MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR’S TRACK 2 : FOOL ON THE HILL – UNFOLDING ITS INCREDIBLE RECORDING PROCESS.

Today, I have the makings of track 2, Fool On The Hill. So, once again, imagine you’re that fly on the wall and relish today’s intricate, step-by-step revealing’s.

On Paul’s return flight from America on April 11th, 1967, the trip in which he came up with the original concept of a film project called “Magical Mystery Tour,” he had the foresight to include this yet-to-be-completed song. His original notes for the project, drawn out like a pie chart, shows the second piece of the “pie” with the words, “Coach people meet each other / (Song, Fool On The Hill?).”  And although John Lennon apparently wasn’t involved in writing the song, Paul had all the missing “la-la-ing” lyrics figured out himself by the time he recorded a demo of the song on September 6th, 1967, only a word or two had altered by the time it officially got recorded.

The first recording session that featured the song was, as mentioned above, the demo Paul made on September 6th, 1967. This session began at 7 pm (or thereabouts) in EMI Studio Two, the first and most important point of business on this day being extensive work on John’s excellent song “I AM THE WALRUS,” which began life the day before. Also begun on this day was George’s contribution to the “Magical Mystery Tour” project, “Blue Jay Way.”  By about 2 am the next morning, apparently, after the other Beatles left for the night, Paul wanted to get something down on tape in regard to his five-and-a-half-month-old composition “The Fool On The Hill.”

Engineer Geoff Emerick, in his book “Here, There And Everywhere,” remembers details regarding the demo recorded on this day: “During the second night that we were working on ‘I Am The Walrus,’ Paul asked me to stay late so I could record him doing a simple piano/vocal demo of a new song he had written. When he finished, he asked me what I thought, and I gave him a thumbs-up through the control room window. ‘That sounds like the start of a really good song,’ I said. ‘What’s it called?’  ‘It’s my newest one for the film – it’s called “The Fool On The Hill,”’ McCartney replied proudly. I turned to Ken (Scott), who was assisting. ‘Just my luck,’ I told him. ‘Paul brings in a beautiful song like that, and you’ll get to make the record of it, not me.’…Knowing that The Beatles were still hard at work at Abbey Road, I didn’t really want to go on vacation, but the EMI brass insisted that I had to take the time off because it had been scheduled so far in advance. George Martin also encouraged me to go, because he knew how burned out I was.”

The session finally ended at 3 am after completing this demo, later, released for all to hear in 1996 on the compilation album “Anthology 2.”  As work continued on other Beatles songs, as well as filming for the movie, they didn’t actually begin work on “The Fool On The Hill” until nearly three weeks later.
That day was September 25th, 1967, The Beatles entering EMI Studio Two around 7 pm to begin proper recording of “The Fool On The Hill.”  Three recorded takes of a rhythm track, which were numbered 1 through 3 (ignoring that Paul’s demo of three weeks ago was documented as ‘take one’) and featured piano (Paul) and acoustic guitar (John). No vocals were recorded during these takes of the rhythm track, 'take three' deemed as the best and ready for overdubs. Paul’s two-measure piano introduction, as heard repeated twice at the beginning of his demo version, was still in place at this time, and the length of the song was 3:50 at this point.
With open tracks still available on the four-track tape, an interesting overdub took place. "We were very friendly at the time with The Beatles," says Ray Thomas of The Moody Blues in a 2015 interview with Stephen Schnee. "Anyway, Mike (Pinder, also of The Moody Blues) and I went into Abbey Road," Thomas continues, "and we played on 'I Am The Walrus' and 'Fool On The Hill.'  And it was my idea to put all those harmonicas on. There were George and John, me and Mike around the microphone. Paul was in the control room at the desk, and we put these harmonicas down."
With all four tracks of the tape now full, a tape reduction was made to open up more tracks for more overdubbing, this reduction bringing the current ‘best’ to ‘take four.’  Onto this, they added three overdubs this day, one being Paul on recorder, then Ringo on drums, and finally Paul’s first attempt at lead vocals. Although the lyrics were basically written by this time, Paul still hadn’t settled on what the actual phrasing would be. One example is the line “The man with the empty mind is talking perfectly loud,” which he sang during this overdub. After these overdubs were complete, a preliminary mono mix was put together by George Martin, the engineers, and Richard Lush, for acetate cutting purposes only. By 3 am the following morning, the session finally ended. “The Fool On The Hill,” as it was heard up to this point, was also included on “Anthology 2.”
Later that day, September 26th, 1967, the group reconvened in EMI Studio Two for more work on the song, but this time without either Geoff Emerick or George Martin in the control room. As the book “The Beatles Recording Sessions” relates: “Ken Scott took charge of the studio control room for this session – even though it was only his second day as Beatles balance engineer. He was, understandably, a little flustered, as Richard Lush recalls. ‘He was so nervous that it was just unbelievable. He was saying “What lights do I use?” and “What do I do?”  I really felt for him that day. The Beatles always put a bit of pressure on their engineers; they expected you to be there doing your job, but there wasn’t a lot of thanks.”
The session once again began sometime after 7 pm, the first point of business was making another tape reduction to open up, even more, tracks for overdubbing. This brought the current ‘best’ to ‘take 5,’ onto which included a variety of overdubs that actually replaced some of the instruments taped the previous day. These included piano (Paul), acoustic guitar (presumably Paul), drums (Ringo) and another acoustic guitar (presumably George playing the phrases in the lyrical gaps in the second verse). As you can tell from comparing ‘take 4’ from the previous day with the released version of the song, these new overdubs gave the song a complete overhaul, prompting Mark Lewisohn’s comment, “It was almost a ‘re-make.’”  But in actuality, it really wasn’t. The result of these overdubs, however, did extend the song from 3:50 to 4:25.
Once again, a tape reduction had to be made to clear up more space, this now becoming ‘take 6.’  Onto this, Ringo added an overdub of both finger cymbals and maracas, Paul added a bass guitar for the first time, and he also took another stab at lead vocals, wiping out the previous days attempt in the process. After his vocal faded to a close, the session felt complete showing 4:15 am the next morning.
The Beatles were back at work later that day, September 27th, 1967, for two recording sessions. The first, from 2:30 to 5:30 pm, concentrated solely on John’s masterpiece “I Am The Walrus,” while the second session, in EMI Studio Two starting approximately at 7 pm, continued work on “Walrus” for around seven hours, attention eventually turning back to “The Fool On The Hill” around 2:30 am the next morning. This simple overdub consisted of Paul double-tracking his vocals during strategic parts of the song. Thinking it was complete, the returning George Martin, along with Ken Scott and Richard Lush, gave it a quick mono mix (mix 2) to end the session by 3:30 am that morning.
Just over three weeks later, however, this mono mix was deemed unusable because it was decided to add one final overdub to satisfy “The Fool On The Hill.”  This final overdub occured on October 20th, 1967 in EMI Studio Three, the session once again documented to have started at 7 pm. The recorder part played by Paul on September 25th was apparently felt to be inadequate, so it was decided to be enhanced by three flutists, their session logged in between 8 and 11 pm on this day. With this overdub complete, attention then turned to a viola overdub to the already started “Hello Goodbye,” which took the session to 3:45 am the next morning. Although no Beatle played anything during this session, they were all there. “One of them was sitting on the floor in what looked like a pajama suit, drawing with crayons on a piece of paper,” said Ken Essex, session viola player that evening.
The released mono mix of “The Fool On The Hill” ran its course on October 20th, 1967 in the control room of EMI Studio Three by the team of George Martin, Ken Scott and 2nd engineer Phil McDonald. Three attempts were made from ‘take 6’, remixes 10 through 12, with ‘remix 12’ deemed as the best. The song still lingered 4:25 in length at this point and they desired to reduce it to around three minutes. Instead of just fading it down, it seemed necessary to make an edit at some point in the recording. Although no source stipulates just where the edit is, it’s logical to assume that it occurs right around the 2:40 point of the song where a “flock of seagulls” sound effect appears to camouflage the edit. The sound effect was undoubtedly taken from the same EMI vaults that most other Beatles sound effects came from, these probably added to the mono mix on this day. The length of the song now rested at three minutes exactly.
On November 1st, 1967, the stereo mix of “The Fool On The Hill” was created by the team of George Martin, the returning Geoff Emerick and 2nd engineer Graham Kirkby. Five attempts took place, the fifth being the best. The same edit and “flock of seagulls” sound effect was then interjected onto the stereo mix, this being the mix released to the world and most known to this day. The stereo landscape consists of the piano, acoustic guitars, finger cymbals and scant drums in the left channel, the harmonicas, flutes and recorder in the right channel, and the vocals centered in the mix. They even took pains to pan the “seagulls” from the left channel to the right near the end of the song. Interestingly, Paul's vocals in the final ten seconds of the song were kept up a little higher in volume on the stereo mix, the mono mix bringing it down quite low in comparison.
On November 7th, 1967, a tape copy of the mono mix of “The Fool On The Hill” was made, as well as the rest of the “Magical Mystery Tour” songs, in the control room of EMI Studio One by the same team of Martin, Emerick, and Kirkby. These mixes were duly dispatched to Voyle Gilmore to hand carry them back to Capitol Records for release in the U.S.
Sometime in 1995, George Martin and Geoff Emerick returned to Abbey Road Studios (EMI Studios) to create two new mixes of “The Fool On The Hill,” a mono mix of Paul’s demo and a stereo mix of the song as it sat on September 25th, 1967. Both versions graced the 1996 released “Anthology 2” compilation album.
One other mix of the song occurred sometime between 2004 and 2006 by George Martin and his son Giles, in conjunction with the Cirque de Soleil production of “Love,” which enjoyed tremendous success at The Mirage in Las Vegas. This new mix combines elements of various other Beatles tracks, such as brass and vocals from “Mother Nature’s Son,” piano from “Dear Prudence,” bass from “Because,” drums from “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” and even tamboura from the George Martin track “Sea Of Holes” from the original “Yellow Submarine” soundtrack album.
On January 13th, 1990, Paul recorded his first live version of the song found on his “Tripping The Live Fantastic” album. Then, sometime between April 1st and May 18th of 2002, he made another live recording of it found on both his albums “Back In The U.S.” and “Back In The World.”
While the listener may be distracted by the gentle elegance of the instrumentation on this song, upon examination, we see that the structure actually only consists of repeated verses and refrains in alternation.  We end up with a ‘verse/ refrain/ verse/ refrain/ verse (instrumental)/ refrain/ verse (instrumental)/ refrain’ (or abababab) with a quick introduction and a faded conclusion which actually is the beginning of yet another instrumental verse.  This is not to say that it was a lazily composed piece.  On the contrary, it borrows from the common format used in folk music of that time and well before, as witnessed extensively in the works of Pete Seeger and Bob Dylan.
Having edited out the first of two measures originally intended for the beginning of the song, the introduction ends up consisting of only one measure of ringing quarter notes in D major.  The song continues to alternate between major in the verses to minor in the refrains, also reflected in the introduction.  But because the first measure was dropped, we don’t experience the minor flavor of the song until the refrain appears for the first time.
Concerning the major/minor alternation in this song, this texturing has occurred in The Beatles catalog before, such as in “Things We Said Today.”  This time around, however, we begin the song in a major key, as if to depict this unnamed man as serene and content despite the disparaging attitude of others who notice him.  When the refrain comes around, we then switch to a minor key, denoting his undeniable loneliness as he “sees the sun going down.”  The earlier song, as what is much more common in alternating minor/major music, begins minor and switches to major later in the song.  This is just one more feature that makes “The Fool On The Hill” a unique composition.
This single-measure introduction consists of only Paul’s piano playing quarter-note chords with the only accompaniment being his overdubbed recorder and flutes.  This is followed by the seven-measure first verse, which brings in his single-tracked lead vocal and simple flute phrases during the first four measures.  John and George’s harmonica chording subtly appears in the fifth through seventh measures, this being the only instrumentation used in the song so far.
The first five-measure refrain then suddenly appears in mid-phrase as the vocals become double-tracked and the key changes to minor.  The title of the song appears for the first time as an introduction to the refrain as does Ringo with a scant maraca sound keeping the beat and finger cymbals accenting twice per measure.  The recorder and flutes play slow passages to accompany Paul’s vocal melody line as the bass appears quietly in the background.  Ringo breaks his 4/4 pattern on maracas in the fourth measure with a violent shaking crescendo to usher in the switch back to a major key in the final measure.  The harmonicas disappear during the refrain until the final measure where they reappear to add an unusual texture to the arrangement.  The recorder and flutes play a simple but engaging melody line in this final measure as an acoustic guitar finally appears in the distance.  Paul’s piano, of course, continues throughout the refrain as it does as a constant timekeeper for the entire song.
The second verse is also seven measures long and reverts back to single-tracked vocals along with the general instrumentation of the first verse but with various differences.  Simple acoustic guitar phrases are heard in the second half of the first three measures, while the flutes play melodic lines a little more complex than in the first verse.  In measures five through seven, the harmonicas reappear, and the flutes harmonize at a higher register.  The repeat of the refrain is identical to the first in arrangement and instrumentation except for the more detailed flute arrangement, especially the melodic run in the fifth and final measure.
Next comes the first instrumental verse, which is actually half instrumental and half vocal, not unlike what The Beatles have done in the past in “From Me To You” and “A Hard Day’s Night,” among others.  Paul’s recorder plays a prominent role here, recreating the sung melody line of the previous verses for the first four measures, the rhythm of these measures being propelled nicely by the piano, light drums and heavy puffs on the harmonicas.  The flutes also kick in to accentuate Paul’s melody line with a pretty counter-melody.  The rhythmic floor then drops out for measures five through seven as we return to the exact instrumentation of the previous verse, vocals and all.
The third refrain then appears, which creates the most ominous feel heard yet in the song with the almost spooky tone of the overdubbed flutes in a sometimes pulsing pattern.  This gives way to another optimistic switch to the major key in the fifth measure as if we’ve just made our way through the dark forest and into a sunny clearing.  To celebrate, Paul exuberantly interjects his “Oh, oh, oh…round, round, round…” vocal gymnastics on top of his recorder melody line in the next instrumental verse that follows, the verse mimicking the arrangement of the previous one with the addition of acoustic guitar embellishments.  He even ends his recorder part with a pied piper-like finger trill as if he’s bounding through a meadow in springtime!
The second half of this verse brings his vocals back in but this time sung with an alternate higher-pitched melody line, while the flutes reveal yet another melody line to differentiate it from all of the previous verses.  Paul’s words “they don’t like him” usher in the final dark-sounding refrain which shows a somewhat more simplified flute pattern this time, while Paul alters his sung melody line a little as well, this being the only refrain not double-tracked on the recording.  Another obvious difference in this refrain is the “seagull sound effect” heard in the fifth measure which replaces the missing flute pattern of the previous refrains.
This refrain ends with what sounds like two takes of Paul’s recorder part overlapping each other to introduce the song’s conclusion, this conclusion actually being the first four measures of yet another instrumental verse which then disappears when faded down.  We need to remember that, since the actual complete take of the song extended to 4:25, this conclusion was actually recorded as yet another full verse that was edited onto the end of the previous refrain, the original recording also including two more verses and refrains before the song came to a natural conclusion.  Thanks be to George Martin, undoubtedly, for reducing the length to a more palatable three minutes, thereby omitting what would have been a little too much redundancy and/or self-indulgence.
This conclusion includes a little more celebratory “ohhhhh, round, round, round” vocals from Paul.  The instrumental arrangement is the same here as the previous instrumental verses, the acoustic guitar being heard a little more prominently this time around.  Paul even makes sure the fade-out lasted long enough to include his fancy finger-work recorder trill, this becoming the song’s final word.
The instrumental arrangement of “The Fool On The Hill,” while including all four Beatles in prominent roles, deviates quite radically from their usual two guitars, bass and drums format, which makes the song stand out very noticeably.  Paul’s vocal work, while periodically double-tracked, is performed throughout without any harmony, accentuating the isolated feeling of the subject matter.  His piano, bass and recorder playing create the perfect light and airy atmosphere, and John and George’s dominant harmonica work create an element of inventiveness within the arrangement.  The acoustic guitar work deals only in accents without the cloying strumming of the first takes of the song, which would have muddied the arrangement.  Ringo may have been reduced to percussion instruments and light drum work, but they were done masterfully as usual.
Following the “someone like Maharishi” description Paul gives of this “fool on the hill,” we see some obvious similarities.  This guru-like individual sits “perfectly still” “alone on a hill” taking in and fully acknowledging nature around him, such as “the sun going down” and “the world spinning ‘round.”  The elevated consciousness he has achieved, him recognizing his oneness with everything around him, gives him great wisdom that can be imparted to any with an open mind that approaches him.
Unfortunately, “nobody wants to know him,” thinking him to be “just a fool.”  And even though his eager explanations of the meaning of life results in him being perceived as “a man with a thousand voices talking perfectly loud,” relatively “nobody ever hears him or the sound he appears to make.”  The public at large, engaged in their conventional everyday life, “can tell what he wants to do,” that is, impart knowledge that they are too narrow-minded to consider.  Therefore, “nobody ever hears him.”  This content sage “never shows his feelings” so as to hide his sadness or insecurities.  The final verse, however, reveals his mutual distaste for those who deride him, saying “he knows that they’re the fools.”  The sentiments of the song, therefore, appear to insinuate that we need to consider all aspects of people and life before we pass judgment.

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