Tis Better To Have Loved and Lost Than To Never Loved At All. Alfred Lord Tennyson – Part 14

All right, time to move ahead to the next album in search of unrequited love vs. mutual love, positioned within the gifted melodic phrasing stanzas written by my favorite most influential heroes, John, Paul, and George. Next up, I unveil the tracks about love found listed on one of my favorite releases, the Past Masters Volume 1 CD. The singles!!!

14^th LP – Past Masters 1 (Mutual Love Songs / 4 vs. One-Sided / 11)

Track 1 – Love Me Do: An unreciprocated love song by Paul, penned at the age of sixteen, based on the lyrical portrayal, all three verses plead, ‘So please, love me do.’ Also, lyrics within the bridge, written by John, uncover the potential of loving someone new.

Background Fun Facts: Written around 1958 inside Paul’s parlor room on Frothlin Road and inspired by his then girlfriend Iris Caldwell, sister of Rory Storm. Rumors foretold this title spun from the Elvis Presley film, Love Me Tender released in 1957, and the beat duplicated Buddy Holly’s, Maybe Baby hit single released in 1958.

Brian had sent news to Hamburg about an audition for EMI and requested the lads work on new material clear up to their final show May 31, 1962. Part of the rework modernized McCartney’s Love Me Do arrangement. The key changed from A to G, easier strumming slowed the tempo some, and because of Bruce Channel’s newly #1 pop song, Hey Baby, John added harmonica, with hopes of being the first British Band incorporating the blues sound to their music.

First Recorded on June 6, 1962. When the song carried its melody through the studio speakers, George Martin couldn’t fathom John singing the title without the word “do.” You see, after the long drawn out plea of vocalizing, PLEASE, John sang only two words––“love me,” and skipped the word, “do,” to blow out the notes on his harmonica. That hideous plan drove Martin crazy and immediately switched the lead to Paul right then and there inside the sound room. You can hear an unsettled very nervous Paul slip out the three words just after the first pause when the music abruptly stops on the Anthology 1 CD, track 22. Pete Best played the drums for this session.

Second time recorded on September 4, Martin had no idea Ringo joined the band, but to be safe, the producer hired session drummer Andy White for a third session rerecording the song on September 11, and Mr. Starr, feeling rejected, was demoted to playing tambourine. Eighteen takes finally captured a decent recording. However, version number two graced the A-side on the single released October 5, 1962, and Ringo couldn’t have been happier. Once the public fan base received notice, the single began climbing the charts in just two days and peaked at #17. Click here for a listen to version two: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BrkrOHn46qk

Note: Version three with Andy White on drums appears on the Beatles debut LP. The added tambourine is a dead giveaway.

Bonus Track – P.S. I Love You:  A unified love song by Paul, based on the lyric portrayal he sends all his love to her while away, and to treasure his promise until they’re together, staying in love forever, whether apart or beside one another. Background Fun Facts: Written in Hamburg, 1961. This track became the B-side for the lads for single backing Love Me Do. Just to show how fanatic we American Beatle fans are, this song became a Capitol Records single and reached the top ten Billboard Charts three years after released in London. By the way, I always thought George Martin invented the trick of using the bridge of a song as the introduction (Can’t Buy Me Love), however, hear is the proof Paul started the unique gimmick.

Track 2 – From Me To You: A one-sided love song based on never knowing how the singer’s love interest feels toward his promised devotion.

The highly anticipated, Please Please Me album had arrived at the record shops on March 22, 1963, soaring the new pop stars to the #1 spot on the UK album chart and did almost as well across the channel where it peaked at #4 in Germany. Producer and Manager, Martin and Epstein, conceived an electrifying workable plan to release a new single every third month and two albums a year performed by the sensational Beatles. The lads had just completed their country tour with Helen Shapiro on March 3 and needed a day off. However, management booked a session at Abbey Road for March 5 because Martin wanted a new single. He indeed got what he required.

John and Paul brought with them to the session, ‘From Me To You, written during the British National Tour while on the bus wheeling from city to city. Inspiration poured from the pages of the weekly pop newspaper, New Musical Express, inside the letters to the editor section known as, “From You To Us.” After the boys had read a few remarks, the lyrics developed quite easy.

In closing Track 2, let me add a bit of humor for you. Remember Kenny Lynch; he was the singer who offered to record ‘Misery’ since Helen Shapiro’s producer rejected the tune. Anyway, Mr. Lynch heard the lads rehearsing ‘From Me To You’ and stopped them directly after the harmony falsetto shrilled the word “ooooh” in line with the Isley Brothers gimmick on ‘Twist and Shout.’ Kenny objected something fierce saying, “You can’t do that, you’ll sound like a bunch of fairies.” But the lads said, “It’s okay, the kids will like it.” And in fact, the girls LOVED it. Imagine Kenny Lynch telling the Beatles what they can’t do, ridiculous and hilarious.  

Click here for Today’s Tune presented at the Royal Variety Performance: https://binged.it/2kCNJn3

Track 3 – Thank You Girl: A mutual love song based on the lyric portrayal the singer boasts, “I know little girl only a fool would doubt our love.”

Extra surprising links await you throughout this track’s review, so read on. When in the course of human events it becomes necessary for one 45 rpm single to have an A-side with an adjoining B-side, the Beatles determined to record originals rather than release a familiar cover song. So, to follow their plans, while on tour with Ms. Shapiro, John and Paul continued to create the type of music that would soon put the world at the pop stars’ feet in admiration. The working title for this particular ditty; Thank You Little Girl.

Both songs EMI pressed on the Beatles newest single received a private live demonstration between Helen Shapiro and the two songwriters requesting her opinion as to which one rated the A-side. She picked the same song the boys favored, ‘From Me To You.’ However, the real intent of writing the lyrics for Today’s Tune, ’Thank You Girl,’ had nothing but gratitude in mind toward acknowledging the uncountable female fans who not only purchased their records but also sent hordes and hordes of cards, letters, and gifts.

Receive welcomed passage into the Abbey Road Studio dated March 5, 1963, while the lads recorded alternate takes by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyK6nFYH4aU

Incidentally, American fans got a bonus when this song turned up on the Beatles Second Album. John played the harmonica during the bridge, and also at the very last measure to end the song, but when the single version first came out, the harmonica bit never made it onto the mono mix. Listen to Past Masters Volume 1, track 3, to hear the emptiness without the added mouthpiece.

Just for fun, see if you remember these novelty songs. . .
We Love You Beatles by the Carefrees: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ec6HpzJ8gRI

A Letter To The Beatles by the Four Preps: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxXPkFemYUc

Track 4 – She Loves You: A one-sided love song, in that the singer’s friend gets word the girl he had hurt so badly, almost losing her mind, still loves him.

“You can’t end a song with a major sixth,” said George Martin, on July 1, 1963, after he heard the new number written by John & Paul. But the lads disagreed and claimed it was such a great sound.  A sound so spectacular, ‘She Loves You’ held the title throughout their career as highest selling single released by the Beatles in their home country, over 1.3 million copies.

A giddy Mr. Harrison showed up in great spirits that afternoon for reasons this marked the first recording session he brought along his brand new Gretsch Country Gentleman guitar, the same used by Chet Atkins. By the way, young George thought of the mesmerizing harmony idea, and it’s his voice who sings the sixth while John sings the third and Paul takes the fifth, no not the fifth amendment, Paul sings the harmony fifth note.

From start to finish, this song received a John and Paul joint effort with the composition between June 26 and 27, however, Paul used ‘Forget Him, sung by Bobby Rydell that charted at #13 in the UK during May of 1963, as a model. Click Here for a listen:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IKpA__9kTU

John, on the other hand, worshiped the way Elvis used the words “Mm mm mm, mm mm, yay, yay, yeah” in ‘All Shook Up,” as a bit of inspiration to adapt the yeah, yeah, yeah homage. An iconic phrase that forever linked itself with allegiance to the Fab Four and zoomed their new musical hit right to #1 on the singles chart–– for the third time in a row. But then again, who first led the way in bringing, yeah, yeah, yeah to the pop music scene? Remember the Sherman Brothers, famous composers with the Walt Disney Studio? They wrote a song (Let’s Get Together) for Hayley Mills featured in the 1961 film, The Parent Trap. Take a listen and see if you can spot the yeah, yeah, yeah sung by the young starlet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1IyrZZQd0g

Fun song, right? Okay, ‘back to She Loves You.’ How did America miss the boat during 1963? While interviewed for the Anthology, Paul recounted the hard shell to crack on USA soil where ‘Please Please Me’ flopped. ‘From Me To You’ flopped. Even ‘She Loves You’ flopped, but it was no surprise, really, being that no one from England had ever made it big in the States, huh, except maybe Hayley Mills.

Click here for a live version of Today’s Tune as George plays his new 6-string axe:                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QoF-7VMMihA

Track 5 – I’ll Get You: A one-sided love song based on the lyric portrayal has singer reveals, “Well, there's gonna be a time when I'm gonna change your mind, so you might as well resign yourself to me, oh yeah.”

Intended for their next A-side single, ‘I’ll Get You’ had the same beat as ‘From Me To You’ and the lads believed they had another winner ready for George Martin. In the event that ‘She Loves You’ didn’t exist as yet and the young songwriters were extremely proud with what they concocted, ‘I’ll Get You always held a position as one of Paul’s favorites.

This tune grew from beginning to end in just a two to three-hour span, written at Aunt Mimi’s home on Menlove Avenue. Paul received a bit of inspiration from the chord changes found on an early 60’s Joan Baez single called “All My Trials.” Click here for a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIH1KccVlHk

A revamp of ‘All My Trials’ shifted its lyrics into an updated version called ‘All My Sorrows,' recorded by the Shadows in 1961 and the Searchers in 63. Click here for those links: Shadows - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CFAEo9wkpyA

The Searchers version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5iKZLa9-48

Did you know Paul even performed a version of ‘All My Trials’ in 1990 while on tour, a fabulous rendition, click here for chills up and down your spine, especially if you’ve listened to the others first: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQMJKra1Hk8

Yes, a great song is worth repeating––now watch what you're about to read closely. The first word on ‘I’ll Get You’ is what? Right you are. Imagine! And the chords on the first line for ‘I’ll Get You’ are C, Cmaj7, F, and G. Now, did you know the chords on the first line for Lennon’s fabulous song called, “Imagine” are also C, Camj7, and Fmaj7?  Yep, great songs are worth repeating.

Enjoy a moment as the Beatles perform ‘I’ll Get You’ for a BBC television program:        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K65wYAx-0Y

Track 6 – I Want To Hold Your Hand: A one-sided love song based on the lyric portrayal, “Oh please say to me, you'll let me be your man.”

This dynamic song first hit the American airwaves December 17, 1963, thanks to a young teenage girl from Washington DC demanding to know why her favorite radio station wasn’t playing the fabulous pop sensations from Liverpool. The DJ, Carroll James, made arrangements for a flight attendant from Britain to supply him a copy of the Beatles newest single and before laying down the needle onto the plastic, invited the young teenager, Marsha Albert, inside his studio so she could introduce the new song to the public. For the day, Mr. James continued to play his new treasure and constantly interrupting it with the phrase “This is a Carroll James exclusive” so that no one could tape the song off of the air to use elsewhere.  An uninterrupted tape recording of the song had transferred to a disc jockey in Chicago who also played it on the air and received great response from their listeners.  They, in turn, sent a tape copy of the song to a radio station in St. Louis who also had the same favorable experience.  This outcry for more all happened within days of its’ first broadcast. 

Background Fun Facts: Written by John and Paul together in September 1963 at Jane Asher’s parents’ home on Wimpole Street, #57. Recorded on October 17, 1963, and for the first time, the control room arranged to use their top of the line 4-track recording console that usually served more serious orchestrated symphonic material, never privileged for flash in the pan pop music.  Seventeen takes within the span of about ninety minutes were needed to get everything just right.

Click Here for a live rendering on British Comedy Television:                             https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46_yYR6tGOI

Track 7 – This Boy: A one-sided love song based on the singer losing his true love to another boy.

This Boy just so happens to be my all-time favorite Beatles song, a repeated confession to my audiences every chance I sing it for Happy Hour venues, private parties, and assisted living communities.

While interviewed in the mid 70’s, John recalls he gave himself an exercise to write a three-part harmony number the band could showcase centered around a single microphone and dazzle the females. The song began its birth on a September 1963 afternoon around 1:00 pm. Two hours later, he finished the piece using substantial influence from Smokey and the Miracles, “I’ve Been Good To You,” released as the B-side from their 1961 top forty single, “What’s So Good About Goodbye.” Click Here to compare it with ‘This Boy.’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1WlhgbqG3g

Lennon brought his new song to George Martin on October 17, 1963, and the exceptionally trained musician/producer refined the third-part notes using a piano for young Harrison to learn his bit. After fifteen takes, recorded between 9 and 10 pm, Mr. Martin felt satisfied with the performance. He then reset the winning track spooled to the middle of the last verse for two final overdubs that consisted of Harrison adding the octave guitar parts that descend the scale near the finish.

For a fly on the wall experience in the studio, listen to the lad’s record take 1 here: https://binged.it/2lE3uLH

Now, watch ‘This Boy’ performed on the Ed Sullivan Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O7oYB45ZU7A

Tracks 8 & 9 are I Want To Hold Your Hand, and She Loves You remakes only sung in native German language. Moving on.

Track 10 – Long Tall Sally: A one-sided love song based that Uncle John cheats on Aunt Mary.

This energized McCartney-led romp em sock em of Little Richard's rock 'n' roll classic captured perfection in a single take during the sessions for A Hard Day's Night. The tune was originally released by Little Richard in March 1956 and was a staple of The Beatles' live set from 1957 right up to their final show in San Francisco in 1966 - the most enduring of any of their songs.

John shares a thought, “Little Richard was one of the all-time greats. The first time I heard him a friend of mine had been to Holland and brought back a 78 with Long Tall Sally on one side, and Slippin' And Slidin' on the other. It blew our heads - we'd never heard anybody sing like that in our lives and all those saxes playing like crazy.”
John Lennon
Anthology

The group had played with Little Richard in England and Hamburg during the early 1960s, and McCartney was especially proud of his ability to mimic his hero's vocal delivery. Listen to what frustrated Paul as he grips about authenticity, “One of the things I didn't like about the film Backbeat is that they gave Long Tall Sally to the John character. I was not amused. I always sang that: me and Little Richard.”
Paul McCartney
Anthology

It is possible some considered “Sally” for inclusion in the film, nicely fitted during the live finale, but the film required a certain play length and having only original compositions rather than cover songs made better sense. By the way, John plays the first guitar solo, then George dazzles our head bopping emotions on the second solo.

Track 11 – I Call Your Name: A one-sided love song based on the singer’s heartthrob left him.

Originally intended for Billy J. Kramer as the B-side to his single, “Bad To Me, John shares some insight, “That was my song. When there was no Beatles and no group. I just had it around. It was my effort as a kind of blues originally, and then I wrote the middle eight just to stick it in the album when it came out years later. The first part had been written before Hamburg even. It was one of my first attempts at a song.”
John Lennon, 1980
All We Are Saying, David Sheff

Click Here for this song heard on the BBC:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PuDDaEDm6g

Take a listen to Bill J. Kramer’s single here:                              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc9w6OryY_I

Click Here for a fabulous alternate take recorded by The Beatles: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMZT7mwTalk

Track 12 – Slow Down. A one-sided love song based on the singer wants one more chance to try and save their romance, but she can’t be faithful.

This right out of the gate hard rocker had been a part of The Beatles' live repertoire between 1960 and 1962, and the group had stopped playing it by the time they revived it during the A Hard Day's Night sessions. An old favorite of John’s written and released by Larry Williams. Specialty Records, who was known for signing Little Richard, signed Williams to the label to be groomed as Richard's replacement since he was leaving music to pursue his ministry at the time.  After scoring a respectable #11 hit on the Billboard R&B charts with his first release, "Just Because," he hit it big with his second Little Richard-like single "Short Fat Fannie."  It peaked at #1 on the R&B charts and #5 on the pop charts in the US. Slow Down turned out to be Williams B-side on the 1958 single Dizzy Miss Lizzy, another song the Beatles covered.

Take a listen to the beat that grabbed John:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHuJAC_XbhQ

Now, listen to the Beatles recorded July 1963 for Pop Go the Beatles. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7PuDDaEDm6g

Track 13 – Matchbox: Not considered a love song at all.

When researching dominate recording artists that inspired The Beatles in their formative years, the name Carl Perkins pops up quick.  "There have only been two great albums that I listened to all the way through when I was about sixteen," John Lennon recalled in 1980.  "One was Carl Perkins's first or second, I can't remember which...I really enjoyed every track."  McCartney described Perkins as "our big hero, who had written 'Blue Suede Shoes.'"  When they all came up with pseudonyms during their brief Scotland tour backing Johnny Gentle, George Harrison came up with the name Carl Harrison in tribute to Carl Perkins.  It was John Lennon who first purchased a copy of "Matchbox," which was Britain's second long-awaited Carl Perkins single.  John bought the single upon release in 1957 at the age of 16, having purchased his first single "Blue Suede Shoes / Honey Don't" the year before.

Matchbox had been Pete Best's solo vocal spot in The Beatles' live shows from 1961 and was taken over by John Lennon when Ringo joined the group. Come July 1963 The Beatles recorded Matchbox for the radio show Pop Go The Beatles, with Ringo Starr singing and comes included on the Live At The BBC collection. While the group considered which songs to record for their third long player, A Hard Day's Night, Matchbox had consideration as intended to be Ringo's feature on the album but was later deemed surplus to requirements, and so it appeared on the Long Tall Sally EP. George Martin couldn’t deny he fancied just Beatles originals showcase the new album, so scrapping away any cover songs brought joy.

Click Here for Carl Perkins singing his composition, Matchbox:       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYBIx58rH_0

Click Here for Ringo singing Matchbox on the BBC:        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6_1ao_HzJKw

Track 14 – I FELL FINE:  A mutual love song based on lyrics such as, “I’m in love with her, and “she’s in love with me.”

The Beatles were scrambling to find a song that was good enough to release as an end-of-the-year single for 1964.   Lennon explains:  "Going into the studio one morning I said to Ringo, 'I've written this song but it's lousy,' but we tried it, complete with riff, and it sounded like an A-side, so we decided to release it just like that." The song John was describing above was "I Feel Fine," which wound up ending 1964 with a great big bang.

Background Fun Facts: Written in October 1964 by John while off work inside his home, he basically perfected the new guitar riff intro. However, Mr. Lennon finished the song on October 6 during down time recording ‘Eight Day’s A Week,’ of which you can hear Lennon pick the iconic expression of notes between takes. The bridge section received minor changes through Paul’s input.

Back in the very early sixties, the Beatles added a favorite song of John’s to their playlist called, ‘Watch Your Step’ released in 1961 by Bobby Parker, the very song that influenced John’s dynamic guitar riff heard on Today’s Tune.

Click here and listen to ‘Watch Your Step.’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TvtabNAb_wE

For those who haven’t a clue how the strange feedback shrieks from the tune’s onset, one of George Martin’s handy engineer brings us to light. In his book "Here, There And Everywhere," Geoff Emerick gives us an interesting detail that clarifies the origin of the introductory sound on the record.  "Norman (Smith) later explained to me that they had discovered that sound purely by accident at a previous session, the night they recorded 'Eight Days A Week.'  It was just serendipity: during a break, John had leaned his guitar against his amp but had neglected to turn down the volume of the pickup.  Just at that moment, for no particular reason, Paul had plucked a low 'A' on his bass and, from across the room, the sound waves set John's guitar feeding back.  They loved the resultant howling, so much so that Lennon had apparently been fooling around with the effect ever since.  And with his new song, entitled 'I Feel Fine,' he was determined to immortalize the sound on record...years before Jimi Hendrix ever started doing it."

Paul suggested the beat used throughout the drum set follow the style heard on the hit single, ‘What’d I Say,’ released by Ray Charles in 1959, of which Ringo had proven to the other lads he could certainly match the same finesse Mr. Charles’ drummer achieved.

Click here for ‘What’d I Say’ then watch and listen to the drummer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr_rj8KC-Qs

Click here for ‘I Feel Fine’ take 1, played in A as Lennon strains on the high notes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QynKQXK_dsI

Track 14 – She’s A Woman: A mutual love song based on the singer claims, “She is happy just to hear me say that I will never leave her, she don't give boys the eye. She gives him all her loving.”

As to the style of the Today’s Tune, McCartney gives us some detail in the direction of his inspiration on writing ‘She’s a Woman,’ and I quote. "Like 'Can't Buy Me Love,' this was my attempt at a bluesy thing.  We always found it very hard to write the more rock'n'roll things.  It seemed easy for Little Richard to knock 'em off, penny a dozen, but for us it wasn't quite so easy, being white boys who'd not been to a gospel church in our lives.  So instead of doing a Little Richard song, whom I admire greatly, I would use the style I would have used for that but put it in one of my own songs, so this was about a woman rather than a girl.  Bluesy melody is quite hard to write, so I was quite pleased to get that."

Another big Influence, especially how John attacks the chord progression intro, came from the 1964 rocker, ‘Sugar Bee’, released by the Sir Douglas Quintet. Believe it or not; the Quintet grew their inspiration to write, ‘She’s About A Mover’ from none other, then Paul and John’s ‘She’s a Woman––turnabout is fair play.

Click here for Sugar Bee and note the close comparison:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBdWoE_nqM0

Lennon recalls his assistance creating the new piece, "We had one verse, and we had to finish it off quickly.  That's why it's got such rubbishy lyrics. That's Paul with some contribution from me on lines, probably.  We put in the words 'turns me on.'  We were so excited to say 'turn me on' - you know, about marijuana and all that...using it as an expression."  It was only five weeks before this date that The Beatles smoked pot for the first time, being introduced to it by Bob Dylan during their first meeting with him at the Delmonico Hotel in New York City while on tour.

Click here for a seat inside the Abbey Road control room while the lads tackled the new session, this time without George, to record She’s A Woman, takes 1 – 4:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F8_AzxE4eFM

Click here for take 7 that shows promise, but then the three mop-tops veer off improvising with a unprompted jam session.   
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLNKKKAw9uI

Track 16 – Bad Boy: Not a love song at all.

Notice issued in urgency from EMI Studios that the Beatles needed to pick up the pace and record a couple of songs came by request from America.  The Beatles were especially grateful to Capitol Records in the US for finally agreeing to release their records in the States.  Therefore, if they were requesting more material, The Beatles wouldn't hesitate to oblige. The easy thing to do at this short notice was to unearth two favorite stage songs from their early Hamburg/Cavern days, both of these being songs originally recorded by one of John's favorite rockers, Larry Williams. "Bad Boy," which mimicked many features of "Yakety Yak," such as the topic of an adolescent who constantly needs to be told "now, junior, behave yourself" and a recurring low voice reminiscent of the Coasters' "don't talk back" which repeats "he's a bad boy." Unfortunately, the song failed to make any dent on the charts, and neither did the other three singles he released on Specialty in 1959.  The label then did decide to drop Williams from their roster, but it was more because of his conviction of dealing narcotics in 1960.  "Bad Boy" did get released on 78 and 45 RPM on the London label in Britain where John Lennon took notice of it and, being a fan of The Coasters as well as Larry Williams, added it to The Beatles repertoire in early 1960.

From Capitol Headquarters’ hot pursuit, John chose two relatively unknown tracks, "Dizzy Miss Lizzy" and "Bad Boy," per the rush, rush demand from the American record label in Hollywood, California. 

Click here for William’s original record:                                              https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQRbeunfbDE

Track 17 – Yes It Is: A one-sided love song based on the singer’s confession, “I could be happy with you by my side, ‘If’ I could forget her, but it's my pride. His heart can never love another as much as he loved her.

The first Beatles song of 1965 to touch a nerve was the B-side to their first British single "Ticket To Ride."  This moving ballad was entitled "Yes It Is" which, although not directly stated, implies the death of a former love while desiring to move on with his life.  Such was the impact of the song that George Harrison was quoted at the time saying "I prefer this one.  It should have been the major side."  Cynthia Lennon, John's wife at the time, also stated, "This is my favorite Beatles track so far." One of my favorites too, in that ‘This Boy’ holds title as my all-time favorite song, ‘according to John, ‘Yes It Is’ was a remake of ‘This Boy.’ There are obvious similarities, of course, such as the waltz-like time signature, the intricate three-part harmonies in the verses and solo vocal with harmonized background vocals during the bridge, and the standard four-chord doo-wop sequence in the verses.  The differences between the two songs are equally obvious, such as the mature substance of the lyrics, the more adventurous chord changes and the unusual number of measures per section, the latter element being predictably Lennon.

Although some in The Beatles' camp loved the song, John continually dismissed it.  He would scoff at the lyric "for red is the color that will make me blue," explaining this as an example of the song's "double-Dutch words."    

Track 18 – I’M Down: A one-sided love song based on the singer’s love interest could care less if she lies, finds humor in his hurt feelings, and tells him to keep his hands to himself.

When The Beatles triumphantly returned to tour the US in August of 1965, the similarly sounding “I’m Down” replaced “Long Tall Sally” as their closing song and remained to be the case throughout the rest of their touring career into late August of 1966.  With only a few exceptions, such as their final show at Candlestick Park in San Francisco on August 29th, 1966, “I’m Down” was proudly displayed by the group as the final word at their concert performances.

“That’s Paul…with a little help from me, I think,” stated John Lennon in 1980.  Paul corroborates this by saying, “I’m not sure if John had any input on it, in fact, I don’t think he did.  But not wishing to be churlish, with most of these I’ll always credit him with 10 percent just in case he fixed a word or offered a suggestion.  But at least 90 percent of that would be mine.”

Paul wrote the song at 57 Wimpole St. in London where he lived with his current girlfriend Jane Asher and her family.  Since The Beatles were back in their home territory from April through June of 1965, having completed their remote filming for the movie “Help!” by that time, the song emerged during these months.

To say that it was an easy song to write is nonsense.  In fact, they were trying to write a song like this for quite a long time.  “We spent a lot of time trying to write a real corker – something like ‘Long Tall Sally,’” Paul was quoted as saying in October of 1964.  He continues, “It’s very difficult. ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ was the nearest we got to it.  We’re still trying to compose a Little Richard sort of song.  I’d liken it to abstract painting.  People think of ‘Long Tall Sally’ and say it sounds so easy to write.  But it’s the most difficult thing we’ve attempted.  Writing a three-chord song that’s clever is not easy.”

I’m Down Live in Germany, 66: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BFs5ybuBPcE

I’m Down Live in Atlanta, 65:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f27RoArwar0

And the song the Beatles played last on their final concert in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park was––Long Tall Sally.

Once again, just like my composition lyrics linked to the love songs I’ve written, unrequited love dominates the majority pieces.

Next week takes us through another amazing run of hit singles that soared up the pop charts where I’ll unveil the tracks about love, found listed on the Past Masters Volume 2 CD of which completes and brings to a close this fifteen-album series.      

Tis Better To Have Loved and Lost Than To Never Loved At All. Alfred Lord Tennyson – Part 13

All right, time to move ahead to the next album in search of unrequited love songs vs. mutual love, positioned within the gifted melodic phrasing stanzas written by my favorite most influential heroes, John, Paul, and George. Next up, the rigorous, sometimes contentious, Let It Be motion picture soundtrack.

13^th LP – Let It Be (Mutual Love Songs / 3 vs. One-Sided / 1)

Track 1 – Two Of Us. The opening song on The Beatles' final album,  written by Paul McCartney, tells about his fondness for getting lost deliberately in the country with his future wife, Linda. That alone signifies mutual love.

Lennon and McCartney shared the same microphone to sing the song, as captured in the Let It Be film. Indeed, the middle sections contain likely references to their relationship, with both acutely aware that their time as members of The Beatles was drawing to a close––You and I have memories

Longer than the road that stretches out ahead.

Two Of Us is also thought to contain a reference to The Beatles' business troubles with Apple, in the line "You and me chasing paper, getting nowhere." The song displays the relief felt by McCartney at being able to leave these troubles behind and enjoy uncomplicated moments with Linda. “As a kid, I loved getting lost. I would say to my father - let's get lost. But you could never seem to be able to get really lost. All signs would eventually lead back to New York or wherever we were staying! Then, when I moved to England to be with Paul, we would put Martha in the back of the car and drive out of London. As soon as we were on the open road I'd say, 'Let's get lost' and we'd keep driving without looking at any signs. Hence the line in the song, 'Two of us going nowhere.' Paul wrote Two Of Us on one of those days out. It's about us. We just pulled off in the woods somewhere and parked the car. I went off walking while Paul sat in the car and started writing. He also mentions the postcards because we used to send a lot of postcards to each other.”
Linda McCartney
A Hard Day's Write, Steve Turner

Track 2 – Dig A Pony. Love enters the tune by John expressing, “All I want is you, everything has got to be the way you want it to.” I tilt this song toward one-sided since we never hear the woman’s input. Dig A Pony contained mostly nonsense lyrics, which Lennon dismissed in 1980 as "another piece of garbage." However, some tantalizing references can be found, including to The Beatles' one-time name Johnny and the Moondogs ("I pick a moondog") and Mick Jagger (I roll a stoney/Well you can imitate everyone you know"). However, like so many of Lennon's songs of the period, the dominant influence is Yoko Ono. Dig A Pony was originally titled All I Want Is You, words which appear in the chorus and which constitute the song's only direct, meaningful sentiment. “I was just having fun with words. It was literally a nonsense song. You just take words, and you stick them together, and you see if they have any meaning. Some of them do, and some of them don't.”
John Lennon, 1972

Track 3 – Across The Universe was John Lennon's first composition to be recorded by The Beatles since I Am The Walrus five months earlier. The words were written before the music and came to Lennon in the early hours one morning at his home in Kenwood. “I was lying next to my first wife in bed,” says John, “you know, and I was irritated. She must have been going on and on about something, and she'd gone to sleep, and I'd kept hearing these words over and over, flowing like an endless stream. I went downstairs, and it turned into sort of a cosmic song rather than an irritated song; rather than a 'Why are you always mouthing off at me?' or whatever, right? ... “But the words stand, luckily, by themselves. They were purely inspirational and were given to me as boom! I don't own it, you know; it came through like that. I don't know where it came from, what meter it's in, and I've sat down and looked at it and said, 'Can I write another one with this meter?' It's so interesting: 'Words are flying [sic] out like [sings] endless rain into a paper cup, they slither while they pass, they slip away across the universe.' Such an extraordinary meter and I can never repeat it! It's not a matter of craftsmanship; it wrote itself. It drove me out of bed. I didn't want to write it, I was just slightly irritable, and I went downstairs, and I couldn't get to sleep until I put it on paper, and then I went to sleep. It's like being possessed; like a psychic or a medium. The thing has to go down. It won't let you sleep, so you have to get up, make it into something, and then you're allowed to sleep. That's always in the middle of the bloody night when you're half-awake or tired, and your critical facilities are switched off.”
John Lennon, 1980
All We Are Saying, David Sheff

Track 4 – I Me Mine. The last song to be recorded by The Beatles, I Me Mine was written by George Harrison about revelations regarding the ego discovered through LSD use. George explains his definition here, “Having LSD was like someone catapulting me out into space. The LSD experience was the biggest experience that I'd had up until that time” ...  “Suddenly I looked around, and everything I could see was relative to my ego, like 'that's my piece of paper' and 'that's my flannel' or 'give it to me' or 'I am.' It drove me crackers; I hated everything about my ego, it was a flash of everything false and impermanent, which I disliked. But later, I learned from it, to realize that there is somebody else in here apart from old blabbermouth. Who am 'I' became the order of the day. Anyway, that's what came out of it, I Me Mine. The truth within us has to be realized. When you realize that, everything else that you see and do and touch and smell isn't real, then you may know what reality is, and can answer the question 'Who am I?”
George Harrison
I Me Mine (book), 1980

Track 5 – Dig It. A gobbled die gooked jam session led by John sometimes running as long as twelve plus minutes of playful fun rather than lyrical substance toward a cause.

Track 6 – Let It Be. Paul gives us an eye-opener on how this tune developed, and I quote, “One night during this tense time I had a dream I saw my mum, who'd been dead ten years or so. And it was so great to see her because that's a wonderful thing about dreams: you actually are reunited with that person for a second; there they are, and you appear to both be physically together again. It was so wonderful for me, and she was very reassuring. In the dream, she said, 'It'll be all right.' I'm not sure if she used the words 'Let it be' but that was the gist of her advice, it was, 'Don't worry too much, it will turn out OK.' It was such a sweet dream I woke up thinking, Oh, it was really great to visit with her again. I felt very blessed to have that dream. So that got me writing the song Let It Be. I literally started off 'Mother Mary', which was her name, 'When I find myself in times of trouble,' which I certainly found myself in. The song was based on that dream.”
Paul McCartney
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles

It was perhaps inevitable - even fortuitous for the group - that Let It Be took on religious overtones, with many listeners interpreting it as referring to the Virgin Mary. Again, Paul comments so, “Mother Mary makes it a quasi-religious thing, so you can take it that way. I don't mind. I'm quite happy if people want to use it to shore up their faith. I have no problem with that. I think it's a great thing to have faith of any sort, particularly in the world we live in.”
Paul McCartney
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles

Track 7 – Maggie Mae is a traditional Liverpool folk song about a prostitute who robbed a sailor, Maggie May (as it is more commonly known) dates back from the early 19th century. This musical piece credited all four famous musicians as the arrangers.

Track 8 – I've Got A Feeling combined two half-finished songs that seemed as if they held little hope until joined as one tune. McCartney wrote the section that gave the song its title; Presumably about the optimistic facts Linda had triumphed into the woman Paul had always sought to find. Therefore, I categorize this ditty as a mutual love song.

Lennon's contribution was originally called “Everybody Had A Hard Year,’ and followed along the lines of his current bad luck (Divorce from Cynthia, separated from son Julian, Yoko miscarriage, etc., etc.) John’s contributed section had previously debuted during the White Album sessions.

Remarkably, this tune was the pair's first full and equal collaboration since 1967's Baby You're A Rich Man. The brilliant songwriting team worked on the melody and lyrics together at Cavendish Avenue, London, Paul’s resident just a couple blocks away from Abbey Road.

Track 9 – One after 909, a one-sided love song by John and Paul, based on the lyric portrayal when the singer reminisces, “I begged her not to go, and I begged her on my bended knees.” And, “Don’t be cold as ice.”

One of The Beatles' earliest songs, and originally recorded in March 1963. Paul remembers: “It's the first... one of the first songs we'd ever done. John wrote it when he was about 15.”

The group first recorded One After 909 on the same day as From Me To You in 1963. However, two bootleg versions by The Quarrymen exist, dating from 1960, one of which Apple featured in the Anthology TV series. Two other fascinating live recordings of the song exist, both from a 1962 rehearsal at the Cavern Club.

Click here for the 1962 rehearsal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FAxqGcCiSzE

Paul McCartney later explained how One After 909 was an attempt to write an American railroad song in the style of their musical heroes. “It has great memories for me of John and I trying to write a bluesy freight-train song. There were a lot of those songs at the time, like Midnight Special, Freight Train, Rock Island Line, so this was the One After 909; she didn't get the 909, she got the one after it! It was a tribute to British Rail, actually. No, at the time we weren't thinking British, it was much more the Super Chief from Omaha.”
Paul McCartney
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles

Track 10 – The Long And Winding Road started out as a simple McCartney ballad, written in Scotland in 1968 at a time in which the cracks in The Beatles' relationships became ever deeper. A demo was recorded during the White Album sessions but taken no further. Paul recalls, “I was a bit flipped out and tripped out at that time. It's a sad song because it's all about the unattainable; the door you never quite reach. This is the road that you never get to the end of.”
Paul McCartney
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles

The song was written with Ray Charles in mind, although McCartney acknowledged that the similarities are well hidden. Again, Paul shares more, “It doesn't sound like him at all, because it's me singing and I don't sound anything like Ray, but sometimes you get a person in your mind, just for an attitude, just for a place to be, so that your mind is somewhere rather than nowhere, and you place it by thinking, Oh, I love that Ray Charles, and think, Well, what might he do then? So, that was in my mind and would have probably had some bearing on the chord structure of it, which is slightly jazzy. I think I could attribute that to having Ray in my mind when I wrote that one.
Paul McCartney
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles

Track 11 – For You Blue was written by George Harrison dedicated this song to his wife Pattie, a straightforward blues song recorded during the Let It Be sessions. “It's a simple 12-bar song following all the normal 12-bar principles, except that it's happy-go-lucky!”
George Harrison

Because the word love or lovely appears ten times throughout the stanzas, I’m labeling track 11 as a mutual love song.

Track 12 –  Get Back. Here ushered in the Beatles' 19th British single, known as, Get Back, and it was the first release by the group from their 1969 'back-to-basics' phase.

Background Fun Facts: Geez, what you're about to read sounds like present day America–– The song began as a satirical and critical look at attitudes towards immigrants in Britain. McCartney intended to parody the negative attitudes that were prevalent among politicians and the press.

Race issues evidently played on McCartney's mind during the Get Back sessions. He led The Beatles through Commonwealth, an unreleased improvised satire loosely based on British politician Enoch Powell's notorious 'Rivers of blood' speech.

The most infamous of the unreleased Get Back versions is known as No Pakistanis and contained the line "Don't dig no Pakistanis taking all the people's jobs." While mostly unfinished, the song did include a mumbled rhyming couplet which paired the words 'Puerto Rican' with 'Mohican.' However, Paul shares some further insight, “When we were doing Let It Be, there were a couple of verses to Get Back which were actually not racist at all - they were anti-racist. There were a lot of stories in the newspapers then about Pakistanis crowding out flats - you know, living 16 to a room or whatever. So, in one of the verses of Get Back, which we were making up on the set of Let It Be, one of the outtakes has something about 'too many Pakistanis living in a council flat' - that's the line. Which to me was actually talking out against overcrowding for Pakistanis... If there was any group that was not racist, it was the Beatles. I mean, all our favorite people were always black. We were kind of the first people to open international eyes, in a way, to Motown.
Paul McCartney
Rolling Stone, 1986

Last but not least, concerning track 12, John believed Jo Jo was a code name for Yoko, (Get back to where you once belong, Yoko), although, it’s clear Paul has stuck to his story that Jo Jo is just a fictional character.

In closing out the Let it Be LP, unrequited love songs scores a single slot and mutual love songs win by a count of three.

Next week takes us through the amazing run of hit singles that soared up the pop charts where I’ll unveil the tracks about love, found listed on one of my favorite releases, the Past Masters Volume 1 CD.

Tis Better To Have Loved and Lost Than To Never Loved At All. Alfred Lord Tennyson – Part 12

According to many, the number of completion is seven, as shown, for example, in the scriptures, describing the seven days of creation, and the seven seals of Revelation. Now, in reference to the Beatles, recording for EMI, most of the time alongside George Martin, also had a period pf seven years… and then they stopped. The span of completion for our musical heroes, as a unit, followed the pattern, much to our discontent. So, without further ado, let’s move into Abbey Road’s love songs.

12^th LP – Abbey Road  (Mutual Love Songs / 3 vs. One-Sided / 1)

Track 1 – Come Together" started as Lennon's attempt to write a song for Timothy Leary's campaign for governor of California against Ronald Reagan, which promptly ended when Leary was sent to prison for possession of marijuana: John shares some insight, “The thing was created in the studio. It's gobbledygook; Come Together was an expression that Leary had come up with for his attempt at being president or whatever he wanted to be, and he asked me to write a campaign song. I tried and tried, but I couldn't come up with one. But I came up with this, Come Together, which would've been no good to him - you couldn't have a campaign song like that, right?”
It has been speculated that each verse refers cryptically to one of the Beatles.

Track 2 – Something ranks undeniably as one of the all-time greatest mutual love songs of the Twentieth Century given to the world by George, based on the lyric portrayal the singer expresses somewhere in her smile she knows, that he doesn’t need no other lover, and something in the way she knows, that all he has to do is think of her.

Background Fun Facts: Written during October 1968, while working on the White Album. Highly influenced with devotion for his wife Pattie, George also copied a phrase penned by James Taylor’s ‘Something In The Way She Moves.’

Click Here for Taylor’s piece:                                                        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAzgwSLiMUc

This gorgeous melodic recording hails the first-time Mr. Harrison garnished an A-side single, and the feat came at the insistent of Mr. Lennon. Come Together fused the B-side.

Track 3 – Maxwell Silver Hammer has nothing to do with love, but rather the law of karma according to John. Paul emphasized the tune “epitomizes the downfalls of life. Just when everything is going smoothly, ‘bang bang’ down comes Maxwell’s Silver Hammer and ruins everything.”

Track 4 – Oh Darling sways to and fro, bouncing the bee-gee-bees off the walls with this powerful rocker, packaged inside a one-sided love song by Paul, based on the lyric portrayal the singer was told by his darling she didn’t need him anymore. Background Fun Facts: Written before the Get Back sessions and found its way into the Let It Be film during a jam with Billy Preston. However, the Beatles began recording the song properly at Abbey Road on 20 April, 1969. They recorded 26 takes of the rhythm track, with McCartney on bass and guide vocals, Lennon on piano, Starr on drums and Harrison on guitar. They also overdubbed a Hammond organ part, which was later wiped.

On 26 April McCartney made his first attempt at a lead vocal, though this was unused. He returned to it on 17 July, beginning a series of single-take attempts in the early afternoon every single day since he lived only a few blocks away. The final version was recorded on 23 July.
The three-part doo-wop vocal harmonies were taped on 11 August, with which Oh! Darling was complete.

“Paul came in several days running to do the lead vocal on Oh! Darling. He'd come in, sing it and say, 'No, that's not it, I'll try it again tomorrow.' He only tried it once per day, I suppose he wanted to capture a certain rawness which could only be done once before the voice changed. I remember him saying, 'Five years ago I could have done this in a flash,' referring, I suppose, to the days of Long Tall Sally and Kansas City.”

Alan Parsons, engineer

“I mainly remember wanting to get the vocal right, wanting to get it good, and I ended up trying each morning as I came into the recording session. I tried it with a hand mike, and I tried it with a standing mike, I tried it every which way, and finally got the vocal I was reasonably happy with. It's a bit of a belter, and if it comes off a little bit lukewarm, then you've missed the whole point. It was unusual for me, I would normally try all the goes at a vocal in one day.”

Paul McCartney

Many Years From Now, Barry Miles

Track 5 – Octopus’s Garden, Ringo Starr's second composition for The Beatles was written in Sardinia. On 22 August 1968, he temporarily walked out of sessions for the White Album after becoming disenchanted with the increasing tensions within the group. He took his family abroad for a boating holiday, returning to Abbey Road on 5 September. Yet, this song veers off target on love songs.

Track 6 – I Want You (She’s So Heavy) came into being out of pure mutual desire John and Yoko held high for each other and there lays no deigning the couple built an unbreakable devotion toward their bond. Background Fun Facts:  Written before the Get Back sessions, it too, found a spot on the Let It Be movie while cameras recorded the action on January 29, 1969. The lyrics bring simplicity to the tune at its best, just fourteen words from a man who usually intrigues the world with his gift of wit, puns and gab. I like the response John gives after reading a reviewer’s pounce claiming Lennon lost his imaginative wordplay ability, and I quote, “A reviewer wrote of She's So Heavy: 'He seems to have lost his talent for lyrics, it's so simple and boring.' She's So Heavy was about Yoko. When it gets down to it, like she said, when you're drowning you don't say 'I would be incredibly pleased if someone would have the foresight to notice me drowning and come and help me,' you just scream. And in She's So Heavy I just sang 'I want you, I want you so bad, she's so heavy, I want you,' like that.”

John Lennon

Rolling Stone, 1970     

The fellows recorded 35 takes then reedited portions from take 9, 20 and 32 so as to finish the rhythm track. Overdubs included Lennon’s leads vocal, harmony vocals from J, P, and G, a Moog synthesizer, more drums from Ringo including conga drums, a Hammond organ plus added guitars pushed at full volume. Almost eight minutes of adrenalin rush from a beating heart filled with one special woman.

Track 7 – Here Comes The Sun as told by George Harrison how he thought up the tune. “Here Comes The Sun was written at the time when Apple was getting like school, where we had to go and be businessmen: 'Sign this' and 'Sign that'. Anyway, it seems as if winter in England goes on forever; by the time spring comes you really deserve it. So one day I decided I was going to sag off Apple and I went over to Eric Clapton's house. The relief of not having to go and see all those dopey accountants was wonderful, and I walked around the garden with one of Eric's acoustic guitars and wrote Here Comes The Sun.”

George Harrison

Anthology

Track 8 – Because turned out to be George Harrison’s favorite song on Abbey Road. A piece influenced by Yoko playing the chords to Moonlight Sonata by Beethoven backwards.

Track 9 – You Never Give Me Your Money talks about the disgruntle woes of earning so much with record sales but watching it mostly given over to the Queen.

Track 10 –  Sun King. Although Lennon most likely got the title from The Sun King, Nancy Mitford's 1966 biography of the French King Louis XIV, the song descends into cod-Spanish, Italian and Portuguese nonsense, with the odd English phrase thrown in. The music according to George copies a close resemblance to Fleetwood Mac’s 1969 top ten instrumental, Albatross. Listen here to likeness:   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8scHKFwr0og

Track 11 – Mean Mr. Mustard, a mean and dirty old man, no love. The song originated from a newspaper story about a miserly man who was said to have hidden his money in his rectum. Gross.

Track 12 – Polythene Pam. The character of Polythene Pam is believed to have been drawn from two women from different times in The Beatles' existence. The first was Pat Dawson (née Hodgett), a Liverpudlian fan from the group's early days, who was known as Polythene Pat due to her somewhat improbable love of the substance. “I started going to see The Beatles in 1961 when I was 14 and I got quite friendly with them. If they were playing out of town they'd give me a lift back home in their van. It was about the same time that I started getting called Polythene Pat. It's embarrassing really. I just used to eat polythene all the time. I'd tie it in knots and then eat it. Sometimes I even used to burn it and then eat it when it got cold. Then I had a friend who got a job in a polythene bag factory, which was wonderful because it meant I had a constant supply.”

Pat Dawson

A Hard Day's Write, Steve Turner

Lennon plays an acoustic 12 string guitar for this recording.

Track 13 – She Came In Through The Bathroom Window. The song is believed to have been based on an incident involving some fans who took a ladder from McCartney's garden, climbed into his house in Cavendish Avenue, London, and stole a precious picture, possibly of his father.

“We found a ladder in his garden and stuck it up at the bathroom window which he'd left slightly open. I was the one who climbed up and got in.”

Diane Ashley

A Hard Day's Write, Steve Turner

Some of the Scruffs are said to have known where McCartney kept a key to his house, and took turns to look around inside. The more daring of the set took mementos from the scene until McCartney became wise to the losses.

“There were really two groups of Apple Scruffs - those who would break in and those who would just wait outside with cameras and autograph books. I used to take Paul's dog for a walk and got to know him quite well...

I knew there was one picture he particularly wanted back - a color-tinted picture of him in a Thirties frame. I knew who had taken this and got it back for him.”

Margo Bird.

Track 14 – Golden Slumbers. The song's lyrics were taken from a ballad by the Elizabethan poet and dramatist Thomas Dekker (1570-1632). Paul McCartney saw the sheet music on the piano at his father's home in Heswall on the Wirral.

“I was playing the piano in Liverpool in my dad's house, and my stepsister Ruth's piano book was up on the stand. I was flicking through it and I came to Golden Slumbers. I can't read music and I couldn't remember the old tune, so I just started playing my own tune to it. I liked the words so I kept them, and it fitted with another bit of song I had.”

Paul McCartney

Anthology

This suggests that he had written Carry That Weight already, and is therefore likely that he wrote the music for Golden Slumbers to reflect it.

Track 15 – Carry That Weight. The song referred to the troubles The Beatles were having, both within the group and in their business dealings at Apple. No love connection found within this tune.

Track 16 – The End. A mutual love song mainly composed by Paul, based on the lyric portrayal the singer asks his baby doll, “Oh yeah, all right. Are you going to be in my dreams tonight?”

Paul shares an antidote on Ringo’s only featured drum solo–– “Ringo would never do drum solos. He hated drummers who did lengthy drum solos. We all did. And when he joined The Beatles we said, "Ah, what about drum solos then?", thinking he might say, "Yeah, I'll have a five-hour one in the middle of your set," and he said, "I hate 'em!" We said, "Great! We love you!" And so he would never do them. But because of this medley I said, "Well, a token solo?" and he really dug his heels in and didn't want to do it. But after a little bit of gentle persuasion I said, "Yeah, just do that, it wouldn't be Buddy Rich gone mad," because I think that's what he didn't want to do.”

Paul McCartney

The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Mark Lewisohn

The idea for guitar solos was very spontaneous and everybody said, 'Yes! Definitely' - well, except for George, who was a little apprehensive at first. But he saw how excited John and Paul were so he went along with it. Truthfully, I think they rather liked the idea of playing together, not really trying to outdo one another per se, but engaging in some real musical bonding.

Yoko was about to go into the studio with John - this was commonplace by now - and he actually told her, 'No, not now. Let me just do this. It'll just take a minute.' That surprised me a bit. Maybe he felt like he was returning to his roots with the boys - who knows?

The order was Paul first, then George, then John, and they went back and forth. They ran down their ideas a few times and before you knew it, they were ready to go. Their amps were lined up together and we recorded their parts on one track.

You could really see the joy in their faces as they played; it was like they were teenagers again. One take was all we needed. The musical telepathy between them was mind-boggling.

Geoff Emerick

MusicRadar.com

The song closed with some of The Beatles' most celebrated and memorable words. . . And in the end the love you take, Is equal to the love you make

The final words of the song were written by McCartney with Shakespeare in mind.

Track 17 – Her Majesty was written by Paul McCartney in Scotland, and was originally placed between Mean Mr. Mustard and Polythene Pam in the medley. Instead it was the album's postscript, with a stretch of silence separating it and The End.

Her Majesty is the shortest song in The Beatles' repertoire, and was unlisted on original pressings of Abbey Road.

Paul offers a tidbit of info, “It was quite funny because it's basically monarchist, with a mildly disrespectful tone, but it's very tongue in cheek. It's almost like a love song to the Queen.”

Paul McCartney

Many Years From Now, Barry Miles

In closing, Abbey Road produced an array of topical themes of which lagged on the principles of a meaningful glorious relationship between a man and woman, however, three out four songs dealing with love promotes a reciprocated happiness.

Next week, takes us into the chaotic atmosphere where nobody known as a Beatle, except Paul, wanted to be involved with the plan called “Get Back,” the making of the Let It Be LP.