Thursday, October 04, 2007

New Wu-Tang: Beatles Interpolation, Frusciante Contribution


[A Concert for George]

I make no bones about it: George Harrison is my favorite Beatle (in fact a framed issue of Rolling Stone with his face on it looks at me as I type), "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is my favorite Beatles track (no surprise, it was penned by George) and despite their abysmal live performance two years back at 9:30 Club, I love me some Wu.

So the news that Wu-Tang took the track on with the help of George's son, Dhani, John Frusciante, and Erykah Badu got me a little excited. As of yesterday I was babbling to some cohorts about how they were the first to "sample" the Beatles and now today we find out its an "interpolation". I feel like Wu-Tang has Bush's speechwriters penning their MySpace blog: a euphemism here, the wrong word there. C'mon. It's definitely a noticeable take on the Beatles classic. One man's interpolation is another man's sample.

Continuing on my nightly journey through the internets I stumbled across more George Harrison news. Martin Scorsese has agreed to direct a Harrison documentary that will be produced by Harrison's widow, Olivia, and involve participation from both Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney (a close second as favorite Beatles go). More at Rolling Stone and Variety.

Now back to the 36 Chambers:

"The statement that we made yesterday was incorrect and we apologize for any confusion it may have caused. We DID NOT sample the Beatles, i repeat, we DID NOT sample the Beatles, rather we did an INTERPOLATION of the classic George Harrison composition 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps.' In a historic collaboration, Dhani Harrison, son of George, through his friendship with the RZA, played guitar on the song and he himself helped secure the REUSE LICENSE. Also appearing on the song are John Frusciante, guitar player for the Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Erykah Badu singing the chorus. To satisfy everyone's curiosity, the song will be streamed exclusively on loud.com tonight. It will be the first single and video from the forthcoming album '8 Diagrams' in stores December 4.

"Thanks again to Dhani Harrison and the Harrison Estate for helping us make history." [TangSpace]


MP3: Wu-Tang Clan (ft. Dhani Harrison, John Frusciante & Erykah Badu) - "The Heart Gently Weeps"
MP3: The Beatles - "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"
MP3: Martin Luther McCoy - "While My Guitar Gently Weeps"

4 comments:

Mertz said...

Actually, the Beastie Boys had sampled the Beatles way before this. Listen closely to the Paul's Boutique album and you'll hear it.

Anonymous said...

Wu-Tang Clan are the first group to sample The Beatles with permission. All other artists prior to this did not clear their samples, as The Beatles never permitted sampling of their music before this.

Mustachio said...

I think this is the difference between interpolation and sample:

An interpolation uses the same (or similar) song structure. A sample uses the original recording of a song.

Anonymous said...

check out the version of "wmggw" with "Underrated Guitarist" no. 1 Prince doing an incredible solo - live at Harrisons Induction to the RnR Hall of Fame with D. Harrison, Tom Petty.... unbelievable. maybe somebody posts an mp3 of THAT??
the wutang version is shit. but i love them.