And Your Bird Can Sing, plus For No One and their incredible recording process advancements revealed.

On April 20th, 1966, The Beatles entered EMI Studio Two at 2:30 pm for their tenth recording session for what became their British “Revolver” album, as well as their first British 1966 single.  This session lasted a whopping twelve hours, ending at 2:30 am the next day.  Surprisingly, not one note played during this session was deemed worthy of being released at the time.  The two songs attempted on this day, these being “And Your Bird Can Sing” and George Harrison’s “Taxman,” were both started afresh during later sessions.

Considerable time took a toll working out an arrangement and recording the rhythm tracks for “And Your Bird Can Sing.”  They decided to copy a Byrds-like sound with George using his 1965 Rickenbacker 360/12-string guitar during the rhythm track along with John on electric rhythm guitar and Ringo on drums.  The second take was deemed best (John’s voice at the end is heard saying, “That was it, wasn’t it?) and then subject to various overdubs.

The overdubs included harmony lead guitar passages in the instrumental section and conclusion of the song.  “I think it was Paul and me, or maybe John and me, playing in harmony,” George recalls in 1987, “quite a complicated little line that goes through the middle-eight.”  Given Paul’s abilities on guitar and his occasional role as lead guitarist on Beatles songs, most sources agree in assuming it was Paul that played lead guitar with George on this overdub.  Also recorded at this point was a tambourine overdub, Paul’s excellent bass work, and various vocals.

John first sang lead vocals as an overdub and then John and Paul added a vocal harmony track with Paul harmonizing throughout the entire verses.  One of these harmony vocal attempts, which EMI preserved on a separate track, reveals John and Paul getting an acute case of the giggles.  On the lead vocal track, just before he began singing, John made a “munching” sound with his mouth which put them both in hysterics throughout the harmony overdub even though they did try to regain composure at some points.  John sings the first line of the second bridge as “when your bike is broken” instead of “bird is broken” as heard on the lead vocal track and, to end this obviously faulted overdub that couldn’t be used, finished it off with purposely off-key whistling during what would have been the fade-out of the song.  The next attempt at overdubbing these harmonies was recorded on a different track to preserve this humorous take for posterity, which appears on the 1996 release “Anthology 2.”

At approximately midnight, a total of nine-and-a-half hours were spent putting together this elaborate recording which, minus the “giggling” vocal track, would have made a suitable addition to the resulting “Revolver” album.  Many today even argue that this is the better version, albeit this opinion may be biased by not hearing this gem until three decades after the released version came out.  Nonetheless, this excellent rendition was deemed unworthy for the album, possibly because of wanting to tighten up the harmony guitar work which ultimately became the focal point of the song during the song’s next session.  The decision to re-record the song likely came later, however, because five mono mixes of the song occurred at the end of this day by producer George Martin and engineers Geoff Emerick and Phil McDonald.

It’s interesting to note the differences in the arrangement from what became the finished version recorded six days later.  First to be noted is the key, which is in D in the first recording and raised to E in the released recording.  This was probably due to “vari-speed” rather than actually changing the key, since they were experimenting quite a lot with this recording technique at the time (see “I’m Only Sleeping” as an example).  Also, on the released version, John’s single-tracked vocals were recorded with ADT (artificial double-tracking) instead of double-tracking and the vocal harmonies are heard only during strategic portions of the verses instead of throughout the entire verses as on the first version.  Also, the third verse appeared directly after the first bridge in the early rendition while it doesn't appear until the end in the released version.  The early version also has a ‘Beatles break’ at the end of the last verse which highlights the last harmonized word “me” followed by an impressive drum fill from Ringo and bass run from Paul.  This was omitted in the released version, opting instead to just continue the rhythm as usual.  The intention was to fade out the first version with the harmonized guitars repeating, while a pre-arranged harmonized guitar passage was worked out for the released version that resulted in a full ending.

Six days later on April 26th, 1966, which was now the thirteenth session for the “Revolver” album, The Beatles began another twelve-hour session (actually twelve hours and fifteen minutes to be exact) with its sole mission being to record an entirely new version of “And Your Bird Can Sing.”  “Okay boys, quite brisk, moderato, foxtrot!” were the words John Lennon used to start take one, which was his humorous take on the directive found on sheet music of the time.

Eleven takes of a basic rhythm track followed, these being numbered 3 through 13 because of the two takes recorded for the first version of the song six days earlier.  The rhythm track consisted of John on electric rhythm guitar, Paul on bass, Ringo on drums and George on lead guitar playing the intricate passages that would be harmonized by Paul as an overdub.  Eleven takes were probably needed because of the intricacies of George’s difficult part.

According to Mark Lewisohn in his book “The Beatles Recording Sessions,” the first take of the rhythm track recorded this day “was a very heavy recording but the song grew progressively lighter after that, although guitars were always well to the fore.”  Although a total of thirteen recorded rhythm tracks took place, a decision was made that take ten was the best.  The tape was therefore spooled back to take ten for overdubs.

However, another decision came forth regarding the conclusion of the song.  The interplay of George’s guitar and Paul’s bass worked best on take six, so the intention was to replace the end of take ten with the end of take six.  This was decided on this day although the edit to combine these takes wouldn’t take place until the mixing stage.  The edit enters at the 1:34 point of the song, on the second guitar note of the harmonized lead guitar passage that continues until the song's conclusion.  However, take six was also included in the overdub process.

The overdubs for the song included John’s lead vocals applied with ADT, Paul and George’s harmony vocals (also with ADT applied), handclaps, tambourine (reportedly played by John), hi-hat splashes (in the bridges) and occasional cymbal crashes by Ringo and harmony lead guitar passages by Paul.  These harmony guitar passages also applied them as overdubs to the end of take six for later editing purposes.  At 2:45 am the next day, the recording of the re-make of “And Your Bird Can Sing” was complete.

The first mono mix of the song happened on May 12th, 1966 with the sole intention of being shipped to Capitol Records in the US for inclusion on their make-shift album “Yesterday…And Today.”  George Martin, Geoff Emerick, and 2nd engineer Jerry Boys entered the control room of EMI Studio Three on this day to make this mix, as well as the other two tracks, shipped quickly to Capitol, these being “I’m Only Sleeping’ and “Dr. Robert.”  A mono mix of take ten and the ending of take six were made, then edited together to make a complete mix.  With the harmony guitar passages in full volume during the bridges, this mix was unique to America at the time.

May 20th, 1966 was the day that two stereo mixes of the song occurred, one used for the American "Yesterday...And Today" album and the other for the British “Revolver” album.  These were made in the control room of EMI Studio One by George Martin, Geoff Emerick, and Phil McDonald.  Once again, in both cases, separate mixes were first made of take ten and then the ending of take six, these then being edited together to comprise each final stereo mix.  For the "Revolver" mix, the guitar harmonies in the bridges were put substantially quieter during the bridges, and the ending was faded somewhat quickly so that Paul’s ending bass guitar flourish and a stray note on George’s guitar are less prominent as compared to the previously created American mono mix.  Each track of the vocals engineers created through ADT was isolated on either the left or right channel so that it appears that all of the vocals lay centered in the stereo mix.  The bass guitar, as well as the tambourine, hi-hat and cymbal crash overdubs, were placed primarily on the right channel while the rhythm track is primarily on the left channel.

The stereo mix intended for the "Yesterday...And Today" album arrived at Capitol Records a little too late for their liking, so the American label created a fake-stereo version of the song to appear on stereo pressings of the album.  However, tape editions and later vinyl pressings of the album did contain this newly created stereo mix.  Subtle differences are apparent on this mix, such as the guitar harmonies during the bridges being louder and a somewhat longer volume fade at the song's conclusion.

On June 6th, 1966, the mono mix included on the British “Revolver” album was created in the control room of EMI Studio Three by the same team of Martin, Emerick, and McDonald.  Again, two mixes took place, take ten for the majority of the song and take six for the ending.  However, they

neglected to edit the two together until June 8th, 1966 in the control room of EMI Studio Two by Martin, Emerick and 2nd engineer Richard Lush.  This time around, the harmony guitars in the bridges are mixed a little louder than in the British stereo mix but not as loud as the American mono mix done on May 12th.  The handclaps are a little quieter here, but the ending has the bass flourish and stray guitar note in full bloom.

Song Structure and Style.

While “And Your Bird Can Sing” was written in the confines of the usual verses and bridges, the positioning of these substantially breaks new ground for the group.  In fact, the differences between the first recorded version and the final release show that they felt an overhaul was needed within the structure to make it more unique.  In the end, the structure consists of a ‘verse/ verse/ bridge/ verse (solo)/ bridge/ verse/ verse (solo)’ format (or aababaa).  A short instrumental intro and conclusion also add to its distinctiveness.

The introduction is four measures long and stays put in the home key of E major, the full band crashing in on the one-beat.  The main focus of the introduction, as arguably could be said about the entire song, is the classical/baroque-sounding harmonized guitar work of George and Paul which winds up and down the scale and mostly played in eighth notes.  This is actually just the first half of the guitar solo which we’ll hear twice later in the song.  Being as proud as they were of this feature of the song, they preview it here as a taste of the magic that will appear later.  The guitar riff ends with a stunning syncopated rising-and-falling trill which we’ll also hear a few measures later.  The last measure of this intro also introduces the tambourine which, as is apparent as the song progresses, is played in a somewhat undecided pattern that periodically changes, due possibly by being played by Lennon who doesn’t pick up a percussion instrument very often.

The eight-measure first verse is an uncovering of what is underneath the showcased winding lead guitar work of the introduction, as if peeling away the outer layer of an onion, so to speak.  What is underneath is a somewhat clunky Lennon rhythm guitar pattern played mostly in quarter notes accentuated by Ringo’s simple rock drum pattern and Paul’s detailed bass work.  However, John’s ADT treated lead vocals appear which takes center stage just as the winding lead guitars of the intro disappear from view.  The vocal pattern to the first two measures of each of the three verses differ, this one being sung mostly on a single note in a somewhat rushed pattern with the words “tell me that you’ve got everything you want.”

Instead of the harmonized singing throughout the verses like the first recorded version, Paul and George chime in only on the title of the song and the finale emphasized “me” in the seventh measure.  Another interesting feature of the first verse is the repeat of the syncopated ending guitar trill we just heard in the introduction.  This is undoubtedly added to fill in the silence in the melody line during the eighth measure.

The second eight-measure verse is nearly identical in format with a few exceptions.  The melody line of the first two measures is sung in strict quarter notes this time around with the words “you say you’ve seen seven wonders.”  Also, since the harmony guitar leads will be appearing immediately in the following bridge, the eighth measure remains somewhat naked in anticipation of what will follow.  The first overdubbed cymbal crash enters on the downbeat of the seventh measure just before the harmonized lyric “me.”

The first bridge then follows, which is also eight measures long and sung solo by Lennon throughout.  As a backdrop, an impressive rising-and-falling dual guitar lead continues throughout the entire bridge which strategically adjusts with the chord changes.  Other added elements in the bridge are handclaps and overdubbed hi-hat splashes in each measure.

Instead of jumping into the third vocal verse as done in their first version, they decide to omit this and go right into the guitar solo, which plays against the chord pattern of the verse.  Well, almost, anyway.  The chord played in the sixth measure of the bridge is a B7 instead of an A as heard in the verses, probably changed to accommodate the guitar leads that accompany this section of the song.  The winding dual guitar leads of the intro are identically repeated in the first four measures while an excellently crafted dual run was written for the final four measures that rise quite high and then quickly fall back down in the final measure.  (Awkwardly, the similar guitar work in the first recorded version jump up high and then stay there, so this was something they obviously knew to change for the released version.)

One final element of the guitar solo to mention here is the assumingly misplaced overdubbed cymbal crash on the second beat of the first measure.  If it were played simultaneously with Ringo’s drums on the rhythm track, he no doubts would have crashed the cymbal on the downbeat as he habitually had done throughout The Beatles cannon.  But, because it was overdubbed, and possibly because it would have interfered with an edit on an available track, this crash was performed where it was.  Or maybe Ringo was just a little late.  :-)

After a structurally identical second bridge, the third verse finally appears, which is also eight measures in length.  This begins with another overdubbed cymbal crash which, this time, comes in slightly early, which gives the impression that an edit occurred when there apparently wasn’t one.  The first two measures of this verse differ even more than the first two by featuring three-part harmony on the words “tell me that you’ve heard every sound there is.”  The bass pattern Paul uses here actually gives the impression of a changed chord pattern for these measures instead of just remaining on the E chord.  John, while being slightly out of his range, attempts an interesting warble on the phrase “hear me” in order to mix things up even a little more.

The Beatles then decide to perform a complete repeat of the delicious eight-measure guitar solo complete with the high register ending and falling conclusion.  This section begins with another overdubbed cymbal crash which, this time, hits the perfect mark on the downbeat.  (Practice makes perfect.)  They then tease us by following this solo with what appears to be another guitar solo but is, in essence, a three-times repetition of the first measure of the guitar solo.  Each phrase begins with a distinctive single low-guitar note which resembles, to my ears anyway, a silly bicycle horn somewhat reminiscent to what’s heard at the end of Herb Alpert’s “Tijuana Taxi.”

After these three teasing guitar riffs are complete, the song ends on an A major chord.  Ending a song in this way seemed to be the latest trick in the groups’ bag, both “Dr. Robert” and “For No One” concludes similarly.

Instrumentally, the song ends with a legitimate cymbal crash from Ringo that was performed on the actual rhythm track while Paul’s bass flails away as if performing ‘Morse code’ on a single note while a subtle stray guitar note appears in the fade-out.

John’s lead vocal work gets sung in a rather dry and abrasive manner that suits the song’s somewhat dirty-sounding delivery.  His electric rhythm guitar may be rudimentary, but its placement loud in the mix makes its appearance known.  His apparent tambourine playing is erratic but nicely done.  It is obvious that this is John’s platform, and no one could ever infer otherwise.

George plays an impressive role as lead guitarist and his understandable pride in this song, as mentioned earlier, was detailed in interviews.  His supporting vocal harmonies are also ‘spot on.’  Paul is also quite impressively busy on this track, playing intricate walking bass lines and adding a guitar harmony to George’s flowing guitar leads with much finesse.  His harmony vocals are stunning as are always expected from him.  Ringo doesn’t add any fills to the rhythm track as he had done in the first recording (which was quite impressive) but adds little subtle touches as overdubs to sweeten the arrangement.

Delving into the meaning of the lyrics can be a tough assignment and is subject to personal interpretation since John (or Paul) never thought to explain them.  Opinions vary and have circulated among Beatles fans to the point of being viewed as fact, such as the “bird” being Mick Jagger’s then-girlfriend Marianne Faithfull (the opinion apparently deriving from journalist Richard Simpson).  Another story is that John turned miffed about a recent magazine article in Esquire about Frank Sinatra being able to afford "anything he wants," Frank also putting down The Beatles' talent in the article.  The singer repeatedly uses the word "bird" during this interview, the inference being the male sex organ.  Since both John and Paul have been openly honest about lyric meanings, both of these stories seem unlikely.

The best way to decipher some substance to “And Your Bird Can Sing,” I feel, is to examine where John’s head was at during the time he crafted the song.  On March 4th, 1966, a journalist friend of the Lennon’s, Maureen Cleave, conducted an interview with the Beatle first published in the “London Evening Standard.”  While John’s comment in this article about The Beatles being “more popular than Jesus” is what caught the most attention, his views on materialism was quite telling, the substance of which appears to rear its head into the song in question.

“Famous and loaded as I am,” John relates in this interview, “I still have to meet soft people.  It often comes into my mind that I’m not really rich.  There are really rich people, but I don’t know where they are.”  The article also mentions many of John’s “prized possessions” he displayed in his Weybridge home, such as a suit of armor named “Sidney,” a room full of model racing cars that he’d lost interest in, a swimming pool, a Rolls Royce (with a television, folding bed, refrigerator and telephone installed inside), a huge altar crucifix, and a gorilla suit (“That’s the only suit that fits me”).  Maureen Cleave states in the article:  “One feels that his possessions – to which he adds daily – have got the upper hand.”

With this in mind, the lyrical content of “And Your Bird Can Sing” surprisingly becomes a little clearer.  Disguised as a love song, John addresses the well-to-do female in question with the statement “You tell me that you’ve got everything you want…”  And then, in a sarcastic or hyperbolic “all this and heaven too” tone, he continues “…and your bird can sing” as if to infer that there is nothing on this earth that she couldn’t acquire for herself.  His point is then made clear by stating, “you don’t get me,” ‘getting’ referring to understanding.  In fact, the real-life 1966 John Lennon was someone that most people didn’t “get.”  Maureen Cleave herself describes him in the above article as “unpredictable, indolent, disorganized, childish, vague, charming, and quick-witted.”

The second verse continues this same line of reasoning, but this time focusing on what the girl had seen instead of gotten.  She had “seen seven wonders,” no doubt referring to the seven wonders of the world, then extravagantly and sarcastically continuing the statement with “…and your bird is green,” which probably is no more significant than the color green being something he also can see.  The thought is then appropriately concluded with “you can’t see me,” suggesting his being unattainable for her.

Putting things in a nutshell, the first bridge has John instructing her to look in his “direction” whenever her “prized possessions” begin to ‘weigh her down.’  “I’ll be ‘round,” he assures as a hopeful suitor would.  Then, in a perceived fit of silliness (or drug influence, or both), the second bridge goes way off the beaten path by referring to her bird being “broken” and then being “awoken,” which doesn’t seem to have anything to do with anything.  Unpredictable indeed.

The last verse continues the pattern of the first two but this time in the category of hearing.  The woman has “heard every sound there is,” but she can’t “hear” John.  Curiously, the current hyperbolic reference to the bird shows that it “can swing,” possibly a reference to dancing to music.  Or maybe just another case of silliness.  Maybe these lyrics are the reason why John and Paul fell into a fit of laughter during the recording of the first recorded version of the song.

One thing we can note with certainty is that the title phrase “and your bird can sing” actually only appears once in the song, which is in the first verse.  Soon there will come a time when Beatles songs won’t have the title in the lyrics at all, such as “Yer Blues” and “For You Blue.”

Next Song – For No One:

As the band conquered right around the halfway mark of recording their “Revolver” album, Paul and Ringo entered EMI Studio Two on May 9th, 1966 at 7 pm for a four-hour session devoted to beginning Paul’s “For No One.” A simple rhythm track was recorded with only Paul on piano and Ringo on drums, which were played very subtly mostly on the hi-hat. It took ten attempts to get it right; the tenth take now ready for overdubs.

A few tackled overdubs occurred during these four hours, Paul’s bass and Ringo’s tambourine passed approval before the day was complete. Another overdub on an instrument called a clavichord also surfaced. Producer George Martin remembers: “On ‘For No One,’ the track was laid down on my own clavichord. I brought it in from my home because I thought it had a nice sound. It was a very strange instrument to record, and Paul played it.” Mark Lewisohn, in his book “The Beatles Recording Sessions,” insists that the clavichord was “hired at a cost of five guineas from George Martin’s AIR Company.” In any event, George Martin was responsible for getting it in the studio on that day. At 11 pm, the two Beatles called a halt to the session which left the song as an instrumental, deciding to record the vocals on another day.

A week later, on May 16th, 1966, the time apparently was right to record Paul’s vocal track. This session took place in EMI Studio Two starting at 2:30 pm with at least Paul present, him being the only voice heard in the two overdubs performed on this day (the low register “one, two, three, four” intro of “Taxman” also being recorded). Paul’s lead vocal on “For No One” was recorded at 47 ½ cycles so that it would sound slightly faster when played back.

Since a section of the song was left open for a solo, they needed another track on the four-track tape to record it at a later date. Therefore, two tape reductions were made to open up another track marked as takes 13 and 14, for some reason neglecting the numbers 11 and 12. At any rate, take 14 was now the finished product up to this point. With tape copying and mixing performed earlier on other songs this day, the session finally wound down at 1:30 am the next morning.

“Occasionally we’d have an idea for some new kind of instrumentation, particularly for solos,” relates Paul. “On ‘For No One,’ I was interested in the French horn; because it was an instrument I’d always loved from when I was a kid. It’s a beautiful sound, so I went to George Martin and said, ‘How can we go about this?’ And he said, ‘Well, let me get the very finest.’ That was one of the great things about George. He knew how to obtain the best musicians and would suggest getting them. On this occasion, he suggested Alan Civil, who, like all these great blokes, looks quite ordinary at the session – but plays like an angel.”

Alan Civil was the principal horn player for the BBC Symphony Orchestra. “George Martin rang me up,” Alan remembers, “and said ‘We want a French horn obbligato on a Beatles song. Can you do it?’ I knew George from his very early days at EMI because I’d been doing a lot of freelance work then. So I turned up at Abbey Road, and all the bobbysoxers were hanging around outside and trying to look through the windows.” This session was on May 19th, 1966, in EMI Studio Three starting at 7 pm.

He continues: “I thought the song was called ‘For Number One’ because I saw ‘For No One’ written down somewhere. Anyway, they played the existing tape to me, which was complete, and I thought it had been recorded in rather bad musical style, in that it was ‘in the cracks,’ neither B-flat nor B-major. This posed a certain difficulty in tuning my instrument. Paul said, ‘We want something there. Can you play something that fits in?’ It was rather difficult to actually understand exactly what they wanted, so I made something up which was middle register, a baroque style solo. I played it several times; each take wiping out the previous attempt.”

As for what melody Alan played, Paul remembers it differently. “George asked me, ‘Now, what do you want him to play?’ I said, ‘Something like this,’ and sang the solo to him, and he wrote it down. Towards the end of the session, when we were getting the piece down for Alan to play, George explained to me the range of the instrument: ‘Well, it goes from here to this top E,’ and I said, ‘What if we ask him to play an F?’ George saw the joke and joined in the conspiracy. We came to the session and Alan looked up from his bit of paper: ‘Eh, George? I think there’s a mistake here – you’ve got a high F written down.’ Then George and I said, ‘Yeah,’ and smiled back at him, and he knew what we were up to and played it. These great players will do it. Even though it’s officially off the end of their instrument, they can do it, and they’re quite into it occasionally. It’s a nice little solo.”

Engineer Geoff Emerick, in his book “Here, There And Everywhere,” gives his account of this day: “Alan was under a lot of pressure doing that overdub because it was so hard to hit the high note in the solo. In fact, most people would have never written that part for a French horn player because it was too high to play, but that was the note Paul wanted to hear, and so that was the note he was going to get. We felt that Alan, being the best horn player in London, could actually hit it, even though most horn players couldn’t. Alan was reluctant to even try it; he was actually breaking out into a sweat, telling everyone it really shouldn’t be done. But eventually he gave it a go and pulled it off.”

George Martin remembers: “Paul didn’t realize how brilliantly Alan Civil was doing. We got the definitive performance, and Paul said, ‘Well, OK, I think you can do it better than that, can’t you, Alan?’ Alan nearly exploded. Of course, he didn’t do it better than that, and the way we’d already heard, it was the way you hear it now.” Geoff Emerick adds: “The Beatles were perfectionists, and they didn’t always understand…Paul’s attitude toward outside musicians was ‘You’re being paid to do a job, so just do it.’…There was also a generational clash because most of those outside musicians were quite a bit older than The Beatles. They were pleased to be there, pleased to have the credit on their resumes, but they didn’t know how to relate to the music or the musicians – and The Beatles didn’t really know how to relate to them, either. George Martin served as the middleman, as the bridge between the two generations.”

Geoff continues: “Thought Alan was a wreck by the time he left that session, he was well pleased with what he’d done because it was the performance of his life. In fact, he became a star in his own right because of that, but the problem was that, from that day on, arrangers would expect other horn players to be able to do what he had done, and they were often disappointed if they gave parts to other players of lesser ability.”

Alan relates: “My friends would ask, ‘What have you done this week?’ and I would say, ‘Oh, I played with Otto Klemperer and Rudolf Kempe’ – that didn’t mean anything to them. But to say that you’d played with The Beatles was amazing. The day would almost go into their diaries as being the day they met someone who’d played with The Beatles. Even now, while only a few people come up to me and say ‘I do like your Mozart horn concertos,’ so many others say, ‘See that big grey-haired old chap over there? – he played with The Beatles!’ For me, it was just another day’s work, the third session that day in fact, but it was very interesting.”

Alan not only played his designated solo in the fourth verse, but he also reprised it in the sixth verse as well. With one final ending note at the conclusion of the song, Alan was done for the day, the four-hour session ending at 11 pm. He was reportedly paid about 50 pounds for his work on this session, not to mention the coveted prize of receiving an actual credit on the back cover of a Beatles album, something almost no one could boast of up to this time.

Alan did return to EMI Studios to work with The Beatles once again on February 10th, 1967 as one of the orchestra musicians on “A Day In The Life.” Shortly after his interview with Mark Lewisohn for the book “The Beatles Recording Sessions,” he, unfortunately, passed away on March 19th, 1989 in his hometown of Lambeth, London, England at the young age of 59.

One matter needs closure regarding the choice of Alan Civil for this session. Paul’s book “Many Years From Now” relates how premier horn player Dennis Brain was originally booked for the “For No One” session but that he died in a car crash just before the day arrived. The facts reveal that Dennis Brain did indeed die from a car crash; however, this was on September 1st, 1957. Therefore, the recollections of Paul and co-author Barry Miles were mistaken in this instance.

June 6th, 1966 was the first attempt at mono mixing “For No One,” this being accomplished in the control room of EMI Studio Three by George Martin, Geoff Emerick, and 2nd engineer Phil McDonald. Six attempts took place, but they were unsatisfied with the results and left it for another time.

A marathon mixing session for the “Revolver” album took place on June 21st, 1966 in the control room of EMI Studio Three with the same production team presiding. Both the released mono and stereo mixes of the song were produced on this day, two attempts made for the mono (remix 6 being the keeper) while only one was needed to nail the stereo. The rhythm track of piano and quiet drums appears in the right channel along with the clavichord, while the French horn, the bass guitar, and the tambourine are in the left channel. The lead vocals lay centered in the mix.

Sometime between November of 1982 and July of 1983, Paul McCartney recorded a new studio recording of “For No One” for inclusion in the film and soundtrack album for “Give My Regards To Broad Street.” The actual recording was previewed for George Martin, who was brought in as producer of this project, by a pretty and yet comical acoustic guitar demo from Paul. This demo brings out the beauty of the piece while Paul sings the French horn solo to a tee. As for the film and soundtrack version, an employed string section and actual French horn soloist proved well to good effect.

Song Structure and Style.

The structure of “For No One” is quite busy, encompassing six eight-measure verses (one slotted for the French horn solo) and three ten-measure choruses. The format is very symmetrical, fitting together as ‘verse/ verse/ chorus/ verse/ verse (solo)/ chorus/ verse/ verse/ chorus’ (or aabaabaab). So concise is this structure that no introduction or conclusion required more input.

The first verse begins immediately with the subdued sound of piano and hi-hat from the rhythm track overshadowed by the overdubbed clavichord as the more predominant instrument. Paul’s single-tracked lead vocals begin on the two-beat of the first measure, his being the only voice heard throughout the entire song. A second eight-measure verse enters in immediately afterward with the same simple instrumentation. Both verses contain a couple "blue notes" – that is, notes that add a slight "bluesy" feel to the melody line. In the first verse, it appears on the lyric “when she no longer needs you,” and then on “hurry, she no longer needs you” in the second verse.

The chorus is next to appear, Paul beginning the lyrics as a run-in in the last measure of the previous verse with the lyrics “and in her eyes.” The chorus brings new instrumentation onto the songs’ pallet, the bass guitar and tambourine immerging as the piano now takes center stage, the clavichord standing down in the mix at this point. The key also dramatically changes from C major in the verses to D minor in the chorus. After the poignant line “a love that should have lasted years,” a tenth measure is inserted to transcend back from D minor to C major to start another chorus. Notice here that Ringo continues a straight tambourine beat in the final measure as he’s played throughout the chorus, something that he’ll change in future choruses.

The third verse then appears, bringing the prominence of the clavichord back into view, although the bass guitar and tambourine apparently are here to stay at this point. The final measure of this verse shows the gradual increase the French horn volume, which then plays its lilting obbligato that completely comprises the fourth verse, thereby turning it into the instrumental solo section of the song.

During the final notes of the French horn solo in the last measure, Paul once again begins singing his melody line for the repeated chorus which immediately follows the solo verse. Once again, the piano figure overshadows the clavichord, which adds a slight classical feel to the song. This time, Ringo decides to shake the tambourine during the final measure as a backdrop to the key change back to another verse. One can assume that this was a planned transition but later forgotten the first time around.

Another set of verses are next to appear, the clavichord once again being the dominant instrument. The second of these verses is unique in two respects, one being that Paul appears to repeat the first verse at this point with the lyrics “your day breaks, your mind aches.” Repeating the first verse later in the song is a classic Beatles ploy, one that they’ve used extensively throughout their career up to this point. However, the lyrics then expand the story yet further with the lyric “there will be times when all the things she said…” The other unique aspect of this verse is the reprise of the French horn solo directly on top of Paul’s vocal track. He actually only performs the first half of the solo while letting his final note trail off in the fifth measure.

One final chorus completes the picture, bringing back the classical piano fingering as the stand-out instrument. The final measure, which usually is used to bring us back to the key of C major, is instead used to let the music hang in the air thereby leaving the story unresolved, or ‘to be continued…’ Ringo remembers to shake the tambourine during this point as Alan Civil plays one last hanging note as a beautiful finishing touch. The sustained chords near the song’s conclusion are also slowed down for great effect, something that Paul was prone to do in every chorus when he performed the song in later years.

Needless to say, this is Paul’s baby through-and-through, undoubtedly with the classically-trained assistance from producer George Martin for the arrangement. His piano and clavichord playing is performed flawlessly and fitting for the intended feel of the song, as is his precise bass guitar work which switches octaves for his descending lines when appropriate. His vocals, single-tracked to accentuate the desperateness of the subject matter, are voiced strategically and precisely.

Ringo may have been used only as window dressing for the occasion, but the subtleness of his performance was just what was needed. No wonder his initial drum track sounds buried in the mix - so as to hide the cloying snare drum beats that would have spoiled the mood (evidenced by bootleg recordings that have surfaced). Nonetheless, his hi-hat splashes and tambourine work with alternating accent patterns suit the arrangement nicely.

The beautifully played Alan Civil French horn solos are arguably the most striking feature of the song. While it does appear slightly rushed in places both times his solo appears (which may have been why Paul suggested for him to try again), easily seems overlooked as a human flaw that adds character to such a mature piece of work.

This third-person narrative, rightly interpreted as the man speaking to himself, displays the vulnerability and helplessness of his situation, underpinned by the inevitability of a failed relationship. Possibly inspired by viewing the John Schlesinger film “Darling” (as suggested by Ian MacDonald in his book “Revolution In The Head”), the male character interprets “all her (previous) words of kindness” as things of the past, them just "lingering on" in his mind as a pleasant memory.

The woman portrays as going through her daily routine (“she wakes up, she makes up”) as well as outside interests (“you stay home, she goes out”) without any need for him anymore. Her attitude or inner thoughts are even apparent, the line “she says that long ago she knew someone, but now he’s gone, she doesn’t need him” obviously being a reference to the main character as "the man I once knew."

The stinging line of the song, her straightforward statement that “her love is dead,” is greeted with a frank dismissal. Even though “in her eyes, you see nothing,” and she even states this to be a fact, you still “think she needs you.” After all, “you want her, you need her,” and it's gut-wrenching to come to terms with the fact that the love affair is coming to an end. In the morning, when “day breaks” and one can think more clearly, he will play out the true scenario in his mind (“all the things she said will fill your head”), and he’ll finally face the truth. Although this love “should have lasted years,” it really is over and time to move on.

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