WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS AND ITS INCREDIBLE RECORDING PROCESS.

The Beatles entered EMI Studios on May 30th, 1968, to start recording what became the “White Album” but it wasn't until July 25th that George got the opportunity to start working on one of his songs. “I always had to do about ten of Paul and John's songs before they'd give me a break,” George has been quoted to say. After his patiently cooperating through many of his cohort’s songs, including the extensive working and reworking of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” George decided to premiere “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” as the first of five songs he wanted to contribute to the album. (One of these, “Not Guilty,” while being fully recorded, was dropped at the last minute.)

The group entered EMI Studio Two on July 25th, 1968 sometime after 7 pm to work on the song. George recorded a beautiful acoustic version of the song on this day, just himself on acoustic guitar and vocals with an overdubbed organ near the end, this version documented as 'take one.' At the end of this single take, you can hear George call up to the control room “Let's hear that back!”

While most writers consider it’s just another demo of the song, the professionalism displayed could easily indicate that this beautiful version may have been considered the 'keeper. Not unlike Paul's acoustic solo performance of “Blackbird” that was already in the can at this time, as well as John's song “Julia” which also ended up on the album in a similar acoustic state. This ended up not being the case with George's song. However, hidden from the general public until 1996 on the “Anthology 3” compilation album.

Hindsight's opinion is that the song would have worked perfectly on the “White Album” in this state, but even then, many thought this was the case. Technical engineer Brian Gibson recalls: “The song changed considerably by the time they had finished with it. They completed the song on eight-track tape (at a later date), and this gave them the immediate temptation to add more and more overdub instrumentations. I personally think it was best left uncluttered.”

However, George must have thought it needed a band arrangement on this day, so The Beatles rehearsed several takes of the song, all of which were committed to tape and taken away by George for him to listen to at home to help him decide what to do. This extended the session to 3:15 am the following morning.

Interestingly, George had to extend even more patience before The Beatles would devote more time to “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” The next song on the agenda was Paul's “Hey Jude,” which they continued to work on until the second week of August. George then decided to postpone work on “Gently Weeps,” opting to introduce another of his compositions, the ill-fated “Not Guilty,” on August 7th.

A full three weeks after the group first worked on “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” they turned their focus on it again on August 16th, 1964. They entered EMI Studio Two sometime after 7 pm to record a full band version of the song, George deciding in the past three weeks that the acoustic version he previously recorded wasn't what he intended for the song after all. From this point on, that beautiful acoustic rendition was considered yet another demo recording of the song.

The group recorded fourteen 'takes' of the rhythm track which featured George on guitar, Paul on bass, John on organ and Ringo on drums. 'Take 14' was deemed the best and, since it filled up the four-track tape, required a remix to open up more tracks for future overdubs. This now became 'take 15; the tape now slowed down to 42 ½ cycles per second to extend the song from 3:53 to 4:53.

A note of interest is, while the recording sheet indicated the usual George Martin as producer of this session, one of the tape boxes revealed: “The Beatles; Produced by The Beatles.” Technical engineer Brian Gibson remembers: “The 'White Album' was a time when George Martin was starting to relinquish control over the group. There were a number of occasions – holidays, and when he had other recording commitments – when he wasn't available for sessions, and they would just get on and produce it themselves. He certainly wasn't around for quite a considerable period of time, although they'd always fall back on him for scoring and arranging things.” In any event, the studio finally cleared out by 5 am the following morning.

Another two-and-a-half weeks passed before they focused attention on the song again, September 3rd, 1968 being that day. Since the group had recently recorded John's song “Dear Prudence” at London's Trident Studios on eight-track recording equipment, something they didn't think EMI possessed, they wished they could record at their familiar EMI Studios with those same accommodations. But, low and behold, they found out that EMI did have an eight-track machine, although it wasn't ready for use yet. This 3M model was held up in Francis Thompson's office being inspected and readied for eventual installation.

Technical engineer Dave Harries remembers: “The studios were never allowed to use any equipment until Francis had said that it was up to standard, which was great, fine, but when you've got four innovative lads from Liverpool who want to make better recordings, and they've got a smell of the machine, matters can take a different course. They must have been getting on to (engineer) Ken Scott about it because Ken called me and suggested we get the machine out of Francis's office and take it along to number two...I very nearly got the sack over that.”

Engineer Mike Sheady gives testimony for putting the new eight-track machine to use before it was really ready. “Unless the tape operator remembered to mute the output from the machine when you spooled back and wanted to hear the tape traveling past the heads, it would send the spooling noise straight into the Beatles' (headphones), almost blasting their heads off. They got very uptight about that, understandably, because it can be very disconcerting.”

This session in EMI Studio Two got underway at the usual 7 pm, or thereabouts, the first line of business required they transfer the previous recording of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” from the four-track machine to the newly installed eight-track machine, which meant that there were now six open tracks for overdubbing. With Ringo still absent from the group (see “Back In The U.S.S.R.” for the details), George Harrison was the only Beatle working on the song on this day, him possibly being the only member of the group present on this day. In fact, George Martin wasn't even there, the producers' chair being empty for the day.

Onto 'track five' of the newly made eight-track tape, George attempted a very concise guitar overdub, as explained by Brian Gibson. “George particularly wanted to get the sound of a crying guitar, but he didn't want to use a wah-wah (tone) pedal, so he was experimenting with a backwards guitar solo. This meant a lot of time-consuming shuttling back and forth from the studio to the control room. We spent a long night trying to get it to work but, in the end, the whole thing was scrapped.” George, remembering the backward guitar effect that worked so well on their 1966 song “I'm Only Sleeping,” thought this would work well to spruce up “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” After a tape copy of the rhythm track for the song “Revolution” was created for use in their promo film scheduled to shoot the following day, the session ended at 3:30 am.

Their next recording session, the first with the returning Ringo, was in EMI Studio Two on September 5th, 1968. To welcome Ringo back into the fold, his drum kit, as well as the studio itself, was decked out with flowers. At 7 pm or so, the group worked at adding yet more overdubs to “Gently Weeps.” George added two separate lead vocals and a new lead guitar track, while Ringo added maracas and a new drum track, this taking up only six of the eight tracks on the tape.

Because the Beatles now had eight tracks at their disposal, instead of four, the tendency was to keep adding more overdubs than what was needed, thereby overproducing the song until it sounded somewhat muddy. Technical engineer Brian Gibson describes an occurrence with a particular Beatles song, which could easily have been this one: “There was one song, I can't remember the title, in which they'd added so many instruments that you just couldn't hear the drums anymore. So they overdubbed Ringo playing a chair, a red plastic Abbey Road chair, slapping the drumsticks on the cushion and making a thwack to emphasize the snare beat, because they'd buried it.”

In any event, the song at this point is described by Mark Lewisohn in his book “The Beatles Recording Sessions” as “quite different from the released version, with less prominent Harrison vocals and the backwards guitar and organ parts to the fore.” George had listened to a playback of the song at this point and didn't like what he heard, deciding to scrap the whole thing and start fresh. I'm sure that most Beatles fans would love to hear this version one day since it has never surfaced on any bootlegs or official releases.

In an understandably frustrated mood, George took the group through 28 more takes of the song in his attempt to start from scratch, announcing the first attempt as “Take one!” when in fact this would actually amount to 'take 17.' So out of takes 17 through 44 of this newly recorded rhythm track, 'take 25' deemed as best, this consisting of George on acoustic guitar and guide vocal, John on electric guitar, Paul on piano and Ringo on drums. Since they were now working with eight tracks, each Beatles' performance was contained on a separate track, leaving four more for overdubs for a later session. By 3:45 am the following morning, this recording session, which was once again producer-less, was finally complete.

An interesting footnote concerning this days' activities is 'take 40,' which broke into an impromptu jam session that included Paul singing parts of both “Lady Madonna” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.” The Beatles had compiled a tape entitled “Beatles Chat” which preserved bits and pieces they thought worthy to keep for posterity, this take of the song appears included therein.

In the book “Beatles Anthology,” George Harrison describes the mood of these sessions as well as events that led to the following recording session. “We tried to record it, but Paul and John were so used to just cranking out their tunes that it was very difficult at times to get serious and record one of mine. It wasn't happening. They weren't taking it seriously...and so I went home that night thinking, 'Well, that's a shame,' because I knew the song was pretty good.”

“The next day I was driving into London with Eric Clapton, and I said, 'What are you doing today? Why don't you come to the studio and play on this song for me?' He said, 'Oh, no – I can't do that. Nobody's ever played on a Beatles' record, and the others wouldn't like it.' I said, 'Look, it's my song, and I'd like you to play on it.'”

Eric Clapton, who was currently working with his band Cream, was in fact, giving George a lift to EMI Studios in London on September 6th, 1968 from Surrey, where they both lived. They had known each other since the days when Eric played with The Yardbirds and had shared in the bill with The Beatles during their series of Christmas shows in late 1964 and early 1965. George and Eric entered EMI Studio Two on this day sometime after 7 pm to assist the group in adding overdubs to George's song.

George Martin was on vacation so was not there to verify the atmosphere of this session, but George Harrison described the atmosphere nicely. “So he came in. I said, 'Eric's going to play on this one,' and it was good because that then made everyone act better...It's interesting to see how nicely people behave when you bring a guest in because they don't really want everybody to know that they're so bitchy...Paul got on the piano and played a nice intro, and they all took it more seriously...Also, it left me free to just play the rhythm and do the vocal...It was a similar situation when Billy Preston came later to play on 'Let It Be,' and everybody was arguing. Just bringing a stranger in amongst us made everybody cool out."

In this quote, George explains a more personal reason why he wanted Eric Clapton to play on this song:  "I admired him as a guitar player, and I had no confidence in myself as a guitar player, having spent so many years with Paul McCartney.  He ruined me as a guitar player.  I rated Eric as a guitar player, and he treated me like a human...I had been through this sitar thing.  I had played sitar for three years, and I had just listened to classical Indian music and practiced sitar, except for when we played dates, studio dates, and then I'd get the guitar out and just play, you know, learn a part and play for the record.  But I had really lost a lot of interest in the guitar.”

Technical engineer Brian Gibson described Clapton's work in the studio on this day.  "Eric behaved just like any session musician; very quiet, just got on and played.  That was it...there were no theatrics involved.  I remember Eric telling George that Cream's approach to recording would be to rehearse, rehearse, rehearse, spending very little time in the studio itself, whereas The Beatles' approach seemed to be to record, record, record, and then eventually get the right one.  The sessions were their rehearsals."

Most listeners assumed it was George playing guitar on the track.  George related, "Some people wrote letters to me, saying, 'You have got a really good blues feel in the way that you play that guitar.'  We did not publicize Eric's playing really, but we also did not try and conceal it.  Eric is a good friend of mine, and I really dig him as a guitarist and as a guy...We used to hang out such a lot at that period, and Eric gave me a fantastic Les Paul Guitar, which is the one he plays on that date.  So, it worked out well."

George then describes the concerns of Eric after his lead guitar work was recorded. “So Eric played that, and I thought it was really good. Then we listened to it back, and he said, 'Ah, there's a problem, though; it's not Beatley enough.' So we put it through the ADT (Artificial Double Tracking) to wobble it up a bit.” This wobbling effect wasn't done until the mixing stage, which was on October 14th, 1968, at Eric's request. On this current day, however, in addition to Paul's piano introduction, other overdubs included George playing a few high-pitched organ notes, Ringo adding both a stick tapping beat and a tambourine, Paul playing a fuzz bass, and George taping his lead vocal, with Paul chiming in on some nice harmonies. Someone, most likely Paul, also overdubbed a lead guitar track mimicking the bass line during the bridges of the song.  This completed the song which became the released version as we know it, the session ending at 2 am the following morning.

On October 7th, 1968, both a stereo and mono mix of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” were created in the control room of EMI Studio Two by the engineering team of George Martin, Ken Scott, and Mike Sheady. Neither of these mixes, however, made it to the released album since most felt they could be enhanced.

October 14th, 1968, was the day chosen to improve these mixes, created by George Martin, Ken Scott and John Smith in the control room of EMI Studio Two. This is where, upon Eric Clapton's request, ADT was applied to his lead guitar work to make it more 'Beatley,' this done by a quite interesting method. Producer Chris Thomas explains: “I was given the grand job of waggling the oscillator on the 'Gently Weeps' mixes. Apparently, Eric insisted to George (Harrison) that he didn't want the guitar solo so typically Clapton...So we did this flanging thing, really wobbling the oscillator in the mix. I did that for hours. What a boring job!”

There are some subtle differences between the mono and stereo mixes of the song. The mono mix is a few seconds longer than the stereo and has Clapton's guitar remaining at a higher volume after his solo break. Also, George's calling out of “yeah, yeah, yeah...” during the song's final moments are only heard in the stereo mix.

Sometime between 2004 and 2006, George Martin and son Giles Martin used the master tapes of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” for two separate tracks on the splendid compilation album “Love.” First, Eric Clapton's guitar work is heard within the mash-up track “Lady Madonna.” Second, George Martin created a lovely orchestral score to accompany George Harrison's beautiful acoustic rendition of the song he recorded as “take one” back on July 25th, 1968.

After the break-up, George Harrison recorded and released three live versions of the song, the first recorded on August 1st, 1971 at the afternoon performance of “The Concert For Bangladesh,” which began at 2:30 pm. This performance featured three musicians that played on the original version, namely George, Eric Clapton and Ringo. The second recorded and released version of the song was on June 5th, 1987, at the Prince's Trust Rock Gala in London, featuring George, Eric, Ringo, Elton John, Jeff Lynne and a host of other celebrity musicians, this version found released in Britain on the album “The Prince's Trust Concert 1987.” The third recorded and released version of the song was performed in December of 1991 during George's short-lived Japanese tour and featured on his album “Live In Japan.” This version featured George and Eric as well.

Interestingly, as a tribute to George after his untimely death, a live version of the song was recorded on November 29th, 2002 at the Royal Albert Hall in London during what was called “The Concert For George,” this being released as an album shortly thereafter. The musicians involved on this version include three from the original recording: Paul McCartney on piano, Ringo on drums and Eric Clapton on lead guitar and vocals, not to mention Jeff Lynne, Dhani Harrison, Jim Keltner and Billy Preston.

The song's structure is somewhat standard fare, it being 'verse/ bridge/ verse/ verse (solo)/ bridge/ verse' (or abaaba) with an introduction and conclusion thrown in, both of which consist of the same chord pattern heard in the verses.

The introduction is eight measures in length, which is equivalent to half the length of each verse. This introduction consists of George on acoustic rhythm guitar, Ringo playing a scaled down drum pattern that alternates two kick drum beats with one hi-hat flare per measure, Paul playing a single bass note per measure for the first seven measures (adding a little bit more in the eighth measure) and, strikingly, Paul playing a lead piano part without any chords, a single key at a time. The eighth measure adds Eric Clapton's first lead guitar fill as a nice segue into the first verse that follows.

This first verse, which is sixteen measures long, continues with the same instrumentation for the first eight measures, but with some added elements. These include George's double-tracked lead vocals and Eric improvising an electric rhythm guitar pattern throughout, ending with a nice guitar fill in the seventh and eighth measure. Paul plays a full-chord piano part as performed during the rhythm track, although this is quite low in the mix. Ringo chimes in on the eighth measure with his first drum fill in anticipation of his full drum beat pattern as heard in the rest of the verse.

The second half of the first verse changes things up a bit, Ringo adding a stick tapping pattern on top of his drumbeat from the rhythm track and Paul adding some nice backing harmonies in the ninth through twelfth measures. Paul plays dual notes on his bass guitar during the thirteenth through sixteenth measures with Eric adding another tasty guitar lick in the final two measures to go along with Ringo's drum fill.

The first sixteen-measure bridge arrives next, which consists of George on double-tracked lead vocals, acoustic guitar strumming, and high-pitched organ playing. Paul plays an intricate bass part which he double-tracks with a lead guitar playing the exact same part while his piano is still heard quietly in the background. Ringo plays his steady drum beat and adds nice drum fills in the eighth and sixteenth measures. Eric meanders around with a nice electric rhythm guitar part while accenting the lyric-less spaces with guitar fills. And John can also be faintly heard on electric guitar in the bridge, the first time he's detected in the song.

The second verse is next which is quite similar to the instrumentation of the second half of the first verse, meaning it includes Paul's harmony vocals and Ringo's stick tapping pattern. Paul's bass has now evolved into bass chord-like playing which adds a nice full dirty sound to the song. Eric's final guitar lick of this verse is actually the beginning of his landmark guitar solo for the solo verse that follows. Other than Eric's lead guitar, the full instrumentation of this sixteen-measure verse includes acoustic guitar and organ by George, bass, and piano by Paul, and drums and stick tapping by Ringo, along with Ringo's tambourine which arrives quietly in the tenth measure and increases in volume as the measures progress.

The second bridge is then heard and sounds similar to the first instrumentally with the addition of Ringo's tambourine hits which, in the first half, accent the fourth beat of most measures and, in the second half, accent the second beat in most measures. Did he get mixed up? Maybe if George Martin was there that day, this would have been set right.

The final verse is then heard which is mostly similar to the second verse but, since George leaves a gap in the vocals in the tenth through twelfth measures, Ringo's tambourine appears to fill in this gap. Paul then harmonizes with George on the final vocal line of the song, which is “Still my guitar gently wee-eee-eeeps,” the tambourine blazing back as the final word is ringing out.

This wanders directly into the song's fading conclusion which is approximately the length of two verses, or 32 measures. While Eric is flailing away with his appropriately melodic closing guitar solo, the rest of the instrumentation is firing on all cylinders to great effect, George double-tracked vocalizing “awes” and “yeah”s as the song slowly diminishes in volume. Ringo's tambourine keeps disappearing and reappearing throughout these measures as if his arm is getting tired, but this just adds to the highly infectious spontaneous atmosphere of the recording. Also of note is George's organ thumb-roll in the eighth measure of this conclusion, adding to the general camaraderie felt in the studio on this day.

Although it is true that the recorded rhythm track occurred before Eric showed up to do his guitar part, the finished song does show that the rest of the group did stop being “bitchy” in his presence, putting in some very spirited overdubs to enliven the track in order for it to meet its potential. It appears that George finally got what he wanted, with Paul, Ringo, Eric and himself giving their all to present the song as they did. Possibly because of intimidation of Eric being present, or because of his usual disinterest in George's compositions, John's contribution is unfortunately minimal on the song and is barely detectable. What are you gonna do if Eric can top it?

Stop by my blog next week and discover the intricate details showcased upon HAPPINESS IS A WARM GUN.

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.

THE CONTINUING STORY OF BUNGALOW BILL AND ITS INCREDIBLE RECORDING PROCESS.

Just before The Beatles started work in the studio for their next album, which became known as the "White Album," the four of them met at George's "Kinfauns" home in Esher, Surrey, on May 28th and 29th, 1968, to record demos of the songs they had written on an Ampex four-track machine.  "Bungalow Bill" was demoed on the first day, May 28th, with John obviously taking the lead.

This demo consisted of John playing acoustic guitar and singing lead vocals which he then double-tracked while the rest of the group sang along on the choruses, clapped, played bongos, and even provided animal noises during the second verse. The song was completely written by this point, so all the lyrics and chord changes were in place as on the released version with only a couple noticeable differences. The fourth measure of each chorus has one less beat per measure which makes the flow of the song sound a little awkward and actually trips up the vocalists during the last chorus because of the appearance of someone's clapping to the strange time signature. It's also unusual for the listener to hear John himself sing Yoko's vocal contribution “Not when he looked so fierce.” The song then falls apart at the end with John repeating random variations of the song's title, such as “What did you kill, Bill...What did Bungalow Bill Kill?”

Over four months later, on October 8th, 1968, The Beatles filed into EMI Studio Two at around 4 pm for a marathon recording session for the “White Album.” Since the deadline for the completed album was near, this 16-hour session was desperately needed, the return of the vacationing George Martin making sure the group was up for the task.

After some overdubbing on George Harrison's previously recorded song “Long, Long, Long” was complete, the rest of the session was devoted to fully record two John Lennon songs that they hadn't tackled yet, namely “I'm So Tired” and “The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill.” John took the lead in whipping the group into shape, as described in Mark Lewisohn's book “The Beatles Recording Sessions”: “Although there were times when John too might spend days or weeks on just one song, he was still prone to making his songs instant. Session tapes at Abbey Road largely reveal Lennon as a man in a hurry, 'Quick, quick, the red light's on, let's go, let's make a record!'”

At approximately 4 am the following morning, attention turned to “Bungalow Bill.” Three takes of the rhythm track were recorded first, which comprised both John and George on acoustic guitars, Paul on his Rickenbacker bass and Ringo on drums. After they determined that the third take was the best, undoubtedly because they saw how late the time was, they commenced adding overdubs, which included John's lead vocals along with backing vocals by Paul, George, Ringo (who was noticeably high in the mix), Yoko Ono, Ringo's wife Maureen Starkey, and others. “Everyone who was in the vicinity of the studio joined in,” remembers producer Chris Thomas, adding “That night was really fast going.” Yoko was even sequestered by John to sing lead vocal on one line in the third verse as well as harmony on the last lyrical phrase of the verse, the first (and only) female lead vocal on a Beatles song. The assembled group of vocalists also clapped hands and whistled during the proceedings. At the song's conclusion, the crowd shows its approval of the finished product by applauding until John yells out “Eh-up!” in a north of England accent, as a signal to bring in the following song on the finished album, namely “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”

Other overdubs included John on organ, Paul on a second bass guitar (heard at the end of the third verse), Ringo on tambourine and Chris Thomas on Mellotron. “I played a mandolin-type mellotron bit in the verses and the trombone-type bit in the choruses,” Chris Thomas explains, this trombone setting being heard prominently in the last minute of the song.

One interesting question that a lot of Beatles fans wonder about concerning this song is this: Who plays the fantastic Spanish classical guitar introduction? Engineer Geoff Emerick, in his book “Here, There And Everywhere,” answers this question while he's describing the Mellotron. “It was a revolutionary idea for its time; each key triggered a tape loop of a real instrument playing the equivalent note. There were three sets of tape loops installed, so you could have flutes, strings, or choir at the touch of a button. Some of the keys were even set up to trigger complete prerecorded rhythm sections or musical phrases instead of single notes: Lennon took great delight at hitting the lowest note, which played a corny brassy introduction, followed by an even cornier Jimmy Durante-style 'Yeah!' at the end. Another key triggered a couple of measures of flamenco guitar, which John later made famous when he used it to introduce his song 'The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill' on the 'White Album.'”

The “corny brassy introduction” Geoff Emerick mentioned above actually did get included on the master tape for their instrumental piece “Flying” from the “Magical Mystery Tour” project, although removed out of the mix for the released version. However, since the Mellotron was there in the studio on this day, John thought to repeat this trick, pressing the Spanish guitar key on the Mellotron instead and appears on the beginning of take three. The identity of the actual musician who recorded this performance for the Mellotron has never surfaced. Maybe someday we'll find out. (Watch this short youtube video as a sample how a keyboard really can sound like a Spanish Guitar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udk7SLdgSmI

At any rate, “Bungalow Bill” was complete by the end of the session on this day, which didn't conclude until 8 am the following morning. With only two more songs to record, the “White Album” was nearly complete at this stage.

Both the stereo and mono mixes of “Bungalow Bill” were created in the control room of EMI Studio Two the following day (actually, later that day), October 9th, 1968, by the engineering team of George Martin, Ken Scott, and John Smith. The mono mix has a millisecond more space after John's “Eh-up!” before the song abruptly jumps into “While My Guitar Gently Weeps.”

"Bungalow Bill" has a very simple structure, namely, 'chorus/ verse/ chorus/ verse/ chorus/ verse/ chorus/ chorus/ chorus/ chorus/ chorus' (or abababaaaaa).  Eight choruses sound like a lot but, given the humor and frivolity of the song, most fans would probably agree that it comes across as fun and not tedious.

After the excellently played Spanish guitar introduction mentioned above, we enter directly into the first chorus with all voices singing in unison. Full instrumentation is heard right from the downbeat of the first measure, this including both John and George on acoustic guitars, Paul on bass and Ringo on drums. Paul plays a flamboyant pattern on bass with sweeping notes between most chord changes. Ringo's overdubbed tambourine is also present right from the beginning, being hit on the two and four beat of every measure. Incidentally, this chorus is eight measures long and is in 4/4 time except for measure four which is in 2/4 time. The last measure displays a low toned extraneous voice in between the second and third beat, while Ringo puts in a quick drum fill.

The tempo slows dramatically for the first verse which follows next. All verses are eight measures long with all measures in a slowed 4/4 time except for measure six which is in 2/4 and measure eight which is in 3/4. John's vocal runs solo in this verse, single-tracked until the final phrase in measures five through seven which is double-tracked. Both acoustic guitars are still present as well as simple bass playing and subdued drum work. Chris Thomas plays the Mellotron on a mandolin setting throughout this verse, changing each single key with every chord change, which creates a suitable spooky feel as the details of the story unfold. Some tambourine shaking from Ringo appears in the second measure also. All instrumentation disappears in the seventh measure on the word "son" except for the Mellotron mandolin which hangs in the air in the background.  The eighth measure consists of Ringo playing three drum beats to set the tempo for the chorus that follows while John sings in what sounds like an Indian accent "All dee children sing..."

The second chorus flows identical to the first except that the tambourine doesn't come in until the fifth measure. The second verse then appears which is also instrumentally identical to the first except there being no trace of tambourine this time around. This is followed by another chorus, this time with the tambourine all the way through, even playing on the third beat of the final measure this time. Ringo seems to falter on the drums a little this time around, playing what sounds like a quick drum fill in the third measure, which is a somewhat unusual place for one. It still sounds cool though.

The third verse then appears which has some noticeable differences, the most obvious being Yoko's solo vocal line "not when he looked so fierce" in the third measure and her unison singing with John "if looks could kill it would've been us instead of him" in the fifth through seventh measures.  Paul's overdubbed second bass is heard in the fifth through seventh measures as well.  John's overdubbed organ is detectable in this verse, especially in the eighth measure where he does a thumb roll up the keyboard.  John ditches the Indian accent for this third and final "All the children sing..." line in the eighth measure.

Then comes a total of five choruses in a row which round the song out to its conclusion. One thing that should be noted about the first four choruses is that the eighth measure is in 2/4 time just like the fourth measure to create proper symmetry for the back-to-back repetition of the choruses. The first three of these choruses have all of the elements of the choruses heard so far in the song. However, the tambourine starts playing a double-time shaking rhythm in the fourth measure of the first chorus, this remaining this way until the very end of the fourth chorus.

Chris Thomas comes in with the Mellotron on the trombone setting in the second of these choruses playing a single-note replica of the melody line everyone else is singing, this Mellotron lasting until the very end of the song. Ringo skips along nicely and, from time to time, adds a little off-kilter accent or drum fill to flavor the fun of the proceedings. Some extraneous voices are heard from time to time to accentuate the fun atmosphere of the song, such as in the eighth measure of the first of these choruses.

The fourth of these final choruses add a group of whistlers to the mix, and try to harmonize but frequently fall out of tune. While the full instrumentation continues into the fourth of these choruses, it all falls apart in the seventh measure when Ringo stops playing the drums and his overdubbed tambourine switches to just the even-numbered beats again. As the whistling continues into the first two measures of the fifth and final chorus, the group of vocalists breaks into a full chorus of applause while John tinkers a little on acoustic guitar and Chris Thomas continues to play the melody line on the Mellotron/trombone in a somewhat accelerated tempo. The final notes of the Mellotron are interrupted by John's cry "Eh-up!" which signals the sudden end of the song.

“The song showed The Beatles far removed from the days of 'Sgt. Pepper,' with a slap-happy, slapdash recording, preserving imperfections in an effort to capture the right atmosphere.” This quote from Mark Lewisohn's book “The Beatles Recording Sessions” describes “The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill” perfectly. Undoubtedly, this extremely late-night session set the perfect flippant tone for recording a lighthearted track such as this. The Beatles may not have been at the top of their game as musicians on this track, but all seemed to have had a lot of fun doing it, which is the most important thing in this case. We can just imagine them all stumbling out of the studio as the sun was rising, going to a nightclub or maybe off to get some needed sleep.

Stop by my blog next week and discover the intricate details showcased upon WHILE MY GUITAR GENTLY WEEPS.

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.

WILD HONEY PIE AND ITS INCREDIBLE RECORDING PROCESS.

On August 20th, 1968, John and Ringo entered EMI Studio Three for a quick session to put the finishing touches on the song “Yer Blues” as well as overseeing the mono mix of “Revolution 9.” Paul was not present during this 5 to 5:30 pm session, nor was George who was on a brief vacation in Greece at the time.

Another recording session began a little later that evening, 8 pm, in EMI Studio Two with Paul being the only Beatle in attendance. This days' events are evidence of the fragmented state the group was in at the time, John and Ringo popping in briefly during this session while Paul was finishing up his song “Mother Nature's Son,” which reportedly created a notable tension in the air until they left.

After Paul completed this song, he recorded an acoustic demo of a new composition called “Etcetera” which ended up not being used on the forthcoming album, nor to be heard by anyone ever again. “This was a very beautiful song,” remembers technical engineer Alan Brown. “I recall it was a ballad and had the word 'etcetera' several times in the lyric. I only heard it twice: when he recorded it and when we played it back to him. The tape disappeared, and I've never heard of it since."  In an interview with Howard Stern, Paul explains that the song was "a stinker" that is "never going to" be released, saying he intended to give it to Marianne Faithfull for her to record, which never happened.

While the song “Etcetera” was vetoed by Paul for inclusion of the “White Album,” his next recording experiment wasn't. At what was now approximately 2 am the following morning, Paul started recording “Wild Honey Pie.” “We'd very recently done John's 'Yer Blues' where we'd packed ourselves into a cupboard,” Paul explains, “so we were in an experimental mode, and so I said, 'Can I just make something up?' I started off with the guitar and did a multitracking experiment in the control room or maybe in the little room next door. It was very home-made; it wasn't a big production at all. I just made up the short piece and I multitracked a harmony to that, and a harmony to that, and a harmony to that, and built it up sculpturally with a lot of vibrato on the strings, really pulling the strings madly. Hence, 'Wild Honey Pie'...It was a little experimental piece.”

The rhythm track for John's song “Yer Blues,” recorded on August 13th, was put to tape with all four Beatles, drums and all, crammed into the small annex to the Studio Two control room. With this sonic experiment in mind, as mentioned above, it inspired Paul to do something similar for his “Wild Honey Pie” experiment. Paul's recollections undoubtedly include the drum set up that was in place on this day as used on “Mother Nature's Son.” Alan Brown continues: “Paul wanted an open effect on his drums to give a bongos sound, and we ended up leaving the studio itself and putting the drums in the corridor, halfway down, with mikes at the far end. It wasn't carpeted then, and it gave an interesting staccato effect.”

After Paul recorded at least three acoustic guitar overdubs, he played a thumping bass drum pattern on this drum kit, as well as numerous vocal overdubs. At approximately 3 am, this 53-second song was complete. The next hour utilized time creating mono mixes for both “Mother Nature's Son” and “Wild Honey Pie,” the latter song taking six attempts to get the mix right. These mono mixes occurred by the engineering team of George Martin, Ken Scott, and John Smith until everyone finally headed home by 4 am that morning.

On August 23rd, 1968, tape copies were made of recent “White Album” recordings, “Wild Honey Pie” being one of them. These copies were signed for and taken away by Mal Evans.

The created stereo mix finalized on October 13th, 1968 in the control room of EMI Studio Two by the same team of Martin, Scott, and Smith. Two attempts at this stereo mix took place until they got it right. The vocal track on this stereo mix is louder than on the mono mix, and the drum thumping is very faint in the first verse of the mono mix.

"Wild Honey Pie" is entirely made up of three verses (or aaa), the first two being six measures long and the third being nine measures long.  All measures in all verses are in 4/4 time except measure four in each verse, which is in 2/4.

Instrumentally, all three verses are the same, there appearing to be three acoustic guitars playing various rhythm and lead parts as well as one drum track comprising the use of bass drum and toms only. Three harmonized vocals cross the threshold in measures five and six of verses one and two singing “honey pie” twice, while these same harmonies sing these same words four times in the third verse, in measures five through eight. All instruments disappear in the ninth measure of this third verse, revealing only the harmony vocals, one singing “I love you – honey pie.” This short song is signaled to conclude at the sound of three staccato drum beats.  And that's it!

Stop by my blog next week and discover the intricate details showcased upon THE CONTINUING STORY OF BUNGALOW BILL.

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.

OB-LA-DI, OB-LA-DA AND ITS INCREDIBLE RECORDING PROCESS.

On May 29th, 1968, as on the previous day, The Beatles met at 'Kinfauns,' George's home in Surrey, to record demos for all the songs they had recently written in preparation to officially start recording their next album. On this second day at 'Kinfauns,” Paul recorded a very charming acoustic guitar rendition of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” overdubbing himself on guitar and vocals as well as beating on what sounds like bongos (but what may very likely have been the back of his acoustic guitar). Paul convincingly demonstrates the Jamaican-flavored imagery he envisioned for the song, complete with vocal “chick-a-boom, chick-a-boom...” expressions in the bridges of the song. The primitive recording made on this day easily gets out of sync during double-tracking at times, but nonetheless shows the enduring quality of the song.

The Beatles didn't bring the song into EMI studios until a little over a month later, or July 3rd, 1968, arriving around 8 pm in Studio Two. Although documentation shows George Martin to be present on this day as producer, Geoff Emerick remembers otherwise: “George happened to be absent on the first night The Beatles started running down 'Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,' so Chris (Thomas) was the de facto producer. Initially, we all enjoyed doing the track because of its lighthearted up-tempo feel.”

It appears that only Paul and Ringo actually worked at attempting to lay down the rhythm track on this day, Paul on acoustic guitar while singing lead vocals off microphone as a guide vocal, and Ringo on drums. Seven takes were recorded, the seventh take being considered 'best' at first, upon which Paul overdubbed his lead vocals and then a second acoustic guitar. Paul then reconsidered his choice of 'take seven,' thinking 'take four' was best after all. Onto this take, Paul overdubbed a second acoustic guitar, abandoning 'take seven' forever. Since the hour had reached 3:15 am the following day, Paul decided to leave off recording his lead vocals until the next day.

That next day, July 4th, 1968, saw The Beatles re-enter EMI Studio Two for more overdubs on the song. The session was said to have started at 7 pm but, given that not much occurred on this day, it's more likely that they arrived later. First on the agenda was for Paul to record his lead vocals onto the previous days' 'take four,' followed by John and George recording their “la-la” backing vocals on the last open track. “Even Lennon got into it – at first, anyway,” Geoff Emerick explains, “because it gave him a chance to clown around with his silly voices.” Since the four-track tape was now full, a reduction mix was made to open up new tracks, allowing Paul to double-track his lead vocals onto what was now considered 'take five.' By 2:15 am the following morning, the session was complete.

More overdubs were recorded that following day, July 5th, 1968, once again at EMI Studio Two. The overdubs this time, however, were not performed by The Beatles but by session musicians brought in at the request of Paul, playing a score worked out by Paul and transcribed by George Martin. The session was scheduled to begin at 5 pm, but the bulk of the recorded overdubs happened between 6 and 10:30 pm. Three saxophonists, James Gray, Rex Morris and Cyril Reuben, recorded their parts as well as, none other than, Jimmy Scott (the same person who coined the “Ob-la-di...” phrase) on bongos, no doubt as a concession from Paul for his inspiration to the song. Rex Morris, acknowledging his performance on “Ob-La-Da, Ob-La-Da” as “the reggae one,” remembers: “Yoko Ono was there at the session.”

Then, between 10:30 and 11:45 pm, a piccolo overdub was performed. (Documents do not reveal the identity of this musician.) It appears that Paul decided that this piccolo part was not suitable for the song, so he instead recorded another guitar overdub on the same track as the piccolo, recording over this musicians' performance.

Chris Thomas, who was also present at this session, recalls the uniqueness of this guitar overdub: “Paul was deliberately overloading the sound through the desk so that it sounded like a bass.” Paul remembers some technical details about this overdub: “You can defeat the machine. For example, one trick of ours – 'Ob-La-Di' is one of the songs I did this on – was to over-record an acoustic guitar, so you'd swing the needle into the red, and it'd be there, hard, every time you'd played it. The engineer would say 'No, no, no this is not allowed, we have to keep it just before the red or a little into the red!' and we'd be firm and say 'No.' And the acoustic would come back like an electric; it wouldn't distort too much, it would just mess around with that original sound. It'd make it hot. You'd defeated the machine; you'd actually screwed it up a bit. They're harder than ever to defeat now. They've thought of all that. If you're going to work in the red now, there's a little computer that comes in and says 'Limit!,' stops it and brings it back. They're all so clever these days, and you can't actually screw up.”

As far as all the effort put into recording “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” things started getting somewhat tense in the studio on this day, as explained by Geoff Emerick. “It started going on and on, dragging out over three nights. Paul wasn't happy with the rhythm of the track or with the way his vocal lay. He was after a Jamaican reggae feel, and he wasn't satisfied that the band had nailed it. The problem intensified by the fact that even Paul didn't quite know how to lock it in rhythmically, and so he grew pretty frustrated with himself. Paul was something of a perfectionist by this point, but he also had to think that perhaps that had something to do with why he was so fussy about the recording of the song – maybe he did that just to annoy John, just to teach him a lesson.”

“Throughout the preceding weeks I had noticed that John's behavior was becoming increasingly erratic – his mood swings were more severe, and they were occurring more frequently. That was definitely the case with the recording of (this song). One moment he'd be into it, acting the fool and doing his fake Jamaican patois, the next minute he'd be sulking and grumbling about how the song was more of Paul's 'granny music sh*t.' You never knew exactly where you stood with Lennon at any given time, but things indeed got worse.”

In any event, under these strained circumstances, after a short playback of the day's work, this session was complete, everyone gone by 1:30 am the next morning.

During the next three days, Paul decided that, upon his hearing the last playback of the song, that he wanted to start from scratch. This was a first for The Beatles; to have spent the money and taken the time to recruit outside musicians for a particular song and then decide not to use anything they'd contributed. If things were tense in the studio before, things were bound to be unbearable now!

And so it was, on July 8th, 1968, when The Beatles returned to EMI Studio Two at 5 pm (or so) to find out that Paul wanted to begin again on the same song that has been getting on everyone's nerves! “John went ballistic,” Geoff Emerick relates. “Ranting and raving, he headed out the door, with Yoko trailing closely behind, and we thought that we'd seen the last of him that evening. But a few hours later he stormed back into the studio, clearly in a highly altered state of mind.”

“'I AM F*CKING STONED!!' John Lennon bellowed from the top of the stairs. He had chosen to make his entrance through the upstairs door, presumably so that he could quickly gain the attention of the three startled Beatles below. Swaying slightly, he continued, waving his arms for emphasis. 'I am more stoned than you have ever been. In fact, I am more stoned than you will ever be!'...'And this,' Lennon added with a snarl, 'is how the f*cking song should go.' Unsteadily, he lurched down the stairs and over to the piano and began smashing the keys with all his might, pounding out the famous opening chords that became the song's introduction, played at a breakneck tempo. A very upset Paul got right in Lennon's face. For a moment I thought fists might fly.”

“'Okay, then, John,' he said in short, clipped words, staring his deranged bandmate straight in the eye. 'Let's do it your way.' As angry as he was, I think that deep down inside Paul was flattered that his longtime collaborator had given the song any thought at all...even though he had obviously done so while getting out of his skull.”

It's funny how, when two different people witness the same event, they may have completely different takes on what occurred. In his book “Many Years From Now,” Paul describes this development like so: “I remember being in the studio with George and Ringo, struggling with an acoustic version of the song. John was late for the session, but when he arrived, he bounced in, apologizing, in a very good mood. He sat down at the piano and instantly played the blue-beat-style intro. We were very pleased with his fresh attitude. It turned us on and turned the whole song around. He and I worked hard on the vocals, and I remember the two of us in the studio having a whale of a time.”

Although both of these eyewitness events sound convincing, the “whale of a time” appears when listening to the uncut introduction of this song on a rough mix which Ringo presented to his friend Peter Sellers, this mix made available on bootlegs.

Having established how to proceed with recording this new version of the song, twelve takes of the rhythm track was recorded on this day with John on piano, Paul on fuzz bass, George on acoustic guitar and Ringo on drums. One additional element from the original version was the inclusion of the phrase “and if you want some fun” at the conclusion of the song. Having filled all four tracks of the tape with this performance, a tape reduction was made of 'take 12', which made it 'take 13', this backing track reduced to track one of a new tape. Paul overdubbed lead vocals while John and George overdubbed backing vocals, this taking up tracks three and four of the tape, while 'Latin American percussion' (maracas and other assorted instruments) were added onto track two. The “other assorted instruments” may very well have included the small intricate piano overdubs heard in the last verse, these most likely being played by Paul.

Engineer Richard Lush relates the overall tension of the day: “Looking back now it was great to be involved with The Beatles, but there was a negative side. They spent so much time doing each song that I can remember sitting in the control room before a session dying to hear them start a new one. They must have done 'Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da' five nights running and it's not exactly the most melodic piece of music. They'd do it one night, and you'd think 'that's it.' But then they'd come in the next day and do it again in a different key or with a different feel. Poor Ringo would be playing from about three in the afternoon until one in the morning, with few breaks in between, and then have to do it all over again the next night.”

Just before the session dispersed for the evening at 3 am the next morning, a rough mono mix of the song was created by the engineering team of George Martin, Geoff Emerick, and Richard Lush to be taken away by Paul for his inspection. Surely he would be happy with the song now! Emerick stood convinced the song was complete at this point: “The remake was, I had to admit, quite good. It had a bouncier feel to it than the original version, which seemed a bit leaden by comparison, and when it was completed, we all breathed a sigh of relief that we wouldn't have to be working on the song anymore.”

However... “Sadly, Paul returned to his nitpicking ways the very next afternoon,” Emerick continues, “announcing peremptorily that he was still dissatisfied and wanted to remake the song yet again...despite the fact that Ringo wasn't even there.” On this day, July 9th, 1968, The Beatles arrived this time in EMI Studio Three for a late afternoon session from 4 to 9 pm, Ringo possibly not being informed they were meeting so early. Emerick relates: “Paul got behind the drums instead and led a clearly steamed Lennon and Harrison through another couple of run-throughs (takes 20 and 21) before he finally capitulated and gave up.”

Ringo, probably arriving at the usual 7 pm, reported to have walked into a session (presumably in the usual EMI Studio Two) for singer Solomon King. Not knowing where his bandmates were, he contributed a handclapping performance for his song “A Hundred Years Or More.” At some point, he must have realized that the rest of The Beatles were waiting for him in EMI Studio Three, their evening session beginning at 10 pm. Poor Ringo!

With all four Beatles now present, they worked at making the previous attempt at “Ob-La-Da, Ob-La-Da” the finished product after all. A decision was made to replace the vocals recorded on tracks three and four the previous day, them “gathered around the microphone,” as Emerick relates, to record a lot of what is heard on the finished version, such as the laughing, joking, ho-hos and he-hees.

Included here is after Paul sings “lend a hand,” John replies “arm,” and then George cries “leg.” In the second bridge, after Paul sings “home sweet home,” John spells out “h – o – m – e – home.” Then, in the final verse, after Paul again sings “lend a hand,” George retorts “foot.” Emerick continues, “Interestingly, all the bad feelings of the past weeks seemed to evaporate as soon as they gathered around the mic and I fed tape echo into their headphones. That's all it took for them to suspend their petty disagreements; for those few moments, they would clown around and act silly again, like they did when they were kids, just starting out. Then as soon as they'd take the cans off, they'd go back to hating each other. It was very odd – it was almost as if having the headphones on and hearing that echo put them in a dreamlike state.”

With this, another tape reduction was necessary, which turned 'take 13' into 'take 22.” Onto this, this four Beatles overdubbed some vocal percussion and handclaps (Ringo did a lot of hand clapping on this day!). John then announced that he wanted to record another version of the previously recorded song “Revolution,” which ushered in some rehearsals that eventually ended the session at 3:30 am the following morning.

More attention was given to “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” however, a couple of days later, July 11th, 1968, as the group reassembled in EMI Studio Three at around 7 pm. Three saxophonists were once again employed to perform on this new version, two of which are thought to be Rex Morris and Ronnie Scott as well as an unnamed third musician. After their recorded contribution ended, another tape reduction was needed, two attempts made resulting in the first attempt (take 23) being the keeper. Onto this, Paul overdubbed another bass guitar track, but apparently not with an actual bass guitar.  In a 1994 interview with Tony Bacon, Paul explained that, concerning the bass on "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," he "double-tracked it with an acoustic guitar, which is a cool idea: an octave up from the bass, playing exactly the same on acoustic."

The night was then finished off with the team of George Martin, Geoff Emerick and 2nd engineer Phil McDonald creating yet another rough mono mix of the song, two attempts being made of this as well. By 3:45 am the next morning, this session was also then complete.

The following day, July 12th, 1968, The Beatles met in EMI Studio Two at around 3 pm to complete work on Ringo's composition “Don't Pass Me By,” afterwards sticking around to oversee two more attempts at a mono mix of “Ob-La-Da, Ob-La-Da.” Evidence of Paul, Ringo and George in the control room during this mixing session lingers on a tape of out-takes and studio chatter compiled at The Beatles' request, the three of them announcing “remix ten” with various humorous accents when this song's mono mix took shape. By 11 pm this session was over, the newly created mono mix of Paul's song being taken away by him for more scrutiny.

Three days later, on July 15th, 1968, Paul's scrutiny revealed that he still wasn't satisfied with his lead vocals. That being the case, he gave his vocals another go in EMI Studio Two at an afternoon session held between 3:30 and 8 pm.

Geoff Emerick recounts the details of this day. “After setting up the vocal microphone for Paul down in Studio Two and getting a headphone mix together, Richard (Lush) and I began the long, tedious process of rolling and re-rolling the tape as he experimented endlessly, making minute changes to the lead vocal, in search of some kind of elusive perfection that only he could hear in his head... 'Paul, can you try rephrasing the last line of each verse?' George Martin asked in his gentle, slightly aristocratic voice...He was still trying to do his job, still trying to steer his charges toward increased musical sophistication and help push them to their best performances. 'If you think you can do it better, why don't you f*cking come down here and sing it yourself?' he snarled as he whipped off his headphones and glared up at the control room.”

“Stunned, I looked over at George. Even he couldn't understand why Paul was still trying to redo the vocal track; in those days you simply didn't spend huge amounts of time doing that sort of fine-tuning. But as the ferocity of McCartney's verbal attack sunk in, he turned pale, clearly choking back his anger and humiliation. What happened next shocked me to the core: in sheer frustration, quiet, low-key George Martin actually began shouting back at Paul. 'Then bloody sing it again!' he yelled over the talkback, causing me to wince. 'I give up. I just don't know any better how to help you.' It was the first time I had ever heard George Martin raise his voice in a session. The silence following the outburst was equally deafening.” It was this event that was the last straw for engineer Geoff Emerick, who decided that he no longer wanted to work with The Beatles anymore. He showed up for their session on the following day and then, after a long history of working with the band, abandoned his role as engineer for the rest of the “White Album.” (He eventually resumed working with The Beatles nine months later.)

Paul finally completed his lead vocal track to his own satisfaction on this day, leaving in a particular lyric flub.  Friend Pete Shotton was present on this day and, in his book "John Lennon: In My Life," relates the following eyewitness account of this lyrical mistake:  "After finally turning in what sounded like a flawless performance, (Paul) burst out laughing.  'Oh, sh*t!' he said.  'We'll have to do it again!'  'Well, it sounded OK to me,' John yawned.  'Yeah,' George agreed.  'It was perfect.'  'But didn't you notice?' Paul demanded.  'Notice what?' said John.  'I just sang "Desmond stays at home and does his pretty face"...I should've sung "Molly!"'  The others refused to believe him - until George Martin played back the tape and proved Paul was right.  'Oh, it sounds great anyway,' Paul concluded.  'Let's just leave it in - create a bit of confusion there.  Everyone will wonder whether Desmond's a bisexual or a transvestite.'"

Ten attempts at creating a mono mix of the now completed song took place, although none of these sounded right for the released album.

Apparently, Paul did not receive any of the mono mixes created on this day so, on August 27th, 1968, a tape copy was made in the control room of EMI Studio Two of the song, as well as three others, which were taken away by Mal Evans then given to the group. This was probably the mix that eventually ended up in the hands of Peter Sellers, as mentioned above.

Both the stereo and mono mixes that surfaced on the released album were created on October 12th, 1968 in the control room of EMI Studio Two by the team of George Martin, Ken Scott, and John Smith. This team worked from 7 pm to 5:45 am the next morning creating mixes also for various other “White Album” tracks. The stereo mix came first, four attempts, followed by the mono mix which they accomplished in one try. One noticeable difference between the two is the absence of handclapping at the beginning of the mono mix.

Snatches of the Beatles performing the song during the “Get Back/Let It Be” sessions trickled on tape during January of 1969.  There were four times that “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” was touched on, the dates being January 3rd at Twickenham Film Studios, and the 13th, 14th, and 24th at Apple Studios.  One silly version features John taking most of the lead vocals, singing “Oh, my God, Oh, my God” where the song's title should be, as well as a verse that contains the lyrics:  “Desmond has a sparrow in his pocketbook / Molly had an eagle in the sand / Molly said to Dezzy, 'My, I like your hook / And when you hit me I believe your in the band.'”  John then concludes the song with “Well, if you want some jam...”

A stereo mix of the original version of “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” was created sometime in 1996 for inclusion on the compilation album “Anthology 3.” Edited onto the beginning of this mix is John shouting “Yes sir, Take one of the Mighty Jumbo Band,” as well as John's exclamation “Ob-la-di, ob-la-da, brother” at the song's conclusion.

Although it's not very noticeable, piano from “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” is featured in the mash-up of “Lady Madonna” created by George Martin and his son Giles Martin sometime between 2004 and 2006. This creation lulls on the album “Love.”

As for the song structure, it follows a simple pattern of 'verse/ chorus/ verse/ chorus/ bridge/ verse/ chorus/ bridge/ verse/ chorus' (or ababcabcab) with a simple introduction and conclusion thrown in and no solo or instrumental section required therein.

As for the style of the song, Paul was working hard to capture a Jamaican-flavored sound. Around the time of the album's release, when asked about the reason he chose a Jamaican style for this song, Paul stated: “I've no idea why it's Jamaican or anything, it's just because I like that kind of music. I think this was mainly me; John's a bit more Nigerian influenced.” Paul was attempting to emulate the pseudo-reggae style of music coined “ska,” which had become quite popular in Britain in the 60's as commonly found on the record label “Blue Beat.” With the accents on the offbeats, John hit upon it nicely with his piano playing on the released version of the song, something not quite captured in The Beatles' first recorded version. An interesting note is that The Beatles touched on the “ska” craze much earlier in their career, the solo portion of the song “I Call Your Name” capturing this feel quite nicely.

“Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” starts off with a five-measure introduction, the first measure consisting fully of John's piano chords, this startling the listener away from the spooky gloominess of the faded orchestral score that concludes the previous track “Glass Onion.” The second and third measures feature John's syncopated piano chording along with Paul's bass guitar performance on acoustic guitar, the third measure including a spot of handclapping (stereo version only). The fourth and fifth measures bring in Ringo's drums, George's acoustic guitar and Paul's actual bass guitar performance, which is mimicking the simple pattern played by the acoustic bass guitar overdub.

The first verse, like all the verses, repeat a uniform eight measures long, this one continuing the same instrumentation from the introduction with the inclusion of Paul's single-tracked lead vocal, treated nonetheless with much ADT (Artificial Double Tracking). The first eight-measure chorus enters next which continues the same instrumentation with the only addition being John and George's backing vocals sung in unison with Paul's lead vocals.

The second verse then commences which is identical to the first except for the new lyrics and a couple of word insertions, this being John repeating the words “ring” and “sing” at the end of those lyric lines. The chorus that follows has all the elements of the first with the addition of overdubbed falsetto vocals singing “la, la, la....bra, la, la, how the life goes on” twice. With some commotion going on throughout, such as assorted clicks and pops from one of the vocal overdub tracks, we hear Paul exclaim “yeah” along with the first drum break from Ringo in the eighth measure.

The first occurrence of the eight-measure bridge comes next, which contain the same instrumental elements as heard in the song thus far. After the subtle sound of someone saying what sounds like “Go” on the downbeat of the first measure, Paul sings solo single-tracked lead vocals throughout while adding in some “chicka-chick, chicka-chick...” reggae-sounding vocal percussion in the third and fourth measures. Also added here are overdubbed quickly shaken maracas (possibly by Ringo) in the second through sixth measures as well as harmonized saxophones in measures three through five. Measures seven and eight show all instruments cutting out except for John's syncopated piano chords. Paul continues singing to finish out the bridge, complemented by John's “oooooh, ho-ho-ho-ho” in the final measure, this quietly continuing into the first measure of the verse that follows.

The third verse comes next, following the same format instrumentally as the others but with a slight drum fill from Ringo in the fourth measure. This measure also includes the “arm” and “leg” vocal hi-jinx as mentioned above. Paul adds a few additional extraneous notes on one of his bass performances during measures two and three. The saxophones enter in again in the eighth measure of this verse with a counter-melody line that continues throughout the chorus that follows. Paul excitedly raises the range of the chorus melody line in the final measure of the verse but maintains the true melody throughout this third chorus as it is sung in unison with John and George as before. John adds a little “hee-hee-hee” in the background of the chorus's fourth measure and a piano thumb roll in the eighth measure.

The second appearance of the bridge then appears, the maracas appearing again in the second through sixth measures but being played in a standard way this time around instead of shaken vigorously. The saxophones appear again in the third and fourth measures as before but also interject a melody line in the seventh and eighth measures this time as well. In the far background, during the first saxophone line, one can hear John's “h-o-m-e, home” mumble as mentioned above. Also heard in the seventh and eighth measures are what sound like bongos, Paul harmonizing with himself on the line “Desmond and Molly Jones,” and John singing “ha-ha-ha-ha...” in the background.

The fourth verse appears next which is lyrically a repeat of the third verse. Assorted squeaks and background vocalizations occur during this verse, including some “ha-ha-ha”s in the fourth and fifth measures and George's reply of “foot” in the fourth measure as an answer to Paul's “lend a hand” in the lead vocals. A touch of bongos is still apparent in the second measure as are two overdubbed piano phrases in the fourth and sixth measures. Paul's character mix up occurs in this verse, humorously exchanging “Desmond” and “Molly” as mentioned above, the eighth measure also including a tom-tom break from Ringo to usher in the next section.

The final chorus then appears which includes Paul's higher pitched vocalization whenever the words “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da” occur. The saxophone counter-melody line returns throughout this chorus, as does the continuation of assorted “ha-ha-ha”s in the fourth and fifth measures. This chorus is seven measures long, however, the final measure clipped off to bring in the song's three-measure conclusion. The chord goes minor for the first two of these measures, Ringo performing a drum break at the end of the first measure where the eighth measure of the chorus would have been. Some tinkling percussion and high pitched “ha-ha-ha”s appear in these measures as does Paul's new lyric “and if you want some fun...take ob-la-di-bla-da” performed double-tracked this time. The song ends suddenly on the fourth beat of the third measure with John's final piano chord, the laughter continuing afterward for a moment or two. John is heard saying “thank you,” as if he is relieved that the song is now complete.

Despite all the aggravation the recording of this song produced, taking the longest of all the tracks on the “White Album” to record, the listener is treated to the illusion of frivolity between the four happy-go-lucky boys from Liverpool, hamming it up with their “Goons”-like humor similar to their early Christmas messages to fan club members. Paul may be the driving force on the song, but John plays a vital role in giving it the “ska” feel on the piano, something Paul had been reaching for all along. Paul's bass work is rudimentary throughout but purposely planned that way as to give the song that easy accessibility he desired. Ringo and George put in suitable performances as well. Overall, the listener is treated to a fun Jamaican-style song that, once gets inserted into the brain, isn't easily removed.

Stop by my blog next week and discover the intricate details showcased upon WILD HONEY PIE.

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.