10:68 Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da (pt.2) Four Beatles In Search Of A Groove

Written in Rishikesh and originally titled Obla Dee Obla Da, the received narrative about this song is that Lennon hated it and furiously forced it over the finish line, propelling the band at breakneck speed with his drug-crazed piano playing.

McCartney was always the musical visionary who could complete what Lennon started but on this song the tables were turned. For once McCartney was at sea musically and it was Lennon that came to the rescue.

A walk through the different versions reveal a clear plan and stunning failure to execute it.

• Esher demo
• Version 1
• Version 2 – this is the version on The White Album
• Version 3 – abandoned after a couple of takes and unreleased

All version were played in A but on the Esher demo the guitars are tuned down a semitone to Ab and on version 2 the tape is varisped up a semitone to Bb.

That the song was always intended to be a ska-influenced recording is clear. Calling the song "one of the first examples of white reggae" Stewart Copeland says, "Ob-la-di has an accent, ob-la-da has an accent, 'life goes on...' sort of leads you into that ska feel. There's a definite scansion to those lyrics, which is probably why they ended up playing a ska beat"*. Paul's lyrics and ska-approved vocal percussion "chicka-bum" and Lennon's studio comments "Oobladi-blada. Brutha!", "Yassuh! Take one, and de Mighty Jumbo Band!” show their heads were somewhere more tropical than St. John's Wood, NW8.

Version 1 has been released as an Anniversary Edition bonus track ('Take 3') and on Anthology 3 ('Take 5'). The latter features the (uncredited) creator of the chorus lyrics, Jimmy Scott Emuakpor on congas.

Perfection is attained not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing more to take away.*

Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The Esher demo and Take 3 feature very straight ahead drumming and strumming – the only hint of ska is the chord fill in the bridge (1:29).

Take 5 (the same take with overdubs) add a lovely tiny cowbell, some busy sax parts, Jimmy's very busy congas and Paul's extremely busy bass.

There is zero groove at this point - no skanking* from guitar or piano and ultra 'white bread' drumming. The bass runs all over the place and the only semblance of a groove comes from congas and cowbell patterns that are messy and confused. The whole thing is a hyperactive hot mess, the result of adding more and more to a track that isn't working. Ringo has no idea what to play and McCartney, uncharacteristically, isn't able to help. Geoff Emerick stated the obvious saying "Paul wasn't happy with the rhythm of the track … he was after a Jamaican reggae feel and he wasn't satisfied that the band had nailed it"* but then went on to tell the tale that has become legend.

When Paul announced he wanted to … start the song again from scratch, John went ballistic. Ranting and raving, he headed out the door, with Yoko trailing closely behind, and we thought that we'd seen the last of him that evening. But a few hours later he stormed back into the studio, clearly in a highly altered state of mind.

"I AM F**KING STONED!!" John Lennon bellowed from the top of the stairs … swaying slightly, he continued, waving his arms for emphasis. "I am more stoned than you have ever been. In fact, I am more stoned than you will ever be! … and this," Lennon added with a snarl, "is how the fucking song should go." Unsteadily, he lurched down the stairs and over to the piano and began smashing the keys with all his might, pounding out the famous opening chords that became the song's introduction, played at a breakneck tempo.*

Truth From Fiction

Lennon didn't play the song "at a breakneck tempo". Version 1 was recorded at 121bpm. Version 2 is only 112bpm even after varispeeding up. It was played at 107bpm – significantly slower. Lennon didn't speed the song up, he slowed it down to a tempo that allowed to song to breathe.

Side stepping the fruitless search for 'authenticity' he played what Ian MacDonald describes as a "mock music-hall piano"* intro giving it an instant instrumental hook (Ticket 3), before playing what the song had been crying out for all along the 2, 4 skank pattern. He was incapable of overplaying as McCartney and Emuakpor had been doing and Lennon's limitations as a piano player saved the track. Harrison fell in with a similar rhythm on acoustic guitar and Paul created a new, simple grooving bass line built on arpeggios on 1 2+ 3 4+. And Ringo ? Ringo played the same beat as before. But you can't have everything.

Once the track locked together, other ideas presented themselves. Compare the improvement in the rhythmic accompaniment on "Desmond and Molly Jones" from Version 1 (1:21 – Take 3, 1:23 - Take 5) to the Lennon-driven remake (1:30). There are some childlike plinky piano overdubs (2:32) and a sped-up gliss that sounds like a video game (2:08). McCartney's bassline deserves special mention, using a distorted acoustic guitar (0:02) to doubling the very simple bass line, Paul plays both instruments with a plectrum, adding funky ghost notes on the bass (0:06) that really make the song move.

Mind Blown

It's understandable that Paul would listen to Reggae/Ska and subconsciously absorb melodic ideas. So it forgivable that the start of the bridge has the same melody and almost exactly the rhythm as the opening line of River of Babylon by The Melodians.

In a couple of years
A A D D E F# (landing on a D major chord)

By the rivers of Babylon
D D G G A B B B (landing on a G major chord)

But here's the bombshell. Paul's song was released two years earlier! Did the Beatles have a influence on the seminal 1970 song?*

Footnotes

One of the first examples of white reggae
Stewart Copeland: Musician Magazine (1988)

perfection is attained
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry: Wind, Sand and Stars (p. 31)

Paul wasn't happy with the rhythm
Geoff Emerick: Here, There and Everywhere (p.246)

Skanking
Sharp off beat chord hits which are the foundation of reggae & ska (on beats 2 and 4 in reggae and the 'ands' between beats in ska).

Paul wanted to start the song again from scratch
Geoff Emerick: Here, There and Everywhere (p.247)

Mock music-hall piano
Ian MacDonald: Revolution In The Head (p.295)

Seminal 1970 song
It was a no 1 hit in Jamaica on release and reached an international audience via The Harder They Come Soundtrack which is credited with having "brought reggae to the world" (L.A. Times).

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While My Guitar Gently Weeps: Anniversary Edition Notes

While My Guitar Gently Weeps was one of the few post-Rishikesh songs on The Beatles.

Lyrical Development

The lyric facsimiles in the anniversary edition, written on 'NEMS London' headed paper, begins with a list of rhymes

Tampering – tapering, Tempering – thundering,
Tittering – Tottering, Towering, Toppling [TICK]
Wandering - Watering, Wavering, Weathering
Whimpering, wintering, whispering, Wondering [TICK]

and later on in the manuscript

Burning
churning
learning
yearning

adding further supporting evidence that Harrison was suffering from a bad case of rhyme's disease when he penned this otherwise excellent song.

The manuscript gives a window into the lyrical development. Verse 1 is fully formed but verse 2 develops from

I look at the sky and I notice it's clouding

which is then replaced by

I look at the world and I notice it's turning
While my guitar gently weeps
I'm wondering why your cigars [?*] keep on burning
still your guitar gently weeps! > still my guitar gently weeps!

After the Burning/churning/learning/yearning list the lyric takes it's final form as

I look at the world and I notice it's turning
While my guitar gently weeps
With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps!

I don't know how, someone controlled you, how they
blindfolded you.

Then the bridge

I don't know how
You were perverted – you were diverted too
I don't know why you got inverted
No one alerted you

undergoes a minor change as 'why' and 'how' change places

I don't know why
You were perverted – you were diverted too
I don't know how you got inverted
No one alerted you

George makes a number of attempts to start verse 3

I look at the powers around

I look at the wars of the world that are raging

I'm thinking of wars everywhere that is raging

I look at the trouble and hate that is raging

none of which he seems as happy with. Verse 3 line 3 is more solid, needing only minor tweaks

While I'm sitting here doing nothing but ageing > As I'm sitting here doing nothing but ageing

This verse survived to the Esher demo

I look at the trouble and pain that is raging
While my guitar gently weeps
As I'm sitting here doing nothing but ageing
Still my guitar gently weeps

by the time they got to Abbey Road (the 'Version 1' acoustic guitar/harmonium 'demo' that appears on Anthology 3 and 'Love') it's become

I look from the wings at the play you are staging
While my guitar gently weeps
As I'm sitting here, doing nothing but ageing
Still my guitar gently weeps

By the final version (Version 3) it's been replaced by a restatement of the first verse

I look at you all see the love there that's sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
Look at you all
Still my guitar gently weeps

Musical Development

In a similar way the demos and recording notes chart the musical evolution.

Esher demo

• The key is F#m (Dm capoed at 4th fret)
• The tempo faster
• The vocal rhythm is more straight forward and hurried
• There's a short i to bVII (F#m – E) vamp after the last bridge missing from the finished version
• At the end of each bridge phrase there's a V to V+ substitution but played inconsistently and not always by both doubled-tracked guitars – revealing it to be an idea that George was perhaps considering but not committed to.

Version 1

The key is Gm. It's still played in Dm but now capoed on the 5th fret. Perhaps the Esher was capoed at 5 too but tuned down a semitone like most of the other demos?

Paul is playing minimal harmonium on the bridge and a few other spots.

The previously undiscovered 'Take 2' outtake has Paul switching to organ but still very much figuring out the chords.

Version 2

According to the studio notes this had John on organ and Paul on bass. Bizarrely the notes state the tape was slowed down by three semitones. From what? If the key had already risen to Gm and was destined to end up in Am it seems strange to start going down again. Three semitones would put the song in Ebm.

Perhaps it's a mistake – three down from the final key Am would put the song back in the Esher key – F#m. Maybe someone is getting their versions mixed up. Until they release a version 2 outtake (anyone out there have one? Send me a link!) we can't be sure.

Version 3

The 'third version take 27' outtake makes it clear the line up is

1 Ringo drums
2 Eric Clapton jamming freely throughout the take on 'Lucy' - the Les Paul he gave to George a month before the session.
3 Paul switching live between piano (intro/verses) and organ (bridges)
4 George on acoustic and George and Paul on vocals

George is attempting Smokey Robinson falsetto/melisma thing that makes him sound like a hypothermic sheep – he halts the take saying “I tried to do a Smokey and I just aren't [sic] Smokey”

Overdubs: George double tracked his vocals and adds more organ (0:58, audible on top of the piano during the guitar solo and continuing for the rest of the song) Ringo adds tambourine and weird sounding tippy-tappy percussion (left speaker 0:34) and there's a distorted bass part played by … who? McCartney on bass (BB) or Lennon on Bass VI (50AE)? It can't be both as the only 'bass' is overdriven and played with a pick.

The case for John

The part, like so many of John's Bass VI performances, is very much a guitar part down an octave, switching between power chords and free flowing single notes riffs rather than diligently performing the role of bass man. Though very un-bass-player-like it's John's best 'bass' performance by a mile.

The case for Paul

From Pepper onwards Paul often overdubbed his bass afterwards. When John played bass, it was usually because they needed it on the basic track and Paul was playing something else (like piano on Long And Winding Road). Here John didn't play on the basic track at all so there was no need for him to play bass – the 'real' bass player could do it. It's likely Paul used his Rickenbacker not the Bass VI (RITH) as the Beatles only had a right-handed one.

If Lennon had provided the Bass VI part it's hard to believe Paul would have been able to resist added a 'real' bass track underneath (as he had done on Back In The USSR). And while it is very 'free' the playing is also tight and disciplined, which is more of a Paul trademark.

The Electric Guitar Mystery – Solved?

Allegedly Lennon is on rhythm guitar (BB) or lead guitar (RITH) but the only electric guitar on the finished track is Clapton switching effortlessly between lead and rhythm.

It used to be thought that Lennon's lead guitar was tracked on the 5th Sep and replaced by Clapton's overdub on the 6th (TBRS). How Clapton's presence was supposed to 'make everyone act better' (as Harrison later stated) when their work on song was already completed is unclear and the outtake answers that - Clapton tracked his part live with the band (on the 5th).

Paul on bass and Eric on guitar leaves John having contributed nothing to the track, but he often absented himself from George's songs so it's a plausible theory.


*According Everett to but it looks more like an 'n' than a 'c' to me!

Sources

50AE: The Beatles 50th Anniversary Edition Book
RITH – Ian McDonald: Revolution In The Head
BB – Beatles Bible
TBRS – Mark Lewisohn: The Beatles Recording Sessions

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Glass Onion: Anniversary Edition Notes

The Esher demo of Glass Onion is played in the same key (Am) but Lennon's guitar is tuned down (this time by a semitone). At this stage there is only one verse and no bridge. Lennon messes up the lyrics and descends into stream of conscious gibberish, paraphrasing 'Chicago' by Fred Fisher. A post-Rishikesh lyric manuscripts, written on the back of an envelope, omits the word 'man' from the

Walrus and me/close as can be

lines and reveals that Lennon (and McCartney?) was (were?) even more ambitious about trying to cram in self-references

Trying to make a dovetail joint for a yellow submarine

Lennon was still tweaking lyrics during the recording at various points, trying out

Fool on the Hill is standing/sitting/living there still

Walrus and me are as nice/cool/keen/close as can be

Looking through a hole in the ocean

There were musical as well as lyrical self-references - a mellotron quote of Strawberry Fields Forever was cut (along with the sound effects coda heard on Anthology 3) but a nod to The Fool On The Hill (with Paul and Chris Thomas on recorders) made it to the final version.



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10:48 Hey Jude (pt.2) Lyrics - How Do You Solve A Problem Like McCartney?

I'll be honest folks. When I started work on Hey Jude I was tempted to induct it into the Lyrical Hall Of Shame. The combination of dummy lyrics that never got replaced, words chosen for the way they sound, and 'it-means-whatever-you-want-it-to-mean-man' attitude adds up to a lame lyric riding the coattails of a world class melody. And that's before you realise that half the song consists of the word 'nah' sung 209 times.

But digging deeper I've realised the lyrics display such structural genius that I'm more than willing to give Paul a pass on this one. But let's look at the negatives first.

Star Wars For Dummies

As was often the case, McCartney had the music locked by the time the recording started but the lyrics were still in flux (like Rocky Racoon and I Will). If you listen to the Anthology 3 rehearsal Paul doesn't have them all (or he doesn't know them). He indulged in a Yodaism in the phrase “for well you know that it's a fool” and the song contains placeholders lines, as Paul admitted

I remember I played it to John and Yoko, and I was saying, 'These words ['The movement you need is on your shoulder,'] won't be on the finished version'... and John was saying, 'It's great!' I'm saying, 'It's crazy, it doesn't make any sense at all.' He's saying, 'Sure it does, it's great.'" *

Creepy Words Of Wisdom

Secondly, the song had an odd genesis, which goes some way to explaining the bizarre interpretations that have followed.

It was optimistic, a hopeful message for Julian: 'Come on, man, your parents got divorced. I know you're not happy, but you'll be OK.' I eventually changed 'Jools' to 'Jude'**

Changing Jools to Jude cos it 'sings' better is all well and good. But this is a song written to comfort a 5 year old boy about his parents divorce, yet it seems to consist of philosophical advice on getting a girlfriend - a flower-powered take on the 'love life advice' sub-genre that dates back to She Loves You.

There were clearly other biographical currents bubbling up into the song. Paul was in the no(wo)mansland between Jane Asher and Linda Eastman. John heard it as an endorsement for his relationship with Yoko, a thumbs up from Macca's subconscious. Both Beatles were caught between their commitment to making art with multiple (even unintended) meanings and their contempt for the public reading their own meanings into Beatles lyrics. John in particular felt embarrassed at doing exactly what he condemned in others

He said it was written about Julian … But I always heard it as a song to me. Now I'm sounding like one of those fans reading things into it... Think about it: Yoko had just come into the picture. He is saying. 'Hey, Jude'-- 'Hey, John.' Subconsciously, he was saying, 'Go ahead, leave me.' On a conscious level, he didn't want me to go ahead. The angel in him was saying, 'Bless you.' The devil in him didn't like it at all, because he didn't want to lose his partner***

The debate over open interpretation was thrown into sharp focus once Charles Manson got his hands on a copy of the White Album, read murderous things into the lyrics of Helter Skelter and Piggies, and put his crazy interpretations into action.

Advice on preschool love and loss? The Pre-Ballad Of John And Yoko? Or a Dear Jane letter, containing a deep and meaningless line about a parrot?**** No wonder Manson et al had a field day.

Lennon for what it's worth never changed his assessment, calling Hey Jude

“[Paul's] best song" and “a damn good set of lyrics” *****

So what do I know? Let's look at the good stuff.

A fine line between stupid and clever

For starters verse 4 is a mutated hybrid of verse 1 and 2. This makes it feel familiar but not totally predictable. As usual the song is full of parallel words and phrases (Ticket 24)

make it bad/better/you were made

let her into your heart/under your skin

let it out/in

don't make it bad/be afraid/let me down

remember to/the minute you let her into your heart

plays it cool/a little colder

carry the world upon your shoulders/movement you need is on your shoulder


Also McCartney manages to 'break' the rhyme scheme in the second bridge without making it feel wrong or awkward.

In the first bridge the rhyme scheme is

AAB - CCB (pain/refrain/shoulders – fool/cool/colder)

but the second bridge is

AAB – CCD (in/begin/perform with – you/do/shoulder).

Feels really jarring when you focus solely on the last words doesn't it? (Another case for not keeping a meaningless dummy lyric) but in the song it sounds fine. (Be honest. Have you ever noticed it before?). McCartney's masterstroke is that he breaks the rhyme using a word that rhymes with the first bridge, so it feels right even though it's totally 'wrong'.

We've encountered this technique before in The Long And Winding Road (and Ringo break a rhyme for a different reason in Octopus's Garden) so it's high time it got it's own ticket. Welcome Ticket 73.

But the crowning achievement is the way Paul uses internal rhymes to create a kind of odd-meter, seven line stanza that transforms the verse from this

Hey Jude, don't make it bad
Take a sad song and make it better
Remember, to let her under your skin
Then you'll begin to make it better

into this

A7 - Hey Jude, don't make it bad
A3 - Take a sad

B6 - song and make it better
B6 - Remember to let her

C4 - into your heart
C4 - Then you can start

B5 - to make it better

More amazingly he maintains this punishing rhyme scheme perfectly through the three remaining verses

Hey Jude, don't be afraid
You were made
to go out and get her
The minute you let her
under your skin
Then you begin
to make it better

Hey Jude, don't let me down
You have found
her, now go and get her
Remember to let her
into your heart
Then you can start
to make it better

And there's a few other internal rhymes scattered around. The first verse contains a bonus rhyme

Hey Jude, don't make
it bad, Take
a sad song...

Beautiful. And we're not done yet. There's a few more things to say about lyrics...

Footnotes

* Paul 1974  Beatles Songwriting And Recording Database

** Paul Anthology (p.297)

*** John in David Sheff: All We Are Saying

**** Paul called the line “a stupid expression; it sounds like a parrot" Anthology (p.297)
***** John 1972 interview and All We Are Saying Beatles Songwriting And Recording Database 



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10:47 Hey Jude (pt.1) – Mistakes And Myths In A Song Of Two Halves

Hey Jude was written by McCartney on the way to visit Lennon's newly-estranged family. He crooned his way though rehearsals at Abbey Road (as heard on Anthology 3) but recorded at Trident Studios in Soho, lured no doubt by the relative ease of doing orchestral overdubs on 8 track tape.

The recording itself was a comedy of errors - some cool, some not.

Ringo walked out to go to the toilet … but … I still thought he was in his drum booth. I started what was the actual take … and while I was doing it I suddenly felt Ringo tiptoeing past my back rather quickly, trying to get to his drums. And just as he got to his drums, 'boom boom boom', his timing was absolutely impeccable. So I think when those things happen, you have a little laugh and a light bulb goes off in your head and you think ... “this has got to be the take, what just happened was so magic!”

Paul McCartney in Many Years From Now (p.466)

At some point during the tracking someone shouted an expletive which remained undetected (or at least 'uncorrected') in the finished mix [at 2:58]. The usual suspects are

Paul McCartney hitting a wrong chord on the piano track and shouting “Wrong chord! F***in hell!”

John Lennon hitting a wrong chord on the acoustic guitar track and shouting “Wrong chord! F***in hell!”

John Lennon recording backing vocals finding the volume levels in his headphones way too loud shouting “Oh! F***in hell!”

According to John (via Geoff Emerick/John Smith) it was Paul* (in which case it was allowed to stand with their full knowledge like many other Beatles 'mistakes'). Personally I'd accuse Lennon in the studio with the guitar, though I can't hear anyone play a wrong chord and the mystery voice seems to have a yorkshire rather than scouse accent.

Problems with the equipment at Trident meant that once the tapes got back to Abbey Road for mixing they had to be heavily re-EQ'd by Geoff Emerick (the cymbals still sound particularly horrible at 0:52).

There's an urban myth that Paul used the same piano as Freddie Mercury used on Bohemian Rhapsody – he didn't**. And Walter Everett*** say the bass guitar was muted in the coda to make room for the 'bottom heavy orchestra', but Paul's bass track is clearly audible until 6:54, where it stops for 6 seconds and then comes back in.

Let's talk about that coda.

The song is a standard AABA structure (Ticket 26) with a huge C section on the end that doubles the running time. While it may sound like a remnant glued on from another song it was always part of Hey Jude and shares a number of musical elements with the A and B sections.

Imagine the song without the coda (and the 'better, better...' link). Perhaps the final verse winds down with Paul delivering the final line solo. What's left is a sweet little ballad. A great example, but one of many piano ballads by Paul McCartney, one of many gifted piano balladeers. But with the C section the song is lifted into a different league. The coda is literally a 'release', a huge, joyful, inarticulate yet cathartic, 'musical group hug'.

Repeated chord cycles of any length are rare throughout the entire Beatles catalogue****. and very long ones even rarer***** (as are fade outs) yet this slow moving four bar melody cycles round NINETEEN TIMES(!) which does become tiresome when the only real variations are George Martin's uncharacteristically bland orchestration and Paul's impression of Little Richard with Tourette's.

So why is it so long?

McCartney says they were having so much fun jamming they decided to keep going******. Others think that Paul had a point to prove, wanting to outdo other artists. Richard Harris had recently scored a hit with MacArthur Park which ran for 7:21. Composer Jimmy Webb (who visited Abbey Road around this time) said “George Martin once told me the Beatles let Hey Jude run to over seven minutes because of MacArthur Park”. Webb's story is believable (the band were in the process of recording a really long album) but, if length was Paul's goal he would never have settled for Hey Jude falling 14 seconds short of the record. Whatever the motive was for the coda's length it probably wasn't an artistic consideration. How long it should be is up for grabs but the coda is 'too' long.

In future posts we'll look at one way to write meandering McCartney melodies and why the lyrics look terrible but are actually brilliant.

Footnotes

*Here There And Everywhere p. 262-3
**Queen did use this studio (and piano) but not for Bohemian Rhapsody. See the long thread here if you have time to kill. 
***The Beatles As Musicians Vol 2
**** See The Band Who Kept Expanding
***** I Want You (She's So Heavy) is a similar length and similarly structured
******But I can't for the life of me find the source. I am a bad researcher. BAD RESEARCHER!




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10:45 Mother Nature's Son (pt.1) - Overview And Lyrics

Unusually Lennon & McCartney want to credit each other with Mother Nature's Son. John says Paul wrote it on his own in India. Paul says he wrote it in Liverpool with help from John*.

Apart from 2 trumpets and 2 trombones it's a solo McCartney track. Contrary to various reports there is no Timpani (it's a second bass drum recorded in a stairwell) but there is the sound of Paul tapping on a hardback copy of The Song Of Hiawatha**. And personally I'm convinced I hear a single hit on a snare drum at 2:15.

The 'book drumming' is a nice example of McCartney 'at play' and blends beautifully with Martin's cerebral brass arrangement.

Paul cut the guitar and vocals live, take 24 being the keeper (take 2 appears on Anthology 3). The reverb fades in noticeably after a few seconds on the stereo version (which I find charming) and Paul's Martin D28 suffers from terrible fret buzz (which I find excruciating and inexplicable). Seriously, could the world's most famous band not find anyone to set up their guitars properly?

Listen. Do You Smell Something?

Once again my childhood impressions intrude on this track. Thinking Rocky Racoon was about a real animal is one thing. 10 year old me thought this song was about … Hitler as a young man. I have no idea why. Glad I never told anyone.

In typical Beatles fashion the lyrics are simultaneously brilliant and poor. If songwriters are like stonemasons all three writers (especially McCartney) are excellent in finding the perfect stone to lay on top of another, but their finished buildings often doesn't stand up to close scrutiny.

Here McCartney's descriptions are redundant; music is “pretty”, the field is a “field of grass” and we listen to the “sound of music” (what's the alternative - the "smell of music"?). The one original image is just odd. Hey look! A flying stream!

But all that is irrelevant. Though the lyrics aren't original they are wonderfully evocative. Using a mere 50 words McCartney puts us right into the scene. The lyrical simplicity and the supporting melody and arrangement work perfectly with the subject matter. And though he isn't saying anything deep the way his places individual words displays genius.

Thematically 'music' is central – the “pretty sound of music”, “a lazy song”, “singing songs for everyone” - the boy, the stream and the daisies are all singing.

Technically the lyric is tied together with … alliteration. The 'F' in

Find me in my field

and alliteration and assonance of the 'S' sound

Sitting Singing SongS

Swaying daiSieS Sing a lazy Song beneath the Sun

Sit beSide a mountain Stream, See her waterS riSe
LiSten to the pretty Sound of muSic aS She flieS

SSSSSSublime.

Next time we'll look at the chords. But for now go and look at some of your lyrics. Do they sing?


*Beatles Songwriting & Recording Database
**Recording The Beatles



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Hurry Up George

One really got the impression that George was being given a certain amount of time to do his tracks whereas the others could spend as long as they wanted. One felt under more pressure when doing one of George’s songs.

Geoff Emerick in Mark Lewisohn: The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions

We tried to record [While My Guitar Gently Weeps], but John and Paul were so used to just cranking out their tunes that it was very difficult at times to get serious and record one of mine. It wasn’t happening. They weren’t taking it seriously and I don’t think they were even all playing on it ... [getting Eric Clapton into the studio] made everyone act better. Paul got on the piano and played a nice intro and they all took it more seriously.

George Harrison in Anthology

Almost every Beatles song has a 'story' – the 'story' of While My Guitar Gently Weeps is that Harrison asked Clapton to play on the track to make the rest of the Beatles 'behave' and take the song seriously. The bigger 'narrative' is that Harrissongs were second class citizens at Abbey Road and didn't have the same care lavished on them as Lennon & McCartney tunes.

But is that really true?

The band tracked the song on the 5th Sept 1968. Clapton recorded his part on the 6th. The only contributions on that day, other than George himself, were Paul's vocal harmonies and bass, and Ringo's tambourine and castanets overdubs. It's hard to believe that Eric's presence had any real effect on the band's behaviour at that late stage. UPDATE 50th Anniversary Edition reveals Clapton tracked his part live with the band on the 5th.

What about other tracks?

Here's a list of all George's Beatles tracks* with the number of takes spent on the rhythm track. I've used this as a rule of thumb because that's the only time the whole band would need to be involved. Overdubs might not require any other member.

One Take

Think for Yourself
If I Needed Someone
Blue Jay Way
Savoy Truffle

10 Takes Or Less

All Things Must Pass – 2
Love You To - 3
It's All Too Much - 4
Old Brown Shoe - 4
I Need You - 5
I Want to Tell You - 5
For You Blue – 6
You Like Me Too Much - 8
Only a Northern Song - 9

20 Takes Or Less

Don't Bother Me - 11
Piggies - 11
Here Comes the Sun - 13
Taxman - 15
I Me Mine - 16

40 Takes Or More

While My Guitar Gently Weeps - 43
Something - 49
Long, Long, Long - 67
Not Guilty** – 101

Abbey Road Scrapyard

Four of these tracks were not only laboured over, but recorded, then scrapped, and rerecorded.

Don't Bother Me - 7 takes, then scrapped. Version 2 - 4 more takes.
Taxman - 4 takes, then scrapped. Version 2 - 11 more takes.
While My Guitar Gently Weeps – demoed at Abbey Road 2 takes. Full band version 1 - 14 takes, then scrapped. Version 2 - 28 more takes.
Something -13 takes, then scrapped. Version 2 - 36 more takes.

In the case of While My Guitar Gently Weeps it wasn't merely the backing tracks that were scrapped. After tracking 'version 1' Harrison spent an entire eight-hour session trying to record a backwards guitar solo. The following day he recorded two lead vocal parts, alongside maracas, drums and lead guitar. Then he binned the whole thing, enlisted Eric Clapton and started all over again.

What to make of all this?

The proportion of 1st takes to 101 takes, and of scrapping recordings and starting again, looks broadly same as Lennon & McCartney's work on their own songs. Michelle was recorded (and mixed) in a single day. Happiness Is A Warm Gun took forever. Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da and Strawberry Fields Forever were scrapped and rerecorded, as were One After 909 and Hold Me Tight.

As I've written before it's one thing taking up your bandmate's time with something either world class (Strawberry Fields) or very complex (Warm Gun). But imprisoning them in the studio so you can flog a dead horse (Maxwell, Ob-La-Di, Not Guilty) is just going to make everyone crazy.

Looking at the figures it's hard to believe George got a raw deal when he'd made John 'world's shortest attention sp...oh look something shiny' Lennon sit at the Electric Harpsichord for 101 takes***.

George seems to have been indecisive or ill-prepared**** when working on his own songs and, perhaps understandably, lacking in confidence. Compared to the uber-confident, omnicompetent McCartney (who demoed a 'full band' version of Come And Get It on his own, in one hour!) and the laid back Lennon (who often got bored of his own songs before anyone else could) he was perhaps the least fun Beatles to 'work for'.

*I've not included The Inner Light and Within You Without You as no other Beatle was involved with the basic track.

**Not Guilty was not included on The White Album and remained unreleased until Anthology 3.

***Perhaps that explains why Lennon often excused himself when George was recording one of his songs. Of the 22 released, Lennon plays no part in 6, and contributes only backing vocals to 4 others.

****For example each 'version' of While My Guitar has different (or extra) lyrics.

10:32 Glass Onion (pt.2)

A completely minor song like Glass Onion is a genuinely rare thing for the Beatles (Golden Slumbers, I Me Mine & Eleanor Rigby spring to mind). But from a songwriting point of view there's very little great stuff here that they haven't done much better elsewhere. Don't get me wrong. Glass Onion is a well recorded album track. And I like it personally. But if I was putting together a must listen to list of songwriting tips this wouldn't make the cut.

The main weaknesses are a melody that's doesn't resolve or go anywhere based round an A diminished chord (A C Eb) - the 'sing-song' 2 note melody was done a lot more effectively on I Am The Walrus. And the lyrics are poorly set and just give the impression that they were shoehorned in. Listen to “Lady Madonna trying to make ends meet”. And the cast iron shore line is squeezed by the needless 'yeah'.

Onions Have Layers

'Onion' is a horrible word to sing anyway but even more so when you put the stress is on the wrong syllable. Un-YON. Yuck. Making it the title and final word makes it stick out all the more. And having no rhyme to the hook (bunion, grunion, dungeon, luncheon?) and placing it on a bland chord that doesn't resolve (G maj, the bVII) means we get neither drama nor resolution.

It's ironic that 'Glass Onion' was Lennon's suggestion for renaming Apple recording artists The Iveys (they chose to be called Badfinger instead). A phrase that didn't work as a band name was also flawed as a song hook. Sometimes ideas have knots in them. You just have to work round them as best you can.

Deep breath.

As I said I like the song. That may be just my upbringing. But here are some good songwriting points and some better examples.

5 Good Things About Glass Onion

1) Ticket 22: Bluesify Your Melody
Done better on From Me To You

Lennon smothers the song in blues sauce by singing the 'out of key' Eb (b5).

NOthing is REAL
place you go EV'rything
LOOKing THROUGH ...see how the OTHER half
LOOKING through a glass Onion

What's more all the OOKC's* - C7 F7 Gm7 are created by altering 'in key' chords with blue notes - Bb in C7 and Gm7 and Eb in F7.

But it's all too jarring here. From Me To You is way smoother.


2) Ticket 32: The James Bond Chord Progression
Done better on Hey Bulldog

The rising chromatic chord melody starting from the 5th

Am - F/A - Am6 - Am7

in the B section is possibly the coolest part of the song. But bridge of Hey Bulldog is far superior, with the same idea appearing in TWO keys and the insistent “You can talk to me...” having a much stronger emotional pull than “Oh yeah...”


3) Ticket 40: A Very Small Vocal Range
Done better on Here Comes The Sun

Both songs have a span of a 5th but Harrison playfully inverts his melodic ideas keep them fresh where Lennon goes for jarring and repetitive. The fact that he doesn't use all 7 notes but doesn't create ambiguity, like Rain, just monotony.


4) Ticket 41: Use Same Ending In Two Sections
Done better on Let It Be

Recycling your ending in an AABA structure (Ticket 26) is a bold move but it doesn't give us the same sense of closure and comfort that Paul achieves in his 'hymn'


5) Ticket 2: Put Your Song On A Diet
Done better on Eleanor Rigby

2 snare hits for an intro and a sudden stop after the final verse. There is no fat on the hog. The 2:18 duration is more remarkable when you realise 29 seconds is taken up by George Martin's cello coda**. But there's no shortage of compact Beatles classics. (See what I did there?)


Hey this is my 400th post!!!!! (Read the very first right here)


*Out Of Key Chords (Ticket 28)

** This replaced Lennon's SFX coda (heard on Anthology 3). A wise choice as they'd done it better on the fade out of I Am The Walrus (not to mention Revolution 9).

10:29 I Will (pt.1 - Demo and Lyrics)

For me I Will is a timeless Beatles song that could have snuck onto any album from '64 onwards. But for the fact it's almost a solo McCartney track (Ringo & John percussed) I could imagine the band 'soundchecking' it for Victor Spinetti in A Hard Days Night. It's a sweetly unassuming, brilliantly composed track. It shows why Paul is both a master wordsmith and bad lyricist. And, thanks to the Esher demos on Anthology 3, it gives us an insight into the different working processes of Lennon, McCartney & Harrison.

We've looked at Piggies and Happiness Is A Warm Gun already. Compositionally Piggies is pretty much finished by the time it's demoed, but undergoes a folk to classical makeover in the studio, dumping Blackbird and shacking up with Eleanor Rigby. Warm Gun on the other hand is totally hot-rodded - one section removed, others added in - the band are 'all hands on deck' to pimp Lennon's ride.

In contrast, I Will is almost identical to the finished product, bar one thing - the lyrics. Even the clave-like 3 over 4 hemiola (Ticket 29) at the end, which sounds off the cuff on the album (1:42 WA*), is there on the demo (this time played on guitar - 1:46 A3**). The melody, the arrangement, the chords, down to the odd dissonant passing chords in the final verse (1:11 WA/1:13 A3), are all there. But the lyrics are still incomplete. Though some lines are clearly bloopers (he reverses “endear you to me” on the demo) the fact that he has every other detail nailed down, implies that lyrics are the last thing on his mind (quite literally).

Next time we'll look at the music, but for now let's examine the words – good and bad, and what they tell us about Paul the lyricist.

Good Words

First we have the ever present rhyming of ideas, or parallel lyrics as I've come to call them (ticket 24)

who knows how long I've loved you/you know I love you still

love you forever/love you whenever

Paul plays off the title brilliantly

will I wait a lonely lifetime? / If you want me to I will

and later

I will always feel the same

On top of this standard poetic devices abound like alliteration

how long I've loved you

will I wait (2 w's) a lonely lifetime (3 l's)

if you want (me to I) will

and internal rhyme

if you (want) me to

After the triple rhyme of

hear you/near you/endear you

the run on line has a brilliant internal rhyme again

the things you do – endear you to me

immediately followed by

oh/you know

calling this worthy of Gershwin might be a slight stretch to but those old school writers certainly wouldn't have been ashamed to pen a verse like that.

There also a satisfying bookending implied in the lyrics – the song starts with a question

who knows...?

sung on the 7th rising to the root note (E to F). The penultimate line ends with a statement

(You know) I will

the melody reprising the 7th to root note movement before the final soaring octave leap (I Will!).

Overall this is pop lyricism at it's most transcendent – the words have rhythm and melody in themselves – they 'sing' without the need for music. So why do I say they represent McCartney's bad writing too?

Bad Words

In the bridge McCartney uses cliches like he gets them wholesale. Ask anyone you know (a child!) to fill in the blanks

Love you forever and ________
Love you with all my ____
Love whenever we're _________
Love when we're ______

They might say 'ever' in place of 'forever' but I bet they score highly - like bridge of Oh Darling! this is an utterly predictable clichéclasm.

Secondly – what is the story? A hymn to an unknown, or possibly unrequited, love? At first listen, maybe. But in verse 2 we learn it's a love he's never seen (or can't remember seeing)

For if I ever saw you, I didn't catch your name

Perhaps the woman of his dreams? But by the bridge he Loves her whenever they're together. So he does know her!

But by verse 3 we're back to the unknown woman again.

And when at last I find you

And we won't even get into who is, or should be, singing 'her song'.

In some ways this is McCartney's companion to While My Guitar Gently Weeps – a great song with great lyrics...and bad lyrics. I think for Paul as a lyricist, both the genius and the failings have the same root. Words are things to be manipulated, just like notes. The notes and chords have to be aesthetically pleasing, but they don't need to 'mean' anything. McCartney's work seems to display the same attitude to words.

Good Or Bad?

One final thing, which I noted as a fault but I'm beginning to suspect is a mark of genius.

The rhyme scheme in the verses (or A sections) is ABCB

A - you
B - still
C - lifetime
B2 - will

A - you
B - name
C - matters
B2 - same

but in verse 3 the scheme is not only extended, but ultimately abandoned as McCartney bails out on the last line - ABCCCD

A - you
B - air
C - hear you
C2 - near you
C3 - endear you
D - will

That last line should stick out like a sore thumb but it doesn't (be honest – had you even noticed it?). Perhaps the reason we don't is that the last word in verse 3 is the same as in verse 1 (it's also the title). Am I saying you can bail out of a rhyme scheme by substituting the same word you used in a different verse? It would appear so. Paul did EXACTLY the same thing in The Long And Winding Road

Like I said. Genius.

*WA = White Album aka The Beatles
**A3 = Anthology 3

10:2 Julia (pt.1) Introduction

Julia is another high watermark in John Lennon's songwriting with the Beatles. It is a masterclass in matching the mood of the music with the lyrical message and terrific example of how to write compelling, beguiling song even though you're breaking all the rules.

John wears a coat in India, Donovan hogs the guitar, Mike Love prepares to explore the Amazon

Written in Rishikesh, India it was recorded 3 days before the final mixing sessions of White Album. An entirely solo Lennon performance (with McCartney coaching him from the control room) it took a mere 3 takes to get the basic track down.

John used the same fingerpicking pattern throughout that he employed on Dear Prudence and the intro of Happiness Is A Warm Gun and which Paul used for Blackbird (though Paul's version is more of a sloppy half-strum). Both Beatles had recently learned this pattern in India from Donovan and/or Gypsy Dave. It's impressive to note that even at this late stage of their career they were still learning and incorporating new concepts into their compositions.

Donovan gives John a guitar lesson?

The track is ethereal and weirdly catatonic. The opening monotonal melody, the never changing picking pattern and the oddly stretched-out first syllable in the title all contribute. But beginning and ending each verse with the word Julia, starting on high A and finishing by descending to the lower D, always falling and appearing at the top again, always overlapping with itself like endless ocean waves is a crucial component in establishing the hypnotic, dreamlike mood.

The lyrics also play their part, effectively conveying the unreachableness of would-be mistress Yoko (John was with his wife in India) and his deceased mother Julia.

'Julia' is calling, but never touches him, her smile is as intangible as the wind (though 'windy smile' also conjures up a baby that needs burping!). She is 'sleeping sand' and a 'silent cloud', her smile and her eyes are calling him rather than any particular spoken message. She is always distant - most of the song is sung about her, rather than sung 'to' her. In contrast the singer can't stop 'speaking his mind', 'singing a song of love' even if 'half of what he says is meaningless'.

There is much more to this song than can be packed into a single post but here's some of the key points I'll be hitting in future posts. Get listening to Julia and see if you can spot where I'm heading.

• Consistency of lyrical imagery
• Out of key chords and their relationship to the melody
• Creative ways to compensate for lack of rhymes
• Using jazz song structures in folk/pop music
• A favourite Beatles chord progression (borrowed from Eleanor Rigby?)

The Best Of The Best Of Let It Be

One of the decisions I made when starting this blogging odyssey (blogdyssey?!?) was to limit myself to official recordings release during the Beatles lifetime. That way I might have some chance of retaining my sanity, finishing during my natural lifetime and avoiding wading through a sea of substandard bootlegs and outtakes. But which version of Let It Be is the best? The Spectorised version which abandoned the original concept and which Paul so despised he cited it in his 1970 court case? Or the stripped down reissue - 'Naked' as God (or at least Paul) intended? You would expect the latter album to be simply be remixes, but many tracks are completely different versions. After a detailed survey (click on the titles for more info) here is my ideal Let It Be mix tape.


LIBN Two Of Us
LIBN Dig A Pony
LIB   Across The Universe               
LIBN I Me Mine
LIB   Dig It     
LIBN Let It Be                   (see also The Many Guitar Solos Of Let It Be)
LIB   Maggie Mae           
LIBN I've Got A Feeling     
LIBN Don't Let Me Down     
A1    The One After 909         
LIBN The Long And Winding Road 
A3    For You Blue                         
LIB   Get Back                  (see also Get Back To The Drawing Board)


LIBN wins hands down though LIB has two superior versions (not counting Dig It and Maggie Mae which don't appear on LIBN at all) and the Anthologies manage a couple. But a word of warning. LIBN wasn't a restoration job on a masterpiece obscured by years of neglect and audio grime. It merely made a bad album slightly nicer to listen too. Some of that grime was there for a reason. A pristine digital mix displays substandard writing and poor performances that you can't pin on Phil Spector. The album remains, as John Lennon famously said

the s**tiest load of badly recorded s**t
with a lousy feeling to it

Abbreviations

LIB – Let It Be
LIBN – Let It Be Naked
A1 – Anthology 1
A3 – Anthology 3

The Best Of Let It Be (pt.8) - Don't Let Me Down And I've Got A Feeling

Don't Let Me Down

PM - A studio version recorded Jan 28th 1969 which was released as the B-side to Get Back. Mixed by Glyn Johns. Lennon's guitar is panned left, Harrison's Hendrix/Mayfield style lead is right, and Preston's electric piano is centre.

Paul is really screaming his head off at points and John makes a cheeky self reference at 3:22 (“can you dig it”). It sounds like Lennon's vocals on the first verse are doubled tracked, though it could possibly be Paul syncing up perfectly with John. You can hear Lennon say something just after this section (at 1:43) which may support the 'punched-in overdub' theory. The vocals are really poorly recorded, with lots of noise (2:11, 2:25, 3:06) and the pitch of the whole track is slightly flat.

LIBN – An edit of the two rooftop versions recorded on Jan 30th 1969 (they recorded a second take because Lennon forgot the lyrics). The positioning of the piano and Lennon's guitar is reversed (piano L, guitar C). Slightly sharper than concert pitch and slightly faster than the studio version (16 seconds) and there are fewer vocal pops.

I've Got A Feeling

LIB – Studio recording. The rhythm guitar and piano are in the left speaker. Unusually the right speaker fades in, and the initial total silence making the guitar sound very small. There is Lennon-style slap back echo on McCartney's vocals. Most of the instruments sound ragged or out of tune, especially the bass. The vocals are centre till the final 'overlapping' section where McCartney moves left and Lennon, right. At the end of the song there is an edit piece taken from the rooftop gig consisting of a floor tom roll, bass noise, Lennon (singing) “Oh my soul... (speaking) so hard” and then applause.

LIBN - A composite of two takes from the rooftop concert on 30 Jan. The rhythm guitar is left, piano and bass are centre. Both vocals are without slap back echo and remain centre throughout. Lennon's comment and the applause are removed.

A3 – Rehearsal take recorded at Apple Studios on 24 Jan 1969. The piano part seems to be a work in-progress (you can hear Lennon telling Billy Preston to play E at 1:13) and the ascending guitar riff after the chorus is missing (it possibly it hadn't been created yet). The whole performance is more laid back, Lennon's vocals are clearer but full of ad-libs and mistakes

I've got a feeling (yes you have!)
That keeps me on my toes (on your what?)


Everybody had a hard year
Everybody got their feet up
Everybody let their hair down
Everybody put their socks up

The track breaks down before the final doubled vocal section with Lennon saying “I cocked it up trying to get loud...not bad though”.



The LIBN version of Don't Let Me Down is much clearer than the PM version, and pushing the piano out on the left is a big part of that. It's hard to believe Glyn Johns thought the quality of the vocal recording on the PM version was worth releasing. At least LIBN has the excuse of being a genuine live recording on a roof.


I've Got A Feeling's rehearsal take is OK by Anthology standards, which isn't saying much. As with most of LIBN, the production is sonically clearer than LIB but the standout here is the band, the performance is far better and McCartney absolutely on FIRE as a vocalist.

Best versions

Don't Let Me Down - LIBN
I've Got A Feeling – LIBN

  

The Best Of Let It Be pt.7 (Get Back)

Get Back

PM - Single version. 27 January 1969*, plus a coda edit (starting at 2:34) from a later take (recorded 28th Jan). Produced by Glyn Johns with little or no involvement from George Martin. Mixed by Johns (though possibly remixed by McCartney and Johns), there was also a rejected mix by Jeff Jarratt. The vocals and lead guitar are distant and reverb laden and the rest of the band sound small and squashed.

LIB - 27 January 1969 plus extra studio chatter (from 27th) and the final dialogue from the rooftop concert (30th) but without the single's coda. Produced by Spector. Cleverly using dialogue to create the illusion that this is the live on the roof version, Spector opts for a dryer mix than some of his other LIB tracks.

LIBN - 27 January 1969 without the single coda and album's framing dialogue. Produced by Paul Hicks. Harrison's rhythm track and Ringo's toms are very slightly clearer.

A3 – 30 January 1969 Rooftop Concert on the Apple Building. The genuine final take (there were 3 versions recorded) which was interrupted by the police. The structure resembles the single with the coda ending. The band play faster and more aggressively (for obvious reasons) Lennon doing some terrible guitar fills in the first verse before the guitars and vocals cut out all together as the amps are switched off, then back on. Ringo, for one of the few times in his career, goes completely out of time on the final two choruses before righting himself just before the end. Paul ad-libs over the final chorus


“you been out too long Loretta, you've been playing on the roofs again, and that's no good, 'cos you know your mammy doesn't like, oh she gets angry, she's gonna have you arrested! Get back!”.

The song ends with Paul's “thanks Mo!” but cuts John's announcement.

The live take is fun, and could have been a contender but for the total breakdowns. If Spector had had protools I'm sure this would have made the final cut. The single mix is awful, Spector at his most muddy and reverb drenched – except it isn't Spector, it's Andy Johns. Spector's actual album mix is Martin-like, clear, dry and punchy, with everything cleanly separated. No wonder the Naked team (ew!) struggled to improve on it. Having the bookend edits gives Spector's mix the advantage.

Verdict

LIB

*The main take could have been recorded on 28th Jan. If you have any interest at all in that read this.