Sitar in Western Popular Music

[4] The first pop release to feature sitar was instead "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)", issued on the Beatles' Rubber Soul album in December 1965.

[7] He first picked up a sitar on the set of the Beatles' 1965 film Help!, and then purchased one of his own following a discussion about Indian classical music with David Crosby and Roger McGuinn of the Byrds in August 1965.

Harrison went on to write and record "Love You To" for the Beatles' 1966 album Revolver as an Indian-style track featuring sitar, tambura and tabla.

The following year, he wrote "Within You Without You" in the full Indian classical style and recorded it with musicians from the Asian Music Circle for inclusion on the Beatles' Sgt.

In early 1966, Rolling Stones guitarist Brian Jones played sitar on "Paint It Black", having received tuition from another protégé of Shankar, Harihar Rao, and after consulting Harrison about the part.

Shankar credited Harrison with inspiring "the great sitar explosion" in the West, as many rock guitarists similarly adopted the instrument.

[11] The late 1960s saw the release of songs featuring the sitar that included Ricky Nelson's "Marshmallow Skies", Scott McKenzie's "San Francisco", The Cyrkle's "Turn-Down Day", The Cowsills' "The Rain, the Park, and Other Things", John Fred and His Playboy Band's "Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)", The Turtles "Sound Asleep", The Stone Poneys "Evergreen", First Edition "Just Dropped In (To See What Condition My Condition Was In)", The Chocolate Watch Band's "In the Past", The Box Tops' "Cry Like a Baby" (electric sitar), The Lemon Pipers' "Green Tambourine" (electric sitar), Traffic's "Paper Sun" and "Hole In My Shoe", Tomorrow's "Real Life Permanent Dream" and July's "The Way".

[12] The Mamas & The Papas included the sitar on tracks such as "People Like Us", "Snowqueen Of Texas', "Lady Genevieve", "I Wanna Be a Star" and "Grasshopper", and Sergio Mendes & Brazil '66 used it on “Chove Chuva”.

Eric Burdon and the Animals played the instrument in the songs "Winds of Change", "No Self Pity", "Orange and Red Beams", "All Is One", "We Love You Lil" and "Monterey".

The Dutch band Shocking Blue used the sitar in many of their songs, most prominently in "Love Buzz", "Acka Raga", "Water Boy", "Hot Sand" and "I'm A Woman".

In addition to producing recordings by Shankar, Harrison included sitar in "Be Here Now", "When We Was Fab" and other songs from his solo career, as well as in the Traveling Wilburys' 1990 track "The Devil's Been Busy".