The Inner Light
This song was the first song by George Harrison to appear on a Beatles single. This song originally appeared as the B-side to John's The Ballad of John And Yoko, released on March 15, 1968. This single was the last that The Beatles released on Parlophone, their original label. It was also apparently the inspiration to the Star Trek: The Next Generation episode by the same name. The song is 2:12 in length, and was recorded on January 12, 1968, and February 6th and 8th, 1968.
The song was originally written as a part of George Harrison's soundtrack for the movie Wonderwall (probably the origin of the song by Oasis). He had been asked to write the soundtrack for the movie, which eventually contained many Indian style songs, sounding much like this one. He recorded it in Bombay, India, and actually only provided a vocal, not playing anything. The actual playing was done by Indian musicians whom George carefully supervised. Paul and John also contributed backing vocals, which presumably were done at Abbey Road, rather than in India.
The verses of the song itself, are not directly written by George. The lyrics are actually based on a passage from Tao Te Ching. This is a Taoist holy book by Lao-Tse. George had gotten a hold of the passage when Juan Mascaro, a sanskrit scholar at Cambridge sent him the book Lamps of Fire. According to Revolution in the Head, George's decision to set the passage to music may have been influenced by Syd Barret of Pink Floyd. In his 1967 song Chapter 24, he sets an excerpt from the I Ching to music.
The musicians playing on the track:
Without going out of my door
I can know all things on
earth
Without looking out of my
window
I can know the ways of
heaven
The farther one travels
The less one knows
the less one really knows
Without going out of your
door
You can know all things on
earth
Without looking out of your window
You can know the ways of
heaven
The farther one travels
The less one knows
The less one really knows
Arrive without traveling
See all without looking
Do all without doing