All the Songs
Page 30
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
At the end of “A Day in the Life,” the Beatles added a never-ending tape loop of studio chatter, as well as a high-pitched tone that only dogs can hear!
Production
The production of this song was epic. On the day of the first session, January 19, the song was not yet finished. The group recorded the rhythm track in a simple manner (acoustic guitar, piano, bongos, and maracas). John’s vocal, wrapped up in a heavy echo, was particularly moving. Instead of a traditional countdown, John called out “sugarplum fairy, sugarplum fairy.” The whole team felt the emotion. Geoff Emerick remembered shivering as he heard this. The Beatles decided to leave twenty-four beats blank after the first and the second I’d love to turn you on, because they did not know at the time how to fill that space. It was Mal Evans who was in charge of counting the beats, and you can hear him as of 1:44 mixing up the numbers. Originally, his voice was supposed to disappear, but it was impossible to delete it—as well as the alarm clock ringing to indicate the end of the section! It was purely random that the ringing perfectly coincided with Paul’s bridge (Woke up!). John then recorded two different vocal takes and the very next day, a third one that made it possible to gather together the best parts of each one. After a first inconclusive attempt on January 20, Paul redid his voice and his bass playing on February 3, while Ringo redid his drumming. Initially reluctant to play too much, Ringo ultimately performed a remarkable part on drums, one of his best ever. Geoff Emerick highlighted it by asking him to tune his toms very low and to remove the lower skins in order to slip in microphones, while everything was highly compressed.
On February 10, according to George Martin, John found a way to fill the twenty-four beats, “What I’d like to hear is a tremendous buildup, from nothing up to something absolutely like the end of the world,”3 John said to George Martin by way of telling him to hire a symphonic orchestra. But Paul, according to Mark Lewisohn, claimed he was the one who came up with the idea. Being a lover of contemporary music, he may indeed have been the instigator. Whatever was the case, George Martin only reserved half a symphonic orchestra in order to save money, and on the day set for recording, each of the forty musicians received a false nose, false breasts, gorilla hands, etc. What they did not know was that they were going to be asked to play randomly during twenty-four beats, starting from the lowest register of their instrument and then reaching gradually to the highest level. They were to do this without paying attention to the other musicians! Some friends were invited for the recording: among them were the Rolling Stones, Donovan, and Graham Nash. Klaus Voormann, who attended the session, related: “John arrived and announced, ‘We are going to turn down the lights, and this way, no one will be able to tell if their neighbor is playing off key.’ Bursts of laughter. The ice was broken. Sitting in the control room beside Ringo, we could hear George Martin call the first take: “‘A Day in the Life … take one’ … As they started, we began getting goose bumps. As the crescendo progressed, the less they stayed put and encouraged by John and Paul, they were standing up one after another under the feverish direction of Martin. Everyone was staring at him, waiting for the signal for the end.”
The orchestra was recorded several times on several tracks and this was then mixed down to one in order to boost the sound, an equivalent of 160 musicians. The results were amazing. All that was left was to figure out a conclusion at the climax of this. Paul tried to have everyone present hum one single note, but this did not work. The idea suddenly occurred to him—playing one single chord on several pianos at the same time! On February 22, John, Martin, Mal Evans, Paul, and Ringo together struck different keyboards and George Martin completed the effect with a harmonium. In order to prolong the sound as long as possible, Geoff Emerick gradually increased the recording level to the point where every bit of the sound was captured. The ninth attempt was the best. Duplicated three times, the effect was enormous. You can also hear Ringo’s chair squeaking at 4:49! The mix required the synchronization of the orchestra’s four-track tape recorders with the one of the Beatles’ backing track. Ken Townsend found the technical solution and the final mono mix was done on the same day. The stereo version is dated February 23. After an attempt at a piano overdub, made on March 1 (which was not kept), “A Day in the Life,” the major work of Sgt. Pepper, was finally complete.
All You Need Is Love / Baby You’re a Rich Man
1967
SINGLE
RELEASED AS A SINGLE
Great Britain: July 7, 1967 / No. 1 on July 19, 1967 for 3 weeks
United States: July 17, 1967 / No. 1 on August 19, 1967 for 1 week
All You Need Is Love
Lennon-McCartney / 3:47
1967
SONGWRITER
John
MUSICIANS
John: vocal, harpsichord, banjo
Paul: bass, double bass, backing vocal
George: lead guitar, violin, backing vocals
Ringo: drums, percussion
George Martin: piano
Mike Vickers: conductor
Sidney Sax, Patrick Halling, Eric Bowie, John Ronayne: violins
Lionel Ross, Jack Holmes: cellos
Rex Morris, Don Honeywill: tenor saxophones
Evan Watkins, Harry Spain: trombones
Jack Emblow: accordion
Stanley Woods: trumpet, bugle
David Mason: piccolo trumpet
RECORDED
Olympic Sound Studios: June 14, 1967 (Studio One)
Abbey Road: June 19, 1967 (Studio Three) / June 23–25, 1967 (Studio One) / June 26, 1967 (Studio Two)
NUMBER OF TAKES: 58
MIXING
Abbey Road: June 21, 1967 (Room 53 + Studio Three) / June 26, 1967 (Studio Two) / November 1, 1967 (Room 53) / October 29, 1968 (Studio Three)
TECHNICAL TEAM
Producer: George Martin
Sound Engineers: Eddie Kramer (Olympic), Geoff Emerick, Malcolm Addey
Assistant Engineers: George Chkiantz (Olympic), Richard Lush, Phil McDonald, Martin Benge, Graham Kirkby
Genesis
The Beatles were chosen by the BBC to represent Great Britain in the first international satellite broadcast, which was scheduled for Sunday, June 25, 1967. The televised program, called Our World, was to connect five continents simultaneously and be watched by about 400 million viewers. John wrote a song for the event. He chose a very simple chorus, which everyone could understand, with a universal message—“All You Need Is Love.” “I think if you get down to basics, whatever the problem is, it’s usually to do with love. So I think ‘All You Need Is Love’ is a true statement,” he said in 1971.1 George was proud of this selection, “Everybody else was showing knitting in Canada, or Irish clog dances in Venezuela. We thought, ‘Well, we’ll sing “All You Need Is Love,” because it’s a subtle bit of PR for God.’”2 The initial idea was to film the Beatles as they recorded. However, for technical reasons, they had to first produce a backing track for the broadcast (and it was also decided that the voices, the guitar solo, and the orchestra accompanying them would be live). George Martin asked them what arrangements they would like for the intro and the coda. “‘Write absolutely anything you like, George,’ they said. Put together any tunes you fancy, and just play it out like that.”3 Martin followed through and selected “La Marseillaise” (the French national anthem) for the introduction, a Bach invention, “Greensleeves,” and a brief extract from “In the Mood” for the coda, because he was sure all these works were in the public domain. Unfortunately, the arrangement of “In the Mood” was copyrighted and EMI had to come to an agreement with its copyright holder. Some guests came to the huge Studio One of Abbey Road on the day of the broadcast: Brian Jones, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Marianne Faithfull, Keith Moon, Eric Clapton, Graham Nash, and many others. All were dressed in colorful clothes. Although the program was broadcast in black and white, the show was a worldwide success. The single came out on July 7 and immediately shot up
to the top of the charts: “All You Need Is Love,” emblematic of the Summer of Love, became the anthem of young people around the world, a hymn for peace and love.
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
At 0:25, you can clearly hear someone talking on the right channel (“Check ready?”) and at 1:27, poor George blowing the end of his solo.
Production
Since George Martin could not reserve Abbey Road on time, he ended up on June 14 with his group at Olympic Sound Studios for the second time. John said, “We just put a track down. Because I knew the chords I played it on whatever it was, harpsichord. George played a violin because we felt like doing it like that and Paul played a double bass. And they can’t play them, so we got some nice little noises coming out.”5 Only Ringo played his usual instrument. After a reduction on tape, the Beatles finished the preliminary recording at Abbey Road on June 19: John sang lead, with Paul and George on backing vocals, George Martin on piano, and Ringo doing percussion. Then John added a part on banjo. According to Geoff Emerick, John announced foolheartedly that he would sing live. Meeting the challenge, Paul stated he would play his bass the same way. George, who was at first undecided about his guitar solo, ended up agreeing. Only Ringo would record on playback for technical reasons. On June 23 and 24, an orchestra of thirteen musicians rehearsed with the Beatles. The conductor of the orchestra was none other than Mike Vickers of Manfred Mann, in which Klaus Voormann played the bass and the flute. On June 25, there were a few final rehearsals before the live show. Everyone was nervous, especially John, who was worried about forgetting his words. According to Emerick, Harrison had a private conversation with the director of the show. Emerick thought he was suggesting that the camera not focus on him during his solo, because he was not very confident about his performance or he planned to replace it later. A camera was set up in the control room. But forty seconds before showtime, Martin received a call from the director who asked him to ensure contact with his cameraman, because the connection was disrupted! As soon as the live show began, the Beatles had no problem performing their sublime song. Up to the last note, it was an explosion of music, joy, and brotherhood: it was the hymn of a whole generation, the children of the sixties. It was also the success of a whole team, especially George Martin, who was going through a hard time, because his father had died two days before, his wife was pregnant, and they were moving into a new residence that very day! In order to thank him, his name was credited for the first time on a Beatles single!
Once the studio was empty, John redid two lines of the second couplet and Ringo replaced the snare drum roll that he had insisted on doing live. The mono mix was done the next day, but the stereo mix was not carried out until October 29, 1968. One last detail: it seems that it was John and not Paul who repeated She loves you on the coda.
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
The original lyrics for “All You Need Is Love,” which had been left on John’s desk after the Our World broadcast, were purchased at an auction on July 28, 2005, for the sum of 870,000 euros [$1,132,305 U.S.]
Baby You’re A Rich Man
Lennon-McCartney / 2:59
1967
SONGWRITERS
John and Paul
MUSICIANS
John: vocal, piano, clavioline
Paul: bass, piano, backing vocal
George: lead guitar, backing vocal, hand claps
Ringo: drums, hand claps
Eddie Kramer: vibraphone (?)
Mick Jagger: backing vocal (?)
RECORDED
Olympic Sound Studios: May 11, 1967 (Studio One)
NUMBER OF TAKES: 12
MIXING
Olympic Sound Studios: May 11, 1967 (Studio One)
TECHNICAL TEAM
Producer: George Martin
Sound Engineer: Keith Grant
Assistant Engineers: Eddie Kramer
Genesis
“Baby You’re a Rich Man” was a combination of two unfinished songs: one by John for the verses (called “One of the Beautiful People”) and another by Paul, for the choruses. During a work session on Cavendish Avenue, they worked on John’s idea about the “Beautiful People,” a name given to hippies. Paul said, “The question then was, how does it feel to be one of the beautiful people?”1 Semi-ironic, semi-psychedelic, the message was, according to John, “Stop moaning. You’re a rich man and we’re all rich men, heh, heh, baby!”2
Originally, this song was supposed to be part of the soundtrack for the animated movie Yellow Submarine. It finally appeared on side B of the single “All You Need Is Love,” but not on the album (although it was in the movie soundtrack).
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
Eddie Kramer, who was then the assistant engineer at Olympic, soon became famous recording, among other rock icons, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, and Kiss.
Production
“Baby You’re a Rich Man” was the first song to be entirely recorded outside Abbey Road. On May 11, the Beatles were together at the famous Olympic Sound Studios in London, where the Stones recorded in those days. The recording was done briskly by Keith Grant. John was on piano and on clavioline, a self-amplified electronic keyboard reproducing different sound effects. The sound used was close to that of a shenai, an Indian instrument that made the tune catchy (and made Revolver complete). Paul added a second piano and an excellent part on bass, partially muted. George was on lead guitar and Ringo on drums. Once the rhythm track was recorded, John sang and doubled his voice with Paul and George doing backing vocals. According to George Chkiantz, Keith Grant and Eddie Kramer marveled at John’s voice. “They couldn’t believe anyone could sing that well.”3 Maracas and tambourines were then added, with, so it seems, Eddie Kramer on vibraphone. On one of the boxes containing the tapes, Mark Lewisohn noticed that Mick Jagger’s name also appeared with a question mark. Since Jagger associated regularly with the Fab Four, it was quite possible that he sang backing vocals in the free-for-all choruses near the end of the song. The mix was done right afterwards and the Beatles took off with the master. Paul stated, “Keith Grant mixed it, instantly, right there. He stood up at the console as he mixed it.”4
A French invention
The clavioline that John used was a French invention created in Versailles in 1947 by Constant Martin and used in many songs, like “Runaway” (1961) by Del Shannon and “Telstar” (1962) by the Tornados.
Magical Mystery Tour:
Inspired Madness
1967
Magical Mystery Tour
Your Mother Should Know
I Am the Walrus
The Fool on the Hill
Flying
Blue Jay Way
ALBUM
RELEASED
Great Britain: (EP) December 8, 1967 / No. 1 on January 13, 1968 for 2 weeks
United States: (album) November 27, 1967 / No. 1 on January 1, 1968 for 8 weeks
The End of the Epstein Years
In late 1965, Brian Epstein had considered having his group perform in a feature film, called A Talent for Loving, that was based on the novel by Richard Condon for which Epstein had bought the copyright. The project fell through and it was not until April 1967 that the idea for a new film resurfaced. It came from Paul. On April 3, as soon as the recording of Sgt. Pepper was over, he went to join Jane Asher in the United States. When he arrived in Denver with his Super 8 camera, he remembered the bus trips he had taken during his childhood, when people took surprise trips, called “Mystery Tours.” He thought of a television production in which a group of actors and friends would take off on a bus in search of adventure, filming what was going on from day to day. Upon his return to London, Paul discussed the project with Brian Epstein, who found it brilliant. The project was launched. On May 25, 1967, before starting to shoot, the Beatles founded their first company, Apple Music Ltd. That summer, they basked in the triumph of Sgt. Pepper, which appeared on June 1, and they agreed to represent Great Britain in the program Our World that would
be broadcast before 400 million viewers on June 25. For this event, they performed the anthem of 1967, “All You Need Is Love,” which immediately became number 1 worldwide.
In July, they left for Greece, where they planned on purchasing an island (a plan that fell through), signed a petition in The Times in favor of legalizing marijuana, then, after attending a conference on transcendental meditation delivered by someone called Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, they went to Wales, in order to take a course on meditation. Two days later, on August 27, 1967, Brian Epstein was found dead in his home, after swallowing a fatal cocktail—which was certainly accidental—of alcohol and sleeping pills. The Beatles were crushed. Their father figure and mentor was no longer there for them. On September 1, they gathered at Paul’s place to decide what to do about their future. They agreed to carry on with the Magical Mystery Tour project and they went to the studio to finalize the songs. Among the six songs, John contributed the extraordinary song “I Am the Walrus” and Paul the irresistible “Fool on the Hill.” George wrote a very well-done song called “Blue Jay Way.” Finally, for the first time, an instrumental written by all four of them was recorded, called “Flying.” The movie was a total failure and the Beatles were heavily criticized for it. On the other hand, the album was successful.