Tis Better To Have Loved and Lost Than To Never Loved At All. Alfred Lord Tennyson – Part 10a

While recording the White Album, the band suffered bouts with tremendous turmoil. John bringing Yoko to the studio had a lot to do with the bickering. Near the end of March they had a bit of success with ‘Lady Madonna,’ peaking at #4, but climbing back from the deep void that Paul’s Magical Mystery Tour film fiasco dumped our heroes in, caused many fans to wonder if the Beatles might surrender the throne. The four mates had pressure up the ying-yang finalizing the tight-rope holding together a new business announcement called Apple, and riffs between them entered the recording studio practically forcing Abbey Road to utilize separate sound rooms for each individual. Ringo actually quite the band during those days, but returned after two weeks to piles of flowers and signs draped over his drum set saying, Welcome home, you’re the best rock ‘n’ drummer in the world, we love you.

The White Album delivered close to every style of music, rock, blues, country, tin pan alley, surf music, ballads, honky-tonk, and Revolution 9, an experimental exercise. Of course, not all tunes rely on themes of love, but today we shall uncover those that do.

10^th LP – The White Album, Disc 1 (Mutual Love Songs / 1 vs. One-Sided / 3)

Track 1 – Back In The USSR. The basic theme is closer to a love of country and sexual conquests with the region ladies.

Track 2 – Dear Prudence. Identified as friends, not lovers.

Track 3 – Glass Onion. A song written by John for John down memory lane.

Track 4 – Ob-La-Dee, Ob-La-Da. A mutual love song between Desmond and Molly Jones. Courting, marriage, and a couple of kids. Background Fun Facts: Written between March and May 1968 while in India. When brought into the studio, it took the longest amount of time spent recording one song for their current project. Both John and George hated the song and refused to issue it as a single in the UK or America, however, 'Ob-La-Da, Ob-La-Da’ was released as a single in many countries, topping the charts in Japan, Austria, Switzerland, and Australia. Marmalade, another band from Scotland, offered it as their single in the UK and quite pleased the cover rendition also sailed up to #1. The phrase originated from an acquaintance of Paul, a Nigerian man known as Jimmy Scott, who wasn’t at all thrilled the Beatle wanted to write a song based on Scott’s expression of greeting. After an agreement that included taking care of Mr. Scott’s unpaid alimony balance, which also would release the Nigerian from London’s hometown district locked cell, Paul had approval. On a personal note in closing, I was sixteen- years-old when I purchased my copy of the White Album and played it often when home from school or work. The only time I turned the volume down occurred during Ob-La-De, Ob-La-Da by the mere word “bra,” I didn’t want to offer an opinion why my favorite band sang about a bra to my parents.  

Track 5 – Wild Honey Pie. Just a spontaneous sing-a-long around the campfire in Rishikesh and Pattie Harrison always requested that Paul play the tune, so he squeezed it into the LP playlist.

Track 6 – The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill. A tiger hunt!

Track 7– While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Philosophical thoughts toward life.

Track 8 – Happiness Is a Warm Gun. John sought added lyrics from Pete Shotton and Derek Taylor as Neil Aspinall hurriedly jotted them down while these four men tripped on acid. Mother Superior was Yoko. Not a love song.

Track 9 – Martha My Dear. About Paul’s sweet sheepdog.

Track 10 – I’m So Tired. Just a song according to John’s experienced emotions trying to meditate for three weeks leaving him wide awake at night and missing the taste of alcohol.    

Track 11 – Blackbird. Not a love song.

Track 12 – Piggies. A song referring to the upper-middle-class snobs. Harrison’s mother suggested the line, “what they need’s a damn good whacking,”

Track 13 –Rocky Racoon. A one-sided love song by Paul, based on the lyric portrayal Rocky lost his girl, Nancy, to Dan. Background Fun Facts: Written in1968,     

alongside John and Donovan Leitch on one of the roofs inside the Maharishi’s compound. Paul claims the inspired plot unraveled from an old Mack Sennett silent comedy film, but further credit should not overlook a famous poem published in 1907 by Robert W. Service titled, The Shooting of Dam McGrew. If curious, here is a link to the piece, plan on five to seven minutes reading time: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/45082

Click here for an early incomplete demo Paul laid down inside the studio: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0P0XjWwJy_Q   

Recorded August 15, 1968, with nine takes for the rhythm track. The instrumentation on the basic track was Paul on acoustic guitar and lead vocal, John on bass and Ringo on drums. “It was a difficult song to record,” Paul relates, “because it had to be all in one take, it would have been very hard to edit because of the quirkiness of the vocal. Paul overdubbed an additional bass part, and Ringo overdubbed another drum part. This filled up the four-track tape so a tape reduction was made to free up more tracks for overdubbing, the result being called “take ten.” Onto this, John added harmonica throughout most of the first verse and a harmonium in the first half of the second verse.  George Martin added another keyboard, a honky-tonk piano in the refrains of the song. George Harrison then found his way out of the control room to help John and Paul record backing vocals, which completed the recording of “Rocky Raccoon.”

Track 14 – Don’t Pass Me By. A one-sided love song and the first by Ringo, based on the lyric portrayal the singer keeps asking his girl,” does it mean you don’t love me anymore?” Background Fun Facts: Written at home in 1962 while the composer lived at 10 Admiral Grove in Dingle. Inspiration came to Ringo from a country star album released by Ernest Tubb called Midnight Jamboree. One of the tracks featured a guest star singer named Linda Flanagan who presented a song called, “Pass Me By.” Click here and take a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GiRieAWuxcM

Press reports and interviews that date back to 1963 mention the song as Ringo's first composition. For instance, sometime during The Beatles seven-day visit to New Zealand between June 22nd and 28th of 1964, the group did a radio interview which included mention of the song, Ringo urging his bandmates to “sing the song I've written, just for a plug.”  (Paul): "Ringo has written a song called 'Don't Pass Me By.'  A beautiful melody.  This is Ringo's first venture into songwriting."  (John and Paul sing a verse)  (Ringo): "It was written as a country and western, but Paul and John singing it with that blues feeling has knocked me out.  Are The Beatles going to record it?  I don't know.  I don't think so actually, I keep trying to push it on them every time we make a record."  (Paul):  Unfortunately there's never enough time to fit Ringo's song on an album.  He never finishes it."

Recorded June 5, 1968. Ringo and Paul worked at laying down a rhythm track, this consisting of Paul on piano and Ringo on drums and finished on three takes. Overdubs include Ringo double-tracking his vocals plus some piano and sleigh bells. Paul added more piano and bass, then a gentleman named Jack Fallon provided violin using a music score written by George Martin.  

Track 15 – Why Don’t We Do It In The Road. In my opinion, misses the mark toward love, pointing more at lust.

Track 16 – I Will. A one-sided love song by Paul based on the singer confesses if the girl of his dreams wants him to wait a lonely lifetime, he will. Background Fun Facts: To this day, one of Paul’s favorite melodies, and my favorite song on the White Album from the first time I played the two record package in 1968. The music portion was written in 1966, and the final lyrics written by September 16, 1968. Recorded the same day as the lyrics concluded, however, the tune rolled a total of 67 takes, with take 65 prized as best, all without George Harrison. The line-up consisted of Paul on acoustic guitar and vocal while John and Ringo contributed percussion sounds. Overdubs the next evening included a harmony vocal by Paul plus another acoustic guitar bit he sweetened the song with intricate riffs, and Ringo completed the ambiance with a soft touch on the maracas. Take 1 found a spot on the Anthology 3 CD, heard with disc one, track 25.

Track 17 – Julia. Written by John as a remembrance for his mother.

And so, the results today favor heartache over bliss when it comes to writing love songs. Next week, we will see if the trend changes on disc 2.  

In Closing, you might enjoy listening to a flock of demos that constructed the White Album: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imTSPdKu07E