Alan Aldridge | The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics (Unused Artwork) - [Within You Without You]?, c. 1968

Alan Aldridge

The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics (Unused Artwork) - [Within You Without You]?, c. 1968

untitled on image, collage with airbrush, unsigned, framed and glazed, (208.5 x 170.5mm.), yellow stain visible on the left hand side of the background at the bottom 

‘Try to realise its all within yourself, no-one else can make you change.’ This vivid image of a naked virile muscular man bursting out of a grey besuited figure was presumably intended to illustrate the lyrics to George Harrison’s song 'Within You Without You'. The image is a visual pun on the title, and represents the discovery of inner strength that Harrison describes in his mystical lyrics. 

'Within You Without You' was Harrison’s only contribution to the 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band and was performed without any contribution from the other members of the band. The tune was based on a lengthy piece by Ravi Shankar, as Harrison explained in the Anthology. “I wrote a mini version of it, using sounds similar to those I’d discovered in his piece. I recorded in three segments and spliced them together later.” Jordan Runtagh in Rolling Stone wrote of it: “ The music showcased Indian modes and textures within the familiar framework of a Western pop song, and the lyrics were a similar blend of cultures.” John Lennon regarded it as one of George’s best songs: “I like the arrangement, the sound and the words… You can hear his mind is clear and his music is clear. It’s his innate talent that comes through on that song, that brought that song together.”

Alan Aldridge was a friend of the vendor and gave him his first job aged 17 as an illustrator in an advertising agency. This artwork was a gift from Aldridge in c. 1971 in lieu of outstanding fees.