- Released in early
November, 1967, in the US as an album.
- Also issued as a 6 track EP (a double EP) in the
UK
in December 1967 in support of the Beatles-made TV movie of the same name.
- The movie was very
poorly recieved and it's US-screening was even cancelled due to the negative
response. However, the music, as always, was popular, and the EP was extended
to album-length in the US,
and the release is now often considered to be the band's 9th full-length album.
- This album, as you might guess from the cover, features
the band at it's most gimmicky. The band's psychadelic tendencies reached their
zenith (with the tracks Flying and Blue Jay Way in particular)
and Paul McCartney's hokeyness factor reached new heights (or lows, depending
on your perspective) with Your Mother Should Know.
- The EP-release featured 6 new tracks. The album version
added 5 more, being the previous stand-alone singles featuring Strawberry
Fields Forever, Penny Lane,
All You Need is Love, Baby You're a Rich Man and Hello Goodbye.
Hello Goodbye was released as a single shortly before the US album and UK EP.
- The film, which was the focal point of the whole
project, was an unmitigated disaster. The band hoped to film various unscripted
'magical' journeys taken by ordinary, everyday people (such as John Lennon's
uncle Charlie). Filmmakers the Beatles aint. No longer under the watchful eye
of their now-dead manager Brian Epstein, the band was free to embark on all
sorts of stupid ideas... this film being the first. Epstein had previously
stopped the band from pursuing various other silly ideas (one of which was a
guest appearance on Doctor Who where they would play future versions of
themselves as old men).
- The filming of Magical Mystery Tour was dogged by
many fans following the bus in their cars, which caused a lot of traffic
congestion and rendered the band unable to film as freely as they'd hoped.
Also, the broadcast on BBC TV was in black and white, which certainly didn't
help the film's colourful palette.
- I have this film on video. I have only watched it once.
It is terrible and only worth watching for the music segments featuring the
band's songs.
1. Magical Mystery
Tour
- Track 1 on the EP.
- Co-written by Lennon and McCartney, though Lennon later
said it was mainly McCartney's song.
- Written as the theme tune for the TV-movie, the lyrics
pretty much explain the plot and idea behind the whole thing. McCartney's call
to 'roll up, roll up' was also a thickly-veiled reference to rolling joints.
- McCartney started his writing of the song with only a name and three chords (the same progression used for the title track on Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, albeit in a different key).
- The song was recorded in a fairly disogranized and
haphazard manner. When it was time to record the trumpets, the brass section
started their session without any sheet music - the score was written as they went,
allegedly by one of the four trumpet players. McCartney and Lennon hadn't
prepared anything for them to play. It's probably pretty fair to say that were
very high at this point in time.
- The version featured in the context of the TV-movie is
actually slightly different and has never been officially released in a
strictly-audio format. It features an extended intro and a monologue section
spoken by Lennon.
- McCartney sings the main vocals, and also provides harmony vocal, bass and piano tracks.
- Lennon provided backing vocals and an acoustic guitar track, Harrison did some rhythm guitar and backing vocals, and Ringo played maracas and tambourine in addition to his drums.
- Lots of the recording was made at different speeds and then slowed down/sped up to get everything in sync for the final version.
- Mal Evans and Neil Aspinall played some additional
percussion on the recording (cowbell and finger cymbals).
- Runs for nearly 3 minutes and took 9 takes to complete.
2. Fool on the Hill
- Written by McCartney.
- The lyrics took inspiration from the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (the Beatles' future spiritual leader), who was
often not taken seriously because he often giggled and laughed.
- The song was written while the band recorded the Sgt.
Peppers album. Lennon thought highly of the song, especially its lyrics.
- A solo demo of the song featuring just McCartney later
turned up on the Anthology albums.
- The bulk of the song was recorded in September 1967.
About a month later McCartney decided to add the flutes in.
- Along with the lead vocals, McCartney also plays the bass, piano,
and recorder tracks.
- Lennon plays acoustic guitar, harmonica, and maracas on the recording.
- Harrison also added in a
harmonica track as well as his acoustic guitar.
- Richard Taylor, Christopher Taylor and Jack Ellory were
brought in to play the flutes.
- Ringo added in some maracas and finger cymbals along with his drum track.
-
The harmonica tracks added by Lennon and Harrison for the middle
section were also reversed to give the song a more psychedelic feel.
- The video clip was shot near Nice, in France.
-
Runs for three minutes, and took 6 takes to finish. The original edit
was a full minute longer but McCartney removed this from the end of the
song and no recordings of the 'full' version exist.
3. Flying
- The first song written by all four members of the band, and one of only two
songs to be credited in such a fashion.
- This is the first officially released instrumental by the band, and one of only about 3 officially-released Beatles
instrumentals. The band had previously worked on the instrumental 12 Bar Original for Rubber Soul, but it was never included on the album.
- Originally titled Aerial Tour Instrumental. The song was inspired by the style of Booker T and the MGs.
- Originally featured a jazz-like outro, but this was later
cut and replaced with some tape loops put together by Lennon and Ringo.
- The full version lasted for about 9 and a half minutes.
It was cut down to well under 3 minutes for the final released version.
- Lennon plays the mellotron, and Harrison and
McCartney
provide acoustic guitars tracks (along with McCartney also doing the
bass). Ringo provides some maracas in addition to the drums. The
chanting parts were done by all four band members.
-
Harrison's distorted acoustic guitar track was achieved by running the
instrument through the speaker of a Hammond organ. Harrison doubled his
guitar track, and Lennon also doubled the mellotron. McCartney's
acoustic contribution was the guitar solo.
- The video clip that accompanies this song features
aerial shots of iceland
washed over in different colours. These shots are outtakes from the movie Dr Strangelove, provided Denis O'Dell - an associate of Apple Music who had worked on said movie. Dr. Strangelove's director, Stanley Kubrick, noticed the unauthorised use of his outtakes when the Magical Mystery Tour TV movie went to air and rang O'Dell to complain.
- Took 8 takes to finish recording.
4. Blue Jay Way
- The 6th and final track on the original Magical Mystery
Tour EP.
- written by Harrison.
- Harrison was waiting
for a friend to arrive at a house in LA. This house was on the street Blue Jay Way, which
is apparently notoriously hard to get to and sits up on some hills. Harrison
wanted to go to bed but his friend (Derek Taylor, a British journalist) was
taking a while to get there, so Harrison filled the time by writing this song
on his hammond
organ.
- Harrison breaks away
from his usual forays into Indian music here (and he will only really use that
style again for the b-side The Inner Light). The song retains an
influence from Indian drone-music, but no Indian instruments are really used.
- At the end of the song there is a strange warping of the
loop that closes it. It sounds like a malfunction in the loop but it is in fact
an edit to cover up what was meant to happen during this song in the TV-movie.
It was planned for George to be hit by the bus, but as this idea was abandoned
during the filming of the movie the references/gap in the song had to be taken
out accordingly.
- The song is in the same key and tone as the previous
track Flying, though this is unintentional and these two tracks probably
shouldn't have been placed together on the EP.
- The song utilises a plodding, almost-turgid rhythm in
keeping with the 'waiting'-themed lyrics.
- Many effects and ideas are re-used from the Revolver
and Sgt. Pepper's albums heres. Tape loops, flange-liked effects
on the
cymbals, tape played at different speeds, the all permeating-organ that
sounds like disorientating fog... etc,
etc. One weird thing also embedded in the recording is a backwards
recording of the entire song, running concurrently with the forwards
version.
- The song also uses a strange scale for it's chords,
remniscent of Indian raga-music but probably more in keeping with certain modes
of 19th century classical music.
- The mono mix of the recoding does not retain the majority of the backwards track.
-
Harrison sings the lead vocals, plays the organ and also provides some
backing vocals. Lennon and McCartney also provide backing vocals, and
Ringo supports Harrison with some lead vocals. Further instrumentation
credits: Lennon on tambourine, McCartney on bass, and Ringo on drums. It
is unknown who plays the cello on the recording.
- The song runs for almost 4 minutes and took 3 takes to complete.
5. Your Mother Should
Know
- The 2nd track from the EP.
- Written by Paul McCartney, specifically for the
TV-movie. He envisioned it as a musical production number, and this segment of
the film starts with the Beatles descending a big staircase in white suits.
- The song's title is a reference to the early '60s play and film A Taste of Honey.
- Recording was a bit troubled on this song. It was
recorded in one session, and then a second session was booked where it was
re-recorded. The second recording was then scrapped altogether and a third
session was booked so that overdubs could be added to the original.
Surprisingly, the song itself sounds remarkably smooth.
- For some unknown reason the vocals change from the left channel to the right for the third verse and then move back again.
- McCartney plays a piano track, bass, and provides the lead vocals. Lennon
plays organ on the recording and does some backing vocals, as does
Harrison, who also plays tambourine on the recording. No guitar features
on the song at all.
- Runs for two and a half minutes, and took a staggering 52 takes to finish.
6. I Am the Walrus
- Written entirely by Lennon. Some consider it to be his last great
Beatles song, or the last song he put real effort and innovation into.
- The lyrics are reflective of Lewis Carroll's poetry, of
which Lennon was a fan. Lennon later remarked that he actually got his
interpretation of The Walrus and the Carpenter wrong as he hadn't realised
that the Walrus was the bad guy (being the capitalist-figure of the poem).
- Lennon also wrote the first two lines whilst on acid.
The rhythm of the part where he sings 'Mister City Police man..." was
inspired by the sound of a police siren going past his house. Lennon also heard
that an old teacher of his was getting his students to analyse Beatles lyrics,
so he put in some deliberately confusing and nonsensical lines as well. Beyond
all this there has also been a lot of conjecture from fans about 'who' the
Walrus is and what the song is really about. Lennon made direct references
to this song in at least two more songs he wrote - the Beatles song Glass
Onion and his solo song God.
- It's rumoured that the Eggman is a reference to Eric
Burdon, singer from the Animals. He was referred to as 'Eggs' by a lot of his
friends because he liked to break eggs over the bodies of naked girls.
- Every major chord is used in this song. Most impressive
is the outro, where the bass and guitar descends through the notes whilst the
strings move through them upwards. Also, as the outro is 7 bars long, each
4-bar phrase starts on a completely different chord. Listen to it, it rules.
- The dialogue heard throughout the outro is from the Magical
Mystery Tour film, and from a BBC radio recording of King Lear.
- I Am the Walrus was designated as the B-Side for the Hello Goodbye
single, which led to some friction within the band as Lennon
(encouraged by Yoko Ono) wanted the Beatles singles to move into a more
artsy direction.
- Lennon plays an electric piano, the mellotron and a
tambourine, as well as provides the lead vocals.
- McCartney only plays bass, and Harrison
guitar, Ringo drums.
- The strings, brass and woodwinds were all session
musicians, orchestrated and conducted by George Martin.
- The Mike Sammes singers provided the backing vocals.
Mike Sammes was responsible for a lot of backing vocals throughout 60s-UK pop
music.
- The mono mix features a few differences - extra beats in certain sections and such.
- The band Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) took this song as their inspirational starting point when they formed.
- Runs for four and a half minutes, and took 17 takes to complete.
7. Hello Goodbye
- Written by McCartney.
- Released as a single
in November 1967 with I Am the Walrus as its B-Side. It was also included on the Magical Mystery Tour album in the U.S. three days after the single came out.
- McCartney wrote this song rather quickly after being
asked by a Beatles-related employee how he wrote his songs. He promptly sat
down at the Harmonium and put this together. The employee shouted out the
opposite to whatever McCartney sang and that's how the rather poor lyrics came
together.
- Lennon didn't like this song very much, and felt fairly
insulted that this was chosen as the A-side of the single over I Am the
Walrus. I can see his point. Both McCartney and George Martin felt that Hello,
Goodbye was the most commercial song. Lennon would come to resent such
decisions.
- The 'surprise' outro was written on the fly in the studio (and dubbed Maori Finale), and was the only part of the song that Lennon liked.
- McCartney sings the lead vocals and plays bass, piano, conga, and bongos on the recording. Lennon provides guitar, harmony vocals, and organ, and Harrison plays the lead guitar track as well as providing harmony vocals and handclaps. Ringo recorded drums, maracas, and tambourine.
- Ken Essex and Leo Birnbaum played violas for the
recording.
- Three separate music videos were filmed for this song,
but none were aired by the BBC at the time due to musician union rules about
miming on television. McCartney directed the main video clip.
- Runs for three and a half minutes and took 21 takes to complete.
8. Strawberry Fields Forever
Released as a single previously. See full song info
here.
9. Penny Lane
Released as a single previously. See full song info
here.
10. Baby You're a Rich Man
Released as the B-side of
All You Need Is Love. See full song info
here.
11. All You Need is Love
Released as a single previously. See full song info
here.
