On April 27th, 1966, which was the fourteenth day of recording
sessions for what became their “Revolver” album, The Beatles entered EMI Studio
Three to start work on “I’m Only Sleeping.”
Before recording began, however, they were present in the control room
to oversee multiple mono mixes of three recently recorded songs, none of which
made it onto the finished album. It
wasn’t until 11:30 pm that they found their way into the actual recording
studio to begin working on the new song, their actual tiredness possibly
contributing to the dreamy results in the finished product.
No doubt starting with some rehearsals, they laid down eleven
takes of the rhythm track, which consisted of John and George on acoustic
guitars, Paul on bass and Ringo on drums.
No vocals were recorded on this day, the beat during the breaks in the
song being kept by someone snapping their fingers (which can quietly be heard
just before the first bridge in the finished recording). With an air of experimentation running high in
the studio, engineer Geoff Emerick recorded this rhythm track at 56 cycles per
second with the intention of it sounding more labored and sleepy-sounding when
played back at the normal 50 cycles. The
eleventh take was found to be best and, by 3 am, it was time for the group to
go home and do some actual “sleeping.”
It appears, though, that the group wasn’t quite happy with the
results so far and wanted to start again fresh.
So two days later, on April 29th, 1966, they entered EMI Studio Three at
5 pm to take another crack at the song with a much different approach. The first job of the day, however, was laying
down some vocal overdubs onto the recently recorded “Eleanor Rigby” and then,
after this was complete at approximately 7 pm, they returned their attention to
“I’m Only Sleeping.”
“I believe we taught George Martin how to keep the tape rolling,”
Ringo remembers about the sessions of those times. “He lost that old attitude that you only
press the button when you are going to do the take. We began to have the tape rolling all of the
time.” Mark Lewisohn, in his book “The
Beatles Recording Sessions,” explains further about this practice as one of the
new recording techniques they began early in 1965, saying they would “rehearse
songs with a tape machine running, spooling back to record properly over the
rehearsed material.”
The April 29th, 1966 recording session for “I’m Only Sleeping” is
the only released evidence of this practice as available on the “Anthology 2”
album. The Beatles ran through a good
degree of taped rehearsal of the song with acoustic guitar, drums and
vibraphone (probably played by Paul).
They then decided that they were ready to start taping a new version of
the song so, having spooled the tape back, proper recording began. They apparently decided to drop the
vibraphone idea and started fresh with a simple acoustic guitar and tambourine
arrangement with full vocal harmonies from John and Paul recorded live. Five takes of this were recorded, the first
of which began with John exaggeratingly calling out “I’m Only Sleeping, take
one” although, of course, there were already eleven takes in existence. He undoubtedly felt they didn’t count since
they were starting to record the song all over again. After all five takes were completed, the tape
then revealed the remainder of the rehearsals with the vibraphone, only about a
minute or so left. Both take one and the
vibraphone rehearsal is included on “Anthology 2.”
As it turned out, this whole exercise was deemed unsuitable and a
decision was made to return to the recording made two days previously. They made use of the remaining time in the
studio on this day to overdub John’s lead vocals onto the previously recorded
‘take eleven,' clipping off a brief acoustic guitar introduction in the
process. “We tried to get the vocals to
sound like somebody’s asleep, which is very difficult,” George Harrison
explained.
More ‘vari-speed’ experimentation ensued; the rhythm track being
played back at 47 ¾ cycles which slowed down the original recording
tremendously since it was recorded at 56 cycles as previously noted. John’s vocals were then recorded at 45 cycles
so that it would come through with a higher tonality when played at regular
speed. While this sounds confusing, the
resulting effect is especially noteworthy on the finished product, the rhythm
track being recorded faster and being slowed down while the lead vocals were
recorded slower and sped up. This puts
the finished song in the very odd key of E-flat minor (instead of E-minor as
probably originally played). Finally, by
1 am the following morning, the lead vocals of “I’m Only Sleeping” was
complete.
Their next recording session was on May 5th, 1966 in EMI Studio
Three which began at 9:30 pm. This
five-and-a-half-hour session (ending at 3 am the next day) accomplished only
one thing, but it was well worth the time spent. The very first backwards guitar solo in
recording history was written, arranged and performed on this day, the results
turning the world on its ear!
According to George Harrison, they actually experimented with
backwards guitar during the making of the song “Rain” on April 14th of that
year, although the results were either omitted or buried somewhere in the
mix. “We turned the tape over and put it
on backwards, and then played some guitar notes to it,” he remembers, “just
playing little bits, guessing, hoping it fitted in…We were excited to hear what
it sounded like, and it was magic.”
However, Paul remembers things a little differently. He recalls that George was attempting to
record the guitar solo to “I’m Only Sleeping” on May 5th when the tape operator
inadvertently put the tape on ‘tails out,’ which created quite a stir when The
Beatles heard it played back to them.
“It played backwards,” Paul explains as if this was the first time, they
heard backward guitars. He
continues: “and, ‘What the hell is going
on?’ Those effects! Nobody knew how those sounded then. We said, ‘My God, that is fantastic! Can we do that for real?’ So, George Martin give him his due, being
amenable to ideas like that, being quite experimental for who he was, a
grown-up, said, ‘Yes. Sure, I think we
can do that.’ So that was what we did
and that was where we discovered backwards guitar. It was a beautiful solo actually. It sounds like something you couldn’t play.”
Author Mark Lewisohn describes that, instead of just playing a
guitar solo normally and then turning the tape around, George Harrison wanted a
precise melody line that he had written played backward. This involved “working out the notation
forwards, writing it out backwards, then playing it as the notation says, so
that it comes out back to front. This
way, although the sound still has the aural attraction of a backwards tape the
instrument is actually playing a melodic run of notes.”
You can probably guess who was asked to transcribe his melody line
backward so that he could play it that way.
George Martin became the man who was up to the task. With the notes transcribed for him, George
Harrison took the entire day to record, not one, but actually two guitar solos
on top of each other with two different melody lines. One of the solos was using his “fuzz box” and
one with a regular electric guitar.
Engineer Geoff Emerick, in his book “Here, There And Everywhere,”
recounts this day in Studio Three: “There was one especially tedious session
where we all wished we had never come up with the concept of backwards
sounds. The song was ‘I’m Only
Sleeping,’ and George Harrison was determined to play a backwards guitar solo
on it. At the best of times, he had
trouble playing solos all the way through forwards, so it was with great
trepidation that we all settled in for what turned out to be an interminable
day of listening to the same eight bars played backwards over and over and over
again.
“Phil McDonald told me later that his arms were sore for days
afterward from having to repeatedly lift the heavy tape reels off the machine
and turn them over. I can still picture
George – and later, Paul, who joined him to play the backwards outro in a
bizarre duet – hunched over his guitar for hours on end, headphones clamped on,
brows furrowed in concentration. George
Martin conducted them from the window of the control room, using grease pencil
marks I had put on the back of the tape on each beat as a reference.”
From the above eyewitness account, we learn that Paul was also
involved with this overdub during the conclusion of the song. Also recorded on this day were little
snippets of backward guitar lines peppered throughout the verses. All of this day’s work was put on a separate
track of the tape so that it could be faded up during the mixing stage where
they saw fit. Since there were four
different mixes (two mono and two stereo) that ended up being released in the
US, examination shows that each one contains different alterations of the
backward guitar overdubs. These will be
reviewed below.
The next day, May 6th, 1966, saw the group enter EMI Studio Two at
2:30 pm for their last session concerning “I’m Only Sleeping.” The overdubs performed on this day concentrated
solely on additional vocals, John double-tracking his lead vocals
intermittently (such as “I’m still yawning” and “float upstream”) and Paul and
George adding harmony vocals. It was
during this session, no doubt, that Paul’s ‘yawn’ was added just before the
last bridge, preceded by John’s instruction “yawn, Paul” which can quietly be
heard in the finished recording.
After this was complete, reduction mixes were made to the master
tape with the intention of creating an open track for further overdubs, which
weren’t done. Nonetheless, these
reduction mixes took the song from ‘take 11’ to ‘take 13’ from which all the
existing mixes were made. By 1 am this
session, and therefore the song, was complete, although the production staff
continued on until 2:15 am to create four mono mixes of the song, none of which
were ever used.
On May 12th, 1966, the first usable mono mix (remix 5) was made of
“I’m Only Sleeping” in the control room of EMI Studio Three by George Martin,
Geoff Emerick and 2nd engineer Jerry Boys.
Since Capitol Records in the US put in an application for three new
songs to compile a new album to be entitled “Yesterday…And Today,” EMI proudly
offered this song as one of the three.
These mixes were quickly made and were unique to this American album,
since they went back later to give the song a better mono mix for its eventual
British release on “Revolver.”
The unique features of this mono mix mostly comprise the backward
guitar overdub, which are heard as follows:
There are no backward guitars heard in the first verse, but they first
appear at the end of the first bridge during the words “taking my time” and
then in the third verse during the words “staring at the ceiling.” The backward guitar solo continues into the
words “please don’t spoil” that are sung afterward. Finally, during the songs’ conclusion, the
backward guitar is faded up just after the triplet-strums of John’s acoustic
guitar.
On May 20th, 1966, George Martin, Geoff Emerick and 2nd engineer
Phil McDonald got together in the control room of EMI Studio One to make the
first stereo mixes of the song. I say
“mixes” because one was made for the stereo version of Capitol’s “Yesterday…And
Today" album and the other was made for the British “Revolver” album. The one intended for Capitol wasn’t initially
used by them, most likely because it didn’t arrive in the US in time. Therefore, they created a “duophonic stereo”
version from the mono mix they received earlier. Some later pressings of the album, such as
distributed through the Capitol Record Club since 1968 and from the Winchester
pressing plant since 1973, contain this stereo mix, although the old
“duophonic” version was still included on the album all the way up until
records stopped being made around 1988.
The unique features of the backward guitar on this US stereo mix
are as follows: It appears first in the
second verse on the lines “running everywhere at such a speed” and “till they
find there’s no need,” however, it does not appear in the third verse as the US
mono version does. The backward guitar
solo fades in a little later in this version but continues into the word
“please” after the instrumental section ends.
Also, the backward guitar conclusion begins directly after the word
“sleeping” at the end of the song.
The second stereo mix made on this day, which was used on the
British “Revolver” album and is the common mix heard to this day, is identical
to the US version except for the following feature: The backward guitars begin immediately when
the instrumental section starts and concludes precisely when this section ends.
The final two mixes that were made of “I’m Only Sleeping” were
both mono mixes, the second of which was used on the British mono “Revolver”
album. (They mistakenly numbered these
mixes 5 and 6 instead of 6 and 7.) This
version actually has the most backward guitar of any version. The backward guitar features include the
following: The second verse during the
words “where at such a speed” and “there’s no need,” the third verse during the
words “staring at the ceiling,” they end when the instrumental section
concludes and they begin early during the conclusion right after the final word
“sleeping.”
Song Structure and Style
While a “chorus” was something that Lennon and McCartney used
quite sparingly in their formative writing years, it was becoming more frequent
as time went on. Not only does “I’m Only
Sleeping” make use of a chorus, it actually has TWO choruses, both heard twice
in the song. So, not only were The
Beatles in an experimenting mood in the studio, they also manifested this
spirit in their compositions.
The general framework of this song is 'verse/ chorus/ verse/
chorus/ bridge/ verse (including solo)/ chorus/ bridge/ verse/ chorus' (or
ababcabcab). No introduction is deemed
necessary but a unique, fading “psychedelic” conclusion is employed.
With an upward strum on John’s acoustic guitar, we are ushered
headlong into the first nine-measure verse.
John’s vocals begin right on the downbeat as if suddenly woken from a
deep sleep. Jangly acoustic guitars rule
the day with John singing solo until the ninth measure where Paul answers his
final line “float upstream.”
The first chorus then appears which is only six measures long, two
measures short from the expected and uniform eight-measure length we’re used to
hearing. Paul and George’s background
vocals hover as a backdrop to John’s pleas to leave him alone while Ringo slams
away drearily as if also in a dream-filled haze. The length of this chorus is appropriately
shortened as Lennon seems to wearily begin to shut his eyes after the word
“sleeping,” as if a desire to do just that is coming over him. His guitar playing even stops as do all the
instruments except for Paul’s tip-toeing bass guitar. In fact, every time the word “sleeping”
occurs in the song, John appears to drift off to one degree or another as if
fighting off a long night out.
Lennon then jolts back into consciousness, as does the rest of the
group, for the second nine-measure verse which is identical in structure to the
first. As he explains how the rest of
the world needlessly runs “everywhere at such a speed,” we hear how those
“sleepy feelings” keep creeping in on him, symbolized by the recurring backward
guitar phrases that keep blurring his train of thought.
A new chorus with a completely different set of lyrics comes next,
but this time when he says “sleeping,” he and the band actually appear to nod
off momentarily, signaled by another upward strum on John’s acoustic
guitar. Paul is the only one still
barely awake as his sleepy bass line plays two harmonized notes that act as a
glass of cold water to wake John up for his next thought in the bridge. Because of their giving in to sleep, this
chorus is extended to a more arbitrary eight measures.
This bridge is only four measures in length and, although only
half of what is usually used by the group, is similar to what is employed in
“She’s A Woman” for instance. An
interesting element here is how John’s rising and falling syncopated melody
line is accentuated by Paul’s inventive harmony on the words “going by my
window,” which ascends while John descends.
John keeps alert for the ‘Beatles break’ in the fourth measure with the
words “taking my time,” which close the bridge.
A third nine-measure verse is then heard, although the last five
measures comprise the instrumental section of the song. The winding, backward-slurping effects of
both guitar overdubs do well to signify “the moment before you’re falling
asleep – that little twilight moment,” as Paul described his state of mind when
he came up with the idea for “Yellow Submarine.”
The second chorus is then repeated which also ends with them
briefly falling asleep, Paul again being the one to barely keep awake, even
giving an audible yawn. After being
startled awake for the repeat of the bridge, John repeats the first verse with
impatient syncopated stabs at his acoustic guitar in anticipation of getting it
over with to get back to rest. The first
chorus is then heard to round things off and, after the word “sleeping” is
said, he gives in for good. The swirling
backward guitars take over his conscience and subconscious mind to transport
him into a much-desired state of bliss.
Although Paul did collaborate to an unknown degree, John owns the
show on this track. His sped-up
bleary-eyed vocals dominate your attention as does his acoustic rhythm guitar
work. George definitely breaks new
ground as his intricately delivered backward guitar runs seep into the mix
which command recognition. He also can
always be counted on to fill in the odd third harmony when needed.
Paul keeps to recording the bass with the backing track to provide
the soft patter required for this song, relinquishing any temptation to overdub
an ‘in your face’ bass part as done in the recently recorded “Paperback Writer”
and “Rain.” His always impeccable
harmony vocals are also on display, as are his collaborative backward guitar accentuation's on the song’s conclusion.
While only simple drum fills were called for, Ringo puts in a lazily
appropriate performance with some highly compressed cymbal accents that ring
out in the seventh measure of the longer choruses of the song.
While John may have done much experimentation with drugs by this
time, the lyrics of “I’m Only Sleeping” seem to simply depict his love for
being lazy. He may wake up “early in the
morning,” but he’s “still yawning” when he lifts his head, so he’d rather just
“float upstream” into dreamland once again.
As if expressing anger at Paul for waking him up for a writing session,
he pleads “please don’t wake me, no, don’t shake me. Leave me as I am.” After all, nothing is wrong, “I’m only
sleeping” anyway.
In actuality, it appears that Lennon was always chided about his
inactivity. When it came to his school
grades as a youngster, to his wanting to sit back and enjoy his fame in the
blitz of “Beatlemania,” to his subsequent retirement in the late 70’s, “People
say I’m crazy doin’ what I’m doin’,” as he expressed in his posthumous top ten
hit “Watching The Wheels.” This time,
though, he “thinks they’re crazy” for “running everywhere at such a
speed.” Why should he work so hard
pumping out songs for the next Beatles album?
Why can’t he just enjoy the rest from all the craziness of touring,
recording and movie making? He’d rather
be “miles away” in sleep.
Not that he’s unaware of what’s going on around him. He’s “keeping an eye on the world going by,”
just as he was “watching the wheels go round and round” in his later life. In 1966 he was “lying there and staring at
the ceiling,” while in 1979 he was “doing fine watching shadows on the
wall.” In any event, John was apparently
a man who needed some space, not pushed.
“Taking my time”: that’s
evidently all he wanted to do.
Next Song – Love You To:
“Most people don’t realize that making a record is much like
shooting a film,” recalls engineer Geoff Emerick. He continues, “There are long
periods of boredom and waiting around while technical details are attended to
and parts worked out, interspersed with moments of creative spark. Naturally
enough, my memories of the making of ‘Revolver’ consist largely of those
moments. One example was the time that George Harrison brought in some local
Indian musicians from the Asian Society to play on his song ‘Love You To.’”
The day that Geoff was remembering was April 11th, 1966, which was
only the fourth day of recording for what became the “Revolver” album. George
had written three songs for inclusion on the album, but this was the first to
be premiered in the studio, so therefore we can assume that he was most anxious
to get this recorded than the others. The group entered EMI Studio Two at 2:30
pm on this day, the first point of business, a guitar overdub to their
previously recorded song “Got To Get You Into My Life.” By approximately 3:30
pm, work started on “Love You To.”
This is not to say that the song was “Love You To” at this point.
Geoff Emerick continues: ’ Love You To’ – which I originally named ‘Granny
Smith’ on the tape box, after my favorite kind of apple, only because George
never had titles for his songs.” Throughout all of the sessions for the song,
it continued to be referred to as “Granny Smith.”
The next three-and-a-half hours were spent figuring out an
arrangement for the song and then recording three takes of the rhythm track. It
appears that the musicians from the Asian Society weren’t to arrive until the
second session of the day began at 8 pm. Therefore, some of the “technical
details” mentioned in the above recollection of Geoff Emerick must be
concerning this later session. However, the “boredom” in waiting for
arrangements to be “worked out” may very well be referring to this first
session.
The first take consisted only of George singing and playing
acoustic guitar with Paul supplying backing vocals. By take three, the first
sitar was added, presumably played by George. Since he confirmed in 1966 as
saying “yeah, I play sitar,” we can assume that the uncomplicated free-form
introduction to the song was George. With this complete, they took an hour
break (from 7 till 8 pm) until the second session began.
This next session, with the entry of the Asian Society musicians,
was for all sakes and purposes considered the real rhythm track of the song,
nearly drowning out George’s acoustic guitar from take one. As George stated,
“I consciously tried to use sitar and tabla on the basic track. I overdubbed
the vocals and guitars later.”
One of the Indian musicians, Anil Bhagwat, was recruited to play
the tabla on the song. “The session came out of the blue,” Anil remembers. “A
chap called Angardi called me and asked if I was free that evening to work with
George. I didn’t know who he meant – he didn’t say it was Harrison. It was only
when a Rolls-Royce came to pick me up that I realized I’d be playing on a
Beatles session. When I arrived at Abbey Road, there were girls everywhere with
Thermos flasks, cakes, sandwiches, waiting for The Beatles to come out. George
told me what he wanted, and I tuned the tabla with him. He suggested I play
something in the Ravi Shankar style, 16-beats, though he agreed that I should
improvise. Indian music is all improvisation. I was very lucky; they put my
name on the record sleeve. I’m really proud of that, they were the greatest
ever, and my name is on the sleeve. It was one of the most exciting times of my
life.”
This is where the “technical details” came in. Geoff Emerick continues: “I had never miked
Indian instruments before, but I was especially impressed by the huge sound
coming from the tabla (percussion instruments somewhat similar to bongos). I
decided to close-mic them, placing a sensitive ribbon mic just a few inches
away, and then I heavily compressed the signal. No one had ever recorded tabla
like that – they’d always been miked from a distance. My idea resulted in a
fabulous sound, right in your face, and both Harrison and the Indian musicians
commented afterward about it.”
Takes four through six were all they needed to get a suitable
rhythm track for the song. Overdubbed onto this final take was a bass from Paul
(which is nearly indecipherable on the final product) and a "fuzz
guitar" presumably played by George which creates a drone-like
accompaniment throughout the song. The 'fuzz'" was undoubtedly achieved by
using "The Tone Bender," the device used on Paul's bass on the
previous years' "Think For Yourself." A further overdubbed distorted
sound, possibly from this "fuzz guitar," is heard four times in each
refrain of the song to simulate a chord change in this otherwise “raga” style
single-chord composition. A similar effect interjects into the other
single-chord “raga” song of the album, namely “Tomorrow Never Knows.”
The identity of the musician that plays the sitar throughout the
remainder of the song has never surfaced, nor has the tambura player, which
also appears on the track. Anil Bhagwat is the only outside musician stipulated
to have appeared on the track. Possibly to give the impression that it was
entirely George playing the sitar, this additional sitar player remains nameless.
Viewing any known videos of George playing the instrument, anyone can plainly
see that he couldn’t have mastered such a complicated instrument in that amount
of time to perform what we hear during the bulk of “Love You To.” He could
have, however, played the short introduction, so this assumption should be
sufficient to allow George to save face.
With all four tracks of the tape filled, the session ended at
12:45 the next morning. The EMI staff, consisting of George Martin, Geoff
Emerick, and 2nd engineer Phil McDonald, spent the next fifteen minutes of the
early morning creating the first mono mix of the song, which was dutifully
taken away by George Harrison for reference.
Two days later, on April 13th, 1966, the group reconvened at EMI
Studios (this time in Studio Three) from 2:30 to 6:30 pm to complete the song.
Take six from the previous session was transferred to another tape to create a
“reduction mix,” to open up more tracks for additional overdubs. Once done,
George double-tracked his vocals, Ringo added a tambourine, and Paul added an
additional high harmony to the line “they’ll fill you in with all their sins,
you’ll see.” This final harmony overdub was deemed unnecessary and was
therefore left off of the final mixes.
This completed all of the recording for the song, so, the next job
provided the creation of the mono mix they would use for the final product.
Three mono mixes were made in the control room of EMI Studio Three on this day
by Martin, Emerick and 2nd engineer Richard Lush. The purpose of three mixes
was in order to edit them together to create the final mono mix. Two of the
mixes had ADT (“Artificial Double Tracking”) applied to them, and one didn’t.
It appears that ADT was applied to the lead sitar playing throughout the track,
but it isn’t detected in the instrumental section of the song – therefore, a
separate mix without ADT would be necessary for this section. The finished mix
faded down the extended instrumental ending to clock the song in at 3:08.
This mono mix was copied three times over on May 16th, 1966 in the
control room of EMI Studio Two (by Martin, Emerick, and McDonald) for the sole
purpose of assembling a master reel of some of the best complete mixes for the
upcoming album. Since this wasn’t standard practice during previous albums, it
indicates their pride at what they were accomplishing on this album.
It wasn’t until June 21st, 1966, that the stereo mix of the song
(still titled “Granny Smith” even at this point) occurred. This was done in the
control room of EMI Studio Three by the usual team of George Martin, Geoff
Emerick and Phil McDonald with the same procedure as had been done with the
mono mix, namely that three stereo mixes were first made (two with ADT, one
without) and then were edited together. The stereo mix has every element mixed
near the center while they decide to fade the song eight seconds earlier than
the mono mix, making a tidy three-minute song.
Sometime in 1998 or 1999, a further stereo mix of the song took
place for its inclusion on the album “Yellow Submarine Songtrack” released on
September 13th, 1999. An engineering team, including Peter Cobbin, Paul Hicks,
Mirek Stiles, and Allan Rouse, created this mix in EMI Studios (now “Abbey Road
Studios”) accessing the original master tapes to create a vibrant re-mastered
stereo mix for this release. The separation is more apparent with the Indian
instruments appearing predominantly in the left channel and the fuzz guitar
more discernable in the right channel, while the length of the fadeout is even a
little shorter than three minutes this time around. Sadly, this excellent mix
bypassed the remastered releases of 2009 due to wanting to keep to the original
George Martin 1966 mixes.
Song Structure and Style
While the structure of classical Indian compositions make great
use of improvisation and thereby differ dramatically from Western pop music of
the ’60s, this East-meets-West effort by The Beatles combines a format that was
much more familiar with their audience with an indoctrination of sorts to this
style of music for their fans to grab hold of as they had. In the process, a
more common ‘verse/ refrain/ verse/ refrain/ verse (solo)/ refrain/ verse/
refrain’ structure is presented (or ababcbab). Eastern improvisation appears in
the introduction, the solo, and the conclusion of the track.
We first start out with a free-form-style introduction which
showcases (presumably) the degree of mastery that George had of the sitar by
that time. No meter or number of measures can or were intended to be set – the
intent, to create an air of surprise and anticipation, and in the process, set
the exotic mood. After two glissandos, he begins his impressive "noodling
around" and, with another glissando thrown in, the tempo sets the first
appearance of the main “riff” (if we dare to call it that).
The first verse, introducing the entire spectrum of musical
instruments used in the song, jolts us right into the heart of India with
images of the marketplace, belly-dancers and snake charmers. (If this city boy
is being too stereotypical, I apologize.
:-) ) Two measures of vamping introduce what turns out to be a
ten-measure verse, the following eight measures being the usual standard in pop
music at the time. George’s double-tracked vocals kick in by the third measure,
his melody line not straying from a simple five-note range throughout the
entire song. He reaches his highest point in the ninth measure as the
instrumentation stops for a brief a cappella ending to the verse on the word
“me.” This high note is held (presumably by Paul) while George cascades down
the five-note scale to conclude the verse.
The refrain next appears which consists of six measures, although
it is anything but usual in typical Beatles compositions to that point. The
sitar “riff” is repeated to bring the instrumentation back in, but the measure
that comprises this riff is only three beats long instead of four as we’ve
heard so far in the song. We then go back into four beats per measure when the
band reappears, the second measure of the refrain being a simple vamp to get
the ball rolling again. The third measure introduces George’s melody line with
the lyrics “love me while you can,” this melody line partially mimicking the
sitar riff of the song, which is played underneath his vocals. The full sitar
riff appears directly afterward, the pattern continuing with George’s next line
“before I’m a dead old man.”
The sixth measure, which contains the final sitar riff of the
refrain, is also reduced to three beats to make the riff fit squarely into the
setting. Interestingly, the jarring distorted sound mentioned in the preceding
subheading, presumably from the “fuzz guitar,” is heard in the first half of
measures three through six to simulate a chord change.
We are then positioned back to four-beats-per-measure for the next
verse and refrain which, for all sakes and purposes, are identical in structure
to the ones preceding it. This is followed by another ten-measure verse which
this time does not end with two measures of a cappella singing from George and
Paul. This verse is instead used for improvisational vamping from the sitar
player which, at times, meanders unpredictably, causing the listener unable to
predict when the next section will appear. All part of the plan, I imagine.
Unpredictably, seemingly out of nowhere (unless you happened to be
counting out exactly ten measures), the next refrain jumps into the picture.
Since there is no a cappella ending to the preceding instrumental verse, there
is no need for the three-measure “riff” to get things going, thereby reducing
this refrain to only four measures. The fourth measure, however, is three-beats
long to accommodate the “riff” that appears therein, ending this shortened
refrain as all the others.
A final verse/refrain set follows, which is identical in structure,
the refrain propelling us into a rushed tempo as a setting for sitar
improvisation to finish off the song. The tempo even slightly increases more as
the track fades out, which is more apparent in the mono mix because of its
extended length.
This is George’s “baby” all the way, his pride showing through all
three minutes of its duration. His hypnotic and banal vocals could never be
more suited than in this context, the double-tracking helping to play the part
as well. To whatever degree he played the sitar, it’s quite impressive,
especially coming from a young Englishman in his early 20’s who was just
introduced to the instrument about a year before. His acoustic and electric
guitar work, while not too distinguishable on the track, show that he was quite
involved in its recording.
I leave it up to your Sherlock Holmes magnifying glasses to detect
Paul’s bass playing on this recording, the lower tones appearing to come only
from the tabla. I suspect the bass guitar was omitted from the mix or recorded
over at some point, but since credible sources say it’s there, then I suppose
it is. He did well in holding out the high notes at the end of each verse
though…or maybe that was done by George during the double-tracking. At any
rate, good job, Paul, whatever you did. Same goes for you, Ringo, on the
tambourine.
Kudos to the Indian musicians on the track, especially the unnamed
sitar virtuoso that graces most of the recording (most sources suspect). Anil
Bhagwat on tabla and the mystery tambura player are also worthy of recognition
for their outstanding efforts in bringing this beautiful music to the ears of
the rest of the world.
George’s lyric message may touch slightly on Eastern beliefs but
primarily is perceived as depicting the futility of a fast-moving existence.
“Each day just goes so fast,” he bemoans, “I turn around, it’s passed.” His
next line, “You don’t get time to hang a sign on me,” may remind us of a 1965
interview with Larry Kane as included in his book “Ticket To Ride.” Speaking
about their first US visit, George stated: “When we first came over here they
didn’t know us all that well. People, like, hang tags on you. Ringo was the
cuddly one or something. Paul was the lovely one, and I was the quiet one, and
John was the shouting one. I’ve been the same all along. I talk when I feel
like it. I shut up when I don’t feel like talking.”
Apparently directing his attention to new wife Pattie Boyd, George
continues: “Love me while you can, before I’m a dead old man.” This theme about
lovemaking continues in the remaining refrains of the song, namely: “Make love
all day long” and “I’ll make love to you if you want me to.” This second phrase
influenced the opinion of many that the title of the song was actually a typo,
“love you to” being a juxtaposition of “love to you.” This seems not to be the
case since the label and jacket both contain the same wording for the title of
this track, the reason for the word choice never being mentioned by its writer.
Also never mentioned is the identity of the people who are “standing
‘round who’ll screw you in the ground.” The mention made next of “their sins”
leads one to possibly believe that the “taxman” may be the culprit, the time
proximity of composition for that previous “Revolver” track being the same as
this one.
One final curiosity is concerning the love life shared between
George and Pattie. While one can imagine newlyweds making love “all day long,”
should we really believe that they would “make love singing songs”?
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