Sunday, December 30, 2012

Revolver (Album) 1966


- The seventh studio album by the band, released in August 1966.
- Recorded over two and a half months.
- The tracks Rain and Paperback Writer were both recorded as part of the Revolver block but released as a pre-promotional standalone single (meaning neither track actually featured on the album).

- Electric guitar very much takes centrestage on this recording, diverging from the folk-ish sound of Rubber Soul whilst pursuing the seeds of psychedelia that could be seen on that previous album. this was foreshadowed with the Paperback Writer single.
- As a result, this album is generally seen as being the musical starting point for the psychedelic era.
- Ten of the fourteen tracks were Lennon-McCartney compositions (though by this point they were mostly working on songs separately). Harrison contributed (an unprecedented) three tracks and even Ringo gets a song credit. As a result the album features a more diverse selection of original material than ever before, with the other members of the band having more input than before. Ringo also sings his (arguably) most famous Beatles track (The Yellow Submarine) and contributed some lyrical ideas. 

- The cover art was created by Klaus Voorman, a friend of the band from their Hamburg club days back in 1962. The art has been heavily influential on album covers from later Beatles-like bands such as Jet and The Vines.
- The title of the album is a pun (much like 'Rubber Soul') that references guns and the revolving motion of a record on a turntable.
- When the Beatles went on tour after this album's release they did not play many songs from it (if any at all), owing to the advanced stages of composition they were now reaching. The recording techniques and layers of instrumentation now meant that many of their songs were difficult to replicate live.
- Many of the songs saw a lyrical shift towards third-person storytelling (as opposed to songs written in the first person).
- The album reached number one on both the British and American charts, and is now often regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time (at least according to VHS, Time magazine, Rolling Stone, Guitar World, etc).
- In addition to the Beatles, some seventeen other people provided vocals and extra instrumentation on the album. This includes a string quartet, fellow celebrities Donvan, Brian Jones and Marianne Faithfull, and a horn section.
- This album is the first time an automatic double-tracker was used to record vocals. Lennon in particular was very pleased with this as he hated recording his vocals twice, and this invention soon became regulation on pop recordings. This invention also eventually led to the invention of the chorus effect and chorus pedal for guitar.
- Other innovations made on Revolver include: tape looping, highly compressed vocals, other vocal effects achieved through rotating speakers and "vari-speeding", backwards guitar tracks, the increased incorporation of Indian instrumentation into pop music, deliberately hidden images in the artwork, and a song based around just one note.
- Revolver would be the last Beatles album to feature different tracklistings in America and the UK.

1. Taxman
- Written by Harrison, and arguably his first 'hit'.
- Harrison was 'inspired' to write this after finding out exactly how much of his earnings were being taxed (a higher percentage than normal due to how much the band was earning). The lyrics mark the emergence of Harrison's more tongue-in-cheek style.
- The distinctive bass-riff has inspired several other songs by later bands such as the Stone Roses, Ride and The Jam.
- Harrison asked Lennon to help him with the lyrics. Lennon didn't really want to help him but he felt bad because Harrison had been locked out on the songwriting front for the last few years and so he wrote some one-liners for use in the song. McCartney wasn't interested in helping Harrison either (McCartney was very much against Harrison-written songs taking up too many slots on the album) and Harrison knew this, hence why he went to Lennon. 

- The lyrics mark the first time that public figures are mentioned in a Beatles song by name.
- Harrison continued to play the song live right into the 1990s, even adding extra lyrics such as "if you're overweight I'll tax your fat".

- The bit where Harrison sings 'Taxman!' just on its own towards the end of the bridge is a deliberate homage to the '60s TV show Batman.
- Harrison sings the lead vocals, with Lennon only providing backing vocals and some tambourine. Harrison also plays two separate guitar tracks on the recording. Ringo incorporates some cowbell into his drumming.
- As well as bass, McCartney also played the lead guitar on the track, much to Harrison's delight (Harrison later remarked in interviews about how happy he was to have McCartney contribute to the song, even noting that the famous solo features a little indian-sounding bit as a nod to him).
- An alternate take featured different backup vocals. They're kinda bad and can be heard on the Anthology albums.


2. Eleanor Rigby  
- Written primarily by Paul McCartney, although all four members contributed to the lyrics.
- The song is one of the first indications of how far the band was moving away from the more straight-ahead pop of the era. 

- Working title was 'Ola Na Tungee'.
- McCartney wrote the song on his piano, with the lyrics originally centered around the names 'Daisy Hawkins' and 'Father McCartney'. He later settled on Eleanor, after the actress Eleanor Bron (who had co-starred with the band in the movie Help!). Ringo added the line about "writing a sermon that no one will hear" and suggested putting in a bit about darning socks (lol, wtf) and Harrison came up with the "ahhhhh look at all the lonely people" refrain featured at the start of the song and throughout. Lennon claimed in subsequent interviews that he wrote most of the lyrics by himself but pretty much everyone else involved has gone on record to say that he only contributed a single line at most. Pete Shotton, a friend of Lennon's, also contributed some ideas to the lyrics - mainly the last section of the song where the priest's and Eleanor's lives intersect at a funeral.
- None of the band plays any instruments on the actual recording, however McCartney, Lennon and Harrison all sing on it. The instrumentation is made up of 4 violins, 2 cellos and 2 violas, all conducted by George Martin. Microphones were placed very close to the instrumets to get a raw and up-close sound. It's said that McCartney's vision for the arrangement came from the score to the film Fahrenheit 451.
- George Martin also takes credit for the combining of the two different vocal parts that work together in parts of the song, a musical vocal technique known as 'counterpoint', perfected in the renaissance era.
- Eleanor Rigby was released as a single in the UK concurrently with the album Revolver.
- All sorts of things have been written in praise of this song - McCartney won a grammy for his vocals in it, and esteemed musical analysts and composers such as Howard Goodall have gone as far as saying it pretty much single-handedly saved pop music.
- There is a real grave in Liverpool marked 'Eleanor Rigby'... she died at some point in the '40s and McCartney has remarked that his use of the name may have been subconscious as he and Lennon spent a lot of their childhood in the area where the grave is featured.

- Liverpool has an Eleanor Rigby statue in honour of this song. It was erected in 1982.
- Runs for two minutes and took 15 takes to complete.

3. I'm Only Sleeping
- My absolute favourite Beatles song ever. This song got me into the Beatles and, more specifically, into the album Revolver.

- Written mostly by Lennon. 
- Lennon sings the lead vocals, with McCartney and Harrison providing harmony.
- The lyrics were initially simply about Lennon's love for sleeping in, though re-writes later brought in some drug-overtones.
- The rhythm guitar played throughout is electronically compressed to give it a strange 'dream-like' sound. 

- The further compound this dreamy quality the instrumentation was slowed down slightly after recording, and Lennon's vocals were then slowed down even more before being sped up to match the speed of the rest of the song.
- The guitar solo was composed very carefully by George Harrison in a fashion that would allow it to melodically fit when played backwards, and it was subsquently run backwards after recording. It it comprises of two guitar tracks, one with a fuzz effect and one without.
- Around the 2 minute you can hear McCartney yawning, a few seconds before it if you really strain to hear it you can also hear Lennon saying 'Yawn, Paul'.

- Runs for three minutes and took 13 takes to complete.

4. Love You To
- Written by Harrison.
- The only Beatles song to not feature Lennon or McCartney in any fashion. McCartney recorded some backing vocals but they were eventually not used for the final mix.
- Harrison plays the sitar throughout this track, as well as a tambura (another classical indian string instrument). It is the first Beatles song to seriously show the influence that Ravi Shankar's sitar-tuition had on Harrison, with the guitarist basing the entire song around the hypnotic drone of traditional Indian music.
- Also features more backwards guitar work from Harrison. He also uses a fuzz pedal to replicate the Indian drone-sound on guitar.

- Ringo plays a tambourine throughout the track.
- Anil Bhagwa (who I assume was an indian session musician of sorts, or someone Harrison met via Shankar) plays the tabla (an Indian percussion instrument) for the track. 
- Some other additional Indian musicians were used (the Asian Music Circle), playing sitars and swarmandal (a harp-like instrument). They were encouraged to just jam on the song in an open-ended sort of fashion, and their improvisation was edited into the song.
- Provisionally titled Granny Smith.

- Runs for two and a half minutes and took seven takes to complete.

5. Here There and Everywhere 

- Written by McCartney.
- Both McCartney and George Martin list this as one of their favourite Beatles songs. And, even at his most bitter and anti-Paul, Lennon could say that this was one of McCartney's greatest songs.

- In the early stages of writing, the band tentaively offered a vocal-less version of the song to instrumental band The Shadows. They must have changed their minds though as The Shadows never received a copy to listen to.
- It's a rather subtle and moving tune, the major-orientated verses segue into minor-based choruses. McCartney intended for the backing vocals to be reminiscent of the Beach Boys, perhaps influenced by similar bittersweet tracks of the era such as God Only Knows

- McCartney's high-vocals in the chorus were influenced by the style of Marianne Faithfull, and were recorded at a slower speed and then sped up. They were also double-tracked to further help achieve this effect. 
- Lennon doesn't play any instruments on the recording but he does provide backing vocals. McCartney plays both bass and rhythm guitar.
- Harrison plays his 12-string guitar for the recording.
- All four Beatles contributed clicking fingers to the recording. Huzzah!

- The band never played this song live, but McCartney would later play it solo during the '90s. 
- McCartney later re-recorded the song in 1983 for the film Give My Regards to Broad Street.
- Took 14 takes to finish and runs for about two and a half minutes.

6. Yellow Submarine  

- The song originated as a few bits and pieces and ideas by McCartney, specifically as the album's song for Ringo to sing. Lennon and '60s singer Donovon helped contribute some lyrics and the song wasn't really written properly until the band were all together in the studio.
- Lead vocals by Ringo. Backing vocals by McCartney, Lennon and Harrison.

- Harrison does not play any guitar on this track but his does provide some tambourine. Ringo also provides a maracas track.
- Ringo originally recorded a spoken word introduction for the song but this was dropped before release.
- Contrary to the oft-speculated belief that the song is somehow about drugs, McCartney has exasperatedly explained time and time again that it was written simply as a kids song for Ringo to sing.
- George Martin used a whole gaggle of sound effects that he had previously collected together for use on the radio comedy series The Goon Show. These were added in a week after the song was recorded. The cash register sound effect is the same one later used on the Pink Floyd song Money. Some sound effects were also created from scratch, EG. Lennon blew through a straw into water for a bubbling sound, McCartney talked through tin cans for the captain's voice, the sound assistants swished some heavy chains about in a bathtub full of water for suitably water-y sounds.
- Several famous guests came onboard to make the party/crowd sounds, none were listed in the song's notes on the album but known contributers include - Pattie Boyd, Marianne Faithfull, Brian Jones, Neil Aspinall and the band's chauffeur.
- Released as a double A-side single in the UK with Eleanor Rigby. The single got to Number 1.
- The U.S. release of the single failed to get to #1, instead peaking at #2 - most likely due to the 'bigger than jesus' controversy that Lennon had sparked in the U.S. at the time of the single's release.
- The band later used this single as the starting point for a 1968 animated film (they owed United Artists a third film as part of their contract with them - they weren't enthusiastic at the time, probably due to the lacklustre reception of their television project The Magical Mystery Tour, so they saw an animated film as their easy way out. They didn't even do their own voices for said film, but did agree to a cameo appearance at the end after they saw the final project and were impressed with the result).

- Runs for two minutes and 45 seconds, and took 5 takes to complete.

7. She Said She Said

- Written primarily by Lennon, though it is unclear whether or not McCartney was involved in the composition. Harrison made the claim that he helped come up with the bridge, which is probably true since it was rare for Harrison to claim any sort of involvement with Lennon-McCartney compositions.
- The lyrics concern LSD and one of Lennon's first acid-trips, in this case one that involved a real-life conversation with Peter Fonda.
- The incident that inspired the song was a get-together in the band's rented house in California, attended by the band, Peter Fonda and the Byrds. Everyone except for McCartney took some acid. Peter Fonda was really wasted and kept talking about his near-fatal childhood gunshot accident. Harrison was freaking out due to the drugs and Fonda was trying to comfort him by saying "I know what it's like to be dead". Lennon cracked the shits and told him to shut up because he was bringing everyone down and Fonda started complaining. At this point in time Fonda was only known for being Henry Fonda's son, he hadn't made the film Easy Rider yet. Both Harrison and Lennon weren't happy with Fonda's behaviour at the time, Harrison later remarked that "he was very uncool", recalling how Fonda kept showing them all his bullet wound.
- This was the final song to be recorded for Revolver and was hastily put down on tape when it was found that the album was still a song short with the deadline looming.
- The song was recorded from scratch in just 9 hours, complete with overdubs. George Martin was exhausted afterwards. McCartney had some kind of argument with Lennon near the beginning of the session and left in a huff, hence he isn't featured in the finished recording at all - Harrison plays the bass instead.
- The song's key is somewhat in dispute amongst music analysts... it is speculated that the guitars are either played with a capo on the first thret or that the guitar was sped up a semitone (something the band often mucked about with during this period). 

- The complicated bridge section is in 6/4 timing.
- Ringo's drumming is arguably at it's most innovative in this song... on its own it would sound quite chaotic and crazed, but somehow it all fits with the song. He also plays a shaker on the recording.
- In addition to guitar, Lennon plays the harmonium. He also sings the lead vocals and backing vocals, with some added harmonising from Harrison.

- Runs for two and a half minutes and took four takes to finish.

8. Good Day Sunshine 

- Written mostly by Paul McCartney, with some small input from Lennon.
- Neither Lennon or Harrison contribute any instrumentation on this one, it's all McCartney and Ringo, with George Martin playing the piano. I guess the band was starting to feel more comfortable with arranging songs without other bandmembers being all that involved in the recording process - probably due to the fact that they had made a conscious decision to no longer play live sets, meaning the rest of the band didn't neccessarily have to learn a song if they didn't really want to (lol).

- McCartney also provides a piano track in addition to the bass. No guitar features on the track at all.
- Harrison and Lennon aren't completely missing though, they provide harmony vocals and hand claps.
- McCartney wrote the song after being influenced by the upbeatness of American soul-pop band The Lovin' Spoonful (who are best known these days for the song Summer in the City).

- The song ends in a different key to that in which it starts.
- McCartney re-recorded the song for the 1984 film Give My Regards to Broad Street, and has performed it live a couple of times since.
- Runs for just over two minutes, and only took one take to record. 

9. And Your Bird Can Sing
- Written by Lennon, though McCartney may have contributed to the bridge.
- Lennon later felt that this song wasn't much more than filler and listed it as amongst his worst songs.
- Provisionally titled You Don't Get Me

- Originally written in the key of D, the song was transposed up to an E through the use of a capo.
- There is a wide array of speculation as to what the song is about, theories include - smoking pot (an alternate take of the song on Anthology features the band giggling in a possibly marijuana-induced manner, and the 'seven wonders' line may have been an in-joke referring to the McCartney's theory of 'seven levels' which he scrawled down on a piece of paper whilst high), a payout on Frank Sinatra - who had taken a few thinly veiled swipes at the band in the media at the time, Mick Jagger (the 'bird' of the title referring to his girlfriend at the time, Marianne Faithfull), or Lennon's failing marriage to his first wife Cynthia (she had given him a horrible mechanical bird in a cage for his birthday, which he felt was an apt metaphor for their relationship). 

- Lennon sings the lead vocals, with McCartney and Harrison harmonising.
- Harrison and McCartney play dual lead guitar for the riff throughout the song. A Byrds-style sounding 12 string guitar was used for the intro at one point but was later dropped for the final edit of the recording. 

- Lennon also plays a tambourine on the recording in addition to guitar.
- Another song with handclaps!

- Took ten takes to record and runs for two minutes.

10. For No One
- Written by McCartney.
- Another ballad (this, along with Here, There and Everywhere earlier on the album, is one of McCartney's best songs). 

- Written about the end of a relationship, and inspired by McCartney's troubles with his partner at the time. The original title of the song was Why Did It Die?, and he wrote it in the bathroom of a ski resort in Switzerland while on holidays.
- Harrison and Lennon do not appear on the track at all. Ringo plays the drums, maracas and tambourine, and McCartney plays the piano, bass and clavichord (a stringed European keyboard-like instrument).
- Features Alan Civil on the french horn for the solo-part of the song. Civil was reputed to be the greatest french horn player in the UK at the time and subsequently felt his performance in this piece was his most accomplished - mainly owing to the fact that McCartney pushed him to play a note that was beyond the instrument's usual range. Civil actually got irritated at the time as McCartney asked for something better after Civil had managed to play the 'impossible' note

- McCartney recorded the bass a full step lower (Bb) than the rest of the song and then sped the recording up so that it would be in key (C). This was further complicated when Civil recorded his french horn track in the lower key (Bb) and the whole track had to be shifted back down again (to Bb). The result sounded a little strange so it was then sped up to be in another key (B... the note between Bb and C).
- Lennon liked this song a lot. 
- Runs for two minutes and took 14 takes to finish.

11. Doctor Robert
- Written primarily by Lennon, though McCartney may have helped finish it off with the "well, well, well" bridge section.
- Several songs on Revolver were singled out by the press for being about drugs. Most of the time the press was mistaken, and one song that wasn't singled was this one - the one that is primarily concerned with drugs and pretty much nothing else. In seems quite strange in hindsight, as it's pretty obvious!
- Lennon claims the Doctor Roberts of the title is a reference to himself, as he was the pill distributor of the band, but it's more likely he is referring to a real Doctor - either Dr. Robert Freymann or Dr. Charles Roberts - both renowned in the era for handing out copious amounts of amphetamines to celebrities. Other theories include Bob Dylan and art dealer Robert Fraser.
- In addition to providing lead vocals and guitar, Lennon also plays a harmonium for this track - giving it an almost 'christmas carol'-like feel, and Harrison shakes up some maraca action.
- For music buffs, the song appears to be in the key of A at the outset but this is a bit of trickery (probably subconsciously) employed by Lennon before the song segues into it's actual key of B major.

- Runs for just over two minutes and took 7 takes to complete.

12. I Want to Tell You
 

- Written by Harrison, and the marking the first time more than two of his songs were included on a Beatles album.
- This slot was originally intended to be for another Lennon song, but Lennon wasn't feeling very creative so the band worked on an extra Harrison song instead - hence why three of his songs made it onto the album. Harrison originally intended to record Isn't It a Party but the others didn't like it, meaning the song remained unrecorded until Harrison's first solo album.
- Although not as overtly Indian-sounding as some of Harrison's other recently penned tracks, this song makes use of a drone-like structure... never really straying from the one chord and featuring relatively-flat lead vocals from Harrison. The song also features a strong bass and piano presence, and Harrison uses a distinctive guitar riff to separate the otherwise similar verses and choruses.
- Lennon and McCartney add in a lot of dynamic backing vocals, something they often found to be a lot of fun on Harrison's songs.
- The second Beatles song to begin with a fade in.
- McCartney sings over the outro, something done in a fashion which wikipedia tells me is 'melisma' (which can apparently mean one of two things - either the singing is done in a female fashion, or a syllable is matched over several notes rather than one). This is something often employed in some genres of traditional chanting, and also harkens back to the Indian-influence used in Harrison's work.
- Working titles for the song include Laxton's Superb and I Don't Know.
- The lyrics concern Harrison's frustration at assembling his thoughts in a coherent or understandable manner and other internal difficulties. This song can (lyrically) probably be seen as a lead up to the bands meditation retreat to India.
- More handclaps from all of the band, Ringo also overdubbed some maracas. Lennon doesn't play any instrument on this track other than a tambourine. The piano was played by McCartney. Harrison plays both guitar tracks and his vocals are double-tracked.

- McCartney recorded his bassline the day after. It was the first time he did this separately, marking the beginning of increased songwriting independence within the band.
- Runs for two and a half minutes and took 3 takes to finish.

13. Got to Get You Into My Life
- Written by McCartney.
- Lennon later said that this song and For No One were two of his favourite McCartney-written Beatles songs.
- McCartney was influenced by American soul music, particularly the big-horn Memphis variety mainly featured on the Stax label.
- A lot of work was done on this song in the studio, with the song changing a fair bit between takes - with different fade outs and the like.
- Humourously, McCartney later confided that the lyrics weren't about a girl but specifically about marijuana. 

- Harrison plays two separate guitar tracks, and Ringo provides a tambourine track in addition to his drums. George Martin also plays the organ on this recording.
- The guitar tracks by Harrison and Lennon ended up being almost mixed out of the song altogether.
- Releasd as a U.S. single in 1976 with Helter Skelter as its b-side, to help promote a Billboard Hot 100 compilation album. It was the last time the Beatles would be in the U.S. charts until the release of their anthology single Free as a Bird in 1995.
- Joe Pesci recorded a version of this in the late '60s, when he was a struggling singer known as Joe Ritchie.
- Some session musicians (Eddeie Thornton, Iam Hamer, Les Condon, Alan Branscombe and Peter Coe) were brought in to play trumpets and saxophones. This song marks the first time the band uses traditional brass instruments in a recording. Some of these musicians were from a band called Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, who McCartney had seen play in the club (and who had inspired him to insert some horns into his song).

- Engineer Geoff Emerick decided to put the microphones directly into the bells of the brass instruments to make them sound punchier. This quickly became standard practice for recording brass in rock songs. McCartney still wasn't convinced they were in-your-face enough, so they the five brass instruments were also double-tracked.
- Runs for two and a half minutes and took 8 takes to complete.

14. Tomorrow Never Knows
- Written by Lennon.
- The first song recorded during the Revolver sessions.
- Automatic double-tracking was used for Lennon's vocals, and they were recorded after being run through a Leslie speaker cabinet (which is normally used as a speaker for a Hammond Organ, and helps create the suitable effects for such an instrument).
- The lyrics concern the comparison between LSD-induced 'ego'-death and actual death. Lennon had just read a book co-written by Timothy Leary that concerned psychedelia and drug-taking in particular (some of the lyrics are directly lifted from this book).
- The song was provisionally titled Mark I as Lennon was too embarrassed about the philosophical nature of the lyrics to give it a proper name. He eventually settled for a Ringo saying, Tomorrow Never Knows, and it is one of the earliest Beatles songs to feature a title that isn't mentioned in the lyrics. 

- This is also the first Beatles song to use rhyming lyrics.
- This song is pretty much as close as the Beatles got to succeeding in their quest to base a song entirely around just one chord, in this case C. It marks yet another time the band was influenced by the Indian drone-style, though this time it was Lennon and McCartney rather than Harrison.
- Lennon wanted the vocals to sound like 'a thousand monks chanting'. He came up with the idea of having himself tied to a rope and then spun around a microphone while he sang. Martin didn't take him seriously, but Lennon was completely serious (it was that part of the Beatles era). They eventually came up with the Leslie speaker idea instead.
- The song's unique sound also comes from the drum track being electronically (and manually) compressed, the cymbals being run backwards and the use of looped tape effects. McCartney came up with the looped tape effect by taking off the eraser head on his tape recorder and then running a continuous loop of tape through it while he recorded something, so that it would constantly overdub itself - making a highly condensed and saturated effect. He brought the idea to the session and showed it to Martin, and the band quickly got to work recording a variety of sounds for use in the song... the seagull-like effect is actually McCartney laughing and shouting, one other effect is an orchestral chord ringing out, and the others were taken from mellotrons (a kind of electronic piano that used tape) and an Indian-sounding scale played on a guitar. The looped-tape effect would later also be used on Revolution No. 9 and on the unreleased track Carnival of Light (recorded in the Sergeant Peppers sessions).
- Lennon plays the tambourine and hammond organ on this track. McCartney did the backwards guitar bits. Harrison played the sitar and probably the Tambur as well (a persian string instrument used for the drone-effect). Ringo also plays a tambourine in addition to the drums. George Martin played the honky-tonk styled piano.

- Runs for almost three minutes and took three takes to record.

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Paperback Writer (Single) 1966

 
Paperback Writer 
- About six months after Rubber Soul, the band released their next stand-alone single.
- Written mostly by McCartney.
- Influenced by their contemporaries and rivals The Beach Boys.
- The first Beatles single to not be a love song of any kind.
- One of the last new songs the band would perform live before quitting their live shows. The band would mask the harder parts to sing (such as the harmonising refrain) by encouraging the audience to scream louder by doing a 'woo' or a head wobble just beforehand. 

- McCartney sings the lead vocals, with Lennon and Harrison harmonising. Ringo plays tambourine as well as his usual drum track.
- The recording features a bigger bass sound than previous Beatles sounds. McCartney achieved this by using a loudspeaker instead of a microphone to record from his bass amp.
- This was attempt by McCartney to write a melodic song based around a single chord. Most of the song is based around G as a result.
- Took two takes to record and runs for two minutes and fifteen seconds.

Rain
- The b-side to Paperback Writer.
- Written by Lennon.
- Both this song and Paperback Writer were written during the Revolver sessions but eventually not included on that album in favour of releasing them as a stand-alone single before the album's release.
- Lennon wrote the song after the band toured Australia. On their arrival into the country they were met with rain the likes of which they had never seen.
- Owing to the band's reluctance to continue performing live, a promotional video was made to this song and given to various TV stations around the world to play. This is pretty much the first time such a thing was done, making the Beatles the originator of the music video.
- Also owing to the fact that the band would no longer be playing their songs live, they started to become more enthusiastic about musical experimentation. The sound of Lennon's vocals were altered by recording them on a slowed-down tape recorder and then speeding the tape up to normal speed to match the tempo of the song. Similar things were done in the opposite direction to alter backing tracks as well.
- This song is the first recording to feature backwards vocals as well. Both Lennon and George Martin take credit for this innovation. 

- McCartney came up with the idea of slowing the song down to give it an Indian-like drone vibe. This shifts the key down from A into G.
- Arguably the band's first truly psychedelic song.
- Lennon sings the lead vocals, with McCartney and Harrison providing backing vocals. Ringo provides an additional tambourine track. 
- Ringo has often cited the drumming in this song as being his best work.
- In the video clip to the song, certain closeups show McCartney's lip to be scarred and his tooth chipped due to a recent moped accident. The persistant "Paul is Dead" malarkey takes some of it's folklore from here.

- Runs for three minutes and took eight takes to record.

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Rubber Soul (Album) 1965


- The sixth studio album by the band, released in December 1965. This means that they'd released six albums in just two and a half years!
- Recorded in a four week block in order to make the Christmas sales season.
- First Beatles album to be recorded in one big ol' block, as opposed to dates here and there between shows and commitments. I think this shows, and for a lot of people Rubber Soul is the first true 'album' the Beatles released.
-
This is the point when the band really starts to open out and the beginning point for what some would call their 'psychedelic' period. The band was moving away from their r+b, rock roots and more becoming more and more influenced by contemporary artists such as The Byrds, the Yardbirds, Bob Dylan and The Beach Boys.
- Eleven of the fourteen songs were Lennon/McCartney compositions. Two were written by Harrison (he would now usually get two song slots each album) and one was 'written' by Ringo (he shared writing credit with Lennon and McCartney).
- The cover was the first Beatles album cover not to feature their name.
The image came about after the Beatles watched some slides of photos by photographer Bob Freeman. One such slide fell askew, giving the photo an elongated effect, and the band asked for a photo to be stretched purposely to match said accident.
- The American release of the album had it's tracks re-arranged and some replaced with older tracks to give the album a more overall 'folk' style, to match the current popularity of that genre in America at the time.
- This album marks the true start of the Beatles' psychedelic era (as evidenced by the warped photo that appears on the cover).
- Martin and the Beatles began experimenting more with a wider array of instruments, most notably with the sitar - perhaps one of the most influential things the band ever did in regards to the modern pop genre.
Also, several recording breakthroughs were made in the course of making this album, most notably the recording of an instrument at half-speed and then speeding it up to match the tempo of the track (as it was near impossible to play said instrument, in this case the harpsicord, at the pop-tempo employed by Beatles tracks) Also, George Martin used electronic sound processing for the first time, giving certain tracks a very heavily compressed sound - leading to the psychedelic sound the band helped popularize.
- This album also saw the lyrics move beyond simple love songs and the band started incorporating more sophisticated storytelling techniques.
- The title 'Rubber Soul' is a kind of pun that McCartney came up with to describe 'English' soul music.
- The Beatles would take a three month break after the recording of this album (their first proper break in a few years).
- Rubber Soul's influence was most keenly and immediately felt in the form of the Beach Boys' album Pet Sounds, which began a short sequence of one-upmanship between the two bands.

1. Drive My Car
- Written mainly by McCartney, with some lyrical input from Lennon.
- McCartney had already wirtten the song on his own by the lyrics were derivative of older Beatles songs, so he and Lennon sat down to rewrite the words together.
- The song was used as an album opener because of it's lighthearted and upbeat nature... McCartney has tried to claim since that the words 'drive my car' were an "old blues euphemism for sex" but I think that's just him trying to sound cool.
- The doubling of bass and rhythm guitar was suggested by Harrison, giving the song a heavier bottom end than previous Beatles tracks.
He also composed the guitar riff that plays throughout the verses (though, as usual, he didn't get any official songwriting credit for it).
- McCartney sings the lead vocals, and plays the piano and lead guitar (including the solo). Lennon only provided backing vocals and some cowbell, and Harrison played both the rhythm guitar and bass!
- Ringo added tambourine and cowbell alongside his drum track. Branching out Ringo!
- Runs for two and a half minutes.

2. Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
-
Written by Lennon, with McCartney contributing the bridge section.
- The first notable western pop song to use sitar (other rock bands had used it previously in a background fashion but never in anything all that 'pop').
- The song's lyrics are characteristic of this album and the way it showcases more aggressive, antagonistic and female-sided relationship-based songs. The final line of Norwegian Wood even implies that the singer sets fire to the home of the girl in the song!
- Lennon later said he wrote the song about an affair he had whilst married to his first wife, Cynthia.
- The percussion featured on this recording is rather sparse, with Ringo playing a pair of finger-cymbals, some tambourine and the maracas.
- Harrison became intrigued by the sound of the sitar and Indian music in general whilst the band was filming the movie Help! and he saw that some background musicians were using one. He went and bought a sitar from a hock shop and decided to use it to give Norwegian Wood a different edge... he hadn't really learnt how to use it yet and just picked out notes to match the song's melody. He got lessons from Ravi Shankar afterwards and would continue to explore Indian sounds in other Beatles tracks from here on in.
- Lennon played both guitars on the recording - one a six string acoustic, the other a 12 string.
- Lennon sings the lead vocals, with McCartney providing harmony.
- The song is in triple time, which is rare amongst Beatles tracks, and earlier versions of it were played in a different key.
- Runs for just over 2 minutes.

3. You Won't See Me
- Written by Paul McCartney.
- The song was written in descending scales but also re-arranged at the last minute to reflect a more upbeat motown rhythm.
- One of McCartney's most bitter songs to date, the lyrics concern his troubles with the mrs (Jane Asher).
- At nearly three and a half minutes it was the longest song the band had ever recorded (so far), reflecting the growing trend towards longer songs at the time (in part encouraged by Bob Dylan's sometimes epic ballads).
- The song was never played live by the band, though McCartney did eventually play the song live in 2005.
- McCartney supplies the lead vocals, as well as piano and his usual bass. Lennon doesn't play any instruments on the recording other than a tambourine, though he did do harmony vocals along with Harrison.
- The hammond organ on this track is credited to Mal 'organ' Evans, who was one of the band's longstanding roadies. His contribution consists solely on one note held down towards the end of the song, lol. Guess they just wanted to get their mate's name in lights.
- The song's tempo slows down a little bit towards the end.
- Apparently it took two takes to record, but the arrangement was worked on in the studio for at least 14 hours before this.

4. Nowhere Man
- Written by Lennon, with a little bit of help from McCartney.
- Lennon sings the main vocals, with McCartney and Harrison doing backup.
- One of the earliest Beatles songs to not be about love/relationships in any form or shape.
- The lyrics were born out of Lennon's frustration. He had been trying to write the lyrics to the song for nearly 5 hours until he decided to use that as the germ of an idea, with himself being a nowhere man in a nowhere land, IE. He had nothing in terms of ideas for lyrics. He used this as a base to then explore his own lack of sense of direction at that point in his life. Fans at the time had a different perception of the song, with many seeing it as a payout on the older generation who didn't "get it".
- This song was used as the basis for a character in the 1968 animated Beatles film Yellow Submarine.
- Released as a single in the U.S. in February 1966, where it went to #1.
- Amazingly, both Lennon and the rest of the band didn't really think much of this song at the time of recording. It was written as filler!
- Took 4 takes to complete, and runs for two and a half minutes.


5. Think For Yourself
- Written by Harrison.
- Harrison's most accomplished song to date. At this point Harrison was starting to catch up to Lennon and McCartney. This would spell trouble for the division of what songs would get chosen for Beatles' albums in the near future.
- Harrison provides the lead vocals and guitar on the recording, with Lennon providing an organ track instead of any guitar. Lennon and McCartney both provide backing vocals. Ringo overdubbed some maracas and tambourine.
- Many thought this song was a jibe at Harrison's then current-girlfriend Pattie Boyd. The lyrics were, however, a more general warning against listening to lies. In later years Harrison said that he felt that the lyrics were probably inspired by the government but that he couldn't remember for sure (drugs, lol)
- Features the use of a fuzzbox on a bass, one of the first times this had been used in a pop recording, though McCartney also added a regular bass track to keep the melody intact.
- Runs for almost two and a half minutes and took only one take to complete.

6. The Word
- Written by Lennon.
- Lennon's first attempt to write an anthem-ish message song.
- McCartney and Lennon often liked to set themselves fun challenges, one such challenge that they visited and re-visited was the idea of basing a song around one note only (inspired by songs like Long Tall Sally, which they enjoyed playing). This song is an example of this, with the entire thing based almost entirely around D major.
- Apparently Lennon and McCartney smoked a lot of pot while writing this song (two things they didn't normally combine).
- Lennon sings the lead vocals, with McCartney and Harrison providing backing vocals. McCartney also plays the piano track in addition to his regular bass duties.
- George Martin plays the harmonium solo.
- Ringo provides a maracas track as well as his drum track.
- Runs for two minutes and forty seconds, and took 3 takes to record.

7. Michelle
- Written mainly by McCartney, this is the last track of Side A.
- McCartney first started composing in 1959 as a joke song inspired by lefty French students, with the lyrics made up mainly of french-sounding groans and moans.
- The original version (which was really just the song's intro) was in the key of C major. This was changed to F major for the recording.
- Lennon suggested to McCartney that he should rework it as a proper song for Rubber Soul.
- McCartney got some help from a friend of his, a french teacher named Jan Vaughn, to provide the french phrases used in the song.
- Lennon provided the "I love you, I love you, I love you" stuff in the bridge, he had heard someone emphasizing the you part in another song and suggested using something similar.
- George Martin claims to have written the guitar lead heard in the bridge and outro. He probably did, his influence on Beatles songs shouldn't be underestimated.
- McCartney sings the lead vocals, Lennon and Harrison do the back up.
- McCartney plays bass and guitar on this one, with Lennon providing rhythm guitar. In addition to this, Harrison provides two guitar tracks (one lead and one rhythm). Some fans and Beatleologists claim that McCartney may have actually played all the guitar tracks but that this was too early in the game for him to take all the credit officially.
- This song got nominated for a Grammy in 1967. The Beatles had been previously nominated in 1966 nine times but failed to win anything. Michelle won song of the year, and signaled the turning tide in how important everyone was starting to realise the band was.
- Took two takes to record, and goes for two minutes and forty seconds.

8. What Goes On
- Written by Lennon back when he used to play in the Quarrymen, in the late '50s.
- The band originally hoped to record it as a follow up to their Please Please Me single but they ran out of time.
- Lennon decided to resurrect it as a token song for Ringo to sing on Rubber Soul.
- McCartney and Ringo worked on the bridge/extended bits in the song. It wasn't much of an addition to the song (Ringo apparently wrote just five words) but Ringo was given his first songwriting credit for his troubles! (A man's gotta eat, right?)
- This is a very country-ish track (the country 'arrangement' of it was probably influenced by Ringo's love of country and western music). Harrison provides the lively lead guitar work, much in the same style he employed for the band's cover of Carl Perkins' Everybody's Trying to be My Baby.
- Ringo sings the lead vocals, with Lennon and McCartney doing harmony back up.
- Recorded in one take. During the same sessions an unused 6 and a half minute instrumental referred to as 12 Bar Original was recorded. It was later released as part of the mid-90s Anthology series.
- Released as the B-side on the Nowhere Man single in America.

9. Girl 

-Written by Lennon. McCartney claims to have helped co-write it, but after the Beatles broke up Lennon wasn't much of a fan of admitting which of his songs McCartney helped on, so it's a bit hard to tell.
- Apparently it was partially based on an instrumental song McCartney had written back in 1963, and Lennon resurrected it after being inspired by the Greek-o-mania that had come from the recent film Zorba the Greek.
- It's a bit of a sick joke that the country music shite-o-rama What Goes On sits between this track and Michelle in the album's track listing. It's like watching a movie marathon where the first movie is The Godfather, the second movie is Big Momma's House and the third movie is Citizen Kane.

- Lennon sings the lead vocals and plays an acoustic guitar track.
- The band gets away with quite a bit for a song released in the mid-60s. The backing vocal sung by McCartney and Harrison is 'tit-tit-tit-tit-tit-tit' and the sucking sound is allegedly meant to signify a mad toke on a reefer.
- Harrison plays a 12 string acoustic on the recording, as well as a regular acoustic track. He had originally added a fuzz-pedal lead bit but this was edited out.

- The last song recorded for the album Rubber Soul. It runs for two and a half minutes and took two takes to record.
- Capitol Records intended to release this as a single in 1977 to help promote their Beatles compilation Love Songs. It was canned at the last minute.

- Lennon 'sequelised' this song on a solo album in 1980 as Woman (the grown up version of 'Girl').

10. I'm Looking Through You 

- Written entirely by McCartney.
- Another McCartney song about his break up with Jane Asher.
- Lennon plays an acoustic guitar on the recording, and McCartney also provides an acoustic guitar track alongside his bass.
- Ringo at his most multi-instrumental! Ringo provides the drum track, tambourine, a 'matchbox' track (where Ringo taps on a miked-up box of matches) and the organ (you know, that bit which goes 'DAH DAH' on the same note). 
- I'm not sure about the vocals, it sounds like it might just be McCartney doing both lead and backups.
- The band recorded three different versions of this song before settling on the one that would be included on the album. One of the alternate versions would eventually show up on the Anthology albums, featuring a different rhythm and missing some of it's parts.
- The version included on the U.S. release features a false guitar start.

- Runs for two and a half minutes, and once the arrangement was settled it took only one take to record.

11. In My Life
- Primarily written by John Lennon, though McCartney contributed to it (what and how much he contributed has remained in dispute).
- Lennon said that McCartney wrote the bridge section of the song, whereas McCartney claims to have written all the actual music and melody (with Lennon supplying the lyrics). After the Beatles finished, this and Eleanor Rigby are the two main songs that they would disagree so strongly about in reference to who wrote them.
- Rolling Stone magazine placed it 23rd in their 500 greatest songs of all time list, and Mojo magazine placed it 1st.
- Written somewhere around late 1964. Lennon wrote the lyrics in response to a journalist's suggestion that he write songs about his childhood. Lennon was less than happy with the result, and felt the whole concept rather boring, so he enlisted the help of McCartney about a year later to re-write it. The line that refers to friends who are dead is said to directly mean Stu Sutcliffe, the Beatles' first bassist.

- Lennon sings the lead vocals and plays a guitar on the track, and McCartney and Harrison provide harmony vocals. Harrison also did two seperate guitar tracks (one lead and one rhythm). Ringo plays the tambourine in addition to his drum track.
- Lennon asked George Martin to play a baroque-sounding piano piece for the instrumental-bridge section of the song. Martin wrote a suitably classical sounding piece for the section but when he went to record it he found that the song's tempo was too fast for him to physically play it. So (and this is the groundbreaking part) Martin recorded the solo at half-speed and simply speeded it up, which also gave the piano a decidedly un-piano sound (it sounds very much like a harpsichord). Subsequently, of the many cover versions performed of this song, very few of them feature this solo.

- Runs for nearly two and a half minutes and took three takes to record.
- George Harrison played the song on his 1974 Dark Horse tour, which Lennon disapproved of.

12. Wait
- Co-written by Lennon and McCartney, Lennon wrote the verses and McCartney the bridges.

- Both Lennon and McCartney sing the lead vocals together for most of the song, with McCartney singing on his own for just the bridge.
- Harrison provides two seperate guitar tracks (one for lead and one for rhythm). Ringo also provides a bit extra with tambourine and some maracas.
- Originally recorded for Help! but left off the album because the band felt it was below-par.
- In order to fill out Rubber Soul quickly enough to get it released before Christmas the band decided to pull this song out of the archive and re-dubbed certain parts to bring it in line with the overall feel of the new album.

- Runs for just over two minutes and took four takes to complete.

13. If I Needed Someone

- Written by Harrison.
- Harrison was influenced by the Byrds, who had in turn been influenced by his own use of the electric 12-string guitar on A Hard Day's Night. Harrison based this song around a riff he had adapted from a Byrds song, and sent a tape of it to the Byrds prior to release.
- Music nerds: this song is in the key of A Mixolydian. Meaning it is basically in a major scale, only the starting note is moved down a semitone.
- Harrison sings the lead vocals, though McCartney and Lennon harmonise with him quite heavily throughout. Harrison also double-tracked his vocals for his solo vocals in the bridge section.

- The first Beatles song to make use of a capo.
- This is the only Harrison-composed song to ever be played by the band whilst they were on tour.
- Harrison played it live with Eric Clapton in 1992.
- The Hollies recorded their own version of this song in 1966 (making this one of the first Harrison-penned songs to be recorded by another group). The single wasn't much of a success for the Hollies, and a slanging match erupted between the Beatles and the Hollies in the press afterwards.

- Runs for two minutes and nineteen seconds, and took one take to record.

14. Run for Your Life
- Written by Lennon.

- Lennon sings the lead vocals and contibutes both electric and acoustic guitar tracks.
- McCartney and Harrison sing backing vocals, and Harrison plays both lead and rhythm tracks.
- Ringo supplies a tambourine track in addition to his drumming.
- Features rather aggressive lyrics for a Beatles song, with Lennon taking inspiration from the line 'I'd rather see you dead then be with another man' from an earlier Elvis song.
- Lennon later remarked in interviews that this was the Beatles song he most regretted writing, and he often named it as amongst his worst songs.
- George Harrison reportedly liked it the most out of all the songs on this album.

- Runs for two minutes and 17 seconds, and took five takes to record.