The second recording session for their next British album “With The Beatles” took place on July 30th, 1963, a morning and evening session, from which they all worked on six songs. The afternoon session ran from 5:00 to 11:00 pm and tackled five songs, four of them completed. After George Martin performed many piano overdubs for the song “Money,” The Beatles completed “Till There Was You,” “Roll Over Beethoven” and “It Won’t Be Long” before starting and completing “All My Loving” on the same day. The first take of the song began approximately at 9:30, and by 11:00 pm the song reached complete and ready for mixing.
Takes 1 through 11 were needed to create a full band run-through of the song, which included McCartney’s vocals as well as all of the group on their usual instruments. This actually comprised ten takes, since there was no take five. Take 11 was considered the best. Then takes 12 through 14 were used for overdubbing Paul’s double-tracked vocals as well as his own harmony vocals on the third verse, with take 14 overdubbed onto the complete take 11. This is the complete version of this classic track as we know it.
The mono mix of the song occurred on August 21st, 1963, along with the rest of the tracks that had been completed so far for the album. George Martin, along with engineers Norman Smith and Geoff Emerick, were the only ones present on this day. The same three EMI staff members created the stereo mix of the song on October 29th, 1963 along with the mysterious engineer with the initials B.T.
Because stereo phonographs were rare in the ’60s, creating mono mixes held priority. Stereo mixes were usually made very quickly and at the last minute. This being the case, the stereo mix of “All My Loving” was made inadvertently leaving in an introductory hi-hat count-in to the song. Most countries knew to omit this introduction when preparing their album, but in a few cases, such as the Dutch version of their second album, they left it in. This makes for a very rare and highly sought-after album, as well as a suitable inclusion to many bootleg albums.
To be complete, we must also mention The Beatles' appearance at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, California, on August 23rd, 1964. This show, including "All My Loving," was recorded for an intended live album to be released in late 1964 by Capitol in the US. While this album didn't materialize at that time, it did finally get released in 1977 under the title "The Beatles At The Hollywood Bowl." The show was produced by Capitol's vice president Voyle Gilmore with George Martin and engineered by Hugh Davies.
Song Structure and Style
The songwriting style of Lennon and McCartney was beginning to mature and expand even as early as their second album, as can be seen with “All My Loving.” All of their original compositions on the first album were in the standard 'verse/ verse/ bridge/ verse' configuration (aaba) or variations thereof. Their third British single, “From Me To You” backed with “Thank You Girl,” also followed this format. The first change in this pattern occurred with their fourth single “She Loves You,” which, for the first time, introduced a “refrain” to their songwriting pallet, which was something they, no doubt, picked up from their cover version of “A Taste Of Honey” which appeared on their first album.
Now, for the second time on their second album, a “refrain” is used to great effect on “All My Loving.” Like “All I’ve Got To Do” before it, the refrain repeats twice in the song and finishes tune’s the pattern. “All My Loving” also contains a bridge, which enters as a guitar solo played by George Harrison. Up to this point, the solo section in Lennon / McCartney songs occur using the chord pattern of the verse (“I Saw Her Standing There”) or even the bridge (“Love Me Do”), but in this case the solo is performed using a unique pattern of chords not heard elsewhere in the song. This can easily be viewed as a bridge since it is a transitory passage that connects the first refrain with the third verse. Therefore, “All My Loving” follows the format of 'verse/ verse/ refrain/ bridge/ verse/ refrain' or (aabcab). To add spice, the final refrain doubles in length to create what many composers term as an “outro.”
The song begins abruptly with the first verse without any introduction whatsoever, not even an introductory chord as on “All I’ve Got To Do.” Actually, McCartney’s double-tracked voice is the first thing heard since the actual melody line of the verse begins half of a measure before the first measure begins. This 16-bar verse is accentuated by Paul’s melody line which cascades up and down one entire octave, but not exceeding it. The last bar of the verse comprises the common Beatles “break” as well as the first two words of the second verse, which immediately follows.
The second verse runs identical in structure and melody line, only differing by a new set of lyrics which, like the first verse, ends with the title of the song. After the break at the end of the second verse, we enter into the first refrain, which acts as the true hook-line of the song, repeating the title twice along with vocal harmony “oohs” heard throughout the refrain performed by Lennon and Harrison. This eight-bar refrain also ends in a “break,” which actually triggers the guitar solo brilliantly played during the entire bridge, which also comprises eight bars, the eighth bar defining another “break.”
The third verse is actually a repeat of the first verse using the same lyrics, the only difference being that we now hear McCartney’s overdubbed harmony throughout the verse. After the “break” at the end of the verse, we enter into the final refrain which is identical to the first except that it is actually doubled in length to finish off the song. This sixteen-bar refrain sounds as if it is repeating the refrain twice, but it actually results in an accentuated McCartney vocal which finally takes him above the limited octave range of the song, even into a short falsetto “ooh” which has by now become a Beatles trademark. The final ringing bass note ends this classic song on a triumphant and satisfying note.
McCartney is truly the master and commander of the song performance-wise, as his vocal delivery, although penetrating the lowest registers of his range, is delivered with convincing expressiveness throughout. Singing in this lower tone may have been a little uncomfortable for Paul, which resulted in some slight pitch problems on the recording, but it didn’t stop the group from performing the song extensively throughout their early touring months. Also worthy of praise is McCartney’s ‘spot on’ harmony work on the third verse, which he overdubbed at the end of the session. It was easier for Paul to overdub it himself, since he was a natural for picking out harmony, unlike both John and George who performed well in this capacity only after much coaching from George Martin. During live performances of the song, Harrison provided the harmony on the third verse because of Lennon concentrating on the fast rhythm guitar triplets he performed during the song's verses. Another nod of appreciation points to the simplistic nature manifested in the refrains, as Paul gives the double tracking of his vocals a rest. His single voice allows the true tones of John and George’s harmony background vocals to create a richer fullness.
McCartney definitely shines with his bass guitar performance as well. Usually quite low in the mix during these early Beatles recordings, Paul’s bass lines are easily discernable, making this recording an exceptional triumph. The wide-range walking bass lines help create an impressive tightness and cohesiveness to the arrangement.
George Harrison should follow next as a worthy of mention because of his stellar Carl Perkins-style solo, which is both joyous and irresistible. McCartney’s insistence on planned guitar solos for his compositions is well-founded, as evidenced in this case. An adlib creation by Harrison, as he was prone to present, wouldn’t have complimented the well-structured atmosphere that this song required. Likewise, George’s rhythmic guitar chops throughout the song help create the song’s pleasantly bright swing beat. Harrison also had a gift to produce above adequate background harmony, as heard during the song's refrains.
Lennon’s fast-paced rhythm triplets, possibly derived from listening to the current US hit “Do Doo Ron Ron” by the Crystals, were an impressive addition to the song and provided a uniqueness to the arrangement. Apart from this, Lennon could also provide well-crafted and marvelous harmony work, as can be heard during the song's refrain, once someone drilled the harmony line into his head through rehearsal.
The drum work required here is excellently achieved by Starr as if he was born to play this swing style. This aspect comes across as perfectly performed and natural, right down to the snare accents at the end of each verse. The drum arrangement changes during the refrain as Ringo strikes the snare on each beat of each measure, which he accidentally begins to do during the first measure of the second verse (probably getting mixed up after eleven takes of the song).
Lyrically, the song has surfaced as a “letter song” because of the farewell message heard, no doubt a true to life issue of Paul’s persistent touring schedule of 1963, leaving his recently met girlfriend Jane Asher behind. Many “letter” type songs grew popular in the early ’60s, such as “Soldier Boy” by one of The Beatles favorite girl groups, The Shirelles, which also inspired The Beatles “P.S. I Love You.” The lyrics, while quite simple and self-explanatory, convey a convincing message which exudes sincerity.
Next Song: Don’t Bother Me --
Between August 19th and 24th, attempted home recordings by George Harrison occurred during his composing and structuring of the song. These were used to ready himself as well as, no doubt, to be played to the rest of the band to facilitate learning the song in preparation for their actual recording session in the studio.
September 11th, 1963, was the first Beatles recording session to feature a George Harrison composition. It was the last of five songs attempted this day, which was the third recording session for their second British album. Recording of this song began during the evening session, which ran from 7:00 until 10:15 pm. The Lennon-penned “Not A Second Time” was begun and completed during this session, which puts the start of “Don’t Bother Me” at approximately 9:00 pm.
Four full band performances were recorded on this day. John Lennon, giddy in an experimental mood, tried out a new gadget that they had purchased a few months earlier at Selmer’s music store in London, a Gibson Maestro Fuzz-Tone. George had attempted to use this early distortion effect during the sessions for “She Loves You” back on July 1st of that year, but they decided not to use it on the final recording. Lennon stood eager to get some use out of it on this day and tried it out on these early attempts at the rhythm track.
According to the September 28th, 1963 issue of Melody Maker magazine, a journalist was present in the studio on this day. “When they had rearranged the opening bars,” he relates, “John produced a fuzz box…John was knocked out with the result, but George Martin wasn’t too happy. ‘You’ll have to do something, John,’ said Martin. ‘It’s already distorting from the amplifier. Do you think it sounds OK? Are you sure about it?’”
Apparently, the use of this device was shelved for the day, the effect no longer used until George’s “Think For Yourself” was recorded two years later. Still wanting to try something new, George Harrison asked engineer Norman Smith, “Can we have a compressor on this guitar? We might try to get a sort of organ sound.” What they came up with was the use of amplifier tremolo on John’s guitar, which displayed a rhythmic fluctuation of volume. As stated in Andy Babiuk’s book “Beatles Gear,” “This was the group’s first evident use in the studio of an electronic effect on the guitar sound, and thus marked the start of a search for unusual sounds and heralded the group’s role as studio experimenters in coming years.”
Three overdubs (most likely lead vocals) were recorded on top of (presumably) the fourth take before a determination concluded that this rendition of the song sounded unsatisfactory. The song had more of a straightforward beat style at this stage and never thoroughly rehearsed by the group. A new song structure was called for, so the tune received a temporarily shelved position.
The next day, September 12th, 1963, The Beatles resumed work on the song, once again during that day's evening session. This longer-than-usual session, from 7:00 to 11:30 pm, started out with a brand-new attempt at the song. Starting from scratch at a round take number ‘10,’ this attempt included all of the basic elements of the song, including lead vocals and a guitar solo. While it’s somewhat slower than the finished product as we know it, it was a near perfect rendition. The only flaws were George’s occasional off key vocal and Ringo’s accent flub at the very end, which prompted George to sarcastically sing “oh yeah, rock and roll now” as an indication that this take spoiled.
The group then decided to incorporate a ‘Beatles break’ just before George begins singing the first verse. With this in mind, ‘take 11’ broke down just into the first verse. ‘Take 12’ got a little further, although Ringo kept putting the ‘breaks’ in the wrong places, resulting in George stopping the song saying “no, no, no.” However, ‘Take 13,’ which then omitted that first 'break,' was deemed best. Notice, though, that Ringo does mistakenly perform a 'break' just before the first bridge during the words “I know I’ll.”
Starting from ‘take 14,’ an extensive overdub made way, which comprised George double-tracking his lead vocal, Paul playing claves, John playing tambourine and Ringo playing an Arabian bongo, all found when they raided the EMI closet. The second attempt of the overdubs (take 15) was considered the best in the end, although they continued overdubbing through take 19, but none of those takes helped. The song was deemed complete by approximately 8:30 pm.
The crafted mono mix made from what was now considered take 15 took place on September 30th, 1963, with only George Martin and engineers Norman Smith and young Geoff Emerick in attendance. The stereo mix was hurriedly done on October 29th, 1963, by the same EMI staff, along with a mysterious engineer with the initials B.T. The stereo mix comprises all of the instruments panned primarily to the left channel and both of George’s lead vocal tracks panned primarily to the right.
Curiously, a rare stereo mix of “Don’t Bother Me” has surfaced on Canadian pressings of “Meet The Beatles!” from 1976. This purple label Capitol album features an added word from George during the final verse: “…when she’s come home, until that day…DON’T…don’t come around…” Speculation has it that either a second stereo mix of the song was made back on October 29th, 1963 that didn’t splice out this vocal flub from George, or that this otherwise identical stereo mix was touched up before it went to press upon its original release. Canada had never received a stereo mix of this song prior to this time, so an un-doctored stereo mix may have been sent to them from EMI especially for this release. In any case, this anomaly is quite interesting for Beatles enthusiasts.
Song Structure and Style
Following the lead of most of the Lennon / McCartney compositions written thus far, Harrison chose to follow the usual established pattern of 'verse/ verse/ bridge/verse' (or aaba) for “Don’t Bother Me.” Predictably for a lead guitarist, a guitar solo spot was written into the song, which extends the pattern to include another verse to accommodate the guitar solo, another bridge and then a final extended verse. The song follows the pattern of many Harrison compositions within The Beatles catalog, being in a minor key with sad/angry lyrics.
The song begins with a four-bar instrumental introduction, during which you can very faintly hear George complaining about the song going too fast (which is indeed much faster than his countdown of the song in the earlier takes). We then hear the first verse begin, which is 12 bars in length, with Harrison's double-tracked vocals to the fore. The eighth bar comprises a break with only George’s lead vocals heard at that point. Following the lead of many Lennon and McCartney’s early compositions (as well as many others in pop music at that time), the title of the song appears at the end of each verse in order to act as a hook-line to drive home the intent of the lyrics.
After a second verse, which is identical to the first apart from a different set of lyrics, we move to the bridge which is 16 bars in length. There is an appropriate contrast between the bridge and verses, especially regarding the melody line sung by George. In the bridge, we hear four labored phrases which are mostly made up of half-notes. This contrasts nicely with the faster-paced lyrical phrases of the verses. Also, we hear George reach up to a dramatic F# phrase starting in the ninth bar, which depicts a sadness that corresponds perfectly with the lyrics in the bridge about needing to “get her back again.”
The final bar of the bridge appears as another break with only George’s vocals leading us into the third verse, which is also identical to the rest of the verses apart from a different set of lyrics. This leads to a guitar solo played over the same verse chord pattern. This solo is not unlike the solo spot for the song “From Me To You,” in that the melody line of the solo mimics in part on the actual melody line sung during the verses, straying slightly to show his musical prowess. Another similarity is that the last four bars of the solo section actually revert back to the vocals too, once again, highlight the ‘hook-line’ title of the song.
After repeating the emotional bridge, we repeat the third verse again, but this time extending the last phrase repeatedly until the song fades. Since the last phrase happens to be the title of the song, it drives home to its listeners without a doubt what the name of the song is. George also lifts his pitch to one not heard in any other occurrence of the title phrase of the verse while, during the fade, inadvertently harmonizing with himself during the double-tracking process. Another interesting feature of the final extended verse is the syncopated accent the group performs just before each title phrase is sung. This also drives home to listeners what the name of the song is.
Musicologists have stated that the sign of a well-written lyric is a summation of the gist of the entire song in the first sentence heard. On George’s first try, he gets it right: “Since she’s been gone, I want no one to talk to me” states, in a nutshell, the song’s theme. The rest of the lyrics elaborate and add more detail without changing the story.
The lyrics tell of a lost love that has sent the singer into a depression to the point of wanting to be left alone to wallow. He’s stating for the record, as if ‘for once and for all,’ why he wants to be left alone and therefore expects everyone around him to leave him be for a while. His sorrow reaches such depths that he emphatically says he wants everyone to “stay away” until she returns. Admitting that he is “to blame” for her leaving, hinting at his cheating on her, makes it apparent that she most likely will not return. The sadness expressed in the lyrics perfectly matched by the minor key and bluesy chord pattern used in the song makes the lyrics quite convincing.
Harrison has truly added another dimension to the songwriting pallet of The Beatles, which are thus far depicting ‘happy-go-lucky’ youths with nothing but positive experiences to sing. The sorrow mentioned in “There’s A Place,” for instance, is greatly overshadowed by optimism, whereas “Misery” is definitely sung ‘tongue-in-cheek.’ “Baby It’s You,” although a cover song, convincingly depicts similar loss, the difference holds that the lover depicted in the song was the one who was the “cheat,” not the singer. Therefore, “Don’t Bother Me” shows that The Beatles themselves are capable of being ‘scoundrels’ as well, capable of doing the unthinkable wrong of cheating on someone. Since George’s lyrics show him ‘reaping what he has sown,’ their fans can at least assume that the boys have consciences.
Performance-wise, George reigns as the standout with his impressive guitar work and vocals. Harrison’s fierce guitar solo, as well as his rhythm guitar work throughout the song, displays the confidence of his first original composition. Not the Beatle with the most gifted sense of pitch, his vocal performance exudes the confidence felt from singing an original composition for the first time. This marked his first attempt at double-tracked singing, therefore, the phrasing from his second vocal strays considerably from his first but performed well enough not to detract from the song as a whole. His comical sounding “me” whenever the title of the song is sung is a result of his strong Liverpudlian accent coupled with the slight vibrato in his voice when double-tracked.
Noteworthy too is that Harrison’s voice is the only one heard on the song. Whereas harmony and/or background vocals were customary inclusions on all of The Beatles songs released thus far, this album sees them recording songs with only one vocalist, "Don't Bother Me" being the fourth one recorded for their second British album. "Till There Was You" was the first, then “Roll Over Beethoven” and “Not A Second Time.”
Ringo also stands out here, with his slightly Latin-flavored beat and enthusiastic drum fills before the breaks and throughout the song. His syncopated accents during the song’s fade set the command for the rest of the band. Paul’s ominous bass triplets are very low in the mix and hardly discernable but, notwithstanding, very impressive.
John’s rhythm guitar work, performed with a high tremolo setting on his amp, is impressive because of its intricacy, something that wouldn’t continue as The Beatles career progressed. Lennon’s disinterest in George’s original compositions would usually bring a lackluster performance out of him in the studio if he bothered to show up at all.
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