The Construction of "Lady Madonna"

A new song written mainly by Paul McCartney was chosen to be the next A-side of a single and the start of recording occurred on February 03 1968 at EMI Studio 1  with Paul on the piano and Ringo playing drums using brushes. This basic track recording was completed in three takes. The first over dub consisted of Ringo adding another drum track throughout the song using his hard sticks and playing along with himself from the basic track. Paul added his bass guitar while John and George added electric guitars playing the riff throughout some of the verses. Paul's main vocal and the John/George backing vocals were also overdubbed onto the backing track after the instruments. So far you had on track 1: The original piano/drums with brushes; track 2 and 3: drums with sticks, bass and guitars and on track 4: the vocals (main and backing). On some bootlegs, some of the backing overdubs include a voice at the end singing the words "Lady Madonna" in a quick operatic mocking voice.
Three days later on February 06 1968, the song became take 4 with the drums, bass and guitars mixed onto a single track leaving some free recording space. This was used to have the piano "thickened" by Paul for the intro, Paul's voice "thickened" as well for the "see how they run" part, handclaps in various places and the three main singers cupping their hand and adding a mock voice instrumental part in the middle fo the song. On the bootlegs, you can hear Paul yell out "Lady Madonna" with a short laugh at the beginning of the first verse and the word "Meet...eet...eet" at the end of the song. Most bootlegs contain a rough mix/monitor mix of the song.
A brass section was added to the song as well featuring two tenor and two baritone saxes. A reduction mix was conducted during this time brining the song into take 5 and adding not only the brass, but a sax solo from musician Ronnie Scott. On the Apple "Anthology 2" project, you can hear a few stray lines of sax at the end of the song not present on the commercial versions (they were faded down).The overdubs ended with the harmonization of the "see how they run" segment of the song and more handclaps.
The mono mix was completed on February 15 1968 after ten attempts. There were no stereo mixes completed until the end of that year on December 02 1969 when a stereo mix was completed. This was due to the fact that the US only release of the "Hey Jude" LP was imminent.
Bootlegs with the various overdubs not faded include the LP "Ultra Rare Trax, Volumes 5 and 6" and the CD "Unsurpassed Masters, Volume 4". The commerical mono mix can be found on the single, the stereo mix can be found on both the Apple "Hey Jude" LP/CD and the Apple "Past Masters Volume Two", "Past Masters" and the compilation LP/CD Apple compilation "1".  As mentioned above, the extra sax mix can be found on the Apple 2-CD/3-LP commercial release of "Anthology 2".

"Across The Universe" takes 7 and 8

On February 04 1969, The Beatles continued work in Studio 3 of EMI Studios in London for the John Lennon composition "Across The Universe" using a different take from the previous take 2 mentioned in the previous post. This time work concentrated on take 7 which featured John on acoustic guitar, George Harrison adding tamboura and Ringo playing a single drum tom.
One of the ideas floating around was to have backing vocals on the chorus of the song. Since it was a last minute decision, it was decided to grab two fans waiting outside the EMI Studios and bring them inside to sing along to during the chorus. The two lucky teens were Lizzie Bravo and Gayleen Pease who sang their parts and then left the recording session.
Some experimentation followed when take 7 was reduced to take 8 and backwards bass/drums were added. Also added at this stage were backwards guitar/harp and the band humming a note during the "Om" section and near the end of the song as well. A mono mix was made of this and it was eventually released (without the backwards bass/drums) on various bootlegs including the LP  "The Lost Lennon Tapes Volume Three", the CD "Ultra Rare Trax, Volume 3" and "Unsurpassed Masters Volume 4" described sometimes as the "Hums Wild" version of the song.
Four days later on February 08 1969, the backwards tapes were taken off and replace with harmonies by Paul and George as well as adding some electric guitar swells from John, maracas by Ringo and piano by Paul. This version was mixed to mono with some animal effect used at the beginning of the song and it sat there for most of the year, unused.
Almost a year later in 1970, Glyn Johns started preparing an LP acetate of the "Get Back" sessions and decided to use the take 7 version of "Across The Universe" by mixing it in stereo using the guitar, tamboura, drum tom and the teenage backing vocals.This mix can be found on such bootlegs as the CD "Get Back Second Mix" and "Get Back: The Final Glyn Johns compilation".

Across The Universe - Take 2

On February 03 1968, The Beatles convened into Studio 3 of EMI Studios in London to prepare a possible single (45) release in anticipation of their departure to India to study with the Maharashi. John, Paul and George had all written songs that were ready to be recorded.
There was a bit of work done on McCartney's composition for the backing of "Lady Madonna" before moving on to John's composition "Across The Universe".
The backing for "Across The Universe" was completed in two takes. The instrumentation for this version consists of acoustic guitar, tamboura and a table harp. All acoustic instruments with John's lead voice overdubbed. A very dreamy effect takes place upon listening to this version. In my opinion, this could have been released "as is" but I'm sure Mr. Lennon had different plans for the song because it obviously changed over time.
This version of take 2 was officially released on the Apple 3 LP/2-CD "Anthology 2" project and sounds fabulous in stereo. There is also a monitor mix of the song that is available on bootlegs such as the CD "Control Room Monitor Mixes" and "Complete Control Roolm Monitor Mixes 2".
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmvdLKt0Ex8

A Cameo For The Film "Yellow Submarine"

On January 25 1968, The Beatles dropped in to Twickenham Film Studios in London for the task of appearing in a cameo for the upcoming "Yellow Submarine" feature film based on the song. In the end, the cameo lasts less than a minute. The Beatles are seen in similar shirts and the background is black. The original idea was to have animation happening in the background during the cameo, but this failed to materialize due to budget constraints and time constraints. It's a nice little ending and it's great to see the group together for this segment as they introduce the last song "All Together Now" which would end up on the songtrack, of course.
Also taped on this day are segments of the individual Beatles hanging out in the animation studio with Paul listening to a playback wearing headphones, Ringo looking through one of the movie cameras and George running across the studio holding a tape measure. These brief scenes appeared in a short documentary on the film entitled "A Mod Odyssey" which is available commercially on the "Yellow Submarine" DVD (1999 version as well as the upgraded 2012 version).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPKqGNsFe_Q

Christmas Time (Is Here Again) Sessions

On November 28 1967, The Beatles entered EMI Studio 3 in order to fulfill their duties to the Official Fan Club and record their Christmas flexi for the year 1967. The format of the flexi was to have various audio skits interspersed with a theme song.
The theme song was recorded first. The title being "Christmas Time (Is Here Again)". The tune has Ringo on drums, Paul on piano, George on the acoustic guitar and John on the timpani drum. The entire instrumental backing was recorded in one take with 10 repeated verses played one after the other. Once this was completed, the vocals were added to the first 09 of the verses with the entire group singing the title over and over and Ringo singled out for the line "O-U-T spells OUT" (of which the words would later be used by Paul on his 2013 solo LP "NEW" on the song "Queenie Eye").
The skits themselves were recorded in ten takes and overladen with certain sound effects and then interwoven with the new theme song. A guest on the flexi is Beatles' friend Victor Spinetti who appears in three of the Beatles' films in various capacities. Sketches include mention of the BBC, tap dancing, Beatles roadie Mal Evans makes an audio appearance. This is followed by a jingle for a product called "Wonderlust" and a television show with voices from Paul and John.
A fragment of the theme song is played, a skit with George as announcer followed by a skit containing John as a quizmaster and George as a contestant for a quiz show, the commercial jingle once again, a skit with Ringo. Once again the theme song appears underneath the voices of John and George from the quiz show with applause.George Martin thanks the "boys" for a wonderful year. John sums it all up with a Scottish seasonal verse heard over the organ (Paul?) which plays "Auld Lang Syne".
The original flexi disc was released only in mono for the Fan Club. It was mailed out on or around December 15 1967. Produced by George Martin. Catalogue number LYN 1360. It is one sided and plays at 33 and a third. The flexi lasts 6:06 minutes.
The entire mono version of the theme song only can be heard the vinyl bootleg "File Under: Beatles". A stereo mix of the theme song in full with the introduction including John's "Interplanatery remix; page four hundred and forty four!" was conducted for the release of the aborted 1984 "Sessions" LP and can be heard on LP and CD bootlegs of this title. A proposed single from the "Sessions" LP would have included a mix of both "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da/ Christmas Time (Is Here Again)" which contains about a minute of the theme song and can be found on the vinyl bootleg "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da".
Finally, the theme song for this Christmas flexi was released commercially as a B-side to "Free As A Bird" in 1995 on the Apple Vinyl/CD single. The first two and a half minutes includes the theme song (in stereo) mixed in with some 1966 Christmas greetings by each individual Beatle and ending with the previously mentioned Scottish seasonal verse by John.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51TPzfEhYwI

"All Together On The Wireless Machine"

Broadcast around November 25 1967 on BBC Radio 1, this Paul McCartney tune or rather "ditty" of a fragment appeared with Paul on piano and vocals.
This small number was basically a promotional or a jokey way to promo the DJs or personalities associated with the radio program entitled "Where It's At".
The number starts with the chords of the song "Hello Goodbye" being played on piano by Paul which leads us to speculate that this was done at Abbey Road sometime earlier in the month and then a little bit of whistling. The tune starts with basically the basic chord, four chord and five chord played over and over with the lyrics "Kenny Everett and Chris Denning/ All together on the Wireless Machine".
The tune has warranted enough attention as to appear on the vinyl bootleg "Abbey Road Revisited" in bad quality. It was also released on the bootleg CD "Mythology, Vol. 3 `.
I found a copy of the recording on `youtube`and have included it for your listening pleasure:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqrvtSiBtLE

"Step Inside Love" Demos

In mid to late November 1967, Paul McCartney was approached to write a theme song for a new television show featuring Cilla Black as host. As both Mr. McCartney and Ms. Black were clients of manager Brian Epstein, I'm sure this arrangement had been previously handled by him before his passing. The confirmation for the theme song would have probably been an afterthought, or maybe Mr. McCartney was too busy with the "Magical Mystery Tour" project.
Whatever the case, a demo was constructed of the song in late November of 1967 and features Paul singing and playing acoustic guitar. There are three verses, although no lyrics for the second verse are sung but simply hummed as the lyrics are incomplete at this point. The demo is probably a run-through of the song to show DJ Kenny Everett how is goes as he was the one who recorded it in horrible quality and is featured on a vinyl bootleg entitled "Abbey Road Revisited".
On November 21, Paul McCartney met up with both Cilla Black and George Martin at Chappell Studios in London to record a proper demo of the song for orchestration and arrangement purposes. The run through of the song features Cilla on vocals and Paul on acoustic guitar with both of them humming through the instrumental break in the middle of the song. This time, all verses are complete. The demo/rehearsal was also filmed (probably by Tony Bramwell) for future use. This demo was officially released on the CD box set: "Cilla 1963-1973 The Abbey Road Decade". I've included a nice copy of the Cilla/ Paul demo...beautiful song !!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVMel5gS84Y