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.”

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