All the Songs
Page 47
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
On the original jacket of Abbey Road, “Her Majesty” was not mentioned to make the song a hidden bonus, although it is listed on the B-side label for the record. This was corrected, alas, on the CD version.
Production
On July 2, Paul arrived first at the studio. He decided to record another of his short compositions before the arrival of George and Ringo. John was still recovering from his car accident. Paul said to David Wiggs in 1969, “I was in Scotland and I was just writing this little tune, you know. I can never tell, like, how tunes come out. I just wrote it as a joke, you know.”2 Paul wrote this little song in honor of Queen Elizabeth II, just before John returned his Medal of the British Empire (MBE) to the Queen in protest against the Vietnam War, the British involvement in Nigeria, and the fact that the Plastic Ono Band’s first single, “Cold Turkey,” did not climb in the charts (Lennon’s idea of a joke!). Paul said, “It was quite funny because it’s basically monarchist, with a mildly disrespectful tone, but it’s very tongue in cheek. It’s almost like a love song to the Queen.”3
Just three takes, only two of which were complete, were necessary to record the song. The third, recorded live using just two eight-track tape recorders, was the best. The song had the shortest recording time of any Beatles song—another record. After hearing the song, Paul decided to keep it and “Her Majesty” joined the list of songs under consideration for the medley.
Technical Details
“Her Majesty” begins with the final chord of “Mean Mr. Mustard,” but ends without a chord, just a note without resolution. As Geoff Emerick explained, it was Paul who made this decision, probably to balance the song: “Since ‘Her Majesty’ was starting with the last note of ‘Mean Mr. Mustard,’ she might as well not have a last note of her own.”4 More fun details: Both sides of the album end abruptly, “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” on side 1, “Her Majesty” on side 2. The last chord of “Her Majesty” is still at the beginning of “Polythene Pam,” left from an early arrangement of the song, which originally followed “Her Majesty” in the “Huge Medley.”
Don’t Let Me Down
(Side B of “Get back”)
1969
SINGLE
RELEASED
“Get Back” / “Don’t Let Me Down”
Great Britain: April 11, 1969 / No. 1 on April 23, 1969, for 6 weeks
United States: May 5, 1969 / No. 1 on May 24, 1969, for 5 weeks
Don’t Let Me Down
Lennon-McCartney / 3:33
1969
SONGWRITER
John
MUSICIANS
John: vocal, rhythm guitar
Paul: bass, backing vocal
George: lead guitar
Ringo: drums
Billy Preston: electric piano
RECORDED
Abbey Road: January 22, 28, and 30, 1969
NUMBER OF TAKES: UNKNOWN
MIXING
Abbey Road: February 5, 1969 (Studio ?)
Olympic Sound Studios: March 4, 1969 / April 4 and 7, 1969
TECHNICAL TEAM
Producers: George Martin, Phil Spector
Sound Engineers: Glyn Johns, Jeff Jarratt
Assistant Engineer: Alan Parsons
Genesis
Early in 1969, John was going through a difficult period in his life. He clung to a double addiction—heroin and Yoko. His passion for his Japanese wife governed his daily routine and affected his relationships with others. Other members of the group communicated with a two-headed John, who referred to himself as “Johnandyoko.” He answered David Sheff’s question about “Don’t Let Me Down” in 1980: “That’s me, singing about Yoko.”1 John knew that he was committed to his relationship without compromise and that he was sacrificing the Beatles to it. Paul: “It was saying to Yoko, ‘I am really letting my vulnerability be seen, so you must not let me down.’ I think it was a genuine cry for help.”2 If “Don’t Let Me Down” is beautiful proof of his love for Yoko, it was rather cruel to Cynthia, his former wife, because John said with Yoko he was in love for the first time. The song was originally intended for the Get Back project, before Phil Spector pulled it from the Let It Be album. It was released as the B-side of the single “Get Back.” This great song deserved better.
Production
“Don’t Let Me Down” was among the first songs recorded at the Apple Studio in Savile Row. The first day, January 22, was more like a rehearsal than a recording session. The Beatles tried to get comfortable in the new surroundings, and Billy Preston played keyboard with them for the first time. John exhorted Ringo “to give him a good crash on the cymbals to ‘give me the courage to come screaming in.’”3 The song was permanently recorded on January 28. John, on rhythm guitar, delivered a magnificient lead vocal. Paul was on bass and backing vocal, and George provided an excellent accompaniment to the lead guitar (with a strong vibrato). Ringo played drums, and Billy Preston accompanied the three Beatles remarkably. His electric piano playing gave the piece cohesion, and its “soul” flavor gave the song its special style. The song was not as simple as it might seem, and a cohesive ensemble was necessary to bring it to life. For weeks the Beatles had been in the studio without any enthusiasm, and suddenly they rediscovered their unity and their magic in this song. Stereo and mono mixes were made on April 7 at Olympic Sound Studios.
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
At 1:43, just after It’s a love that has no past, John utters a few inaudible words. These are perhaps Believe it, Good evening, It’s an infinite, or, most likely, It’s in E flat. Except that the piece is in E major!
Let It Be:
The Last Studio Album
1970
Two of Us
Dig a Pony
Across the Universe
I Me Mine
Dig It
Let It Be
Maggie Mae
I’ve Got a Feeling
One After 909
The Long and Winding Road
For You Blue
Get Back
ALBUM
RELEASED
Great Britain: May 8, 1970 / No. 1 on May 23, 1970, for 3 weeks
United States: May 18, 1970 / No. 1 for 4 weeks
After recording the White Album, the Beatles’ cohesion was threatened. John was with Yoko, who was with John all the time, and John was addicted to heroin. George was involved in the production of other Apple artists, and Ringo was considering film projects. Paul, the driving force for unity, assumed the role of leader. He suggested that the Beatles go back out on the road. In Paul’s view, touring was a way to bring the group together, as it had in the past. George and John vehemently opposed the idea. A compromise was reached: making a one-hour television show. They favored the Roundhouse Theatre in North London, and recruited director Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who then suggested an even more grandiose project: playing live in a Roman amphitheater in Tripoli! They eventually ended up at Twickenham Film Studios in Middlesex from January 2 to 17, 1969, where they had filmed A Hard Day’s Night and Help!
The project, called Get Back, was well defined: they wanted to record a new album live in front of the cameras—no sound effects, no overdubs. In other words, an absolute return to basics. It was John’s idea not to use any of the studio “tricks” they had used in the past. Glyn Johns was hired as a sound engineer. He had worked with celebrities like the Stones and other major groups, including the Who, the Kinks, and the Small Faces. On January 2, the camera crew filmed the Beatles rehearsing all day. John: “It was just a dreadful, dreadful feeling [in Twickenham Studio] and, being filmed all the time, I just wanted them to go away. We’d be there at eight in the morning and you couldn’t make music at eight in the morning, or ten, or whenever it was, in a strange place with people filming you, and colored lights.”1 The atmosphere was tense and the Beatles were under tremendous pressure. A famous altercation between Paul and George took place while the cameras rolled. George became irritated after P
aul suggested changes to his guitar solo and walked out just as Ringo had done five months earlier during the recording sessions for the White Album. George returned on the insistence of his three bandmates, but George imposed conditions, including no more TV shows or concerts. They all agreed.
After two weeks of rehearsals at cold, drafty Twickenham, the Beatles decided to continue the project at Apple’s headquarters, 3 Savile Row, in the heart of London’s posh Mayfair district. Ringo said, “Twickenham just wasn’t really conducive to any great atmosphere.”2 They were seeking a more comfortable and warmer place to work.
In July 1968, they asked their friend, Alexis Mardas, nicknamed “Magic Alex,” to build them a studio in the basement of Apple. A mediocre inventor but a brilliant con artist, Alex told them he was going to build a revolutionary studio with a seventy-two-track facility instead of the eight-track tape recorder used at Abbey Road. “Magic Alex” won over the entire group, especially John. When they moved to Apple on January 20, they discovered that nothing was ready and Madras had been telling tales. Martin quickly ordered two mobile consoles and a 3M eight-track from EMI studios. Recording began on January 22. That same day, Harrison asked keyboard player Billy Preston to join the Beatles to help alleviate the tension in the group. They knew Preston from their early years in Hamburg when he had toured as part of Little Richard’s band. With the addition of Preston, the Beatles began to perform like a cohesive band again. Finally on January 30, based on John’s suggestion, according to Preston, they went to the rooftop of Apple’s building in order to resolve the live concert idea and bring a conclusion to the film. The music from the rooftop created quite a stir in the offices and streets around the building. People gathered in the street, surprised to hear the music. By the time the police interrupted their performance, the Beatles had taped only five songs. It was the very last live concert of their career. Out of ninety hours of recording, including the rooftop performance, Glyn Johns selected several songs to create the Get Back album. It had a raw sound, with no studio trickery, corresponding to their initial vision. Paul liked it, but his bandmates didn’t. The mixes remained shelved for several months until Allen Klein, the Beatles’ new manager as of February 3, 1969, asked Phil Spector, architect of the Wall of Sound, to work on what would become Let It Be. In Paul’s eyes, Specter committed a crime by adding over-the-top arrangements to songs like “Let It Be” and “The Long and Winding Road.” Paul tried to oppose the release of the album, renamed Let It Be, but in vain. On April 10, 1970, Paul McCartney publicly announced his departure from the group. This was the end of the Beatles.
In November 2003, a new version was released with the name Let It Be … Naked, closer to the original version without tricks, sound effects, or Specter’s arrangements.
Last Record
Even though Let It Be was recorded about six months before Abbey Road, it was the last Beatles record. The Abbey Road album was taped during the summer of 1969 and released the following September. Let It Be was finalized by Phil Spector and released on May 23, 1970.
The Film
Let It Be showed the Beatles breaking up, disenchanted, their magic lost. Long camera sequences revealing these four musicians alternating between original songs, older songs, and covers, joking, chatting, arguing, and being annoyed are rather disappointing. Clearly, the Beatles were not at their best, shut up inside an icy Twickenham studio with the ever-present Yoko Ono. Fortunately, they recaptured some of their old magic with their extraordinary concert on the rooftop of the Apple building. Let It Be is still a valuable documentary, a moving film about the end of one of the most influential groups in the history of rock music.
The Instruments
In addition to the instruments used for previous albums, the Beatles used new instruments for Let It Be. George played an extraordinary Rosewood Telecaster prototype he had received from Fender. John used a “lap-steel” Hofner Hawaiian Standard to play slide guitar (on “For You Blue”); Paul played a Blüthner piano, and Ringo played on a Ludwig Hollywood maple-finish drum kit. A Fender Rhodes electric piano also appeared during the recording sessions.
WARNING
Recording session dates and the particular mixes for each song might not be accurate. Recording sheets from Apple are not as detailed as those at Abbey Road.
Two Of Us
Lennon-McCartney / 3:34
1970
SONGWRITER
Paul
MUSICIANS
Paul: vocal, acoustic guitar
John: vocal, acoustic guitar
George: lead guitar
Ringo: drums
RECORDED
Apple Studios: January 24–25 and 31, 1969
NUMBER OF TAKES: UNKNOWN
MIXING
Olympic Sound Studios: March 10, 1969
Abbey Road: April 25, 1969 (Room 4) / March 25, 1970 (Room 4)
TECHNICAL TEAM
Producers: George Martin, Phil Spector
Sound Engineers: Glyn Johns, Peter Bown
Assistant Engineers: Neil Richmond, Alan Parsons, Roger Ferris
Genesis
Paul wrote this gentle acoustic ballad, under the title “On Our Way Home,” while he was with Linda Eastman. (In John’s interview with David Sheff, John curiously said “Mine” about the authorship of “Two of Us.”) As soon as she entered his life at the end of 1968, she pushed him to go on an adventure in the English countryside. They put Martha, Paul’s Old English Sheepdog, in the back of their Aston Martin and drove off without looking at any signs, trying to get lost. Paul: “We’d just enjoy sitting out in nature. And this song was about that: doing nothing, trying to get lost. It’s a favorite of mine because it reminds me of that period, getting together with Linda, and the wonderfully free attitude we were able to have.”1 Linda photographed Paul composing “Two of Us.” “I had my guitar with me and I wrote it out on the road, and then maybe finished some of the verses at home later, but that picture is of my writing it.”2
During a working session at Twickenham on January 10, 1969, George and Paul had an argument and George left the group. The altercation was recorded and filmed live by camera crews. Paul: “It’s complicated now. We can get it simpler, and then complicate it where it needs complications.” George: “It’s not complicated.” Paul: “This one is like, shall we play guitars through ‘Hey Jude’ … well, I don’t think we should.” George: “OK, well I don’t mind. I’ll play, you know, whatever you want me to play, or I won’t play at all if you don’t want me to play. Whatever it is that will please you, I’ll do it.”
Production
In early performances of “Two of Us” the Beatles used electric guitars with a fast tempo. Unsatisfied with this style, they reworked the song on acoustic guitar. They developed the song at Twickenham, giving it a folk style on January 24 and 25 at the Apple studios, where they had just started working two days earlier. However, it was only on January 31, after the legendary concert on the rooftop, that the final version was recorded. Paul and John are both on their acoustic guitars and vocals just as the Everly Brothers had done. George played his rosewood Telecaster, while Ringo played bass drum. On March 25, 1970, Phil Spector made the final mix with some changes to the song. During the mixing session, Specter added an excerpt of film dialogue before the song.
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
When George walked out on January 10, 1969, he composed “Wah Wah” to clear his head. The song is included on his triple solo album All Things Must Pass, released in 1970.
Dig A Pony
Lennon-McCartney / 3:53
1970
SONGWRITER
John
MUSICIANS
John: vocal, rhythm guitar
Paul: bass, backing vocal
George: lead guitar
Ringo: drums
Billy Preston: electric piano
RECORDED
Apple Studios: January 22, 24, 28, and 30, 1969
NUMBER OF TAKES: UNKNOWN
&nbs
p; MIXING
Apple Studios: February 5, 1969
Olympic Sound Studios: March 10, 1969
Abbey Road: March 23, 1970 (Room 4)
TECHNICAL TEAM
Producers: George Martin, Phil Spector
Sound Engineers: Glyn Johns, Peter Bown
Assistant Engineers: Neil Richmond, Alan Parsons, Roger Ferris
Genesis
“Dig a Pony” was one of John’s last songs with nonsense lyrics, phrases strung together in what he referred to as a Bob Dylan style. In the film Imagine, he said, “I was just having fun with words. It was literally a nonsense song. You just take words and you stick them together, and you see if they have any meaning. Some of them do and some of them don’t.”
He took pieces of several songs to make one, and the lyrics were completed in the studio. The song was influenced by Ono and the chorus reflects his love to her: All I want is you. The chorus constituted the only meaningful part of the song. He inserted some references like I pick a moondog, referring to Johnny and the Moondogs, one of the early names for the Beatles. John had perfectly mastered the art of giving meaning to meaningless words. He teased the audience with an endless string of references. In 1980, John commented on his song as “another piece of garbage.”1
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
In the documentary Imagine, John discussed a slightly disturbed hippie who believed the lyrics to “Dig a Pony” and “Carry That Weight” (from Abbey Road) were addressed to him.