All You Need Is Love (Single) 1967

1. All You Need is Love

- Written by Lennon. It's said that the song was written on commission by the BBC, who asked for the Beatles to contribute a song to their live Our World special, an unprecedented global broadcast. They asked for a song that had a simple message many nationalities could understand. McCartney later said that Lennon had already written this song and that it was tailored to this effect after they were asked, but Lennon, Ringo and George Martin all maintained that the song was written entirely from scratch for this special. The vocals for the single were (mostly) recorded live from this special. Some pilot instrumentation was pre-recorded beforehand, and a few other things were later fixed up afterwards.
- Lennon used his previous song The Word as a starting point, in terms of the kind of message he wanted to write about.
- The song was released as a single in the UK the day before the band's performance of it went to air on the Our World special, on the 7th of July, 1967. Its B-side is the track Baby You're a Rich Man.
- This was the last song that the band wrote before their manager, Brian Epstein, commited suicide.
- The live performance featured the band sitting around on stools, surrounded by friends such as Mick Jagger. Lennon was nervous about the performance, and parts of it were later re-recorded for the single. McCartney was caught offguard by some of the instrumentation during the performance, and he also went out of his way to wear a red rose after Lennon specified that McCartney should only wear the colour green. 
- It is unclear and unconfirmed as to whether McCartney also attempted to write a song for the Our World special.
- Due to the 'world' theme of the special, the song was given a few international touches - such as the French national anthem at the beginning, and the various snippets of other European classicial pieces and famous standards during the long fade out (including the earlier Beatles hit She Loves You). One piece of music included was from the American song In The Mood by Glen Miller, which resulted in an out-of-court settlement due to the fact that it was still in copyright.
- Usually McCartney is thought of as the more boundary-pushing Beatle in terms of songwriting structure, but here Lennon employs some very unusual time signatures (for pop songs anyway)... the verses are in 7/4 (and in one case, 8/4), and some of the choruses are in the more usual 4/4 (though it gets mixed back and forth as the song goes on... one chorus is in 6/4, etc, etc). Aside from Pink Floyd's Money, this is the only song written in 7/4 to reach the Top 20 in the US charts.
- The song was later included on the Magical Mystery Tour album/EP.
- An remixed, edited version of the song was also included on the Yellow Submarine soundtrack.
- Lennon played the banjo and the harpsicord for the recording.
- McCartney performed his usual bass duties, and also played the double-bass.
- Harrison did lead guitar, as well as a violin track. His guitar solo had some mistakes in it due to the live nature of some of the recording, but it was one of the few elements of the song left uncorrected in the
- Starr added some additional percussion as well as his drum track. It's not really clear what percussion Starr added.
- George Martin played a piano track and wrote the orchestration, which included session musicians playing a variety of string, wood and brass instruments, and an accordian, all of which was conducted by Mick Vickers.
- Various other people sang backing vocals and clapped their hands - among these were Mick Jagger, Marianne Faithful, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Jane Asher and Patti Harrison.
- The song runs for nearly 4 minutes, and took a staggering 58 takes to complete. 

2. Baby You're a Rich Man

- B-side to All You Need is Love and later included on the Magical Mystery Tour album/EP.
- Like A Day in the Life, this song was created by joining two songs together. The verses were from a Lennon song One of the Beautiful People and the choruses were an unfinished McCartney song called Baby You're a Rich Man. 
- Some have suggested that the song was written by Lennon about Brian Epstein, and that one of the lines is (or was in earlier versions) "Baby you're a rich fag jew". 
- Recorded for use in the Yellow Submarine movie/soundtrack but was eventually left off (and later reinstated for subsequent re-releases). Eventually used as this B-side and also included on Magical Mystery Tour (though it wasn't intended for that release).
- Lennon does all the main vocals, a piano track and provides the strange Indian-oboe like sound (which is a clavioline, an early kind of synthesizer).
- McCartney plays a piano track. 
- Both McCartney and Harrison provide harmony vocals.
- Harrison and Ringo provided the handclaps, and Ringo also overdubbed some maracas and tambourine. 
- Some extra instrumentation on a vibraphone was also provided by Eddie Kramer.
- It's possible that Mick Jagger sang some of the backing vocals, as his name is sometimes included in the session credits for this song and he was present at the recording. Also, fellow Rolling Stone Brian Jones is sometimes erroneously thought to have played the clavioline part, but this isn't true.
- First track completely recorded at the band's new 'home base' studio at Abbey Road.
- Runs for just over 3 minutes and took 12 takes to complete.

Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Album) 1967

- The 8th studio album by the Beatles. Released June 1967.
- Although the band decided to give up touring and playing live in 1966, it wasn't until this album that it really took effect. Without the strictures of having to play any of the tracks live the band was free to do whatever they liked in the studio. Likewise, the pressure was off in terms of what the public expected, as Beatlemania was starting to die in the arse. The time was right for something completely different.
- At least 4 tracks from the Sergeant Peppers sessions didn't make it onto the album, these are the previously mentioned Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane (which were held off to be released as a stand-alone single and eventually went onto the US-issued album for The Magical Mystery Tour), Only a Northern Song (which remained unreleased until the Yellow Submarine movie two years later) and Carnival of Light (which has remained unreleased to this day).
- Sergeant Peppers is often listed as the first concept album. This is really only half-true... it was intended to be a concept album (this was mainly McCartney's idea) but the end result wasn't really what he was aiming for. Lennon in particular wasn't too fussed with the idea so the band kind of did a bit of a concept album and then wrote a bunch of unrelated songs to fill in the middle.
- The concept itself was an extension of the promo-video clips the band had been making. The idea was that as they weren't going to tour themselves, the album could tour for them. So the band invented alter-egos for themselves, brought on in part by their newly acquired facial hair (which McCartney started in order to cover up the motorcycle-accident scar on his lip).
- Before the band came up with the Sergeant Pepper idea the original concept was to write a series of thematically-linked songs about childhood and everyday life. This can be heard in the lyrics in many of the songs. The early release of the two songs that deal most strongly with this (Strawberry Fields Forever and Penny Lane) meant that this idea was abandoned, but A Day in the Life, She's Leaving Home and a whole host of others fit in with this theme as well. Prior to this album very few Beatles songs had such themes.
- 8-track recording had been just invented but was yet to become available in the UK. Hence, Sergeant Peppers is recorded on 4-track. Nonetheless, several more innovations were made during the course of recording, particularly in reference to effects. One such innovation that they had been toying with (and was to come into proper use with this album) was the running of tracks at different speeds, EG. The speeding up of vocals for Lucy in the Sky to give the song an otherworldly quality.
- The UK release of the album ended on a strange sound, a high frequency tone run on a loop (which Lennon said was "especially intended to annoy your dog"). The US release of the album left it off.
- Aside from the ending, this album marks the first time the US and UK releases were exactly the same. Prior to this the standard idea had been to release similar albums on both sides of the atlantic, with one or two changes to tailor to the American audience (the fact that a lot of the band's singles were released in different forms in America meant that a lot of UK-released b-sides were included on US-released albums as they otherwise wouldn't have been heard by American fans). It's confusing and dumb, and the band had wanted to stop it for a while, and 1967 was when they started wising up and felt strong enough to stand up against industry practices. After 1967, other UK bands such as the Rolling Stones started following their example and stopped doing American-tailored album tracklistings. 

- The album took an unprecedented four months to record.
- Perhaps almost as famous as the songs on the album is its artwork, which won a grammy. The collage of 70 famous people was made up of actresses, actors, famous philosophers and other luminaries chosen by Lennon, McCartney and Harrison (the various Indian gurus are attributed to Harrison). Amongst those pictured are original Beatles bassist Stu Sutcliffe, Karl Marx, Oscar Wilde, Lenny Bruce, Marlon Brando and William S. Burroughs. Lennon borrowed some family war medals from original Beatles drummer Pete Best for his costume. Lennon also asked for Hitler to be featured in the collage but was politely ignored. Anyone featured in the collage who was still alive had to be contacted by the label's legal department to make sure they gave permission for their likeness to be used. Mae West refused on the grounds that she would never be in a 'lonely hearts club', but later relented when the band sent her a personal letter. The band's manager, Brian Epstein, was worried about the whole thing after the recent debacle re: the US-issue cover for the Paperback Writer single (which infamously featured the band dressed as bloody butchers surrounded by doll parts). The collage also varies slightly in different countries, for example the Russian version features Rasputin instead of Karl Marx, etc, etc.
- The band originally wanted to make the album a package including pencils and pins and such, but this was abandoned as it would've been too expensive to mass produce.
- Reviews at the time were outstandingly positive and full of impossible hyperbole. Various critics even went as far as calling it the album of the century. Rolling Stone magazine later listed it as the greatest album of all time.
- A TV special was planned but later abandoned. It would've been an album-long video clip (in keeping with the album's concept). Some footage was shot for A Day in the Life before the idea was nixed, and it remained unreleased until the 1980 John Lennon documentary Imagine. It can also be seen on the Anthology documentary series.

- The album's influence was felt over the course of the '70s, with a tie-in feature film released in 1978 (which really had nothing to do with the Beatles). Lennon also made reference to the album in his solo song How Do You Sleep?, attacking McCartney's creative domination of the band from Sergeant Pepper onwards (the band had taken a break between their last live shows and the recording of this album, and McCartney took the opportunity to push the band in a new direction. From this point on McCartney would be the keenest bandmember in terms of creative control).

1. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
- Opening track on the album.
- Written by McCartney, after taking inspiration from a discussion with Beatles main-man and roadie Mal Evans. Evans asked McCartney what the S and the P stood for on his in-flight tray (they stood for Salt and Pepper, but somehow this became Sgt. Pepper and the concept grew from there). Evans also claims to have helped write the overall song, but I'm thinking that's most likely bullcrap.
- The band's road manager, Neil Aspinall, came up with the idea of making one of the alter-egos (the main one, Sgt Pepper, which was McCartneys' alter-ego for the album) a compere-styled figure. This leant itself to the style of lyrics McCartney wrote for the song.
- The sample of the orchestra tuning up at the beginning was taken from the recording session for the orchestrated parts of A Day in the Life. The crowd sounds were from George Martin's master-tapes from the Goon Show, recorded back in 1960. 

- The song was written just one day before the album's recording session started.

- McCartney provides the lead vocals, as well as both lead guitar and bass. Harrison plays two guitar tracks, and Lennon only contributes some harmony vocals. 

- Four guest musicians also featured on french horns. The horn lines were based around McCartney's vocal melodies (the idea of John Burden, one of the hornplayers)
- Capital Records in the U.S. released this song as a U.S. single in 1978 with With a Little Help From My Friends as the joint A-Side and A Day in the Life as the B-Side.
- Although the band never performed the song live, many other artists have done so. Most notably, the song was covered by Jimi Hendrix within a few mere days of its official release on the album.

2. With a Little Help From My Friends
- Written by McCartney and Lennon.
- As was becoming standard, a song was written for each album for Ringo to sing. Lennon later stated that he only contributed a little bit to this song, but popular wisdom says that he actually wrote the melody on a piano (without using the index finger on his good hand, due to it being hurt at the time - leading to the song provisionally being titled Bad Finger Boogie [this is also where the band Badfinger draw their name from, apparently]).
- This is one of the last songs, if not the last song, that McCartney and Lennon wrote together.
- Ringo sings the lead vocals, with McCartney, Lennon and Harrison all singing harmonies.
- McCartney wrote the lyric notes to be within a small range (as Ringo's range wasn't as good as the others). McCartney worked with Ringo to help him achieve the relatively-more difficult final note.
- One of the original lines was "What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you throw ripe tomatoes at me?" but Ringo insisted on changing it in case fans threw tomatoes at him should he ever sing it live. Another line, "What do you see when you turn out the light? / I can't tell you, but I know it's mine" is apparently a reference to masturbation.
- Interestingly, the lyrics are written in a way to reflect a conversation between the rest of the band and the singer. Lines are sung by the others as a question, and then Ringo answers it.
- The song follows directly on from the song Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Arguably, not including the reprise at the end, these are the only two songs on the album that are part of the 'concept' of the album. As McCartney's alter-ego was Sgt. Pepper, Ringo's alter-ego was Billy Shears. 
- The only instrument Lennon plays on the recording is the cowbell. McCartney plays the bass and piano tracks, and Harrison provides two guitar tracks. Ringo also overdubbed some tambourine in addition his drumming, and George Martin plays the organ.
- The cheering at the beginning was taken from one of the band's live sets (in this case from their show at the Hollywood Bowl).
- Three different covers of the song have reach #1 in the British charts (the most famous being by Joe Cocker, also used as the theme song for the TV show The Wonder Years).
- Runs for two minutes and 45 seconds, and took ten takes to record.

3. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
- Written primarily by Lennon, but McCartney helped piece it together and do the lyrics.
- The title comes from Julian, Lennon's young son, who drew a picture at the time and told his dad it was a picture of 'Lucy in the sky with the diamonds'. It's disputed who this Lucy actually is as at the time Julian Lennon knew more than one little girl called Lucy.
- Lennon's lyrics were also influenced by Lewis Carrol's Through the Looking Glass, a book that Lennon would draw on for other songs around this time. The way the lyrics are sung also bring to mind a nursery rhyme, and McCartney also contributed a few key phrases.
- The verses are in 6/8 timing. You don't even notice it unless you count along with it, but it's quite a strange timing for a pop song. The choruses switch to standard 4/4.
- The song also shifts key between each segment, meaning it is in a different key for the verses, choruses and bridge section.
- Lennon's vocals are double-tracked and slightly sped up.
- Harrison plays the tamboura (an Indian lute-like instrument) in addition to lead and rhythm guitar. He used a slide for the lead bits.
- Lennon plays the main piano track, and Ringo contributes some maracas in addition to the drums.
- McCartney plays a Lowrey organ (an electronic organ similar to the Hammond organ) and used a special organ 'bell stop' that would give it a celesta-like sound (the celesta is a small upright piano-like instrument that sounds a bit like a glockenspiel).
- The abbreviation of the title to LSD wasn't intentional and the band didn't notice it until someone later pointed it out to them.
- In later years, Lennon was quite unhappy with the way he sang the song, and he actually preferred the Elton John version (on which he played 'reggae guitars' under the pseudonym Dr Winston O'Boogie)
- Runs for three and a half minutes, and took 8 takes to complete.

4. Getting Better
- One of the last songs that Lennon and McCartney wrote together from scratch, with the idea starting for the lyrics starting with McCartney.
- The lyrics are interesting in the way that they contrast the two personas of Lennon and McCartney. Throughout the song McCartney's optimism is tempered by Lennon's pessimism (in particular the lines "I used to be cruel to my woman..." and "it can't get no worse").
- The title comes from a phrase often said by Jimmy Nicol, the band's stand-in drummer from when they toured Australia. 
- McCartney sings the lead vocals and plays bass for the track.
- Lennon contributes harmony vocals and rhythm guitar.
- George Martin struck the strings of a pianette with a mallet to get the accented sound that drives the song along.
- Harrison played the tamboura for the end section and also did some backing vocals.
- Ringo laid down a conga track in addition to his drums.
- During recording, Lennon accidentally took LSD (he allegedly meant to take an 'upper' instead) and complained to George Martin that he wasn't feeling well. Martin took Lennon up to the roof to get some air, but when Harrison amd McCartney realised that Lennon had taken LSD and was currently on the roof they quickly rushed up get him before he could jump off.
- The song was first played live by McCartney in 2002.
- The song should be pretty well known to contemporary Australians as it was used as the theme song to the TV show Better Homes and Gardens.
- Runs for 2 minutes and 47 seconds, and took 7 takes to record.

5. Fixing a Hole
- Written by McCartney
- Recorded at Regent Studios rather than Abbey Road (as Abbey Road wasn't available that night). It was the first time in a long time that the band had recorded outside of Abbey Road.
- The lead vocal was recorded at the same time as the rhythm track (assumedly guitar/bass/drums). This was the first time the band recorded vocals straight in rather than overdubbing them.
- A strange and unknown man calling himself 'Jesus Christ' was present throughout the session. He had a cup of tea and promised to be quiet and disappeared again after the recording was finished. McCartney later said that he found himself hanging around his front gate and brought him along to the studio. Lennon later also claimed to have found him and brought him in.
- It's usually assumed that the song is a metaphor for heroin injection, but McCartney actually wrote it as an 'ode to pot'.
- Beatles roadie and all-round self-made superstar Mal Evans claimed to have helped write this song (amongst others). He was paid a one-off fee for lyric contributions but (understandably) not given a songwriting credit. Evans ended up dying in an altercation with the police in 1976.
- McCartney performs the lead vocals as well as two guitar tracks. Lennon plays the bass and Harrison did some lead guitar. McCartney, Lennon and Harrison all also provided backing vocals. Ringo provided some maracas in addition to his drums.
- The song also features a harpsicord, which was probably played by McCartney (it was recorded at the same time as the bass, which may explain why Lennon played the bass track in this song). Some accounts have suggested that George Martin might have payed the harpsicord track.
- Runs for two and a half minutes and took 4 takes to complete.

6. She's Leaving Home
- McCartney started writing this after reading a newspaper story about a girl who'd left home and didn't return. He wrote the verses and Lennon wrote the chorus. It was also Lennon's idea to sustain the notes and hold them for such a long time.
- The girl who inspired the song was Melanie Coe, and she later said that the lyrics got most of her story right.
- McCartney sings most of the vocals but Lennon comes in for the chorus part, singing the bits from the parents' point-of-view.
- One of only four Beatles songs to not feature any of the band playing an instrument.
- Interestingly, the change from the verse to the chorus doesn't really change notes, it stays on the C chord.
- George Martin wasn't available to work on the song at the time of writing so McCartney took the song to Mike Leander (another producer and arranger, who worked mainly for Decca records). Leander wrote the orchestration based around the song. When George Martin found out he was a bit hurt that the song had been taken to someone else, but he duly conducted the piece for recording anyway. This marks the only time someone other than Martin wrote orchestration for a Beatles track with the band's permission (Phil Spector would later write orchestration for parts of the Let It Be album, but he did it without the band knowing).
- The harp was played by Sheila Bromberg, the first female musician to appear on a Beatles recording.
- George Harrison and Ringo don't feature at all in this song.
- The stereo mix of the song is slowed down significantly, putting the song in the key of E rather than its normal key of F.
- Runs for almost 3 minutes and took 9 takes to record (although it was the first take that was judged the best and this is the one that ended up on the album).

7. Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
- Written mainly by Lennon, though McCartney helped out a little bit. Lennon wrote the song after seeing a 19th century circus poster he bought in an antique shop. The lyrics are lifted almost verbatim from the poster. 
- The bridge was originally ihtended to feature Lennon scatting (and this was recorded) but it was ditched in favour of McCartney's distorted guitar track.
- One of the more layered songs to appear on the album, Lennon wanted to get a 'carnival' atmosphere with the song and many overdubs followed...
- One track features multiple recordings of fairground organs and calliopes (a pipe-like instrument used at old-style carnivals), which George Martin had trouble splicing together to good effect. Eventually they chopped up the tape and rearranged the pieces at random.
- Lennon later said that he didn't really put much effort into the song and that he didn't think much of it. Much later, in 1980, he would change his view and describe the song as a 'pure watercolour'.
- Banned by the BBC due to the phrase 'henry the horse', which they thought alluded to heroin.
- Lennon sings the lead vocals, which were recorded at a slower speed to make it easier for him sing all the words.
- Lennon plasy the hammon organ, piano and harmonica in this track. He also contributed some tape loops.
- McCartney plays an acoustic guitar track.
- Harrison contributes harmonica and tambourine tracks.
- Ringo also plays harmonica on this song!
- George Martin plays the harmonium (a kind of pipe-organ), lowry organ and glockenspiel. He also contributed some tape loops.
- Roadies Mal Evans and Neil Aspinall also contribute some harmonica playing!
- Runs for two and a half minutes and took 9 takes to complete.

8. Within You Without You
- Witten by Harrison. His only track on this album. 
- Harrison originally recorded [i]Only a Northern Song[/i] for the album but George Martin rejected it.
- Originally written as a 30-minute song, it makes use of a mixolydian-styled scale (which I don't understand fully, but it's like a major scale that starts on a semi-tone). Harrison wrote it on Klaus Voorman's harmonium while smoking a lot of pot. It was trimmed down to size for the album.
- A very Indian-sounding song, Harrison is the only Beatle to feature on it and it was partially based on a piece of music by Ravi Shankar. Neil Aspinall plays the tamboura, and the rest is provided by an Indian group called the Asian Music Circle (instruments featured: dilrubas, svarmandel, tabla, tamboura).  About 11 English musicians also contributed violins and cellos to the mix.
- Harrison provides lead vocals, guitar, sitar and tamboura.
- George Martin arranged the string section that features.
- The song was also sped up a little bit (which changed its key). The original tempo-version can be heard on the Anthology albums.
- Harrison added some laughter near the end to 'lighten' the song up a bit, in keeping with the overall feel of the Sgt. Pepper's album.
- the lyrics allude to the Hindu concept of Maya, where the human world is in fact a false reality (OMGZ, The Matrix!), and LSD.
- I put this song on a mix CD at work and nearly all my co-workers hated it with a passion.
- Runs for 5 minutes and took 2 takes to finish.

9. When I'm Sixty-Four
- Written by McCartney.
- McCartney wrote this song when he was 16, and the band used to play it live in the early days whenever their equipment broke down. A few more lyrics were added in for the [I]Sgt. Pepper[/I]'s version and the arrangement no doubt became more sophisticated. The song was written as, and intended to be, a tribute to McCartney's father - an obscure jazz musician who had played around London in the 1920s. In 1966, when McCartney re-polished the song, his father was 64 years of age (hence the title).
- The song garnered some backlash from Beatles fans due to the parent-friendly nature of the song. It's pretty clear by this stage that McCartney wanted to appeal to everyone and not just the younger generation. Lennon later paid out this song in particular in 1980, saying that he would 'never dream of writing a song like that'.
- This song was almost made the B-Side to either Strawberry Fields or Penny Lane. Instead it was decided to make those songs a double A-Side. If When I'm Sixty-Four had been made the B-Side it would not have featured on the album.
- The song was in the key of C, but the recording was sped up to get the song into the key of D. This was to give the effect of McCartney's voice being younger and to aid the song's overall honky-tonky vaudeville feel.
- Also aiding this feel was a trio of clarinets, which also (unusually for the time) harmonize with the vocals at one point. Some well-respected clarinet players did the clarinets - there are two regular clarinets and one bass clarinet. 
- McCartney sings the lead vocals, with Lennon and Harrison providing backups. McCartney also whistles during the outro on the original vinyl version of the song, but subsequent edits don't feature this.
- Harrison doesn't play any instrument on the track. Ringo plays tubular bells in addition to his drum track.
- McCartney plays the honky-tonk styled piano, and Lennon does the sole guitar track.
- The song later also appeared in the Yellow Submarine movie and soundtrack.
- Run for two and a half minutes, and took 4 takes to complete.

10. Lovely Rita
- Written by McCartney.
- McCartney took inspiration for the lyrics after he was issued with a parking ticket. This song is a sarcastic jibe at the traffic warden, apparently a woman named Meta Davis.
- This song is unusual amongst Sergeant Pepper tracks in that the band recorded it as a band (IE. All playing the song together at the same time). The densely layered vocals were influenced by the Beach Boys.
- Both McCartney and George Martin recorded piano tracks. Martin's piano track was twisted electronically to get the strange warbling effect for the solo. It was also recorded at a lower key and then sped up to fit with the song. 
- McCartney sang the lead vocals, which were also recorded in a lower key before being sped up.
- Lennon provided some backing vocals and played an acoustic guitar for the recording. Harrison also did the same.
- The kazoo sound is Lennon, McCartney, Ringo and Harrison all playing paper over combs. Mal Evans may have also hummed along on one of his own.
- Pink Floyd were present during recording of this song and watched for the duration.
- Runs for nearly 3 minutes and took 11 takes to finish.

11. Good Morning, Good Morning
- Written by Lennon.
- Lennon got the idea from a catchy jingle from a cereal commercial. Other lyrics allude to a sitcom at the time called 'Meet the Wife'. 
- The song is written in a strange mix of metres... 5/4, 3/4 and 4/4.
- Guest musicians were brought in, in this case the brass section from Sounds Incorporated. They were recorded at very close proximity to get a different tone and more compressed sound (EG. One mic was put right into the opening of the sax).
- Lennon provided a series of animal sounds and had them arranged so that each animal was followed by another that could eat it (lolwut?). The final animal sound, that of a chicken, segues into the beginning of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise), which is the following track on the album.
- Lennon doesn't actually play any instruments on this track, he only does vocals.
- McCartney and Harrison provide backing vocals.
- McCartney plays the guitar solo and a bass track. Harrison provides guitar, and Ringo recorded drums and tambourine.
- George Martin arranged and conducted the brass bits.
- Lennon didn't think much of the song, thinking that the recording was rushed just to fill up the album.
- Runs for two and a half minutes and took 8 takes to record.

12. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)
- Obviously, like the proper version of the song, this is written primarily by McCartney.
- The idea for a reprise came from roadie Neil Aspinall, who said, as Sgt Pepper's was a 'welcoming' song, something else should bookend the other end of the album - giving the effect of a band playing a show with a set opener and a set ender.
- This is the second shortest Beatles song, running just over a minute.
- It's pretty much the same as the first track on the album, though played at a slightly faster tempo and with different lyrics. Also, the key is the reverse of the proper version of the song (Sgt Peppers is in a G Major key with a bit of a shift to F, whereas the reprise is in F with a bit of a shift to G). The key shifts in this unusual way at the very end in order to segue into A Day in the Life.
- The applause at the end carries over into the final song on the album.

13. A Day in the Life
- This is actually two songs joined together, the main portion being a song written by Lennon and the middle section being an unfinished song by McCartney.
- The lyrics are fairly disparate but are actually in keeping with the album's overall theme of everyday life. Lennon took inspiration from a couple of newspaper articles (in particular the death of Tara Browne - a friend of the band's and heir to the Guinness fortune) and McCartney's section is more of his usual twee youth-orientated nostalgia. Bridging the whole thing is a sly reference to drug-using, being the McCartney line 'I'd love to turn you on', which resulted in the song being banned by the BBC. Lennon also took some inspiration from his serious acting debut in the film How I Won the War (an early form of cross-promotion?) and several references came into the song courtesy of the newspaper The Daily Mail. George Martin maintained afterwards that the whole song was primarily about drugs.
- The working title of the song was In The Life of....
- The two sections of the song were seperated by a long part featuring one piano chord and Mal Evans counting as the band was unsure how to musically link the two together. A ringing alarm clock was recorded for the end of this section as a marker for where McCartney's part would start, it was intended to edit this out once the gap had been filled. McCartney decided to keep the clock though as it fitted with his lyrics. This is all of course rather elementary as George Martin later said that it would've been nearly impossible to edit the sound out anyway.
- McCartney had an idea that an orchestra could improvise something to fill the gap (something neccessitated by the different keys that his and Lennon's sections were in). Martin didn't want to leave it to chance though so he composed a crescendo-like piece they could loosely ad-lib around. This piece actually consisted of the lowest note the orchestra could play and then a squiggly line over 24 bars that led to the highest note they could play, with a nominated note for each bar so the orchestra would know roughly where they should be at each point. McCartney and Martin conducted the orchestra together, and this ended up being the most expensive part of the whole album in terms of recording costs. McCartney originally wanted a full 90-piece orchestra, but ended up getting around 40 instead. The piece was recorded 4 seperate times to compensate, through the use of 'ambisonics' - an early form of surround sound recording. Each orchestra member was also given a piece of a party costume to wear during the recording - EG. A gorilla mask, a balloon, etc.
- The recording of this song was filmed for an intended television special. It never came to fruition, although some footage could later be seen in the promotional video for the song .
- Ringo goes to double-time for McCartney's more brisk section of the song. Interestingly, he retains this speed when the song reverts back to Lennon's section.
- Originally the song was to end with the band all humming a note together. It lacked impact though so they instead opted for a more instrumental version - the final chord is the sound of Lennon, McCartney, Ringo and Mal Evans all playing an E major on pianos, and George Martin playing it on a harmonium. The chord rings out for an astonishing 40-odd seconds, which was achieved by turning up the recording equipment to a ridiculously attuned level - so that each nuance of vibration was captured. This is why you can hear all sorts of unintentional and intentional background sounds at the end, like paper rustling and recordings of the band talking (some of which are run backwards, like 'Will Paul return as Superman?') These last sounds were featured in the final 2 seconds of the track and were placed on the last groove of the record so that they would play endlessly if the listener had a manual record player.
- After this 'final' chord is another sound, a very high tone that most human ears are unable to hear. This was Lennon's idea and he claimed that it was put there mainly to irritate people's dogs.
- The song took 34 hours to record, which is probably the longest amount of time the band ever spent on one single song - about 3 and a half times longer than most of their tracks on previous albums. The final track runs for 5 minutes.
- A few south asian countries excluded this track from their locally-released versions of the album, owing to the alleged drug references.
- Lennon does the vocals for his section of the song and also played an acoustic guitar track, as well as the piano.
- McCartney did his usual bass stuff, as well as a piano track and the vocals on his section.
- Harrison only contributed some maracas to this song.
- Ringo did his drums and a congo track, as well some piano for the final chord.
- The orchestra consists of 12 violinists, 4 viola players, 2 bass violinists, 3 trombonists, 3 trumpeters, 2 french horn players, 2 clarinet players, 4 bassoon players, an oboe player, a tuba player, a harp player, and two percussionists. 
- Several celebrities were present during the recording of the song, including Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Marianne Faithful, Donovan, David Crosby and Mike Nesmith.

- Riding high on the success of Sgt. Pepper's, the band then released this single in July 1967.

Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields (Single) 1967

Penny Lane
- The first side of a double A-Side single released by the band in February 1967.
- Recorded during the Sergeant Peppers sessions and released 4 months ahead of the album.
- Written by McCartney, the lyrics concern his childhood home and the nostalgia associated with it. This ties into his original theme for the upcoming album, which was to be all about childhood. Ultimately the band didn't go with this idea. Lennon contributed some lyrics for the third verse.
- George Martin felt it was the band's strongest single from their whole career, mainly due to the similar themes and high quality of the two songs involved. He wanted both songs included on the Sergeant Peppers album but the band decided to release them only as a single due to their manager, Brian Epstein, pressuring them for more material to bridge the gap between albums.
- Failed to reach #1 in the UK due to a Englebert Humperdinck single (lol!), this was the first time this happened since Love Me Do in 1963.
- Features a more contasting verse-chorus form, as opposed to the band's usual use of the Tin Pan Alley-influenced AABA structure (where they placed more importance on verses, and broke things up with a bridge).
- Penny Lane was eventually included on the Magical Mystery Tour album, despite not being featured in the TV-movie of the same name.
- The first Beatles UK-single to feature a picture sleeve. 

- McCartney sings the lead vocal, with Lennon providing harmony.
- Instrumentation: Lennon plays two seperate piano tracks, and some congas. McCartney plays three seperate piano tracks, as well as the recorder. Harrison played the firebell (wtf), and Ringo added some extra bits and pieces percussion-wise. George Martin also played a piano track (that makes 6 piano tracks all up!), and orchestrated the session-played wind, brass and string sections. David Mason, a much-respected trumpet player amongst London orchestras, played the piccolo-trumpet for the solo. There was also a second bassist who played some acoustic bass to help compliment McCartney's own bassline (I'm not sure quite why they felt the need for a second bassplayer).
- All this crazy orchestration was influenced directly by the Beach Boys' God Only Knows, one of McCartney's favourite songs at the time. 

- Despite the overkill of instrumentation that got recorded, not all of it made it into the final song. Both Lennon and Harrison's guitar tracks don't feature, and the piano and vocal tracks were significantly altered. Lots of the instruments were recorded at different speeds and slowed down or sped up to match the pace of the song.
- Features some of McCartney's best lyrics (except for maybe the crude reference to 'finger pies'), he switches from third person to first person when he switches from verse to chorus. He also abruptly changes key when switching from one section of lyrics to another, which is an unusual thing for a pop singer to do. Several lyrics also make strange allusions (such as the nurse feeling she is in a play, and she is anyway), which McCartney has since put down to LSD-use.
- Alternate takes of the song (one of which is featured on the Anthology album) featured different instrumentation, such as the use of English Horns.

- Penny Lane signs have been stolen from Liverpool ever since the song's release. The council eventually decided to introduce "theft-proof" signs in 2007, but these were stolen too. 

- Runs for three minutes and took 9 minutes to complete.

Strawberry Fields Forever
- The second A-Side to the single.
- Written by Lennon, although McCartney composed the intro.
- Halfway through the song an orchestral score appears. For people listening to it for the first time in the '60s, it kinda caught them off guard.
- The "Strawberry Fields" of the title is the name of a Salvation Army house near Lennon's childhood neighbourhood. The allusions to Lennon's childhood fit with the originally concept for the upcoming Sergeant Peppers album.
- Lennon wrote the song in 1966 while filming How I Won the War in Spain. It was a lot shorter at first and without some bits.
- Three alternate takes (including Lennon's acoustic demo version) later appeared on the Anthology albums.
- Lennon wanted the song to have a 'dream-like' sound. He felt the original recording to be a bit too rough and loud and wanted to do something different with it. He asked George Martin to write an accompanying score, and so Martin wrote one for three cellos and four trumpets. Lennon didn't really like it so a second 'score' track was put together, this time made up of other instruments - including the mellotron and swarmandel, as well as slide guitar and some backwards cymbal-sounds. Lennon reviewed both score tracks and decided he liked both. This caused a problem as they were in different keys and tempos. George Martin had to run one version at a slower than recorded speed, whilst the other was sped up, and then spliced them together using editing scissors and tape. This accounts for the strange shift in pitch that makes the song so unique and helps achieve Lennon's 'dreamlike' quality.
- McCartney plays bass, mellotron and timpani drum. Lennon's lead vocals are double-tracked and he also played a piano track, rhythm guitar and bongos. Harrison played slide-guitar (the first time he would use the slide for his recorded music - something that would later become his trademark in his solo work), as well as the maracas and swarmandel (an Indian zither-styled instrument). George Martin arranged and conducted the cellos and trumpets featured. Ringo provided a drum truck and also played the timpani.
- The low vocals almost buried in the mix during the outro are not 'I buried Paul' (as many fans have tripped over themselves to believe) but 'cranberry sauce' (it is at it's most obvious in the Anthology out-takes). 
- The fade-out and returning fade-in is widely believed to be the first in pop music. The idea was George Martin's.
- The song was later included on the Magical Mystery Tour album.
- This is one of the Beatles songs most often-cited to have cracked the pop music game wide open. Brian Wilson later said it was one of the reasons he gave up work on the famously abandoned Beach Boys album Smile. The singer from Paul Revere and the Raiders, a popular US band at the time with their own TV show, bought the single and was blown away by the song to the extent that he was at a loss as to what his band would record next, feeling that the the bar for pop music had just been raised completely beyond reach.
- The song lives on as the namesake for a John Lennon memorial in New York's Central Park. Lennon donated money to the real Strawberry Fields (an orphanage) throughout most of his adult life, a tradition that Yoko Ono carried on after his death.

- Runs for just over 4 minutes and took 26 takes to complete.

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.