When people say that Revolver is the best album of all time, there’s a good chance they’re conveniently overlooking “Love You To,” George Harrison’s first full-fledged dive into exploring Indian music. (He took baby steps with a rudimentary sitar part on “Norwegian Wood” a year earlier.) The most interesting thing about “Love You To” is the realization that in the span of just over two years, the band went from having hits about wanting to hold your hand to writing lyrics like, “Love me while you can, before I’m a dead old man.” What a charming pickup line.

Couldn’t they have made it “Love me while you can, before I’m a dead old man, yeah, yeah, yeah”?

 

The creepy lyrics are fittingly matched by George’s ominous, foreboding vocal but for my money, this song would be more effective as an instrumental. I actually really enjoy Indian music, and find George’s later forays into it much more successful. “Love You To” is just sort of…dull, especially sandwiched in between two excellent contributions from John and Paul, proving that, while George’s songwriting was on the rise, he was still basking in the shadow of Lennon/McCartney.