Try Some Buy Some ft. Ronnie Spector

Harrison wrote "Try Some Buy Some" in early 1971, in an attempt to relaunch the singing career of former Ronettes lead singer Ronnie Spector. Ronnie was married to Phil Spector at that time, who produced the record. The track featured star performers: Harrison played guitars, Gary Wright (Spooky Tooth) keyboards, Klaus Voormann (Manfred Mann) bass, John Barham string arrangement, Jim Gordon (Derek and the Dominos) on drums, Pete Ham (Badfinger) guitar. The song would be included on a planned comeback album on the Beatles' Apple Records.

Harrison wrote the song on an organ, while he used to compose on guitar. This may explain the strange harmonic structure of the song. Klaus Voormann recalls that he had to step in so that Harrison could hear the entire piece played through: "He played the song on the piano with his right hand, just with three fingers. He couldn't play with five fingers and he couldn't play the whole song with two hands on the piano. I had to play the left hand part so he could hear how the whole song sounded."

Also note that the song is a waltz (3/4 rhythm), which is unusual for a pop song. It includes some rhythm patterns that are derived from Indian music.

It was released as an Apple Single in 1971 (and included on the CD “Come and Get It: The Best of Apple Records” in 2010).

The single flopped and the critics were not forgiving for this Harrisong, or Ronnie’s singing…The whole thing turned out to be a huge disappointment, in particular for Phil Spector, who had put enormous effort in producing his trademark ‘Wall Of Sound” backing track for the song. Phil was proud of his achievement and expected that it would be hailed as a masterpiece. However, it appears that the Wall of Sound concept had outlived its days, and the song was far too ‘deep’ for Ronnie’ audience. The whole come-back album was scrapped, and Ronnie and Phil divorced……

In 1973, Harrison added his own vocal onto the 1971 instrumental track and included the result on his album Living in the Material World. Some critics find it doesn’t fit on the album, and Harrison may be singing in a key that was a bit too high for him (because he used a backing track made for Ronnie).

Lennon liked the song and later said that the descending melody played by the string section was an inspiration behind his 1974 song "#9 Dream". The lyrics may also have something to do with “Buy Some Try Some”, as both songs begin with a reference to the past: "Way back in time / Someone said try some…. Compare with #9 Dream: “So long ago, was it in a dream, was it just a dream?”

Earlier, Lennon already based the musical backing of his 1971 single "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" on that of "Try Some Buy Some".

In recent years, "Try Some Buy Some" has won more acclaim, and its unique musical structure is recognized.

Paul-René Lee alerted me to Ronnie’s 1971 version, and making a duet with Harrison’s 1973 version was straightforward, since both used the same backing track.

The Best of Both Worlds?