All language subtitles for BEATLES - Making of Abbey Road

If there were a date that truly put an

end to the Beatles, I would argue that

it occurred on January 28th, 1969 at

three Savile Row, London. It was there

that the Beatles would meet with a man,

Alan

Klene. The band was just 2 days away

from their iconic rooftop performance on

the 30th. The documentary experiment had

been in large part a failure so far as

it had essentially caught the band with

its pants down. The idea for the film

was this. The band is going back to

basics. No more fractured recording

sessions. No more extensive overdubbing.

They are going to sit down together in a

room and make music. So much for that.

Let's run down the list. Jon and Yoko

are clearly suffering from heroin

withdrawal. and Jon arrives at the

sessions with very little material. Paul

is in full freakout mode trying to pull

everyone together in his own not

terribly effective conductor McCartney

manner. George has a wealth of material

but much of it he keeps to himself and

the music he does present to the band is

largely overlooked. Ringo, meanwhile, is

just doing his best to show up and deal

with it all. Oh, and the band is in

financial straits due to their largely

over ambitious Apple Records, fashion,

technology, etc., etc. conglomerate. As

it turns out, being musical geniuses

does not necessarily translate to

business acumen. Their band manager and

mentor, Brian Epstein, is now a year and

a half dead. But they are still under

contract with his management company,

now named Ner Holdings, owned by Brian's

brother and mother, who are currently

receiving and distributing all of the

Beatles earnings on their music and

taking 25% for the privilege of doing

so. The Beatles are not happy about

this. Time to rewind a bit. Alan Klein

had had his eye on the Beatles for a

while now. They were, simply put, the

big fish. So when Jon let Leak in a

press comment that the Beatles would be

broke in six months if things continued

the way that they were, Klein pounced

like a tiger, reaching out to Jon with

the solution to all of their problems.

Klein had a long history of negotiating

contracts for musical acts, a skill that

Epstein, for all his good intentions,

had not been particularly adept in.

Klein reeled in his first big catch when

he became the band manager for the

Rolling Stones. It was here where he

really established the pattern that

would define his career. Negotiate a

better publishing contract for the band,

get them a bigger slice of the pie. Then

he would definitely insert himself into

the profit chain, making decisions and

purchases that didn't necessarily

benefit the band as much as it benefited

himself. By the time Klene began hunting

the Beatles, McJagger was already

beginning to grow distrustful of the

manager. On January 26th, two days

before he met with the rest of the band,

Klein met with John Alone and by all

accounts charmed him. I just think he's

fantastic. Really? Yeah. You know, he

knows everything about everything. Very

interesting guy. I was there till 2:00

in the morning. His approach for his

credit was brilliant. Before you all try

to purchase nims, before you move

forward with all of this, let me look at

your books. Let me gather all the

information. And more so, I'll do it for

free. No need to hire me on as band

manager right now. Alan's lines here.

Where's he going to be?

Should we go up to our room? Yeah.

So, we now come to the meeting of the

28th and before they even walk in, there

is a crack forming. Paul has a clear

preference as to who he wishes to

represent the band. Lawyers Lee Eastman

and John Eastman, soon to be his father

and brother-in-law. As you could

imagine, the rest of them, who already

felt leery over Paul's growing control

over the band, did not feel so good

about someone so closely connected to

Paul managing the band. Not to mention

the Eastman's had no track record,

whereas the others could say, "Look,

Klein has been doing this for years."

John, George, and Ringo all agreed

during the meeting to let Klene take a

look into their financial affairs. Paul,

on the other hand, would end up walking

out of the meeting. They would play on

the rooftop on the 30th as for a couple

of hours there. Everything else faded

into the background and the Beatles

would put on their first true live

performance since

1966. The next day, the Let It Be

sessions were over. What was to follow

would prove to be the end of the

Beatles, not only as a band, but a

dissolution of personal

relationships. But the Beatles still had

one more record left in them. Welcome to

the making of Abbey

Road. It would be on the 1st of February

that the Beatles and Klein would meet

again, and this time Lee Eastman would

join the party. This meeting went even

worse than the first one. Essentially,

after more discussions about the

potential purchase of Nims, Lee Eastman

decided he was tired of playing nice and

launched a series of attacks against

Klein based on one particular incident

in Klein's recent past. His purchase of

Cameo Parkways Records. What Klene had

managed to maneuver was taking his own

business, Klein and Company, public,

meaning you can buy and sell stock for

the company. And he did this via a

reverse takeover of Cameo Parkways, an

already public trading company. If this

doesn't make a lot of sense to you, I

apologize as I am not financially

educated enough to explain this in great

detail. But the gist is this. Klein

pulled off a technically legal but

undoubtedly dubious means of taking his

company public. And Lee Eastman didn't

think too highly of it. Klene, though,

took the attack in stride and by the end

of the meeting even suggested that Lee

Eastman be hired on as the band's legal

adviser as a way to appeal to everyone

at once. This did not resolve the

negotiations, but it did serve one

purpose. Paint to the Beatles, namely

John, George, and Ringo, a singular

projection. Look at me. I'm a good guy.

I don't want all the power. Sure, let

Eastman, who just attacked me, represent

you legally. I don't mind. And it

worked. On February 3rd, Paul was

outvoted 3 to one and Klein in the

coming months was to be appointed the

Beatles new manager. Time for the show

to go on. My boys are ready to go.

The first song to be worked for Abbey

Road was John's I Want You, but it would

still be a good while before the Abbey

Road sessions began in earnest. On this

day, they recorded 35 takes of backing

with a John Guide vocal. One take also

includes an interesting novelty, a

version of the song in which Paul sings

the vocal.

Neat stuff of the song John said in a

1970 interview. 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. The song would not be

finished until August. Yokoono Ono

continued to pull Jon into her world. On

March 2nd, they performed not before

thousands of screaming young fans, but

before a group of 500 or so college

students from Cambridge. The gig was

originally booked just for Yoko,

although I am sure the organizer was

thrilled when they heard that a Beatle

would be joining the show. It was not to

be a pop performance, however, but a

half hour of experimental jazz featuring

feedback, screaming, and contributions

of percussion, saxophone, and piano. The

performance was taped and later released

as Cambridge 1969 on Unfinished Works 2:

Life with the Lions.

And it's also interesting to see this

duality in Jon shifting from someone who

actively antagonized and diminished the

educated upper crust artsy fartsy crowd

to someone who now actively participated

in it. Here's a funny quote from 1980

when John spoke to BBC of this

performance. He said the audience were

very weird because they were all these

sort of intellectual artsy fartsies from

Cambridge. He then added, "They were

totally solid." It is now March 11th,

1969, and Paul McCartney just booked a

register office for the next day and

frantically bought a ring for £12 just

before the shop closed up. And then on

March 12th, Paul and Linda married, the

other Beatles were not there. How do you

enjoy your wedding breakfast? Fine,

thank you. Lovely. Yes. When did you

decide to get married, Paul? About a

week ago. What prompted it? Uh just you

know so we decided to do it instead of

thinking about it. Linda, how how do you

feel about it all? You're obviously

terribly happy. How are you feeling this

morning? Terribly happy. That sounds

good enough. How about being the father

to a six-year-old child? It's terrible.

It's terrible. I hate it. I hate it.

It's going to be a terrible burden. I

do. Terrible. Yeah. What's What are you

going to do for the rest of the day? You

going to have a celebration later,

perhaps? Uh yeah, I'll take a bit of a

rest first. It's been a bit hectic.

Meanwhile, at Kinfons's echer, Patty

Harrison is at home. George Harrison is

off at Apple offices. Patty hears

several cars pull up into the driveway.

Too many to just be George. Maybe Paul

and Linda wanted to come by to party

after the wedding. She thinks the

doorbell rang. She answers it to see a

police woman and her dog. The dog's name

was Yogi. How ironic. Suddenly, the back

doorbell rings. She is surrounded. A man

introduces himself as Detective Sergeant

Piltchure from Scotland Yard and he

hands Patty a search warrant. She knew

who he was because just under four

months prior he had arrested John and

[Music]

[Applause]

Yoko. Detective Sergeant Norman

Piltchure already had an infamous

reputation. If that name sounds

strangely familiar, it is because John's

line and I am the walrus

was a reference to the sergeant.

Piltchure made a point of targeting

celebrities and musicians. You know,

Sergeant Piltchure was gaining great

notoriety of just busting pop stars, you

know, besides George and Mick and Keith

and John and always was the same cop.

Nobody real, you know, nobody put two

and two together. And while it may be a

claim you expect to hear a guilty man

plead, Piltchure had already been

accused of framing planting drugs on

these individuals. And while this has

never been officially confirmed, future

misconduct by Piltchure will put doubt

over his drug bust of the past. Patty

tells the police, "Why are you doing

this? We don't have drugs." But the

police enter the home. She calls George.

George, it's your worst nightmare. come

home. And Patty rang saying that um

Sergeant Piltchure was swarming all over

the house at um Inisha. And George said

to me, "What what should I do? You know,

what should I tell Patty over this

conversation?" George sent John's

longtime childhood friend Pete Shottton

to keep Patty company while he headed

there. While they raided her home, the

police asked Patty to make them some

tea. She refused. Patty. So the police

woman made tea for them and then they

were standing around with it not knowing

what to do. One asked if they could

watch television. So some did that and

one of the others said, "Have the

Beatles been doing any new music?"

"Yes," I said, "but you're not going to

hear it." Eventually, George arrived and

found us in the middle of the

policeman's tea party. He was still

calm, but he wasn't happy. The police

were obviously excited to meet him. They

stood to attention and were almost

elbowing each other out of the way to

get closer to him. Derek Taylor. George

was calm about it. He went into the

house and looked around at all these men

and one woman and said something like,

"Birds have nest and animals have holes,

but man hath nowhere to lay his head."

The police claimed to have found a large

piece of hash in George's slipper. In

response, George said, "I'm a tidy man.

I keep my socks in the sock drawer and

stash in the stash box. It's not mine.

And I said, "Well, if you've got your

stuff there, just tell them where it is,

George, because they'll find it anyway,

you know. Save yourself a lot of

hassles, you know." And he said, "Well,

he had a bit of grass, maybe a bit of

hash in a in a box on the the mantle

piece, right?" So he he rang Patty and

uh told her to to tell him what it was,

you know, by which time they'd found a

chunk this big in a boot in his

wardrobe. George and Patty were taken to

the police station. 2 days later, John

and Yoko suddenly decided to marry. This

obviously had no relation to the fact

that Paul and Linda just married and in

no way was an impulse decision between

two codependent individuals. Well, who

knows? So begins the ballot of Jon and

Yoko. On the same day as Paul and

Linda's wedding, Jon drove Yoko up to

meet his aunt Mimi for the first time.

What did you make of his wife, Yokoono?

Did you ever meet her? Oh, yes. I met

her I've met her in London and I've met

her once down here. That was in the

early days when he brought her.

Well, I didn't know what it was all

about. I wondered who it was, who it

was. But I did say, "What do you do for

a

living?" to her. She said, "I'm an

artist." I said, "That's very funny.

I've never heard of you." Marriage was

already on John's mind as during the

journey, he asked his chauffeur, Les

Anthony, to go to Southampton to inquire

about the possibility of the wedding

being held at sea on the cross channel

ferry to France. We couldn't. We wanted

to get married on the cross channel

ferry. Mhm. That was the romantic part

when we went to Southampton and then we

couldn't get on because she wasn't

English and she couldn't get that day

visa to go across and they said anyway

you can't get married. The captain's not

allowed to do it anymore.

Hamilton trying to get to Holland. The

song The Ballad of John and Yoko is

about as stepbystep autobiographical as

a song can get. And we can trace each of

these events with the lyrics of the

song. And so on Sunday, March 16th, they

did get to France and did so by private

jet. Landing in Paris where they met

with manager Peter Brown. And on their

arrival to France, he gets the privilege

of telling them, "No, you aren't French.

You can't get married in France." So

we're in Paris and we calling Peter

Brown, who's now with Robert Stigwood,

RSO, but we called him and said, "We

want to get married. Where can we go?"

And he called back and said, "Jibralta

is the only place." So, okay, let's go.

And we went then it was beautiful.

Finally made the plane into Paris.

Honeymooning down by the sain.

You can get married in Gibralar near

Spain. They went directly to the British

consulate office where they were married

during a 10-minute ceremony on March

20th. It's the uh pillar of Hercules and

also symbolically they called it the end

of the world at one per there's some

name besides pillar of Hercules that

they thought the world outside was the a

mystery from there. So that was like the

gateway to the world. So we liked it in

the symbolic sense and the rock

foundation of our relationship. Within

the hour John and Yoko boarded a plane,

left Gibralar and returned to Paris

where they had their honeymoon. On the

24th, they had lunch with Salvador Dali.

And then early in the morning the next

day, they drove to Amsterdam and checked

into the Hilton Hotel where they began

their first bed in for peace. Drove from

Paris to the

Amsterdam talking in our week. We first

did the bedin in Amsterdam and the point

of the bedin in a nutshell was a

commercial for peace as opposed to a

commercial for war which was on the news

every day those days. And any we do we

did the bed in it to what the bedding

was was seven days because the press

were always asking question asking

question seven days of they can ask

anything no secrets you know these guys

were sweating to fight to get in first

cuz they thought we were going to be

making love in bed you see that's where

their minds were at because we'd be

naked naked dead and now let's take a

moment to discuss this event there was a

large amount of controversy surrounding

not only the bedinss but Jon and Yoko in

general and for a good portion of the

public. The argument is as simple as

this. They are hypocrites. John was an

abusive husband. He had a prior history

of violence. Who is he to be preaching

peace? And how much easier is it to do

so in the comfort of a luxury hotel

room? What is this performative

nonsense? What is lying in bed doing?

And I want to acknowledge, yes, there is

strong merit to those arguments. John

was and continued to be a very flawed

human being. all that. I used to be

cruel to my woman and beat her. That's

me. Cuz I used to be cruel to my woman

physically.

Any woman, you know, I was a a hitter. I

couldn't express myself. And I I hit I

fought men. I hit women. I was violent.

That's why I'm always on about peace.

You see, it's the most violent people

that go for love and peace. And I

sincerely believe in love and peace. But

I am absolutely a violent man who has

leared not to be violent and regrets his

violence and just the idea for it. The

world as a whole idolizes so many people

who have done so many terrible things.

We see this with musicians, actors,

politicians, you name it. And yet

because John publicly acknowledged his

own cruelty and made an effort,

superficially or not, to promote peace

until the day he was shot dead, he is

singled out. peace. You beat your wife.

No possessions. You're an incredibly

wealthy man. There is a lot of gray

here. The world is incredibly gray. But

all I want to say for my part, and this

is in no way in defense of the terrible

actions John did commit, but you can do

a whole lot worse in this world than

promoting peace. And it's not like Jon

was preaching peace and then funding

bombing campaigns. He was an imperfect

man and by all accounts was often a

terrible man. I think though despite

that all throughout his life which ended

so suddenly he was trying to get better.

The bedin lasted an entire week and was

filmed throughout. It was edited into a

40minute film honeymoon and John and

Yoko also recorded audio during the

bedin which later ended up comprising

one side of their third experimental LP

the wedding album. But nobody's doing

anything about it except for uh a few

people and the things like the Grovener

Square marches in London. The end

product of it was just newspaper stories

about riots and fighting. On the final

day of the month, they left the Hilton

Hotel and flew to Vienna where a film

the two had directed, which for YouTube

reasons I will call RA, premiered. We're

going to take a quick detour to talk

about the movie. If you are here solely

for the Beatles and don't want to hear

about Yoko's weird upsetting movie, skip

ahead to the following timestamp. Now,

in 1969, also in April, you did which

was a TV documentary in Vienna. Well, it

was filmed in London for V Austrian TV,

right? For Austrian TV. How did that

come about? Well, it was just a filmic

idea about um just following a girl and

keep following just filming her and what

would happen to somebody who's totally

exposed all the time. You know, the

basis of the movie is this. The

cameraman Nicholas D. Noland was given

this instruction from Yoko. The

cameraman will chase a girl on a street

with a camera persistently until he

corners her in an alley and if possible

until she is in a falling position.

Let's hear from Yoko. The girl in the

film did not know what was happening.

Her sister was in on it. So when she

calls her sister on the phone, her

sister is just laughing at her and the

girl doesn't understand why. Nick Nolan

did the actual shooting. 21-year-old

Hungarian Even Mada did not speak

English at the start. She is unsettled

but friendly, welcoming the attention.

But after being continually pursued

despite her protest, she soon realizes

that she cannot escape the camera. She

is followed, then chased as she begins

to run through the streets of London.

She becomes so flustered that she runs

into traffic. An attempted escape by

taxi is also thwarted. She tearfully

begs the cameraman to stop, but her

pleas are ignored. Eva is eventually

cornered in her own apartment with no

escape. It was later discovered that

Eva's passport was about to expire,

which heightened her level of paranoia.

At no point during the movie is Eva

touched, but the effect is absolutely

that of assault, of violation. Eva

eventually learned the concept behind

the film, but there is no doubt that the

premise of the film is ethically

fraught, no matter how powerful the end

result. Unfortunately, Eva was brutally

murdered in

2008. Okay, back to the Beatles. John

and Yoko stayed at the hotel soccer and

it was there where they had a press

conference from within a large white

bag. Great example, except for a few

good cartoons that came out of it. We're

willing to be the world's clowns because

we think it's a bit serious at the

moment and a bit intellectual. They then

spent the night there where they enjoyed

the famous rich chocolate cake soccer

tort which brings us to the end of our

next verse.

eating chocolate.

On the same day back in England, George

and Patty went to trial where they plead

guilty. They were given an enormous 250

lb fine. However, they were also placed

on probation for a year and the charge

would end up impacting George's efforts

to attain a US visa in later years.

We'll skip over to April 3rd where John

and Yoko appeared on another TV program,

The Eman Andrews Show, after having

appeared on the Today Show just prior.

This one, though, stands out due to the

fact that it ended up combative.

Now, let me bring on a pair of newlyweds

recently returned from what must be the

most publicized honeymoon in history. Up

and about and out of the bag, let's

welcome Mr. and Mrs. Lennon, John and

Yoko.

Well, now let me ask you what you've

been asked since you came back. Just

what you know what what were you after?

What is this all about? What are you

trying to achieve by doing these

extraordinary bizarre things you and

Yoko? Well, everything we do is aimed at

peace, you know, and uh we spend seven

days trying to communicate through the

communication media, that's the press

and

TV. And uh to try and tell people who

are interested in protesting to do

something about it instead of sitting at

home talking about it. And for the ones

that are doing it in the streets, let

let me ask the audience here now. This

was your objective. May I ask you, may I

get a camera around on the audience, are

there any of you here, and please don't

be afraid to put up your hand. Um, who

have thought more about peace because of

any of the things that John and Yoko

have done? Somebody there has put up put

up a hand. Somebody here in the front

row, can we get a microphone? Sorry. Can

you tell me how this made you think more

about peace, sir? Well, I thought it was

the biggest piece of rubbish that I've

heard for many, many years.

I do Andrew, if I can add to this that

when reading the story of them both

being in this bag, I did actually wonder

as to whether they were refu refugees

from the Lambbeath Dutchman strike. Did

you have a laugh? Did I have a laugh? I

think the example you set to some of the

children and youngsters was nothing to

laugh at. What What do you think was

wrong with two people staying in bed? Uh

the fact of you staying in bed, there's

nothing wrong with that. In fact, if you

stayed there longer, I think it would be

better for everybody. Okay, don't get

insulted.

Just look in the mirror before you get

insulted. Now, what what offended you

about what we do? Well, I'm sure I don't

mind looking in the mirror. I think I

see something better than looking at

you. Well, that's a matter of a matter

of personal taste. Now, what offended

you basically? Can you really tell me

what bugs you? Well, the uh not just the

one item alone, your general attitude

for the youngsters, the general attitude

for the youngsters in this country of

the way you lead them or tend to lead

them and try to make out that you're not

doing anything about it. One minute

could you tell us that you're trying to

create peace in this world and everybody

should be happy and joking and the next

minute you're telling us it's

nothing. All the while mixes were being

done for the upcoming single Get Back

and Don't Let Me Down. Paul, as far as I

can tell, was the lone Beatle involved

in these mixes and obviously the

engineering team. And on April 11th, the

single was released despite the

associated sessions that would become

Let It Be not being released until over

a year later. The text for the press

advertisements for the single were

written by Paul. Get Back is the Beatles

new single. It's the first Beatles

record which is as live as live can be

in this electronic age. There's no

electronic whatchamacallit. Get Back is

a pure springtime rock number. On the

other side, there's an equally live

number called Don't Let Me Down. In Get

Back and Don't Let Me Down, you'll find

the Beatles as Nature

Intended. It would hit number one and

stay there for 7

weeks. Standing in the Hampton,

the ballot of John and Yoko was recorded

by John and Paul alone. Ringo was off

filming the Magic Christian, and George

was just off out of the country

somewhere. The ballot of John and Yoko

was a very fast session, recalls

engineer Jeff Emerich, who was working

on a Beatles session for the first time

since he decided to quit working with

them on the White Album. It was a really

good record, too, helped by Paul's great

drumming and the speed in which they did

it all. While the Abbey Road sessions do

not have the dismal reputation of the

White Album or Let It Be Sessions, it

was still very much not the Beatles of

old, but it seems for one session, and

maybe it was the magic of John and Paul

alone, that they recaptured that spark

and joy in creating with each other. In

a moment of classic Beetle humor, right

before they launched into take four,

John yelled to Paul, who was playing the

drums,

it gone a bit faster.

And Paul yelled to the guitar wielding

John.

Okay, George.

Take 10 was deemed the best for the

basic rhythm track and vocal. They

overdubbed

[Music]

bass, lead

[Music]

guitars, and

[Music]

piano and knocked out the song with an

hour of studio time left to spare. 1 2

3.

A couple of days later, the band, now

together as a whole, began True Takes on

George's Old Brown Shoe, which they had

rehearsed and recorded a demo for during

the Let It Be sessions. With a C. Yeah,

including the E.

I'm in love with you and I'm so glad you

came here. You don't be the same here.

I'm telling you.

Being well practiced, the basic rhythm

took only four takes. George recorded

his vocal tucked into a small corner of

the space to give it a tight but natural

echo.

[Music]

I'm in love with you. The song's

remarkable sounding baseline is actually

a combination of bass and guitar with

Paul and George playing the same notes

on top of each other.

[Music]

Paul also played the jangly

[Music]

piano. Now it was time to tackle another

of George's songs and perhaps his best

song with the Beatles, Something. I had

written Something on the piano during

the recording of the White Album. There

was a period during that album when we

were all in different studios doing

different things trying to get it

finished and I used to take some time

out. So I went into an empty studio and

wrote something. I could never think of

words for it. And also because there was

a James Taylor song called Something in

the Way She Moves. Something in the way

she moves,

which is the first line of that. And so

then I thought of trying to change the

words, but they were the words that came

when I first wrote it. So, in the end, I

just left it as that and just called it

something. Though it is horrifying to

imagine, something was almost not a

Beatles recording. The demo was

originally offered to Jackie Lomax and

then was given to Joe Cocker who

actually recorded his version before the

Beatles. don't want to leave

now. I believe.

But thankfully, and no disrespect to Joe

Cocker, his version was not released

until after Abby Road. Something was

another track that had been worked a

little bit during the Let It Be

sessions.

[Music]

But the song's true potential had not

yet been teased out. Just say whatever

comes in dead each time attracts me like

a cauliflower until you get the word.

According to engineer Jeff Irich, George

had a smuggness on his face when he came

in with this one. And rightly so, he

knew it was absolutely brilliant. And

for the first time, John and Paul knew

that George had risen to their level.

There is also another story to share

about something, though the exact date

that it occurred is unknown. It is in

regards to the baseline on the song once

again from Jeff Emmerich. Paul started

playing a baseline that was a bit

elaborate for something and George told

him, "No, I want to keep it simple. Paul

was obedient. There was no disagreement

about it, but I thought something like

this would never happen years before."

George telling Paul how to play the

bass. Unbelievable. which while I

believe the story, I can't imagine how

elaborate Paul's baseline was

[Music]

before as it is still pretty elaborate

on the final recording.

[Music]

[Music]

A studio day in which just George and

John were present. George finished up

Old Brown Shoe, overdubbing organ and

wiping over John's rhythm guitar.

[Music]

He then recorded a guitar solo to polish

the song off. George hopped over to

studio 2 where he joined John and the

two of them went long into the night

recording the powerful everbuilding

guitar arpeggios that would serve as the

finale for I want you. John and George

went into the far left hand corner of

number two to overdub those guitars

recalls engineer Jeff Jarrett. They

wanted a massive sound, so they kept

tracking and tracking over and over.

[Music]

Four Beatles were again present at the

studio on Sunday. A reduction track was

made of I want you to allow further

overdubs which included congas, an organ

played by Billy Preston. The swirling

white noise that builds in the final

minutes of the song was created by a

Moog synthesizer and had not yet been

overdubbed at this point. This

synthesizer, still incredibly novel,

would feature on a few of Abi Road's

tracks. Let's take a moment to go ahead

and talk about it. The synthesizer took

a long time to become the do-it-all

musical machine that it is today. It all

began in 1895 when Alfred Graham

experimented with the connection between

sound and electricity resulting in a

device called the electric musical

tones. There was then a machine called

the singing arc which came shortly

after. In the late 20s came the first

synthesizer that is still widely

recognizable, the theramin with its

ghostly alien tones.

[Music]

Good vibrations is an example of a pop

song that uses the theramin to fantastic

effect.

[Music]

In 1964 came the Moog synthesizer. The

most powerful and accessible synthesizer

made yet. It was made famous by Wendy

Carlos with her work switched on Bach,

which is exactly as it sounds, works by

Bach, translated to the world of the

synthesizer. The Monkeys were actually

the first pop group to really use the

synthesizer extensively on their 1967

album Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn, and

Jones Limited.

[Music]

Now, George Harrison had already been

playing with the Moog for a little while

before the recording of Abby Road. By

this time he had already recorded music

for his solo work, Electronic

[Music]

Sound, which for all the grief we give

Jon and Yoko for their experimental

works, this is just as much so. A new

song would also be worked on this day.

Paul's O Darling.

Paul had spent quite some time

rehearsing this song before recording

began as he had one particular goal in

mind to perfect the powerful lead vocal.

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 mic. I tried it with a

standing mic. 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. The result speaks for itself. But

if John had it his way, the lead vocal

would have been his. Oh, Darling was a

great one of Paul's that he didn't sing

too well. I always thought I could have

done it better. It was more my style

than his, but he wrote it. So, what the

hell? He's going to sing it. If he'd had

any sense, he should have let me sing

it. On this day, though, the vocal was

not the focus. as they spent 26 takes on

the basic rhythm track with just a very

raw guide vocal from

Paul. The roof of Apple headquarters is

of course most famous for the boy's

rooftop performance. But did you know

that it was also where John changed his

middle name to Ono? In a brief ceremony,

that was exactly what happened. Yoko

changed her name for me. I've changed

mine for her. One for both, both for

each other. She has a ring. I have a

ring. It gives us nine O's between us,

which is good luck. 10 would not be good

luck. Unfortunately for the two of them,

while Jon was able to add Ono to his

name, British law did not allow him to

officially revoke his middle name given

at birth, which was Winston, which if

you notice has an O in it, bringing the

total O's between the two of them to 10.

Sorry, guys. Later in the day, Jon and

Yoko went to the studio to record

another experimental piece to

commemorate the name change. The two

positioned themselves on the studio

floor and recorded their heartbeats

through the use of hospital microphones.

They then called each other's names for

22 minutes. The song would be aptly

titled John and Yoko. John Yoko. John.

Engineer Jeff Jarrett shares a

surprisingly wholesome recollection. The

nice thing about working with Jon and

Yoko was seeing just how much in love

they were. They had a fantastic

relationship, even though they took a

lot of stick for it. The Jon and Yoko

recording was fantastic, though quite

unpleasant. Jon managed to get a hold of

highly sensitive microphones from a

local hospital, and we recorded their

heartbeats. The mic was so good that you

heard all the gurgling noises and

everything going on inside the stomach.

Time for another new classic. This being

Ringo's octopus's garden, which we were

lucky enough to see bits and pieces of

and get back underneath the singing in

an octopus's garden in the shade.

They got to work on octopus and it would

be a long but fun day. As the session

stretched from 4:00 in the afternoon

till 4:00 in the morning, Jeff Jarrett

once more shares an interesting

anecdote, this time secondhand from

George Martin, who had told Jared he

would be unable to lead the session on

this day. The quote simply describes the

magic of working with all four Beatles

at once. I was really thrown in the deep

end. George Martin informed me that he

wouldn't be available. I can't remember

word for word what he said to me but it

was something like there will be one

beetle there fine two beetles great

three beatles fantastic but the minute

the four of them are there that is when

the inexplicable charismatic thing

happens the special magic no one has

been able to explain it will be very

friendly between you and them but you'll

be aware of this inexplicable presence

sure enough that's exactly the way it

happened I've never felt it in any other

circumstances it was the special

chemistry of the four of them which

nobody since has ever

[Music]

had an interesting session here and

another fun one. John and Paul alone

dusted off a 22-month-old rhythm track

that for you Know My Name, look up the

number. This bizarre but surprisingly

captivating track has been named by Paul

as one of his favorite Beatles songs in

large part due to how much fun they had

putting it together. The song runs the

gamut of pastiche and parody jumping

from genre to genre. All while

maintaining the same mantra-like phrase,

you know my name, look up the

number. This day was devoted to vocal

overdubs for the song as well as a

number of wacky sound effects such as

Mal Evans shoveling gravel.

The fact that this song ended up as a

b-side for a single is remarkable, but

unfortunately the final version was

edited down quite a bit and the version

released on anthology is undoubtedly the

more fun complete version. Eight track

to eight track something. Take 37.

[Music]

A remake of something was made on this

day. Still composed only of the rhythm

track. These earlier versions of the

song stretched far longer due to an

amling repetitious pianoled fade

[Music]

out which fun fact John later repurposed

this kod for his song Remember.

[Music]

This song was directly embroiled in

their present-day financial conflicts,

namely those relating to Alan Klene.

Here's Paul. This was me directly

lambasting Alan Klein's attitude to us.

No money, just funny paper, all promises

and it never works out. And much like

John's happiness is a warm gun, the song

is made up of three different sections

written in Paul's 1969 journal as you

never give me your money, out of

college, and one sweet dream. The song

beautifully spans a number of emotions,

frustration, nostalgia, and escapism. In

regard to the lines, "One sweet dream,

pick up the bags and get in the

limousine." Paul said, "I'd got married

to Linda, and our relationship offered

some respit from the dreary infighting

and the financial stuff." The lines,

"One sweet dream, pick up the bags and

get in the limousine, were a reference

to how Linda and I were still able to

disappear for a weekend in the country.

That saved me." As the song came to an

end, the repeated line 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 All

good children go to heaven is backed by

a guitar motif that would later return

as the bridge between Carry that weight

and the end. It is not known the exact

date that the medley was conceptualized

and if the song itself was thought to be

part of the medley at this point. The

Abbey Road Medley, at one point called

the long one, is a true accomplishment

as shown by John's high regard for the

work later in his life. In an interview,

he said of You Never Give Me My Money.

That's Paul. Well, that's not a song,

you know. Abby Road was really

unfinished songs all stuck together.

Everybody praises the album so much, but

none of the songs had anything to do

with each other. No threat at all, only

the fact that we stuck them together.

Did I trick you? May 9th marked the

release of prior mentioned experimental

works electronic sound by George and

Unfinished Works 2 by John and Yoko

released on Apple's experimental branch

Zapple run by Paul's good friend Barry

Miles of the two releases on this date.

George would very candidly remark years

later, "See, we conceived of an offshoot

of Apple Records that would be already

music that wouldn't normally gain an

outlet. But as with so many things at

Apple, it seized up before it really got

going. Both of the albums that did come

out are a load of rubbish. And indeed,

the works were not wellreceived. Zapple

would be closed by Alan Klein a month

later. The controversy of their first

betin did not dissuade Jon and Yoko from

performing another. And if anything, the

enormous amount of press they received

was very encouraging. They initially

chose New York City as their next prime

destination. But due to John's cannabis

charge at the hands of the reprehensible

detective, who gave George his, he

wasn't even allowed to come into the

country at this point. So anyway, tried

to do it in New York, but the American

government wouldn't let us in. But we

ended up doing it in Montreal instead

and broadcasting across the border,

answering all these questions. many many

many many many many many times it got

down to all we were saying was give

peace a chance. So we recorded it in the

bedroom of the Montreal Hilton or

whatever hotel on an eight track

machine.

As mentioned earlier as well the team

was still trying to put together the

album that would become Let It Be. It

was being mixed for its original

purpose, that being a raw, simple, and

live sounding performance of the music.

And on May 28th, the mixing was

finished, but the Beatles hated it and

were not at all happy with the results.

It was because of this that the album

was not released before Abby Road

despite being recorded before it. As we

know, the album would end up being

remixed and produced by Phil Spectre

near the peak of the Beatles

dissolution. But at this point, it was

simply shelved. 2 days later, a single

was released just 25 days after Get

Back. The ballot of John and Yoko and

its B-side, Old Brown

Shoe, I'm tired. Are you tired?

Thankfully, June was an incredibly slow

month by Beatles standards as John and

Yoko and George and Patty both enjoyed

holidays. The only press conducted

during this time was John and Yoko's

interview on the David Frost show on the

14th, but the schedule was set. On July

1st, the sessions for Abby Road would

begin and the Beatles would finally work

daytoday on the album rather than

sporadically. So, of course, John would

crash his car on the very same

day. It is July 1st,

1969, the very first day of the Abbey

Road recording sessions. But John Linen

is not there. He is currently at a

petrol station near the village of

Tongue in Scotland. And being John, he

cannot go anywhere without signing a few

autographs. And after he does so, he

climbs into the driver's seat of his

car. Next to him, of course, is Yoko

Ono. And in the back seat sit both Jon's

son, Julian, and Yoko's daughter,

Kiyoko. He pulls out of the station. The

weather is poor, rainy, and foggy. Now,

John has always been a poor driver, let

alone for the fact that for about 6

years now, he's been chauffeurred just

about everywhere he goes. He only

received his driver's license in

1965 and since then has only driven

locally near his home in Waybridge. They

drive upon a remote single track road.

Suddenly, in the distance approaches

another vehicle driven by a German

tourist. On a single track road such as

this, the rules state that both cars

should come to a stop and each try to

find a suitable place in which to pull

over to allow the other to pass. It

seems though that neither driver is

aware of this rule. The cars accelerate

toward each other and in a moment of

dumb panic, Jon simply takes his hands

off of the wheel. The car swerves

violently and then rolls into a ditch.

The impact of the crash causes the

occupants heads to whip forward, causing

facial injuries and rendering them

briefly unconscious from the force of

the blow. The only one spared,

miraculously, it seems, was Julian, who

was sitting on the floor well behind

Yoko. The car came to a stop. 6-year-old

Julian crawled out of the vehicle while

the others sat unresponsive. He began to

cry. The other vehicle kept driving. Not

too long after, in a stroke of luck,

someone spotted the crashed vehicle and

after checking on them, dashed off to a

nearby farm where they phoned for an

ambulance. Due to the remoteness of the

location, it took an hour to arrive.

They were taken to the Lawson Memorial

Hospital where Jon was given 17 facial

stitches, Kiyoko 4 and Yoko 14 stitches

in her forehead as well as injuring her

back. Little Julian was not injured. Jon

and Yoko spent 5 days in the hospital.

Yoko took the brunt of the crash and was

also pregnant at the time, so there was

extra care taken to ensure her health.

Cynthia, Jon's ex-wife, came quickly to

pick up Julian and found that he had

already been picked up by Jon's aunt

Mater. On Cynthia's arrival, Jon refused

to see her. Then soon after, Yoko's

ex-husband Anthony Cox came to get

Kiyoko. It was now just John and Yoko

alone. And so on July 1st, Paul was the

only Beatle present as he recorded the

first lead vocal for You Never Give Me

Your Money. Also present was George

Martin, who for the most part had

decided he no longer wanted to work with

the group. The White album sessions were

fraught and full of conflict, and the

Let It Be sessions were even more of a

disaster. So he was surprised when Paul

rang him up and said, "We want to make

another record. Will you produce it for

us? Really produce it?" And George

Martin said, "Yes, if I am really

allowed to produce it." And thank

goodness he did.

So, as many of you may know, Paul's home

was quite literally less than a

10-minute walk from EMI Studios. And

because of this, he was almost always

the first there and always got right to

work. And so, alone in the studio, Paul

decided to record a short little diddy

called Her Majesty. Paul had it finished

in three

takes. When George and Ringo arrived,

they began work on another Paul track.

This one inspired by pros he had read in

a book of children's nursery rhymes,

Golden Slumbers. The original words were

written all the way back in the 16th

century by playwright Thomas Decker.

Here's Paul. 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. This last line suggests that

he had already composed Carry that

weight and so put this song together to

serve as its companion piece. So it was

not only Golden Slumbers that they

recorded, but Carry that weight as well,

considered here as one song rather than

two. This was another song that

reflected Paul's emotional turmoil at

this time. We were entering a period in

the mid to late 60s when we were doing

LSD, staying up all night, then wishing

it would wear off, discovering it

wouldn't. A bad trip could leave you

feeling a bit heavy instead of enjoying

the normal lightness of youth. That was

coupled with the business problems at

Apple Records, which really were

horrible. The business meetings were

just soul destroying. We'd sit around in

an office, and it was a place you just

didn't want to be with people you didn't

want to be with. There's a great picture

that Linda took of Alan Klene in which

he's got a hammer like Maxwell's silver

hammer. It's very

symbolic. They spent the next couple of

days working on

[Music]

overdubs. And when they came in the next

week, they would begin work on what

would become one of the band's most

popular songs going forward.

Here Comes the Sun was written by George

in Eric Clapton's garden. Here's George.

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. Are you all noticing a

recurring theme in the songs of this

album? Today also marked a couple of

other notable events. First off, Ringo's

29th birthday. I hope they had cake for

him in the studio. And secondly, John's

first nonbeles single was released. Give

peace a chance under the name Plastic

Ono Band. Oh no, what is that sound?

Dread it? Run from it. There is no

escaping. Maxwell's Silver Hammer. The

song actually has a long history. It

began all the way back in 1966 when Paul

turned on the radio. With the radio on

and there was this play that caught my

ear, Zubu Kaku. I was I really liked it.

The play was described as a paphysical

extravaganza and those words stuck in

Paul's head for some years. John was

quizzical study metaphysical science in

the home. The song was actually written

sometime in early

1968. In fact, it was very nearly

recorded as a last second edition to the

White Album. Then it was rehearsed

during the Let It Be sessions, but never

yet had it been recorded until this day,

the same day that Jon and Yoko returned

following their car accident. The others

waited in the studio for Jon and Yoko's

arrival. There was a tension in the air,

as if they were almost scared to see

what Jon was like at this moment. But

when he arrived, he seemed to be in good

enough spirits. But where was Yoko?

Suddenly, as the engineering team was

setting up mics, a double wide mattress

was brought into the studio. An

ambulance arrived outside and Yoko was

carried in and softly lowered onto the

mattress. Then Jon requested a mic be

set up above her just in case she wanted

to participate. Engineer Ron Richards

walked into the scene and in disbelief

walked up to Jon. What the bloody hell

is all this? According to Richards, Jon

was very touchy about it, so he quickly

dropped the subject. Nonetheless, double

wide mattress or not, recording went on

as they recorded 21 takes of Maxwell's

Silver Hammer on this day. They spent

the last couple of hours overdubbing

guitars.

[Applause]

[Music]

Today, an anvil was brought in for

Ringo, just as they had done for Mal

Evans some months earlier. They

overdubbed piano and a guitar played

through a Leslie speaker, a technique

that George loved to utilize during

these sessions.

[Music]

Then they overdubbed Paul's lead vocal.

13 remixes were performed at the end of

the session, suggesting that the song

was considered finished. That was not to

be the case as the next day they came in

and recorded even more overdubs for

Maxwell's. Now, this song has a

reputation of being an absolute

nightmare to record with multiple

incidents of the other Beatles

complaining. Maxwell

Silver, I hate it cuz all I remember is

the track. He made us do it 100 million

times. He did everything to make it into

a single and it never was and it never

could have been. But he put guitar licks

on it and he had Mal hitting iron pieces

and we spent more money on that song

than any on the whole album, I think.

But as far as I can tell from the studio

notes, this song was not half the ordeal

to record that Obla Oblad was the other

song that lives in infamy due to Paul's

perfectionism. It is worth noting that a

little over two whole days were devoted

wholly to the song. Or put another way,

around 17 hours of recording work, which

does sound maddening. And since we are

talking tension, now would be a good

time to share a very well-known story.

That of Yoko Ono and her theft of George

Harrison's Mcvidi's digestive biscuit.

[Music]

[Applause]

One fateful day, George stepped out of

the studio and into the control room,

leaving behind on the Leslie speaker

cabinet his biscuit. And it was there

from the control room that he saw Yoko

rise from her bed, walk over, take, and

begin eating his biscuit. This would

lead to a shouting match between George

and John, where the time came for them

to finally air out all of their pentup

frustrations with each other. The

entirety of the next week would be spent

on overdubs for existing rhythm tracks.

Some examples being the harmonium for

Here Comes the Sun, as well as many of

the fun sound effects for Octopus's

Garden, including the sound of Ringo

blowing bubbles in a cup of

water. All the while, Paul kept coming

in early every single day and attempting

the lead vocal for Oh, Darling. when you

told

me you didn't need me

anymore. Well, you know, I nearly broke

down and cry.

Engineer Alan Parsons recalls, "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 try and 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.

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

One thing I can tell you, you just got

to be free. So far to this point, John

had kept a low profile in the studio and

seemed to still be in a dry spell. But

on Monday, he came back with a vengeance

with his song Come Together.

In remembrance of the song, John was

uncharacteristically positive. The only

other song of his I've heard him speak

so highly of was happiness is a warm

gun.

[Music]

And come together was an expression that

Liry and Rosemary had come up with for

um their his attempt at being president

or whatever he wanted to be. what John

and Yoko are doing here, what the kids

are doing in Berkeley, planting trees in

the park, and uh what we're doing in our

campaign for governor is uh part of this

great movement uh a revulsion against uh

the oldfashioned politics and uh they

asked me to write them a a a single you

know a song campaign song and I tried

and I tried and I tried and I couldn't

come up with it but I came up with this

come together which would have been no

good to they couldn't have a campaign

song like that right so I wrote another

little thing called come together and

join the party. Come together and join

the party. And it never got further than

that. And they never came back to ask

for the song. But I know Liry attacked

me years later saying, "I ripped him

off." I didn't rip him off. I had it

there waiting for him. It's just that it

turned into Come Together. What am I

going to do? Give it to him. Really?

It's one of my favorite Beatles tracks.

You know, it's funky. It's bluesy. And

I'm singing it pretty well. This

campaign of liies was abruptly ended

when he was arrested for cannabis

possession. When Larry eventually heard

the Beatles recording of the song

originally intended for his campaign, he

was a bit bewildered. Although the new

version was certainly a musical and

lyrical improvement on my campaign song,

I was a bit miffed that Linen had passed

me over this way. When I sent a mild

protest to John, he replied with typical

linen charm and wit that he was a tailor

and I was a customer who had ordered a

suit and never returned. So he sold it

to someone else. There is of course some

controversy surrounding this song as it

borrowed its opening line from Chuck

Barry's You can't

[Music]

John was sued by Barry's publisher

Morris Levy and settled out of court.

One of the stipulations of the

settlement, somewhat funnily, was that

John record more songs owned by Levy as

a way to generate revenue for the

publisher. The result was his 1975

album, Rock and Roll, which contained

Barry's Sweet Little 16 and You Can't

Catch

[Music]

[Applause]

Me. Take one of the song was extremely

simple and terrific for it. John played

no instrument as he simply sang and

delivered a signature biting vocal,

clapping his hands together after each

shoot me, he

[Music]

sang. So begins work on one of the more

collaborative beetle tracks of the past

few years. At this point called ending,

soon to be renamed the end. This would

turn out to be a truly special day in

the studio and one full of novelties yet

unseen in a Beatles recording. A Ringo

drum solo and a trio of guitar solos.

The thing that always amused me was how

much persuasion it took to get Ringo to

play that solo. Usually, you have to try

to talk drummers out of doing solos. He

didn't want to do it, but everybody

said, "No, no, it'll be fantastic." So,

he gave in and turned in a bloody

marvelous performance. It took a while

to get right and I think Paul helped

with some ideas, but it's fantastic. I

always want to hear it more. That's how

good it is. It's so musical. It's not

just a drummer going off. In the seven

takes they recorded, the style of drum

solo changed every single time, showing

that Ringo never had any particular plan

in place.

[Music]

He simply went off the cuff with some

ideas from Paul, if Emmer is correct in

saying so. And then in recollection of

the dueling guitar solos, Emer would

say, "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 Jon 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 Jon, 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 he was returning to his

roots with the boys. Who knows?

And the magic seemed to rub off even

further as at the end of the day, after

toiling away for weeks, Paul gave the

lead vocal for Oh Darling another go.

And it was on this day he would record

his brilliant final attempt.

[Music]

George is getting silly. George, sir,

George is getting silly.

Despite finally nailing the elusive

vocal for O Darling, Paul still arrived

early the next day for one particular

reason, to record a demo of a song he

had written to be given to the group Bad

Finger. The song was named Come and Get

It. And this was not just a simple demo.

Paul took the time to overdub an entire

rhythm track and would end up producing

Bad Finger's own version of the song.

[Music]

Good work, Paul. Once the day really

began, they got to work on a couple of

John contributions to the medley. Sun

King and Mean Mr. Mustard. Much like

Golden Slumbers and Carry That Weight,

they were not recorded as two separate

tracks, but as a continuous one, which

in this particular example actually

surprised me just due to how different

sounding the two songs are.

[Music]

The hypnotic guitar passage that opens

the song was influenced by Fleetwood Max

Albatross. At the time, Albatross was

out with all the reverb on

[Music]

guitar. So, we said, "Let's be Fleetwood

Mac doing albatross." It never really

sounded like Fleetwood Mac, but that was

the point of origin. The song eventually

descends into a strange string of

nonsense Spanish, Italian, and

Portuguese with the odd English phrase

thrown in. When we came to sing it, to

make them different, we started joking,

saying quando param mucho. We just made

it up. Paul knew a few Spanish words

from school, so we just strung any

Spanish words that sounded vaguely like

something. Mean Mr. Mustard was a song

written by John in India and was another

song considered for inclusion on the

White Album. The song actually has its

roots from back in 1967 when John read

in the Daily Mirror an article about a

miserly old man named John Alexander

Mustard who had been taken to divorce

court by his wife on account of his

meanness. I'd read somewhere in the

newspaper about this mean guy who

something about hiding£5 notes not up

his nose but somewhere else. It has

nothing to do with cocaine or snorting.

They ended up recording 35 takes of the

songs.

[Music]

[Applause]

And now on Friday another two songs

recorded as one. Paul's she came in

through the bathroom window and John's

polyine Pam. Let's hear first from Paul.

I'm still amused by the distinction of a

woman who could steal but she could not

rob. A nice distinction if there ever

was one. And that of course goes back to

the fact that a woman did actually sneak

into my house through the bathroom

window that was a bit a jar. A fan

apparently one of a group called the

Apple Scruffs. She found a ladder lying

outside my home in London. As far as I

recall, she stole a picture of my cotton

salesman dad or robbed me of it, but I

got the song in return. In an anecdote

by devoted apple scruff, Margot Bird,

she claims that these breakins into

Paul's house were not even that unusual.

There were really two groups of apple

scruffs. Those who would break in and

those who would just wait outside with

cameras and autograph booked. I used to

take Paul's dog for a walk and got to

know him quite well. The line, "And so I

quit." The police department was

inspired quite serendipitously by an

unusual name that Paul spotted.

Following a visit to Linda Eastman in

late 1968, Paul was escorted back to JFK

airport where he saw his driver's

identification on the dashboard panel.

It read, "Eugene Quits, New York Police

Department." Now, what about Paulyine

Pam? Another John song written in India.

Will he call it a piece of garbage too?

He actually refrained this time as he

seems to find humor in the origin of

this song. The inspiration dates all the

way back to 1960 with the band's

acquaintance with beat poet Royston

Ellis

[Music]

crawling around the darkness.

Let's hear it from John. That was me

remembering a a little event with a

woman in uh Jersey, an island off the

French coast which belonged to English

and a man called Roy something who was

England answer to Alan Ginsburg. He was

a beatnick that looked like a beatnick

and he came and there weren't any jazz

groups. There was only the Beatles. So

it's the first rock and roll and poetry.

He read poetry and we played blues and

he mentioned us in the paper. Years

later he had a job in Jersey TV. I met

him when we were big and on tour and he

took me back to his apartment. I had a

girl and he had one that he'd said, "You

want want to meet her?" Pauline Pam, she

she dresses up in polyine, which she did

in polyine bags and yeah. Well, it was

kind of, you know, perverted sex in a

polyine bag. There was nothing really

much to it.

The first two days of the next week were

spent on overdubs for Polyine Pam. She

came in through the bathroom window,

come together and Sun King/me Mr.

mustard. When they came into the studio

on the 30th, the goal was clear to

stitch together a rough draft of what

the Beatles were currently calling the

long one, aka the medley. Not all the

songs were in a finished state. For

example, the inn did not yet have

vocals, but the idea was to see how

everything fit together, what needed

fixing and what didn't. And there was

one song in particular that Paul thought

didn't work. Her Majesty. The song was

initially placed between Mean Mr.

Mustard and Polyine Pam.

[Music]

Engineer John Kurlander tells the story.

We did all the remixes and crossfades to

overlap the song. Paul was there and we

heard it together for the first time. He

said, "I don't like her majesty. Throw

it away." So, I cut it out, but I

accidentally left in the last note. He

said, "It's only a rough mix. It doesn't

matter." In other words, don't bother

about making a clean edit because it's

only a rough mix. I said to Paul, "What

shall I do with it?" "Throw it away," he

replied. I'd been told never to throw

anything away. So, after he left, I

picked it up off the floor, put about 20

seconds of red leader tape before it,

and stuck it onto the end of the edit

tape. The next day, down at Apple,

Malcolm Davis cut a playback lacquer of

the whole sequence. When Paul listened

to the medley again the next day, he

heard after 20 seconds, Her Majesty is

the very last piece, and he liked it.

The song was never remixed, and this

reveals the answer to the mystery. What

happened to the last chord of Her

Majesty in the final mix? I'm going to

make a

[Music]

mine. I'm going to make a mine.

Well, it was left in the rough initial

mix as the last note of Mean Mr. mustard

as noted by Kurlander when he said, "I

accidentally left in the last note."

This also explains the crashing electric

guitar chord at the beginning of Her

Majesty. Besides Her Majesty, the only

transition that gave them any trouble

was between You Never Give Me Your Money

and Sun King. They tried a couple of

different solutions, but the perfect fit

was not discovered on this day. 1 2 3

4. Here we see the birth of a song that

was inspired by box Moonlight Sonata

because

Yoko was playing Moonlight Sonata on the

piano. She was classically trained. I

said, "Can you play those chords

backward and wrote because around them?"

The lyrics speak for themselves. They're

clear. No [ __ ] no imagery, no

obscure references. This was a song that

George Harrison held in very high

regard. John wrote this tune. The

backing is a bit like Beethoven and has

threepart harmony right throughout. I

think this is possibly my favorite one

on the album. The lyrics are so simple.

The harmony was pretty difficult to

sing. We had to really learn it. But I

think that's one of the tunes that will

impress most people. It's really good.

And the harmonies proved the most

difficult. the Beatles had attempted in

a very long time as not since this boy

and yes it is

[Music]

true. Yes it is. Had they put in the

same amount of effort to really hammer

down the harmonies, they recorded

multiple tracks of the vocals, three for

each of them for a total sum of nine.

because the wind

and the perfect transition between You

Never Give Me Your Money and Sun King

would come to Paul on this day as he

came to Abi Road Studios with a bag of

his own homerecorded tapes, a collection

of bells and birds and crickets that

slotted in prettily between the two

songs.

[Music]

It was also on this day that the Moog

synthesizer was brought into the studio.

A huge multi-tiered and spaghettiwired

monstrosity. They were to use it for

overdubs throughout the album, beginning

with

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

[Music]

Because. Engineer Nick Webb would

remark, "I think the Beatles used the

Moog with great subtlety. Others in a

similar situation would probably have

gone completely over the top with it.

It's there on the record, but not

obtrusively. So, it was around this

point with all of the basic tracks

recorded that the Beatles begin to split

up and perform overdubs on their own

respective songs.

[Music]

keeping at least two studios running at

any given point. The album was near

complete and so all that was left were

the final touches. On the morning of

Friday, August 8th, the Beatles came

together at Abby Road along with

photographer and friend to John and

Yoko, Ian McMillan. Paul had brought

along a sketch of his idea for the

cover, an excruciatingly simple idea,

the four Beatles walking across Abbey

Road. The working title had been Everest

based on the type of cigarettes that

engineer Jeff Emer smoked. At some point

though, this was dropped and somehow the

Beatles fell into what would be both the

easiest and most enduring solution. They

spent 10 minutes shooting the album

cover and Ian only took six pictures of

the Beatles walking across the road.

We'll skip now to Friday, August 15th,

which was to be a session devoted to one

purpose, the orchestral overdubs for the

entirety of the album.

For the first time in a Beatles session,

closed circuit television was utilized

to link two studios together so George

Martin could conduct the musicians in

one studio while Jeff Emerch and the

team monitored from the other. It was a

mammoth session, recalled Alan Brown. We

had a large number of lines linking the

studios, and we were all walking around

the building with walkietalkies trying

to communicate with each other. The

orchestral overdub for the end was the

most elaborate I have ever heard. It

cost a lot of money. All the musicians

have to be paid, fed, and watered. I

screw every pound note out of it

whenever I play the

record. The first song to be recorded

for Abby Road, John's I Want You, ended

up being one of the last tracks

finished. Let's catch up real quick

since it's been a while. In February

with Billy Preston, they recorded 35

takes of the song which was edited down

to a best take using three different

versions. This is the original Trident

tape. Since then, they've recorded many

overdubs, but some of those overdubs

were done on the original, while some

have been done on a copy of the

original. It's a mouthful to try and

explain, but essentially today they have

two extremely similar but slightly

different tapes of the same song that

they need to splice together in order to

have all of the elements that Jon

desires. So for the final version, the

copied tape composes the first 4 minutes

and 37 seconds, while the original

Trident tape covers the remaining 3

minutes and 7 seconds.

It was John's decision to cut the song

suddenly with a full volume slash rather

than a fade out. He had added the

swirling white noise from the Moog

synthesizer on the eighth. And that

combined with the continually repeating

guitar arpeggios helped build an

enormous wall of sound that when

suddenly cut had a jarring and powerful

effect. It was that cut that would end

side one of the record.

The rest of the day would be spent

putting together the final master for

the album and hammering down the running

order. This was to be the last day that

all four Beatles were in a recording

studio at the same time. 2 days later,

they would all attend a photo session at

John and Yoko's new home at Tittenhurst

Park. And then just 6 days after that,

Paul and Linda would have their first

child together, Mary McCartney, named

after Paul's mother. A matter of weeks

later, the band was essentially

dead. Abby Road is an astonishing piece

of work, even outside the context of the

Beatles imminent demise. The Beatles did

their best to put up a good front, but

it only went so far. "You didn't want to

get involved," said engineer Phil

McDonald. But people would be walking

out, banging instruments down, not

turning up on time, and keeping the

others waiting 3 or 4 hours, then

blaming each other for not having

rehearsed or not having played their bit

right. It was very distressing. On

Tuesday, September 9th, John, Paul, and

George came together to Apple

headquarters to discuss their future

plans. Ringo wasn't there, so they

brought along a tape recorder. Ringo,

you can't be here, but this is so you

can hear what we're discussing, said

John. They discussed plans for a new

album. And with George burgeoning as a

songwriter, Jon broached the subject of

allowing George greater influence within

the band, a single perhaps, and more

tracks on the upcoming album. But the

discussion quickly devolved into an

argument, not between any specific

beetle, but between all of them at once.

The following is taken from Anthony

Faucett's One Day at a Time. Well, the

thing is," Paul answered without even

looking at George, who sat a few feet

away. I think that until now, until this

year, our songs have been better than

George's. Now, this year, his songs are

at least as good as ours. George was

quick to correct Paul. Now, that's a

myth. Cuz most of the songs this year I

wrote about last year or the year

before. Anyway, maybe now I just don't

care whether you are going to like them

or not. I just do them. If I didn't get

a break, I wouldn't push it. I'd just

forget about it. now for the last 2

years. At any rate, I've pushed it a bit

more. I know what he's saying, John

said, cuz people have said to me, you're

coming through a lot stronger now than

you had. I don't particularly seek a

claim, George said. That's not the

thing. It's just to get out whatever is

there to make way for whatever else is

there, you know, cuz it's only to get

them out. And also, I might as well make

a bit of money, seeing as I'm spending

as much as the rest of you, and I don't

earn as much as the rest of you. Most of

my tunes, he said. I never had the

Beatles backing me. Oh, come on, George.

John shouted. We put a lot of work in

your songs, even down to Don't Bother

Me. We spent a lot of time doing all

that and we grooved. I can remember the

riff you were playing. And in the last 2

years, there was a period where you went

Indian and we weren't needed. That was

only one tune, George said. On the last

album, I don't think you appeared on any

of my songs. I don't mind. Well, you had

Eric or somebody like that," John

replied in a hurt tone of voice. There

was a long pause as each Beatle seemed

lost in contemplation, not wanting to

admit that they were becoming individual

musicians. Paul grasped at the remnants

of truth and spoke slowly, almost

whispering. "When we get in a studio,

even on the worst day, I'm still playing

bass, Wingo's still drumming, and we're

still there, you know."

3 days later, John Linen would decide to

leave the

Beatles. The rest of that story will

have to wait till next time. Thank you

so very much for watching. If you

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