TECHNICAL TEAM
Producers: Chris Thomas, George Martin
Sound Engineer: Ken Scott
Assistant Engineers: Mike Sheady, John Smith
Genesis
One day, when George Martin handed John a gun magazine, he did not suspect that he had just given him a new idea for a song. The illustration on the cover was a smoking gun with the title, “Happiness Is a Warm Gun in Your Hand.” John specified in 1971, “I thought it was a fantastic, insane thing to say. A warm gun means you’ve just shot something.”1 Around this idea, he developed a succession of sentences that piqued the curiosity of Beatles fans. Ken Mansfield, the American CEO of Apple Records, remembered asking him about the meaning of his sentence: She’s well acquainted with the touch of the velvet hand / Like a lizard on a window pane” and getting the answer: “Nothing! I just made it up.” But on that day, John revealed a secret to him: “We’ve learned over the years that if we wanted we could write anything that just felt good or sounded good, and it didn’t necessarily have to have any particular meaning to us. As odd as it seemed to us, reviewers would take it upon themselves to interject their own meaning on our lyrics. So why strain me brain? Sometimes we sit and read other people’s interpretations of our lyrics and think, ‘Hey that’s pretty good.’”2
Nevertheless, he was accused of alluding to heroin, which got the song banned from the BBC: “They all said it was about drugs but it was more about rock ’n’ roll than drugs,” he said to defend himself during an interview in 1972.3 Yoko was also at the center of the song. Since their relationship had just begun, John admitted that when they were not in the studio, they were in bed. She was the Mother Superior of the lyrics, since John used to privately call her “Mother.”
“Happiness Is a Warm Gun” resulted from the collation of three song fragments. It was among John’s favorite songs: “I love it. I think it’s a beautiful song. I like all the different things that are happening in it.4 Paul and George agreed and found it one of the best songs of the White Album.
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
The structure of different parts of this song inspired the song “Paranoid Android” by Radiohead on their album OK Computer, which came out in 1997.
Production
On September 23, the Beatles undertook the complex production of “Happiness Is a Warm Gun in Your Hand,” its working title. The structure of the song, with its contrasting time signatures, was difficult to establish. On the first day, they laid down no less than forty-five takes to produce the right rhythm track: John played his Epiphone Casino and provided a guide vocal, Paul was on bass, George on lead guitar, and Ringo on drums. But as early as the next day, twenty-five extra takes were required to find a satisfactory one, and this meant a total of seventy takes altogether—however, this was far from the two hundred takes of “Not Guilty” (see Anthology 3). On September 25, takes 53 and 65 were edited together to establish a basic master. Then began the overdubs: after doubling his guitar part, John added a superb lead vocal, harmonized at certain points by Paul. George then joined them for the irresistible Bang bang shoot shoot harmonies at the end, a successful comical allusion to the doo-wop groups of the fifties. An unknown musician then stepped in with a tuba (that could barely be heard), to double Paul’s bass on the part that went, I need a fix. Finally, on the only remaining free track, they inserted, in turn, different instruments to complete the song: some organ in the intro, some fuzz guitar (from 0:44 to 0:58), some tambourines and hi-hat on the part of Mother Superior, and, at last, some piano for the finale. In the mix, the Beatles decided to mute John’s voice in the first passage containing I need a fix and make that entirely instrumental (0:44). But the voice was reintroduced too soon, and you could still distinguish the word down just before the singing began again! (0:57). The mono mix was carried out on September 26, and the stereo on October 15. “Happiness Is a Warm Gun” was one of the group’s best songs.
Martha My Dear
Lennon-McCartney / 2:28
1968
SONGWRITER
Paul
MUSICIANS
Paul: vocal, bass, piano, guitar, drums, hand claps
Bernard Miller, Dennis McConnell, Lou Sofier, Les Maddox: violins
Leo Birnbaum, Henry Myerscough: violas
Reginald Kilbey, Frederick Alexander: cellos
Leon Calvert: trumpet, flugelhorn
Stanley Reynolds, Ronnie Hughes: trumpets
Tony Tunstall: French horn
Ted Barker: trombone
Alf Reece: tuba
RECORDED
Trident Studios: October 4–5, 1968 (Studio Two)
NUMBER OF TAKES: 1
MIXING
Trident Studios: October 5, 1968 (Studio Two)
TECHNICAL TEAM
Producer: George Martin
Sound Engineer: Barry Sheffield
Assistant Engineer: unknown
Genesis
Paul revealed the identity of Martha, the heroine of his song, when he told Barry Miles1 it was his own dog, a three-year-old Old English Sheepdog. The song was written in October 1968, no more than three days before going to the studio. When Paul composed the music, he tried to overcome his limitations on piano: “It’s quite hard for me to play, it’s a two-handed thing, like a little set piece.”2 And some lyrics popped into his mind, for no apparent reason, such as “Martha My Dear.” The love story he made up had no real foundation: rather, it was a collection of images, a fantasy song. He was amused by the idea of getting his dog involved in it. “Martha My Dear” was a song with rather light lyrics, but with upbeat music. Neither John nor George—who would say to Paul disparagingly, “You used to make them up, they don’t mean anything to you”3—appreciated this song. Some people claimed the lyrics were addressed to Jane Asher, but why would he call her Martha? In addition, at that time, Paul had already begun his relationship with Linda, and she moved in with him at the end of October.
Production
On October 4, the Beatles went to Trident Studios for the fourth time. Or, more precisely, Paul McCartney went there, since it seems his bandmates did not participate in the session. That day, seven musicians recorded the arrangement for “Honey Pie” and fourteen musicians the one for “Martha My Dear.” For the latter, Paul provided the rhythm track by himself with some piano, drums, and vocals. The orchestra could then, under the direction of George Martin, interpret the great score no doubt written in a hurry (Paul obviously supplied him with a demo just before the session). Afterwards, Paul returned to overdub the lead vocal (applied with ADT) and hand claps. The next day, he added some bass and electric guitar. The results were remarkable. The song had soul and undeniable charm, and the McCartney/ Martin collaboration worked marvelously. The mixes were done the same day at Trident.
Technical Details
Since Trident Studios used American machines based on the NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) standard, the EMI engineers had to convert the tapes that were mixed at Trident to the European format (Radiocommunication Sector).
I’m So Tired
Lennon-McCartney / 2:03
1968
SONGWRITER
John
MUSICIANS
John: vocal, guitar, electric piano (?), organ (?)
Paul: bass, organ (?), backing vocals, electric piano (?)
George: lead guitar
Ringo: drums
RECORDED
Abbey Road: October 8, 1968 (Studio Two)
NUMBER OF TAKES: 14
MIXING
Abbey Road: October 15, 1968 (Studio Two)
TECHNICAL TEAM
Producer: George Martin
Sound Engineer: Ken Scott
Assistant Engineers: Mike Sheady, John Smith
Genesis
“I’m So Tired” was another song written in Rishikesh. Sleep and dreams are recurrent themes in John’s work (see “I’m Only Sleeping”). Pete Shotton pointed out that the only thing John hated more than g
oing to bed at night was waking up the next morning.
John could not stand the long hours of daily meditation he practiced in India. He was depressed about his dead-end marriage with Cynthia, and Yoko, who incessantly reminded him of her by means of almost daily letters, made him confused. John was losing sleep over it. He confirmed this in 1980, “I couldn’t sleep, I’m meditating all day and couldn’t sleep at night. The story is that.”2 All his talent was required for him to transform banal insomnia into such an incisive text. Lack of sleep put his nerves on edge, and for that he blamed poor Walter Raleigh, a sixteenth-century British explorer and writer who introduced tobacco to England. John did not forgive Sir Walter for his own addiction to tobacco: … and curse sir Walter Raleigh / He was such a stupid get. Paul interpreted this song as “… very much John’s comment to the world (!)” 1 and John found it was one of his best songs: “One of my favorite tracks. I just like the sound of it, and I sing it well.”3
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
At the end of the song, John whispered incomprehensible words (backwards and forwards). Mark Lewisohn heard: “M’sieur, m’sieur, how about another one?” Others heard: “Paul is dead. Miss him, miss him.”1 But if you listen carefully, the phrase is completely incomprehensible. John no doubt added a tape loop on which he had recorded a sentence. The results had no meaning.
Production
The Beatles met on October 8 to record “I’m So Tired.” John wanted a live atmosphere. Ultimately, there were rather few overdubs. The rhythm track was recorded in fourteen takes: John sang remarkably well while accompanying himself on rhythm guitar, with Paul on bass, George on lead guitar (with accents of Chuck Berry’s “Memphis Tennessee” on the bridges), and Ringo on drums. Then there were the overdubs: John double-tracked his vocal in some spots, joined by Paul on backing vocal. George added a second guitar, John (or Paul) did a part on electric piano that was barely audible, and Ringo doubled his snare drum, the bass drum, and the toms on the bridges. Finally, Paul (or John) completed the song with simultaneous organ behind a last guitar take. The mixes were done on October 15.
Technical Details
The recording of the rhythm track with the live voice caused “leakage” between the different microphones (that is, the sound from the instruments was picked up by multiple microphones). But during the mix, the Beatles used this flaw to deepen the sense of space between the instruments: in the stereo version, the drums were located on the left, John’s vocal was in the center, and the guitars were on the right. With the leakage from each track, the results gave the impression of a widened sound image.
Blackbird
Lennon-McCartney / 2:18
1968
SONGWRITER
Paul
MUSICIANS
Paul: vocal, acoustic guitar, foot-tapping
RECORDED
Abbey Road: June 11, 1968 (Studio Two)
NUMBER OF TAKES: 32
MIXING
Abbey Road: June 11, 1968 (Studio Two) / October 13, 1968 (Studio Two)
TECHNICAL TEAM
Producer: George Martin
Sound Engineers: Geoff Emerick, Ken Scott
Assistant Engineers: Phil McDonald, John Smith
Genesis
“Blackbird” is certainly one of Paul’s greatest successes. Paul wrote “Blackbird” at his farm in Scotland. The music was inspired by Johann Sebastian Bach’s “Bourrée in E Minor,” a piece that George and Paul had learned to play at an early age: “Part of its structure is a particular harmonic thing between the melody and the bass line which intrigued me.”1 Paul developed a guitar technique, all his own, that was different than the traditional finger-picking. Denny Laine, his future partner in Wings, has acknowledged “Blackbird” as one of Paul’s greatest compositions: “It’s such a simple melody to play. Every time I play it for people, they cannot believe something so simple to play could sound as good. But it’s a fact. And that is one of the facets of Paul’s incredible genius.”2
This delicate melody underscored no less subtle lyrics. Paul confided in Barry Miles that he had in mind a black woman, rather than a bird. Feeling concerned about the issue of civil rights in the United States—especially since the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968, and more specifically by the struggle of black American women—Paul wanted to support them in their struggle against all the inequality they suffered, “Let me encourage you to keep trying, to keep your faith, there is hope.”3 It is possible that Angela Davis inspired him, but he mainly wanted to make “Blackbird” a symbol “so you could apply it to your particular problem.”4
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
One of the most amazing remakes of “Blackbird” is no doubt the one by the great bass player Jaco Pastorius, who in 1981 recorded a version played on his fretless bass.
Production
Recorded in one single session on June 11, “Blackbird” required thirty-two takes to be completed. It is a solo performance, with Paul playing a Martin D-28 acoustic guitar as he was singing and keeping the beat with his leather shoes. Only John was present at the beginning of the session, because George and Ringo had flown to California on June 7. John suggested brass arrangements for the end of the song. Paul agreed with the idea immediately, but only used it in “Mother Nature’s Son.” George Martin preferred a string quartet. Finally, Paul chose only his voice, which he double-tracked in spots, with his guitar and his foot-tapping. Geoff Emerick related that Paul wished to reproduce an outdoor atmosphere; he suggested to him to set him up on a stool, beside the echo chamber, where some fresh air was available. This was how this fantastic ballad was recorded on a soft evening in June. Finally, the sounds of a blackbird were supposed to complete the song. By mistake, John Smith, the assistant engineer, used the sound of a thrush from the sound effects library! Fortunately, Ken Scott caught the mistake in time and corrected Smith’s error. The final mixes were dated October 13.
Paul’s Feet
It was long claimed that the percussion in “Blackbird” was the sound of a metronome, but indisputable factors prove that this is incorrect: the tempo fluctuated and varied between 89 and 94 bpm (which is impossible for a metronome). In fact, a film was made during the recording of “Blackbird” (see the documentary that accompanied the CD of the remastered album in 2009), in which one could clearly see Paul tapping his feet. Francie Schwartz, his erstwhile girlfriend, who was present during the recording, has confirmed this fact.
Piggies
George Harrison / 2:03
1968
MUSICIANS
George: vocal, acoustic guitar
Paul: bass
Ringo: tambourine
Chris Thomas: harpsichord
John: tape loops
Henry Datyner, Eric Bowie, Norman Lederman, Ronald Thomas: violins
John Underwood, Keith Cummings: violas
Eldon Fox, Reginald Kilbey: cellos
RECORDED
Abbey Road: September 19–20, 1968 (Studio Two) / October 10, 1968 (Studio Two)
NUMBER OF TAKES: 12
MIXING
Abbey Road: October 11, 1968 (Studio Two)
TECHNICAL TEAM
Producers: Chris Thomas, George Martin
Sound Engineer: Ken Scott
Assistant Engineers: Mike Sheady, John Smith
Genesis
“Piggies” was an acidic social criticism in which George bashed the Establishment and the middle class. The rather simplistic message was not among the author’s most meaningful ones. George, who usually flirted with Indian philosophy, let go and gave it all he had: Everywhere there’s lots of piggies / Living piggy lives / You can see them out for dinner / With their piggy wives. As he had trouble with one line, his mother came to his rescue and suggested, What they need is a damn good whacking. “Lennon contributed the line “clutching forks and knives to eat their bacon.1 Unfortunately, “Piggies” was one of the songs of the White Album fatally misinterpreted by Charles Manson and his “fami
ly” in 1969 (see “Helter Skelter”). After murdering the LaBianca couple using knives and forks on August 10, 1969, the “family” wrote Death to pigs on the wall of their residence in the victims’ blood, as they did after the murder of Roman Polanski’s wife Sharon Tate on the front door in Tate’s blood.
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
During the September 19 recording session, George played “Something” for Chris Thomas, a new song he had just written and of which he was not confident. Later, he thought of giving it to Jackie Lomax (see “Something”).
Production
On September 19, the Beatles recorded “Piggies.” Chris Thomas, who was standing in for George Martin as producer, suggested to George Harrison that they use a harpsichord that they had discovered in Studio One. Since it was reserved for a classical recording, the Beatles had to move their session into Studio One instead. Harrison suggested that Thomas, a former student of the Royal Academy of Music, play the keyboard. After eleven takes, they had the basic rhythm track: Chris Thomas was on harpsichord, George on acoustic guitar, Ringo on tambourines, and Paul on bass—this bass was certainly doubled (Fender Jazz Bass and the six-string Fender bass). The next day, they transferred the four-track recording to the eight-track recorder. George then recorded his lead vocal, with ADT later added to the phrases play around in and damn good whacking. Harrison wanted a nasal sound, as if he were pinching his nose while singing in the middle eight. Ken Townsend was in charge. He fed the microphone signal through an RS106 bandpass filter, creating the desired sound (0:48 to 1:03). John, who had remained uninvolved until then, concocted a loop of pig snorting and grunting, using a tape from the studios’s sound effects collection. On October 10, George Martin, who had returned from his vacation, wrote a score for George for four violins, two violas, and two cellos (performed by the same musicians he used on “Glass Onion”): he conducted the session. At the end of the recording, “Piggies” was completed. The mono and stereo mixes were done the next day.
All the Songs Page 35
