Just over a month after George had finished his latest composition, the group entered EMI Studio Two on September 6th, 1967, to lay down the rhythm track titled “Blue Jay Way.” Having arrived sometime after 7 pm as the documents stipulate, they first continued work on John’s “I Am The Walrus,” which started the day before. Then, at approximately midnight, work began on George’s song.
Geoff Emerick, in his book
“Here, There And Everywhere,” recalls the session. “Earlier that evening, we
had also laid down the rhythm track for a new Harrison song called ‘Blue Jay
Way.’ It was, to my way of thinking, a
bit of a dirge, and, frankly, I was a bit relieved when previous commitments
kept me from completing the song the next night…Perhaps the main problem was
that George had written and played it on organ, and he really only knew a few
chords – he was even less of a keyboardist than John was.”
Opinions aside, after a good
amount of rehearsal, only one take needed to capture the rhythm track, this
consisting of George on organ, Paul on bass and Ringo on drums (John apparently
sat this one out). By around 2 am the following morning, they let the song rest
until their next session later that evening, Paul then stepped over to the
piano to lay down a quick demo of “The Fool On The Hill.” The session ended near 3 am.
That evening, September 7th,
1967, was earmarked entirely to adding overdubs to “Blue Jay Way,” the session
once again documented as starting at 7 pm.
The only overdubs recorded on this day were lead and background vocals
but, with Peter Vince substituting for Geoff Emerick as engineer, the song
transformed from a “dirge” to something quite extravagant.
The results of this day reads
as written from the book “The Beatles Recording Sessions.” “’Blue Jay Way’ was to George Harrison what –
in recording terms – ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ or ‘I Am The Walrus’ were to
John Lennon, in that it seized upon all the studio trickery and technical
advancements of 1966 and 1967 and captured them in one song. ‘Blue Jay Way’ – as it ended up on disc –
could not have been the same without Ken Townsend’s ADT (“artificial double
tracking”) and associated ‘flanging’ effect…Just like John’s two songs, ‘Blue
Jay Way’ makes fascinating listening for anyone interested in what could be
achieved in a 1967 recording studio…The song manages to capture the feel of the
fog very well, with its…extensive use of ADT – at its very widest use – to
create a phasing effect of almost two voices.”
Before they started on this
day, however, a tape reduction needed to be made of the rhythm track to open up
more tracks for overdubbing. Afterward,
which took ‘take one’ to ‘take two,’ George recorded his lead vocals with
extensive ADT applied. Another tape
reduction needed to open up more tracks, so this brought the recording to ‘take
three,’ upon which they recorded the backing vocals of George, John and Paul,
also treated to extensive ADT “flanging.”
No wonder that, after all of this work, substitute engineer Peter Vince
described the song to the returning Geoff Emerick saying, “Oh, it wasn’t that
bad.” By 3:15 am the following morning,
they finished for the day.
Possibly considering the song
to be complete, a mono mix (remix one) was created on September 16th, 1967 in
the control room of EMI Studio Three by George Martin and engineers Ken Scott
and Jeff Jarratt. A tape copy of this
mono mix, along with a tape copy of “I Am The Walrus,” reached Gavrik Losey,
who was the assistant to Denis O’Dell, the film producer of “Magical Mystery
Tour.” Although “Blue Jay Way” was not
complete as we have come to know it, this tape copy was used in the making of a
good portion of the film sequence of the song, taped between September 19th and
24th at the in Kent, where George lip-synced to the tape while sitting
cross-legged on the pavement playing a keyboard drawn with chalk on the ground.
A further recording session
for “Blue Jay Way” was deemed necessary, this being October 6th, 1967 in EMI
Studio Two, beginning as usual at the documented 7 pm. The primary focus of this session was the
overdub of a cello, the musicians’ name being lost with the passing of time,
Mark Lewisohn’s book “The Complete Beatles Chronicle” stipulated that this
unknown musician earned 27 pounds for the session. Being that no lead guitar (nor any guitar) is
heard on the song, this extensive cello part takes the role of lead instrument
in the song, which was also treated to a significant amount of ADT in
places. Also recorded on this day was a
tambourine part, undoubtedly played by Ringo.
By midnight the session ended.
And, since a cello was now present on the finished recording, The
Beatles took to adding some filmed sequences in the "Blue Jay Way"
segment of the "Magical Mystery Tour" movie that featured the group
taking turns playing a white cello.
A new attempt at creating an
official mono mix of the song was done in EMI Studio Three on October 12th,
1967, by engineers Ken Scott and Richard Lush with, surprisingly, John Lennon credited
as producer. Eight attempts were made,
numbered 2 through 9, with parts of mixes 6 and 9 being edited together to
create one complete mono mix. While a
lot of work to create this mono mix plowed ahead, it ended up being improved
upon later.
Both the released stereo and
mono mixes of “Blue Jay Way” finalized on November 7th, 1967. First, the stereo mix was attempted in the
control room of EMI Studio Two by George Martin, Ken Scott and Peter Mew. Two attempts were made, the second deemed
best for the time being, then edited in some undisclosed way. In a later session that same day, a different
engineering team consisting of Geoff Emerick and Graham Kirkby met with George
Martin in EMI Studio One to create the mono mix of the song. They worked extensively on this, attempting
(remixes 20 through 28), remix 27 considered as the best.
George Martin then thought to
have another go at creating a stereo mix, but this time with a new idea. The idea was to play a recording of the song
backwards simultaneous to the making of the stereo mix, panning in the backward
tape to fill in what he considered had empty gaps in the song. They gave this idea three attempts (remixes
10 through 12) before deciding remix 12 sounded the best. With this new backwards idea in place, they
thought to use this new stereo mix for the mono version as well, but knowing
they wouldn’t be able to create it exactly the same way with another attempt at
a mono mix, the idea was abandoned. However, mono remix 27 won the released
version even though without any backward recording present.
Both the mono mix (remix 27)
and stereo mix (remix 12) underwent some editing work on this day, this
possibly involving the oscillating and highly reverberated organ swirling
sounds at the end of both mixes, the stereo mix differing somewhat from the
mono mix. Also, tape copies were made of
both the edited mono and stereo mixes to give to Voyle Gilmore of Capitol
Records, who happened to be present on this day and ready, to hand carry them
back to the US. The stereo landscape of
the released version consists of the rhythm track in the left channel, lead
vocals, cello and tambourine in the right channel, and the background vocals
and backward recordings centered in the mix.
The drone in the key of C
which maintains throughout “Blue Jay Way,” as already mentioned, indicate the
influence of Indian music even without the use of Indian instrumentation. The structure, however, is much more Western,
consisting of a ‘verse/ refrain/ verse/ refrain/ verse/ refrain/ refrain/
refrain/ refrain’ (or abababbbb) format.
Noteworthy indeed is the 4x repeat of the refrain at the end, although
they all differ from each other to various degrees. A simple but dramatic introduction precedes
the song and a repeating conclusion ends it, but no solo is included.
The introduction begins very
quietly with George on the organ, starting with the single note drone in C
which continues throughout the song, followed by a lower octave C as the volume
begins to rise. Then George premiers the
melody line of the refrain on the organ, followed by the first appearance of
the cello with a swooping note to end the 23-second introduction which has no
established meter whatsoever.
George then begins singing
the pick-up line “There’s a fog upon L.A.” to bring us into the first
eight-measure verse. The only added
instrumentation for this first verse is Paul’s bass and Ringo plodding out the
quarter notes of the straight 4/4-time signature on his toms and kick
drum. This, of course, is spookily accented
by the backwards snippets of the already finished song being faded in and out
of the mix in-between George’s vocal lines (stereo version only). It appears that a chord change occurs with
the rising notes of the line “we’ll be over soon they said,” but the drone in C
labors on as the backdrop, indicating that we haven’t changed the chord at
all. George plays the entire melody line
on the organ during the rhythm track, which acted as a guide for himself when
he added the vocals later as an overdub.
The plodding drums and bass continue until the seventh measure where
Ringo crashes his cymbal on the downbeat on George’s line “now they’ve lost
themselves instead.” The last two
measures are actually just taken up with the C drone in anticipation of the first
refrain that follows.
This refrain is actually nine
measures in length and shows Ringo switching over to a swing beat on the drums,
utilizing a ride cymbal and commanding snare drum. Paul continues his single note drone on bass
until the fifth measure where he follows George’s raising vocal line. George once again plays the entire vocal
melody line on the organ during the rhythm track. The drums and bass guitar stop once again
after eight measures are completed to allow the drone to fill the ninth measure
(and some residual backwards cymbals on the stereo mix). This refrain concludes with George’s pick-up
line “Well it only goes to…” while Ringo plays a simple drum fill to usher in
the second verse that follows, which brings us back to straight 4/4-time once
again.
The second verse is identical
in instrumentation to the first, although Ringo gets more adventurous on the
drums, adding three drum fills strategically within the first six
measures. After the cymbal crash that
begins the seventh measure, we now can discern the reappearance of the cello
playing a very Eastern-flavored sliding passage with the organ drone in the
background. Ringo then plays two
triplets on his snare drum to reintroduce the swing beat of the second refrain
that comes next.
The second refrain adds some
key elements to differentiate it from the first. The cello plays various alternate melody
lines and appears to be lead instrument in the song, while background vocals
surface for the first time singing “don’t be long” in two different
configurations. When most of the
instruments drop out in the eighth and ninth measures, the cello plays a
descending melody line that keeps the time signature going until George begins
his next lyrical verse, “now it’s past my bed I know” while Ringo plays a drum
fill to again bring us back once to straight 4/4-time for another verse. And we can’t forget to mention the menacing
backwards sounds at the end of this refrain in the stereo mix.
The third verse adds yet more
elements to the previous verses, one of them being four harmonized passages
that repeat the ending words of George’s four phrases, namely “know,” “go,”
“day” and “way.” The cello also plays
chopping quarter note accents throughout this verse to add to the bottom end of
the sound. We also now hear the first
arrival of an overdubbed tambourine playing accents on the two- and four- beat
of every measure. As the final vocal
phrase, the only sign of the title of the song, rings out in the seventh
measure, this stopping the beat as the previous verses have, Ringo goes into a
drum break that ushers in the refrain that follows. However, he appears to have forgotten that
the refrains are supposed to be in a swing beat, continuing in a straight 4/4-rhythm
for the remainder of the song. Or maybe
it was intentional, who knows. In any
event the backwards recording of the finished song eerily continues in the
stereo mix to freak us out a little more.
We next go into a
four-times-repeated refrain, all of which differ from the earlier refrains in
more ways than the switch in rhythm style and added tambourine.
Refrain One: The first of these refrains contains all of
the elements and instrumentation of the second refrain, but is now only eight
measures long instead of nine, the ninth measure being dropped because there is
no stopping of the drums and bass to usher in another verse. However, the sixth measure is in 2/4, George
coming in a little early on his final line “for I may be asleep.”
Refrain Two: The second of these four refrains have the
background vocals dropping their usual pattern in favor of harmonizing with
George’s lead vocals on the lines “please don’t you be very long” and then
“please don’t be long.” This refrain is
only seven measures in length, the fifth measure being in 6/4, followed by the
cello playing a staccato-like descending passage in replacement of George
omitting his last vocal line “or I may be asleep” this time around.
Refrain Three: The third of these refrains, while still
being seven measures long with the fifth measure in 6/4, has the background
vocals harmonizing with George’s lead vocals in all three melodic phrases,
still dropping the final phrase this time as well. The second measure in this refrain contains a
rather blurred-note passage on the cello on top of Ringo’s syncopated drum
fill, one that we’re yet to hear again.
The cello also fills the sixth and seventh measure with the same
staccato-like descending passage as in the previous refrain, although it is
played an octave lower.
Refrain Four: The fourth and final refrain in this set is
actually only five measures long and has the background vocals harmonizing with
the lead vocals on all three phrases once again. Ringo now plays repeated sporadic drum fills
throughout this refrain as if he might have lost his bearings somewhat. The fifth measure is also in 6/4 which then
ends the refrain.
Now we go into a
twelve-measure conclusion of the song (all measures in 4/4-time) which appears
to meander aimlessly but ends solidly on the downbeat. The phrase “don’t be long” is repeated seven
times during this conclusion in various configurations but harmonized
perfectly. (The phrase “don’t be long,”
incidentally, is repeated 29 times in the song.) A unique element heard in this conclusion is
the tambourine accents in conjunction with the swift “don’t be long, don’t be
long” harmonies in the fifth and sixth measure.
The above mentioned blurred-note passage on the cello is now repeated in
both the sixth and eleventh measure of the conclusion. After the final downbeat, the twelfth measure
consists of a highly reverberated organ swell from what sounds like a
vari-speeded tape (a possible edit job).
It appears that the
complicated nature of the final refrains and conclusion were a result of the
group and George Martin adding overdubs to the somewhat vision-less ending the
Beatles performed on the rhythm track. This opinion can be made because of the
unorthodox positioning of Ringo’s drum fills in the final 90 seconds of the
song. With no vocals being performed on the
rhythm track, they may have “lost their way,” so to speak, but with some
ingenuity, they made it work.
George may not have been the
best keyboardist, admitted Geoff Emerick, but he played competently enough to
drive the song throughout. His droll
vocals, treated with layered effects as they were, worked well to create the
sleepiness of the subject matter. Ringo
put in a tremendous effort on drums, throwing in fills according to feel as
well as changing rhythm where necessary (or most of the time). Paul didn’t need to put in a stellar
performance on bass this time around because the Indian drone was all that was
needed. However, he and John did their
usual good job on harmonies. And 'three
cheers' to the unnamed lead cellist. Who
was that masked man?
Please feel free to leave any
comments or corrections and share these articles plus the blog's website with
your friends, especially Beatles’ fans. You and they might also enjoy knowing
more about my Love Songs CD and my novel, BEATLEMANIAC. Just click on the “My
Shop” tab near the top of this page for full details.
Join me soon for the
Unfolding Process of "YOUR MOTHER SHOULD KNOW."
No comments:
Post a Comment