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".