Another "Octopus's Garden" session.

On April 29 1969, work continued on Ringo's composition "Octopus's Garden". This time Ringo was a the microphone in order to overdub not one but two lead vocals over the backing track. Also added around this time was the piano bit in the bridges although it's not been confirmed who's played the instrument; maybe Paul or as John C. Winn has suggested; maybe Chris Thomas who also produced this particular session from Studio 3. The tune was still incomplete as sessions would continue in July for this song.
In any case, this is an early mono
version from this evening that can be heard on bootlegs such as "No. 3 Abbey Road N.W.8" as well as on the bootleg CD "Unsurpassed Masters Vol. 05".

"John ! Yoko !"

In the afternoon of April 22 1969 John Winston Lennon changed his to John Ono Lennon legally on the roof of the Apple building at 3 Savile Row in London. Once the ceremony was photographed and completed, the couple went along to a recording session at EMI Studio 3 in order to record for their third joint album which would eventually be released commercially as the Apple LP box set "Wedding Album".
The first side of the LP consists of a sensitive microphone picking up the heartbeats of both John and Yoko who were both lying on the studio floor which was recorded for about 20 and a bit minutes. Overdubbed on top of the heartbeats were John saying "Yoko!" and Yoko saying "John !" for 20 and bit minutes. This vocal was pronounced in various emotive tones such as teasing, pleading, inquisitive, yelling, etc.
A first attempt at a stereo mix (with the two voices in the left and right speakers accordingly) and the heartbeats centered. This mix was not used and a second mix on the 26th of that month had a second attempt at a stereo mix.
Finally on April 27 1969 (five days later), the heartbeats had to be re-recorded and it was mixed the same day and released on the commercial Apple LP "Wedding Album" as side one. Pictured above is the Japanese label re-issue on Odeon.

The Start of the Abbey Road Sessions: "Oh! Darling"/"Octopus's Garden"

There is a bit of blur between the end of the "Get Back/Let It Be" sessions and "Abbey Road" in the sense that the month of February 1969 contained some undocumented sessions at Apple Studios with the Beatles completing overdubs of the former and beginning a song for the latter. The song "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" was recorded; or at least the basic backing track was recorded during a session in February for example and worked on in April at well.
The April 20th session which took place in Studio 2 of EMI in London saw work on a song that was started for the "Get Back/Let It Be" project with Paul as main composer. The song "Oh! Darling" had John playing piano, Paul on bass and guide vocal, George on electric guitar and Ringo on drums. There were 26 takes with a hammond organ overdub. This was left alone until six days later (April 26) when Paul added some vocals and overdubbed his own backing vocals as well. This early version as it stand can be heard on CD bootlegs such as "Unsurpassed Masters, Vol. 5" and "No.3 Abbey Road N.W." as well as the vinyl bootleg of the same name.
Also recorded on April 26 was Ringo's composition "Octopus's Garden". The instrument line up was basically the same as the early Beatles' records with John/George on guitar, Paul on bass and Ringo on drums and guide vocal. In all, the basic track reveals that 32 takes were required, but take 2 has appeared commercially and can be found on the Apple 3-LP/2-CD "Anthology 3" project. Interestingly, Ringo's comment at the end of the song comes from a different take edited in.