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.
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