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!

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