George Harrison wrote this, and aside from some assistance by Ringo Starr on tambourine, is likely the only Beatle to play on the track. It was a step on his journey toward Eastern philosophy and Indian music, which was fully realized a year later on Harrison's Sgt. Pepper track "Within You Without You," the first Beatles song to use only Indian instruments.
This was the first Beatles song completely based on Indian music, and the first one George Harrison wrote on sitar. An earlier song, "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)," also used a sitar, but was only partly influenced by Indian music. Harrison was learning the sitar from Ravi Shankar, who inspired him to learn more about Indian music and Eastern religion.
The lyric is about the pressures Harrison was facing and how he felt like he was being used: There's people standing round Who'll screw you in the ground The words are at odds with the aesthetic of Indian music, but Harrison had yet to immerse himself in Eastern religion. His later songs in this vein take a much more philosophical approach.
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