All the Songs
Page 50
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
John played lap-steel guitar in the film Let It Be. Some thought he used a shotgun shell as a bottleneck, others a lighter. However, it was probably just the Hofner slide bottleneck sold with the guitar of the same name.
Get Back
Lennon-McCartney / 3:10 (single version) / 3:07 (album version)
1970
SONGWRITER
Paul
MUSICIANS
Paul: vocal, bass
John: lead guitar, backing vocal
George: rhythm guitar
Ringo: drums
Billy Preston: electric piano
RECORDED
Apple Studios: January 23, 27–28, and 30, 1969
Abbey Road: April 1, 1970 (Studios One and Three)
NUMBER OF TAKES: 10 (UNCERTAIN)
MIXING
Apple Studios: February 5, 1969
Olympic Sound Studios: March 4, 1969 / April 4 and 7, 1969
Abbey Road: March 26, 1969 (Studio unknown) / March 26, 1970 (Studio 4)
TECHNICAL TEAM
Producers: George Martin, Phil Spector
Sound Engineers: Glyn Johns, Jeff Jarratt, Peter Bown
Assistant Engineers: Alan Parsons, Jerry Boys, Roger Ferris
RELEASED AS A SINGLE
“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
Genesis
Paul composed this song at Twickenham Studios. “Paul had a rough idea for the words and music and began jamming it out. John joined him and together they worked on some lyrics.”1 As with many of their titles, they took inspiration from newspaper stories. Great Britain was experiencing racial unrest at the time. The British Parliament tightened controls on immigration in 1968 in reaction to the waves of Kenyan immigrants. At the same time, many Pakistani immigrants were attacked by extreme right-wing groups. Paul and John did not hesitate to caricature immigration in their first drafts of the lyrics: Don’t dig no Pakistani taking all the people’s jobs!2 They dropped the line early on, realizing that their antiracist message could be misconstrued. This did not, however, prevent accusations of racism from being leveled against them years later, when some journalists from the Sun rediscovered the first version and accused them of xenophobia. Paul: “If there was any group that was not racist, it was the Beatles.”3
The Beatles did not want to be misrepresented, and the lyrics became lighter, with no real story, but rather a succession of images centering on the subject “Get back.” The song featured fictional characters Loretta, who was actually a man, and Jo Jo, with whom many identified. Paul said, “Many people have since claimed to be the Jo Jo and they’re not, let me put that straight! I had no particular person in mind, again it was a fictional character, half man, half woman, all very ambiguous.”4 Jo Jo Laine, wife of Dennis Laine, Paul’s future partner in Wings, said she, a Beatles groupie at the time, influenced Paul. John loved this song, but he was convinced that Paul looked at Yoko while singing Get back to where you once belonged. No comment.
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
Paul’s reference to Tucson in “Get Back” is perhaps a nod to his future wife, Linda Eastman, who had studied photography there. She was also cremated in Tucson in April 1998. Finally, Eric Clapton married Pattie Boyd, George Harrison’s ex-wife, in Tucson.
Production
The first day devoted to “Get Back,” January 23, also marked the debut of Alan Parsons as assistant engineer. He later engineered Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon” in 1973 and became founder of the Alan Parsons Project, which achieved international success in the 1970s. About ten takes were recorded. Besides words, the major difference between the version of the twenty-third and the final version was Ringo’s drumming. On January 27, after many takes, they finally reached the final version. The following day the Beatles, still backed by the excellent Billy Preston on electric piano, found the song’s groove and recorded the final version of “Get Back.” Paul handled the vocals and played his 1963 Hofner bass, with John supporting on his Epiphone Casino, George on his rosewood Telecaster, and Ringo on his new Ludwig drums. John and Preston sang backing vocals wonderfully. John thanked Paul for having the kindness to give him a solo. “Yes, I played the solo on [‘Get Back’]. When Paul was feeling kindly, he would give me a solo! Maybe if he was feeling guilty that he had most of the A-side or something, he would give me a solo. And I played the solo on that.”5
On January 30, the day of the concert on the rooftop, “Get Back” was both the introduction and the conclusion to the forty-two-minute performance. But these versions were not included on the master. On the album, Phil Spector only kept from the rooftop performance Paul’s acknowledgment of the fervent applause and cheering from Ringo’s wife Maureen with “Thanks Mo!” and John’s quote, “I’d like to say thank you on behalf of the group and ourselves, and I hope we’ve passed the audition.” After many attempts, the final mix for the single version was made at the Olympic Sound Studios on April 7. Spector finalized the stereo mix (there was no mono) of the album version on March 26, 1970.
The Misfortune of Some
The role of George Martin, sandwiched between Glyn Johns and the group, became very uncomfortable, even controversial at the time. The Beatles ignored him to the point that he is not credited on the single. Billy Preston, on the other hand, is the only artist credited on a single along with the Beatles. The Beatles with Billy Preston appears on the label.
You Know My Name
(Side B of “Let It Be”)
1970
SINGLE
RELEASED
“Let It Be” / “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)”
Great Britain: March 6, 1970 / No. 2 on March 14, 1970, for 9 weeks
United States: March 6, 1970 / No. 1 on April 11, 1970, for 2 weeks
You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)
Lennon-McCartney / 4:19
1970
SONGWRITER
John
MUSICIANS
John: vocal, guitar, harmonica, hand claps, other sound effects
Paul: vocal, bass, piano, vibraphone (?), hand claps, other sound effects
George: guitar, vibraphone (?), hand claps, other sound effects
Ringo: drums, bongos, hand claps, other sound effects
Brian Jones: alto saxophone
Mal Evans: other sound effects
RECORDED
Abbey Road: May 17, 1967 (Studio Two) / June 7–8, 1967 (Studio Two) / April 30, 1969 (Studio Three)
NUMBER OF TAKES: 30
MIXING
Abbey Road: June 7 and 9, 1967 (Studio Two) / April 30, 1969 (Studio Three) / November 26, 1969 (Studio Two)
TECHNICAL TEAM
Producers: George Martin, Geoff Emerick, Chris Thomas
Sound Engineers: Geoff Emerick, Jeff Jarratt
Assistant Engineers: Richard Lush, Nick Webb
Genesis
John got the idea from a line on the cover of the 1967 London phone book that he found on Paul’s piano: “You know the name, look up the number.” The two worked together on the song, but left it unfinished for nearly two years. John: “That was a piece of unfinished music that I turned into a comedy record with Paul. I was waiting for him in his house, and I saw the phone book was on the piano with ‘You know the name, look up the number.’ That was like a logo, and I just changed it. It was going to be a Four Tops kind of song—the chord changes are like that—but it never developed and we made a joke of it.”1 Paul told Mark Lewisohn that it was probably one of his favorite songs. Paul, “It’s so insane. All the memories … I mean, what would you do if a guy like John Lennon turned up at the studio and said, ‘I’ve got a new song.’ I said, ‘What’s the words?’ and he replied, ‘You know my name look up the number.’ I asked, ‘What’s the rest of it?’ ‘No, no other words, those are the words. A
nd I want to do it like a mantra!”2
The Beatles worked on the song after Sgt. Pepper and finished it while working on Abbey Road in April 1969. It is in four different parts, constructed as a series of sketches. We hear Paul as a crooner, John chanting incomprehensible words, Mal Evans shaking a bag of gravel, and Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones playing an alto saxophone solo!
Because of dissension within the group in 1969, the song was set aside yet again until November 26. Then John decided to edit it with the intention of releasing it as a Plastic Ono Band single with “What’s the New Mary Jane,” a song rejected from the White Album, on the B-side. On November 28, 1969, Apple announced “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)” as the next Plastic Ono Band single scheduled to be released on December 5. Apparently, John wanted to shatter the Beatles’ nice image. Finally, the project was abandoned for unknown reasons, and the song was released as the B-side of “Let It Be.”
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
“You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)” was initially destined for the soundtrack of Yellow Submarine, but was replaced by “It’s All Too Much.”
Production
On May 17, 1967 five days after finishing recording “All Together Now” for the Yellow Submarine soundtrack, the group began the first session for “You Know My Name.” The tenth take was the best, with John and George on guitar, Paul on bass, Ringo on drums and bongos, and all four Beatles providing hand claps. The following session on June 7 was inconclusive, resulting only in a twenty-minute rhythm track marked Instrumental—Unidentified. The next day, the song took form with added piano, vibraphone, lead guitar, harmonica, bongos, and various other sound effects, including a whistle (birdsong). The highlight of the session was Brian Jones’s performance on alto saxophone. Paul: “He arrived at Abbey Road in his big Afghan coat.… I thought it would be a fun idea to have him, and I naturally thought he’d bring a guitar … but to our surprise he brought his saxophone. He opened up his sax case and started putting a reed in and warming up, playing a little bit. He was a really ropey sax player, so I thought, Ah-hah. We’ve got just the tune.”3 The first mixing and editing session took place on June 9. The duration of the song was 6:08 at this stage. John and Paul overdubbed their vocals on April 30, 1969, but neither Ringo nor George were present. The ever-faithful Mal Evans was charged with running a spade through a heap of gravel while John and Paul added vocal effects, strange noises, and hand claps. The song was mixed into a single mono version on the same day and was reduced to 4:19 on November 26.
GLOSSARY
Acetate: similar to a vinyl record. Made from an aluminum disc coated with nitrocellulose, a single copy is made, which allows an artist to listen to his recorded work. Fragile, it could only be played a limited number of times.
Artificial double tracking (ADT): an electronic simulation system that doubles an artificial instrument or voice. This effect was designed by Ken Townsend, a member of the technical team at Abbey Road Studios.
Bottleneck: a piece of glass (or metal) that the guitar player places on his finger and slides on the strings in order to obtain a metallic sound. The name comes from the pioneers of the blues, who used a the neck of a bottle. Most often, the bottleneck is used in open tuning when the six strings of the instrument form a chord (G or D, for example).
Break: an instrumental interlude, which interrupts the development of a piece.
Bridge: a distinct musical passage between two parts of a song. A bridge usually connects the verse to the chorus.
Coda: an Italian term that refers to an added passage that concludes a song. Its length varies depending on the piece.
Compressor: an electronic circuit used to amplify the low sounds or, conversely, to reduce the volume of high sounds during a recording session.
Cover: a new performance or recording of a previously released song, often with a different arrangement from the original version.
Cowbell: a percussion instrument that we can hear both in popular music, rhythm & blues, classical music (Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss) and avant-garde (Karlheinz Stockhausen, Olivier Messiaen). The Beatles used the sound of the cowbell on several of their songs, including “A Hard Day’s Night,” “Drive My Car,” “I Need You,” and “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey.”
Direct injection box (DI box): an electronic device, which lets the player connect an instrument directly to a mixing console without using an amplifier or a microphone.
Doubling: a second recording of the same vocal or instrument used to produce a “stronger” or “bigger” sound. The performer usually sings or plays while listening to his own prerecorded performance.
Dubbing, Postsynchronization: the addition of a vocal, sound effect, or instrumental recording added to an existing soundtrack. Adding a voiceover to a film is an example of dubbing.
Fade-in: the process of gradually increasing the sound (usually at the beginning of a song).
Fade-out: the process of gradually lowering the sound (usually at the end of a song).
Feedback: the return of an original sound to its source. This creates a loop. The level of feedback determines the level of noise. See Larsen.
Flanging: a sound effect produced by mixing two identical signals together, with one signal slightly delayed by a few milliseconds.
Fuzz: a distorted sound effect obtained by compressing the sound signal, in particular with a device called a distortion pedal (fuzzbox). The Beatles were the pioneers of the fuzzbox, along with the Rolling Stones (“[I Can’t Get No] Satisfaction”) and Jimi Hendrix (“Purple Haze”). Guitarists usually use this effect.
Gimmick: a musical phrase or sound effect designed to attract the attention of the listener. Musical gimmicks can be found in all types of music.
Groove: the “feel” of the rhythm or atmosphere of a song.
Honky-tonk: a style of music often found in the South that derives from the country and western music tradition. The music is based primarily on the piano, inspired by boogie-woogie and ragtime. Examples in popular music include the boogie-woogie pianist Meade Lux Lexis’s recording of “Honky Tonk Train Blues” in 1927, Hank Williams’s “Honky Tonk Blues,” and, of course, the Rolling Stones’ “Honky Tonk Woman.”
Larsen: a physical phenomenon that occurs when the amplified output (speakers of an amplifier, for example) is too close to the audio input (such as the microphone of an electric guitar or a singer). A hissing or buzzing sound is produced. The effect was regularly used in the 1960s by rock guitarists. The best example is found in the guitar introduction of the song “I Feel Fine” by the Beatles, often cited as the first Larsen effect on record.
Lead: the term for the primary vocal or instrument in a song (lead vocal and lead guitar, for example).
Leslie speaker: a cabinet with a rotary speaker inside, typically associated with Hammond organs. The speed of spinning is adjusted to create the desired effect. The Beatles used the effect to enhance vocals and guitar sounds.
Middle eight: another name for the bridge. Even when a bridge was not eight bars, the Beatles would often refer to it as the “middle eight.”
Mute: a technique to turn off the sound on a channel strip. Alternatively, the term is used to mean deadening a string on a guitar.
Overdub: see Rerecording and Superimposition.
Pattern: a sequence that often repeats (it might be repeated indefinitely to create a “loop”).
Peak: the maximum level reached by a sound or note, sometimes exceeding the level permitted by the mixer or other audio equipment.
Pedal: a small electronic device that lets the performer add an effect to the sound of an instrument. Musicians control the pedal with their foot. Several types of pedals were used by the Beatles, including volume pedals and fuzzboxes.
Playback: pressing “play” on a tape recorder so that the artist may hear a previous recording. A recording may be “played back” while the performer(s) overdub additional parts.
Powe
r chord: a term typically used by guitarists, the “power chord” is a chord that consists of two notes, the root note and the fifth interval. It is highly effective in rock music, often accompanied by distortion.
Premix: an early mix of a song or a step in the recording process, which is created by mixing several tracks from a multitrack tape recorder to get a glimpse of the combined work. The “Premix” is also used in the process called “reduction” (see Reduction).
Reduction mix: a technique used with multitrack tape recorders. The technique involves mixing together the tracks from one tape and recording them on fewer tracks of a second tape. The second tape can then be used to overdub additional parts.
Rerecording: a technique that allows one to record one or more tracks while simultaneously listening to previously recorded tracks.
Reverb: reverberation, or reverb, is created when a sound is produced in an enclosed space, creating echoes that decay over time. This effect can be recorded (for example, in an echo chamber) or simulated with studio effects.
Riff: abbreviation for rhythmic figure, is a short motif (or ostinato), a succession of notes or chords that appear repeatedly in a complete song. Some famous riffs are the guitar patterns in “Day Tripper” by the Beatles, “You Really Got Me” by the Kinks, and “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” by the Rolling Stones.
Rimshot: the sound produce by hitting the rim and the skin of the snare drum with drum sticks. This result is a sharp attack.
Roots: a musical term referring to the origins of popular music, from blues to Appalachian music.
Score: the written music for a musical song or arrangement.
Scratch vocal: a temporary vocal that is meant to be replaced by a final vocal.
Ska: a style of music that originated in Jamaica and is the precursor to reggae.