I WILL AND ITS INCREDIBLE RECORDING PROCESS.

On September 16th, 1968, with just over three-and-a-half months already spent on recording the "White Album," Paul brought "I Will" into EMI Studio Two for the first time.  Paul, John, and Ringo arrived sometime after the usual designated time of 7 pm to begin the recording process, George not taking part in the recording or possibly not present at all on this day.

The lyrics may not have yet finalized, but Paul nonetheless proceeded to run through a grand total of 67 takes of a live performance of the song.  Ian MacDonald's book “Revolution In The Head” makes a keen observation regarding this days' session: “Needing precisely the right performance from an acoustic set-up which exposed the slightest error, it required a grueling sixty-seven takes.  The apparent casualness of the result is a tribute to The Beatles' concentration.”  Surprisingly, these takes were recorded on a four-track tape machine although an eight-track machine had already been in use in this studio for the past two weeks.

This “acoustic set-up” consisted of Paul on vocals and acoustic guitar and both Ringo and John on percussive instruments.  Upon listening, it appears that Ringo was tapping out a beat on bongos using sticks while he was sitting at his drum kit (since he is heard tapping on cymbals and momentarily moves to his tom-tom at the end of the final verse).   As for John, he is playing a faster paced percussive instrument that is best described by Mark Lewisohn in his book “The Beatles Recording Sessions” as “tapping out a beat with wood on metal.”

“Take one,” heard on “Anthology 3,” sounds as though John uses maracas at the beginning of the song but then plays his “wood on metal” from the second verse to end.  Ringo even slightly crashed a cymbal at the end of the extended final verse.  Lyrical differences include Paul singing “love you with all my heart” instead of “love you when we're apart” at the end of the bridge, and “endear me to you” instead of “endear you to me” in the last verse.

“Revolution In The Head” also states: “Few could have managed this feat without light relief and the session was regularly interrupted by ad-libs.”  These ad-libs included what appeared in 'take 19,' an off-the-cuff creation by Paul, uncopyrighted, which lasted two minutes and 21 seconds that included the repeated lyrics “Can you take me back where I came from?”  Paul felt enamored with this performance enough to have it preserved for one of their two 'odds and ends' tapes they compiled for posterity.  He liked this recording so much, in fact, that the final segment of this 'song,' twenty-eight seconds in length, was inserted at the end of the song “Cry Baby Cry” on the finished “White Album,” this acting as a link piece to John's “Revolution 9.”  John, incidentally, is playing maracas on this recording.

Another “light relief” ad-lib occurred at 'take 32,' this being an adaptation of the lyrics of “I Will” along with the melody line of the classic Fred Astaire song “The Way You Look Tonight,” this take lasting just over a minute with John simultaneously playing maracas and “wood on metal.”

Then, 'take 35' broke into a short impromptu version of “Step Inside Love,” which was a song Paul wrote especially for Cilla Black to use as the theme song for her first British TV series.  (Her studio recording of the song was released as a single earlier that year and peaked at #9 in the UK chart on April 10th, 1968).  As this wound down, Paul acted as radio disc jockey by announcing that song as performed by “Joe Pararis & The Parari Wallflowers,” which prompted John to announce the next song as being performed by “Los Paranoias,” a group name they had jokingly considered using in 1960 just before settling on the name "Beatles."  Paul then laughed and broke into yet another spontaneous ad-lib, including lyrics such as “Los Paranoias, come on, enjoy us...” while John repeatedly exclaims “I can't make it” while playing maracas and “wood on metal” simultaneously until abandoning the maracas a little later to concentrate on more rapid percussive “wood on metal” playing.  Ringo appears to have sat out this humorous interplay.

Finally, after 67 takes for “I Will” had performed attempts (not all of them complete), they spooled back to 'take 65' and decided that it was the best of the night.  This performance showed John playing his “wood on metal” percussion alone, the maracas to be added as an overdub later.  A tape copy was then made of this 'take' in order to transfer the recording over to their eight-track machine for future overdubs, which would take place at another session.  With the time now being approximately 2 am the following morning, a quick couple of overdubs were added to John's song “Glass Onion” and, by 3 am, the session was finally complete.

The next day, September 17th, 1968, brought the group back into EMI Studio Two sometime after the documented 7 pm to finalize “I Will.”  After a mono mix of “Helter Skelter” was performed, Paul added various overdubs onto “I Will,” a harmony vocal during the bridge and conclusion of the song, a second acoustic guitar which added some impressive riffs to the arrangement and, as the book “The Beatles Recording Sessions” called it, “a clever baritone 'dum-dum-dum' impersonation of a bass guitar” by Paul.  Maracas were apparently added on this day as well, most probably by Ringo.  After a tape copy of John's “Cry Baby Cry” was made, this session was shown to end at 5 am the following morning.  Since not all that much occurred on this day, it's safe to assume that the group didn't actually show up in the studio until much later than 7 pm as documented, their habit at the time.

The mono mix was created on September 26th, 1968, in the control room of EMI Studio Two by the engineering team of Chris Thomas, Ken Scott, and Mike Sheady.  Two attempts arose, undoubtedly the second one deemed the keeper. ADT (“Artificial Double Tracking”) was applied to Paul's vocals to thicken up the sound on the finished master.  Paul's “bass vocal” begins in the second verse on this mono mix.

The stereo mix was created on October 14th, 1968, also in the control room of EMI Studio Two by the engineering team of George Martin, Ken Scott, and John Smith, only one attempt needed.  ADT was once again applied to Paul's vocal while his “bass vocal” is heard right from the beginning of the song this time around.

Sometime in 1996, producer George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick returned to 'take one' of the master tape of “I Will” to create a mix for inclusion on the compilation album “Anthology 3.” As mentioned above, they also created a mix of 'take 35' including bits of their ad-libs “Step Inside Love” and “Los Paranoias” for inclusion on the same album.

Although not strictly a part of the song “I Will,” the “Can you take me back?” ad-lib recording from 'take 19' was included in a mash-up of the track “Come Together/Dear Prudence” as included on the compilation album “Love.”  This mix was created by George Martin and his son Giles Martin sometime between 2004 and 2006.

Resorting back to the tried-and-true format of the early Beatle years, Paul structures "I Will" as 'verse/ verse/ bridge/ verse' (or aaba), identical to John's "Please Please Me" of six years prior.

One would almost want to flesh out the song with a solo and a repeat of the bridge and final verse as was the habit of the 1963 Beatles in order to stretch the length out beyond the two-minute mark.  Undoubtedly, if George Martin were present for the recording, he would have suggested it.  But since Chris Thomas was the producer on this day, this wasn't suggested; not that it would have been suggested anyway since the days were gone when the group listened to what their producer had to say.  In any event, a simple half reprisal of the bridge was tacked on at the end of the song which acted as a conclusion.

The first verse is nine measures in length and begins with Paul's voice as a lead-in with his lyric “Who knows.”  On the downbeat, Paul's acoustic guitar and Ringo's bongos and cymbal tapping appear as accompaniment to the lead vocals, along with Paul's vocalized bass (stereo version only).  These elements are added to in the seventh and eighth measures by Paul's overdubbed acoustic guitar fills.  The second verse is identical to the first regarding elements heard, the only differences being a new set of lyrics and a stripping away of the final measure, a truncated guitar fill passage leading into the bridge that follows.

The bridge is also eight measures long and features some more added elements.  John's “wood on metal” playing appears here for the first time along with Ringo's maracas.  Paul's harmony vocals also kick in throughout this bridge as well as his acoustic guitar overdub playing strategically placed guitar lines all the way through.

The third verse then appears which is extended to fifteen measures this time around to build the composition to a climactic finish.  The intensity of the first five measures is scaled down a bit, however, Paul's acoustic guitar overdub disappearing temporarily.  The rhythm track of acoustic guitar, bongos, tapping cymbals and vocals are still present, as are John's percussion and Ringo's maracas.  Paul's vocals are now double-tracked, however, for the entire verse.

Starting at measure five, Paul repeats the lyrical melody line three times, the first two times followed by three descending notes that are accented by the other elements in the recording, including the reemergence of the acoustic guitar overdub.  The third melody line is extended (“endear you to me”) which this time sounds accentuated by four chordal intonations as a backdrop which skillfully winds up like the other verses, ending with the phrase “I will.”  However, at this point, a surprising chord is heard which signals all the elements to up their intensity once again, John's percussion galloping like a wild stallion, Ringo's maracas kicking into high gear, and Paul's acoustic guitar overdub plodding away similar to what is heard at the close of the previous verses.  This continues for the fourteenth and fifteenth measures as Paul repeats “I will” once again in a higher register as the expected chord is now heard.  Ringo ends the verse with his only drum fill of the song.

A four-measure conclusion is then heard which is strikingly similar to the first four measures of the bridge.  All of the elements are still present while Paul hums in harmony with himself the first two measures and sings “da, da, da, da, da, da, da” in an ascending melody line in the final two measures to end the song.  John then adds three additional percussive beats after everyone has stopped playing, Lennon always has to make his presence felt, getting in the last word!

The lyric appears to be describing the act of visualization, Paul imagining his 'true love' for as far back as he can remember.  He may have met his true love at some time in his life but he “didn't catch” her name.  But it “doesn't really matter” anyway because destiny would eventually bring his soul-mate to him.  And then, when he “at last” recognizes her, her “song will fill the air” and they will be together “forever and forever.”  How romantic!

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WHY DON’T WE DO IT IN THE ROAD AND ITS INCREDIBLE RECORDING PROCESS.

By October 9th, 1968, after well over four months in the studio recording the "White Album," they surely had enough material to fill all four sides of what became their first and only double-album of brand new compositions.  As things were winding down in the creation of the album on this day, however, Paul thought to extricate himself from some mixing, and minor overdubbing in EMI Studio Two and create yet another track to be considered for inclusion on the album.  You know, just to make sure they had enough songs.  In fact, if you include the two previously recorded tracks they decided to omit at the last minute (George's "Not Guilty" and John's "What's The New Mary Jane"), they definitely did have enough material.  But, just in case, Paul had another ace up his sleeve.

The Beatles arrived at EMI Studio Two sometime after the usual 7 pm on this day, and Paul recorded some minor backing vocals as an overdub for George's song “Long Long Long.”  The other duties of the day included producer Chris Thomas performing a piano overdub for the same song as well as working on creating both the stereo and mono mixes of John's “The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill.”  While John and George helped with contributing ideas for these mixes, and since Paul didn't feel he was needed, he grabbed technical engineer Ken Townsend and brought him in to the vacant EMI Studio One to run the four-track tape machine while he tried his hand at recording “Why Don't We Do It In The Road?”

Paul didn't quite know how to present the song, but he nonetheless ran through five takes of a rhythm track, which consisted of him on acoustic guitar and vocals, each take beginning with Paul thumping out a beat on the sounding board of his guitar.  “I want to do one quiet verse, one loud verse, that's it really,” he explained to Ken Townsend who acted as balance engineer and tape operator.  Since no true producer was present, and Paul was in full control of the proceedings, one can easily signify McCartney as the producer on the track.

The first four takes consisted of Paul starting out singing softly and then changing to a loud and rough voice later in the song.  'Take four,' which eventually got included on the compilation album “Anthology 3,” shows Paul singing four verses: the first soft, the second loud, the third mostly soft but ending loud, the fourth soft, and then starting a fifth verse sung loud before he abandons it.  The lyrics during the fourth verse, incidentally, change the fifth line from "No one will be watching us" to “People won't be watching us.”  After he abruptly ends the song, he asks Ken Townsend, “Well, well, well, what do you think of all that; do you think I can do it better?”

Apparently, Ken thought he could, so Paul did one final take with entirely loud and rough vocals throughout, ending the song after three verses.  Paul was then satisfied and, to top things off, recorded a piano overdub onto 'take five' before they both went home for the day at 5:30 am the following morning.

The following day (that is, later that day), October 10th, 1968, The Beatles once again entered EMI Studio Two around 7 pm for the arduous task of recording the orchestral score for George's song “Piggies” and John's song “Glass Onion.” Duties also included creating both the mono and stereo mixes of “Glass Onion” as well as stereo mixes for both “Rocky Raccoon” and “Long Long Long.”

Once again, Paul didn't think his input was needed so he at some point grabbed Ken Townsend as well as Ringo to finish off “Why Don't We Do It In The Road?” This time, however, they went into the vacant EMI Studio Three (maybe because of where Ringo's drums happened to stay located) to layer various overdubs onto the song. With Paul once again calling the shots, Ringo added drums while Paul overdubbed additional vocals, handclaps and a bass guitar. Since all four tracks of the tape were now filled and Paul had one more idea for an overdub, a reduction mix combined tracks one and four, this becoming track one and now considered 'take 6.' The open track thus filled with Paul on electric guitar, completing the song. As the sun rose at 7:15 am the following morning, both sessions of the day were complete.

But how did John and George feel about this song recorded in their absence?  John related in his 1980 Playboy interview the following: “He even recorded it by himself in another room.  That's how it was getting in those days.  We came in, and he'd made the whole record; him drumming, him playing the piano, him singing.  But he couldn't - he couldn't - maybe he couldn't make the break from The Beatles.  I don't know what it was, you know.  I enjoyed the track.  Still, I can't speak for George, but I was always hurt when Paul would knock something off without involving us.  But that's just the way it was then.”

In response to Yoko's claim that nobody had hurt John more than Paul did, McCartney strove to set the record straight when interviewed by Hunter Davies in 1981.  “There's only one incident I can think of that John has mentioned publicly.  It was when I went off with Ringo and did 'Why Don't We Do It In The Road.'  It wasn't a deliberate thing.  John and George were tied up finishing something, and me and Ringo were free, just hanging around, so I said to Ringo, 'Let's go and do this'...Anyway, he did the same with 'Revolution 9.'  He went off and made that without me.  No one ever says that.  'John is the nice guy, and I'm the bastard.'  It gets repeated all the time.”

According to Ringo, jealousy among the other Beatles didn't usually get blown out of proportion concerning these things. “'The Ballad Of John And Yoko' only had Paul (of the other Beatles) on it, but that was OK,” stated Ringo in the “Anthology” book. “'Why Don't We Do It In The Road?' was just Paul and me, and it went out as a Beatle track too. We had no problems with that.”

After all was said and done, however, John still made it public that he thought “Why Don't We Do It In The Road?” was “one of his best.”  Paul thought so too:  “It's a great track, isn't it?  Good vocal, though I say it myself."

It should be noted here that many sources claim Paul initially played drums on the song and Ringo came in the following day and contributed on drums as well.  This apparently is a misunderstanding.  As stipulated above, John assumed that Paul recorded the song entirely himself and is quoted as saying that it was "him drumming" but, as he  himself admits, he wasn't present when the song was recorded.  Both Paul and Ringo are on record saying that Ringo performed on the drums, and they obviously would know since they were there.  Paul's guitar thumping at the beginning of the song may also have led authors to assume that Paul was playing drums.  Mark Lewisohn's authoritative book "The Beatles Recording Sessions" also sites Ringo as the sole drummer on the song, while treated to listening to all of the takes of the song in preparation for writing this book.

Both the mono and stereo mixes of the song occurred during a marathon 24-hour control room session on October 16th and 17th, 1968, from 5 pm to 5 pm.  Only one attempt was needed for both the mono and stereo mix to get them to the desired state, these mixes created by George Martin and engineers Ken Scott and John Smith with oversight from Paul and John.  The one noticeable difference between the mixes is that the handclaps are missing in the introduction on the mono mix.

Sometime in 1996, George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick returned to the master tape of the song to create the mix of 'take four' that is heard on “Anthology 3” as described above.  George Martin, along with his son Giles Martin, brought out the master tape of the song once again sometime between 2004 and 2006 to include the introductory drums and handclaps as added elements in their newly created mix of the song “Lady Madonna” as included on the compilation album “Love.”

The song's structure consists of a typical 12-bar blues pattern and is only three verses long (or aaa) with a simple introduction thrown in.

This introduction is four measures long and consists only of percussive elements, the only purposes of this intro being to set the tempo for the song and to allow Paul's vocal to have a springboard in the fourth measure.  The first measure consists mostly of Paul thumping a 4/4 beat on the sounding board of his acoustic guitar, accentuated by a little snare work from Ringo at the end.  The second measure is taken up only by Paul's guitar thumping and his overdubbed handclaps (stereo mix only).  Ringo comes back in with a snare, and tom tom fill in the third measure, all of this coming to a halt on the downbeat of the fourth measure which creates a 'Beatles break' for Paul to begin his vocalization.

The first twelve-measure verse then begins which consists of Paul on vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, and bass as well as a subdued drum beat from Ringo.  In fact, Ringo's performance on this song sounds as if played with brushes; his riding cymbal beat only slightly detected throughout.  Paul adds little extraneous vocal sounds in between his lyric lines in measures three and five, other very slight vocalizations also being detected in other measures as well.

Paul's overdubbed electric rhythm guitar finally arrives in the seventh measure, which fits in nicely as Paul plays it high up on the neck.  However, with the chord changes that start in the ninth measure, his positioning on the neck lowers which end up sounding slightly out-of-tune by the time the eleventh measure kicks in.  The eleventh measure includes a snare drum break while the twelfth measure includes a repeat of the 'Beatles break,' allowing Paul to begin singing the second verse, this being the first occasion in the song that Paul's vocal overdubbing is detected.  Ringo performs another snare drum fill here as well as a segue into the verse that follows.

The second verse continues the same instrumentation throughout, the electric guitar, unfortunately, starting out in the lower positioning and still sounding somewhat out-of-tune.  One can detect another instance of Paul's overdubbed vocal in measure four, possibly covering over what he felt was an unsatisfactory vocal performance from the rhythm track.  Ringo adds snare drum fills in measures nine, ten and twelve this time around.  The twelfth measure is again a 'Beatles break' with Paul rising to a heavy, soulful falsetto reading of the song's title as a transition to the third verse that follows.

This third verse, which is only eleven measures this time around, becomes the emotional climax of the song due to Paul's heavy-handed vocal work.  He inadvertently adds extra syllables to the main phrase of the song repeatedly, such as “road-ah” in measure three, “da-do it, do it” in measure four, and “i-ee-it in the ro-ooh-oad” in measures five and six.  Paul's electric guitar suitably begins the verse in the higher in-key positioning but then, unfortunately, transcends down again by the seventh measure.  Paul's bass begins to show off a little in the second and third measures just to add a little ingenuity and variance.  This time the 'Beatles break' happens in the tenth measure so that Paul can end the song with his final spirited plea to “do it in the road” before the final staccato chord pounds on the downbeat of the eleventh measure with a sturdy open hi-hat crash ringing the song out.

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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.

DON’T PASS ME BY AND ITS INCREDIBLE RECORDING PROCESS.

"This was my first song.  It was really exciting to get it down.  Everyone really worked to the full."  So stated Ringo about "Don't Pass Me By," which appeared as the second song recorded for the "White Album," the first being John's "Revolution" (soon to be re-titled "Revolution 1").  The Beatles entered EMI Studio Three on June 5th, 1968, at approximately 2:30 pm for work on Ringo's first composition.

Choosing to record this song was quite a shock to the EMI staff, as outlined by engineer Geoff Emerick in his book “Here, There And Everywhere.” “The 'White Album' sessions were full of surprises for me. Usually, a Beatles album project would begin with the recording of one of John's songs, and this was no exception. But the second song was always one of Paul's – after all, they were the main songwriters in the band. Ringo would be allocated one song per album, and it was usually done almost as an afterthought, near the end...But this time around, they decided to do Ringo's song right away...and, even more surprisingly, it was actually a song he'd written.”

Emerick continues: “No explanation was given, and George Martin and I were flabbergasted. The only thing we could come up with was that, behind the scenes, the others must have known that Ringo was getting a bit fed up, and they were trying to keep him happy. That seemed like the only possible reason why time and energy was being expended on a Ringo song so early on...After all, the 'Pepper' sessions had begun with 'Strawberry Fields Forever' and 'Penny Lane' – a stark contrast...Obviously, tensions and intrigue were already in play, right at the beginning of these sessions.”

The song had already christened as “Don't Pass Me By” by the group, this being evidenced in the press and radio interviews as early as 1963. For some reason, though, documentation on this first day of recording shows the title of the song as “Ringo's Tune (Untitled).” At any rate, The Beatles (that is to say, Ringo and Paul) worked at laying down a rhythm track, this consisting of Paul on piano and Ringo on drums. Paul's piano, according to Bruce Spizer's book “The Beatles On Apple Records,” was “miked through a guitar amplifier and Leslie speaker,” thus creating the odd swirling effect heard on the finished recording.  Upon listening to the finished recording, it appears that the drums were also recorded in the same manner, that is, through a Leslie speaker, because of its altered appearance.  The duet recorded Three takes, the third one ending with Ringo shouting to George Martin in the control room, “I think we've got something there, George!” 'Take three,' indeed, was the keeper.

Onto 'take three” both recorded overdubs to fill up the four-track tape, Paul on another piano and Ringo playing a sleigh-bell found in EMI Studio's sound effects cupboard. A good portion of the recording thus far can be heard on the compilation album “Anthology 3” with a vocal track by Ringo added on from a recording made on a later date. Interestingly, when listening to the drums on this version, a drum overdub is evident (or else Ringo sprouted a couple of extra arms on that day). Therefore, an undocumented drum overdub had to have happened at some point and, since the liner notes in the “Anthology 3” album state this recording comes from 'take three,' it must have occurred on the original four-track tape before any tape reduction occurred.  Also evident when listening to the rhythm track found on "Anthology 3" is the fact that there was only two choruses instead of three, the second one missing, as well as the absence of the break section heard on the released version.  It seems reasonably clear, then, that the original rhythm track went through some editing to combine different takes to get it to its finished state.

With all four tracks filled, two attempts of a reduction mix followed, the best being the second attempt, engineers called 'take five.' With two open tracks, Ringo recorded his lead vocals on one of them, this recorded at 46 cycles per second so that his pitch would be higher during playback. It was quickly decided, however, that this could be improved upon, so Paul instead recorded a bass guitar overdub on top of it, wiping out Ringo's vocals in the process. This left one open track on the new tape, Paul also recording another bass guitar overdub on this as well. When this was complete, another reduction mix took place since all four tracks were filled again, this mix marked as 'take six.' But as it turned out, documentation shows that a decision was made to scrap this last reduction mix in order to go back to 'take five' at their next recording session. This session ended at this point, it being now 1:30 am the following morning.

The following day (actually later that day), June 6th, 1968, The Beatles resumed work on the song at around 2:30 pm, this time in EMI Studio Two. Funny enough, studio documentation for this day shows that the song now had a title, but it still wasn't called “Don't Pass Me By.” For some unknown reason, the song was now called “This Is Some Friendly.” This must have been an actual consideration for a title since, during an interview two days later; the Beatles answered questions about their new album and Ringo stated, “I have already recorded my song for the next LP. It has two titles, so I can't say what it will be called yet.”

Going back now to 'take five,' it was decided to scrap both bass parts that Paul had recorded at the previous session, replacing them with Ringo's lead vocals on one track and him double-tracking the vocals on the other track (sounding as if they were both recorded through a Leslie speaker as well).  It's interesting to note here that Ringo counted down from one to eight just before the break in the song in order to mark out the measures of the song, this still being heard in the finished song. On one of the vocal tracks, Ringo finishes the choruses with an additional lyric, namely “Don't make me blue.” In his later years, when Ringo would perform the song live, he would habitually include this line as if it was on the released version. Also, on one of the vocal tracks, he records this spoken-word ad lib: “I'm waiting for ya, honey. Hurry up to me. I don't want you to pass me by; I don't want you to make me cry, I want you to make me happy!”

Since this filled up all four tracks again, another reduction mix was made, making this 'take seven.' With two tracks open again, Paul recorded his bass guitar on one of the tracks, leaving the other track open for another day. An unnumbered rough remix was made of the song thus far, undoubtedly taken away by Paul and/or Ringo to listen to and help them decide what to fill the open track with to complete the song.

You might have noticed the inconspicuous absence of both John and George in contributing to the recording of this song. Geoff Emerick explains what the other Beatles were up to on this day: “Kenny Everett, the BBC disc jockey, came into the studio and did an interview with the four Beatles while they were working on 'Don't Pass Me By.' It was a distraction, but John got into quite a jolly mood, hamming it up for the microphone, so it did help lighten the atmosphere.” During John's interview, when asked by Kenny what they've recorded for the new album so far, John stated: “Well, we've just done two tracks, both unfinished, and the second one is Ringo's first song that we are working on this very moment.” (Kenny): “He composed it himself?” (John): “He composed it himself in a fit of lethargy.” (Kenny): “And what do you think about it?” (John): “I think it's the most wonderful thing I've ever heard since Nilsson's 'River Deep, Mountain Dew.'”

At around midnight that evening, attention turned to preparing tapes to be used for John's “Revolution 9” which took the session until 2:45 am the following morning.

“Don't Pass Me By” sat for a little over a month before it was brought into EMI Studio Two for more work. This day was July 12th, 1968, this session beginning at 3 pm. During the previous month or so, discussions decided the open track would sound great with a country fiddle, musician Jack Fallon recording his part on this day between 3 and 6:40 pm. Coincidentally, Jack Fallon was a former booking agent who had booked The Beatles into their first professional show on March 31st, 1962, at the Subscription Rooms, George St., in Stroud, Glos. This gig was played ten weeks before their audition with EMI Records, so Jack brought back some fond memories when he surprisingly arrived in the studio that day.

Regarding his fiddle playing on this day, Jack recalls: “George Martin had jotted down a 12-bar blues for me. A lot of country fiddle playing is double-stop but Paul and George Martin – they were doing the arranging – suggested I play it single note. So it wasn't really the country sound they originally wanted. But they seemed pleased. Ringo was around too, keeping an eye on his song.”

At the end of the finished recording, the listener can hear some extraneous fiddle playing which then fades away with the song (in fact, the mono and stereo versions differ in the fiddling heard). Jack explains: “I thought that they had had enough, so I just busked around a bit. When I heard it played back at the end of the session I was hoping they'd scrub that bit out, but they didn't, so there I am on record, scaping away! I was very surprised they kept it in; it was pretty dreadful.”

In the book “Beatles Anthology,” Ringo fondly remembers this session. “We played it with a country attitude. It was great to get my first song down, one that I had written. It was a very exciting time for me, and everyone was really helpful, and recording that crazy violist was a thrilling moment.”

After this was complete, Paul added yet another bass overdub and Ringo contributed a piano part himself. Four mono mixes were then made by the engineering team of George Martin, Geoff Emerick, and Richard Lush, but one further addition to the song made later deemed these mono mixes unusable. After a pair of mono mixes finalized for “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da,” this session ended at 11 pm.

A week-and-a-half later, on July 22nd, 1968, the final element to “Don't Pass Me By” was recorded in EMI Studio One. The larger Studio One gained choice because the orchestral work for John's “Good Night” had started on this day and they needed a studio to accommodate the 26 musicians that would perform. Before that happened, however, approximately between 7 and 8 pm, a tinkling piano introduction to “Don't Pass Me By” was recorded as an edit piece, undoubtedly by Paul. Four 'takes' occurred, also through a Leslie speaker, the fourth being deemed the best, although this was drastically cut down from 45 seconds to only eight seconds. This piano introduction would be edited onto the finished version when the proper mono and stereo mixes stood prepared.

However, George Martin had another idea for an introduction to “Don't Pass Me By,” something they also recorded on this same day. An orchestral score, arranged by George and the musicians assembled on this day, recorded this piece which has come to be known as “A Beginning.” While this piece was beautifully scored and performed and would have fit in with The Beatles intention of using segues between the gaps of tracks on the album, it was decided not to use this recording after all. George Martin decided to resurrect this recording as the opening track of the 1996 compilation album “Anthology 3.”

Both the mono and stereo mixes of the song were created in the control room of EMI Studio Two on October 11th, 1968 by the engineering team of Martin, Ken Scott, and John Smith. Only one mono mix and one stereo mix were needed to get the song to the releasable state, them having to tack on the piano edit pieces for each. And, as noted above, they chose a different closing segment of Jack Fallon's fiddle playing for the stereo mix, seemingly an isolated performance taken directly from one of the song's choruses. The mono version had received a speeded up edit, which gets noticed with Ringo's higher pitched vocals. There is a little more fiddle playing throughout the mono version as well.

On October 18th, 1968, a tape copy of the mono mix of “Don't Pass Me By” was made by 2nd Engineer John Smith, to iron out master tape imperfections.

The above mentioned new mix created for the compilation album “Anthology 3” was put together by George Martin and Geoff Emerick sometime in 1996. They worked to combine 'take three' from the first generation tape with Ringo's double-tracked vocals from 'take five.'

Live recordings of “Don't Pass Me By” made by Ringo Starr and his band throughout later years. The first, recorded May 13th, 1998 for the VH1 popular program “Storytellers,” and featured on the album “VH1 Storytellers.” The second was recorded on July 24th, 2003 at the Casino Rama just outside Toronto, Ontario in Canada, and featured on his album “Tour 2003.” The third was recorded on June 24th, 2005 at the Genesee Theatre in Waukegan, Illinois and broadcast on the PBS concert series “Soundstage,” and featured on his album “Live At Soundstage.”  Written in a "Country and Western" style, as was Ringo's favorite type of music, it follows a somewhat typical format for that genre, namely 'verse/ verse/ chorus/ verse/ chorus/ chorus' or (aababb).  The loose nature of the recording is evident in the haphazard delivery and construction of the piece, Ringo and Paul sometimes getting lost during the rhythm track as to parsing out the measures properly.  This results in Ringo adding his drum fills in unconventional places and unintentional time signature changes, as we'll see.

A random piano introduction of no set structure, which was recorded later and edited, begins the song. As the final couple of piano notes play, Ringo hits a cymbal, and a few drum beats from his drum overdub are heard, as well as a voice in the distant background. Ringo then counts out the song with some powerful snare drum beats as we hear a piano come in a little early (possibly Ringo's piano overdub). We then hear an official two-measure introduction which acquaints us with the instrumentation we will hear throughout most of the song, this being Paul and Ringo on piano, Paul on bass, and Ringo on drums with added extraneous drum fills as well as sleigh bells.

The first verse appears next which is nine measures long and is in 4/4 time except for measure seven which has two extra beats, this becoming 6/4. Ringo's double-tracked vocals are the only new elements heard throughout measures one through seven, Jack Fallon's fiddle coming in for measures eight and nine. The added two beats in measure seven make Ringo lose his grounding in the rhythm track, his drum breaks now appearing in inappropriate places in the final two measures of the first verse and continuing into the second verse.

The second verse is next which is identical to the first in number of measures, time signature changes, and elements heard with the addition of the fiddle throughout the entire verse. By the end of the fourth measure, Ringo gets back on track as to where the measures are laid out, undoubtedly aided by Paul changing chords on the piano in the proper places while they were both recording the rhythm track together. Ringo does momentarily get tripped up again in this regard after the seventh measure, his next drum break appearing in the middle of the eighth measure where it shouldn't appear.

Then appears the first chorus which is twelve measures long and features the identical instrumentation as the second verse. This moves directly into the third verse which is also identical instrumentally to the second verse, Ringo not being confused about the seventh measure this time around. A curious rattling sound is heard in the second measure during the word “unfair,” this sound probably recorded during the fiddle overdub since it doesn't appear in the “track three” rhythm track recording as heard on “Anthology 3.”

The chorus that follows is the same in regards to the elements heard but differs in that it is fourteen measures long instead of twelve, the final two measures encompassing a 'Beatles break.' Measures eleven and twelve feature Ringo counting out the beats (“one, two, three...”), a crashing chord happening when Ringo says “seven” which then ushers in silence for a measure and a half.

There are some unique things happening in this silence, however. We hear Ringo say “eight,” then we hear the overdubbed drum sounds winding down, then comes three staccato piano chords, then we hear the rhythm track that had been faded down being faded back up again with Ringo's anticipatory hi-hats and toms flailing away, then we hear someone say something that sounds like “Give it some more” (possibly meaning to fade up the rhythm track louder), and finally Ringo gives a quick moan. The last two beats of the fourteenth measure sound off with a loud snare drum fill to usher the song back in for a final chorus.

This final chorus is actually seventeen measures long this time around, this encompassing the song's conclusion. The first two measures are strictly instrumental with all the same elements as before except for the leading vocalization by Ringo of the song's title. An edit in the rhythm track can be detected as Ringo sings “Don't” at the end of the second measure, joining into the original take where the second verse ended.

Things get complicated again because of the musicians once again getting off kilter during the rhythm track. This time it appears to be Paul on piano that messes things up. He should have changed chords at the beginning of the fifth measure, but he mistakenly waits for another two beats to make this change (which one can clearly hear on the “Anthology 3” version). Ringo's vocals change where they should, however, which gets things out of whack. The same thing happens in the seventh measure, Ringo compensating with his drum overdub which covers this problem nicely on the released version. All things get rectified by Ringo in the eighth measures as he pauses after the phrase “hate to see you go,” thereby making the eighth measure 6/4 instead of 4/4 and evens up the measures with Paul's piano. Ringo was most likely prompted by someone to do this while recording his vocal tracks, probably George Martin.

This final chorus then concludes with a couple more chord changes and a suitable three-note ending, this being accentuated by Jack Fallon's fiddle 'scraping' fading the song out.

It's unfortunate to say that the effort put into “Don't Pass Me By” is sub-par in comparison to the usual Beatles productions of late. If George Harrison thought that his compositions were briefed over in the studio to get out of the way and concentrate on Paul and John's songs, as he has stated, even more so was the case for Ringo's first song. Not that Ringo wasn't grateful; in fact, as stated above, he felt that “everyone really worked to the full” on this song. Nonetheless, this situation was remedied the following year as his “Octopus's Garden” got an arrangement and production compared to any track on the “Abbey Road” album.

Stop by my blog next week and discover the intricate details showcased upon WHY DON’T WE DO IT IN THE ROAD.

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ROCKY RACCOON AND ITS INCREDIBLE RECORDING PROCESS.

On May 29th, 1968, The Beatles recorded a demo version of "Rocky Raccoon" at George's 'Kinfauns' home in Esher, Surrey on an Ampex four-track machine.  The group had met on this and the previous day to record demos of songs they were to bring to EMI Studios in the upcoming months for inclusion on their next album.

The demo recorded on this day was very similar to what was to become the released version with the exception being the exclusion of the spoken-word introduction and the “doctor” section of the second verse, these not being formalized until he got into the studio two-and-a-half months later. This demo consisted of Paul double-tracking himself on acoustic guitar, George adding country-like acoustic guitar fills in between lyric phrases, and sporadic tambourine probably supplied by Ringo. The song concludes with a tricky surprise ending by George and Paul not unlike what they recorded for “Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby” back in 1964.

The “White Album” was a little over half finished by the time Paul brought “Rocky Raccoon” into EMI Studio Two on August 15th, 1968. The group arrived sometime after the documented 7 pm on this day and began rehearsing the song. Although George had contributed some suitable country guitar licks on the 'Kinfauns' demo outlined above, he sat out on the official recording of the basic track on this day, opting to occupy himself in the control room instead, evidenced by him announcing “take one” at the start of the recording process.

The instrumentation on the basic track was Paul on acoustic guitar and lead vocal, John on bass and Ringo on drums. “It was a difficult song to record,” Paul relates, “because it had to be all in one take, it would have been very hard to edit because of the quirkiness of the vocal, so I had to do a couple of takes until I got the right sort of feel. But it was fun to do.”

It actually took nine takes for Paul to get the right feel, as well as to ad lib a suitable spoken introduction and formulate the “doctor” section of the second verse. “Take eight,” which eventually Apple released on the compilation album “Anthology 3,” featured the following introduction: After John is heard suggesting the phrase “He was a fool unto himself,” Paul begins, “Rocky Raccoon...Rocky Raccoon, he was a fool unto himself. And he would not swallow his foolish pride. Mind you, coming from a little town in Minnesota; it was not the kind of thing that a young guy did when a fella went and stole his chick away from him.” An earlier take of this introduction even had him exclaim, “This here is the story of a young boy living in Minnesota...F*ck off!”

As for the verse about the “doctor,” Paul tried many things, such as “roll up his sleeves on the sideboard,” “roll over, Rock...he said ooh, it's OK doc, it's just a scratch, and I'll be OK when I get home” and “move over doc, let's have none of your cock.” “Take eight” featured this attempt: “The doctor walked in shminking of gin...shminking?...and proceeded to lie on the table...he was really shminking of gin, and it did him in in the end...poor doc...meantime back on the table, yeah, the doctor said, 'Rock, you met your match, son.' Rocky said, 'It's only a scratch, son, I'll be better soon.' 'You better be better soon,' said the doc, 'Come on son, gotta get hip, gotta get up, gotta get back to your gun, gotta go shoot that Danny boy'...However...”

“Take nine” was the keeper, onto this Paul overdubbed an additional bass part and Ringo overdubbed another drum part. This filled up the four-track tape, so a tape reduction was made to free up more tracks for overdubbing, the result being called “take ten.” Onto this, John added harmonica throughout most of the first verse and a harmonium in the first half of the second verse.  George Martin added another keyboard, a honky-tonk piano in the refrains of the song. George Harrison then found his way out of the control room to help John and Paul record backing vocals. This completed the recording of “Rocky Raccoon.”

The session was not over though. George Martin and engineers Ken Scott and John Smith created the mono mix immediately after the song got recorded, this mix ended up on the mono version of the “White Album.” Only one try was needed to get it right, the announcement on tape of “RM1” being kept for posterity and added to one of the three ad lib tapes that engineers created for The Beatles. Tape copies of this mix, as well as the previously recorded “Yer Blues,” were made for John and Paul to take home. The session then came to a close at 3 am the following morning.

A further tape copy of the mono mix of “Rocky Raccoon” took place on August 23rd, 1968, along with four other previously recorded “White Album” tracks, all of which were taken away by assistant Mal Evans.

The stereo mix of the song was created on October 10th, 1968 by the same team of Martin, Scott, and Smith in the control room of EMI Studio Two, only one attempt being needed for this also.

George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick returned to the master tapes of “Rocky Raccoon” sometime in 1996 to create a mix of “take eight” for inclusion on the album “Anthology 3,” thus giving an interesting birds-eye view of the jovial nature of the recording session of August 15th, 1968.

On the surface, the structure for "Rocky Raccoon" is very simple, namely 'verse/ refrain/ verse/ refrain' (or abab) with a spoken word introduction thrown in at the beginning.  It's unique in that the entire song follows a simple chord pattern repeated over and over again throughout while each verse strolls about with indiscriminate length.  The purpose of the verses is to tell a story, not to fit within the bounds of a predetermined set of measures.  If a longer story, it would have had longer verses.  If a shorter story, it would have had shorter verses.  In fact, earlier takes of the song had different lengths of second verses since Paul hadn't quite decided on the exact story yet.

In any event, a ten-measure introduction is heard first which consists of two measures of the first chord to get the ball rolling and then two repeats of the four-chord pattern with Paul's spoken word explanation of who Rocky is, where he came from, and then setting the stage for the drama that was to unfold. Rocky's “woman ran off with another guy” and, adding insult to injury, this guy “hit young Rocky in the eye,” him determined to seek revenge and get his girl back. He, therefore “books himself a room in the local saloon” where he knows they are. The only instrumentation in this introduction is Paul on acoustic guitar and, briefly in the tenth measure, John blowing a few notes on harmonica.

Then comes the first verse, which is a whopping 28 measures long, since he has quite a detailed story to tell. The only thing to occupy Rocky in the room points to “Gideon's Bible,” since television hadn’t yet arrived. He's not interested in that, though, especially the part about “Thou shall not kill.” He just sits there with the gun he brought contemplating how he's going to “shoot off the legs of his rival.” We then hear the narrator introduce the former “girl of his fancy,” who is actually known by three different names: “McGill,” “Lil” and “Nancy.” Her new beau “Dan” occupies the room next door at the “hoedown” when Rocky broke in and pulled out his gun. But Dan was the first to fire his weapon which resulted in Rocky on the ground “in the corner.”

Instrumentally, this long verse includes, other than Paul's continuing rhythm guitar and vocals, Ringo with a simple hi-hat beat that starts in the fourth measure, and both John and Paul's bass guitar work (Paul's is the more prominent one) starting in the ninth measure, and John's harmonica starting in the 20th measure signaled by the word “hoedown.” Ringo begins alternating his hi-hat beat with bass drum starting with the 13th measure and then accentuates the gunshot in the 26th measure with a snare drum flam.

An eight measure refrain then occurs with Ringo taking the song into double-time with his drum playing and George Martin dangerously sitting in on the saloon piano while bullets are flying. John apparently ducks for cover with his harmonica but Paul bravely sings a “da, da, da...doo, doo, doo” rendition of what the piano player is playing.

After a brief drum break from Ringo at the end of the eighth measure, he drops the tempo back as before so Paul can narrate the rest of the story in the second verse, which is sixteen measures long. George Martin even stops playing to witness what happens next, while John drops his harmonica and jumps on a nearby harmonium for the first eight measures.

“The doctor” arrives for a house call but, given the urgent request for his immediate presence, he was drunk from drinking gin. So drunk, in fact, that he “proceeded to lie on the table,” not being much help at all apparently. Rocky consoles the doctor and himself by minimizing the injury, saying “it's only a scratch and I'll be better.” This happy news even gives Ringo an excited burst of energy, him performing a jovial drum break in celebration. Humiliated, Rocky “fell back in his room” and figures that this guy named “Gideon,” in great synchronicity accidentally left his Bible in the room to initiate the young Rocky's “revival” from his injury and/or broken heart. Somehow our hero will carry on thanks to the healing power of God's word! A chorus of three men harmonize in the twelfth through sixteenth measures as an indication of Rocky's saved soul.

In jubilation, George Martin jumps back on the piano stool to reprise his role in the previous refrain along with the same instrumentation and vocalization as heard before. Paul repeatedly prods our hero on with encouraging words (“come on, Rocky boy!”) while John finds his dropped harmonica by the time the final measure of the song rings out.

Paul's pet project appears to have been well received by all involved, everyone giving it their all (except for George, unfortunately, who pretty much sat out for the entire proceedings). This sort of thing was usually a little too hokey for John but, possibly because of Yoko's presence in the studio, he showed himself a team player and put in a spirited performance. Of course, George Martin, the prolific pianist, was up for the task and created the perfect saloon atmosphere. And three cheers to Ringo, as usual, for doing what he always did best.

Stop by my blog next week and discover the intricate details showcased upon DON’T PASS ME BY.

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.