul collaborating with him on other songs (I Want to Tell You, Long Long Long, While My Guitar Gently Weeps).

By: Bungalow Bob

Bungalow Bob — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 16:28:37 +0000

George’s demo sure is dreary, but I can’t help thinking there is a good Beatles song in there somewhere. Imagine if Paul had been willing to whip the melody into shape, and John had cared enough to spice it up with some of his witty, cryptic wordplay. The question is: Did the other Beatles go out of their way to be creatively uncooperative with him, or did George actively discourage any collaboration on his compositions?

By: Damon F

Damon F — Sat, 24 Nov 2012 05:05:37 +0000

I recall finding a band version of Circles on Youtube with swirling guitar parts, but I haven’t been able to locate it again.

By: Travis

Travis — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 19:42:52 +0000

I agree with you James, I think this is a very eery song, a great, dark melody, similar in vein to “Blue Jay Way”, another vastly underrated Harrison composition. I do not like his solo version at all, and I completely agree a Beatles version would have far surpassed it – much like their Anthology vers of “Not Guilty”, another great Harrison gem that has been criminally ignored, which blew away the eventual Harrison solo recording. Love the line “He who knows does not speak, he who speaks does not know…”. Seriously one of my favorite lyrics of all time and a perfect reflection I think of George’s philosophy of people at the time.

By: James

James — Tue, 24 May 2011 13:09:46 +0000

Personally I wish the Beatles had recorded it. I think its got a haunting melody and the lyric concept is basically sound. I don’t think he did it very well on Gone Troppo but the Beatles would probably have nailed it.

By: The Walrus

The Walrus — Wed, 18 May 2011 22:09:00 +0000

There’s tons of copies of the Kinfaus demo of this song floating around the internet.

It has got to be the most horrible Beatles song ever.

I can barely make out the lyrics, it’s just a repetion of George playing the same jntes on and on and singing apparent gibberish. No wonder it wasn’t released.