Because The Wind Is High, It Blows My Mind

The second song on side two of the brilliant Apple LP/CD "Abbey Road" is an original Lennon/McCartney composition "Because" written mainly by John. The chord progression of the song was inspired by Yoko when she was playing some Beethoven arpeggios on the piano.

The basic track for the song was recorded on Friday August 01 1969 at EMI studio two. The instrumentation included George Martin playing the electric harpsichord with John Lennon playing the same riff on the electric guitar. Paul plays bass and Ringo taps out a beat on the drums although this was just a rythm guide and not used on the recording. There were 23 takes completed although the commercial version and the basic track chosen for overdubs was take 16. At the same session, John Paul and George added the first series of harmony vocals to the basic track.

Three days later on August 04 1969, John Paul and George added two more sets of harmony vocal work overtop the original vocals thereby producing nine singers doing the three part harmony in triplicate. All of this activity took place at EMI studio two.

The next day on August 05 1969, George Harrison entered room 43 at EMI and added the moog synthesizer part for the middle eight of "Because" as well as the moog overdub (with a different sound) for the final verse of "Because".

"Because" was mixed for stereo in two attempts on Tuesday August 12 1969 from the control room of EMI studio two.

"Because" is available on the Apple LP/CD "Abbey Road".

The vocal isolation has been circulating for quite a while and is available on various forms of vinyl bootlegs including "Turn Me On, Dead Man" which features a bit of the instrumentation as well. The vocal isolation can be found on the Apple 3-LP/2-CD "Anthology 3" as well as the Apple/EMI 2-LP/CD "Love" (with added sound effects).

Little Darling

The first song on side two of the Apple LP/CD "Abbey Road" is the classic George Harrison composition entitled "Here Comes The Sun" which was written in Eric Clapton's garden (as the story goes) during a day off from the Beatles madness.

One of the pleasures of the original vinyl version compared to the laster CD version is the fact that the music is split up into two parts: side one which is the collection of tunes and the abrupt ending of "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" whereby the tape is cut while the music is still going and building up to a cresendo. This must have come as quite a surprise to most fans and music listeners when the LP was first released. The needle then glides off the LP and it stops. It must be then flipped over, and the second side starts. This side contains the long medley as well as ending with another abrupt ending of "Her Majesty" which is missing the final chord. As this while staring at an Apple revolving around and around and around.

Recording for "Here Comes The Sun" was started on July 07 1969 (Ringo Starr's 29th birthday) with George on acoustic guitar and guide vocal, Paul on bass and Ringo on Drums. Thirteen takes were recorded at EMI studio two and then the acoustic guitar was perfected as an overdub to take 13. John Lennon was not involved in the recording.

The next day on July 08 1969 and once again at EMI studio two, George Harrison laid down his lead vocal and then George and Paul added vocal harmonies as overdubs. The eight track was then treated to two reductions taking the song to takes 14 and 15. A rough mono mix of take 15 was completed and taken away by George Harrison.

On July 16 1969, handclaps and a harmonium were added to "Here Comes The Sun" as overdubs. The activity took place at EMI Studio three.

On Monday August 04 1969, a rough stereo mix of the current version of "Her Comes The Sun" was attempted and completed at EMI studio three from the control room. This was mainly a reference mix for George Harrison.

Two days later on August 06, 1969 at EMI studio three, George Harrison overdubbed some more acoustic guitar onto take 15 of the song.

On Friday August 15 1969, the orchestration for "Here Comes The Sun" was overdubbed onto take 15. The musicians were in EMI studio one but the recording itself was controlled through the board in Studio two. The instruments included violas, cellos, string bass, flutes, picolos and clarinets.

Four days later on August 19 1969, a final moog synthesizer was added to the song by George Harrison and the song was mixed into stereo for the version that we all now know and love. The moog overdub was conducted in room 43 at EMI and the mixing was completed from the control room of EMI studio two.

"Here Comes The Sun" can be found on the Apple LP/CD "Abbey Road" as well as the Apple 2-LP/2-CD "The Beatles 1967-1970" as well as the Capitol/EMI LP/CD "The Best of George Harrison". The song is also contained on the compilation Capitol of Canada/Parlophone LP "The Beatles Ballads". A version can also be found on the Apple/EMI 2 lp/CD "Love".

Live performances of "Here Comes The Sun" can be found on the Apple 3-LP/2-CD "The Concert For Bangla Desh"(an acoustic version with Pete Ham of Badfinger), another live performance of the song took place on "Saturday Night Live" on November 18 1976 (an acoustic version with Paul Simon), another version was performed live by George at the "prince's trust" on June 05 1987 and remains unreleased. George Harrison and Eric Clapton toured Japan in 1991 and "Here Comes the Sun" was performed. A performance from the Japanese tour can be found on the Dark Horse 2-LP/2-CD "Live In Japan". The last public performanced of the song took place a year later in 1992 for the Natural law Party Benefit which took place at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

It's Driving Me Mad

The last song on side one of the Beatles classic Apple LP/CD "Abbey Road" is an original composition by Lennon/McCartney written mainly by Johne entitled "I Want You (She's So Heavy)". This song was an attempt by Lennon to explain his love for Yoko in as few words as possible

"I Want You (She's So Heavy)" has a very long recording history. The song was first recorded during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions on January 29 1969 (a day before the roof top concert) at Apple Studios and it was known only as "I Want You" back then. This version has not been released as far as I know and may only have been a run-through of the song.

The proper recording of the version we all know and love started on February 22 1969 at Trident Studios with the basic track being recorded and with a guide vocal by John Lennon. The organ was played by Apple artist Billy Preston and the recording was produced by Glyn Johns. 35 takes were recorded with various parts of the takes combined in order to fill a master tape of the song. This was done the next day on February 23 1969 once again at Trident Studios. Take 9 of the first part, the middle part was from take 20 and take 32 closed out the song. All were edited onto one master tape. A safety copy of the master was attempted and completed on February 24 1969 at Trident Studios. Once again, Glyn Johns was over-seeing all of the above recording procedures.

On Friday April 18 1969, John Lennon and George Harrison overdubbed guitars onto the master tape from Trident Studios. A reduction of the tape was attempted and completed and more overdubbing of guitars continued onto this tape which was re-titled take 1. The production chores at this point was overseen by Chris Thomas. The recording of guitar overdubs took place at EMI studio two. At the conclusion of this session, a rough stereo mix was completed in one attempt.

Two days later on April 20 1969 from EMI studio three, more hammond organ and conga drums were added to take 01 of the master tape. Once again, Chris Thomas produced this session.

Fast forward to August 08 1969 at EMI studio two and now George Martin producing. John Lennon had on this day decided to add "white noise" from George Harrison's moog synthesizer to the ending of the song. The problem was that the noise was added not to the finished master after the previous reduction back in April but rather the pre-reduction master.

Three days later on August 11 1969 and at EMI studio two, backing vocal for the "She's So Heavy" section were added to the reduction take 1 of the song by John Paul and George. John was undecided which version to use - either the pre-reduction master or the post-reduction master so he decided to edit/add both backing vocal takes to both masters at this point.

On Wednesday August 20 1969 from the control room of EMI studio three, the first section of the original pre-reduction tape was edited onto the post-reduction tape at four minutes and thrity-seven seconds. This allowed the white noise moog sound to be heard at the end of the song. The first part was mixed for stereo in eight attempts while the second part was mixed for stereo in two attempts. A combination of mix attempts eight and ten were combined to complete the stereo mix which we now all enjoy and love !!

"I Want You (She's So Heavy)" is available on the Apple LP/CD "Abbey Road".

No One There To Tell Us What To Do

The next song on side one of the fantastic Apple LP/CD "Abbey Road" is an original composition by Richard Starkey (Ringo Starr) entitled "Octopus's Garden". The song was written in late 1968 when Ringo was on holiday taking a break from the Beatles "White Album" sessions. He discovered that an Octopus would build his own garden in the sea and used this subject as the inspiration for the song.

The song's construction can be seen in the "Let It Be" movie where George Harrison, Ringo and George Martin are at Apple Studios on January 26 1969. They appear at the grand piano playing various chords to the song and contributing ideas.

The basic track was recorded on Saturday April 26 1969 at EMI studio two which consisted of Ringo playing drums and singing a guide vocal, Paul on bass, John and George on the guitars. 32 takes were required to finally establish the commercial basic track whereby the overdubs would be added. The second take of the song can be heard on the Apple 3-LP/2-CD "Anthology 3" along with a comment by Ringo following take eight.

Three days later on April 29 1969 at EMI studio three, Ringo re-recorded his lead vocal (double tracked in places)and and a piano part was overdubbed. The song at this stage received four stereo mixes. The tape was left on the shelf for the time being. This version of "Octopus's Garden" can be found in mono on the vinyl bootleg "No. 3 Abbey Road".

The Beatles returned to the song on July 17 1969 at EMI studio three in order to add some backing vocals and sound effects to the song. The sound effects included blowing bubbles through a straw (similar to what was done on the song "Yellow Submarine") as well as using studio trickery on the high pitched background vocals by Paul and George Harrison.

The next day on July 181969 and once again at EMI studio three, Ringo perfected his lead vocal and the song was mixed for stereo in four attempts (the fourth one being used) and for some unknown reason was also mixed for mono in seven attempts.

"Octopus's Garden" can be found on the Apple LP/CD "Abbey Road" as well as the Apple 2-LP/2-CD "The Beatles 1967-1970".

Ringo performed the song with a fresh vocal but using the basic track on the George Martin special "With A little Help From My Friends" television show on December 24 1969. The song was also performed by Ringo for his own television special "Ringo" in 1978. Ringo performed a part of the song in a medley for "Saturday Night Live" television in 1984. The song was also performed with the Roundheads for the VH1 "Storytellers" television special as well as playing the song the previous night at the Bottom line Cafe in NYC; both from 1998.

You Didn't Need Me Anymore.

The next song on side one of the fabulous Apple LP/CD "Abbey Road" is an original Lennon/McCartney composition written mainly by Paul entitled "Oh! Darling". This tune was written in the old style 1950s 6/8 timing. The song was rehearsed earlier in the year as part of the "Get Back" project before it's official recording for "Abbey Road".

A loose working version of "Oh! Darling" from January 27 1969 at Apple Studios in London can be heard on the Apple 3-LP/2-CD "Anthology 3". This working version features Billy Preston on the electric piano.

The basic track for the commercial version of "Oh! Darling" took place on April 20 1969 at EMI studio three with Paul on bass and guide vocal, John on the piano, Ringo on the drums and George Harrison on guitar. There were 26 takes of the song and the last take was deemed as the bed for which overdubs would be added. A hammond organ was added to take 26 at this session although it would later be wiped off the track. At this point the title of the song was "Oh! Darling (I'll Never Do You No Harm)". It would be shortened thereafter.

On April 26 1969 at EMI studio two, the hammond organ was taken off the track and Paul re-did his lead vocal and harmonized with himself. This version of "Oh! Darling" can be heard on the vinyl bootleg "No. 3 Abbey Road".

On May 01 1969, "Oh! Darling" was given three stereo mixes which took place in the control room of EMI studio three. None of the mixes were used on the commercial version.

Paul was not satisfied with his lead vocal and overdubbed a new vocal onto take 16 (unknown why he would not use the bed track but rather a previous take) on July 17 1969 in EMI studio three.

The next day on July 18 1969 Paul entered EMI studio three once again to try another attempt at the lead vocal for "Oh! Darling".

The next attempt at a lead vocal for "Oh! Darling" took place on July 22 1969 at EMI studio three.

The final attempt at a lead vocal for "Oh! Darling" took place on Wednesday July 23 1969 at EMI studio three. This was the released version. This is an example of what a perfectionist McCartney had become.

On Friday August 08 1969, Paul McCartney overdubbed a lead guitar and a tambourine onto the master tape of "Oh! Darling". This all took place at EMI studio two. These overdubs eventually were not used on the final version.

The song was completed on Monday August 11 1969 at EMI studio two with the final overdub onto "Oh! Darling": the vocal harmonies by John, Paul and George.

The song was mixed for stereo the next day on August 12 1969 from the control room of EMI studio two. Five attempts were completed with the fifth being used for the commercial release.

"Oh! Darling" can be found on the Apple LP/CD "Abbey Road".

Rose and Valerie Screaming From The Gallery

The next song on side one of the great "Abbey Road" LP is an original Lennon/McCartney composition written mainly by Paul entitled "Maxwell's Silver Hammer". This song about pataphysical science (??) and a murderous tendency was first concieved a year previous and was rehearsed at Twickenham Studios earlier in 1969 for the "Get Back" project. Six months later, formal recording sessions for the song began.

The basic track was recorded at EMI Studio two on July 09 1969. Although all four Beatles were present, the instrumentation for these basic track recordings include Paul on piano and guide vocal, George Harrison on bass guitar and Ringo on drums. 21 takes of the song were recorded (although they skipped over numbers 6 to 10). Take 5 from this session can be heard on the Apple 3-LP/2-CD "Anthology 3". Take 21 was the basic track to recieve the future overdubs.

The next day on July 10 1969, overdubs on the basic track for "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" included vocals by Paul , George and Ringo. Also included were more piano by Paul and hammond organ played by George Martin. Ringo added hitting a real anvil and George Harrison add some electric guitar played through a leslie. 13 stereo mixes were attempted with none of them used. All of this activity took place at EMI studio two.

The next day on July 11 1969, further vocal (for the ending) and guitar overdubs were completed at EMI studio two.

On Wednesday August 06 1969, in the EMI studio two control room, a tape reduction of "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" was attempted and completed bringing the song to take 27. At the same time as the reduction, Paul McCartney was in EMI studio room 43 with a Moog synthesizer added this instrument to the last verse of the song and recording it at the same time as the reductions were taking place. Once this was completed, "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" was mixed for stereo at EMI studio two control room with remix number 14 to 26.

On Monday August 11 1969, a mono copy of the song was tape copied from stereo mix 18 and taken away to Apple.

The next day on August 12 1969, more stereo remixing was done for "Maxwell's silver Hammer" with mixes number 27 to 36. This all took place at EMI studio two.

On August 14 1969, a stereo mix of the final verse (37) was then spliced on tape with the previous best stereo mix (34). All of this took place at EMI studio two within the control room.

Finally, on August 25 1969, the master tape of the commercial version was edited in order to remove the first four bars of the song which made the intro start with the vocal and instrumentation of the first verse. This completed the master tape and used on all commercial versions.

"Maxwell's Silver Hammer" is available on the Apple LP/CD "Abbey Road".

Attracts Me Like No Other Lover

The second song on side one of the Apple LP/CD "Abbey Road" is an original George Harrison composition entitled "Something". This love song was written for George's wife Patti and the first line is lifted from an early James Taylor song ( Taylor was an Apple artist at the time and the name of the song was "Something In The Way She Moves").

A demo of "Something" was recorded at EMI (although the studio number is not available) on February 25, 1969 with only George Harrison present. The basic track consisted of George playing electric guitar and vocal. Take 1 of this version can be found on the Apple 3-LP/2-CD "Anthlology 3". The song was given to Joe Cocker to record at some point, and Joe did record it but it was released after the commercial release (Beatles' version).

The first proper recordings for "Something" first occurred on Wednesday April 16 1969 at EMI studio three. There were 13 takes completed with the instrumentation being George Martin on the piano, Paul on bass, George on guitar and Ringo on drums. No vocals were recorded at this point.

The Beatles must not have been happy with the previous basic tracks as the song was re-made and started over on May 02 1969 at EMI studio three. 36 takes were recorded at this session with the instrumental participation being George Harrison on guitar, Billy Preston on piano, Paul on bass and John on second guitar. No vocals were recorded once again with all the takes being pure instrumental and a long jam. Take 36 was the basic track that would be used for overdubs.

Three days later on May 05 1969, The Beatles entered Olympic Sound Studios in order to adjust and re-record George Harrison's guitar part and the bass part.

On Friday July 11 1969 back at EMI studio two, a George Harrison vocal was added and doubled in the middle eight section. The song was then given a rough stereo mix and a reduction mix was completed bringing the song to take 37. The song at this point can be heard on the Yellow Dog CD: "Unsurpassed Masters Volume 5". The instrumental jam can still be heard at this point although almost two minutes was trimmed off during the reduction mix. It ended up that the Beatles did not use take 37 after all, and the work continued using take 36 instead.

On Wednesday July 16, George Harrison vocals backed by Paul were completed onto take 36 at EMI studio three. Take 36 was then given a reduction mix into takes 38 and 39. Take 39 was now considered the commercial take.

On August 04 1969, "Something" was given a rough stereo mix and an acetate of the song was pressed and given to George Martin in order for him to secure an orchestra arrangement. The mixing was done in the control room of EMI studio three.

Finally on Friday August 15 1969, the orchestra was brought in to overdub their contribution to "Something". The orchestra was recorded in EMI studio one with the production team and the recording board being used in EMI studio two. Also on this day, the George Harrison guitar solo for "Something" was also recorded (not at the same time as some people have suggested).

On Tuesday August 19 1969 from the control room of EMI studio two, ten attempts at a stereo mix were completed with the tenth attempt chosen at the commercial version. The long piano jam at the end of the song was discarded during these mixes.

"Something" is available on the Apple LP/CD "Abbey Road" as well as the Apple 2-LP/2-CD "The Beatles 1967-1970", the Capitol/EMI LP/CD "The Best Of George Harrison" and the Capitol/EMI 2-LP "Love Songs". It is also on the EMI LP "The Beatles Ballads" (UK and Canada only) and finally on the Apple/EMI 2-LP/CD "1".

"Something" was also released as a single on Apple R 5814 in the UK and on Apple 2654 in North America. An interesting note is that the first day Canadian release had the song "Come Together" on the A-side and "Something" on the B-side until the error was noticed and the song line up was changed to "Something on the A-side and "Come Together" on the B-side.

"Something" was performed live several times by George Harrison including a performance at the Concert for Bangla Desh and is available on the Apple 3-LP/2-CD "The Concert For Bangla Desh" as well as performing the song on his 1974 "Dark Horse" tour and finally with Eric Clapton's band backing in Japan in 1991 and being available on the Dark Horse 2-LP/2-CD "Live In Japan".

He Bag Production

The first song on side one of the Apple LP/CD "Abbey Road" is an original Lennon/McCartney composition written mainly by John entitled "Come Together". The idea for the song came to Lennon from a promotional camgaign tune he had originally written for Timothy Leary but had disgarded it in the end. The first two lines of the tune use lyrics from a Chuck Berry song and Lennon was later sued in the 1970s by businessman Morris Levy who owned the publishing rights to the Berry tune.

The recording of "Come Together" started on Monday July 21 1969 from EMI studio three. The basic track was recorded in eight take with John Lennon singing a guide vocal and shaking a tambourine, Paul on the bass guitar, George on electric guitar and Ringo on drums. Take one of this session can be heard on the Apple 3-LP/2-CD "Anthology 3". Once it was decided that take eight would be the commercial release, the basic track was copied from the four track onto eight tracks for future overdubs (called take 09 during the copy).

The next day on July 22 1969 from EMI studio three, the lead vocal was re-done and the overdubbing of the electric piano, a guitar and maracas was added onto the basic track.

On July 23 1969 and once again from EMI studio three, there was an overdub added to the song although there is really no explanation as to what exactly that overdub was. John C. Winn's book "That Magic Feeling" explains it as "further vocal work".

On July 25 1969 from EMI studio two, Paul's vocal harmony was overdubbed onto take 09 of "Come Together".

On July 30 1969 from EMI studio three, the final overdub for "Come Together" was completed with the addition of a lead guitar (probably played by George).

On Thursday August 07 1969, "Come Together" was mixed for stereo in 10 attempts with the last mix being used for the commercial recording. This mix was completed at EMI studio two - control room.

"Come Together" is available on the Apple LP/CD "Abbey Road as well as the Apple 2-LP/2-CD compilation "The Beatles 1967-1970". The song can also be found on the North American version of the Capitol/EMI LP "20 Greatest Hits" as well as the Apple/EMI 2-LP/CD "1".

It is interesting to note that "Come Together" was released as a single along with "Something" after the LPs release. The Apple single was released as R 5814 in the UK and 2654 in North America.

A live version of "Come Together" performed by John and Yoko with Elephant's Memory for the One-to-One Concerts at Madison Square Gardens in New York City in August 1972 can be found on the Capitol/EMI LP/Cd "Live In New York City".

Abbey Road

The Beatles released their 12th UK EMI LP on September 26 1969 entitled "Abbey Road". The catalogue number in the UK for the LP is PCS 7088. The LP was released in North America on October 01 1969. The catalogue number in North American was SO-383. This LP was only available in stereo. Although some South American countries claim to have released the LP in mono, it is actually fold-down stereo.

The title of the LP was at one point going to be entitled "Everest" after a brand of cigarette that Geoff Emerick allegedly smoked. This idea was abandoned.

The front cover features a photograph of the Beatles at the crosswalk outside of EMI studios. This photograph was captured at around ten o'clock in the morning on August 08 1969 by photographer Iain MacMillan.

The back cover (which was also photographed by MacMillan) features the words "Beatles" and "Abbey Road N" placed in tablets on the old stone low barrier. A woman walks by in a blue dress (I've always wondered if she knew she appeared in the photo). On the bottom left are the track listing with a full Apple under the tracks for side one. Some of the early pressings include the Apple misaligned and slightly to the left of the side one track listings. The credits underneath the track listing include thanks to George Martin (the producer of the record), Geoff Emerick and Phillip McDonald ( the engineers of the record) and Iain MacMillan (the photographer).

The LP labels on both continents were on Apple with the full Apple indicating side one and the Half Apple indicating side two. On original copies, "Her Majesty" was not listed on the side two labels as it considered a hidden track at the time.

After the release of the LP, clues for the "Paul Is Dead" rumours included the procession of the Beatles as John being first dressed in white as a preacher, Ringo in the black suit as the undertaker, Paul dress in a casual suit as the corpse, and George dressed in jeans as the gravedigger. The licence plate on the parked Volkswagon had the cryptic (28IF) as the back license place indicated that Paul was 28 (although in reality he was 27).

EMI studios changed the name of the studios in the early 1970s to Abbey Road studios.

I'm So Glad You Came Here

The B side to the second Beatles' single of 1969 is an original George Harrison composition entitled "Old Brown Shoe".

The first recording of "Old Brown Shoe" took place on February 25 1969 at EMI studios, although there is no information pertaining to exactly which studio within the building was used on this occasion. The recording was more of a demo for perhaps the Beatles to eventually learn. The recording also features only George Harrison playing all of the instruments including guitars, piano and vocals. There were two takes of the song and the engineer for this session was Ken Scott. At some point the song was mixed for stereo although there is no documentation as to when this was done. This version of "Old Brown Shoe" is available on the Apple/EMI 3-LP/2-CD "Anthology 3".

A second demo recording of "Old Brown Shoe" occurred on Wednesday April 16 1969 at EMI studio three with only George Harrison once again laying down guitar and vocal. The rest of the band arrived later in the session and this demo version was played to the group before proper takes were recorded. Once the recording of the whole band was up and running, the second demo was erased.

The song was recorded in one take (presumably the rehearsals were not recorded) with Ringo on drums, George on guitar and guide vocal, Paul on the piano and John on rhythm guitar. Overdubs included bass by Paul, guitars by George, backing vocals by John and Paul and main vocal by George. The song was mixed for stereo once the overdubs were complete. There were three attempts at a stereo mix at this point but none of the mixes were released commercially due to later overdubs.

Two days later on April 18 1969 at EMI Studio three, George Harrison recorded more overdubs including organ and the lead guitar solo played through a leslie speaker. John Lennon's original rhythm guitar track was wiped away from the mix. The song was once again mixed for stereo once the overdubs were complete in 19 attempts and was never mixed for mono.

"Old Brown Shoe" is available on the Apple 45 in the UK (R 5786) and in North America on Apple 45 (2531). It is also available on the Apple LP "Hey Jude/The Beatles Again" and on the Apple 2-LP/2-CD "The Beatles 1967-1970". The song also appears on the Apple/EMI 2-LP/CD "Past Masters Volume Two" as well as the Apple/EMI remasters 2-CD "Past Masters".

A live version of "Old Brown Shoe" was performed in Japan by George Harrison w/Eric Clapton's band in the early 1990s and can be heard on the Dark Horse 2-LP/2-CD "Live In Japan".