The Beatles were undoubtedly on a high caused by the first
new "Yellow Submarine" film song they recorded on May 11th, 1967 at
Olympic Sound Studios. The song was "Baby, You're A Rich Man"
(originally intended for inclusion in the film), and it was fully recorded and
mixed for mono in a single session.
As they entered EMI Studio Two the following day, May 12th,
1967, they obviously wanted to quickly knock out the second song they intended
for the animated film, this being “All Together Now.” They arrived in the studio
around 7 pm and immediately got to work at completely recording and mono mixing
the entire song.
However, a different atmosphere was present because of one
particular person who wasn't present. “In mid-May, (producer) George Martin
took off for a two-week holiday in the south of France,” Geoff Emerick relates.
“The Beatles nonetheless soldiered on without him, and I was officially listed
on the tape box as both producer and engineer of...'All Together
Now.'...Frankly, George going on vacation in the middle of these sessions did
not go down well in anybody's book. We were all tired (from recording the 'Sgt.
Pepper' album), yet he was the only one taking time off. By this point, I doubt
very much if the band were crediting George Martin with their success anyway.
In fact, they probably welcomed the opportunity to get some work done without
him.”
Emerick continues: “Things were definitely more relaxed when
George Martin wasn't around. There was always a certain protocol when he was at
a session: we in the control room felt that we had to be on our best behavior,
and even The Beatles seemed slightly constrained by his presence at times. When
he wasn't there, we'd all let our hair down and have a bit of fun. There was
just a different dynamic, and you can hear it...(the song was) a lot looser, a
lot more up, than anything they'd recorded in quite a while. Lennon, in fact,
made a comment at the start of the 'All Together Now' session to the effect of
'Well, now that the schoolmaster's out, we kids finally get a chance to play.'”
Nine takes of the rhythm track occurred, the last being
deemed best, which was then ready for overdubs. Although sources disagree
slightly as to instrumentation, Geoff Emerick specifies that Paul “sang the
final lead vocal – not a guide – during the recording of the backing track
while accompanying himself on acoustic guitar.” A second acoustic guitar
follows, according to Andy Babiuk's book “Beatles Gear,” was George on his
usual Gibson electric acoustic. John sang his lead vocal part on the rhythm
track as well, undoubtedly playing along on another instrument simultaneously,
such as the banjo. Ringo also played some sporadic drum parts on the rhythm
track.
“Interesting,” Emerick continues, “the last time The Beatles
had done a recording in George (Martin)'s absence was the song 'Yellow
Submarine,' during the 'Revolver' sessions, which was remarkably similar to
'All Together Now' in both content and style. And both times, The Beatles
invited friends in to sing along and create a party atmosphere...It was a
remarkably productive night, and it was quite an easy
session, too, even though a lot of overdubs took place. A
lot of it had to be played live because they wanted the tempo to speed up from
beginning to end.”
Regarding the overdubs, Paul put in a bass part, Ringo
pounded a bass drum, and John was reprising his early Beatles role on the
harmonica. Then, as Mark Lewisohn's book “The Beatles Recording Sessions”
states, they did “much raiding of the studio two trap room for miscellaneous
bits of sound effects equipment.” The effects heard on the recording reportedly
include triangle, finger cymbals, ukulele, zil, banjo, and a Harpo Marx-like
horn. All four Beatles also performed group background singing along with other
guests that were present, presumably roadies Mal Evans and Neil Aspinall among
them, as well as hand-clapping and cheers. As the above "Recording
Sessions" book mentions, the end result featured the small gathered crowd
repeating “the three words of the title...almost 50 times in a little over two
minutes.”
Once the overdubs were complete, Geoff Emerick, engineer
Richard Lush and The Beatles themselves worked at creating the mono mix, the
last of the six attempts deemed as the best. This ended the session at 12:30 am
the following morning.
On November 15th, 1967, Geoff Emerick and Richard Lush
returned again to the song but only to make a tape copy for the producers of
the “Yellow Submarine” film.
Since the “Yellow Submarine” soundtrack album was pushed
back a while in order for the “White Album” to be released first, a stereo mix
of “All Together Now” wasn't made until October 29th, 1968. This was done in
the control room of EMI Studio Three by Geoff Emerick and engineer Graham
Kirkby, only one attempt needed to nail the perfect stereo mix.
The Beatles actually touched on "All Together Now"
once again in a studio setting, this being on January 9th, 1969, during
rehearsals at Twickenham Film Studios for what became the "Let It Be"
album and movie. After goofing around with cover songs by The Animals, Marvin
Gaye, Elvis, and others, they slipped into an impromptu version of "All
Together Now" which was too insignificant ever to be officially released
in any form.
This is not to say that it couldn't stand improvement.
Sometime in 1999, the engineering team of Peter Cobbin, Paul Hicks, Mirek
Stiles, Allan Rouse, Peter Mew and Steve Rooke revisited the master tape of
“All Together Now” to create a new stereo mix for inclusion on the “Yellow
Submarine Songtrack” album, this clearer mix also appeared on the newly
mastered re-release of the movie that year on VHS and DVD.
Song Structure and Style
The structure for "All Together Now" consists of
'verse/ verse/ bridge/ chorus/ verse/ chorus/ chorus/ bridge/ chorus/ chorus/
chorus' (or aabcaccbccc) with a simple introduction thrown in at the beginning.
All of these components happen in rapid-fire speed, progressively increasing in
speed actually, in order to squeeze it all in in just over two minutes with no
time for an instrumental break or solo.
The introduction is four measures long and consists entirely
of Paul on acoustic guitar playing a rhythmic beat to set the stage for the
song, a simple pull chord being played just before the first downbeat. After
this, the first verse is heard, which is also four measures in length as all of
the verses are. Paul's acoustic guitar and lead vocal are the only things heard
in this verse. The third measure includes a chord change performed on an
anticipated beat on the word “ten.” The second verse follows, which is a
veritable repeat of the first instrumentally for the first three measures
except for the addition of what sounds like John on ukulele. Paul is also heard
providing a lower harmony to his lead vocal as an overdub starting in measure
two on the words “can I bring my friend to tea?” The last measure includes an
introduction to the bridge that follows, this consisting of the inclusion of
bass guitar and John, Paul, and George singing “bump, bump, bump.”
The bridge is five measures long and includes the
instrumentation heard thus far along with Ringo on slight drums and overdubbed
bass drum hits that accent the “bump, bump, bump” vocals that surface at the
beginning of the first four measures. John takes over lead vocals in the
bridge, singing a three-word phrase after every “bump, bump, bump,” such as
“sail the ship,” etc. Some sort of rattling percussion is also heard in the
background of the bridge as well, plus some unidentified instruments found in
the sound effects cupboard. Three-part Beatles harmony kicks in for John's
final three-word phrase in the fourth measure, namely, “look at meeeeeeeee”
which extends throughout the fifth measure as a segue into the chorus that
follows. John's overdubbed harmonica is debuted in the fifth measure as well,
along with Paul instructing everyone to sing along in the following chorus.
The chorus is four measures long and features all
instrumentation heard thus far in the song except for the bass drum accents of
the bridge. All four Beatles, as well as all invited guests, sing the song's title in unison four times,
one in each measure, with Paul interjecting a quick “all together now” in
between each.
After a quietly heard “all together now” from Paul in the
fourth measure, the third and final verse enters, which includes the acoustic
guitar, ukulele, harmonica, bass, and drum instrumentation. Paul's lyrics this
time include the provocative line “can I take my friend to bed,” which he snuck
in virtually unnoticed within the framework of a children's' song. Paul also
adds a touch of accent to certain words in this verse, most noticeable on the
words “orange” and “blue.” This time around, the arrangement omits a bridge,
and Paul includes another “all together now” encouragement, followed quickly by
someone exclaiming “oh,” to usher in two more consecutive choruses.
These choruses are virtual repeats of the first but with
more sound effects added in, such as the horn sound in the fourth measure of
the first chorus and the second measure of the second chorus, and the
noticeable increase in tempo and excitement of the vocalists by the time the
second chorus kicks in. One difference between these two consecutive choruses
is that the unison singing of the song's title shifts into harmonized vocals
during the latter chorus.
The second and final bridge comes next, which is a virtual
repeat of the first except for the increase in tempo and more extraneous voices
and slight sound effect additions. Then comes three consecutive choruses with a
steadily increasing tempo and more exaggerated vocalizations, especially from
Paul. The second chorus introduces group hand-clapping while the clanking and
shaking of sound effects increase throughout all of the choruses, not to
mention the excitable horn honker. By the end of the third chorus, which is six
measures long to add two extra measures that act as the song's conclusion, the
song is at breakneck speed. Beginning with the fourth measure of this final
chorus, the primary feature is all of the vocalists singing “all together
noooooooooow” at the top of their voices in a labored fashion with all sound
effects wailing. The final beat of the song is the two-beat of the sixth
measure, which brings out spontaneous cheers and applause from all involved, a
couple reverbed horn honks having the final word.
While George Martin's assertion that the newly recorded
songs for the “Yellow Submarine” soundtrack “scraped the bottom of the Beatle
music barrel as far as new material was concerned,” they did decide to have
some fun recording them, making the best of the situation. Their attitude
apparently was, 'Well, if we have to do this, let's have some fun doing it.'
With all four Beatles cooperative and in a jovial mood, the recording of “All
Together Now” resulted in a splendid time being had by all.
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