JULIA AND ITS INCREDIBLE RECORDING PROCESS.

John recorded various demo versions of "Julia" in 1968, four of which have surfaced as bootleg recordings.  While one of these versions is an instrumental, the rest consists simply of Lennon on guitar and vocals demonstrating the same Travis-picking style used on the authorized released version.

Three of these demos were undoubtedly recorded sometime in May of 1968 in the music room of John's 'Kenwood' residence in Weybridge, Surrey.  The fourth demo, recorded at George Harrison's “Kinfauns” home in Esher, Surrey on May 29th, 1968, consists of John double-tracked on acoustic guitar and features John's overlapped vocals as heard on the released version.  The “Kinfauns” demo, as well as the other demos, show John still developing the structure and struggling with the difficult finger-picking style.

After four-and-a-half months in the studio recording what became the “White Album,” John finally premiered “Julia” in EMI Studio Two on October 13th, 1968.  This, in fact, was the final song recorded for the album, two previously recorded songs ended up deleted (“Not Guilty” and “What's The New Mary Jane”) in favor of including “Julia” on the completed album.  Even though The Beatles had been utilizing EMI Studios 8-track recording machines by this time, it apparently was decided that eight tracks over-killed for this somewhat simple recording; therefore engineers switched to their tried-and-true four-track system.

Only John is featured on the recording but at least one other Beatle was present on this day, Paul is present in the control room and caught on tape conversing with John on the studio floor.  An interchange between John and Paul via use of pressing the studio's “talkback” key, McCartney bolstering Lennon's endeavors during “take two,” is featured on the compilation album “Anthology 3.”

The session is stipulated to have begun at 7 pm with John trying first to get a good recording of the acoustic guitar, him playing his Gibson J-160E with a capo on the second fret.  “Take two,” which is mostly instrumental with a few snatches of guide vocal from John, shows him still stumbling somewhat with the intricate guitar work.  When the track breaks down, Paul encourages John by saying “Try it again, there were one or two little discrepancies.” John then replies, “There was just the one wasn't there?... Couldn't I go from there, you know?...'Cause that one was perfect, wasn't it?” Paul then said, “It was great, that one. It was great; we could drop in...”

However, the decision was to start again fresh, which John did with “take three,” this being the keeper as far as the guitar was concerned.  Onto this John double-tracked his acoustic guitar and then layered three tracks of vocals, one overlapping the other in strategic spots and then double-tracked (and even triple-tracked) in others.  At approximately 1 am the following morning, the recording of the song was complete.

Both the stereo and mono mix of the song was created on this day as well, which took place in the control room of EMI Studio Two by George Martin and engineers Ken Scott and John Smith.  Only one attempt needed for each of these mixes with little difference detected between the stereo and mono versions.  After these and various other last minute “White Album” song mixes were created, the session for this day finally ended by 6 am.

Sometime between 2004 and 2006, George Martin and his son Giles Martin returned to the master tape of the song in Abbey Road Studios for inclusion on the compilation album “Love.”  A segment of John's acoustic guitar work from “Julia” reappeared as a transition piece directly after a newly mixed version of “Eleanor Rigby” with added elements from a few other Beatles tracks flown in as well.

The structure of "Julia" is pretty straightforward, namely 'intro/ verse/ verse/ bridge/ verse/ intro/ verse/ verse' (or abbcbabb).  Since this song is presented in a 'singer/songwriter' style with one performer, no solo section is included, although the final verse is predominantly an extended instrumental verse.

The intro section counts eight measures long and consists mostly of John single tracked as guitarist and vocalist, however, a touch of double-tracked vocals can be heard in the sixth measure on the words “just to reach you.”  His vocals come in directly on the downbeat of the first measure and maintain mostly a single-note melody line throughout, which is somewhat of a trademark for Lennon compositions (see the verses in “Help!” and the bridge of “Girl” for two examples).

The first verse comes next, which is twelve measures in length and brings in a second acoustic guitar playing the identical pattern to thicken up the sound.  (The double-tracked acoustic guitar continues then for the rest of the entire song.)  As the final syllable of the word “Julia” from the intro punches through into the first measure of this verse, a second Lennon vocal appears on top to begin the actual verse lyrics.  This layering effect was also used before by John in a Beatles recording (see the verses of “Any Time At All”), however, this vocal counterpoint comes across even more effectively.  John sings single tracked for the first eight measures and then double-tracked for the remaining measures on the words “so I sing a song of love, Julia.”

The second verse then appears, the very beginning displaying yet another Lennon vocal overlaying the double-tracked “Julia” from the end of the first verse, there being three John Lennon vocals at that instant.  Apart from this verse having fourteen measures long instead of twelve, the arrangement of this verse is the same as the first, the final two measures being strictly instrumental and used as a segue into the bridge that follows.  In measures nine and ten, John's vocals are double-tracked but then switch to triple-tracked for the word “Julia” in the eleventh through thirteenth measures.

The bridge then appears, which is ten measures long and continues to feature John's double-tracked guitar and triple-tracked vocals.  The paused line “in the sun,” contrasting the descending chord pattern of the guitar, becomes the spine-chilling centerpiece of the entire song.

The third verse also carries fourteen measures long as the second verse.  John sings single-tracked for the first “Julia” and then double-tracked for the second “Julia” of the third and fourth measures.  John goes back to single-tracked vocals for measures five through eight and then double-tracked again for “so I sing a song of love, Julia” in measures nine through thirteen.

A reprise of the introduction enters, the lyrics differ this time, however.  The first lyric line “When I cannot sing my heart” is single-tracked while the second line “I can only speak my mind, Julia” is double-tracked.  This, then, moves directly into the fourth verse, which counts twelve measures long this time, with a third overlapping Lennon vocal in the first measure like we heard at the beginning of the first verse.  The vocals are single-tracked for the first eight measures and then triple-tracked for the last final four measures as at the end of the second verse.  John dramatically raises his usual melody line on the words “song of love” this time around.

This moves directly into the final verse and extended into seventeen measures so as to encompass the song's conclusion.  The first eight measures are instrumental for the most part, the only vocalizations are triple-tracked humming in the third and fourth measures and triple-tracked “calls me” in the seventh and eighth measures.  John then continues the raised melody line for the words “song of love” as in the previous verse, adds the word "for" for the first time, and then shortens the first syllable of “Julia” from what he sang at the end of all the previous verses.  However, he repeats “Julia” a second time in the same shortened way, and then a third time with the elongated first syllable as before, all vocals triple-tracked.  The final double-tracked acoustic guitar chord then rings out to conclude this extremely diverse second side of the “White Album” with a satisfying sigh.

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