After nearly a month and a half absence from the recording studio,
The Beatles entered EMI Studio Two on September 29th, 1964 for their third
session to complete what became their "Beatles For Sale" album. Both of the songs that were written in
Atlantic City a month earlier were started on this day, namely "What
You're Doing" and "Every Little Thing." Another song they wrote during this American
tour, "I Don't Want To Spoil The Party," was completely recorded on
this day, but both of the Atlantic City songs improved with minor changes at
later dates.
"Every Little Thing" was the first song tackled on this
day, probably because they had high hopes for it being their next single. After four live "takes," the fourth
take was deemed the best and subjected to at least one overdub (double-tracking
the lead guitar) and set aside for later.
As for who played what, Paul continues his comments on the song in the
above mentioned 1964 interview:
"John does the guitar riff for this one, and George is on
acoustic." Therefore, John and
George decided to switch their usual roles for this song.
The guitar used by John appears to be a Rickenbacker 12-string as
heard many times that year played by George, although its tone sounds somewhat
different. This is probably explained by
John finally getting some use out of his 1964 Rickenbacker 325-12 that he had
in the studio from mid-1964 but sparingly if ever, used. (He reportedly sent it back because it was
"impossible to keep in tune.")
The sound of this guitar is noticeably different than George's 1963
Rickenbacker 360/12 which we've heard throughout the year, such as on "I
Should Have Known Better" and "If I Fell" among other songs.
Some interesting ingredients in this early version of "Every
Little Thing" is that John adds a good amount of extra guitar fills
in-between the vocal phrases of the verses, unlike the final version. The guitar solo, while quite similar, ends
with a different note pattern but in a similar triplet style. We can also easily detect that John and Paul
are both singing lead vocals in unison during the verses, which is harder to
distinguish in the published version.
Paul even pops into harmony sporadically on different lines during the
verses, which he added well after the next recording session. Even though double-tracking lead vocals were
becoming the norm by late 1964, unison singing by John and Paul was done many
times throughout the early Beatles career, as evidenced in "Thank You Girl,"
"She Loves You," "I'll Get You" and even "I Want To
Hold Your Hand" to name a few.
However, by the time the next day arrived, a decision was made to
start the song all over again. They
entered EMI Studio Two at 2:30 pm on September 30th, 1964, for a three-hour
recording session focused solely on re-recording "Every Little
Thing." This session was described
by Mark Lewisohn in his book "The Beatles Recording Sessions" as
"a fun recording. Take six was
aborted when Paul burped a vocal instead of singing it, take seven was complete
but ended in uproarious laughter."
Of the five new "takes" of the song recorded this day,
take nine deemed the best. These takes
all consisted of George on acoustic rhythm guitar, Ringo on drums, Paul on bass
and both John and Paul performing their vocal parts. They decided that John
would perform his lead guitar parts as an overdub, so they tapped out a
count-in at the beginning of the song with someone quietly whistling the
introductory guitar riff as a guide for John's later overdub. (The tapping and whistling still creep into
the left channel of the stereo mix.)
Overdubs proceeded to take nine.
When John added his lead guitar parts, he eliminated most of the
passages he played in the verses the day before and slightly re-worked the
guitar solo in the instrumental section.
"Ringo bashes some timpani drums for the big noises you hear,"
explains Paul in that 1964 interview.
This overdub apparently was performed simultaneously with Paul playing
low notes on the piano, as also heard during the verses. A picture of this overdub, with Ringo on
timpani and Paul on piano, appears in the above-mentioned Mark Lewisohn book,
which should debunk the myth that George Martin played the piano on this
song. Paul also overdubbed two ascending
bass lines during the instrumental section as well as some bass 'thumping'
during the conclusion of the song.
By 5:30 pm, the song was complete, which resulted in an hour break
before returning to the studio to take another stab at "What You're Doing"
and then recording "No Reply" in its entirety. Probably by the end of this session, the
decision surfaced that "Every Little Thing" didn't have what it took
to be "the great almighty single," as Paul described it. This can be said because "No Reply"
held consideration for this slot.
Both the stereo and mono mix of "Every Little Thing" was
done on October 27th, 1964 in the control room of EMI Studio Two. Producer George Martin and engineers Norman
Smith and Ken Scott performed the all-important mono mix during the morning
session on this day (from 10 am to 12:30 pm) while they quickly made the stereo
mix with three other songs in a half-hour afternoon session (from 12:30 to 1
pm). They added a spattering of reverb
to the vocals on both mixes as well as performed an appropriate fade to the
song.
The Beatles did return to "Every Little Thing" on
January 3rd, 1969 during the tense "Get Back/Let It Be" sessions,
although this was a brief recollection of the song by George Harrison during
considerations of which tracks to include in their proposed final concert
appearance. George proclaimed "I'll
tell you which is a good one" and then played the introductory guitar
riff, which impelled Paul to join in for a quick impromptu version of the
song. While this didn't appear in the
Apple rooftop show on January 30th, 1969, the above conversation and small
snippet of the song was included on the disc "Fly On The Wall" found
on the "Let It Be...Naked" album of 2003.
Song Structure and Style
Although not typically in use by The Beatles up to this point,
"Every Little Thing" brings in the use of the 'chorus.' The short verses are displayed in sets of two
before each chorus (except for the solo section), which results in a 'verse/
verse/ chorus/ verse/ verse/ chorus/ solo/ chorus' format (or aabaabab
structure). Since the solo is in the
structural and melodic form of a verse, it's referred to above as such. A fitting introduction and conclusion (with
fade-out) are included to round out the picture.
This two-measure introduction consists wholly of John's overdubbed
guitar riff. It appears that the riff
played while they performed the song in the first version they recorded on
September 29th, but since playing the lead guitar role and singing
simultaneously was problematic for John, a decision was made to overdub his
whole guitar performance afterward as an overdub. A similar solution was decided upon
two-and-a-half weeks later when he played lead guitar and sang lead vocals on
"I Feel Fine," although, in this latter instance, he performed his
vocals afterward as an overdub. In the
case of "Every Little Thing," a tapped-out beat (and a whistled
version of the riff) was put in the rhythm track to make sure John's riff
played in the proper place.
The cleverly played guitar riff, which he repeats in the solo and
conclusion of the song, mimics the first melodic vocal phrase of the first
verse. Since the phrase always begins on
the two-beat of the measure, this results in the listener being thrown somewhat
off-balance at the beginning of the song, thinking the downbeat is when the
guitar starts. It's only when the first
verse starts that we gain our bearings.
Beatle fans are used to this as well, as evidenced in the disorienting
openings to "I Want To Hold Your Hand" and "Roll Over
Beethoven," for example.
The first six-measure verse then begins, which hits home on the
downbeat with George's rhythm guitar, Paul's bass note and Ringo's bass
drum. Ringo actually stays primarily on
the bass drum during this entire verse for a nice contrast to be heard later,
this being more evidence of The Beatles (and George Martin's) strict attention
to detail. John and Paul sing the three
melodic phrases of this verse in unison throughout, although John's distinctive
voice is somewhat higher in the mix.
This is what leads many to conclude that John is the lead singer and,
therefore, the primary songwriter, although, as revealed above, this is clearly
not the case. The third melodic phrase
is quite different from the first two, as it is sung mostly in triplets and a
higher pitch as if to command attention and summarize the thoughts presented in
the first two phrases.
Another interesting feature of the verse is the appearance of the
low bass notes of the piano in the fifth and sixth measure, which was
overdubbed by Paul. This compensates for
the absence of John's guitar phrases that appeared in the version recorded the
day before and adds a nice touch of finesse to the proceedings.
The second six-measure verse follows immediately and is structurally
identical except for one addition. Ringo
adds his snare drum beat in alternation with his bass drum beat, but no cymbals
enter at this time. At the end of the
sixth measure, though, Ringo plays a simple drum fill to introduce the true
focal point of the song, which is the chorus.
The chorus is a symmetrical eight measures long but has its share
of eccentricities. For instance, the
sustaining of the G chord in the 2nd, 3rd, 6th, and 7th measure, with its
doom-like timpani and piano bass notes, make it a miss-match with the typical
'isn't it great to be in love' lyrics that the song contains. Just considering the unorthodox switching
back and forth between A and G in this chorus makes it quite unusual. This is hardly the easy-go-lucky chorus we'll
hear a few years later in "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da"!
Nonetheless, the chorus is quite effective and stands out as the
primary focal point of the song. There
are many changes in the arrangement here as well, such as the reappearance of
John's Rickenbacker 12-string overdub, which plays subtle accents that
culminate in him playing along with the vocals at the end of each phrase (on
the words "me, yeah" and "me, oooh"). The drums kick in with a full rock beat for
the first time, together with Ringo's trademark sizzling hi-hats.
Another arrangement difference in the chorus is Paul slipping into
a higher vocal part which, in some people's opinions, depict the actual
melody. This argument is particularly
valid in this case since McCartney is the song's primary composer and his
higher vocal melody in the chorus is closer to the range of the verses than
John's lower part. Therefore, this may
be the exceptional case where Lennon is actually singing a lower harmony to the
higher melody, as also heard in "I Saw Her Standing There," for
example.
The mood abruptly changes when the second set of verses begins,
taking us back to the exact subdued arrangement heard at the beginning of the
song. Ringo drops back to just playing
on his bass drum while George's acoustic guitar dominates. John and Paul also go back to singing in
unison throughout both verses while Ringo adds his snare again in the second
verse of this set. At the end of the
repeat of the chorus that follows, we hear the first ascending bass line that
Paul overdubbed which introduces the solo section of the song.
This solo is six measures in length and is identical in chord
structure to a single verse, although one distinctive difference is that Ringo
maintains his full rock beat as if the solo were just an extension of the
chorus. After John repeats the guitar
lick we heard in the introduction, Paul plays the ascending bass line one final
time. John's lead guitar work follows
closely to the vocal melody lines of the verses, right down to the triplet
phrases of the third line (although the notes played are different).
This transcends immediately into an identical third appearance of
the chorus, after which we change moods again for the final touch of the
song. This conclusion, being of no
determined length because of it fading out, consists of John continuously
repeating the overdubbed guitar riff along with John and Paul harmonizing the
title of the song in the gaps with a melody line not heard before. Ringo is reduced to just the bass drum again
while Paul thumps out an overdubbed bass pattern to add a distinctive
element. Possibly as a fortunate
accident, John miss-hits the final note on the third repeat of the guitar
riff. By the time the seventh measure of
this conclusion arrives, the song has successfully faded out, leaving us with a
memorable closing gesture ringing in our ears.
Paul proves himself to be quite busy in this song; his bass work
sounds intricate where necessary and high enough in the mix to be noticed. In fact, his periodic bass overdubs mark the
first time we actually hear two bass parts played simultaneously in a Beatles
song, which is something that becomes more common in later years. While his bass notes on the piano lack the
caliber of Liberace, they are just what's needed to create the desired
effect. And, needless to say, his vocal
work is spot on pitch.
John's role as lead guitarist, using his custom Rickenbacker
12-string for the only time on a Beatles song nonetheless, is a role he happily
jumped into whenever he felt confident enough.
While he displays his lead guitar chops better elsewhere (on "You
Can't Do That" and "Long Tall Sally" for instance), he admirably
does the job. His vocal work is also
commended, especially his lower harmonies in the chorus.
George's acoustic rhythm guitar role shines well; this element
heightens the distinctive feature of the verses. Ringo, as usual, can always be counted on to
comply with suggestions made to spice up the arrangement, as evidenced by his
eliminating certain components of his drum kit during the verses and conclusion
as well as pounding on a timpani when asked.
The lyrics to "Every Little Thing" can be described as
'politically incorrect' by some, evidenced by the thought that all of the
woman's actions are meant to please the man with no mention of the man's
intention of returning the favors. While
this depiction dominates in the main phrase of the song, namely "every
little thing she does, she does for me," the rest of the lyrics don't
tread on that same ground. Instead, the
lyrics as a whole mostly reveal the standard ingredients of a romantic pop song
of the time. The singer is just a
"lucky guy" to be "walking beside her." The lyrics may be somewhat pedestrian in
comparison to recent Lennon/McCartney offerings, such as "I'm A
Loser" and "Baby's In Black," but the emotional impact of the
song come across as sincere.
The words do seem to wander a little, especially with the line the
starts "I remember the first time..."
You would assume the next phrase would continue the thought with
"...we kissed" or "...we met." Instead, McCartney goes in another direction
with "...I was lonely without her."
Then, instead of elaborating on this new thought, he regresses to his
previous one with the line "can't stop thinking about her now." While this is a curious diversion, I guess we
have to chalk this up to being just a 'pop song' anyway.
Next Song – I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party:
It was already the end of September 1964 and, with a new album and
single due out at the end of the year, they had only attempted to record four
songs thus far. They knew they needed to hustle. After their North American
Tour ended, they entered EMI Studio Two on September 29th to start recording
the few songs they had written in between performances. The three newly written
songs were “Every Little Thing” and “What You’re Doing,” which were primarily
McCartney songs, and “I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party,” which was mostly
written by Lennon.
This session ran from 2:30 to 10:45 pm, with one half hour break.
“Every Little Thing” was first on the agenda (though not finished) and at about
4:30 they started work on John’s song. The next two hours resulted in seven
recorded takes of the song with everyone playing their usual instruments live
with vocals. John sings the higher lead by himself in the verses with Paul
joining in on higher harmony in the bridges, Paul and George also singing
harmony “oohs” in the ninth through twelfth measures of the verses. They
apparently weren’t too familiar with the song as a group because most of these
takes didn’t make it through to the end. At 6:30, they decided to take their
break.
At 7:00, they got back to work on the song. It took twelve more
attempts (takes 8 through 19) to get it down to everyone’s satisfaction. In fact,
only five out of the nineteen takes were complete. Take 19 was the
"keeper," which did include a small flub in Lennon’s vocals during
the last verse. Just before he sings the last line, “I think I’ll take a walk
and look for her,” he started with “if I…” He may have confused the last line
of this verse with the last line of the first verse, which starts “if she turns
up while I’m gone…” Being that the lead vocals were recorded simultaneously
with the rhythm track, it may have been troublesome to edit this out without
disrupting some of the other instruments.
Two overdubs were needed afterward, John singing a lower harmony
in the verses and Ringo playing the tambourine during the bridges. By
approximately 9 pm, the song was complete, thereby leaving the next hour and
forty-five minutes to start their third song “What You’re Doing,” which also
needed a lot more work at a later time. With “I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party”
complete, they were only one song closer to fulfilling the sixteen-song
requirement by the end of the year, but at least they got the ball rolling.
The Beatles got busy on the road again in October of that year
performing their current British tour, but took a breather on October 26th to
attend a mixing session (most likely the first one they ever attended) as well
as the final recording session for their album. The first mono mix performed on
this day in the control room of Studio Two was “I Don’t Want To Spoil The
Party.” The EMI staff on this session were producer George Martin and engineers
Norman Smith and Tony Clark.
The stereo mix of the song was performed on November 4th, also in
the control room of Studio Two, by Martin, Smith and 2nd engineer Mike Stone.
Performing ten stereo mixes for the album in three hours is more evidence that
Mr. Martin placed much more emphasis on mono mixes at that time. The stereo mix
brings George’s guitar work up quite a bit louder, especially noticeable in the
introduction.
Song Structure and Style
Once again, Lennon and McCartney stay with their usual ‘verse/
verse/ bridge/ verse’ format (or aaba) with an instrumental section and repeat
of the bridge and final verse thrown in to round out the picture. Repeating the
first verse also got to be commonplace, as seen in this song. “We’d write a
couple of verses, middle…then pretty much repeat verse one,” McCartney
explained about their songwriting collaborations. “It meant that you’ve heard
those lyrics twice, so we’d rammed ‘em home, and it saved us having to think of
a third verse.” In addition, on “I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party,” as well as
many others (such as “Eight Days A Week” and “Ticket To Ride”), they decided to
go back to the second verse to end the song after the repeated bridge.
A four-measure introduction starts off the song, featuring only
John’s acoustic guitar and George’s lead guitar phrases for the first three
measures. After that, Paul and Ringo kick in on the fourth measure to solidify
G as the key of the song. The first sixteen-measure verse then begins with John
harmonizing with himself on the title of the song, which only appears twice,
once now and once when this verse is repeated. The actual melody line is the
higher of the two while the harmony, uncharacteristically, is the lower sung
melody in the first, second, and fourth phase of the verse.
The third of the four phrases of the verse consists of a solo lead
vocal from John with two-part background harmony from Paul and George. Subtle
lead guitar phrases appear in open spaces of the verse, ending with what sounds
like an awkward miss-hit note in the last measure, probably left in because it
couldn’t be fully isolated from the existing rhythm track.
After an identically structured second verse, the twelve-measure
bridge enters. The Beatles here repeat their new and unusual practice of making
the bridge the emotional highlight of the song. As also heard on “No Reply”
from this same British album, this bridge contains not only the highest note of
the song (the high harmony on “tonight she’s made me sad ”) but the unique
melodic peak of the entire song.
The rhythm of the melody line is also a nice change of pace from
the verses, which feature John singing lead and Paul singing his usual higher
harmony. The drawn-out second and fourth phrases, on the lyrics “I still love
her,” could have been rushed through to fit the expected eight measures of the
bridge, but their insistence on highlighting these notes (and extending the
measures as a result) depict well the dejected emotional state of the singer.
This Lennon trademark of extending measures and time signatures as heard
throughout his career shows that he wants his songs to feel right as opposed to
following the rules.
Another interesting feature of the bridge is on the percussive
end. Ringo’s overdubbed tambourine is only heard during the bridges and adds
the drive to this section, especially since his drumming moves away from his
hi-hat to focus on the toms only during the “I still love her” phrases of the
bridge. This is a creative touch to the arrangement that also makes the bridge
the focal point of the song.
After a repeat of the first verse (and the second and final time
we hear the song’s title), we jump headlong into a well-rehearsed and
near-perfectly performed guitar solo from George. Before we do, though, we hear
Paul give an excited but inappropriate “whoo” to spur him on, inappropriate
because of the downbeat subject matter Lennon expresses. The solo sounds
upbeat, but the lyrics aren’t. This may be a mismatch, but I enjoy the solo so
much that I wouldn’t want the song to be any other way.
After an identical repeat of the bridge and second verse, we move
into the four-measure conclusion, which is basically a carbon copy of the
introduction except for the inclusion of the drums and bass, as well as the sudden
last chord on the one-beat of the fourth measure. The lead guitar phrases and
chord pattern heard during the introduction and conclusion aren’t heard
anywhere else in the song, which creates an interesting ‘bookend’ effect. We
see this device pop up sporadically in The Beatles catalog, such as on “Eight
Days A Week” and “You Like Me Too Much.”
Once again, Lennon’s singer-songwriter phase is in full swing,
with his acoustic guitar in the forefront and George’s lead guitar playing
added flavor to the arrangement. While the instrumentation points to the folk
or country and western genre, the chord pattern and melody lines strictly
resemble pop music of the day.
John’s vocal delivery fits the mood of the song convincingly,
while his rhythm guitar work acts as the true anchor of the song. Paul’s high
register harmonies in the bridge bring the track to an excitable pitch and his
bass work, while somewhat low in the mix, appropriately mimics the C&W feel
of the song. George’s Carl Perkins-style guitar phases and leads show an
impressive degree of finesse while Ringo displays his usual expertise at
supplying what the track needs, and even more so given his love for country
music.
The downbeat lyrics, as commonly heard in Lennon dominated songs
of 1964, give an early glimpse of the insecurities he revealed in 1965’s
“Help!” These lyrics are vague enough to fit many different scenarios. For
instance, does John view his girl not showing up at the party as a betrayal? Or
did he actually have a relationship with this girl at all, just wanting to meet
up with someone that he had a crush on? This ambiguity leaves it to the
listener to decipher, which in turn in an attractive attribute of the song.
Since Lennon describes the song as “very personal,” it is very
likely that this was an actual experience, although he never elaborated and
neither has McCartney. What we do know is that the only reason he went to this
party in the first place was to meet up with someone. He is concerned about
spoiling everyone else’s fun, though, with his disappointed appearance, so he
is confiding in a friend about his feelings and telling him he’s going to be
leaving. “If she turns up while I’m gone, please let me know,” he instructs,
although he emphatically states “I still love her” despite her non-appearance.
Even though he claims that after having “a drink or two” he doesn’t care, it’s
obvious that he does, as he exclaims, “I wonder what went wrong?”
The story hangs in the air unresolved since we never know if he
meets up with her. The last thing we know is that he’s going to “take a walk
and look for her.” While this is lyrically an odd way to end a pop song, it was
probably quite true to John’s personality when he was disappointed. As he sings
in the second verse, “I don’t care.”
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On October 18th, 1964, The Beatles met in EMI Studio Two for a
marathon recording session to knock out as many songs as possible for their
next album and single. Within nine hours (from 2:30 to 11:30 pm) they brought a
total of eight songs to completion. They then got up early the next morning to
travel to Edinburgh to begin three consecutive performance days in Scotland.
In the final half hour of this recording day they recorded the
last of these eight songs, Buddy Holly's "Words Of Love." Although
they were no doubt tired by this time, you can't tell by the results. They
recorded the song live, vocals and all, in two takes. "Take two" was
the keeper and onto this they decided to add some overdubs to sweeten it up,
this making the result "take three."
The overdubs included double-tracking their vocals,
double-tracking George's 12-string guitar work to create a rich chiming guitar
sound, and Ringo performing an unusual percussion overdub. As attested to in
Derek Taylor's liner notes for the "Beatles For Sale" album,
"Ringo plays a packing case." Upon listening, this odd percussive
sound is unidentifiable but resembles more than just thumps on a suitcase.
Musicologist Ian MacDonald, in his authoritative book "Revolution In The
Head," adds a satisfying explanation: "Ringo slaps a packing case
with a loose fastening, a noise resembling out-of-time clapping." This
overdub was probably performed as a tribute to Buddy Holly's use of a similar
effect in his classic song "Everyday."
Another matter that needs to be examined is the identity of the
vocalists on the track. As one of the twelve Buddy Holly songs The Beatles
performed in their formative years, "Words Of Love" was originally
sung on stage by Lennon and Harrison. Most sources, including the liner notes
of the "Beatles For Sale" album, suggest that McCartney nudged George
out and sang the song with John for the recording session. The keen ears of Ian
MacDonald (in his above-mentioned book) still hear Harrison's voice.
Beatlemaniacs need to know!
The answer can apparently be cleared up by an eyewitness to the
day's events. Geoff Emerick was the 2nd engineer on that October session and in
his book "Here, There and Everywhere," he gives this account of the
recording of the song: "They were clearly flagging by the time they got
around to it, yet John, Paul and George sang beautiful three-part harmony,
gathered around a single mic. Their vocals really imbued the track with warmth
and love. It was a fitting tribute to one of the group's musical idols and the
perfect way to end the evening, just short of midnight."
The mono mix of the song was performed on October 26th, 1964 in
the control room of EMI Studio Two by producer George Martin and engineers
Norman Smith and Tony Clark with The Beatles in attendance. George's lead
guitar was quite loud in the mix during the instrumental passages of the song
and turned down slightly when the vocals kick in when they needed to be
highlighted.
November 4th, 1964 was the date the stereo mix was made in the
control room of EMI Studio Two by George Martin, Norman Smith and 2nd engineer
Mike Stone, but without The Beatles being there. Ringo's squeaky drum pedal can
be heard pretty well in the left channel of this mix, while the fade out comes
a full nine seconds earlier than on the mono mix
The Beatles touched on "Words Of Love" once more on
January 23rd, 1969 at Apple Studios in London during their rehearsals for what
eventually became the "Let It Be" album and film. This rendition,
which occurred directly after they rehearsed the song "Get Back" a
total of 43 times, was never officially released to the public.
Song Structure and Style
The Beatles kept the arrangement and elements, such as vocal
harmonies and guitar licks, almost identical to the original Buddy Holly
version. The difference would be them dropping the Latin sounding drum rolls of
the original, replacing it with a standard 4/4 rock beat from Ringo heard
buried in the mix. The structure is also very simple, only consisting in verses
with some of them played instrumentally. No bridges or choruses are present,
the only emphasis being the characteristic vocal harmonies and distinctive
guitar passages.
The first thing we actually hear on the song is the up-beat stroke
of Lennon's Rickenbacker just before the one-beat of the first measure. We are
then taken directly into the first eight-measure verse, which is fully
instrumental featuring George's fluid lead guitar work. The seventh and eighth
measures consist of a full band "break" with only George's lead
guitar ringing through.
Both the second and third verses are vocal with double-tracked
harmonies providing a rich distinctive tone. Like the original, The Beatles
extend the last word of each phrase, as in "tell me how you feeeellllla,
tell me love is reeeeealllla." The last two measures of each verse consist
of harmonized hums as the band continues to go through the three-chord changes,
unlike the break in the instrumental section before it.
The hums quickly dissolve as the next of two instrumental verses
appear. The guitar phrases in this verse consist of ascending and descending
triads played mostly on the quarter notes but end with the distinctive riff as
heard in the final measures of the first verse as the band cuts out once again.
The next instrumental verse features George playing the rhythm part that he
usually plays during the vocal verses but, since its melodic anyway, sounds as
if it's a lead guitar part. This verse also features a band 'break' in measures
seven and eight to feature the primary guitar phrase as heard at the end of
each instrumental verse.
Two more eight-measure vocal verses are then heard (which would be
verses six and seven), the second of which is a repeat of the second vocal verse
(or third actual verse of the song). The only difference here is the repeat of
the hums at the end of the last verse, which extend to eighteen measures in the
mono mix (fourteen measures in the stereo mix). Adding to the effect of the
fade-out is how the harmonized hums gradually turn into wider-mouthed
"aahs" as it goes off into the sunset.
Performance wise, George Harrison turns out to be the focal point
of the song, with his perfectly-executed well-rehearsed guitar work in tribute
to his hero. Even after eight-and-a-half hours or so of recording that day,
this song was so ingrained in his memory from five full years of performing the
song with The Beatles that he could nail it without even thinking about it. His
harmonized vocals, probably performed while playing, are also spot-on.
John Lennon, though, is the most prominent vocalist on the track,
his characteristic voice holding down the low notes throughout. His rhythm
guitar part is nicely handled as well, wisely choosing electric instead of
acoustic as heard mostly on this British album. Paul puts in his usual great
job with harmonies along with some nice bass guitar runs, which were easy to
adlib within the song's three-chord range. Ringo gets off easy as a drummer on
the track, having only to keep a steady 4/4 beat and 'break' at the right time
with only slight drum fills to bring the next verse in afterward. And, of
course, his cooperation to play the "packing case" adds a unique
sound to the track.
While the lyrics don't convey much of a story, it consists
primarily of words of endearment to encourage reassurance of the girl's love
for the singer. Lines like "Let me hear you say the words I long to
heeearrrrra" and "tell me how you feeelllla, tell me love is
reeeealllla" subtly depict the insecurities that someone in love feels.
While the song is celebrating the innocence of new romance, we all can relate
to the need to hear that our partner feels the same way that we do, especially
when it's whispered "soft and truuuuea."
Next Song – Honey Don’t:
After their marathon recording session on October 18th, 1964, the
Beatles had almost completed the required fourteen tracks for their next album,
not to mention the two songs needed for their next single. All they seemed to
need was one further session for further work on the Lennon/McCartney
composition "What You're Doing."
The only problem was that Ringo still hadn't done a vocal
performance for the album. John and Paul had written "I Don't Want To
Spoil The Party" for Ringo, but a decision was made at some point that
they would sing it themselves, which ended up being a smart choice. So after
they returned from their brief tour of Scotland, as well as a few more local
shows, they returned to EMI Studio Two on October 26th, 1964 to remake
"What You're Doing" and record a second Carl Perkins song for the
album especially for Ringo, "Honey Don't." Therefore, the extra track
recorded during these sessions, "Leave My Kitten Alone," was left
unreleased until the 1995 "Anthology 1" album.
The Beatles were present in the studio on the morning to observe
George Martin and staff perform some mono and stereo mixes for the album, but
returned at 4:30 pm for a two-hour session solely devoted to recording
"Honey Don't." They perfected the song in five takes with everyone playing
their instruments live with Ringo's vocals, 'take five' being deemed best. An
early take reveals that John played electric rhythm guitar on the song at first
but then switched to acoustic by the time 'take five' was recorded, which
became the released version. After this, Ringo overdubbed a tambourine
throughout the entire song. By 6:30 the song was complete, shortly afterwards
recording their remake of "What You're Doing" as well as their 1964
Christmas Record.
Since the album was due out very soon, George Martin and engineers
Norman Smith and Ken Scott created both the mono and stereo mix of the song the
next day, October 27th, in the control room of Studio Two. The mixes show
little variation except for the stereo mix having a bit more treble on George
Harrison's guitar and a little more volume on the tambourine overdub.
To be complete, it should also be mentioned that both John Lennon
and Paul McCartney had recorded versions of "Honey Don't" during
sessions for solo albums. Lennon included the song as part of a medley during
the sessions for his famous "Plastic Ono Band" album of 1970 as well
as ran through a version of it during the sessions of "Some Time In New
York City" in 1972. McCartney also jammed a version of the song in the
studio with Carl Perkins in February of 1981 during the sessions that resulted
in their duet "Get It" on Paul's "Tug Of War" album of
1982. None of these sessions were ever officially released.
Song Structure and Style
While a lot of the songs in Carl Perkins' catalog stayed within
the confines of 12-bar blues for their format, "Honey Don't" strays
somewhat. While using twelve measures most of the time, it utilizes a chorus
instead of straight verses as many of his other classics do, such as "Blue
Suede Shoes" and "Matchbox." The structure ends up being 'verse/
chorus/ verse/ chorus/ solo/ chorus (instrumental)/ verse/ chorus/ solo/
chorus' (or ababcdabcb). Unlike most of the cover songs The Beatles officially
recorded, the structure of this one stays basically the same as the original,
right down to the key.
George Harrison starts off with a note-perfect mimic of Carl's
three-measure guitar riff which segues nicely into the remaining two measures
of the five-bar introduction where the full band kicks in. The first
twelve-measure verse consists primarily of four 'breaks' on measures one,
three, five and seven with only Ringo's vocals and tambourine keeping the beat
going. The relaxed rockabilly swing is comfortably maintained throughout
despite the absence of the rest of the instrumentation. It's not until the
ninth measure that the full band kicks into gear as Ringo sings "ah,
ah."
One confusing side-note needs to be explained in order to keep the
measure count symmetrical. The first time we hear the words "Honey
don't" we are actually still in the verse. The second time we hear the
title of the song is the signal that the chorus has started. While this may be
confusing to some, especially musicians learning the song, this was how Carl
Perkins kept to the twelve-measure regimen for both the verse and the chorus.
This confusion was even evident when George Harrison joined John Fogerty and
friends on stage in a Hollywood club in 1987 as they went through an impromptu
version of the song.
The twelve-measure chorus is heard next which mostly comprises
Ringo's repeating the title of the song four times (his voice cracking on the
fourth) before he climaxes with the phrase "I say you will when you won't,
ah ah, honey don't." We then see an exact structural repeat of the verse
and chorus, which this time conclude with Ringo's famous encouragement
"Ah, rock on, George, one time for me" as a perfect segue into the
first solo.
George Harrison takes the lead in this eight-measure solo which
primarily follows the chord pattern of the verse except that it dives right
back into the home key four measures earlier. This solo ends with Ringo
blurting out the title of their recently recorded song "I Feel Fine,"
which was to be their next single. This moves into what is actually another
chorus but without any vocals, the highlight being the rockabilly guitar rhythm
of George Harrison and Ringo's ad lib vocal accents "mmm-mm" and a
practice of his later heard "I said."
After a third structurally identical verse and chorus, Ringo
introduces another solo with the phrase "ah, rock on, George, for Ringo
one time." Strangely enough, as this moves into a final chorus, an
awkwardness appears as it did in the Perkins original version. While Carl ends
up inadvertently adding a couple beats to a measure, Ringo almost missed coming
in where he should have, resulting in a rushed sounding "well, honey
don't," as if someone nodded to him that he missed his cue.
This final chorus also acts as a conclusion to the song, as a
final guitar flourish from Harrison puts the song to a halt on the final beat
of the final measure.
While the purpose of the song was to highlight Ringo's vocal
abilities, George Harrison appears as the true focal point. Having been raised
on Carl Perkins, he has his country-flavored guitar picking down to a tee. This
is not to detract from Ringo's vocal work, as his single-tracked performance
comes across playful and charming, not to mention on-pitch most of the time.
While his drumming is felt more than heard, his overdubbed tambourine keeps the
jangly rhythm section in full swing.
Also noteworthy is McCartney's walking bass which is very suitable
to this genre of music. Lennon also puts in a nice performance, choosing his
acoustic guitar as rhythm instead of his clanging electric guitar as heard in
the early BBC recordings. The acoustic/electric guitar contrast heard in this
EMI recording, as well as on many other songs on this album, creates a warmth
that makes the song palatable to the ears.
Carl Perkins' lyrics are usually less serious than just plain fun,
even when they depict depressing subjects, such as with "Matchbox."
On "Honey Don't," even though the singer wonders "is love
real" between himself and his "honey," he doesn't hesitate to
compliment her with such flattering words such as, "I like the way that
you wear your clothes." Even though she's "so dog-gone sweet,"
she's always "out painting the town" and "steppin' around."
But, with such an infectious beat, the overall attitude appears to be, "oh
well, whataya gonna do?"
The only curious line in the song is "you got that sand all
over your feet." Since the subject matter of the flip-side to this disc,
"Blue Suede Shoes," was concerning a woman accidentally stepping on
her dance partner's expensive shoes, could Carl have meant the sand that was
put on dance floors back in the 50's? That's my guess.
Please feel free to leave any comments or corrections and share
these articles plus this blog's website with your friends, especially Beatles’
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for full details.
Since "crunch time" hit the fan big time in getting
their fourth British album released before the end of 1964, The Beatles agreed
to a marathon recording session at EMI Studio Two on Sunday, October 18th
in-between their hectic touring schedule. This nine-hour session ran from 2:30
to 11:30 pm, which resulted in no less than eight finished songs. The first
hour was taken up recording edit pieces to the previously recorded "Eight
Days A Week." Then came some quick rehearsals for the next thing on their
agenda, which was recording their version of the Little Richard medley of
"Kansas City" and "Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey."
In a 2018 interview he gave on a Marc Maron podcast, Paul explains
his love of singing Little Richard-style and the rehearsals of this day:
"The little screamy voice, that's something I just loved. I loved his
records, you know, and I wanted to do that. So that gave me a, sort of, feature
thing within The Beatles, 'cause John couldn't do that. And I remember him
saying to me, 'How do you do that, how do you do that?' I said, 'I don't know.
I feel like it just comes out of the top of my head.' And he was like, 'Oh,
wow!' And then we had a session once where we were, the early days, and I'm
about to do 'Kansas City,' so I'm on the mic...and I'm going 'Ka...Kansas City,
cough...,' and I'm not making it, I'm not getting it at all. So John comes down
and he says, 'Remember, it comes out of the top of your head!' I said, okay,
"KANSAS CITY...' And that's the take you hear."
Geoff Emerick, the 2nd engineer on this day, relates in his book
"Here, There and Everywhere" his recollections of this session:
"Everyone's attention then turned to the first full song of the day, a cover
medley of "Kansas City" and "Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey." From the way
Paul was singing - nearly ripping his vocal cords apart - I was surprised that
they had decided to do this song first, but after years of performing onstage,
his voice was strong and could take the abuse. Notably, all the other Beatles -
even Ringo, who hardly ever sang backing vocals - joined in on the chorus,
doing the "hey hey hey" answering part. This medley was an
established part of their live show at that point, and they really cut loose on
it, playing with a confidence and a sheer, innocent joy that was positively
infectious. I knew from that minute onward that it was going to be a great
session. It was simply incredible to hear that much energy coming from the
group so early in the day...They were locked in, right from the start, and that
track is the definitive proof of what a great live band The Beatles were when
they were in their prime."
All four Beatles played this live, including all vocals, in two
complete takes. The first take was determined to be the better one, therefore a
couple overdubs were recorded onto this take. George Martin added a piano part
throughout the song, although it ended up being quite low in the mix. The
Beatles then added handclaps to the closing measures of the song, beginning
with the "bye-bye, baby, bye-bye" section. The whole song was
probably completed within a half hour, from approximately 3:30 to 4:00 pm.
Both the mono and stereo mixes of the song were done on October
26th, 1964 in the control room of EMI Studio Two by George Martin and engineers
Norman Smith and Tony Clark. A decision was made at this stage to fade out the
song just before The Beatles performed their usual trademark ending. The mono
mix fades out slightly earlier than the stereo mix.
On January 26th, 1969, The Beatles hit upon the song once more
during the recording of the "Get Back / Let It Be" sessions at Apple
Studios. This time they opted for the Wilbert Harrison instead of the Little
Richard version, even singing about the "crazy little women." After a
couple verses, they immediately made it into a medley with two other Little
Richard songs, "Miss Ann" and "Lawdy Miss Clawdy."
Paul McCartney took it to the recording studio himself on July
20th, 1987 for his Russian album entitled "CHOBa B CCCP." This
version combines both the Wilbert Harrison version ("crazy little
women") and the Little Richard version ("hey-hey-hey-hey").
A recording of Paul and his band playing "Kansas City"
live was made on May 31st, 1993 in Kansas City. This recording was then
included on his live album "Paul Is Live," which was released later
that year.
Although some sources claim that this medley was among the many
songs The Beatles recorded with Tony Sheridan in Hamburg in 1961 or 1962,
listening to the existing recording suggest otherwise. The saxophone and organ
arrangement, along with the guitar work that is very uncharacteristic of either
George or John, is evidence that a different backing band was utilized for this
rendition.
Song Structure and Style
Here we finally have, in its purest form, a Beatles song in a
straight 12-bar blues pattern without any deviances whatsoever. Apart from a
four-measure introduction, every section consists of twelve measures and
follows a natural blues chord progression. Since these are actually two songs
melded together, the "Kansas City" part consists of three verses, the
last of the three taking the form of a guitar solo. The
"Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!" part consists of four straight verses, the last
one fading out during the ninth measure. Together it simply becomes 'verse/
verse/ verse (solo)/ verse/ verse/ verse/ verse' (or aaaaaaa). What's simpler
than that?
Although the song pattern, lyrics and even the key come directly
from the 1959 Little Richard rendition, The Beatles do deviate from his
arrangement in many places as we will see. The staccato four-measure
introduction comes straight off of the Richard arrangement, but when the blues
'groove' begins with the first verse, Paul sings Richard's second verse first,
which ends with the line "it's a long, long time since my baby's been
gone." The Beatles also include a transitional chord in the twelfth
measure that Richard didn't include, which works well to introduce the next
verse.
The second verse is, therefore, Richard's first verse, which
includes the nonsense lyrics "one, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
eight, nine." Then, instead of going directly into the
"Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!" section of the song as Richard does, The Beatles
feel that the solo section works better here. George Harrison performs an
inventive ad-libbed guitar solo over the same verse chord pattern. One reason
that this first take was used instead of the second was because George's solo
was less inspired and fell apart toward the end, leading Paul to throw in some
off-the-cuff vocal embellishments to try to cover it up. This wasn't needed the
first time around, since the solo worked perfectly.
The twelfth measure of the solo consists of the trademark 'Beatles
break' (which also happened to be on the Little Richard version), which allows
for Paul's introduction of the "Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!" section of the
song. The band kicks in for the fourth verse with John, George and Ringo
answering Paul's yelps in unison just as The Chimes did on the Richard
recording. While Richard put the instrumental (saxophone) section in-between
two verses of "hey-hey-hey-hey," The Beatles put both of them
together for good effect.
This is then followed by the sixth and seventh verse which focus
on the lyrics "bye-bye, baby, bye," which come from Richard's
"Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey" as well as his original version of "Kansas
City" that was recorded in 1955. The Beatles really 'bring it home' by
adding harmonized answer vocals from John and George that are absent from the
original Richard recording. And with the appearance of handclaps and piano
accents for the remainder of the song, it fades with the general feeling that
we've just experienced The Beatles at their best!
The Beatles had the incredible experience of being, by manager
Brian Epstein's doing, the support act of Little Richard at a couple local
British shows in October of 1962, not to mention during their Hamburg stay in
November of that year. McCartney took advantage of this opportunity by not only
meeting his hero but having Richard teach him the secret of his scream. The
evidence of this is heard, and felt, on this recording of "Kansas
City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!" Coupling this with his walking blues bass lines,
Paul is without a doubt the showcase player on this cover song.
George Harrison, as mentioned above, shows his guitar prowess by
concocting a more-than-suitable ad-libbed guitar solo, as well as displaying
his usual rhythm guitar flare throughout. George and John both play backing
vocalist with spot-on accuracy with the nasal overtones of Lennon's voice
dominating the "bye-bye" portion of the recording. Lennon's
Rickenbacker rhythm work, coupled with Ringo's driving swing beat, propels the
song convincingly. And they all clapped well too.
Also worthy of mention is George Martin's piano work, which shows
his ability to transcend his classical upbringing to 'rock with the best of
them.' His fast-moving chorded triplets add a fullness to the proceedings, even
though their appearance is more subtle than dominant in the mix.
If one is to pay attention to the lyrics, we'll see that Little
Richard's adaptation of the original Leiber and Stoller song changes the story
from "going to Kansas City" to get some of the "crazy way of
loving" for themselves (or "crazy little women") to getting his
"baby back home." Richard says that it's been "a long, long time
since my baby's been gone" and he asks her, "what's been wrong with
you?" This is a far cry from the original sentiment of the song, which was
to be "standing on the corner...with his Kansas City baby and a bottle of
Kansas City wine." But with Richard lyrics that include counting from one
to nine, I guess we're really not supposed to be paying attention to lyrics
anyway.
Next Song – Eight Days A Week:
The Beatles entered EMI Studio Two on October 6th, 1964, the fifth
session for their British album "Beatles For Sale," at 3:00 pm. Their
only order of business this day was to record their recently written
composition "Eight Days A Week." The only problem was that they were
very unsure about the arrangement they would use. They took the seven-hour
recording session on that day (with one 15-minute break) to experiment with the
arrangement as they went along, something they would do with increasing
regularity as their career progressed.
It took the first six takes to come up with a suitable
introduction for the song. "Take one" started off with just John on
acoustic guitar, "take two" comprised John and Paul performing
harmonized "oohs" before the guitar came in, "take three"
(as heard on "Anthology 1") combines both these ideas simultaneously
and "take four" shows both John and Paul singing one note on the same
pitch as the acoustic guitar changes chords. "Take five," as also
heard on "Anthology 1," not only has them keeping the same pitch at
the beginning but also at the end of the song.
"Take six" ended up being the keeper, which ditched the
"oohs" in the introduction altogether. They instead began the song
instrumentally with George Harrison's electric guitar in the forefront,
although it came across a little ragged. The close of the song was also
somewhat abrupt, but they went with it for the time being. Takes seven through
thirteen concentrated on multiple overdubs, such as double-tracking John's lead
vocals and adding the distinctive handclaps heard throughout the song. At 6:45
pm, the session was complete, but more thought ensued about the song's
arrangement within the next twelve days.
An interesting side-note concerning this session was that John
could be heard practicing the beginnings of a new song he was writing called
"I Feel Fine," which wasn't officially brought into the studio until
a later recording session held on October 18th. While The Beatles felt that
"Eight Days A Week" would undoubtedly be the next single, this would
all change when they heard the final version of "I Feel Fine" a
couple of weeks later.
On October 18th, a marathon recording session was scheduled to
knock out a bunch of songs for the soon-to-be-released album. "The first
order of business," as explained by 2nd engineer Geoff Emerick in his book
"Here, There And Everywhere," "was to do some repair work
on...'Eight Days A Week.' As everyone settled in chairs and gathered around the
console, I threaded up Norman (Smith)'s rough mix and the playback
commenced...As we listened intently, everyone's head was nodding in time, Ringo
exuberantly tapping out the beat on his knees. As the last note died out, we
all excitedly agreed that the high-energy performance captured on tape was a
definite "keeper." The only problems were with the ragged beginning
and overly abrupt ending, and an intense discussion ensued about how to best
fix them."
"Paul announced that he and John had come up with an idea for
an alternate beginning," Emerick continues, "doing an a cappella
(unaccompanied) vocal, and George Martin, who had learned by now never to
dismiss any of their ideas out of hand, said, 'Fine, let's have a go.' With
that, they trundled off down to the studio...Norman had to spend some time
matching sounds so that the edits would be undetectable...Paul, John and George
Harrison gathered around a single (microphone) and began singing 'oohs' in
unison (take 14). It was interesting, but was quickly deemed too weak of a
beginning for a song that was so dynamic."
"Rather than waste more time," continues Emerick,
"George Martin decided to move things along by having The Beatles work on
the (conclusion) instead. The idea they had worked out for that part was much
more powerful, with Lennon and Harrison stabbing out ringing chords on their
guitars, accompanied by Paul tapping out a staccato bass line on his trusty
Hofner (take 15). The problem of what to do about the ragged intro still
remained, however, and as they were pondering what to do about it, Norman came
up with the brilliant suggestion of simply fading in the song, instead of
having everything come crashing in at full volume."
With the discussions about the song's introduction and conclusion,
the matching of sounds by engineer Norman Smith, and the actual recording of
the edit pieces, the entire first hour of this session (from 2:30 to 3:30 pm)
was taken up with putting the finishing touches on "Eight Days A
Week." The following eight hours resulted in seven more songs being
completed, including what became their next British number one single "I
Feel Fine."
Both the mono and stereo mixes of the song were performed in the
control room of EMI Studio Two on October 27th, 1964 by producer George Martin
and engineers Norman Smith and Ken Scott. It was at these mixing sessions that
the fade-in to the song, a first for any pop song, was performed. However,
because the separately recorded conclusion needed to be added to the body of
the song, two mixes needed to be made and edited together for both the mono and
stereo mix.
A new stereo mix of the song was created in 2015 by Giles Martin
(son of George Martin) and Sam Okell in Abbey Road Studios for inclusion on a
re-released version of the compilation album "Beatles 1."
Song Structure and Style
Lennon and McCartney return once again to their usual 'verse/
verse/ bridge/ verse' formula, this actually being a simple but classic case.
No need for an instrumental or solo section, just a quick introduction and
almost identical conclusion with a repeat of a bridge and verse thrown in the
middle. This results in an aababa format, which has been seen many times thus
far in their cannon.
The interesting facets to listen to are in the arrangement, which
were very pre-determined and concise. The four-measure introduction, for
instance, comprise the same chords heard in the first four measures of each
verse, but played quite differently. Apart from its being faded in (at the
suggestion of engineer Norman Smith) to build momentum, Paul's bass notes
propel these measures with fast triplets that stay permanently locked on the D note
even though the chords are changing. George's vivid guitar phrases (which may
very well have been double-tracked) are the primary focus here, while the drums
stay subdued on the toms. This creates an irresistible anticipation, as well as
a perfect vehicle for disc jockeys to cross-fade from the previous song.
The drums kick in on the one-beat of the first
sixteen-measure-verse along with Lennon's lead vocals, which are double-tracked
throughout the whole song. Handclaps are heard strategically on the two- and
four-beat of each measure throughout the first eight measures, as are George's
swing-style rhythm guitar phrases (which you hear him rehearsing in between
earlier takes on "Anthology 1"). Lennon's acoustic rhythm guitar work
is actually the dominant instrument in the mix, while Ringo's drums are
slightly quieter than heard in the earlier takes on the Anthology disc. Paul is
heard playfully walking his bass on the quarter notes of each measure.
The third section of the verse, which would be measures nine
through twelve, shows George reduced to guitar strums on the one-beat of each
measure and the virtual disappearance of Ringo. Instead we hear John's guitar
propelling the song along with the characteristic handclaps adding a beat at
the end of each measure while the words "hold me, love me" are
repeated twice. Afterwards, the last four measures of the verse go back to the
instrumentation heard earlier in the verse while Paul kicks into harmony for
the first time on the key phrase of the song "eight days a week."
Wisely, they decided to abandon the awkward slip into falsetto on this phrase
that they experimented with in take five.
Another identical verse follows, the only differences being
another set of lyrics in the first eight measures and Paul slipping into
harmony for the "hold me, love me" section of the verse. The bridge
then follows, which is eight measures long and is full of intricacies all its
own. For instance, Paul harmonizes with John throughout the whole bridge, which
is especially prominent during the third and fourth measures where the band
fully drops out (except for Paul's bass) and you hear their rising-and-falling
harmonies sing "I lo-o-o-o-ove you." This is followed by a drum
accent by Ringo which calls the band back into the song on the fifth measure.
It's noteworthy to mention that George is almost non-existent in this first
bridge as if he hadn't gotten this part quite figured out yet. He enters in
strongly with the next verse, though.
The first verse is then repeated in exactly the same formation as
we heard it before with one notable exception. John lets out a moaning
introduction to the phrase "hold me" in the eighth measure, which is
the only time this is done in the whole song.
The bridge is then repeated, but it appears George is more
confident in his playing this time around because his rhythm guitar phrases can
be heard very prominently. The second verse is then repeated identically as
heard the first time, complete with harmonies during the "hold me, love
me" section. The last two measures of this verse are then repeated three
times to drill the title of the song into our subconscious mind for the rest of
our lives. This is then followed by the conclusion of the song that was
recorded nearly two weeks later and edited on at the mixing stage. It is a
virtual repeat of the introduction (without the fade in), with a crash landing
on the one-beat of the fourth measure. This ending inspires a satisfied feeling
and encourages applause, which is what the perfect pop song is supposed to do!
Lyrically, the song is very "surfacy." It's obvious that
the catch phrase "eight days a week" is the primary focus with all of
the cliché-heavy surrounding lyrics being used as filler to point to the end of
each verse, which highlights the song's title. Lyrics such as "ooh, I need
your love babe," "always on my mind" and "love you all the
time" are a far cry from the more introspective and personal songs that
Lennon was writing at that time, such as "I'm A Loser" and "I
Don't Want To Spoil The Party." This, no doubt, was a contributing factor
to John's opinion of the song throughout the years, viewing it as
"lousy" and "manufactured."
Musicianship and arrangement is what is key to this song, giving
it its undeniable commercial appeal. While the writing may be slightly in favor
of McCartney over Lennon, John appears as the central figure with his lead
vocals and acoustic guitar. Even though George plays his passages with electric
guitar, it is by no means a "lead guitar" part. The overall emphasis
of John's rhythm guitar identifies the song as acoustic-based, with George's
electric guitar playing a supporting role, which is quite opposite of what
we're used to in Beatles recordings up to this point. George's harmony vocals,
which appear during the bridge as well as when the title of the song is sung,
gel very well with the others to perfect their three-part harmony.
As usual, Paul plays and sings to perfection, his harmonies adding
the irresistible charm and professionalism to the proceedings. His walking bass,
while slightly low in the mix, shows Paul filling his reluctant role as
"bass player" of the group with enthusiasm and pride. Ringo's
strident drum fills are heard more prominently in the earlier takes (as heard
in "Anthology 1") but can still be detected in the finished product.
His trademark hi-hat sizzle is in the forefront as usual, as is his incredible
attention to the detailed arrangement (that is, knowing when to stop, start,
accent, and crash).
Please feel free to leave any comments or corrections and share
these articles plus this 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.
The long nine-hour recording session held on October 18th, 1964
saw seven songs from beginning to completion, as well as putting the finishing
touches on a previously recorded track. Among the songs completed on this day
was "I'll Follow The Sun."
The session began at 2:30 pm in EMI Studio Two with edit pieces being recorded for "Eight Days A Week" followed by
recording "Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!", "Mr. Moonlight"
and "I Feel Fine," which would become their next single. At
approximately 8:30 pm, while roadie Neil Aspinall was out getting some fish and
chips for the group, they started working on "I'll Follow The Sun."
Eight takes of the full band arrangement (many of them ending with
eruptions of laughter) were required before everyone was satisfied, but a
couple of adjustments needed to be made as the session progressed. Engineer
Geoff Emerick explains: "At first they couldn't think of anything for Ringo
to do - he played drums on a run-through, but it sounded all wrong, too
aggressive and distracting; Paul wanted something more subtle. After a good
deal of discussion, Paul came up with the idea of having Ringo just slap his
legs in time, and that worked well. Enthralled, I watched (engineer) Norman
(Smith) carefully position a mic between Ringo's knees; then, back in the
control room, he cranked up the EQ to add some extra depth to the sound."
Paul explains further about this idea. "On the record we got
Ringo to tap his knees. We were thinking in terms of singles and the next one
had to always be different. We didn't want to fall into The Supremes trap where
they all sounded rather similar, so to the end, we were always keen on having
varied instrumentation. Ringo couldn't keep changing his drum kit, but he could
change his snare, tap a cardboard box or slap his knees."
Another adjustment had to do with the simple guitar solo. Geoff Emerick continues: "I found George
Harrison's simpleminded eight-note solo - not even a solo, really just the
melody line - downright embarrassing. He wasn't even supposed to play that
solo: for the first few takes, John did it, on acoustic guitar. Despite the
overall good vibe of the day, George Harrison seemed annoyed, perhaps because
he hadn't been given much to do. At one point he marched into the control room
and complained loudly, 'You know, I'd like to do the solo on this one. I am
supposed to be the lead guitarist in this band, after all.'"
George Martin reluctantly interceded for Harrison who was finally
allowed to play the solo as an overdub. "Nobody was satisfied with the
result," Emerick concludes, "he wasn't happy either and wanted to
make another attempt at it, but a weary and slightly annoyed George Martin
finally put his foot down, saying, 'No, we have to move on.'"
An effective touch to the recording was John's descending harmony
lines in the bridge, or "middle-eight" as The Beatles would call
them. According to Geoff Emerick's book "Here, There and Everywhere,"
George Martin took the time to write this counter-melody for John to sing and
taught it to him that day. After Paul double-tracked his vocals during the
first half of each verse, the song was complete. Being around 9:30, it was time
for a tea break and then back to record three more songs before midnight.
The mono mix of "I'll Follow The Sun" was made three
days later on October 21st in Room 65 of Abbey Road Studios. The vocals were
left mostly dry, adding just a touch of reverb. George Martin, Norman Smith and
2nd engineer Ron Pender were the only personnel in attendance for this mixing
session.
The stereo mix was made on November 4th in the control room of EMI
Studio Two by George Martin, Norman Smith and 2nd engineer Mike Stone. This
time around, they added quite a bit of reverb to accentuate the vocals.
Song Structure and Style
The structure used in "I'll Follow The Sun" is one very
familiar to The Beatles up to this point, consisting of a 'verse/ verse/
bridge/ verse' format (or aaba). Another
verse follows, which is actually half solo / half verse, and then a repeat of
the bridge and verse before it suddenly concludes.
The brief two measure introduction, with George Harrison's picking
guitar riff, is actually a preview of the final two measures of the first and
third verse. The first verse, like all of them, are a standard eight measures
long and features Paul's double-tracked vocals in the first four measures and
single-tracked vocals in the last four measures. The awkward chord pattern used
in the first four measures makes it hard to determine the home key, but we
comfortably arrive there (in the key of C) as the fifth measure appears.
After the verse concludes with Harrison's guitar riff, a
structurally identical second verse follows. The only difference here, other
than different lyrics in the first four measures, is the chording in the last
two measures, which alter the key chord to a "seventh" as a segue to
the bridge.
The bridge is also eight measures long but differs vocally from
the verses by the appearance of John's lower harmonies as suggested and written
by George Martin. Although both of the melodic phrases in the bridge conclude
at the home key, the final measure moves abruptly to an unexpected chord to
segue back into the awkward chord pattern of the third verse. This third verse
is almost identical to the first verse except for a few words, the first verse
beginning with "one day you'll look to see I've gone" and the third
verse beginning with "one day you'll find that I have gone."
We then move into another verse which contains the simple
eight-note sliding guitar solo from George Harrison in the first four measures.
The remainder of the verse brings back the single-tracked vocals from Paul to
once again highlight the title of the song. This verse also ends with a
"seventh" chord because of it preceding a repeat of the bridge. This
second bridge is followed by a repeat of the third verse, which concludes the
song after the finger-picking riff from George Harrison.
The emphasis isn't on the musicianship of the group per se, but on
the song itself. Nonetheless, all four Beatles play their part with enough
skill to convincingly depict the charming sentiments of the song. Paul's simple
bass lines don't do much more than emphasize the chord changes, while his
vocals are predictably right on pitch. The higher register singing in the
bridge is noteworthy for credit, especially as a counterpoint to Lennon's lower
harmonies, which are also executed easily but perfectly. Lennon's acoustic
rhythm guitar work is played somewhat aggressively but is well executed
nonetheless. Harrison's sporadic guitar picking throughout the song is well
performed, although his overdubbed simple guitar solo could have been improved
upon. And, of course, the award goes to Ringo for "best knee slapping in a
pop record."
Although the acoustic arrangement The Beatles went for on
"I'll Follow The Sun" gives the impression of it being inspired by
the burgeoning folk music scene of the time, deeper examination shows this to
be a false impression. The melody line and chord progressions used are anything
but folk-like, being more akin to the Buddy Holly-style electric guitar/drums
arrangement originally used in the 1960 home recording. What we see here is a
nice blend of both folk and "pop/rock" elements to create a soothing
and charming effect.
There are two credible interpretations of the lyrics to "I'll
Follow The Sun." Some authors suggest that it's not a romantic love song
at all. Their analyzation of the lyrics shows it to depict the singer leaving
his girl for greener pastures. No reasons are given except that "tomorrow
may rain," which may symbolize the stormy trappings of attachment. He
knows that the result of his departure is that he will "lose a
friend" but, after all, "the time has come" for him to leave. He
even crassly presumes upon himself as the Casanova with the line "someday
you'll know I was the one." She can't live without him but he apparently
can live without her.
A second view is that the girl is treating the singer badly and he
is giving an ultimatum, saying "one day, you'll look to see I've
gone." After he leaves, she would then realize that he "was the
one" which would satisfyingly explain the line "in the end you'll
know."
Although McCartney has never explained what his sentiments were,
the resulting song may never have been thought through that fully in the first
place, being that most of the lyrics came from the pen of a 16-year-old.
Next Song – Mr. Moonlight:
The Beatles entered EMI Studio Two on August 14th, 1964 for their
second recording session for the "Beatles For Sale" album. Their
first session for the album on August 11th resulted in only one song being
completed, which was "Baby's In Black." This evening session, which
ran from 7 to 9 pm, started out putting another original composition, "I'm
A Loser," in the can for possible consideration for their next single. At
approximately 8 pm, the Beatles launched into "Mr. Moonlight" as a
contender for the album, the first cover song they chose to include.
Four takes of the song were made on this evening, only two of
which made it through to the end. The first didn't get passed John's vocal
introduction, John himself calling for the band to stop. McCartney
encouragingly interjects "nearly!" while Lennon replies, "yes,
not bad, that one." This first attempt can be heard on the "Anthology
1" album.
Take four on this day was temporarily deemed as best, although
they understandably thought differently later. The primary reason undoubtedly
was George Harrison's rather experimental shaky guitar solo which, even during
the live performance, impelled McCartney to give out a couple of cat-calls that
would mark the track as unusable. This performance is also included on
"Anthology 1."
After the band took an hour break from 9 to 10 pm (during which
time mono mixes of "I'm A Loser" and "Baby's In Black" were
made) they returned to the studio for more recording. Instead of working more
on "Mr. Moonlight" they started and completed another cover song as a
contender for the album, the 1959 Little Willie John song "Leave My Kitten
Alone." They worked until 11:15 on this song, even double-tracking
Lennon's vocals. This excellent recording, unfortunately, was decided to be
omitted from the "Beatles For Sale" album and didn't get officially
released until "Anthology 1." Instead, The Beatles were insistent on
including "Mr. Moonlight," which they re-attempted at a later date.
That later date was a marathon recording day on October 18th,
1964. They entered EMI Studio Two at 2:30 to begin nine hours of recording,
resulting in the final completion of eight songs. After putting the finishing
touches on "Eight Days A Week" and blistering through "Kansas
City / Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!," they started over on "Mr. Moonlight."
Takes 5 through 8 showed the group running through the song with
the same instrumentation as on August 14th, namely John on rhythm guitar while
singing lead, George on lead guitar while singing harmony vocals and Paul on
bass guitar while singing harmony vocals. The verdict is still out on what
instrument Ringo is playing. Some writers suggest bongos, some a packing case
(such as a guitar case) and some say he played the toms of his drum kit, such
as he did when performing it live.
The first couple of takes still contained George Harrison's guitar
solo, but this was quickly ruled out. Engineer Geoff Emerick explains:
"The stumbling block again was Harrison's guitar solo - not the notes he
was playing, but the odd, sped-up tremolo sound he was using...Lennon thought
the unconventional sound was terrific - and, personally, so did I - but George
Martin insisted that it was simply too weird. After some discussion, it was
decided to overdub a cheesy organ solo instead. Even though I loathed the
sound, I was most impressed to see Paul playing it - up until that point, I'd
had no idea that he could even play keyboards."
Take eight was the final rhythm track, over which McCartney
overdubbed his Hammond organ parts which, in effect, replaced Harrison's guitar
solo in the song. George instead was relegated to hitting an African drum on
the two-beat of every measure the band went into a 'break' in the song. That
being accomplished, they commenced recording what would become their next
single, "I Feel Fine."
One good thing that did come out of the first version they
attempted on August 14th was John's vocal introduction. When the time came for
mono mixing the song on October 27th in the control room of Studio Two, they
made two mixes; one for the vocal introduction of Take Four, and one for the
rest of the song of Take Eight. They then edited both of these mixes together
to form the mono mix we've all come to know, which fades out after three
repeats of the song's title at the end. This mono mix was prepared by producer
George Martin and engineers Norman Smith and Ken Scott.
On November 4th, 1964, George Martin, Norman Smith and 2nd
engineer Mike Stone created the stereo mix of the song in the control room of
Studio Two. Once again, they made separate mixes of Take Four (John's vocal
introduction) and Take Eight (the rest of the song) and edited them together.
This time the mix lasted a few seconds longer to include four repeats of the
song's title at the end which displays an additional higher harmony. Another
difference was some Hammond organ sounds as the song began to fade at the end.
Apparently, they turned the fader down on the organ overdub during the mono mix
but inadvertently left it up during the stereo mix.
Both the stereo and mono mixes of "Mr. Moonlight" on the
British "Beatles For Sale" album are identical to what was released
in the US on "Beatles '65."
Song Structure and Style
This Latin sounding track follows a pattern that is somewhat
unique, being that it is made up entirely of verses with no bridge, chorus or
refrain in sight. More than this, the first verse is different than any other
of the three verses in the song, not only in lyrics but in structure and
length.
After a searing introductory scream from John, we enter into a
two-measure full-band musical introduction which creates anticipation for what
is to come. The first verse then begins, which is a whopping 24 measures long.
The first four vocal phrases of the song alternate between three-part harmony
and John's solo vocal lines. The sixteenth measure consists of a "Beatles
break" with only Paul's ascending bass line and George's African drum
segueing into the remaining eight measures of the verse. The twenty-second
measure is also taken up with a break, which is quickly followed by a return of
the African drum and the harmonized title of the song, which finally concludes
this unique verse.
Then we enter into the second verse, which structurally is
repeated three times until the song fades out. These verses are all sixteen
measures long, with the first of these beginning with two vocal phrases in
three-part harmony. This time the break appears in the eighth measure and
contains the familiar African drum and ascending bass line. The second and
final break of the verses occurs in the fourteenth measure once again highlighting
the title of the song.
The next verse consists of the Hammond organ solo in the first
eight measures and, after the usual break, a full repeat of the final eight
measures of the previous verse. Utilizing the first half of a verse for a solo
section is something not new in The Beatles cannon, as they performed this
trick many times before (such as in "From Me To You" and "A Hard
Day's Night"). We then go back into the second verse once again with the
entire same arrangement until we hear them repeat the title of the song three
more times (or two in the mono mix) with the harmonies progressively rising as
the song fades away.
Lennon's convincing vocal delivery is the best, and some say only,
thing that makes "Mr. Moonlight" work for the group. In fact, it was
Lennon who insisted on covering this obscure song as a platform for his lead
vocal, which he obviously enjoyed to sing. The key was even lowered slightly
from G on the original version to an odd F# Major, probably to allow him to hit
the high notes better. While the campiness of the song may come across as
laughable to some, John's vocal attack and straight delivery gives the
proceedings plausibility.
Paul's excellent knack for harmonies comes into play here also, as
well as his suitably subdued bass lines. While his Hammond organ chording and
solo have been lambasted by authors left and right, describing it as
"tasteless," "cheesy" and "gold lame
ghastliness," we're so used to hearing it now that it's become an
essential ingredient of the song. While both Lennon's and Harrison's guitar
work are basically rhythm throughout, Ringo's percussion, whatever he was
hitting (my vote is for his tom toms), is played with a much skilled Latin
feel. And let's not forget George's African drum pounds. Job well done, George!
There have been a few songs that have lyrics depicting the singer
addressing a heavenly body ("Hey, Mr. Sun" and "Mr. Sun, Mr.
Moon" come to mind), but not with the sincerity and gut-wrenching
appreciation displayed in "Mr. Moonlight." After all, he came
"one summer night" and from his beaming rays he helped the singer
find his true love "from the world," although the love they feel for
each other came "from above." Although we're not exactly sure why
both the singer and his girl want Mr. Moonlight to "come again,
please," it is especially urgent, being that he is on his "knees,
begging" for his return. Hopefully they're not having relationship
problems and need his magic "beam" to fix things.
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