In My Life, plus Wait and their incredible recording process advancements revealed here and now.

October 18th, 1965 signified their fourth recording session for their “Rubber Soul” album.  This session was just over three hours long, which was quite short for Beatles’ sessions these days, but quite a lot got accomplished in this short amount of time.  They entered EMI Studio Two at 2:30 pm to add vocal overdubs and tambourine to George’s “If I Needed Someone” which they began recording two days earlier, passed as complete in about an hour.  They then started rehearsing their recent composition “In My Life” to get the arrangement perfected before the tapes starting rolling.

Three takes occurred of the rhythm track, which comprised John on electric rhythm guitar, George playing the lead guitar riffs throughout the song, Paul on bass and Ringo on drums playing an interesting syncopated rhythm.  The first two takes weren’t quite right, one of which was a breakdown.  The third take, however, was the keeper over which the overdubs followed.

John’s lead vocals no doubt being the first performed, which entailed some skill on his part in order to match his ending vocal line “I love you more” with the previously recorded rhythm track.  Then John double-tracked his vocals followed by background vocal overdubbing from Paul and George.  Ringo also overdubbed a tambourine during the bridge, which he laid down on a separate track of the four-track tape.  At 5:45 pm, the session ended for the day.

Only one thing was needed to complete the song.  George Martin relates:  “There was a gap in the song, and I said, ‘We need a solo here.’”  John Lennon suggested for George Martin to supply one himself.  “In ‘In My Life’ there’s an Elizabethan piano solo,” John stated in a 1970 interview.  “We’d do things like that.  We’d say, ‘Play it like Bach,’ or, ‘Could you put twelve bars in there?’”  With that vague instruction, George Martin was left to come up with something on another day.

“There’s a bit where John couldn’t decide what to do in the middle,” George Martin remembers.  Although he relates how he recorded the resulting solo for this section “while they were having their tea-break,” this was actually done four days later on October 22nd, 1965.  The Beatles were due to arrive at EMI Studio Two on that day to work on “Nowhere Man” at 2:30 pm, but George Martin secured the studio earlier in the day, from 10:30 to 11:30 am, to superimpose a solo of some sort.

“I wrote something like a Bach inversion, and played it, then recorded it,” George Martin explains.  But he first had to decide what instrument to use.  According to what he on the tape box for that day, he first tried it on a Hammond organ.  Feeling that wasn’t the right sound, he tried his solo on a piano.

In a 1990 BBC radio program entitled “Sounds Of The Sixties,” George Martin gives some interesting details about the solo in this song:  “It was quite common practice for us to do a track and leave a hole in the middle for the solo.  Sometimes George would pick up his guitar and fool around and do a solo, and we would often try to get other sounds.  On ‘In My Life’ we left the hole as usual…While they were away, I thought it would be rather nice to have a harpsichord-like solo…I did it with what I call a ‘wound up’ piano, which was at double-speed – partly because you get a harpsichord sound by shortening the attack of everything, but also because I couldn’t play it at real speed anyway.  So I played it on piano at exactly half normal speed, and down an octave.  When you bring the tape back to normal speed again, it sounds pretty brilliant.  It’s a means of tricking everybody into thinking you can do something really well.”

With Mr. Martin satisfied himself, the only thing left was for The Beatles to approve.  “I played it back to them when they returned, and they said, ‘That’s great!’ So, we left it like that.”

The mono mix of “In My Life” was made on October 25th, 1965 in the control room of EMI Studio Two by George Martin and engineers Norman Smith and Ken Scott.  The first stereo mix trailed the following day, October 26th, 1965, in the control room of the same studio with Martin, Smith and 2nd engineer Ron Pender at the controls.

This stereo mix places the entire rhythm track and the separate tambourine overdub track on the left channel.  The right channel contains all of the vocal overdubs (with slight reverb) as well as George Martin’s piano solo.  A small bleed over of the rhythm track leaked through on the right channel due to it being played in the studio for The Beatles to sing along with and unfortunately picked up by their microphones.  When the vocals stop toward the end of the song, the engineers faded down the right channel, so the bleed over disappears during the final seconds of the song.

As it turns out, George Martin played his piano solo on the same track as the tambourine overdub.  While they were creating this first stereo mix, they needed to pan that track from the left channel, where the tambourine is normally heard, to the right channel where they wanted the piano solo.  After the solo, they needed to quickly pan that track back to the left channel immediately because the tambourine comes in on the very next beat.  They didn’t pan it quick enough, so the first beat of the tambourine is heard in the right channel before they had a chance to get it back to the left channel.

In 1986, George Martin returned to the master tapes to create a second stereo mix of the song for the 1987 released “Rubber Soul” album on compact disc.  This mix differs from the first stereo mix in a few ways.  First of all, the vocals have a fair percentage more reverb than before and are panned slightly more to the left, giving it a slightly centered effect.  This time around, they panned the piano solo very quickly back to the left channel, so the tambourine comes in on the downbeat of the correct measure.  Also, the drums are slightly quieter during the verses in this new stereo mix.

There are also a couple of small but noticeable differences in the 1986 stereo mix concerning John’s vocal track.  The first is the absence of John’s intake of breath just before he starts singing at the beginning of the song, which is present in the 1965 stereo mix.  Second, George Martin decided to leave the vocal track up on the right channel at the end of the song instead of fading it out as he had done in the original stereo mix.  These are very minor anomalies but are worthy of mention.

Song Structure And Style.

To define what structure “In My Life” falls into is a complex task and varies from one source to another.  Lennon referring to the second and fourth sections of the song as a “middle-eight” may give us a hint, so, therefore, for the sake of writing, we’ll call these sections ‘bridges’ instead of refrains.  Therefore, the structure would consist of ‘verse/ bridge/ verse/ bridge/ verse (solo)/ bridge’ (or ababab).  A fitting introduction, an interjected half-introduction after the first bridge, and a climactic conclusion help shape together this amazing tune.

A four-measure introduction is heard first which is actually a two-measure guitar riff (written by McCartney and played by Harrison) repeated twice with Lennon’s rhythm guitar in the background.  Paul’s bass is also present with some interesting ascending runs to complement the arrangement.  With a slight intake of breath from John (in the 1965 mixes), the syncopated drums and three-part harmony vocals kick in for the eight-measure first verse that follows.  The background vocalists harmonize the lyrics with John’s double-tracked vocals on every other line starting with “There are places I remember,” while they “oooh” during the conclusion of each thought, as when John finishes the line “all my life, though some have changed.”

The first eight-measure bridge repeats the harmony pattern although they drop the “oooh”s to allow John to finish the thought by himself.  Gentle four-in-the-bar cymbal taps replace the syncopated drums, and tambourine shakes for measures one, two, five and six, each set ending with a simple fill.  The remaining measures of the bridge introduce a traditional rock beat riding the bell of the ride cymbal.  John’s rhythm guitar strums are elongated to add fluency to the track.

After the bridge, Ringo immediately jumps back into the syncopated drum pattern as a two-measure reprise of the introduction, heard as a spacer before the second verse enters.  Otherwise, the same ingredients as heard in the intro are repeated but only with one phrase instead of two this time around.

A second eight-measure verse then follows that sounds identical in structure and arrangement as the first verse but with different lyrics.  A second bridge then follows which is also structurally identical but with new lyrics.  One noticeable difference is the filling out of the syllables in the harmonized vocal lines.  In the first bridge, most words take up two syllables each, such as on “dead and some are,” while the second bridge usually fills out each syllable, such as with “I know I’ll often stop and think about them.”

A new eight-measure verse follows right after this bridge, which this time is taken up by George Martin’s incredible baroque keyboard solo.  The final note of his double-timed downward run hits on the same beat that John begins singing “Though I know I’ll never lose affection,” thereby introducing a repeat of the second bridge, which is essentially the same structurally and instrumentally.

After this is complete, the conclusion of the song begins, which starts out with a further half-reprise of the introduction as heard in-between the first bridge and second verse.  After this, the song hangs in the air as Lennon jumps into falsetto for the first time in the song, repeating the final line of the last verse, namely “In my life…”  After we lose the tempo of the song momentarily (not unlike what he does three years later in “Happiness Is A Warm Gun”), John finishes the line “I love you more” in his normal voice but with a stagnant beat to create an emotional impact on the listener.  This is traced by a final repeat of the introductory line and then one last concluding phrase as a bow to satisfyingly end the song.

With such an intimate song as “In My Life,” one would expect Lennon to don his Gibson acoustic guitar as he had done on many “Rubber Soul” tracks.  Surprisingly, yet appropriately, John picks up an electric guitar, probably his 1961 Sonic Blue Fender Stratocaster, to play his flowing, yet subtle, rhythm guitar part.  John’s most noteworthy contribution to the song, however, was his double-tracked lead vocals which convincingly deliver the nostalgic lyrics and touch a nerve with the listener in the process.

Paul may take a backseat in the proceedings, but everyone definitely feels his presence.  His bass work adds nuances throughout the song that work with the arrangement while not becoming too busy.  His other contributions are his superbly performed harmonies and, one can assume from recent examples such as “Ticket To Ride,” probably tags his suggestions to Ringo concerning the syncopated drum beat he plays.

Speaking of which, Ringo is always keen to play appropriately to any occasion, this time with a delicate smoothness on drums and tambourine that doesn’t detract from John’s vocal delivery.  George once again plays a minor role here, one of background vocalist and lead guitarist, although his playing is only heard briefly four times in the song.  They are, however, perfectly delivered, until a stray note appearing after the final note of the song buzzes.  The note does fit and was included, no doubt, to help contribute to the intimate feel of the song.

Lennon’s powerful delivery works so well in this song because of the immensely nostalgic contents of the lyrics.  At some point in everyone’s life, we all wish to revisit the old town or neighborhood to see how things presently look.  We inevitably find that “some have changed” and “not for better,” some buildings and homes being torn down or remodeled beyond recognition.  But we’re always happy to find that “some remain” exactly how we remember them, which may then bring a tear to our eye.  After all, “all these places had their moments with lovers and friends,” and those ‘good old days’ come rushing back to us.  Then our focus turns to the people as we begin to wonder whatever happened to them.  “Some are dead, and some are living,” but we wouldn’t trade those memories for anything.  We “loved them all.”

The nostalgic trip of the song then switches gears to the present time, which shows that we don’t just live in the past but appreciate where life leads up to this point in life.  As may be our experience, John addresses his current partner, saying that none of “these friends and lovers” of the past “compares with you.”  Although he will always cherish his formative years and all of these experiences, “these memories lose their meaning” in comparison with the happiness of the present day.  Like us, he will “often stop and think about them” from time to time but, as John relates in falsetto as a climax to the song, “In my life, I love you more.”

It is no wonder that Lennon viewed this song as his “first real, major piece of work.”

Next Song – Wait:

The very last day of recording for the British “Help!” album occurred on June 17th, 1965.  The Beatles entered EMI Studio Two at 2 pm for the first session of the day that ran until 5:30 pm.  This earlier session resulted in completing Paul’s beautiful song “Yesterday” by adding a brief vocal overdub as well as the stunning string quartet.  They also recorded, in its entirety, “Act Naturally” before this session was complete.

After an hour-and-a-half break, the group re-entered the studio at 7 pm for a scheduled three-hour session to record the final song needed for the album, namely “Wait.”  After some rehearsal, they performed four takes of the rhythm track, “take four” being deemed best.  The rhythm track consisted of John on electric rhythm guitar, George on lead guitar played through his volume pedal (as also used on “I Need You” and “Yes It Is,” both recorded on February 17th of that year), Ringo on drums and Paul on bass.  Paul’s bass guitar was recorded on a separate track so that it could be panned separately during the mixing stage if so desired.

After this was complete, John and Paul overdubbed their vocals, although these were left single-tracked at this time.  They then ended the session a half-hour early at 9:30 since they figured the album was then complete.  The mono mix of “Yesterday” appears to have been made after The Beatles had left for the night.

The remaining mixes for the “Help!” album were made the following day on June 18th, 1965 in the control room of EMI Studio Two by producer George Martin and engineers Norman Smith and Phil McDonald.  All of the mono mixes took priority first and, since “Wait” was considered part of the album, it too received its first mono mix on this day.  However, when the stereo mixes of all these songs were done afterward, “Wait” was not one of them.  George Martin likely didn’t feel the song was good enough to include on the album in this state, hence there was no need to create a stereo mix at this time.  And since The Beatles were leaving immediately for a short European Tour, there was no time to bring them back into the recording studio for more work on the song.  With a need for a fourteenth song for the album, they needed to think of another solution.

An easy solution was found by including the May 10th recorded Larry Williams rocker “Dizzy Miss Lizzy” instead of “Wait.”  Both “Dizzy Miss Lizzy” and “Bad Boy” were recorded solely for the US market but, since there were no immediate plans to release them in Britain, they undoubtedly figured they’d release the better of the two songs to finish off the latest album.  Problem solved.

Nearly five months later, on November 11th, the group found themselves in the same predicament.  The very last possible day for recording their next album “Rubber Soul” was upon them, and they needed one more song to fill the fourteen-track quota.  They entered EMI Studio Two on this day at 6 pm for what became a marathon thirteen-hour recording session to complete the album.  After fully recording two new songs, namely “You Won’t See Me” and “Girl,” they had the original master tape of “Wait” spooled up in order to add overdubs and finally complete the song.  This took approximately an hour to do, from 4 to 5 am on what was now November 12th, 1965.

The overdubs performed during this hour included Paul double-tracking his vocals during the bridges and adding a third harmony during the final two verses.  George Harrison added additional tone pedal guitar work as well as rhythm guitar during both bridges.  Ringo was quite busy, adding both tambourine and maracas which made the song quite percussion-heavy.  John opted not to double-track his vocals on this song.

The final mixing session for the “Rubber Soul” album was on November 15th, 1965 in the control room of EMI Studio One as performed by George Martin, Norman Smith, and 2nd engineer Richard Lush.  The mono mix of “Wait” made on this day was named “remix 2” because of the early mono mix of the incomplete song made on June 18th, has never seen the light of day in any form.

The stereo mix made on this day puts the guitars and drums of the original rhythm track entirely on the left channel while the bass guitar pans to the center of the mix.  All vocals, original and new, are heard entirely on the right channel as are all of the overdubs performed on November 12th.  Very little if any reverb appears in either the mono or stereo mixes made in 1965.

George Martin made a second stereo mix in 1986 for use on the compact disc release of “Rubber Soul” in 1987.  The only noticeable difference is that the vocals are panned a little more to the center of the mix.  Once again, the absence of reverb is noteworthy since it was customary to put in at least a little to add some depth.  This may be evidence that the song stood apart as “filler” consideration material for the album, even at this late date.

Song Structure and Style

Once again utilizing a full-fledged “chorus,” something which was becoming a little more common for them by mid 1965, “Wait” falls into a lengthy ‘verse/ chorus/ verse/ chorus/ bridge/ verse/ chorus/ bridge/ verse/ chorus/ verse’ pattern (or ababcabcaba).  No introduction or solo feature appeared required, but a drawn-out conclusion assembled around a repeat of the first verse.  What is unusual here is the allotted measures that both the verse and chorus contain.

The first verse, which is an unusual six measures long, begins out of thin air with John singing the pick-up line “It’s been a…” a cappella before the downbeat of the first measure actually starts.  When the downbeat hits, Paul immediately joins in on a higher harmony and bass guitar along with George’s tone-pedal guitar chords and Ringo’s beat on his bass drum and bell of his ride cymbal.  Interestingly, all of the elements just mentioned are heard primarily on a strict syncopated beat in conjunction with the words “long time, now I’m.”  Even though the last of the third phrase adds three more syllables (“coming back home”), all of these elements continue to play the syncopated rhythm.  The only ingredient that doesn’t follow this pattern is the overdubbed tambourine which fills the gaps with two accent beats per phrase.

The second half of the first verse is a melodic repeat of the first half but with a couple of differences in the arrangement.  Ringo starts playing a regular 4/4 rock beat on the drums with the hi-hat while his overdubbed maracas come in and play a steady 4/4 beat as well.  These differences not only infuse the arrangement away from monotony but also add a degree of anticipation for a climax which is due to appear in the upcoming chorus.  The verse ends with Ringo crashing his open hi-hats followed by a tom roll to herald in this climax.

The chorus, which reaches the highest vocal pitch of the entire song (the harmony vocals, that is), is a very unusual five measures long.  The overdubbed maracas may disappear, but the tambourine takes its place by playing a steady 4/4 rhythm while Ringo’s drums on the rhythm track move the rock beat from the hi-hat to the ride cymbal.  There are actually two George’s playing tone-pedal guitar in different patterns during the verse, one from the original rhythm track on the left channel (performed on June 17th) and another on the right channel (performed on November 12th).  John is first heard on guitar during this verse as well, but only in the left channel as performed on the original rhythm track.

On the fifth and final measure of the chorus, which brings the song back to its original key of F# minor, most of the instruments come to a crashing halt (just after the word “cried”).  One instrument that keeps playing, as if he didn’t realize everyone else stopped, is the overdubbed tambourine.  Ringo continues with four more beats to fill the gap of silence before the next verse begins.  Obviously this wasn’t a mistake since this pattern is repeated later in the song.

A second verse and chorus then repeats the same instrumentation and arrangement, except this time, all the instruments continue to play during the final measure of the second chorus.  After George ends the second chorus with three taps on his tone pedal switch, the first eight-measure bridge enters.  Ringo continues the rock beat he had been playing during the chorus while Paul sings double-tracked by himself.  Both the left and right channel contain rhythm guitar ‘chunks’ played by John (left channel) and George (overdubbed right channel).  The original rhythm track contains some awkward tone pedal work from George that comes in a little late in the third and fourth measures.  Also, the overdubbed tambourine continues with the same ferocity as heard in the previous chorus.  In the eighth measure, however, we see the group put in another ‘break’ on the beat “will wait for me” with the only instrument still heard being George’s tone-pedal guitar.  Actually, two of George, one on each channel playing on the same beats.

A repeat of the first verse is then heard with the exact instrumentation as heard before.  The chorus is then repeated with the same ending as heard the second time around.  A repeat of the bridge follows this, but the instrumentation is made different because of how Ringo played the drums on the rhythm track.  He concentrates solely on the snare drum by playing eighth notes varying in volume and intensity throughout the first seven measures.  He then stops suddenly in the eighth measure to mimic the arrangement of the first bridge.  One wonders whether he inadvertently missed his cue the first time the bridge was played and then remembered the arrangement the second time around.  He may have been just learning this arrangement and, as evidenced in early takes of “No Reply” for instance (as heard on “Anthology 1”), he may not have had it down quite right yet, and they let it go.  Or maybe, it was intentional to add some variance.  Just a thought.

After this, the second verse is repeated with the same instrumentation, although George’s tone-pedal chord that was to begin the fifth measure comes in noticeably early, actually within the last moments of the fourth measure.  An interesting added element here is in the last four measures where Paul overdubs an additional harmony starting on the words “heart’s strong…”  The fourth and final chorus is then heard which ends exactly as the first one did with a ‘break’ and the tambourine trailing off in the final measure.

To conclude the song, the first verse repeats for the third time with the first three measures sounding identical in arrangement as heard throughout the song.  However, the final three measures are different in many ways.  First of all, the fourth and fifth measures show George’s guitar drops out entirely while Paul once again overdubs an additional harmony, this time on the words “…way now, oh how.”  The final measure is then slowed down to a snail’s pace to emphasize three-part harmony on the words “I’ve been alone.”  The only instruments heard at this point are Ringo’s cymbal tap and one bass note from Paul.  The final chord of F# minor plucks as a rumble on bass guitar along with a subtle drum roll from Ringo and George double-tracking a descending tone-pedal riff from both channels of the stereo mix.  Add to this the violent shaking of the tambourine and maracas, and you have the mournful conclusion to an otherwise optimistic song.

Paul ends up being the primary performer on “Wait” as he provides the stunning bass work and becoming the biggest vocal contributor, being the natural that he is at picking out and executing harmonies.  John does his part at singing lead vocals during the verses as well as providing electric rhythm guitar parts on the rhythm track.  George shows that he’s getting more of a knack at working with his tone pedal, although this is the last Beatles track he apparently used the item.

For those who hadn’t noticed, Ringo shines quite well on “Wait.”  His intricate changes in pattern, along with his tumbling drum fills that usher in the choruses, reveal his obvious enthusiasm during the original recording session.  His overdubbed tambourine and maracas, mixed quite high for the release, makes his contribution to the song very noteworthy.

It’s probably the simplistic and innocent message of the lyrics that influence many about it being “out of place” on the “Rubber Soul” album.  Once fans learn that this song was actually a reject from the “Help!” album that was resurrected only to fill the final track on the new album, the lyrics can then easily point to as evidence of being in the older writing style of Lennon and McCartney.  While this is obviously the case, this song sounding similar in content to “It Won’t Be Long” for example, it must be remembered that “Wait” was written in the same year that all of “Rubber Soul” was.  In fact, “Norwegian Wood,” with its very mature theme, began to be written approximately one month before “Wait” was.  Either way, the evidence shows the ‘leaps and bounds’ that their writership was taking them.

The lyrics tell a simple story of how the singer has “been away” from his girl for “a long time,” but now he’s “coming back home.”  Though she has wept during his absence, all she needs to do is “wait” until his return, for then they’ll both “forget the tears we cried.”  Being faithful is an issue, but the singer comforts her by saying, “you ought to know that I’ve been good, as good as I can be.”  He then says that he expects the same from her, saying, “I’ll trust in you and know that you will wait for me.”  A curious inclusion in the lyrics come in the line, “but if your heart breaks, don’t wait, turn me away.”  This sounds like the singer is saying that he’ll accept the loss if she decides to find someone new because of being away too long.  He follows this by being hopeful that her “heart’s strong” enough to “hold on” until he gets there.

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