Comments on: Not Guilty

By: Scott Reed

Scott Reed — Mon, 19 Nov 2018 19:30:32 +0000

I think not.

By: Scott Reed

Scott Reed — Mon, 19 Nov 2018 19:29:50 +0000

Sour Milk Sea is a great song. So is Not Guilty. Martin must have been nuts.

By: Michael

Michael — Sat, 15 Jul 2017 12:26:07 +0000

And a horribly biased opinion at that. “All Things Must Pass” dreary and dull? And Clapton “saved WMGGW? Nonsense.

By: Teddy Salad

Teddy Salad — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 17:27:51 +0000

George Martin…is that you?

By: Teddy Salad

Teddy Salad — Mon, 26 Jun 2017 17:15:26 +0000

“Like you heard me said” is actually one of my favorite lines in the song. Obviously not grammatically correct, but the wrongness just makes it right.

By: Jeff Carlson

Jeff Carlson — Sat, 24 Jun 2017 08:02:28 +0000

I could have Not Guilty and Sour Milk Sea instead of Don’t Pass Me By and Revoluion 9… I don’t think Not Guilty is a great song, but I like the things Ringo was doing and Georges guitars on the Beatles version….Add some 1st class John/Paul backup vocals and Not Guilty could be really cool, in spite of its less than stellar melody.. That said. the Beatles made really good to great songs out of less than great melodies.

By: Josiah

Josiah — Fri, 27 Jan 2017 09:39:22 +0000

Just heard this for the first time as I’ve finally gotten the Anthology’s on iTunes now despite being a gigantic Beatles fan. It’s a shame it never got released onto the White Album. Honestly I think it would have been one of the best tracks on the album. Only listened to it twice so far but I could have sworn it was Paul singing, and I never get mixed up nowadays. Weird, maybe I wasn’t really concentrating both times since it was late.

By: Robert

Robert — Tue, 30 Aug 2016 01:37:00 +0000

I like this song. If it was ready in time, it would have fit in perfectly on The White Album. Like many of those songs it had a minimal feel to it-fewer participants in particular.
To go off topic- great website! Reading about how these songs came about and were put together, and who interchanged and played bass or lead guitar is fascinating. It has even sparked me into listening to the under appreciated songs like “Not Guilty”, “What’s The New Mary Jane,” “You Know My Name…” Even revisiting Revolution 9 with new ears. Thanks for this outstanding forum!!! The Beatles Forever!

By: j.kaybee

j.kaybee — Wed, 02 Mar 2016 03:36:53 +0000

I hear it as ” like you heard me ‘say it’ .. Sang in a way that sounds like ‘said’

By: SaxonMothersSon

SaxonMothersSon — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 05:30:37 +0000

I always liked this almost ominous sounding guitar and the rhythm changes. He might have re-written the words, they did bump along. But as far as feel, it, to me, was as least as dark and brooding as Come Together. I’ve re-produced this song many times using Clapton or Hendrix, slashing through with ragged guitars. I don’t do Fantasy Football, I do Fantasy Engineer & Producer.

By: montion

montion — Tue, 09 Jun 2015 00:41:15 +0000

No way could this have replaced “maharishi”. That song is a masterpiece and this is… Meh.

By: Doodlebug

Doodlebug — Thu, 08 Jan 2015 02:57:16 +0000

A hundred and two takes and it still didn’t make the album?! Wow.
I like it. It’s a clever song, great tune. And it just says George all over it. Of course, the bit about upsetting apple carts and certain people stealing the day probably upset John and Paul…

By: Cronners

Cronners — Sun, 14 Dec 2014 20:32:51 +0000

I’m sorry. Try as might, I think Not Guilty is a poor song … Actually, I think the White Album would have been a mind-blowingly good single album, and some of the other tracks should have joined not guilty on the cutting room floor …

By: Daniël Wolfpack

Daniël Wolfpack — Tue, 02 Sep 2014 02:03:08 +0000

‘Not Guilty’ would have been the worst song on ‘The White Album’. Harrison’s ‘Circles’ and ‘Sour Milk Sea’ are much, much better songs.

I’m surprised The Beatles put so much effort in recording ‘Not Guilty’, having problems with a time signature that Harrison later dropped himself. He “dropped a section of 3/8 time that had been one of the factors in making the 1968 recording difficult.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Not_Guilty_%28song%29

Harrison may have become a better songwriter during the 1960s, but he rarely had the skills that Lennon and McCartney had in even their solo career. Harrison’s lyrics and vocal lines are often just dull, dreary and much of the same.

Harrison’s ‘My Sweet Lord’ was a hit, but partly plagiarism. ‘Got My Mind Set on You’ was a hit, but it’s a cover.

‘Something’ and ‘Here Comes the Sun’ are great. And those were included in the Beatles’s catalogue. Fair enough!

‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ is saved by Eric Clapton’s guitar work.

‘All Things Must Pass’? Please, no! What a dreary, dull song. Even amateurs would reject it.

I think ‘Wild Honey Pie’ and ‘Revolution 9’ mean more to music history than ‘Not Guilty’ could ever have done. There have been many “Wild Honey Pies” since then, by other artists. And ‘Revolution 9’ is a great, historical piece of audio art, using analogue samples.

Starr knew his own limitations. Harrison apparently didn’t, trying to make “Lennon-McCartney” look as a trio.

When you spend hours, even days of overdubbing distorted guitars onto distorted guitars, trying to make a composition work, you should know there’s something wrong. (‘Yer Blues’ uses the idea, but could also be acoustic or even a capella.)

Including ‘Not Guilty’ on a Beatles album, although not all sections were included on a Harrison solo album, shows that also Harrison himself would have rejected it.

Harrison should have put his energy into ‘Circles’ and ‘Sour MIlk Sea’, which are sorely missing on (at least) Anthology.

Just my opinion.

By: Frank

Frank — Tue, 26 Aug 2014 01:41:03 +0000

Probably Harrison’s 1957 Gibson Les Paul (Lucy) given to him by Eric Clapton. Some say this is the first song he used it on.

By: Neil

Neil — Wed, 18 Jun 2014 14:43:31 +0000

John and Paul were right to reject this song. I’m surprised George decided to resurrect it in 1979.

By: Michael A. Ventrella

Michael A. Ventrella — Wed, 09 Apr 2014 02:11:32 +0000

Agreed. For that matter, they could have put Hey Jude and Not Guilty on the album and it would only be slightly longer than Revolution 9.

By: capper

capper — Sun, 23 Mar 2014 00:22:01 +0000

a bunch of people almost fifty years later trying to choose what should have been on the white album: hilarious.

By: Bill

Bill — Wed, 26 Jun 2013 13:40:18 +0000

And, Sexy Sadie is one heckuva good tune. That might have had something to do with it.

By: Scooter

Scooter — Tue, 25 Jun 2013 17:20:29 +0000

How about, Like you heard me, said: “Not guilty”?

Poetically just omits the “I”.