REVOLUTION 1 AND ITS INCREDIBLE RECORDING PROCESS.

The first time “Revolution” erected onto tape happened on May 28th, 1968 when The Beatles all met at George's 'Kinfauns' home in Esher, Surrey, to make demo recordings of songs they were going to include on their next album. These recordings developed on George's four-track Ampex tape recorder, the group taking turns acoustically playing their newly written songs and then performing various overdubs as ideas of what they would do officially when they got in EMI Studios.

This demo recording of “Revolution” is very lighthearted and spirited, conveying the semi-political lyrics in a way that one could easily envision as their next single.  John plays acoustic guitar and sings while the other Beatles clap along and occasionally join in on backing vocals with a great sense of harmony.  John then double-tracks himself on acoustic guitar and vocals but, as the final verse begins to kick in, his timing gets noticeably off.  This results in the overdubbed tambourine in this verse, probably played by Ringo, to compensate in order to catch the beat correctly.  All in all, while containing flaws, this acoustic version is very impressive and paints a very accurate picture of how Lennon originally conceived of the song.

The Beatles entered EMI Studios on May 30th, 1968 as the first recording session for what became the “White Album.”  (May 20th was actually booked in advance to be the first recording session, as was the following Monday through Friday weekdays for the next ten weeks, but ultimately these first eight sessions canceled out).  They entered EMI Studio Two on this day at 2:30 pm ready to start recording what John felt should be the next Beatles single, which he title of the song simply as “Revolution” at this point.

Geoff Emerick, in his book “Here, There And Everywhere,” remembers vivid details of this session: “As usual, we were starting the album with one of John's songs:  'Revolution 1' – the slow version that would open side four of the vinyl release.  Paul seemed unusually subdued that night; perhaps he was annoyed that John was dominating the proceedings so much.  As the band began rehearsals, I noticed that they were playing louder than ever before; John, in particular, had turned his guitar amp up to an ear-splitting level. Eventually, I got on the talkback and politely asked him to turn it down because there was so much leakage on all the other microphones.  John's response was to shoot me a look to kill.”

“'I've got something to say to you,' he sneered acidly. “it's your job to control it, so just do your bloody job.' Upstairs, George Martin and I exchanged wary glances. 'I think you'd better go talk to him,' he said timidly.  I was boggled.  Why me?  You're the producer, I thought. But George was steadfastly refusing to get involved, so the ball was in my court.  I made a point of walking down the steps leading to the studio slowly and deliberately.  By the time I arrived, Lennon had calmed down a little.  'Look, the reason I've got my amp turned up so high is that I'm trying to distort the sh*t out of it,' he explained.  'If you need me to turn it down, I will, but you have to do something to get my guitar to sound a lot more nasty.  That's what I'm after for this song.'”

“The request wasn't entirely unreasonable – heavily distorted guitars were being made fashionable by artists like Cream and Jimi Hendrix – and I was about to tell him, 'Okay, fine, I'll think of something...,' but then John couldn't resist one last jab, as he imperiously dismissed me with a wave of his arm.  'Come on, get with it, Geoff.  I think it's about bloody time you got your act together.'  F*ck you, John, I thought.  I was incensed, but I kept my mouth shut.  Weren't we supposed to be working as a team?  The moment I returned to the control room, George (Martin) and Phil (McDonald) could see just how furious I was.  'What's he on about?' George asked me.  I was so mad I couldn't even answer.”

“After taking a few minutes to regain my composure, I decided to overload the mic preamp that was carrying John's guitar signal.  It was basically the same trick I had done to put his voice 'over the moon' when he sang 'I Am The Walrus.'  That satisfied John to some degree, but I could see that he was good and pissed off that it had taken me a period of time to get the sound sorted out.  At the best of times, Lennon had limited patience, and tonight he seemed to have almost none. Fuming and sputtering, he pushed the band to play the song over and over again.”

Eighteen takes of the rhythm track occurred, although there were no takes 11 or 12 for some reason. The instrumentation consisted of John on acoustic guitar (with the overloaded mic preamp), George on electric guitar, Paul on piano and Ringo on drums. Each of these takes were of various lengths, but they averaged around five minutes each.

Mark Lewisohn, in his book “The Beatles Recording Sessions,” describes the final take of the night.  “Take 18 was different, substantially different, and it was the basis of the final LP version.  It began so soon after the previous take that Geoff Emerick, in punching the talkback button simultaneously with the start of the song, announced 'Take 18' over John Lennon's vocal, the first take with vocals, in fact...Secondly, this take did not stop after five minutes.  It kept on and on and on, eventually running out at 10:17 with John's shout to the others and to the control room 'OK, I've had enough!'  The last six minutes were pure chaos...with discordant instrumental jamming, plenty of feedback, John Lennon repeatedly screaming 'alright' and then, simply, repeatedly screaming, with lots of on-microphone moaning by John and his new girlfriend Yoko Ono, with Yoko talking and saying such off-the-wall phrases as 'you become naked.'...the last six minutes would be hived off to form the basis for 'Revolution 9.'”

Regarding Lennon's vocal work on this final take, Geoff Emerick relates that he was “spitting out the lyrics with barely restrained venom...He seemed to be trying to exorcise some inner demons, screaming the words 'all right' over and over again...By the end of it, his shredded voice seemed exhausted. 'Okay, I've had enough,' he hoarsely instructed us up in the control room.  Ringo looked like he was about to keel over.”  Emerick then adds: “That first night's session was uncontrolled chaos, pure and simple, and George Martin had looked puzzled and concerned from start to finish.  He and I knew that something was not quite right here, and I found myself thinking:  What am I setting myself up for?”

As stated above, this was the first day that Yoko Ono was present in the studio, her becoming a near-permanent fixture during Beatles recording sessions from here on out.  “John brought her into the control room of (EMI) number three at the start of the 'White Album' sessions,” remembers Geoff Emerick.  “He quickly introduced her to everyone, and that was it.  She was always by his side after that.”

“Because we'd been such a tight-knit group, the fact that John was getting pretty serious about Yoko at that time, I can see now that he was enjoying his newfound freedom and getting excited by it,” Paul related to Q Magazine in 2013.  “But when she turned up in the studio and sat in the middle of us doing nothing, I still admit now that we were all cheesed off...Lots of things that went down were good for us, really.  At the time, though, we certainly did not think that.”

At any rate, at around 2:40 am the following morning, this twelve-hour session was complete, The Beatles and company leaving to get some needed rest before returning about twelve hours later to add overdubs to the rhythm track they had recorded on this day.

Later that day, May 31st, 1968, The Beatles met up again at 2:30 pm at EMI Studios, this time in the smaller Studio Three.  Onto take 18 of the rhythm track recorded the previous day, overdubs continued. The first of these was John on lead vocals.  Technical engineer Alan Brown, new to EMI since November of 1967, was present on this day and remembers this overdub.  “I was in the control room of studio three and there on the other side of the glass was a figure in semi-darkness going over and over some lines of a song.  I knew the voice, and sure enough, I knew the face.  John Lennon was about 30 feet away!  He was working on 'Revolution,' the slow one, and I remember him going through the song again and again in rehearsal, changing a word or two every time.  Each time it would alter very slightly, it would develop and evolve.  'When you talk about destruction...you can count me out.' 'When you talk about destruction...you can count me in.'”  John either hadn't decided which way he felt or which way would be more palatable to his audience.

Since this vocal was eventually wiped clean, we don't know which way he decided on this day.  In any event, he then double-tracked this vocal and then Paul overdubbed bass guitar, thus filling up the four-tracks on the tape.  Since the song had more elements needed, a tape reduction was made to open up more tracks, thus turning 'take 18' into 'take 19.'  Onto this, Paul and George overdubbed their backing vocals, including their 50's-like “Shooby-doo, whop-bow” harmonies.  At midnight the session was over, and the group took the weekend off to refresh themselves and come up with other ideas for the song.

June 4th, 1968 was the next Beatles recording session, this also beginning at 2:30 pm in EMI Studio Three.  The first order of business on this day was for John to once again re-record his lead vocals onto “Revolution,” which the song was still called on this day, wiping out the vocal work of the previous day.  John then double-tracked his vocals as he had done the previous day.

Technical engineer Brian Gibson remembers this recorded overdub in a very odd manner.  “John decided he would feel more comfortable on the floor so I had to rig up a microphone which would be suspended on a boom above his mouth.  It struck me as somewhat odd, a little eccentric.”  Many authors have suggested that this was done because John was too stoned to stand upright, but the actual evidence suggests otherwise.  He was constantly suggesting as many different ways of recording his voice as possible, he not feeling his tonal delivery was suitable (even though all around him tried their best to assure him otherwise).  Throughout the Beatle years, he would suggest things such as immersing his vocal microphone under water, positioning the mic behind his back, and even suspending himself from the rafters by his feet with a rope and spinning him while he sang (which was luckily never attempted). Laying down on the ground was just another of his ideas.  “They were always looking for a different sound; something new,” Brian Gibson confirms.

The lead vocals John recorded on this day were what was used on the released record, he deciding to be counted “out” as well as “in” concerning destruction being used to bring about revolution.  There was a snag or two in the recording process, however. Engineer Peter Bown recalls:  “Before we had new mains cables laid to (EMI Studios), the volts used to go down pretty badly on a cold night, and one evening in number three they went down so low that the stabilizers went on the four-track machine and made this awful sound in John Lennon's headphones while he was overdubbing. We fixed up another machine, but about ten minutes later it happened again.  I remember John coming into the control room saying, 'The f*cking machine has broken down again?  It won't be the same when we get our own studio down at Apple...'  I replied 'Won't it?' and left it at that.  He went out of the studio and sulked for a while but at the end of the session poked his head around the door and said, 'I'm sorry, Pete, I realize it wasn't your fault.'”

Other overdubs recorded on this day include a further drum track as well as what some described as jarring “percussive clicks” (some describe as a "washboard" undoubtedly found in EMI's sound effects room) which especially appear in the introductory section of the song, both of these overdubs performed by Ringo.  Also overdubbed were a tone-pedal guitar by John and an organ played by Paul.  Two tape loops were also created on this day, the purpose of which was to periodically pan them into the recording from time to time.  One of these loops consisted of all four Beatles singing “Aaaaaaah” at a very high register, and the other loop was described as “a rather manic guitar phrase” which was played high up on the fretboard of the instrument.

After these loops took place, another tape reduction was needed to free up more tracks for overdubbing, thus turning 'take 19' into 'take 20.'  A further overdub was then made, the tape box calling this overdub “vocal backing mama papa,” which held an identification of strange vocal work from Paul and George repeatedly singing “Mama...Dada...Mama...Dada...Mama...Dada” throughout the final minutes of the recording.  The significance of this strange overdub has never been clarified, but may very well have been the result of being stoned in this case!

After all of this was accomplished, an unnumbered rough mono mix was made for the song as it stood so far.  The tape caught engineer Peter Bown announcing this remix as “rm1 of take...” and then pausing to identify which 'take' this was.  John then humorously fills in his hesitation with “take your knickers off and let’s go...ha, ha.”  The mix thus created was of the full ten-minute version of the song with the tape loops faded in from time to time, ending with a mostly spoken word segment featuring Yoko that is familiar to Beatles fans in the closing section of “Revolution 9.”  This mix was taken home by John on a plastic spool of tape and has now become available in bootleg recordings.  At 1 am the following morning, this strange session finally showed completed.

In the next couple of days, a decision regarding this ten-minute version of “Revolution surfaced.” John explains in his 1980 Playboy Magazine interview:  “Well, the slow version of 'Revolution' on the album went on and on and on and I took the fade-out part, which is what they sometimes do with disco records now, and just layered all this stuff over it.  It has the basic rhythm of the original 'Revolution' going on with some twenty loops we put on...It was a montage.”  On June 6th, 1968, work began in earnest preparing tapes and loops of sound effects to be used in conjunction with the meandering second half of what they had recorded for “Revolution” thus far.  Since it had been decided that this new “montage” track would be called “Revolution 9” (because of the repeated voice “number nine” being heard throughout the track), it was now determined that the first half of the song would now bear the title “Revolution 1.”

As for the first half of the song, more work was needed to get it to a finished state and ready for release as the next Beatles single.  On June 21st, 1968, John and George entered EMI Studio Two at around 2:30 pm to put the finishing touches on the song.  (Neither Paul nor Ringo were present for this session, Paul traveled into the U.S. at the time.)

The first thing on the agenda was overdubbing brass, something especially requested by John.  He specifically wanted two tenor saxophones, a baritone sax, two trumpets, and one trombone.  However, he had to settle for two trumpets and four trombones, the session musicians arriving early at this session and playing off of a score prepared in advance by George Martin.

The brass overdub filled up the four tracks of the tape once again, so a reduction mix was once again necessary, two attempts made way, turning 'take 20' into 'take 22.'  Onto this, one final overdub was needed; a lead guitar part played by John which included the distinctive opening riff played on distorted electric guitar in triplets.  By 9 pm, this session was complete and an hour break ensued before a mixing session began at 10 pm.  Seven stereo mixes of what was now called “Revolution 1” was made between 10 pm and midnight by George Martin and engineers Geoff Emerick and Richard Lush, with much input from John.  Even though a lot of work was put into getting the best stereo mix, none of these ended up used for the released record.  After much work on creating a mix for “Revolution 9” thereafter, this mixing session was over at 3:30 am the following morning.

The stereo mix that did get used on the record materialized on June 25th, 1968 in the control room of EMI Studio Two by the same engineering team of Martin, Emerick, and Lush with Lennon playing a hands-on role.  During this session, which began at 2 pm, they attempted five more tries at getting a releasable stereo mix, 'remix 12' being the keeper.  Geoff Emerick, in “Here, There And Everywhere,” points out that having John as the only Beatles present during this mixing session “was quite unusual because ever since the 'Pepper' days, all four Beatles normally attended even mixing sessions.”

Geoff Emerick also points out a couple other unique features to this mix, both of which were at Lennon's suggestion.  “Two quirks characterized that mix. One was an accidental bad edit in the last chorus, which Lennon insisted I leave in; it added an extra beat, and he always loved weird time signatures, so it was deemed a creative accident, and it became part of the song."  This mistake was actually then repeated at John's request, there being two extra beats on the released record. 

"The other oddity about the final mix was that it featured my recording debut: that's my voice hurriedly saying 'Take two' just before the song begins.  Because I always hated hearing my voice on tape, I had gotten in the habit of mumbling the slate as quickly as possible.  John used to take the piss out of the way I rushed my announcements, so he left it in at the beginning of the song.  It was done just to needle me, but at least it gave me the distinction of being one of only a few privileged outsiders who appear on a Beatles record!”  (Mark Lewisohn describes this above as Geoff Emerick calling out "take 18" since this was the take that was used and not "take two."  Some sources say Geoff Emerick is saying "I'll take it to..." on the talkback mic but cuts off his sentence because he realizes the 'take' had already begun, John then answering "OK." While this all is debatable, Geoff Emerick's above recollection is the only eyewitness account we have in writing.) 

Before this session was over, a tape copy of this stereo mix was made and given to John for previewing to the other Beatles when the opportunity presented itself. The same was done for “Revolution 9,” this mixing session concluding by 8 pm.  It should also be noted here that “Revolution 1” did not receive its own distinctive mono mix as most other “White Album” songs did.  Instead, both channels of this stereo mix got combined for what was released as the mono version of the song.

So at this point, “Revolution 1” was complete and ready for release as the next Beatles single.  Or was it?  “When George and Paul and all of them were on holiday,” Lennon explained in 1970, “I made (the mix of) 'Revolution (1)' which is on the LP.  I wanted to put it out as a single, but they said it wasn't good enough.  We put out 'Hey Jude,' which was worthy – but we could have had both.”  John elaborated more in 1980:  “The Beatles were getting real tense with each other.  The first take, George, and Paul were resentful and said it wasn't fast enough.  Now, if you go into details of what a hit record is and isn't, maybe.  But The Beatles could have afforded to put out the slow, understandable version of 'Revolution' as a single, whether it was a gold record or a wooden record.  But, because they were so upset over the Yoko thing and the fact that I was again becoming as creative and dominating as I was in the early days, after lying fallow for a couple of years, it upset the applecart. I was awake again, and they weren't used to it.”

Therefore, in an effort to please the group, John took to re-recording the song in a heavier and more up-tempo fashion, the result simply titled “Revolution.”  Paul and George were apparently more pleased with this commercial version, this then appearing as the B-side of Paul's masterpiece “Hey Jude.”  This a-side stayed at the #1 spot on the U.S. Billboard singles chart for an astounding nine weeks and considered the most popular Beatles song in America while John's B-side charted respectfully at #12 on the same chart, garnishing a very healthy dose of radio airplay.

The structure of “Revolution 1” is very straightforward, namely, 'verse/ chorus/ verse/ chorus/ verse/ chorus' (or ababab) with a simple introduction and faded conclusion added in.  The song is presented with a slow swing-style beat in a 4/4-time signature but, as was Lennon's habit, he deviates this from time to time as we will see.

The fun The Beatles were having recording the rhythm track is decidedly preserved on the finished product, especially during its six-measure introduction.  The laughing and joking around by Paul and George would normally have been faded out of the mix but, in this case, it was captured by the microphones and couldn't be removed, a possible result of them thinking this introductory section was not going to be part of the finished product.  Geoff Emerick's interruption of the proceedings, calling out the “slate” with John's acknowledgment of “OK,” was assuredly not intended to be heard on the released record, but John flippantly insisted.

This introduction consists of John on acoustic guitar and Ringo on drums, both from the rhythm track, as well as overdubs of John's iconic distorted lead guitar passage which appears in measures three through six and Ringo's percussive noises (“washboard”?) in measures four through six.  Just before the “washboard” is heard, a voice is heard instructing Ringo “Go on,” most probably John wanting this unconventional sound heard at the introduction of his song.  George's lead guitar from the rhythm track is first heard in measure six as a suitable transition to the first verse that follows.

While the majority of the verses are in 4/4 time, measures two, eight and fifteen are in 6/4 time as a representation of how John heard the song in his head. Measures two and eight are extended to 6/4 with the words “well, you know,” while measure fifteen extends it in triplet form on the words “count me out,” the second two beats being anticipated.

As the “washboard” sound disintegrates and John's lead guitar work traipses away, the first seventeen-measure verse begins.  John's acoustic guitar, George's electric guitar, Paul's quietly heard piano and Ringo's drums are present here while the overdubs of Paul's bass and John's lead vocals kick in on the downbeat of the first measure.  John purposely accentuates the word “world” with a hard ending “d” consonant in both measures five and eleven.  Paul's simply-played organ overdub can also be detected in the background, especially in measures eleven and twelve.  Measure twelve also features a slight vocal appearance of George Martin as he counts off the brass musicians (“wun, two, thri, fuh”) for their emergence in measures thirteen through seventeen.  In measures thirteen through fifteen both Ringo and Paul alter their playing, Ringo switching from a simple 4/4 beat to a noteworthy double-snare accent throughout and Paul playing descending passages on bass.  Most of the instrumentation accents the two extra beats of measure fifteen, horns included, highlighting the words “count me out” in this verse, Ringo crashing his cymbals three times appropriately. Measure seventeen then features a simple snare drum roll from Ringo and a repeat of George's transitional guitar line from the song's introduction while John changes to falsetto for the words “don't you know it's gonna be.” as the brass hold out a sustained note.

The first eight-measure chorus then appears, this being in 4/4 time for its entirety.  The rhythm track instrumentation of drums, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and piano continue here as in the verses with the insertion of John's overdubbed lead guitar “stabbing” out chords in between his lead vocal lines.  The brass play a repeated three-note pattern during measures one through six.  John alters his vocals from straight (“all right”) to falsetto (“don't you know it's gonna be”) three times while Paul and George harmonize “Shooby-doo, whop-bow” throughout these first six measures. Measures seven and eight display a signature “Beatles break” to highlight John's lead guitar passage played on acoustic guitar during the rhythm track while the brass hold out a single low note in the background.

Verse two then appears which features the same instrumentation as the first but with many added elements.  Paul harmonizes with John's lead vocals during his noteworthy lines containing the lyrics “real solution” and “contribution” and then, with George, continue the “Shooby-doo, whop-bow” harmonies from the previous chorus.  The brass also add some repetitive three-note passages throughout measures one through twelve, and we hear a deep vocal “ooh, ooh, ooh” from John in measure four.  The sustained organ notes are also heard pretty much during the entire verse this time while John adds a fast-moving guitar lick in measures eleven and twelve during another reprise of the “Shooby-doo, whop-bow” harmonies.  The brass in measures thirteen through fifteen are now more strident with ascending notes this time, followed by yet another lead guitar passage from John in measures sixteen and seventeen.

Another chorus is next which is nearly identical to the first, the only notable differences being John's different phrasing of the falsetto word “be,” and an ending piano flourish from Paul in the final measure.  Other added elements are George mimicking John's acoustic guitar riff on electric guitar and evidence of Ringo's overdubbed drums during the snare fill at the end of the last measure.

The third verse is then heard which is nearly identical to the second.  Differences include John adding lead guitar “stabs” in between lyric lines similar to what he had been doing in the choruses.  His lead guitar figure in verses eleven and twelve moves at about half speed of what he did in the previous verse but then embarrassingly falls apart at the beginning of measure thirteen.  Paul's organ in measures seven through twelve is much higher in volume than before, and John sprinkles a few more groaning “ooh”s here and there.

The third chorus is then heard, it follows a near carbon copy of the second chorus. Interestingly the guitar “stabs” from John are now alternatively panned from the right to the left channel, they appearing only in the left channel in previous sections of the song.  One very noticeable difference here is, as mentioned above, the three-times repeated downbeat in measure seven, this being the product of bad editing and then repeated per the request of John.  This actually turns measure seven into 5/4 time, one more anomaly that represents Lennon's offbeat sense of timing.

What then follows is a twenty-measure conclusion that is faded out, the remaining six minutes of the same being preserved, as explained above, as a basis for what became “Revolution 9.”  Nonetheless, what is heard here is a repetition of the two alternating chords heard in verses one through six of the chorus with full instrumentation intact, brass and “Shooby-doo, whop-bow” vocals included.  John's vocals are now single tracked from the rhythm track and consist of repetitions of either variation of the word “alright” or deep grunting “ooh”s that are now periodically panned from right to left as his guitar “stabs” were previously. George displays some lead guitar lines of his own, performed during the rhythm track, during this section.  We also hear an appearance of the “rather manic guitar phrase” tape loop, as mentioned above, in measures four through seven of this conclusion.  John's vocals take on a tremolo effect in the final measures during the fade, this being heard more prominently in “Revolution 9” taken from the same recording.

This being the first song recorded for what became the “White Album,” we see here that all four world-weary Beatles were very cooperative in recording the song despite the tensions that were mounting.  John, in particular, was reinvigorated and up for the challenge of presenting this song to the world, taking on the majority of the lead guitar work himself and to good effect.  In hopefulness of this being their next single, George Martin put in a suitable score for brass that would have worked nicely in that capacity.  An interesting note here is that no solo sequence was deemed necessary at this point in the game.  When they re-recorded the song at a faster pace, a decision was made to add an appropriate instrumental section to stretch the song out somewhat.  In any event, what we have in “Revolution 1” is a good snapshot of a Beatles song in full developmental stage.

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LONG LONG LONG AND ITS INCREDIBLE RECORDING PROCESS.

Sessions for the "White Album" began on May 30th, 1968, but it wasn't until the last week of recording that George's beautiful "Long, Long, Long" was first brought into the studio.  This day was October 7th, 1968, The Beatles filing into EMI Studio Two at about 2:30 pm for what became a marathon 16 1/2-hour session, the long hours undoubtedly deemed necessary because of a deadline to complete the album in time for a late November release, thereby in time for Christmas gifts around the world.

The day’s session began with The Beatles assembling for some time in the control room to oversee tape copies of previously recorded tracks as well as stereo and mono mixes of George's “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” take place.  While in the control room, as various pictures show, George began running through the song on acoustic guitar for his fellow bandmates to hear.  They also enjoyed some dinner and snacks, a meal comprising what looks like chicken, rice, and bread along with Maryland cookies, milk for Ringo and a bottle of Blue Nun wine for George.

After dinner, George, Paul, and Ringo (John was suspiciously absent on this day as he habitually was when a George song had priority) settled down in the studio to work out the song that George still called “It's Been A Long Long Long Time.”  No known demo version has ever surfaced, so this may have been the first time Paul and Ringo had become acquainted with the song.  This would make sense since it took 67 'takes' to get a suitable rhythm track recorded on this day.

Mark Lewisohn's book “The Beatles Recording Sessions” explains the atmosphere during this session: “The session tapes reveal that George was in a happy mood throughout, laughing, joking and bursting into busked versions of other songs, including 'Dear Prudence.'  At one point he enquired of Paul and Ringo, 'Where did Mal get those joss-sticks?  They're like Rishikesh joss-sticks!'”  Engineer Richard Lush recounts The Beatles' habit of burning joss-sticks during their sessions: “The people at Abbey Road didn't particularly like them, especially when the carpet and the whole studio was stinking of them, be it strawberry or whatever was the flavor of the month.”

The instrumentation on these 67 'takes' listed George on vocals, and acoustic guitar played with a capo, Paul on Hammond organ and Ringo on drums.  Photographic evidence shows that Paul was acquainting himself with the song on bass, but then a decision was made for him to play organ on the rhythm track instead.  Also, Ringo was playing a make-shift double-bass drum set on this day, a combination of a new Ludwig Hollywood Maple drum set that he just acquired as well as his usual Ludwig Black Oyster Pearl kit.  "I knew we weren't going to play live anymore and the others were getting different things to use in the studio, so I thought I would get a proper kit, real drums with real skinheads...so we set them all up."

On one of these 'takes,' a happy accident happened which made it onto the finished version of the song.  Producer Chris Thomas, who was attending this session as George Martin's assistant, remembers: “There's a sound near the end of the song which is a bottle of Blue Nun wine rattling away on the top of a Leslie speaker cabinet.  It just happened.  Paul hit a certain organ note, and the bottle started vibrating.  We thought it was so good that we set the mikes up and did it again.  The Beatles always took advantage of accidents.”

Fans like to believe that this “accident” first happened spontaneously on the 'take' that made it onto the finished album.  From the above quote by Chris Thomas, we see that this wasn't the case at all.  When this did occur during an earlier 'take,' they were so enamored by the resulting rattling sound of the empty Blue Nun wine bottle that they brought it down to the studio after their dinner in the control room and strove to recreate the rattle with every take thereafter.  The engineering crew set up mikes to make sure they caught the unique sound on tape.

George and Ringo added different elements also to create a desired effect, later perfectly described by Ian MacDonald in his book “Revolution In The Head” as follows: “As McCartney reached the final low inversion of C major on the group's customized Hammond organ, the bottom note vibrated a bottle of wine standing on the instrument's Leslie cabinet, creating an eerie rattle.  Holding his chord as a bare fifth, McCartney turned it into a spectral C minor suspended fourth, joined by Starr with a snare-roll and Harrison with a disembodied wail.  Together they sustained this for thirty seconds before, with the organ and it accompanying rattle fading, Harrison gave the harmony its final twist on his Gibson J200:  a skeletal G minor eleventh closed out by the dying fall of Starr's drums.”  Therefore, just like the feedback “accident” on “I Feel Fine” four years earlier, The Beatles worked at recreating the effect for the finished recording.

As the hour neared 7 am the following morning, they deemed 'take 67' as best and called it for the night. The next day, or should I say nine hours later, The Beatles re-entered EMI Studio Two at 4 pm on October 8th, 1968, to add overdubs onto the song.  John was present on this day, as evidenced he recorded two new Lennon songs, “I'm So Tired” and “The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill”), but he still declined to contribute to George's song, which still Harrison titled “It's Been A Long Long Long Time,” even after all those Lennon overdubs were complete.

Onto the previously recorded 'take 67' was overdubbed another acoustic guitar from George, one that had a distinctive fret buzz that somewhat simulated a sitar (possibly because of him using a capo), a double-tracking of George's vocal, and a bass guitar from Paul.  This was estimated to be complete by 6 pm, thereby prompting John to kick the session into high gear for recording his two songs, exclaiming, “Quick, quick, the red light's on, let's go, let's make a record!”  After his two songs finalized fully recorded, it was 8 am the next day, this ended another marathon session.

They were back again in EMI Studio Two the following day (eleven hours later, that is), October 9th, 1968, to put the finishing touches on “Long, Long, Long” (which it was now finally called) as well as other necessary business for preparing the “White Album” for release.  They arrived at 7 pm on this day and, after creating stereo and mono mixes for “Bungalow Bill,” they took to adding a couple more overdubs onto George's song.

Paul added some sporadic backing harmonies, and Chris Thomas took to playing some piano on the song's bridge. This completed the song, attention then focused to tape copying “Helter Skelter” and also starting yet another song for a last-minute inclusion on the album, Paul's “Why Don't We Do It In The Road?”, recorded in EMI Studio One.  By 5:30 am the following day, another marathon recording session signaled complete.

The stereo mix of the song occurred first on October 10th, 1968 in the control room of EMI Studio Two by George Martin and engineers Ken Scott and John Smith.  Four attempts took shape at this stereo mix; undoubtedly the fourth one appears used on the finished album.  George's acoustic guitar on the rhythm track was mixed quite low, and the harmony on his lead vocals begins the first time he sings the word “long.” Much oscillator waggling enters on Paul's organ part during this mix, this job manually done by Chris Thomas presumably as he had done in previous “White Album” mixes.

The first attempt at a mono mix happened on October 12th, 1968, in the control room of EMI Studio Two by the same engineering team, however, this solitary try lacked not good enough.  They tried again on October 14th, 1968, in the same studio with the same engineering team, and two attempts brought it to a finished state, presumably 'remix 3' being the keeper.  The acoustic guitar from the rhythm track was substantially higher in the mix while the harmony vocal didn't kick in until the third “long” this time.  More manual oscillator waggling was done on the organ on this mix as well.

The structure for "Long, Long, Long" is quite simple, namely 'verse/ verse/ bridge/ verse' (or aaba) with a simple introduction and, as discussed above, an experimental conclusion.  The final verse, however, has been extended by many measures for dramatic purposes.  Also of note is that this is the only song on the "White Album" this is fully in a waltz-like 3/4 time signature, "Happiness Is A Warm Gun" being in the same time signature only in part.

The introduction is six measures long and consists primarily of George's overdubbed acoustic lead guitar figure mimicking more clearly what he had performed during the rhythm track, Paul's organ kicking in on the third measure with a complimentary descending note countermelody.  Measures five and six feature the strumming acoustic guitar of the rhythm track accompanied by a single note organ note, the sixth measure beginning George's double-tracked vocals that lead into the first verse that follows.

The first verse is a whopping nineteen measures long.  The first ten measures feature George on acoustic guitar and lead vocals, and Paul on simple organ plucked bass guitar notes on most downbeats, and harmony vocals on the first four measures (only measures three and four in the mono mix).  Measures five and six contain the identifiable lead guitar line that George overdubbed.  Measures seven through nineteen proceed with the same elements but with the addition of Ringo loudly emphasizing measures 11 through 13 and then 18 and 19 with stylish drum fills, all instruments increasing in volume during these fills.  The nineteenth measure once again features the lead-in vocal line from George that segues in the second verse that follows.

This second verse is also nineteen measures long and pretty much follows the identical instrumentation as the first verse.  One difference is the slight presence of Ringo tapping out a simple snare and cymbal beat throughout the entire verse whenever he isn't pounding out the appropriate drum fills as in the first verse, he adds a couple of dramatic cymbal crashes in the final measure.  There are no lead-in vocals in the nineteenth measure this time around since what follows is a bridge and not another verse.

The only bridge in the song appears now, which is fifteen measures long and works as the climactic thrust of the entire song.  In measures one through thirteen, George passionately performs double-tracked lead vocals while strumming acoustic guitar in the background, Paul plays higher register organ chords as well as perfunctory bass guitar, and Chris Thomas appears throughout on piano as the primary feature of this section of the song.  Ringo plays a hard but simplistic waltz tempo on drums, putting in drum fills in measure four and then twelve and thirteen. Paul adds harmony vocals for the “oh – ooohhh” in measures eleven and twelve, this being the ultimate high point of the song. George's acoustic guitar from the rhythm track is still discernible during Ringo's drum fill in the thirteenth measure, this followed by a trademark 'Beatles break' in the fourteenth measure.  The fifteenth and final measure of this bridge is another vocal lead-in to segue into the last verse.

This final verse extends to thirty measures and serves the most emotional segment of the song.  The instrumentation is similar to the quiet first verse, one difference, however, three-part harmony in the first four measures on the lyrics “see you, be you.”  Ringo's only appearance in this verse is the drum fill in the eleventh through thirteenth measures and then the final cymbal crash on the downbeat of the last measure.  George repeats his last vocal melody line four times in this verse, the third being slightly different on the line “you know that I need you” (possibly a hidden reference to his 1965 composition “I Need You”). The latter half of this verse shows all elements slightly increasing in volume to create a moving effect.

After the cymbal crash, we immediately hear the rattling bottle of Blue Nun which quickly develops into the eerie sound experiment that ends the song as described above.

The spiritual meaning of these lyrics may have gone right over the heads of listeners in 1968 but are worth pointing out here.  George wonders how he ever could “have lost you,” referring to his attaining oneness with the universal life force in a previous life (or in-between lives) and now his recent incarnation finds him attaining to that oneness once again.  But now that he has attained the same degree of enlightenment in this lifetime, he again can “see you, be you,” indicating his acceptance as one with God once again, his present life forms an expression of his creator in human form.  A future reincarnation, he admits, will put him back into yet another separation from God, where he will yet again “misplace” his oneness with Him only to strive to recapture it then, and on and on it goes until reaching full enlightenment when he will then be “free from birth” as he states in his 1973 song “Give Me Love (Give Me Peace On Earth).”

John Lennon may not have chosen to participate in the recording of the song, but the “Threetles” put in a very spirited performance with Chris Thomas adding a helping hand along the way.  As many authors and fans have come to discover, this three-minute moment of spiritual clarity and meditative solitude works beautifully amid the extreme variety contained on this masterful album.

Stop by my blog next week and discover the intricate details showcased upon “REVOLUTION 1.”

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.

HELTER SKELTER AND ITS INCREDIBLE RECORDING PROCESS.

The first recorded evidence of "Helter Skelter" arose on June 11th, 1968, in EMI Studio Two sometime between 6:30 and 7 pm.  The intention of the evening was recording Paul's ballad "Blackbird," which did get fully recorded on this day by 12:15 am.  Engineer Geoff Emerick remembers the details of this day in his book 'Here, There And Everywhere":  "Neither Ringo nor George was present on that particular evening, and John wanted to begin compiling sound effects for what would ultimately become 'Revolution 9,' so as soon as he learned that another studio was available, he decided to head off with (producer) Chris Thomas and Phil (McDonald) - accompanied, as usual, by Yoko."

That other studio, EMI Studio Three, became available at 7 pm, which saw the exit of John and Yoko.  However, as Emerick continues, “At one point a cameraman appeared to do a little filming for an Apple promo, and that interrupted the flow a little bit, but Paul just carried on, with his new lady friend sitting cross-legged at his feet.”  This film still exists today which shows Paul running through sections of “Blackbird” as well as his newly written song “Helter Skelter” on acoustic guitar with his current girlfriend, Francie Schwartz at his side.  Since the film footage shows John and Yoko in attendance, this off-the-cuff acoustic rendition of “Helter Skelter” must have been performed before they left for EMI Studio Three at 7 pm.

It wasn't until over a month later, on July 18th, 1968, that The Beatles officially brought the song into the studio for recording purposes, although the recordings of the song done on this day were essentially rehearsals.  After extensive work on John's song “Cry Baby Cry” earlier in the day, the group returned to EMI Studio Two at 10:30 pm to work out “Helter Skelter,” this session not ending until 3:30 am the following morning.

The Beatles ran through three drawn outtakes of the song with Paul on vocals and lead guitar, George on rhythm guitar, John on bass and Ringo on drums.  'Take one” lasted 10:40, 'take two' made it to 12:35, and 'take three' stretched to an unprecedented 27:11, the longest ever Beatles recording.  All the instruments piled onto one track of the four-track tape, Paul's vocals followed isolated on a second track, and the other two tracks were left empty for possible overdubs later, though they never materialized.  The first five minutes of 'take two'appear on the compilation album “Anthology 2” for us to get a gist how the song sounded like at this point, revealing it to be a plodding slower version but with a good degree of energy nonetheless.  Paul sings “Hell for leather” on occasion instead of “Helter Skelter,” which ended up the right phrase for the released version.

Technical engineer Brian Gibson, in the book “The Beatles Recording Sessions,” gives some interesting details about the events of this day:  “They recorded the long versions of 'Helter Skelter' with live tape echo.  Echo would normally be added at the remix stage otherwise it can't be altered, but this time they wanted it live.  One of the versions of 'Helter Skelter' developed into a jam which went into and then back out of a somewhat bizarre version of 'Blue Moon.'”

Gibson continues:  “The problem was, although we were recording then at 15 ips – which meant that we'd get roughly half an hour of time on the tape – the machine we were running for the tape echo was going at 30 ips, in other words, 15 minutes.  We were sitting up there in the control room – Ken Scott, the second engineer and myself – looking at this tape echo about to run out. The Beatles were jamming away, completely oblivious to the world and we didn't know what to do because they all had foldback in their headphones so that they could hear the echo.  We knew that if we stopped it they would notice.  In the end, we decided that the best thing to do was stop the tape echo machine and rewind it.  So at one point the echo suddenly stopped, and you could hear 'bllllrrrippppp' as the tape spooled back.  This prompted Paul to put in some clever vocal improvisation based around the chattering sound!”

Time was taken, probably by Paul, to review the recordings done on this day to determine whether any of the three 'takes' could remain for the finished product.  This hastily scribbled guide was written on the back of an official EMI Recording Sheet and found in Mark Lewisohn's book “The Beatles Recording Sessions.”  Notes such as “Verse O.K.,” “Middle Vocal O.K.,” “end good,” “'Dancer Dancer' (good)” and “'Do you Don't you want me' end” were jotted down but, ultimately, a decision took place to start again at another time.

It wasn't until a month-and-a-half later, September 9th, 1968, that The Beatles decided to bring the song back to EMI Studio Two to give it another go.  Documentation shows the session beginning at a usual 7 pm with Chris Thomas officially in the producer's chair for the first time although the results of this session show that The Beatles were most definitely in control.

Chris Thomas relates: “I came back from my holiday and there was a note from George (Martin) on my desk. 'Chris: Hope you had a nice holiday; I'm off on mine now.  Make yourself available to The Beatles.  Neil (Aspinall) and Mal (Evans) know you're coming down.'  It took a while for The Beatles to accept me. Paul was the first one to walk in – I was sitting in the corner wearing a suit and tie! - and he said, 'What are you doing here?'  I felt such an idiot, but managed to blurt, 'Didn't George tell you?'  'No.'  'Well, George has suggested I come down and help out.'  Paul's reply was, 'Well, if you wanna produce us you can produce us. If you don't, we might just tell you to f**k off!'  That was encouragement?  I couldn't speak after that...”

The Beatles proceeded to record 18 more takes of “Helter Skelter” on this day, takes 4 through 21, with an even more raucous sound than they had attempted back on July 18th, but at a more palatable length for inclusion on an album:  three to four minutes instead of 27!  As for the sound generated on this day, Brian Gibson remembers it as “out of control.  They were completely out of their heads that night. But, as usual, a blind eye was turned to what The Beatles did in the studio. Everyone knew what substances they were taking, but they were really a law unto themselves in the studio.  As long as they didn't do anything too outrageous, things were tolerated.”

Chris Thomas recalls one of the events of this day that were tolerated: “While Paul was doing his vocal, George Harrison had set fire to an ashtray and was running around the studio with it above his head, doing an Arthur Brown!  All in all, a pretty undisciplined session, you could say!”  George was doing this as inspired by the recent hit “Fire” by The Crazy World Of Arthur Brown, which hit the #1 spot in Britain in August of that year and had captured the world by storm.  Somewhat forgettable now, it was all the rage at the time.

The instrumentation for the rhythm track recorded on this day appears to have been Paul on electric rhythm guitar, George on distorted lead guitar, John on piano and Ringo on 'blistering' drums.  In “Many Years From Now,” Paul himself describes this session: “I went into the studio and said, 'Hey, look, I've read this thing.  Let's do it!'  We got the engineers and (the producer) to hike up the drum sound and really get it as loud and horrible as it could, and we played it and said, 'No, it still sounds too safe, it's got to get louder and dirtier.'  We tried everything we could to dirty it up, and in the end, you can hear Ringo say, 'I've got blisters on my fingers.'  That wasn't a joke put-on:  his hands were actually bleeding at the end of the take, he'd been drumming so ferociously.  We did work very hard on that track."  In the Beatles book "Anthology," Ringo remembers:  "'Helter Skelter' was a track we did in total madness and hysterics in the studio.  Sometimes you just had to shake out the jams...Paul started screaming and shouting and made it up on the spot.”

'Take 21,' with Ringo's “blisters” scream, was deemed best by Paul.  As outlined above, Paul overdubbed his exciting lead vocals onto this take before the session was complete at 2:30 am the following morning.

They reconvened the following day, September 10th, 1968, in EMI Studio Two at around 7 pm to complete the overdubs on the song and bring it to its complete state. Interestingly, it was John, not Paul, that overdubbed bass guitar on this song, as well as some strategic lead guitar parts by Paul and backing vocals from John, Paul, and George. Mal Evans, in the November 1968 issue of “The Beatles Monthly Book,” describes another interesting overdub recorded on this day.  “The backing features The Two Harrys on brass.  That's Mal Evans on trumpet and John Lennon on saxophone!”  It's not hard to miss these elements in the cacophony on the finished recording, especially during the final minute or so.  By 3 am the following morning the session was complete, as was the recording of “Helter Skelter.”

The released mono mix of the song occurred on September 17th, 1968 in the control room of EMI Studio Two by Chris Thomas and engineers Ken Scott and Mike Sheady.  They went the conventional route by performing a simple fade of the song at 3:36, omitting Ringo's “blisters” remark entirely.  The background vocals were placed somewhat prominently in the mix while care was given to fade out extraneous chatter and sounds when the song comes to a halt at the three-minute mark.

The 27-minute version of the song they recorded on July 18th may have been deemed unusable, but Paul did not forget it.  On October 9th, 1968, a tape copy of that version was made in the wee hours of the morning for Paul to have for his private collection.

George Martin and engineers Ken Scott and John Smith created the stereo mix on October 12th, 1968 in the control room of EMI Studio Two by, undoubtedly with some Beatles in attendance.  Five attempts played out at creating this difficult mix, the fifth try, no doubt, is the one used on the released album.  The backing vocals were pushed more in the background, Paul's lead guitar in the instrumental break was brought up higher in the mix, and the chatter and extraneous sounds during the break at the three-minute mark endured this time around.  And, most notably, a decision to fade the song back up for the listener to hear its full conclusion as well as Ringo's “blisters” cry had won acceptance.

Sometime between 2004 and 2006, producers George and Giles Martin returned to the original master tapes of "Helter Skelter" to add some highly delayed vocals from the song onto a new track entitled "Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite! / I Want You (She's So Heavy) / Helter Skelter" which appeared on the album "Love."  Slight elements of "Helter Skelter" were also infused into their newly created mashup for the track "Octopus's Garden." Both of these recordings surfaced as a backdrop during the famous "Beatles Love" Cirque du Soleil shows.

A recording of “Helter Skelter” by Paul and his band during one of his performances at Citi Field in New York City between July 17th through 21st, 2009, was featured on his album “Good Evening New York City.”  This performance went on the win a Grammy for “Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance” at the 53rd Grammy Awards.

The structure of the song can be parsed out as 'intro/ verse/ chorus/ verse/ chorus/ chorus (solo)/ intro/ verse/ chorus/ conclusion' (or abcbccabcd).  As what has become common in their later catalog, differences occur along the way, this time especially concerning the measures within the various sections of the song.

Although the mono version has gained notoriety as the years have progressed, the stereo mix is still considered the definitive version.  Therefore, this review will focus primarily on the stereo version with noteworthy mention of the mono mix when needed.

The startling intro is six measures long and begins with only Paul's hammering guitar in the first measure.  Our footing for where the downbeat is can be solved by recognizing that the first guitar chord, the one that slides down the neck, is only played in anticipation of the one-beat of the first measure.  Therefore, the first lower guitar chord in the successive 16th-note pattern is actually the downbeat.  It all fits together uniformly when Paul starts singing at the end of this first measure.

As noted above, the second measure of this intro adds Paul's single-tracked lead vocals; then the third measure adds Ringo's 16th-note snare drum beats played somewhat quietly while Paul's vocals rise in intensity.  The fourth measure displays Ringo's snare drum beats getting progressively louder to accompany Paul's manic vocals which are now rising to a fever pitch on the lyric, “and I see you agaaaain.” This acts as a signal for the full band arrangement to kick in, which features George's lead guitar, Ringo's cymbal-smashing drum beat, John's thumping overdubbed bass guitar, Paul's continuing guitar work and, somewhere deep in the mix, John's piano from the rhythm track.  All this fattens with rich reverb, echo, ADT (“Artificial Double-Tracking”) and distortion per Paul's request, his approval symbolically expressed by his “She Loves You” reprise of “yeah, yeah, yeah” at the end of the fifth measure.  The sixth measure of the introduction begins the hypnotic and somewhat out-of-tune guitar phrases that wind through the rest of the song. This repetitive guitar phrase is undoubtedly The Beatles attempt at capturing the feel of the Jimi Hendrix song “Foxy Lady,” which was the opening track of his first British album “Are You Experienced,” all four Beatles being huge fans of this artist.

The first verse is eight measures long and rests heavily on this hypnotic guitar-based vamp with Paul's high-energy single-tracked vocals.  Ringo puts in hard-hitting but simple drum fills at the end of measures three and six, while he stops the action in the seventh measure for a uniform 'Beatles break” during Paul's line “you may be a lover but you ain't no dancer.”  Ringo does, however, put in another drum fill during these final syllables from Paul to usher the band back in for the eighth measure. Background vocals from John, Paul, and George, are first detected in measure three, this being a simple “aaah” harmony as a backdrop to Paul's lead vocal line. This repeats in measure five but then continues with the changing chords into measures six and then seven where they trail off with the 'Beatles break.' The eighth measure has these background vocals singing staccato “da, da, da” sung in eighth notes for the remainder of the verse.  These harmonies are barely noticeable in the stereo mix but are slightly more prominent in the mono mix.

The chorus is six measures long and continues the same instrumentation as the verses but with Paul's additional lead guitar taking center stage primarily to fill in the gaps between the thrice repeated exclamations of “Helter Skelter.”  He follows the lyric each time with a quickly descending guitar phrase, simulating the children's slide that the song's lyrics are based around.  The fourth measure marks another 'Beatles break' which features an effective rising electric guitar note from Paul while Ringo puts in another thundering drum fill.  The remaining two measures comprise a simple return to the hypnotic guitar vamp heard earlier and ends with another Ringo drum fill. Paul's vocal hi-jinx include a “yeah” at the beginning of the fourth measure and one of his signature “wooo”s at the beginning of the fifth measure.

The second verse that follows is only seven measures long this time, the sixth measure from the first verse being omitted this time around for some reason.  Instrumentation is the same as in the first verse however, the only differences along the way are Ringo's drum fill appearing at the end of the second measure instead of measures three and six as before, and the background harmonies now filling in the gaps whenever Paul is not singing lead vocals instead of at the same time as in the first verse.  During the final measure, Paul shouts “Look Out!” while the background vocalists are reprising their “da, da, da” line from the first verse.  As before, the mono mix features these backing vocals at a somewhat higher level.

The chorus duplicates with identical instrumentation from before, differences include Paul moaning “whoa” in the fourth measure and then shouting “Look Out!, 'cause here she comes” during the fifth and six measures, then chuckling at the very end of the final measure.  John puts in an inventive 16th-note higher register bass figure in the fifth measure and then lowers it an octave for the sixth measure, possibly a suggestion from Paul.  A curious squawking sound, undoubtedly the first evidence of either John on saxophone or Mal Evans on trumpet, is first heard in the song in the fifth and sixth measures here.  A couple of introductory chords from Paul's soon-to-be-heard lead guitar part also enters in the sixth measure of this chorus.

A repeat of the chorus is then heard, used as a quick guitar solo from Paul.  This chorus, however, is only four measures long, omitting the final two vamping measures.  The background vocalists are heard in full force throughout these measures, sustaining an “aaah” that falls dramatically in a descending way in the final measure while Ringo puts in his usual drum fill.  A repeat of the song's intro occurs, only five measures being utilized this time instead of six because no need for the hammering solo guitar 16th-notes as heard at the beginning of the song.  Instead, we hear John's Fender Bass VI alternating octaves on 16th-notes up and down in measures one through three while Paul repeats the lyrics from the initial intro.  Full instrumentation as in the rest of the song encompasses this repeat of the intro this time, Ringo playing a regular drum beat while reprising his jack-hammer 16th-note snare drum fill in the third measure only this time around.  A couple of stray lead guitar notes from Paul are heard in the second and third measures, most noticeable in the mono mix.  Starting on the word “again,” the background vocalists kick in as well, holding out that same word into the fifth measure, this also being more prominently heard in the mono mix.

The third and final verse then appears, this also being seven measures in length.  The elements and structure are virtually identical to the second verse, lyrics and all.  Differences include Ringo adding an additional drum break in the fourth measure as well as an overdubbed lead guitar line from Paul in the second measure.

This is followed by the final chorus, this one being only four measures long.  The 'Beatles break' in the fourth measure displays the engineering team stepping up the echo effects to begin a “Freak Out” section of the song (see the 1966 album "Freak Out!" by The Mothers Of Invention as the beginning of this trend) while Paul belts out a blood-curdling “Look Out!”

What follows next is the song's conclusion which in actuality defies measure-counting and definition, although we'll give it a shot.  This section can easily be divided up into two sections, interrupted by an indefinable open space of voices, feedback, and other sounds.

Section One:  This nine-measure section of vamping with full instrumentation features Paul's ad-lib vocals “Helter Skelter / She's coming down fast / yes she is / yes she is / coming down fast / can you hear me speaking?, woooh.”  Ringo puts in a drum fill on every even-numbered measure until he crashes to a conclusion at what would be the ninth measure.  Paul's overdubbed lead guitar mimics his descending guitar lines in the chorus for measures two through eight while another lead guitar is present (George?) playing a strange descending passage in measures five and six.

Open Space (mono version):  The stereo and mono mixes differ dramatically during this 13-second section, the mono having the majority of elements faded down and thereby easier to describe.  After Ringo's final cymbal crash from Section One, a guitar features feedback on its own.  Strange descending chords are then heard not unlike what George attributed to in Section One, followed by a loud burst of echo effect from the engineering team.  As this eventually fades away, Ringo kicks in with what becomes an introductory drum fill for Section Two on top of guitar feedback.

Open Space (stereo version):  The stereo version has all of the elements of the mono but quite more.  As the cymbal crash of Section One fades away, we hear what sounds like Mal Evans on trumpet while Paul is speaking to his fellow bandmates and/or the engineering crew. He appears to be saying:  “Listen, shall we hear that?. See if the [sings] 'eeee's onnn...' Are you coming, son?  I saw you do that you little bugger.  Put yer bloody hands on your head, c'mon.”  Ringo beats a little bit on his drums in between these words, and there are also various clicks and extraneous sounds that appear here as a result of leaving the faders up while creating the stereo mix.  What sounds like John on saxophone is then heard simultaneously with Ringo's introductory drum fill which ends this section.

Section Two:  What then follows is a full “Freak Out” section reprising the hypnotic vamp of the verses which go on for an undisclosed amount of measures.  It's hard to say how many exact measures they recorded in this section since the song was faded out and then faded up with some measures omitted.  However, sources say this 'take' extended to around five minutes.  This would mean that about 30 seconds were cut out during the fade-out and fade-in.  The mono version includes ten measures of this final section before it fades out while the stereo version includes eleven measures until it fades out and thirteen more measures until the song concludes.

Full instrumentation abounds throughout this one-chord romp with Mal Evans squeaking out whatever single notes he could get out of his trumpet and John squealing rapidly with his saxophone.  John also kept up his bass guitar overdub throughout all of these proceedings, undoubtedly thinking that this all could possibly become part of the finished product (as it nearly had).  It appears that the song was going to fade away again but then rebounds in time to hear their final cacophonous chord along with Ringo's wild drum fills and final three cymbal crashes.  From the rhythm track, we hear John ask, “How's that?” while Ringo famously screams, “I've got blisters on my fingers!”  An echoing indecipherable guitar chord becomes the final word to this mess of brilliance!

Say what you will about The Beatles not cooperating together for the “White Album,” but the performance on this track protests otherwise.  Paul chuckles his way through the lead vocals, John puts in an impressive bass guitar performance and has fun bellowing through a nearby saxophone, George displays an infectious guitar figure that becomes the bedrock to the entire track, and Ringo is game to bash his drums until his hands bleed.  They may have hated each other at the time, but maybe they used “Helter Skelter” to blow all of this angst out of their system, breaking all of EMI Studio's decibel limits in the process.

Stop by my blog next week and discover the intricate details showcased upon “LONG LONG LONG.”

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.

SEXY SADIE AND ITS INCREDIBLE RECORDING PROCESS.

Although John abandoned his "Maharishi, what have you done" song in place of the title "Sexy Sadie" at the request of George Harrison in April of 1968, John still recorded a half sung, half spoken demo sometime in May of 1968 that recounted his disillusioned feelings about his trip to India.  This demo occurred in John's home studio at his Kenwood residence, Yoko adding a few vocal interjections.  This recording, available in bootlegs, has no resemblance to "Sexy Sadie" at all but has been viewed by many as a precursor to this "White Album" track because of its subject content.  In any event, it makes for an interesting listen.

John recorded an official demo version of “Sexy Sadie” with all lyrics in place on May 29th, 1968 at George Harrison's 'Kinfauns' home.  The Beatles met here to record onto George's Ampex four-track machine what songs they had recently written for consideration for their next album, this becoming the “White Album.”  This demo consists of John double-tracking himself on acoustic guitar and vocals with slight accompaniment on maracas and bongos (or the back of an acoustic guitar) by quite probably Paul and Ringo.  The lyrics were all in place, but the arrangement and structure needed to be fleshed out in the studio.

The first time John brought “Sexy Sadie” into EMI Studios happened on July 19th, 1968, the group entering Studio Two at about 7:30 pm for what became a rather impromptu session that lasted until 4 am the following morning.  The demonstration mentioned above of the crude “Maharishi” version of the song was captured on tape on this day, resulting in Paul suggesting “that perhaps it was better that the song was now more sympathetic,” as Mark Lewisohn states in the book “The Beatles Recording Sessions.”

With George Martin and the engineers in place, the majority of the day was spent jamming on various things that popped into The Beatles' minds, some of which made it onto a personal tape The Beatles wanted to be compiled of “interesting bits and pieces.” Mark Lewisohn was treated to (or subjected to) a listen to the entire contents of this day's activities on tape.  In his “Recording Sessions” book, he states that it included “more crude run-throughs of 'Sexy Sadie' with plenty of good-humored Lennon cusses, a new two-verse spur-of-the-moment Lennon song rather uncomplimentary to the memory of Brian Epstein and to his brother Clive, and then a near six-minute instrumental jam of George Gershwin's 'Summertime,' doubtless inspired by the 1958 rock version – albeit not an instrumental – by Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps.”

After this shenanigan was over, The Beatles ran through 21 proper takes of “Sexy Sadie,” although these recordings sounded more like a rehearsal than a strict attempt at recording the song.  The instrumentalists consisted of John on electric guitar and lead vocals, Paul on organ, George on acoustic guitar and Ringo on drums.  The first take began with John yelling up to the producer in the control room “See if we're all in tune, George!” and the last track ended with John stating, “I don't like the sound very much for a kick-off.  Does anybody?”  The tape stopped before an audible answer was heard, but apparently, all agreed they would begin fresh at a future time.

Evidence of what they recorded on this day appears on the “Anthology 3” album, take 6, which faded out early because “the coda had not been finalized,” as Mark Lewisohn states in the album's liner notes. In fact, the lengths of the song on the takes recorded on this day varied from 5:36 to 8 minutes, indicating they didn't quite know how to bring the song to a conclusion as of yet.  One indication of this was a suggestion by Yoko that was captured on tape during their listening to a playback of the days' recordings, saying that they could do the song better.  John answered, “Well, maybe I can.”

Five days later, on July 24th, 1968, they started from scratch on “Sexy Sadie.”  They entered EMI Studio Two at around 7 pm and recorded 23 more takes of the song, labeled 'takes 25 through 47' (skipping number 22 through 24 for some reason).  The instrumentation was the same as before, John on guitar and vocals, Paul on organ, George on guitar and Ringo on drums.  Evidence of them still struggling with the song is heard at the end of 'take 28' where John calls up to the control room, “Were any of them any good?”  “Take 47” was labeled best on this day, but by 2:30 am the following day after some unused sound effects were recorded, the session ended with nothing ever being officially released from this day's efforts.

“Sexy Sadie” was then put on the back-burner for about three weeks with attention given to various other songs, the most noteworthy being “Hey Jude.”  Then, on August 13th, 1968, they returned their attention to the song, recording a re-remake from scratch.  The group entered EMI Studio Two at around 7 pm and, starting off at a rounded-off number “take 100,” they recorded eight more attempts of the rhythm track, the final “take 107” most considered the best.  The instrumentation consisted of John on acoustic guitar and vocals, George on electric guitar through a rotating Leslie speaker, Paul on piano through an echo effect, and Ringo on drums.  With all four tracks of the tape filled, a reduction mix was needed to open up more tracks for overdubs; four attempts were made (labeled 'takes 108 through 111').  The group then took to recording yet another Lennon composition entitled “Yer Blues” until 5:30 am the following morning when they called it for the night.

An extensively long recording session on August 21st, 1968 (nearly 12 hours long) brought “Sexy Sadie” to its final releasable state.  The session began at 7:30 pm in EMI Studio Two while awaiting George Harrison's return from his visit to Greece on this day. The reduction mixes done at the previous session were deemed unusable for some reason, so another tape reduction of “take 107” was done, this becoming “take 112.”  Onto this, engineers recorded another John Lennon lead vocal and an organ part from Paul.  All four tracks filled again, so, three more attempts at a reduction mix occurred (numbered 113 through 115) which allowed Paul to overdub his bass guitar for the first time as well as a tambourine from Ringo.  Once again, the four tracks reached capacity, which required two more attempts at a reduction mix (numbered 116 and 117) to allow space for George to double-track his lead guitar for the song's conclusion and for John and Paul to overdub some backing vocals, treated with a phasing effect. The song was now finally complete, the session ending with the official mono mix by George Martin and engineers Ken Scott and John Smith.  Five attempts took place at creating this mono mix, 'remix 5' lasted 39 seconds longer than what was eventually released on the “White Album” because of the inclusion of an instrumental bridge during the close of the song someone edited out on the released mono mix.  A tape copy of this longer mix was made on August 23rd, 1968 which was taken away by Mal Evans and given to Ringo who thereby gave it to his friend Peter Sellers, this extended version eventually surfaced on bootleg albums.  

The stereo mix of the song, with the instrumental bridge edited out, was made in the control room of EMI Studio Two by George Martin and engineers Ken Scott and John Smith.  Subtle differences in the stereo mix are found in the song's introduction; an extra tapping sound appears as well as Paul's bass, which was faded down in the mono mix.

The Beatles touched on "Sexy Sadie" on January 29th, 1969 during their recording sessions at Apple Studios on Savile Row in London for what became the "Let It Be" album and film.  Of course, this session never saw an official release.

While there was no unaccompanied recording of the song by any of The Beatles, an interesting fact is that Ringo mentions the song's title in two of his solo recordings (“Devil Woman” from his 1973 album “Ringo” and “Drumming Is My Madness” from his 1981 album “Stop And Smell The Roses”) and George in one of his solo songs (“Simply Shady” from the 1974 album “Dark Horse”).

The structure for "Sexy Sadie" is somewhat typical for The Beatles and follows a 'verse/ verse/ bridge/ verse/ verse/ bridge' (or aabaab) with a simple introduction and faded instrumental conclusion.  One thing here that isn't typical is the omission of a concluding verse, although the conclusion actually consists of three instrumental renditions of the verse with little snippets of lyrics from the first and fourth verse thrown in by John.

The introduction is three measures long and is a near replication of what is heard as measures three through five in each of the verses.  Paul's piano is the primary focus here, being augmented by some clicks and a couple tambourine hits from Ringo's overdub, as well as Ringo's introductory drum fill in the third measure which brings us nicely into the first verse.

This verse, as well as all the others, are seven measures long and begins with John on single-tracked lead vocals and quiet rhythm guitar, Paul's piano being the lead instrument along with his overdubbed bass guitar thumping out an impressive (mostly) eighth-note melody line, and Ringo's hi-hat-based simple 4/4 drum beat.  George's guitar is present as well, but is discernible only periodically, such as at the end of the second measure.  Ringo puts forth a drum fill at the end of the third and seventh measures which both consist of a hi-hat splash followed by a simple fill on mostly the snare drum.  John's vocals become double-tracked in the fifth measure for the line “you've made a fool of everyone,” which ushers in John and Paul's backing vocals for the sixth and seventh measures, their melody line consisting of descending eighth-note “wah-wah”s.  John's vocals then return to single tracked for the final portion of the verse, this time being “oh, what have you done.”

Verse two is similar in most respects, the continuation of the background vocal “wah-wah”s from the first verse into the second measure of this verse identifies one difference.  Ringo performs similar drum fills in the third and seventh measures but adds an additional one in the fifth measure which doesn't include the hi-hat splash as the others have.  It appears that the only double-tracking of John's vocals in this verse is on the word “see” in the sixth measure while the background vocals repeat their performance from the first verse but as “see, see, see” this time around.

The first bridge is heard next, which is five measures long.  Ringo's beat throughout the bridge in focused on the snare and kick drum only without any use of cymbals whatsoever.  George plays a fragrant winding lead guitar passage throughout the chord changes of this bridge.  The overdubbed background vocals play a somewhat big role in this section of the song, slowly holding out the syllables of “se – xy – sad – ie” throughout the first two measures and then, in the fifth measure, quickly singing “Sexy Sadie – she's the greatest,” mimicking John's lead vocals at that point. Double-tracking is evident in most of John's lead vocals during the bridge, but Paul's piano work is pushed more in the background revealing his Hammond organ chords instead as a backdrop to the proceedings.

Next comes the third verse, which begins with the background vocals returning to “wah-wah”s into the second measure.  Ringo keeps up the snare and kick drum pattern for the first measure of this verse which then results in him performing a drum fill at the end of this first measure to go back to his hi-hat drum pattern from the previous verses, he then adding another drum fill in the fifth measure.  Paul puts in a frilly piano accent at the end of the second measure while John's lead vocals go in-and-out of double-tracking throughout the verse, most notable on the final line “oh, how did you know.”  The background vocals kick back in with “wah-wah”s in the sixth and seventh measures as in the first verse.

The fourth verse is also similar in many respects, Ringo performing fills in the third, fifth and seventh measures again as he did in the second verse.  Paul's frilly piano accent is heard again in the second measure but more prominently this time.  The background “wah-wah”s proceed in the usual places, measures one, two, six and seven, while John's vocal double-tracking still lingers periodically as on the phrase “big you are” in the second measure.  This goes directly into the second bridge which is virtually a repeat of the first bridge except for the different lyrics.

This moves into the song's conclusion which, as stated above, is an instrumental version of the verse repeated three times.  (An instrumental bridge was also recorded here but edited out during mixing, as discussed above.)  The first measure of the first instrumental verse features the background vocalists quickly singing “Sexy Sadie, she's the latest and the greatest of them all” as John had just sung at the end of the second bridge.  Ringo then comes out of the bridge in the same way as he did from the first bridge, drum fill and all.  After a falsetto “Woooo” from John in the second measure, George begins an iconic double-tracked winding guitar figure that nicely permeates the song until it finally fades away.  The tambourine finally makes a reappearance in the song in the fifth measure of this conclusion and continues then throughout the rest of the recording.

In the fifth and sixth measures of the first instrumental verse, John reprises the line he sang in that spot in the first verse, namely “you made a fool of everyone,” followed by an almost whispered “Sexy Sadie” in the seventh measure.  He repeats the process in the next instrumental verse, singing what he sang in the fourth verse, “however big you think you are.”  Other notable features of this conclusion include Ringo adding an interesting added hi-hat beat at the end of many measures as well as various drum fills until the song concludes.  Paul noodles around on the piano throughout this conclusion as well as plays chords on his overdubbed Hammond organ, thereby revealing Paul playing two keyboards simultaneously as well as bass guitar during this section of the song.

After around thirty-five hours of studio time, all four Beatles became well acquainted with the song and put in a well-seasoned performance among all the “clowning around” that transpired during these sessions, as Ian MacDonald called it in his book “Revolution In The Head.”  Lyrically, it is interesting, as well as unfortunate, that John continues his usual misogynist view of women, even though the song isn't really about a woman at all. Other Lennon compositions, such as “Run For Your Life,” “You Can't Do That,” “Norwegian Wood” and “Girl” display his negative attitude toward the fairer sex at that time, and this is continued here with phrases like “however big you think you are...you'll get yours yet” and the sarcastic “she's the latest and the greatest of them all.” Fortunately, Yoko brought out much more of his feminist side in his solo career, such as in “Woman Is The Nigger Of The World.”

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