Every Little Thing, plus I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party, and their incredible recording process advancements.

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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Words Of Love, plus Honey Don’t, and their incredible recording process advancements.

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’ 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.

Medley A. Kansas City B. Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey, plus Eight Days a Week and their incredible recording process advancements.

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.

I’ll Follow The Sun, plus Mr. Moonlight, and their incredible recording process advancements.

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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