10:64 Revolution (pt.4) All We Are Saying - Lyrics

Structure

Revolution is one of Lennon's most tightly structured lyrics. You can break the whole song down as follows

Verse: “You say you want to do this, but I'm not sure. I for one have reservations. You say you want to do that but I'm not sure. Again, I have reservations".

pre-chorus: “But when you propose this other thing, that's going too far”.

Chorus: “You should just chill out”.

Employing the Beatles favourite device of parallel lyrics (Ticket 24) makes the structure clearer and more memorable

Verse: “You say you … Well, you know we … You tell me/you ask me … Well, you know we …"

pre-chorus: “But when you/but if you …”

A Mild Case of Rhymes Disease

The facsimiles included in the 50th Anniversary Edition book reveal a Harrison-style list of rhymes

constitution
institution
desolation
revelation
pollution
dissolution
confusion
intrusion
distribution [?]
Constitution [?]

but where While My Guitar Gently Weeps (and Dig A Pony for that matter) succumb to Rhymes Disease, letting rhymes dictate what the song is saying and being so obvious that it distracts from the meaning, Revolution's wordplay manages to be cute and memorable.

In this it shares much with it's spiritual successor, Give Peace A Chance. Released a year later it's another campfire friendly peace anthem, marrying a rhyme-laden, preachy verse to a mantra like chorus. It even gives the previous song a self-referential nod "everybody's talking 'bout revolution, evolution..." If anything Give Peace A Chance distils the core concepts even further and is arguably more successful for it.

Don't Break It Till You Make It

The Beatles weren't afraid to break a rhyme scheme (Ticket 73) if they had a good reason, but here Lennon does something different. The first verse has one rhyme (A) and two repeated lines (b & c), and the first pre-chorus doesn't rhyme at all (X)

Abc Abc XX

A You say you want a revolution
b Well, you know
c We all want to change the world

A You tell me that it's evolution
b Well, you know
c We all want to change the world

X But when you talk about destruction
X Don't you know that you can count me out

But the second and third verses/pre-choruses introduce a more rigorous rhyme structure

AbC AbC DD

2.

A You say you got a real solution
b Well, you know
C We'd all love to see the plan

A You ask me for a contribution
b Well, you know
C We're doing what we can

D But if you want money for people with minds that hate
D All I can tell is brother you have to wait

3.

A You say you'll change the constitution
b Well, you know
C We all want to change your head

A You tell me it's the institution
b Well, you know
C You better free you mind instead

D But if you go carrying pictures of chairman Mao
D You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow

The rhyme structure works brilliantly as it is (admit it, you didn't even notice, right?) but if the order of the verses are reversed the lack of rhymes in the first part lands badly, especially on the pre-chorus (destruction/count me out). Once you've set up the expectation of rhyme you're committed. So Lennon wisely doesn't let his poetic soul write cheques his rhyming dictionary can't cash. Or something.

This shows how skilful you have to be to use ticket 73. To break a rhyme you really have to be obeying some higher logic or structure device that the listener can sense if only subconsciously.

Ticket 24: Repeat words and sentence structures
Ticket 73: Interrupt the rhyme scheme by rhyming with a previous section or anticipating one that follows

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11:11 Dig It and Maggie Mae

I made the point that many of the songs in Abbey Road's Long One medley aren't songs at all but song fragments but Dig It takes that to the extreme. A 12 minute semi improvised jam over the most unoriginal chord sequence known to man, only 50 seconds was worth salvaging.

It's not a song, it's a mildly amusing outtake that belongs on something like Anthology.

The Beatles hadn't released a cover since Act Naturally in 1965 and Maggie Mae was to be the last. A traditional folk song about a Liverpool prostitute sung in exaggerated scouse accents (Mary McCartney had always taught Paul to 'talk posh' and Lennon was brought up in a fiercely middle class household) it had enough charm to be a great track – if only the band could have made it through an entire take.

The Best Of Let It Be (pt.5) - Dig It For You, Blue Maggie Mae!

For You Blue

LIB - Recorded on 25 January 1969 (except for Lennon's “Queen says 'no' to pot smoking FBI movement” comment). The lap steel is panned hard left and the 'prepared' piano hard right. Harrison's acoustic guitar is almost non existent except for the intro.

LIBN - A remix of the original version – piano and steel panning is reversed - lap steel right, piano on left with the piano a lot louder and the lap steel quieter. The Lennon quote is removed. According to engineer Hicks a lead vocal which was overdubbed in the original session was used and an incomplete guide vocal was removed, but it isn't clear whether the guide was used alongside the overdub on LIB on instead of it. I can't hear any difference. I almost wonder if he meant guitar track, as the acoustic guitar is much louder and clearer especially during the solos.

A3 - A different take recorded same day as LIB. Harrison's meandering (but cool) acoustic intro is replaced with a piano intro. The piano (right) is not 'prepared', the acoustic guitar is left and the steel centre. The song a much more laid-back feel overall and Lennon's vibrato is much more restrained. The piano solo and Harrison's humorous asides (“Elmore James got nothing on this baby”) are missing. Oh, and the drumming on the intro sounds like a typewriter.

Dig It and Maggie Mae

These songs only appear on the original Let It Be as does Lennon's “and now we'd like to do 'Ark The Angels Come” comment which was perceived as a sly dig at the hymn-like Let It Be which followed Dig It on the original album.

The mix of For You Blue on LIBN is far superior to LIB. However since both mixes feature the worst sounding instrument the Beatles ever committed to tape (McCartney's prepared piano) and one of the worst played (Lennon's lap steel) I'd take the less energetic but far more listenable Anthology version. I would have loved a complete take of Maggie Mae but there isn't one and I'd happily lose Dig It completely.

Best Versions

For You Blue – Anthology 3
Dig It – LIB
Maggie Mae – LIB

The Band Who ... Lived Outside

In my recent guest post for songwriting scene I let slip the remarkable fact that the very melodic and accessible Beatles only stayed in key for a remarkable 22 songs out of 186. Well I spoke too soon. I was looking primarily at chord progressions. When I factored in the actual vocal melody the number dropped to an incredible 16!

That right,

16 out of 186.

Here’s the list (with primary authors) followed by a breakdown and some ‘also rans’.

The 16 in key songs

All Together Now - M
Dig It - LMHS
Don’t Let Me Down - L
It’s All Too Much - H
Long Long Long – H
Love You To - H
Misery - LM
Not a Second Time - LM
Paperback Writer - M
Rain - L
She Said She Said - L
Thank You Girl - LM
The Inner Light - H
Tomorrow Never Knows - L
Yellow Submarine - M


The first thing that stands out to me is that percentage-wise Harrison (and Starr!) are over represented - I think. (Help me out with the maths someone!). 4 Harrison tunes (It’s All Too Much, Long Long Long, Love You To, The Inner Light) might not seem a lot but he only contributed 21 (and a quarter!) songs in 7 years).

There are 2 kids songs (All Together Now, Yellow Submarine), 1 throwaway track (Dig It) and 3 ‘Indian’ songs (Love You To, The Inner Light, Tomorrow Never Knows).

There's more. Don't assume 'in key' means in the major or minor scale. Paperback Writer, Rain, She Said She Said, The Inner Light, Tomorrow Never Knows are in the Mixolydian mode throughout and Love You To is built exclusively on the Dorian mode.

Are You Sure?

If you’re surprised about Rain (which sounds major but for McCartney’s bassline) and Love You To (which sounds Mixolydian) – so was I!

Both song mess with your head by omitting a note, but tricking you into thinking you've heard it. By leaving out the 3rd but using the major 6th, Harrison cons you into thinking you’ve heard the major 3rd as well. Rain’s chord progression of G C D5 has you mentally filling in the missing F# (in the D chord) simply because you’ve heard that progression a million times.

And The Runners Up Are...

And I Love Her stays in key for most of it’s length but blows it with a key change from E to F and then a weird final chord.
Goodnight loses it in the instrumental interlude (which to be fair may be arranger George Martin’s work)
In Spite Of All The Danger stays in key, but also stayed unreleased till Anthology.
I’ve Just Seen A Face would have made the list but for a G natural in the guitar intro.

2 more would have made the list but for bluesifying the melody, (Ticket 22) namely, Starr’s Don’t Pass Me By and the harmonica opening of Love Me Do.

So what?

Let's Get Lost

There’s no getting away from it. The Beatles songwriting career was one long mission to escape from the straight-jacket tonality of major and minor scales (whether they were conscious of it or not).

Think I’m making something out of nothing? Here’s your assignment. Out of your next 18 songs, only 1 of them can be in a major or minor scale.

Let me know how you get on!

Related post: The band who needed no introduction

Under The Influence

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