“Don’t Bother Me” is a Fab Four song which is on the 1963 album, “With The Beatles”. This song was also George Harrison’s first composition for a Beatles LP.
In Detail
Album
Recorded: 11-12th September, 1963
Genre: Rock and roll, beat
Track Duration: 2:29
Record Label: Parlophone
Songwriter: George Harrison
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Norman Smith
Performers
George Harrison: double-tracked vocals, also the lead guitar
John Lennon: rhythm guitar, as well as the tambourine
Paul McCartney: bass guitar, also the claves
Ringo Starr: drums, as well as the bongos
Track Source
Don’t Bother Me
Written by George Harrison, “Don’t Bother Me” is an uptempo rock and roll song worthy of inclusion on The Beatles’ second studio album. Harrison was the band’s lead guitarist and he was getting a lot of attention from the fans so on occasions, the usual Lennon-McCartney songwriting team had to make way for one of Harrison’s songs.
Harrison says during his interview:
“Don’t Bother Me I wrote in a hotel in Bournemouth, where we were playing a summer season in 1963, as an exercise to see if I could write a song. I was sick in bed.”
He continues:
“I don’t think it’s a particularly good song, it mightn’t be a song at all. But at least it showed me that all I needed to do was keep on writing and maybe eventually I would write something good. I still feel now: I wish I could write something good.”
George Harrison
Anthology
The Beatles never played “Don’t Bother Me” at any of their gigs or for any BBC Radio show. Of course by now Beatlemania had kicked in and they had an abundance of material to choose from. Although the uptempo song is fine, the subject is a man who is feeling down because his girlfriend has left him. As a result, he wants to be alone. Hence the title.
It was around this time that Harrison’s confidence was also low in the field of songwriting. In fact, he never composed any more songs until 1965 when he offered “I Need You” and “You Like Me Too Much”
Be that as it may, you can hear “Don’t Bother Me” in the 1964 film, “A Hard Day’s Night“. This is during the nightclub scene.
Recording Studio
The Beatles began recording “Don’t Bother Me” on the 11th September, 1963, in Studio Two at the EMI Studios, London, during the 7.00pm-10.15pm session. They recorded 7 takes that day as well as recording, “I Wanna Be Your Man” (take 1), “Little Child” (takes 1-2), “All I’ve Got to Do” (takes 1-14) and “Not a Second Time” (takes 1-4).
On the next day, they performed the overdubbing including Harrison’s double-tracked vocals. The song sits on side one of the album, “With The Beatles” after track 3, “All My Loving” and before “Little Child“.
