EVERYBODY’S GOT SOMETHING TO HIDE EXCEPT ME AND MY MONKEY AND ITS INCREDIBLE RECORDING PROCESS.

John introduced this song to the rest of The Beatles on May 28th, 1968, while recording demos of newly written songs at George's "Kinfauns" home in Esher, Surrey.  Onto George's Ampez 4-track machine they recorded at least two acoustic guitars (possibly John and George), double-tracked vocals from John, maracas, and bongos by perhaps Paul and Ringo respectively.

The general tempo and all around 'vibe' stood already present, as were the complete lyrics, although the vocal style lends itself more to Bob Dylan than to the high-intensity vocalizations of the finished product.  Some arrangement issues needed to be worked out yet, such as the introduction and the details of the guitar parts, but the somewhat ad-lib nature of the song was already in place. As Bruce Spizer states in his book “The Beatles On Apple Records,” “One can sense that the group was looking forward to recording this one.”

This proved to be the case.  Out of the 30 songs that appeared on the released “White Album,” “Everybody's Got Something To Hide” was the fifth song to be started.  They began working on the song on June 26th, 1968, in EMI Studio Two at approximately 7 pm. Mark Lewisohn, in his book “The Beatles Recording Sessions,” explains their new approach to recording since they had time on their hands, to “rehearse and rehearse and rehearse, with everything recorded, but then – in most instances – instead of spooling back to record properly over the rehearsals, treat the rehearsals themselves as the recordings, all takes numbered.  Then, in familiar fashion, go back to the best basic version and start the process of overdubbing.”

On this day, The Beatles worked hard committing to tape the rhythm track of the song, which at this stage marked as “Untitled.”  By 3:30 am the next morning, they apparently thought they had nailed it but weren't sure which “take” would be used.  Therefore, the recording sheet contained the words “Various takes; best to be decided.”  The next day, however, they either didn't feel like pouring through the whole tape to see which one was best or they just decided they could do better.  In any event, the entire tape was wiped clean.  No evidence of what they recorded on June 26th exists today, so we don't know who played what instrument or in what form the song appeared during its evolution.

The following day, June 27th, 1968, they re-entered EMI Studio Two at the documented time of 5 pm to continue work on the song.  Engineer Geoff Emerick recalls this days' events as a “very long, wearying session.”  In his book “Here, There And Everywhere,” he elaborates:  “The group began work on yet another harsh, aggressive Lennon song...Once again, The Beatles were playing incredibly loud down in the studio, but this time Lennon and Harrison had their volume turned up so high that Paul actually gave up competing with them.  Rather than play bass on the backing track, he stood next to Ringo, ringing a huge fireman's bell, egging his drummer on.  There was no microphone on him because the thing was so loud that it bled on all the mics anyway.  Physically, it was very difficult to pull off – Paul had to take a break after each take because his shoulders were aching so much.”

Emerick doesn't pull any punches about his feelings about the song but admits some admirable qualities.  “As much as I disliked the song, I had to admit that it was the first time in any of the 'White Album' sessions that there was any energy in their playing.  George Harrison's lead work was crisp and efficient, much more aggressive than his usual style.”

Six 'takes' of the rhythm track took place on this day, these consisting of John and George on electric guitar, Ringo on drums and Paul on the above-mentioned fireman's bell but sometimes exchanging this element with a percussive instrument called a chocalho. Take six was deemed best and, with the four-track tape full, a reduction mix needed to occur.  However, an edit first needed to get the rhythm track to the complete state they desired, piecing in a section of one of the verses (possibly from another take) onto the end of the song to work as a faded-out conclusion. This facilitated two reduction mixes to be made and edited together called "take eight."  This reduction mix occurred while the tape machine spun at 43 cycles per second instead of the usual 50, which meant it sped the song up considerably when played back. This shortened the song from 3:07 to 2:29 and gave the impression of a tighter instrumental performance.  Onto this new mix, Paul overdubbed a percussive instrument called a chocalho, this ending the session at about 3:45 the following morning.

As a side note, Geoff Emerick explained interesting developments that occurred after the session was complete: “Needless to say, by the time the track was completed, I had a splitting headache.  That evening, Paul had walked into the control room on his way in and unceremoniously plunked a bottle of Johnnie Walker down on the table, saying, 'This is for you, boys.'...(Engineer Richard Lush and I) restrained ourselves until after everyone had gone home, at which point we drained the entire bottle...Giggling like the drunken fools we were, we got every last cup and saucer out of the canteen and took them into Studio Two, whereupon we smashed them up against the wall.  Of course, we then had to hide the evidence.  But it was worth it.  The next morning the canteen staff came in and wanted to know where all the cups and saucers had gone.  Fighting our hangovers and trying to appear as angelic as humanly possible, we pleaded innocence.”

The Beatles entered EMI Studio Two on July 1st, 1968 at 5 pm with the intention of finishing the song, which finally birthed the title, “Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey.”  Onto 'take 8' Paul performed two bass guitar overdubs. “The bass part Paul overdubbed on was good,” related Geoff Emerick.  “Clearly he was still determined to do his best, no matter what was going on between him and John.”  This then filled the four-track tape once again, facilitating a need for two more reduction mixes to be made and edited together to open up more tracks, the end resulted as "take 10."  John then put in his first lead vocal performance, thus ending the session for the night at around 3 am the following morning, the band thinking the song was now complete.

This turned out not to be the case, however.  On July 23rd, 1968, they re-entered EMI Studio Two at around 7 pm for yet more work on the song.  John decided to replace his lead vocals with another go, this time nailing it to his satisfaction.  Interestingly, when he figured the song would be faded out, he began what Mark Lewisohn describes as “frantic, jocular screaming.”  Engineer Richard Lush explained, “As usual, John was wanting his voice to sound different.  He would say, 'I want to sound like somebody from the moon' or anything different.  'Make it different!'  And at that time there wasn't the range of instant effects available today.”

A decision was made as to how the vocals were going to be “different,” but it would take another set of edited reduction mixes to free up yet more tracks.  This brought the finished song as to this point to “take 12,” onto which John double-tracked his lead vocals and then, with Paul, overdubbed multiple backing vocals at the end of the song, thus layering assorted screams of “come on” on top of each other, as well as handclaps and Paul's periodic background hollers.  This, then, completed the song, five mono mixes being made at the end of the session, although none of them were ever used.  After some mono mixes of John's song “Good Night” ended, they finally called it a night at 2:30 am the next morning.

Both the stereo and mono mixes of the song released on the finished album took place on October 12th, 1968 in the control room of EMI Studio Two by the engineering team of George Martin, Ken Scott, and John Smith.  Only one attempt at each mix was needed to get them ready for release, although in both cases, the song tape speed ran up yet a little more to reduce its length a few seconds more (to 2:24).  The only notable difference between the stereo and mono mixes is the “come on” screaming at the end which varies somewhat.

The overall structure of the song is quite usual for Lennon / McCartney compositions, namely 'verse/ refrain/ verse/ refrain/ verse/ refrain' (or ababab) with an introduction and conclusion to round things out.  But, as we've come to expect, some interesting developments come up along the way.

Getting your grounding in the introduction may be a little difficult for the listener, as it was for me for many years, because of Lennon's three guitar chops per measure and deceivingly placed snare beats from Ringo.  So, where exactly is the downbeat of the song?  It's simpler than you think.  The first bass drum beat of the song is the actual downbeat, which reveals that John's guitar chops are syncopated instead of on the quarter-note beats.  This all sets in motion this tricky little four-measure intro with John and Ringo being the only instrumentalists heard, apart from audible handclaps overdubbed by either John, Paul, or both.

We then enter into the first verse which is six measures long and played by all four members of the band.  The verse makes a jarring appearance with John's high pitched “come on, come on” vocal, Paul's piercing fireman's bell and booming bass guitar, George's rhythmic lead guitar lines and Ringo's straightforward 4/4 drum beat. John's syncopated guitar work is still in full view throughout but now as a backdrop to the other elements that take center stage.

Next comes the first refrain which is ten measures long.  These refrains all have two sections; the first six measures play in straight 4/4 time and the final four measures which alternate twice between 3/4 and then 4/4 time.  The first section consists of John's “take it easy” vocals followed by the song's title (actually adding one word, making it “except for me and my monkey”) while both John and George play eighth-note power chord chops.  Paul sticks to single-note bass playing along with the guitars as well as keeps up his effective bell ringing, while Ringo steps up his drumbeat by accenting the snare on every quarter note.

The second section, which comes in precisely on the word “monkey,” introduces a break in the energetic tension of the song thus far.  George plays two inventive guitar riffs which stand out beautifully, both of which fill up both of the 3/4-time measures (seven and nine) while John's rhythm guitar, Paul's bass, and Ringo's bass drum and open hi-hat crashes accent a perfect triplet pattern for these same measures.  Measures eight and ten (which are both in 4/4 time) consist of four strategic snare drum beats from Ringo.  The only other element this time around is a blood-curdling scream from Paul which takes us directly into the next verse.

The second verse is different from the first verse in a few ways, the most noteworthy points the addition of four measures at the beginning, this verse now totaling ten. These measures grew in order to include additional lyrics, this time being “the deeper you go, the higher you fly,” and of course, the opposite of that sentiment is apparently true as well.  Instrumental differences include Paul's replacing the bell with the chocalho and Ringo adding a snare drum beat in each of these first four measures.  After this, the remaining measures are similar to how everyone played in the previous verse. However, differences do appear heard in the interesting variations to George's lead guitar lines as well as the slight change in lyrics, from “come on is take it easy” to “come on is make it easy.”  Not to be forgotten is the quick “whoo” from Paul at the tail end of the final measure.

Then follows another refrain which is quite similar to the first with a few minor exceptions.  The chocalho continues to play as in the second verse instead of the bell from the first refrain.  A faint voice is heard in the second measure saying “yeah, yeah, yeah” (a “She Loves You” reference?) and a “Woah!” from Paul appears at the beginning of the fourth measure.  Lennon then sings “monkey, yeah” in the seventh measure while Paul retorts with a falsetto “woooo” at the end of the eighth measure.  And there is no blood-curdling scream at the end this time around.

Then comes verse three, which is also ten measures long and is virtually identical instrumentally to the second verse except for Paul putting down the chocalho and picking up the fireman's bell again.  “Your inside is out, and your outside is in” are now the words of wisdom from Lennon, the reverse of course also being the case. Paul interjects a couple shouts of “Ho!” in measures five and six respectively, as well as mumbles some faintly heard contributions in the measures that follow.  John decides the listener should be encouraged to “make it easy” once again this time around.

The final refrain then appears, which is also quite similar to the second refrain right down to Paul surprisingly putting down the fireman's bell and once again picking up the chocalho (his shoulders were probably starting to give out).  With John singing at the top of his range, we can begin to hear the strain in his vocal chords, not unlike his performance five years earlier in “Twist And Shout.”  He does decide this time around that it's important to both “make it easy” and “take it easy,” while Paul follows each of these commands with “wooaahh”s of different lengths.  The eighth and tenth measures feature a “Hey!” shout from John while the tenth measure features a high-pitched wail from Paul along with the beginning of the “come on” overdubbed repetitions that repeat endlessly until the song fades away.

The conclusion comes next which fades out at what would be the 13th measure.  The first measure begins with a thud from the guitars and bass while the drums and the reemerging fireman's bell keeps the beat going through the first three measures.  The third measure, however, features Paul's bass with a simple but fluent riff to take us to the fourth through sixth measures, these comprising fast-paced guitar chording and bass notes only (no percussion at all). Then we are treated to a reprise of the rhythm track similar to what was heard in the first verse, fireman's bell and all.  All the while, remember John and Paul and saying, shouting and screaming “come on” overdubbed over and over again to great effect.

True, all four Beatles are in top form on this highly underrated song.  Lennon only pushes the limits of his vocal range when he feels a particular song merits it, and thus he does here, resorting to falsetto on the words “to hide” whenever the song's title is sung.  There was no need for George Martin to add any piano or hire any outside instrumentation, such as brass players, to make this song come alive.  It's pure Beatles at their energetic finest!

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

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.