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.

Stop by my blog next week and discover the intricate details showcased upon I WILL.

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.