"Never Without You" is a tribute song from Ringo Starr to his former Beatles bandmate George Harrison, who died on 29 November 2001. The recording appeared on Starr's 2003 album Ringo Rama, and was also released as a single.
History
"Never Without You" 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." In a 2003 interview, Starr said that he had remained closest to Harrison of all the former Beatles following the group's break-up in 1970, and that the song conveyed "how I miss him in my heart and in music".[1]
The recording includes a lead guitar part by Harrison's friend Eric Clapton. Starr said of Clapton's contribution: "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." Clapton uses Harrison's favourite technique, the slide guitar, to achieve the characteristic sound of a song of the deceased former Beatle.
Lyrics
The heartfelt lyrics of "Never Without You" are sometimes misquoted,[2] 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:
