How a Byrds Song Inspired the Beatles’ ‘If I Needed Someone’

So typically in music, what goes round comes round. It is how George Harrison’s “If I Wanted Somebody” from 1965’s Rubber Soul got here to be.

As Harrison defined to Guitar World in 1992, the Beatles had at all times been acquainted — buddies, too — with the Byrds, the folks rock band out of Los Angeles with such similarities to the Fab 4 that they had been generally described because the “American Beatles.” When Harrison was writing “If I Wanted Somebody,” he had a selected one in all their songs in his head.

“Now that I am eager about it, that music truly was impressed by a Byrds music, ‘The Bells of Rhymney,'” he mentioned. “Any guitar participant is aware of that, with that open-position D chord, you simply transfer your fingers round and also you get all these little maladies…I imply melodies! Properly, generally maladies [Laughs] And that grew to become a thrill, to see what number of extra tunes you possibly can write round that open D, like ‘Right here Comes the Solar.'”

“The Bells of Rhymney” was initially written by folks singer Pete Seeger, but it surely was the Byrds’ 1965 recording, that grew to become standard.

Take heed to the Byrds’ ‘The Bells of Rhymney’

One hearken to “The Bells of Rhymney” and it is clear how impressed Harrison was, which is why he made positive to alert Byrds frontman Roger McGuinn about his music’s guitar half specifically earlier than the album was launched.

Roger McGuinn’s Recollection

McGuinn has recalled this occurring in a pair alternative ways.

“George was very open about it,” he mentioned in a single model (through Rolling Stone). At the moment, McGuinn was nonetheless primarily utilizing his given identify, Jim. “He despatched [the record] to us upfront and mentioned, ‘That is for Jim’ — due to that lick.”

READ MORE: The Byrds Albums Ranked Worst to Greatest

In 2026, McGuinn advised Guitar Participant that he’d been paid a go to by Derek Taylor, the Beatles’ press officer. Taylor was dwelling in Los Angeles on the time, in the identical Laurel Canyon neighborhood that many musicians did then, together with McGuinn and Byrds bassist Chris Hillman.

“Derek came to visit to my home with this three-inch reel-to-reel tape, and mentioned, ‘George desires you to play this,'” he recalled. “So I performed it, and it was ‘If I Wanted Somebody.’ He mentioned he desires you to know that he acquired that riff from ‘The Bells of Rhymney.'”

Take heed to the Beatles’ ‘If I Wanted Somebody’

The Byrds’ Unique Inspiration

The nice irony, nevertheless, was that the Byrds themselves had been impressed by Harrison, who had began utilizing a 12-string electrical Rickenbacker guitar in 1964, each reside and within the studio. It was that particular guitar that McGuinn locked eyes on.

“All of us went to the films and noticed A Arduous Day’s Night time,” McGuinn remembered, “and I would heard that sound on the information, however I did not know what instrument it was. However George got here out with a Rickenbacker, and it seemed like a six [string] from the entrance.

“However he turned it sideways, and you possibly can see six different tuning pegs, like a classical guitar, protruding of the again. I went, ‘Oh, they sort of condensed the 12-string head into one thing handsome.’ And it sounded nice. I needed to get one.”

READ MORE: Why George Harrison Virtually Did not Be a part of the Quarrymen

And it was that guitar that McGuinn used closely on Mr. Tambourine Man, the album on which “The Bells of Rhymney” appeared. The entire thing had gone full circle.

Harrison’s message to McGuinn was an expert transfer, an acknowledgement between two extremely adept songwriters to make sure no misunderstanding.

“That guitar line,” Harrison wrote in I, Me, Mine, “or variations on it, is discovered in lots of a music and it amazes me that individuals nonetheless discover new permutations of the identical notes.”