On November 8th, 1965, The Beatles entered EMI Studio Two at 9 pm
for what turned out to be a six-hour recording session that only produced one
releasable album track for the “Rubber Soul” album. After much rehearsal, only one take was
needed to record the rhythm track for “Won’t Be There With You,” the song’s
original title at the beginning of the session.
This track consisted of George on electric rhythm guitar, Paul on bass
and Ringo on drums with no vocals recorded at this time.
Once accomplished, they set out to record overdubs, the lead and
harmony vocals took part as recorded first, an unusual practice recording this
overdub, based on George Martin kept a separate tape rolling to record The
Beatles attempts to get the vocals right.
Why this occurred is unknown although, because they were to record their
“Third Christmas Record” after the song passed approval on this day, George
Martin may have thought that they may say something humorous enough to make it
on that fan club release. They
didn’t. Nonetheless, the tape box was
labeled: "This will eventually be issued." One thing that did get released, though, was
a six-second segment of George and Paul practicing their harmony on the line
“and you’ve got time to rectify” which was repeated over itself and appeared in
the movie “Yellow Submarine.”
Since it took much practice for them to perfect, it was decided to
record each harmony section of the song separately, John being the one having
the most trouble. “I’m sorry, sometimes
I feel less than useless at these sessions, I really do,” John said as caught
on tape. “Of course, Cynthia
understands. I often talk to her about
it when we get home. I say, ‘Sometimes,
you know, Cynthia, I just can’t get the note.’”
Immediately after this overdub was complete, a decision was made
to repeat the process, double-tracking both the lead and harmony vocals as a
separate overdub. Further overdubs were
then added, including Ringo on tambourine and maracas, John on Hammond organ, and
one ingredient which gave the song its’ most unusual and identifying element.
“The Beatles were always looking for new sounds,” George Martin
remembers, “always looking to a new horizon and it was a continual but happy
strain to try and provide new things for them.
They were always waiting to try new instruments even when they didn’t
know much about them.”
“Paul used a fuzz box on the bass on ‘Think For Yourself,’” George
Harrison explains. “When Phil Spector
was making ‘Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah’ (by Bob B. Soxx And The Blue Jeans), the
engineer who’d set up the track overloaded the microphone on the guitar player,
and it became very distorted. Phil
Spector said, ‘Leave it like that, it’s great.’
Some years later everyone started to try to copy that sound, and so they
invented the fuzz box. We had one and
tried the bass through it, and it sounded really good.”
Although The Beatles experimented with an early marketed version
of this device, the Gibson Maestro Fuzztone, as early as 1963 (the same box
used by The Rolling Stones on “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”), the device used
on “Think For Yourself” was called “The Tone Bender,” a unit created by Gary
Hurst who personally gave it to the group sometime in 1965. Although engineer Ken Townsend explains in
the book “The Beatles Recording Sessions” that they used an EMI-made distortion
unit at times, it was not used by The Beatles until later. Of course, distortion played a much bigger
role with The Beatles in the not-too-distant future (see “Revolution”).
Granted sounding like a lead guitar part played on the lower
strings, Paul actually played a virtual repeat of the bass part he played on
the rhythm track for the second time using his newly acquired Rickenbacker
bass. After the overdubs were complete,
the song’s title had been changed to “Think For Yourself,” and they then
proceeded to record their third Christmas record before heading home at 3:00 in
the morning. Approximately five hours,
from 9 pm till 2 am, were utilized to record the song start to finish.
Both the mono mix and the first stereo mix were done the following
day, November 9th, in Room 65 at EMI Studios by George Martin and engineers
Norman Smith and Jerry Boys. Both of
these mixes were the ones made available throughout the world in December of
1965, although the left channel of the stereo mix does show some signs of a
defective tape at the end of the song.
Another interesting feature to this original stereo mix is the
decision to totally separate the double-tracked vocals, the first overdub on
the left channel and the second overdub on the right channel. While this is quite unorthodox for Beatles
mixes up to this point, it makes for interesting examination when the song is
listened to on each channel separately.
In preparation for the first “Rubber Soul” release on compact
disc, George Martin went back to the drawing board in 1986 to make a new stereo
mix of “Think For Yourself” which stands as the most widely available mix of
the song as of this day. Once again, the
double-tracked vocals stayed on separate channels.
A third stereo mix of the song was made in 1999 at EMI Studios
expressly for its inclusion on the “Yellow Submarine Song track” album of that
year. While George Martin was not
involved, engineers Peter Cobbin, Paul Hicks, Mirek Stiles, and Allan Rouse
were. This time around, all vocals are
centered in the mix to give an incredibly full sound.
Song Structure and Style
Within the framework of this song, we see a strident step away
from, rather than a modification of, an existing song structure. Yes, there are verses and choruses, but the
chord patterns and melody lines George introduce are hardly of the predictable
sort. At first listen, as well as with
repeated listening, it’s hard to pick out the home key. As it turns out, the introductory chord, this
being G major, is the home key but the twists and turns of the verses may make
you wonder.
The combination of the melody line, the harmonies, and the bass
line even has you question whether the song is in G major or G minor. John Lennon apparently had trouble identifying
this as well since, when he was playing acoustic guitar while they were
rehearsing the harmonies, George had to correct him because he was playing G
minor instead of G major.
At any rate, the format consists of ‘verse/ chorus/ verse/ chorus/
verse/ chorus/ chorus’ (or abababb) with a quick introduction and conclusion
thrown in. Even though this is the
brainchild of the lead guitarist in the group, he opted to omit a solo of any
kind.
A simple two-measure introduction sets the song in motion, which premiers
the menacing “fuzz bass” and sets the tone for the accusatory lyrics that
follow. The rhythm guitar, as well as
drum accents, also begin on the downbeat but the second half of the second
measure debuts a feature of the song that will frequently reoccur within the
next two minutes and sixteen seconds, which identifies the slow triplet. This first incidence is emphasized with
crashing cymbals, tambourine hits, and an ascending bass line that takes us
directly into the first verse.
The first verse, as all the verses, is twelve measures long and
comprises some uncharacteristic chord changes (at least for The Beatles catalog
thus far). The melody line consists of
two phrases which have George singing solo on each first half and three-part
harmony for each second half, mostly sung in syncopated time. Paul’s bass line three times repeats the slow
triplet heard in the introduction while the tambourine and maracas keep a
straight 4/4 beat as an interesting contrast.
The tambourine keeps a tidy pattern of three eighth note hits in the
third beat of each measure throughout the entire verse. Also present is John’s thumping organ overdub
which chops away throughout the entire song.
Another interesting feature of the verses is the extended second
phrase that segues into the chorus. The
end of the first phrase, on the words “about the things that you do,” brings us
comfortably back to the home key of G major.
You would expect this to happen again at the end of the second phrase,
and it predictably does on the words “that we can have,” but it extends beyond
this with the words “if we close our eyes,” which also pushes us into a further
chord change just before the chorus begins.
Quite interesting but unusual.
After a simple drum fill from Ringo, we’re brought full force into
the eight-measure chorus with double-time maraca beats and a strident 4/4 rock
beat on the drums. George sings the
first line by himself while Paul provides a higher harmony for the rest of this
entire section. The melody line George
is singing in this chorus turns the home chord of G major into G minor, which
is a subtle nod to previous Lennon/McCartney tracks that also dance back and
forth between major and minor, such as “I’ll Be Back” and “And I Love Her.”
Another distinctive feature of the chorus is the slow double
triplet played by both Paul and Ringo while the maraca keeps flailing away in
straight 4/4 time. The chorus ends on
the home key and, like the introduction, finishes off with the ascending
crashing triplet while the maracas shake violently.
A second verse then begins, which is structurally identical to the
first with Paul’s bass still insisting on accenting the slow triplets. Another chorus follows, which appears
structurally the same, but there are some subtle differences. Ringo mistakenly plays a slow triplet at the
end of the second measure but forgets to (or chooses not to) play the double
triplet with Paul’s bass in the fourth measure.
Instead, he adds a couple of snare accents to cover up the mistake (if
it was one).
A third verse takes place, which shows Paul changing things up
slightly by not playing the triplet in the sixth measure, replacing it with a
similar sounding eighth-note run. The
chorus that follows shows Ringo remembering to play the double triplet with
Paul once again in the sixth measure, even throwing in another unnecessary
triplet in the last measure.
To inform the listener that the end is near, the chorus repeats a
final time which may catch listeners by surprise. It apparently caught Paul by surprise as well
since, on his bass in the rhythm track, he starts the first measure off in the
wrong key but quickly corrects himself hoping no one would notice. There is also an unexpected chord change in
the seventh measure, which also catches Paul off guard on the bass in the
rhythm track. Ringo misses the double
triplet in the sixth measure again as well, showing that the arrangement was
new to them and was quickly learned for the first time during the session that day.
This final chorus actually extends to twelve measures in order to,
as The Beatles were prone to do, repeat the hook line of the song to implant
the title in the listener's mind. The
final measure, with its violently shaken maracas, is actually cut short to a
syncopated end because of the four eighth-note accents that end the song, which
is nearly identical to how George concluded his 1968 “White Album” track “Savoy
Truffle.”
George confidently puts in a vocal that is by far superior to
anything he’s done prior to this in The Beatles canon. His double-tracking is nearly flawless and
works well to deliver his venomous lyrics.
His rhythm guitar work goes mostly unnoticed because of the emphasized
presence of the vocals and fuzz bass but adequately played as a guide in the
rhythm track. (Listen to the left
channel of the stereo mix by itself to check it out.)
Paul is next to be worthy of mention with two complete bass tracks
on one song, the first one buried in the rhythm track and the second
prominently displayed as the focal point of the instrumentation. One could argue that Paul plays “lead bass”
on “Think For Yourself.” While his high
harmonies during the verses are as flawless as usual, his harmony work in the choruses
was a little shaky the first time around.
They come across much better after they were double-tracked. (Once again, listen to the left channel of
the stereo mix to see what I mean.)
Although John apparently didn’t play during the rhythm track (his
not being acquainted with the chords while they were rehearsing the harmonies
proves he wasn’t playing the guitar on the rhythm track), he did add a
distinctive ingredient to the song with his Hammond organ overdub. And while he had a good degree of trouble
getting the harmonies right in the verses, he ended up nailing it. Ringo was also kept quite busy during this
session with learning a somewhat complicated arrangement on the drums and then
adding maracas and tambourine as overdubs.
Going by the assumption that he did write the song about the
government, it sounds as if George is addressing Congress from behind a lectern
after being told he has the floor. “I’ve
got a word or two to say about the things that you do,” he begins. He describes political campaign promises as
“lies about the good things that we can have if we close our eyes.” Even though he is able to state his case, he
realizes that his argument is futile because they are just “going to cause more
misery.”
In what is arguably the only pop song that contains the word
“opaque” (correct me if I’m wrong), George apparently infers that the
government’s mind is ‘dull, obscure and stupid,’ according to Webster’s College
Dictionary (Fourth Edition). Therefore,
it should “try thinking more.” However,
he has hope that things can turn around.
“The future still looks good,” he continues, as long as they “rectify
all the things” they’ve been doing.
If, in fact, the song was originally inspired by a woman as some
of the lyrics suggest, it isn’t a woman that I or anyone should ever want to
hook up with during our lifetimes.
Next Song – The word:
All in all, a total of fifteen recording sessions instituted in
the latter half of 1965 to record the entire “Rubber Soul” album, (which also
included their end-of-the-year single) to help capture the Christmas
bounty. “The Word” was recorded on
November 10th of that year, which was the fourteenth of those sessions. While a couple stereo mixes of previously
recorded tracks took place in the late afternoon, The Beatles arrived at 9 pm
for an evening recording session that lasted until 4:00 the next morning. Approximately the first five of these seven
hours were utilized to fully record “The Word,” while the final two hours
resulted in the rhythm track of “I’m Looking Through You” finally completed to
everyone’s satisfaction, counting the third of four sessions needed to record
that song.
After some rehearsal, three takes of the rhythm track persisted
before they finally nailed it, “take three” being the best. The rhythm track consisted of Paul on piano,
John on rhythm guitar chops, George on lead guitar and Ringo on drums.
A good number of overdubs were performed to complete the song as
we know it. Paul overdubbed his playful
bass guitar part; Ringo does two separate maraca overdubs (noticeable in the
2009 re-mastered stereo CD), and George Martin adds a menacing Harmonium part
in the instrumental section and conclusion of the song.
Quite a lot of vocal work was recorded as overdubs as well. Two sets of recorded harmonies by John, Paul,
and George commenced, the first sung in normal register and the second sung in
falsetto during the last two verses.
Paul even adds another falsetto harmony on these verses during the
maraca/harmonium overdub. John also adds
his lead vocals as an overdub and then double-track them as well. All in all, there appears to be a total of
nine voices overdubbed onto the rhythm track to achieve what we hear in the
final version.
However, what you may consider the final version may not be what
someone else considers as the final version.
The mono mix and the first stereo mix were made the following day,
November 11th, 1965, in Room 65 of EMI Studios by George Martin and engineers
Norman Smith and Mike Stone. While the
mono mix has single-tracked lead vocals from John, this stereo mix features
both of John’s lead vocal tracks. Paul’s
solo falsetto harmony in the final two verses is the only voice that can be
heard on the left channel while all of the other vocals are panned fully on the
right channel. The EMI staff desired the
harmonium overdub to appear on the right channel so, when these parts appeared
in the song, they panned it there.
However, one of the maraca parts and Paul’s falsetto vocals were also on
this track, so when the harmonium appears in the right channel, the maracas
also move there from the left track where they were for the rest of the song.
This stereo mix was sent to America and appeared on the stereo
copies of the “Rubber Soul” album.
However, George Martin wanted to improve on this stereo mix and created
a new one on November 15th, 1965 in control room of EMI Studio One with Richard
Lush replacing Mike Stone as 2nd engineer.
This is the stereo mix that appeared on the British album.
Many differences between the two stereo mixes can be
detected. Most noticeable is that the first
set of vocal harmonies is in the left channel while the second falsetto set
(including Paul’s solo falsetto) is in the right channel. John’s lead vocals are still double-tracked
but, instead of them both appearing on the same channel as on the November 11th
stereo mix, this time each of John's lead vocals flows out on opposite
channels. Therefore, one lead vocal
appears on the stereo channel with the percussion while the other appears on
the stereo channel with the rhythm track instruments. Another difference is that Paul’s bass guitar
is panned to the right channel this time so you can hear it better.
George Martin returned to the master tape of “The Word” to create
a new stereo mix in 1986 for the first compact disc release of “Rubber Soul” in
1987. He mimicked the November 15th,
1965 mix very closely, so the stereo mix originally heard in the US was all but
lost for quite a long time.
Song Structure and Style
The format used for this song consists of verses and bridges,
which has been ultra-common throughout The Beatles catalog up to this
point. However, there is a unique
similarity between this song and their 1963 sleeper “Little Child” that may
surprise many. The verses in both of
these songs contain all the harmonies while the bridges feature solo moments by
John. Also, the usual pattern for
bridges in Beatles songs stipulates that the lyrics are identical whenever the
bridge repeats. However, with both of
these tracks, the lyrics are different each time the bridge occurs, “The Word”
having THREE bridges all with unique lyrics.
This being said, the actual structure of “The Word,” after a short
introduction, is ‘verse/ bridge/ verse/ bridge/ verse/ bridge/ verse/ bridge
(instrumental)/ verse/ bridge (instrumental)’ (or ababababa).
Since Paul is playing the piano on the rhythm track, he does the
honors of counting out the song with a simple half-measure keyboard vamp to set
the tempo. A two-measure introduction
gets the ball rolling, which features nearly the full instrumentation of the
song; namely the drums, bass, piano, maracas, and Lennon’s guitar chops.
The first verse is a standard twelve measures long and pretty much
follows the established “12 bar blues” chord sequence. The two sets of harmonies (one in the left
channel and the other in the right on the common stereo mix) kick in just prior
to the first measure and maintain throughout the entire verse. The vocals maintain a pattern that consists
of a three-note rise and then a three-note descent throughout the first eight
measures even though the chord changes underneath it in the fifth and sixth
measure. The arrangement alters in the
ninth and tenth measures as the piano interrupts its usual “oom-pah” style to
hit four strident chords that are syncopated slightly to mimic the vocals on
the lyrics “so fine” and “sunshine.” The
guitar plays a single note descending scale on these same beats while the
maracas shake violently to make this part stand out. Ringo also crashes his cymbals on these same
beats and performs a rapid-fire five-beat roll on his snare after each
phrase. The final two measures of the
verse resume the instrumental and vocal pattern heard in the first two measures
of the verse with Ringo segueing into the upcoming bridge with one of his
trademark backward drums fills.
The first four-measure bridge introduces George Harrison’s clever
guitar passage that is repeated identically four times even though the chords
change in each measure. John sings the
bridge solo single-tracked (double-tracked in the early stereo mix) while the
piano plays chords on each quarter note and Ringo hits his open hi-hats on the
same beats. This combination does
wonders to highlight John’s confessional lyrics and George’s menacing guitar
riff.
A second verse then enters, which technically follows the same as
the first but with subtle differences.
First of all, the lyrics are changed to “spread the word” instead of
“say the word” as heard the first time around.
John accidentally misses one of his guitar chops in the third measure,
the one that should have occurred on the lyric “spread the word and be like
me.”
A second bridge with different lyrics then occurs but otherwise is
identical in arrangement to the first.
An interesting feature here is John’s rushing through the line “in the
good and the bad books” with fast triplets, which is not heard anywhere else in
the song. The third verse repeats the
“say the word” lyrics and shows Ringo playing two flams on his snare drum in a
slow triplet form after the words “so fine.”
Thereafter, he repeats his fast five-note snare fill after the lyric
“sunshine.”
After a third structurally identical bridge, the fourth verse
begins, which has a few subtle differences.
The second set of harmonies (in the right channel of the common stereo
mix) jumps into falsetto. The lyrics
also consist of a substantial variation from the other verses; the only one
thus far not to highlight how you’ll “be free” and “be like me.” Instead, they insist that “the only word is
love.” Ringo appears tired of playing
the same fills in the ninth and tenth measures, so he simply plays a flam on
the floor tom once in the first break and does a slow triplet fill on the snare
and mounted tom in the second.
We now enter into another bridge, but this time it’s entirely
instrumental. George Martin enters the
picture just before the bridge with a treble-heavy harmonium which he plays
throughout this section and into the first two measures of the verse that
follows. Lucky for us, this ear-piercing
sound is panned exclusively to the right channel (in both stereo mixes) and
mostly consists of a single chord with a couple stray fingering changes to add
some variance. Since John doesn’t sing
during this bridge, we can easily distinguish George’s clever guitar fills,
which engineers panned to the left channel.
The last verse then appears with falsetto harmonies still in
place; although this time, the lyrics entirely consist of the phrase “say the
word love.” This repeats four times, the
fourth with the word “word” stretched out for the entire ninth and tenth
measures. Ringo repeats the drum pattern
of the third verse, this being two flams in a slow triplet form and then a fast
five-note snare drum fill. After this, we
hear a repeat of the instrumental bridge with the harmonium in all its glory,
although it is faded out rather quickly to disguise the fact that the musicians
actually stopped the song at the end of the bridge.
Although John’s musical contribution to “The Word” may have been
minimal, he shows himself as the song’s primary spokesman by singing solo
during the bridges. With lyrics like
“I’m here to show everybody the light,” the evidence suggests this as being
John’s song entirely when, as we’ve revealed above, it was truly a
collaboration with Paul. The commanding
presence of John’s electric guitar chops, however, makes for an interesting
element to a detailed arrangement.
For sheer degree of involvement, Paul definitely shines as the man
who holds the entire song together. His
rhythmic piano work propels the track as does his intricate bass guitar groove
that comes alive in the right channel of the popular second stereo mix (the
first stereo mix buries this magnificent performance in the left channel with
the rhythm track). His bass work does
much to continue the premise of the entire “Rubber Soul” album, namely to
emphasize American soul music. Although
cracking at times, Paul’s layers of harmonies work well to fill out the
arrangement.
George Harrison’s primary contribution to “The Word” is his
expertly performed guitar riff which is played repeatedly in every bridge,
along with his less distinguished vocal harmonies during the verses. Ringo puts in one of his best performances to
date, due in part to the engineers keeping the drum kit high in the mix when
the rhythm track occurred. His
flamboyant backward drum fills, starting with the left hand but played on a
right-handed set up (Ringo was left-handed), will surface even more frequently
as The Beatles career progresses, such as his work on the following years’
“Rain.”
John Lennon was mostly showing himself as the vulnerable or
disheartened singer/songwriter as of late, but he adds a new persona to his
arsenal with “The Word.” He is now the
self-proclaimed guru that has discovered the meaning of life and has taken it
upon himself to make his adoring fans aware of it. “I’m here to show everybody the light,” he
preaches. His consistent sly charm over
the past few years, though, keeps everybody on the edge of their seat instead
of rolling their eyes.
The message John shares was right before his eyes all along,
saying, “In the beginning, I misunderstood.”
But now with his added insight (and/or LSD), he realizes, “but now I’ve
got it.” The promise is that “you’ll be
free” if you “say the word.” His
admonition will even fulfill the desire to “be like me,” which is something
every 1965 Beatle-maniac would definitely want.
One mustn’t keep this knowledge to oneself either; we all must “spread
the word” as well.
His disciples (ahem…background singers) chant for us to “give the
word a chance.” After all, “the only
word is love” anyway. It’s as pure and
enlightening as “sunshine,” so it “must be right.”
BEATLEMANIAC.
Just click on the “My Shop” tab near the top of this page for full details.
No comments:
Post a Comment