182. Old Brown Shoe

 

 

"Old Brown Shoe" is a song written by George Harrison that was first released by The Beatles as a B-side to "The Ballad of John and Yoko". It is also available on the Beatles' compilation albums The Beatles 1967-1970, Hey Jude and Past Masters, Volume Two. An elaborate demo version is included on the Anthology 3 album.

 

The Beatles' recording of this song features lead vocals from Harrison, and backing vocals from John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

 

The song was recorded during the sessions for the Abbey Road album.

 

Harrison commented about this song: "I started the chord sequences on the piano, which I don't really play, and then began writing ideas for the words from various opposites... Again, it's the duality of things – yes no, up down, left right, right wrong, etc."Gary Brooker performed the song at "The Concert For George".

183. Come Together

 

 

"Come Together" is a song by the rock band The Beatles written primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon/McCartney. The song is the lead-off track on The Beatles' September 1969 album Abbey Road. One month later it also appeared as one of the sides of the group's twenty-first single (it was a double A-side, the other side being George Harrison's "Something") in the United Kingdom, their twenty-sixth in the United States.

 

 

Origin

The song's history began with Lennon writing a song for Timothy Leary's failed gubernatorial campaign in California against Ronald Reagan, one which promptly ended when Leary was sent to prison for possession of marijuana. It was transformed by Lennon into a track with digs at McCartney and Harrison interspersed alongside tales of his Bagism movement with wife Yoko Ono. It was the subject of a lawsuit brought against Lennon by Chuck Berry's music publisher, Morris Levy, due to the fact that one line in "Come Together" closely resembled a line of Berry's You Can't Catch Me: (i.e. The Beatles' "Here come ol' flattop, he come groovin' up slowly" vs. Berry's "Here come up flattop, he was groovin' up with me"). After settling out of court, Lennon promised to record other songs owned by Levy, all of which were released on Lennon's 1975 album Rock 'n' Roll.

 

Lennon played rhythm guitar in addition to singing the vocal. Each exclamation of 'shoot' one hears during the opening bass line is actually 'shoot me', although 'shoot' is immediately followed by a handclap which drowns out the word 'me'. Also, at approximately 2:17 in the song, Lennon can be heard shouting something indiscernible, though it is very faint. (It sounds like "come!") McCartney played bass and the electric piano (estimated as "southern" by John), Harrison lead guitar, and Ringo Starr drums and maracas. It was produced by George Martin and recorded at the end of July 1969 at Abbey Road Studios.

 

For a time, the song was banned by the BBC, as they believed the song's reference to Coca-Cola could be construed as an advertisement.

 

Rolling Stone ranked "Come Together" at #202 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

 

The famous Beatles Walrus from "I Am the Walrus" returns, in the line "He got walrus gumboot". He also appeared in Glass Onion.

 

On the compilation album Love, "Come Together" is the 19th track. Sections of "Dear Prudence" and "Cry Baby Cry" fade in at the end of the track.

 

Covers

The song has since become one of the most covered songs of all time:

 

American hard rock band Aerosmith did one of the first and most successful cover versions of "Come Together". It was recorded in 1978 and appeared in the movie and on the soundtrack to the film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which the band also appeared in. The single was an immediate success, reaching #23 on the Billboard Hot 100, following on the heels of a string of Top 40 hits for the band in the mid-1970s. However it would be the last Top 40 hit for the band for nearly a decade.

 

Labyrinth covered the song on their album "6 Days to Nowhere" released 2007

Marilyn Manson Also covered the song while touring, never released. He also used a few lines from the song as an intro to an early demo of "My Monkey" (the intro was cut in later demos and on the album Portrait of an American Family)

Tina Turner covered the song for the 1976 ephemeral musical documentary All This and World War II and reached #57 in the US and #21 on the R&B charts. Prior to that,her cover was featured on her and then husband's Ike's album of the same name.

Do As Infinity performed a live cover of a metal version of the song in Japan during a Beatles celebration event.

Michael Jackson, who owns the rights to the song, also covered "Come Together" for the concert film Michael Jackson: Moonwalker. A different cover is on his album HIStory.

Axl Rose and Bruce Springsteen later played "Come Together" before Springsteen's induction into the rock n' roll hall of fame in 1994.

Soundgarden covered the song on the "Hands All Over" single, giving it a very grunge sound.

Michael Ruff covered "Come Together" in a very funky way on the album Michael Ruff Band in 1992.

Robin Williams and Bobby McFerrin recorded a unique cover version in which McFerrin performs the characteristic bass and guitar intro with his voice alone and Williams sings and features on the album In my Life

Noel Gallagher and Paul Weller played with Paul McCartney on a version of the song for the 1995 HELP charity record.

The Lynne Arriale Trio recorded a jazz version of the song, which was the title track of their album Come Together

Sugababes covered the song as a B-Side for their single, "Ugly".

There is also an instrumental version by Marcus Miller on his album Tales.

The Korean hip-hop group Roo-Ra performed a breakbeat cover of the song.

Elton John covered the song as a tribute to Lennon during his One Night Only: The Greatest Hits concert.

Victoria Beckham and Damon Dash sampled the song as an intro to one of Dash's mixtapes.

Enrique Bunbury made a cover of the song and published it in his 1997 single "Planeta Sur".

Craig David, performed a live version on Top of The Pops 2 in 2003.

The Supremes (post-Diana Ross) covered the song on their 1970 album, New Ways But Love Stays.

Chairmen of the Board covered the song and is on one of their first LPs.

Spiralmouth, a rock a cappella act, recorded an all-vocal cover on their eponymous album.

Toxic Audio covered the song on their album Captive Audience.

Diana Ross covered the song on her 1970 album Everything Is Everything.

Tom Jones released a live version of "Come Together" on his album Reload, albeit with a new, faster arrangement.

The Brothers Johnson released a cover of the song on their 1976 album Look Out For #1, altering the bass-line in their mid-tempo funk rendition that also includes a harmonica/guitar solo.

Hip hop group The Roots sampled this song on their 2006 Best of The Roots mixtape produced by J. Period. The chorus of the song is repeated clips of Lennon singing "one thing I can tell you is you've got to be free," and "come together, over me."

The band Gotthard recorded "Come Together' on their 1994 album Dial Hard.

The jazz-funk band Defunkt covered "Come Together" on the 1992 album Downtown Does the Beatles Live at the Knitting Factory.

Zakk Wylde covered this song on the album "Pride & Glory".

The John Butler Trio also covered the song while touring, never released.

A segment of this song was used to close several commercials for Nortel Networks. One version of the commercial featured a businessman reciting the song, omitting the lines "He one holy roller" and "He shoot Coca-Cola."

"Come Closer Together," an unauthorized mashup of Nine Inch Nails's "Closer" with "Come Together" is widely available on YouTube and other Internet sites.

The Plague (English punk rock band) recorded the song in the late 1970s. It remained unreleased until their compilation album "The X Tapes" was released in 2005.

184. Something

 

 

"Something" is a single released by The Beatles in 1969, and featured on the album Abbey Road. "Something" was the first song written by George Harrison to appear on the A-side of a Beatles single, sharing top billing on the double A-side single with "Come Together" in the United Kingdom. In the tracks already available on a long playing (LP) album, with both "Something" and "Come Together" having appeared on Abbey Road. "Something" was the only Harrison composition to top the American charts while he was a Beatle.

 

Although John Lennon and Paul McCartney — the two principal songwriting members of the band — both praised "Something" as among the best songs Harrison had written, the recording of the song was marked by acrimonious spats; The Beatles officially dissolved a year after the song's release. Despite this, the single managed to top the Billboard charts in the United States, and also entered the top 10 in the United Kingdom. After the breakup of The Beatles, the song was covered by many artists including Shirley Bassey, Frank Sinatra, James Brown, Julio Iglesias, Smokey Robinson; becoming the second-most covered Beatles song after "Yesterday."

 

 

Writing and recording

During the 1968 recording sessions for The Beatles (also referred to as the White Album), Harrison began working on a song that eventually became known as "Something". Initially based on the James Taylor song "Something In The Way She Moves", the song's first lyrics ("Something in the way she moves/Attracts me like no other lover.") were used as filler while the melody was being developed. Harrison later said that "I had a break while Paul was doing some overdubbing so I went into an empty studio and began to write. That's really all there is to it, except the middle took some time to sort out. It didn't go on the White Album because we'd already finished all the tracks." A powerful demo recording of the song by Harrison from this period appears on the Beatles Anthology 3 collection, released in 1996.

 

It is commonly believed that Harrison's inspiration for "Something" was his wife at the time, Pattie Boyd. However, Harrison himself later denied this, saying that "Everybody presumed I wrote ["Something"] about Pattie, but actually when I wrote it I was thinking of Ray Charles."

 

The original intention had never been for The Beatles to release the song. Instead, Harrison had planned to offer the song to Jackie Lomax, as had been done with a previous Harrison composition, "Sour Milk Sea". When this fell through, the song was given to Joe Cocker (who had previously covered The Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends"); his version came out a full two months before that of The Beatles. During the "Get Back" recording sessions for what eventually became Let It Be, Harrison considered using "Something", but eventually decided against it due to his fear that insufficient care would be taken in its recording; his earlier suggestion of "Old Brown Shoe" had not gone down well with the band. It was only during the recording sessions for Abbey Road that The Beatles began seriously working on "Something".

 

The original draft that the Beatles used lasted eight minutes, with John Lennon on the piano towards the end. The middle also contained a small counter-melody section. Both the counter-melody and Lennon's piano piece were cut from the final version. Still, Lennon's piano was not erased totally. Some bits can be heard in the middle eight, in particular the line played downwards the C major scale, i.e. the connection passage to George's guitar solo. The erased parts of Lennon's piano section later became the basis for Lennon's song "Remember".

 

 

Release and acclaim

Abbey Road was released on 26 September 1969 in the United Kingdom, with the United States release following on 1 October. It was the first official Beatles release to feature "Something", and performed well, topping the charts in both countries. A few days later on 6 October, "Something" was released as a single in the United States, becoming the first Harrison composition to receive top billing on a Beatles single.

 

Although it began charting two weeks after its release on 18 October, doubts began to arise over the possibility of "Something" topping the American charts. It was the prevailing practice at the time to count sales and airplay of the A- and B-sides separately, and with "Come Together" rivaling "Something" in popularity, it was hardly certain that the single would reach number one. However, on 29 November, Billboard started factoring the performance of both A- and B-sides into their calculations. The result was that "Something" topped the American charts for a week, before eventually falling out of the charts about two months later(on the concurrent Cash Box singles chart, which continued to measure the performance on both sides of a single separately, "Something" peaked at number two while "Come Together" spent three weeks at number one). The single was certified Gold just three weeks after its initial release, but was not heard of again sales-wise until 1999, when it was declared Platinum.

 

 

The release of "Something" as a single was George Harrison's first time as the writer of a song on the A-side of a Beatles single.In the United Kingdom, "Something" came out on 31 October. It was the first Beatles single there to have a Harrison song on the A-side, and it was also the first single also feature songs already available on an album. Although "Something" began to chart on 8 November, it was not a major hit with the British public. It eventually peaked at number four in the charts, before eventually falling out three months after its initial release. In the UK Shirley Bassey's version also reached #4.

 

Although Harrison himself had been dismissive of the song—he later said that he "put it on ice for about six months because I thought 'that's too easy'"—Lennon and McCartney both stated that they held "Something" in high regard. Lennon said "I think that's about the best track on the album, actually", while McCartney said "For me I think it's the best he's written." Both had largely ignored Harrison's compositions prior to "Something", with their own songs taking much of the limelight. Lennon later explained:

 

"There was an embarrassing period when George's songs weren't that good and nobody wanted to say anything. He just wasn't in the same league for a long time — that's not putting him down, he just hadn't had the practice as a writer that we'd had."

 

Despite this, things were not going well for the band. The recording of Abbey Road had been marked by numerous arguments among the band members, and their last album — Let It Be — comprised abandoned recordings from the Get Back sessions instead of any new work. By the time the promotional video for "Something" was being shot, the individual Beatles had drawn apart; the film consisted of separate clips of each Beatle walking around his home, accompanied by his wife, edited together. Shortly after the release of Let It Be in 1970, The Beatles announced their break-up.

 

That same year, "Something" received the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. It also began accumulating cover versions from other artists, including Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, The O'Jays, and even Ray Charles, who Harrison originally had in mind as the singer when he wrote "Something". More recently, the song has been covered by R&B sensation Musiq Soulchild. Harrison nevertheless later said that his favourite cover versions were those of James Brown (B-Side of 45 Think /Something; Polydor PD-14185; 1973) and Smokey Robinson.

 

Frank Sinatra was particularly impressed with "Something". Calling it "the greatest love song ever written", he sang it hundreds of times at various concerts. However, he once made the comment that "Something" was his all-time favorite Lennon/McCartney song, and frequently introduced it as a Lennon/McCartney composition (the joke being it was not written by them at all). Harrison did not appear to mind this, and instead borrowed an alteration to the lyric that Sinatra had made. Where the original song was "You stick around now it may show", Sinatra sang "You stick around, Jack, she might show." This change was eagerly adopted by Harrison, who used the same lyrics whenever he performed "Something" as part of his touring repertoire.

 

"Something" continues to garner accolades from the musical establishment years after its release, with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) website naming it as the 64th-greatest song ever. According to the BBC, "'Something' shows more clearly than any other song in The Beatles canon that there were three great songwriters in the band rather than just two." The Beatles' official website itself said that "Something" "underlined the ascendancy of George Harrison as a major song writing force". In 1999, Broadcast Music Incorporated (BMI) named "Something" as the 17th-most performed song of the 20th century, with five million performances in all. Other Beatles songs on the list were "Yesterday" and "Let It Be", both attributed to Lennon and McCartney. In 2002, after George Harrison's death, McCartney and Eric Clapton performed "Something" at the Concert for George. Their performance was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. Bob Dylan also played the song live as a tribute for Harrison following his death. In 2004, "Something" was ranked number 273 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. McCartney also performed a cover of the song using just a ukulele within his 'Back in The US' and 'Back in the World' tours; as George Harrison was a fan of ukuleles, this would often get a good response with the audience.

 

 

Cover versions

"Something" has been covered by these artists, and others:

 

Year Artist

1969 Peggy Lee

1969 Joe Cocker

1969 Tony Bennett

1970 Perry Como

1970 The Percy Faith Strings

1970 Ray Stevens

1970 Booker T. & The M.G.'s

1970 Isaac Hayes

1970 Shirley Scott

1970 Shirley Bassey

1970 King Curtis

1971 Mina

1971 Stu Phillips & The Hollyridge Strings

1971 Andy Williams

1971 Ray Charles

1972 Ike and Tina Turner (as "Something in the Way He Moves")

1973 Elvis Presley

1974 Johnny Rodriguez

1979 François Glorieux

1980 Frank Sinatra

1981 Sarah Vaughan

1989 The Allen Toussaint Orchestra

1990 Mike Westbrook Band

1991 Los Rolin

1993 Vincent DiCola

1993 Larry Coryell

1993 Giovanni

1995 The Starlite Orchestra

1995 Tanya Tucker

1995 Elías Barreiro

1995 The Gary Tesca Orchestra

1995 L.A. Workshop with New Yorker

1995 Modern Gustin Trio

1998 Innovations

1999 Don Angle

2000 Jorge Rico

2000 Jim Horn

2002 Rodrigo Maffioli

2002 Musiq Soulchild

2003 Paul McCartney & Eric Clapton

2005 The String Quartet

 

 

Structure and lyrics

The lead vocalist for "Something" was George Harrison. The song runs at a speed of about sixty-six beats per minute and is in common time throughout. The melody begins in the key of C major. It continues in this key throughout the intro and the first two verses, until the eight-measure-long bridge, which is in the key of A major. After the bridge, the melody returns to C Major for the guitar solo, the third verse, and the outro. Although The Beatles had initially attempted an edgier acoustic version of the song, this was dropped along with the counter-melody. A demo of the acoustic version with the counter-melody included was later released as part of Anthology 3. On the final release, the counter-melody was replaced by an instrumental break, and the song was given a softer tone with the introduction of a string arrangement by George Martin, The Beatles' producer.

 

The theme of the song is the singer's affection for his beloved, and his uncertainty about the direction of the relationship. One reviewer described it as "an unabashedly straightforward and sentimental love song" at a time "when most of The Beatles' songs were dealing with non-romantic topics or presenting cryptic and allusive lyrics even when they were writing about love". A sample from the song is available.

185. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

 

 

"Maxwell's Silver Hammer" is a song by The Beatles, from the Abbey Road album, with Paul McCartney singing lead. It was written by McCartney, though the songwriting credit is Lennon-McCartney.

 

George Harrison described it in 1969 as "one of those instant whistle-along tunes which some people hate, and other people really like. It's a fun song, but it's kind of a drag because Maxwell keeps on destroying everyone like his girlfriend then the school teacher, and then, finally, the judge." In 1977, Harrison would be less charitable, stating "I mean, my God, 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer' was so fruity."

 

 

Structure

The vaudevillian-style song is about medical student Maxwell Edison, who uses his silver hammer to murder his girlfriend Joan, then his teacher, and finally the judge during his murder trial. Despite the grim subject matter, the song is bouncy and upbeat. Although thought by many fans to be a thinly-veiled allegory on the Charles Manson murders, this is impossible because the Tate-La Bianca murders occurred on August 8th and 9th 1969, after the song was recorded. McCartney said in 1994 that it merely epitomizes the downfalls of life:

 

"Maxwell's Silver Hammer" is my analogy for when something goes wrong out of the blue, as it so often does, as I was beginning to find out at that time in my life. I wanted something symbolic of that, so to me it was some fictitious character called Maxwell with a silver hammer. I don't know why it was silver, it just sounded better than Maxwell's hammer. It was needed for scanning. We still use that expression now when something unexpected happens."

The song took three days of overdubbing because McCartney imagined that it could be a future single. John Lennon later recalled, "he did everything to make it into a single, and it never was and it never could have been." According to Lennon, the band spent more money on that song than any other on Abbey Road, and he derided the song at the time as a prime example of McCartney's "granny-style" writing.

 

McCartney referred to the song when talking about his 2005 album Chaos and Creation in the Backyard:

 

"In the past I may have written tongue-in-cheek, like `Maxwell's Silver Hammer,' and dealt with matters of fate in a kind of comical, parody manner. It just so happens in this batch of songs I would look at these subjects and thought it was good for writing. If it's good enough to take to your psychiatrist, it's good enough to make a song of."

In the 1978 film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, the song is performed by comedian Steve Martin, who portrays the character Maxwell Edison. Frankie Laine also covered the song, as part of the musical documentary All This and World War II, which featured stock and newsreel footage of the second world war, set to performances of music by The Beatles.

 

 

Trivia

In the film Let It Be, McCartney attempts to teach the song to the rest of the band, who are clearly less than enthusiastic.

The "Silver Hammer Man" coda seems to be a deliberate pastiche of Mason Williams' 1968 song "Long Time Blues"; the arrangement and performance of this coda echo the arrangement and performance of the titular line in Williams' song nearly perfectly. Additionally, the coda appears after the song has already resolved to a nice conclusion, which invites speculation regarding whether the "Silver Hammer Man" coda was perhaps a nod to (or a tease on) Williams.

McCartney can be heard sniggering as he sings the line "... writing fifty times I must not be so ..." on the studio recording. This is rumored to be because as McCartney sang the line "so he waits behind," Lennon mooned McCartney on the word "behind."

A homicidal cult is believed to have used this name in the 1970s, claiming the lives of five campers in Santa Barbara, California. Mentioned by the Manson family.

Comedian Patton Oswalt refers to "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" as a euphemism for a hypodermic needle used for injecting heroin.

In the popular computer game Deus Ex, a datacube found in the MJ12 sewer base is addressed to one "Lt. Maxwell Hammer", referencing this song.

As a possible coincidence, Joe Orton, who was a successful playwright known to The Beatles, was murdered with a hammer by his lover, Kenneth Halliwell on August 1967. The name 'Halliwell' also bears a vague similarity to 'Maxwell'.

In the cartoon series Gargoyles, at a Quarryman meeting, (note: the Quarrymen were a precursor to The Beatles) the chairman recommends that Maxwell be awarded a silver hammer.

The song is referenced in the 2006 movie Let's Go to Prison.

Maxwell's full name according to the song is Maxwell Edison, surnames of a mathematician/physicist and inventor respectively.

 

186. Oh! Darling

 

 

"Oh! Darling" is a song of The Beatles composed by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney) and appearing on the Abbey Road album in 1969. It is the fourth song on the Abbey Road album. Its working title was "Oh! Darling (I'll Never Do You No Harm)".

 

McCartney later said of recording the track, "When we were recording 'Oh! Darling' I came into the studios early every day for a week to sing it by myself because at first my voice was too clear. I wanted it to sound as though I'd been performing it on stage all week."` He would only try the song once each day, if it was not right he would wait until the next day. In order to make sure he got every precious first take right, McCartney would practice the song in the bathtub. He once lamented that "five years ago I could have done this in one take".

 

In a 1980 interview with Playboy magazine, John Lennon said, "'Oh! Darling' was a great one of Paul's that he didn't sing too well. I always thought I could have done it better—it was more my style than his. He wrote it, so what the hell, he's going to sing it."

 

After an early attempt at this song on 27 January 1969 during the Let It Be sessions, Lennon announced, "Just heard that Yoko's divorce has just gone through", after which he and the band burst into an improvised version of the song, substituting "I'm free at last" for a part of the lyric. The song and the following improvisation are included on the Beatles Anthology 3 CD.

 

The basic track was recorded on 20 April 1969, but there were many overdub sessions, including multiple attempts at the lead vocal by McCartney (as described above). According to Ian MacDonald, the backing vocals were "exquisite", but "sadly underplayed in the mix."

187. Octopus's Garden

 

 

"Octopus's Garden" is a song written by Ringo Starr with some help from George Harrison (although it is credited solely to Starr, as "Starkey"). It is featured on The Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road, and their later albums The Beatles 1967-1970, Anthology 3 and most recently the mash-up album Love.

 

Harrison commented: "'Octopus's Garden' is Ringo's song. It's only the second song Ringo has ever written, mind you, and it's lovely." Ringo's first solo composition had been "Don't Pass Me By" on The Beatles album. He added that the song gets very deep into your consciousness "because it's so peaceful. I suppose Ringo is writing cosmic songs these days without even realizing it."

 

 

 

Conception

The idea for the song came about when Starr was on a boating trip with his family in Sardinia in 1968. He was offered an octopus lunch, but turned it down. Then the boat's captain told Starr about how octopuses travel along the sea bed picking up stones and shiny objects with which to build gardens. Starr said that hearing about octopuses spending their days collecting shiny objects at the bottom of the sea was one of the happiest things he had ever heard. Starr then decided to write this song.

 

The song is sometimes thought of as being a song for children, like "Yellow Submarine", "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" or "All Together Now". It has also been performed by the Muppets several times in various episodes of their shows. Australian comedian Chas Licciardello said on Australia's Favourite Album, "'Octopus's Garden'? That was a classic when I was in kindergarten!" However, like both "Yellow Submarine" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", the song can also be interpreted as alluding to psychoactive drugs or the effects thereof.

 

In the Beatles' film Let It Be, Starr is shown rehearsing the song on piano, joined by Harrison, who assists him with the "We would be, so happy you and me..." portion of the song. Starr received sole writing credit despite this.

 

Recording

The basic instrumental track was recorded 26 April 1969, with the classic Beatles lineup of two electric guitars (Harrison and John Lennon), electric bass (Paul McCartney), and drums (Starr). Starr also provided a temporary guide vocal. In the absence of George Martin the Beatles themselves were listed as producer, with Martin's apprentice Chris Thomas present in the control room to assist. Thirty-two takes were required before the Beatles were satisfied with the track.

 

The backing vocals by McCartney and Harrison during the guitar solo were put through compressors and limiters to create a gurgling sound. Starr added the sound of bubbles being blown into a glass of water using a straw.

 

 

Other versions

An early Sesame Street Muppets underwater sketch featured "Octopus's Garden" as sung by a deep sea diver, a fish and a clam, with a green octopus frolicking around the water in the background. The Muppet Show performed the song as well with Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy.

 

Noel Gallagher of the band Oasis adds adapted lyrics from "Octopus's Garden" to the end of their song "Whatever" during some of his live performances. The phrase "I'd like to be under the sea" is in the refrain of one of Oasis' most popular b-sides, "Take Me Away." Also, the refrain from the chorus of "Octopus's Garden" can be heard about forty seconds from the end of "The Masterplan", also by Oasis.

 

The song was covered and recorded by Raffi Cavoukian in the 1980s; like most of Raffi's songs, this version was indeed primarily aimed towards a child audience.

 

On the album for the Cirque du Soleil production Love, which features re-imagined and re-interpreted Beatles songs, "Octopus's Garden" is track 16. It begins with the music from "Good Night" and slowed down lyrics from "Octopus's Garden". It then speeds up with the actual music from the song. Background noise from the song "Yellow Submarine" can be heard. Other noises can be heard including Lennon saying things like, "Sensational!" during the guitar solo. At the end, music from "Sun King" plays before moving into the next track, "Lady Madonna".

 

In the Simpsons episode, Lisa The Vegetarian, Apu takes Lisa Simpson to the roof of the Kwik-E-Mart where they meet Paul and Linda McCartney. After Lisa asks why they are there, Paul responds, "Whenever we are in Springfield, we like to hang out in Apu's garden in the shade", referring to the song's chorus lyric "In an octopus's garden in the shade."

188. I Want You (She's So Heavy)

 

 

"I Want You (She's So Heavy)" is a song by The Beatles, from their album Abbey Road. It was written by John Lennon, although it is credited as a Lennon/McCartney collaboration.

 

The song is an unusual Beatles composition for a variety of reasons, namely its length (nearly eight minutes), its disproportionately small number of lyrics (there are only fourteen different words in the song), its three-minute descension through the same repeated guitar chords (a similar arpeggiated figure appears in another of Lennon's contributions to the album, "Because"), its hard rock sound, and for its instantaneous and unanticipated end. It is also one of the last songs that the Beatles mixed as a group, on August 20, 1969.

 

David Gates writes of the song, "The hypnotically repeated guitar figure in 'I Want You (She's So Heavy)' is suddenly, arbitrarily cut off, jolting us into embarrassed awareness that we've let a mere recording carry us away."

 

The sudden end of the song was intentional and orchestrated by Lennon. In the spirit of the band, it was pushing the boundaries of what was 'allowed' on a record; full volume slashes were certainly not the norm.

 

 

The recording

The song was rehearsed several times during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions; the basic track was recorded at Trident Studios on 22 February 1969, shortly after filming for the film project ended. Billy Preston remained from these sessions to play keyboards on "I Want You", which was reworked with the heavy guitar overdubs in August and changed "I Want You (She's So Heavy)".

 

Three takes from February 22 were edited into a master (2d generation), which was overdubbed, mixed down on April 18 (3d generation), and overdubbed on April 18 and 20 and August 11. Different overdubs were made to the 2d generation tape August 8. The mix is the 3d generation for 4:37 (up to "she's so") and then the 2d generation tape, which has a white noise added August 8.

 

 

Covers

Numerous bands and solo artists have covered "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" in live performance. The following artists have released recordings of the song:

 

Eddie Hazel on his solo-debut Game, Dames and Guitar Thangs.

Coroner on their 1991 Mental Vortex album.

Alvin Lee (formerly of Ten Years After) on his album 1994, accompanied by George Harrison on slide guitar.

Type O Negative on the album World Coming Down as part of a medley with "Day Tripper" and "If I Needed Someone."

Booker T. and the MGs on their album McLemore Avenue, the cover of which also mimicked the Abbey Road album cover.

Noir Désir on the album Dies Irae (Days of Wrath).

Beatallica merged the song with Metallica's "The Call of Ktulu" to create "Ktulu (He's So Heavy)" on their album Sgt. Hetfield's Motorbreath Pub Band.

Jette-Ives on the electronica Beatles' tribute-album Beatles Regrooved.

Steel Train on the cover album 1969.

R&B artist John Legend has included the song in his set on his "Show Me" tour.

British group Kaiser Chiefs used segments of the song on "Born to Be a Dancer" from their album Employment.

 

 

 

189. Here Comes The Sun

 

 

"Here Comes the Sun" is a song by George Harrison from The Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road.

 

The song, one of Harrison's most well-known Beatles contributions alongside "Something," had its genesis with a songwriting collaboration between Harrison and close friend Eric Clapton called "Badge," recorded by Clapton's group Cream, and featuring an arpeggiated guitar riff that is similar to the one that forms the bridge of "Here Comes the Sun," the final version of which was written in Clapton's garden as Harrison was avoiding Apple Records meetings. 1969 was a difficult year for Harrison: he was arrested for cannabis possession, he had his tonsils removed, and he had temporarily quit the band. The song was written while Harrison was away from all of these troubles.

 

It is widely believed the lyrics were inspired by the feeling Harrison got when he left the Abbey Road Studios during the Abbey Road sessions. At the time, the Beatles were working in grueling shifts to try to finish the album before their inevitable break-up. The phrase "here comes the sun" was about the relief that he felt every day when the day's recording session was over.

 

Harrison sang lead vocals and played acoustic guitar, moog, and handclaps. Paul McCartney sang backing vocals, played bass guitar, and handclaps. Ringo Starr played drums and handclaps. John Lennon did not contribute to the song as he was recovering from a recent car crash (he was also absent from George Harrison's "Long, Long, Long"). Unknown musicians played violas, cellos, double bass, piccolos, flutes, alto flutes, and clarinets.

 

Harrison capoed his guitar on the 7th fret, resulting the final key of A major. He also used the same technique on his 1965 song "If I Needed Someone," which shares a similar melodic pattern.

 

In 2006, "Here Comes the Sun" was voted by the members of the GeorgeHarrison.com forum as their favorite song of his.

 

The crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery awoke to this track following the night-time launch on December 9, 2006.

 

This song was originally proposed by Carl Sagan to be part of the Voyager Golden Record sent to space in 1977. Whereas the Beatles agreed with this, it was their record label that vetoed the idea.

 

The song was also performed by George Harrison and Paul Simon in a televised appearance on Saturday Night Live, in 1976.

 

 

Cover versions

The song was covered by reggae artist Peter Tosh, and released as a hit single. Additionally, American folk singer Richie Havens saw his 1971 version reach #16 in the U.S. The most successful UK cover was by Cockney Rebel who reached number 10 in 1976. Singer/pianist/songwriter Nina Simone also recorded the song on an album with the same title: Here Comes the Sun (1971). The German bandleader James Last also made a cover version, taking the style of the song sung by Richie Havens as a basis for a version sung on his Beachparty2 album in 1971. In 2002 Linda Eder covered this song as the first track on her Gold album. Recorded just ten days before the death of the writer George Harrison on Nov. 29th. A recent cover (instrumental) by Bill Laswell appears on the album OHM Shanti by Asana (2005).

 

The song was also performed by George Harrison and Paul Simon in a televised appearance on Saturday Night Live, in 1976.

 

Acen sampled the song for the Breakbeat Hardcore track "Close Your Eyes," but copyright issues lead to its removal from some releases.

 

 

Movies

This song was used in the 1998 version of The Parent Trap. In the film, mother and daughter re-enact the cover of Abbey Road while "Here Comes the Sun" plays.

190. Because

 

 

"Because" is a ballad written by John Lennon (credited to Lennon-McCartney) and performed by The Beatles. It features a 3-part harmony vocal performance between Lennon, McCartney and George Harrison, overdubbed three times to make nine voices in all. It appeared on the 1969 album Abbey Road, and is the song that precedes the extended medley that formed side two of the original LP record.

 

The story has been told that this song is actually "Moonlight Sonata" by Ludwig van Beethoven played backwards. While this is not precisely true, "Moonlight Sonata" certainly served as an inspiration for the song. "Yoko was playing Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata' on the piano ... I said, 'Can you play those chords backwards?', and wrote 'Because' around them. The lyrics speak for themselves ... No imagery, no obscure references."

 

The main recording session for "Because" was on 1 August 1969, with vocal overdubs on 4 August, and a Moog synthesizer overdub by George Harrison on 5 August. As a result, this was the last song on the album to be committed to tape, although there were still overdubs for other incomplete songs.

 

The song begins with electric harpsichord played by George Martin and then joined by John's guitar played through a Leslie speaker. The song was one of the few Beatles songs to include an analog synthesizer arrangement (although analog keyboards such as the Mellotron had been used often by The Beatles, few songs featured the use of a traditional analog synthesizer with voltage-controlled oscillators). The Beatles at the time of Abbey Road were among the first contemporary rock bands to experiment with the Moog synthesizer. A vocals-only version of the song can be found on Anthology 3 and Love and is an example of three part harmony from Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison.

 

 

Cover versions

The song has been covered by:

 

Pedro Aznar, on his first solo album, Pedro Aznar.

Lynsey De Paul covered the song for the evanescent musical documentary All This and World War II in 1976.

Alice Cooper, who sang it in the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band movie in 1978.

Elliott Smith, whose version was used in the closing credits of the film American Beauty.

Negativland also edited samples of the song's backing vocals on their No Business album for the cuts "Old Is New" and "New Is Old," in which they are made to repeatedly intone the tracks' titles, seemingly indicating the band's stance on sampling.

Alejandro Dolina, whose version appears in his album Tangos del Bar del Infierno and is used as the opening theme for his radio show La Venganza Será Terrible.

The Nylons, on their album of the same name, released in 1994.

Vanessa Mae, performing the song on a solo violin with a background choir singing the lyrics for George Martin's In My Life.

In 2006, an a cappella from "Because" resembling the version found in Anthology 3 was included in the album Love.

191. You Never Give Me Your Money

 

 

"You Never Give Me Your Money" is a song by The Beatles that opens the climactic medley on side two of the album Abbey Road. It was mainly written by Paul McCartney (though attributed to Lennon-McCartney).

 

The song begins with two verses sung by McCartney in a large-sound, almost classical style. This is followed by a section played in a double time swing feel with McCartney switching to a more nasal vocal style, using a baritone voice which contrasts the song's somewhat poignant lyrics. Next comes an instrumental interlude with George Harrison's aggressive blues rock-style and a concluding unisono line between guitar and bass. The song fades out with a chant reminiscent of a nursery rhyme, set to a Harrison guitar riff similar to a previous album track, "Here Comes the Sun" (in turn based on a previous Harrison/Eric Clapton composition, "Badge"). The riff will return later in the medley's track "Carry That Weight". The song's production is notable for prominent use of leslie-amplified, arpeggiated guitar parts, which would become synonymous with the late-era Beatles sound.

 

It segues into "Sun King".

 

 

Covers / Allusions

In 1976, Will Malone & Lou Reizner covered the song for the transitory musical documentary All This and World War II.

 

Sufjan Stevens alludes to this song in "Dear Mr. Supercomputer" on his 2006 album The Avalanche. The original line is "One Two Three Four Five Six Seven / All good children go to heaven." Stevens' line is "One Two Three Four Five Six Seven / All computers go to heaven".

 

Tenacious D regularly includes this song in their live performances as a "Beatles Medley".

 

192. Sun King

 

 

"Sun King" is a song by The Beatles that appeared on the Abbey Road album. It is the second song of the album's B-side climactic medley, although it is in a different key and rhythm.

 

 

Release history

It was originally to be titled "Here Comes the Sun King" but was shortened to just "Sun King" to avoid confusion with "Here Comes the Sun". The lyrics to start the song are the same as the title and lyrics of "Here Comes the Sun", but with the word "King" inserted afterwards, although George Harrison wrote the latter and "Sun King" is written by John Lennon. Later, the song, in minor key with an organ in the background, breaks into a faux Romance language mixing English, Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese. The song is in three part harmony, sung by Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison. At the end of the song, the music stops abruptly and a Ringo Starr drum fill leads into the next track, "Mean Mr. Mustard". The guitar style is very reminiscent of Jimi Hendrix's first album "Are You Experienced?"

 

The "faux Romance mixing" of languages occurs in the last three lines of the song. On the bootleg LP "Abbey Road Talks" John was interviewed about these lyrics and said:

 

We just started joking, you know, singing 'cuando para mucho'. So we just made up, ah, Paul knew a few Spanish words from school, you know. So we just strung any Spanish words that sounded vaguely like something. And of course we got 'chicka ferdi' in. That's a Liverpool expression – just like sort of – it doesn't mean anything to me but 'na-na, na-na-na'.

 

Another notable aspect of the song is its use of cross-channel movement, or stereo panning and fading. The fast guitar line slowly moves from right to left channel and then back. This occurs in the beginning of the song, and then again when the "faux Romance mixing" of languages occurs.

 

In another interview, George says that the recording is inspired by Fleetwood Mac's "Albatross". "At the time, 'Albatross' (by Fleetwood Mac) was out, with all the reverb on guitar. So we said, 'Let's be Fleetwood Mac doing Albatross, just to get going.' It never really sounded like Fleetwood Mac… but that was the point of origin."

 

In 1976, The Bee Gees covered the song for the evanescent musical documentary All This and World War II.

 

 

In 2006, 55 seconds of the introduction was included as a reversed a cappella version in the track titled "Gnik Nus" in the album Love.

 

 

Trivia

King Louis XIV of France was known as the Sun King. The reference may also be to Buddha.

193. Mean Mr Mustard

 

 

"Mean Mr. Mustard" is the name of a song written by John Lennon (although credited to Lennon-McCartney) and performed by The Beatles on their album, Abbey Road (also released on Anthology 3). Written in India, John said that the song was inspired by a newspaper story about a miser who concealed his cash wherever he could in order to prevent people from forcing him to spend it.

 

Tony Bramwell offers a secondary interpretation: "There was an old 'bag lady' who used to hang around the Knightsbridge end of Hyde Park, London, close to the army barracks. She had all her possessions in plastic bags and slept in the park. I'm sure that she had something to do with the song."

 

In the original version of the lyrics, Mustard's sister is named Shirley. Lennon changed it to Pam when he saw the opportunity to ease the segue into the song "Polythene Pam", which follows "Mean Mr. Mustard" on the album. Additionally, the original version of the song was much quieter, almost Dylanesque in that it was performed with an acoustic guitar.

 

This song was recorded with "Sun King" in one continuous piece.

 

The version on the film version of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was performed by Mean Mr. Mustard (played by Frankie Howerd) and his evil robot companions named the Computerettes. As with the performance of "She's Leaving Home" also in the film, the computerized singing of the Computerettes was performed by the Bee Gees. It is also reported that Steven Tyler also performed in this version.

194. Polythene Pam

 

 

"Polythene Pam" a song written by John Lennon (although credited to Lennon-McCartney) and performed by The Beatles on their second-to-last album, Abbey Road. Structured as a limerick, the song is superficially about "a mythical Liverpool scrubber dressed up in her jackboots and kilt", the kind of girl who "makes the News of the World", but in actuality was inspired by an evening that John spent with poet Royston Ellis and his girlfriend, Stephanie. The three wore polythene (a common British contraction of the word polyethylene) bags and slept in the same bed out of curiosity about kinky sex. Incidentally, John would later admit in the 1980 interview with Playboy that Ellis was the first person to introduce The Beatles to drugs when he showed them how to get high from the strips inside a Benzedrine inhaler. It was in this interview that John supplied the details of this event but refused to elaborate further.

 

On the album, the song is linked with the previous song ("Mean Mr. Mustard") both musically (the two run together without pause) and narratively (since "Mean Mr. Mustard" mentions that Mr. Mustard has a sister named Pam before launching into the song about her). "Polythene Pam" also runs directly into the next song, "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window". Technically, "Polythene Pam" is over at the end of the guitar solo, at which point Lennon says, "We'll listen to that now," then Lennon laughs, next followed by "Oh, look out!"

 

A notable feature of the song is that it is sung in a very strong Liverpudlian ("Scouse") accent.

 

At 0:47, someone picks up a maraca and, in the right channel, Paul McCartney can be heard saying "Yeah," while Lennon says, "Great".

 

In 1976, Roy Wood of ELO recorded the song for the ephemeral musical documentary All This and World War II.

195. She Came In Through The Bathroom Window

 

 

"She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" is a song written by Paul McCartney (although credited to Lennon/McCartney) and performed by The Beatles on their album Abbey Road. The subject of the song is allegedly a real life event, with a fan climbing up to McCartney's bathroom window.

 

This song was performed directly after "Polythene Pam", the song on the preceding track, without pause. Allegedly, McCartney plays lead guitar on this song, while George Harrison plays the bass part.

 

At the very beginning of the song, John Lennon says, "We'll listen to that now. He he he. Oh, look out!"

 

In 1976, The Bee Gees covered the song for the ephemeral musical documentary All This and World War II.

 

In the 2006 DVD documentary The Classic Artists Series: The Moody Blues (DVD UK, released October 2006), Mike Pinder, the former keyboard player of Birmingham R&B band The Moody Blues, states that the inspiration for the song actually rests with an incident that happened to them - a groupie climbing into an open bathroom window in the bands' home and spending the night with band member Ray Thomas. The next day, Pinder and Thomas recounted the story to McCartney, who - guitar in hand - strummed and sang "She came in through the bathroom window..."

 

Paul McCartney played "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" in his 2005 US Tour in combination with the song "Too Many People" from his solo album Ram

 

A slower, ethereal version of this song can be heard on Anthology 3.

 

Joe Cocker has also covered the song in a very soulful style.

 

 

In popular culture

The song is referenced in the 2006 film A Scanner Darkly, based on the novel by Philip K. Dick. One of the characters, paranoid about his house being broken into, says, "What if they come in through the back door or the bathroom window like that infamous Beatles song?" This line is also in the novel but does not reference the song.

196. Golden Slumbers

 

 

"Golden Slumbers" is a song by The Beatles, part of the climactic medley on their 1969 album Abbey Road. The song begins the progression that leads to the end of the album and is followed by "Carry That Weight." The two songs were recorded together as a single piece, and both were written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney).

 

"Golden Slumbers" is based on a poem by Thomas Dekker and written in a lullaby style. McCartney saw the sheet music for Dekker's lullaby at his father's home in Liverpool, left on a piano by his stepsister Ruth McCartney. McCartney can not read music and was unable to read the score, and so he created his own melody and arrangement.

 

McCartney was the lead vocalist. He begins the song in a soft tone appropriate for a lullaby, with piano, bass guitar, and string section accompaniment. Beginning with the line "Golden slumbers fill your eyes...", the drums come in and McCartney switches to a stronger tone, both of which emphasize the switch to the refrain. McCartney said, "I remember trying to get a very strong vocal on it, because it was such a gentle theme, so I worked on the strength of the vocal on it, and ended up quite pleased with it."

 

The main recording session for "Golden Slumbers"/"Carry That Weight" was on 2 July 1969. John Lennon was not present. He was injured in a motor vehicle accident in Scotland on 1 July 1969 and was hospitalized there until 6 July.

 

Additional vocals were added in an overdub session on 30 July 1969, the same day the first trial edit of the side two medley was created. On 15 August, orchestral overdubs were made to "Golden Slumbers" and 5 other songs on Abbey Road.

 

 

Other versions

In 1991 it was recorded as a duet between Jackson Browne and Jennifer Warnes for the Disney benefit album For Our Children: To Benefit the Pediatrics AIDS Foundation.

In 1996 an album was released by the reggae cover band Dread Zeppelin featuring a cover.

In 1998, it was covered by Phil Collins on the album In My Life, a tribute to George Martin.

In 2002 a version by Ben Folds appeared on the I Am Sam soundtrack.

In 2006 it was covered by k.d. lang in a mashup with The End in the movie Happy Feet.

In 2006 it was also covered by German singer/songwriter Rolf Meurer.

A cover version of the song, entitled "Golden Blumbers" appears on cult and popular Argentinian singer/songwriter Andrés Calamaro's 5-disc album "El Salmon". The album was recorded partly while diagnosed insane by numerous psychologists. After the album was finished, Calamaro spent 6 months in a rehabilitation home.

It was covered by Claudine Longet.

The title of the 1990 song "Golden Blunders" by The Posies was inspired by "Golden Slumbers" ("Golden Blunders" was covered by Ringo Starr in 1992).

197. Carry That Weight

 

 

"Carry That Weight" is a song by The Beatles. Released on Abbey Road and part of the long, climactic medley that closes the album, it features vocals from all four of The Beatles (a rarity in their songs). It is preceded by "Golden Slumbers", and it segues into "The End".

 

The middle bridge, featuring brass instruments, electric guitar and vocals, reprises the beginning of "You Never Give Me Your Money", but with different lyrics. The ending also reprises the arpeggiated guitar motif from the end of that track, similar to the figure featured prominently in the George Harrison written tracks "Here Comes the Sun" and "Badge" (co-written by Harrison and Eric Clapton).

 

One interpretation is that the title (and main lyric) is a reference to two people, John Lennon and Paul McCartney. In McCartney's view, if Lennon allowed the Beatles to break up, he would be "carrying the weight" for that for the rest of his life. McCartney essentially blames Lennon and Yoko Ono for the decline in the band's relationship. The second reference, to McCartney himself, is about "carrying the weight" of the band by acting as the manager after the death of Brian Epstein. Until he took on the job, McCartney had never realized how much Epstein did for them, nor how difficult it was to manage the financial side of the Beatles. Similar sentiments are echoed in another of McCartney's Abbey Road songs, "You Never Give Me Your Money".

 

In his book "Revolution in the Head", Ian McDonald interprets this lyric as an acknowledgement by the group that nothing they would do as individual artists in the future would ever equal what they had achieved together as The Beatles. In other words, that they would always carry the weight of their Beatle past.

 

 

Cover version

In 1976, The Bee Gees covered the song for the transitory musical documentary All This and World War II. Two years later, they did the same for the movie version of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

 

Cultural references

The last line of the anime Cowboy Bebop is "You're gonna carry that weight", in homage to this song.

In 2006 a video began circulating the internet featuring comedian Chris Bliss juggling to "Golden Slumbers", "Carry That Weight", and "The End".

198. The End

 

 

"The End" is the penultimate song to appear on the album Abbey Road by The Beatles. Composed by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney), it was one of the last songs recorded collectively by all four Beatles, and is the final song of the medley that dominates side 2 of the LP version of the album.

 

 

Composition

McCartney said, "I wanted [the medley] to end with a little meaningful couplet, so I followed the Bard and wrote a couplet." In his 1980 interview with Playboy, John Lennon acknowledged McCartney's authorship by saying, "That's Paul again ... He had a line in it, 'And in the end, the love you get is equal to the love you give,' which is a very cosmic, philosophical line. Which again proves that if he wants to, he can think." Lennon misquoted the line slightly; the actual words are, "And, in the end, the love you take/ Is equal to the love you make."

 

 

Recording

Recording began on 23 July 1969 when the Beatles recorded a 1 minute 20 second master take that was extended via overdubs to 2 minutes 5 seconds. At this point, the song was called "Ending." The first vocals for the song were added on 5 August, additional vocals and guitar overdubs were added on 7 August, and bass and drums on 8 August, the day the Abbey Road cover picture was taken. Orchestral overdubs were added 15 August, and the closing piano and accompanying vocal on 18 August.

 

All four Beatles have a solo in "The End", including Ringo Starr's only drum solo for the Beatles. Starr hated solos and had to be persuaded to do it. The take in which he performed the solo originally had guitar and tambourine accompaniment, but other instruments were muted during mixing giving the effect of a drum solo. The additional instruments were restored for a remix on the Anthology 3 CD. The drum solo was used at the beginning of "Get Back" on the album Love.

 

McCartney, Harrison, and Lennon perform a rotating sequence of three, two-bar guitar solos. The solos begin approximately 53 seconds into the song and end just before the final piano part. Lennon described it in his 1970 interview with Rolling Stone: "There's a nice little bit I played on Abbey Road. Paul gave us each a piece, a little break where Paul plays, George plays and I play."

 

 

"The End" was initially intended to be the final track on Abbey Road, but it is followed by "Her Majesty". In the first practice mix of the medley, constructed on 30 July, "Her Majesty" followed "Mean Mr. Mustard" (on the released version of the album, "Her Majesty" begins with the excised final chord of "Mean Mr Mustard"). According to sound engineer John Kurlander, McCartney said, "I don't like 'Her Majesty,' throw it away." Kurlander cut it out, but said, "I'd been told never to throw anything away, so after he left I picked it up off the floor, put about 20 seconds of red leader tape before it, and stuck it onto the end of the edit tape." When McCartney heard "Her Majesty" in its new position he liked it and decided that it should remain on the album.

 

An alternate version of "The End" appears on the Beatles Anthology 3 CD.

 

 

Critical reaction

Richie Unterberger of All Music Guide considered "The End" to be "the group's take on the improvised jamming common to heavy rock of the late '60s, though as usual the Beatles did it with far more economic precision than anyone else." John Mendelsohn of Rolling Stone said it was "a perfect epitaph for our visit to the world of Beatle daydreams: "The love you take is equal to the love you make ..."

199. Her Majesty

 

 

"Her Majesty" is the name of a song written by Paul McCartney (although credited to Lennon-McCartney) that appears on The Beatles' album Abbey Road. "Her Majesty" appears as the final track. It was originally placed between "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam". Paul decided this sequence did not work and the song was edited out of the medley by Abbey Road Studios tape operator John Kurlander. He was instructed by McCartney to destroy the tape, but EMI policy stated that no Beatles recording was ever to be deleted.

 

The fourteen seconds of silence between "The End" and "Her Majesty" are the result of Kurlander’s lead out tape added to separate the song from the rest of the recording. The loud orchestral blast that occurs at the beginning of the song is the last chord of "Mean Mr. Mustard". "Her Majesty" ends abruptly because its own final note was left at the beginning of "Polythene Pam". Paul applauded Kurlander's "surprise effect" and the track became an immortal closer to the LP. The clumsily-edited beginning and end of Her Majesty shows that it was not meant to be included in the final mix of the album, however, as McCartney says in Anthology, "Typical Beatles - an accident". Consequently, both of the original sides of vinyl closed with a song that ended very abruptly (the other being I Want You (She's So Heavy)).

 

At 23 seconds long, "Her Majesty" is the shortest song in the Beatles repertoire. ("Revolution 9" is the longest of their official releases.) The song was not listed on the original vinyl record's sleeve as the sleeves had already been printed; subsequent pressings and the CD edition correct this. The song is sometimes considered to be the first ever hidden track, although there is evidence to contradict this.

 

 

Trivia

Paul McCartney played "Her Majesty" at Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee Concert.

On the original release of Abbey Road, the song was not listed on the record sleeve. In this respect, it may be considered the first "Easter Egg". For the album's CD release, the song was listed normally. Also, the song may be considered a hidden track since record players didn't automatically stop themselves back whan the album was released, and listeners would have most likely taken the needle off the disk during the extended silent period, believing the album was over. This effect is somewhat spoiled now that record players stop themselves based on the needle's distance from the center and how quickly it's moving. The persistence of the disk's crackle during the silent part indicates that the record hasn't stopped and there's another track to be played, canceling most of the surprise effect.

Nirvana's lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain wanted to hide the track "Endless, Nameless" at the end of the Nevermind CD pressings because he liked the way "Her Majesty" was hidden on Abbey Road.

In 2002, the band Chumbawamba produced an extended version of the song with an anti-monarchist message.

200. Let It Be

 

 

"Let It Be" is a song written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney), released by The Beatles as a single in March 1970 and later the same year as the title track of their album Let It Be. The single reached #1 in the U.S. and #2 in the UK. In 2004, it was ranked number 20 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

 

 

Inspiration

McCartney said he wrote "Let It Be", inspired by a dream he had during the tense period surrounding the Get Back/Let It Be sessions. He dreamt of his mother, and the "Mother Mary" lyric refers to her (Mary (Mohin) McCartney). She died of cancer when McCartney was 14. He said, "It was great to visit with her again. I felt very blessed to have that dream. So that got me writing 'Let It Be'."

 

 

Recording and version history

The master take was recorded on 31 January 1969 as part of the 'Apple studio performance' for the project Get Back. McCartney played the piano (a Blüthner Flügel from Leipzig), Lennon played the bass, Billy Preston played the organ and George Harrison and Ringo Starr assumed their conventional roles. McCartney's lead vocal was backed by Lennon and Harrison (as seen in the film Let It Be). The master take included a subdued guitar solo by Harrison (as can also be heard in the film Let It Be).

 

On 30 April 1969, Harrison overdubbed a new guitar solo on the best take from 29 January.[6] Harrison overdubbed another solo on 4 January 1970. The first overdub solo was used for the original single release, and the second overdub solo was used for the original album release. Some fans mistakenly believed there were two versions of the basic track, based mostly on the different guitar solos but also on some other differences in overdubs and mixes.

 

There are four recordings of the song that have been 'officially' released.

 

 

Single version

It was originally released as a single on 6 March 1970, backed by "You Know My Name (Look up the Number)" and produced by George Martin. This version includes orchestration and backing vocals overdubbed on 1970-01-04 under the supervision of McCartney, with the backing vocals including the only known contribution by Linda McCartney to a Beatles song (but see Birthday (song)). It was during this same session that Harrison recorded the second overdub guitar solo. The intention at one point was to have the two overdub solos playing together, but this idea was dropped for the final mix of the single and only the 30 April solo was used (although the 4 January overdub can he heard faintly during the final verse). Martin mixed the orchestration very low in this mix.

 

The single version was included on the 1967-1970 compilation album. Original pressings erroneously show the album version's running time of 4:01, not the single version's running time of 3:50.

 

 

Album version

On 26 March 1970, Phil Spector remixed the song for the album Let It Be. This version features the "more stinging" 4 January 1970 guitar solo and more prominent orchestration. The other guitar solo can be heard faintly through the right speaker, as the original was planned. There are three lines in the last chorus of the song as the "There will be an answer" line is sung twice instead of once as on the single.

 

 

Anthology version

An early version of the song also appears on the third Anthology volume 3.

 

 

Let It Be… Naked version

Finally, another retooled version of the song appears on the 2003 album Let It Be… Naked. Starr's drumming was augmented by overdubbed tom rolls and shaker added by Phil Spector on the album version. Starr disliked this mix, so Let It Be… Naked features his original drumming. The guitar solo used in this version, similar to the single version, was taken from the subsequent take as seen in the film Let It Be.

 

 

Unused mixes

Glyn Johns mixed the song on 28 May 1969 as he finished the mixing for the Get Back album. This version was never released. He used the same mix in a 5 January 1970 attempt to compile an acceptable version of the LP. Again, this version of the LP was never released.

 

 

Critical assessments

Critical reception for "Let It Be" has been mostly positive. It has been covered by many performers, as described below. In 2004, it was ranked number 20 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. The All Music Guide said it was one of "the Beatles' most popular and finest ballads". Ian MacDonald provides a dissenting opinion, writing that the song "achieved a popularity well out of proportion to its artistic weight" and it's "'Hey Jude' without the musical and emotional release." Comparisons to "Hey Jude" are understandable given the surface-level similarities between the songs.

 

John Lennon was not fond of "Let It Be". Prior to a take during the 31 January 1969 recording session, he asked, "Are we supposed to giggle in the solo?" In his 1980 Playboy interview, he disavowed any involvement with composing the song. He said,

 

"That's Paul. What can you say? Nothing to do with the Beatles. It could've been Wings. I don't know what he's thinking when he writes 'Let It Be.' I think it was inspired by 'Bridge Over Troubled Waters.' That's my feeling, although I have nothing to go on. I know he wanted to write a 'Bridge Over Troubled Waters.'"

 

As Ian MacDonald explains, Lennon is probably wrong about "Bridge Over Troubled Water" being McCartney's inspiration: "Let It Be" was recorded approximately a year before "Bridge Over Troubled Water" was released. According to the All Music Guide, Simon and Garfunkel performed the song live in 1969 prior to releasing it, but it seems unlikely McCartney would have heard it before the recording session on 31 January.

 

The "final" performance

Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr performed this during Linda McCartney's funeral in 1998.

 

 

Cover versions

John Denver included a version of "Let It Be" on his 1971 album Poems, Prayers, and Promises.

Joan Baez included "Let It Be" on her 1971 album Blessed Are... and released the song as a single. The song also appears on her live album Diamonds & Rust in the Bullring, and she also performed it at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970, as captured in the film Message to Love.

Floyd Cramer recorded an instrumental version of "Let It Be", used on his Floyd Cramer with the Music City Pops album.

Singer-songwriter Bill Withers covered "Let It Be" on his 1971 debut album Just As I Am.

Former Fleetwood Mac guitarist and vocalist Danny Kirwan recorded a version of "Let It Be" for his 1976 album Midnight in San Juan (released in the USA under the name Danny Kirwan). The song was also released as a single in the USA.

Leo Sayer covered the song for the 1976 ephemeral musical documentary All This and World War II.

Ray Charles covered "Let It Be" on his 1977 album True to Life.

Charity ensemble Ferry Aid (in the wake of the Zeebrugge ferry disaster), featuring McCartney amongst others, recorded a version which reached #1 on the UK singles chart in March 1987.

Slash performed part of "Let It Be" with a guitar when Guns N' Roses performed in Argentina in 1993.

Canadian R&B singer Georges Thurston remade a version in his 1995 album with the same name.

Canadian artist Anne Murray included a version on her 1999 album, What a Wonderful World.

Australian rock musician Nick Cave recorded a cover of the song for the soundtrack to the 2001 film I Am Sam.

A cover version of "Let It Be" was released on Johnny Maestro & The Brooklyn Bridge's 2002 album Peace on Earth.

The Canadian singer-songwriter Allison Crowe covered "Let It Be" on her 2004 album Tidings.

Pianist/keyboardist Bradley Joseph introduced his instrumental arrangement of "Let It Be" on his 2005 album For the Love of It.

British duo Journey South released a cover of "Let It Be" on their 2006 debut album Journey South.

British soul singer Beverley Knight has covered the song live several times, and included a recording as a b-side to her 2006 single "Piece of My Heart".

Lara Veronin, the main vocalist of the Taiwanese group Nan Quan Mama, performed a shortened live acoustic version to promote their album on GTV in June 2006.

The American singer Aretha Franklin covered "Let It Be" on the album Come Together, A Soul/Jazz Tribute to the Beatles.

Joe Cocker performed a slower, simpler version of the song.

During the Yom Kippur War in 1973, songwriter Naomi Shemer (best known for "Yerushalayim Shel Zahav") created a Hebrew version called "Lu Yehi" ("May It Be"), inspired by (and singable to the tune of) "Let It Be", but reflecting her Israeli perspective and with her own music.

The boy band B5 released a version of "Let It Be" on their self-titled debut album.

"Let It Be" is featured in a viral internet video chronicling the history of pop music using just four chords. A Brief History of Pop Music - In Four Chords

Mexican singer Johnny Laboriel sings a version in Spanish, "Me Ayudo"

Tennessee Ernie Ford also covered "Let It Be." His version was released on the Capitol/Special Markets label album Great Songs of The Beatles.

South Korean group SG Wannabe and Epik High performed "Let It Be" in one of their concerts.

 

Parodies and cultural references

Although released before the Beatles' Let It Be album, the Rolling Stones' Let It Bleed album took its title from the Beatles' album, which had been recorded (and widely bootlegged) well before the release of the Stones' album.

The children's television show Sesame Street parodied "Let It Be" with the song "Letter B".

The parody band Beatallica did a version called "The Thing That Should Not Let It Be", which also parodied the Metallica song "The Thing That Should Not Be".

The Minneapolis-based alternative rock band The Replacements named their seminal 1984 release Let It Be after this song. The now-defunct Let It Be Records in downtown Minneapolis is named for the Replacements album, not the Beatles song.

Paul Simon's first solo single, "Mother and Child Reunion", which was released in 1972, contains the line, "I know they say 'Let It Be.'"

The French group Les Bidochons parodied "Let It Be" with "Les Petites Bites" (The Littles Cocks).

An episode of the children's television series Hannah Montana is titled "Debt It Be".

The Streets used "Let It Be" as a backing beat to a song dedicated to his dead father, "Never Went To Church".

The Ryan Adams song, Sylvia Plath uses the same riff as "Let It Be", played in the key of B.

201. You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)

 

 

"You Know My Name (Look up the Number)" is a song by The Beatles, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and originally released as the B-side of the single "Let It Be" on 6 March 1970. Although first issued with their penultimate single, it was recorded in five separate sessions beginning with four in May and June of 1967, and one in 1969.

 

Earlier in 1967 Frank Zappa released the song America Drinks and Goes Home on the Mothers of Invention album Absolutely Free where he also combined a silly tune with nightclub sound effects to parody his formative years in the early 1960's playing with drunken bar bands. Similar tunes were also recorded by The Rolling Stones, On With The Show (1967) and Jimi Hendrix, My Friend (1968).

 

The song is a music hall comedy number and is perhaps the silliest song in the Beatles' catalogue. Lennon came up with the lyric and title after seeing a phone book. He said:

 

“ That was a piece of unfinished music that I turned into a comedy record with Paul. I was waiting for him in his house, and I saw the phone book was on the piano with 'You know the name, look up the number.' That was like a logo, and I just changed it.”

 

McCartney once told Beatle recording analyst Mark Lewisohn, "[People] are only just discovering things like 'You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)'—probably my favourite Beatles' track!" He went on to explain:

 

“ It's so insane. All the memories ... I mean, what would you do if a guy like John Lennon turned up at the studio and said, 'I've got a new song'. I said, 'What's the words?' and he replied 'You know my name look up the number'. I asked, 'What's the rest of it?' 'No, no other words, those are the words. And I want to do it like a mantra!' ”

 

The song features a saxophone solo played by the Rolling Stones' Brian Jones.

 

The lyrics includes a reference to Dennis O'Dell, associate producer on the A Hard Day's Night film,. Partway through the song, Lennon introduces McCartney as lounge singer "Dennis O’Bell," one consonant away from the name of the film producer Lennon had worked with not only on Hard Day's Night but also How I Won the War. The reference prompted numerous telephone calls to O'Dell's home by fans who told him, "We have your name and now we've got your number," as well as personal visits by fans wanting to live with him.

 

 

 

Recording

All four Beatles participated in the first four recording sessions on 17 May, and 7-9 June 1967. Jones' saxophone part was recorded on 8 June.

 

The song was left unreleased and untouched until 30 April 1969, when Lennon and McCartney laid down all the vocal tracks and added additional sound effects with the help of Mal Evans. George Harrison and Ringo Starr did not participate in this last session. Nick Webb, second engineer on the 30 April session described it this way:

 

“ John and Paul weren't always getting along that well at this time, but for this song they went out on the studio floor and sang together around one microphone. Even at this time I was thinking 'What are they doing with this old four-track tape, recording these funny bits onto this quaint song?' But it was a fun track to do. ”

 

Despite the fun sessions described by McCartney and Webb, the song was not released for another year.

 

 

Release

Although eventually released as a Beatles song, "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)" was nearly released as the A-side of a Plastic Ono Band single. Lennon was determined to have this song and "What's The New Mary Jane" released, and he arranged for Apple to issue both unorthodox songs on a Plastic Ono Band single. On 26 November 1969, 4 months after Jones drowned in his swimming pool, Lennon edited "You Know My Name (Look up the Number)" , reducing the length from 6 minutes 8 seconds to 4:19, a more suitable length for a single. The Plastic Ono Band single was given an Apple catalogue number (Apple 1002) and British release date (5 December 1969).

 

Apple issued a press release, describing the record as Lennon and Yoko Ono singing and backed by "many of the greatest show business names of today" which the press believed was a thinly disguised reference to the Beatles. The record was canceled before it was issued.

 

Three months later, the song was released as the B-side to the Beatles' single, "Let It Be." The original Plastic Ono Band single catalog number is visible, though scratched out, in the runout groove of the original British pressings of the "Let It Be" single.

 

"What's the New Mary Jane" was not officially issued by the Beatles until the release of Anthology 3 in 1996, although the song did appear on bootleg records.

 

"You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)" was the last Beatles song from the group's official canon to be included on an album, issued on 12" vinyl for the first time on Rarities (which had been included as a bonus disc in the British and American boxed set, The Beatles Collection in 1978, and released separately as an album in the United Kingdom in 1979). The first stand-alone American album to feature "You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)" was the U.S. Rarities, which was released in 1980.

 

The first CD version was issued in 1988 on the Past Masters, Volume Two compilation.

 

"You Know My Name (Look up the Number)" was available only in mono until 1996, when an extended stereo mix was finally issued on Anthology 2. However, while this mix restores portions of the song, it omits others that were released on the mono single. Therefore, a stereo version featuring all 5 sections uncut has never been released.

 

On the U.S. pressings of the original 7" single, the song was erroneously titled "You Know My Name (Look Up My Number)"