Saturday, November 13, 2010

His Sister Pam/ Yeah, Yeah, Yeah !!


The next two songs on the "Huge Melody" of side two on the Abbey Road LP/CD, they were both recorded at the same time similar to the previous posting of "Sun King/Mean Mister Mustard". The two songs in question were both Lennon/McCartney original compositions. The first section written mainly by John while the second section written mainly by Paul. The titles of the songs are "Polythene Pam/ She Came in Through The Bathroom Window".

An early demo version of "Polythene Pam" featuring John on vocal and acoustic can be heard on the Apple 3-LP/2-CD "Anthology 3" from the "White Album" pre-production tapes made at George Harrison's Esher home in May 1968.

"She Came In Through The Bathroom Window" surfaces as a rehearsal from the "Get Back/Let It Be" project from either the 21st or 22nd of January 1969 ( depending on the source). This early performance can be heard on the Apple 3-LP/2-CD "Anthology 3".

The proper commercial recording of both songs started with the basic track recordings which took place Friday July 25 1969 from EMI studio two. 39 takes of the songs were completed with the instrumentation of John on guide vocal and acoustic, Paul on guide vocal (for the second part) and bass, George on electric and Ringo on drums. Take 39 was used as the final take and a shit load of overdubs occurred over the next few days. For instance, on this day alone, the drums and the bass as well as the proper lead vocals were all overdubbed before day's end !!

After that week-end on Monday July 28 1969, more overdubs for the song continue with lead vocal, electric and acoustic piano, tambourine, assorted percussion, acoustic and electric guitars. Whew !! Once these were completed, a reduction was attempted and completed in order to add additional overdubs to the songs.

Two days later on Wednesday July 30 1969, more overdubs were added to the songs including backing vocals, more guitars and more percussion. The two songs were given a rough stereo mix and played in order of the "Huge Melody" as a test run on this day.

The commercial release of the song had the following audible overdubs (many of the overdubs completed above were either wiped out or inaudible on the commercial release): backing vocals, an electric guitar and various percussion such as a tambourine, maracas, etc.

The editing/crossfading/ and stereo mixing of "Polythene Pam/She Came In Through The Bathroom Window" was attempted and completed in twelve attempts on Thursday August 14 1969 from the control room of EMI studio two.

"Polythene Pam/She Came In Through The Bathroom Window" is available on the Apple LP/CD "Abbey Road".

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