July 16th 2006.
"Never Without You" is a tribute song from Ringo Starr to his former Beatles bandmate George Harrison who died on November 29, 2001. The recording is on Starr's 2003 album Ringo Rama, and was also released as a single.
This song was co-written by Starr, Mark Hudson and Gary Nicholson. Starr commented: "Gary Nicholson started that song, and Mark brought it over and we realized we could tailor it. George was really on my mind then."
The recording features Harrison's fellow friend, Eric Clapton. "I called Eric Clapton up and it was great to have him," Starr said. "Eric's on two tracks on the album [Ringo Rama], but I really wanted him on this song because George loved Eric and Eric loved George."
The heartfelt lyrics of "Never Without You" are sometimes misquoted, especially the following lines, which refer to the titles of two of Harrison's songs from The Beatles' Abbey Road and Harrison's All Things Must Pass albums respectively:
"Here Comes the Sun" is about you
"I Dig Love" is about you
Ringo uses the riff-driven melody from George's song "What Is Life" in the middle of this song, right before he makes reference to "All Things Must Pass".
The lyrics also mention Harrison's "Within You Without You" (from The Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album) and "All Things Must Pass" from the album of the same name by Harrison.
