The Beatles Lyrics
Page 34
There is a manuscript for ‘Polythene Pam’–not many from the Medley have survived or emerged–which has nine lines in John’s best hand, but now a bit faint. In the final line there is a correction, but I can’t read it. The rhymes are rather forced and the reference to the News of the World is now archaic (the paper closed in 2012).
Until I properly studied the finished lyrics–as they were not enclosed with the album–I had missed ‘killer-diller’, or at least failed to understand what he was trying to say, never having heard the expression. Now I see it written down, and have looked it up, I learn that it is American usage, coined just before the war, and refers to someone or something that is excellent, not to say fab. I wonder how John knew it? We never used it in Carlisle, and we were awfully cosmopolitan.
‘Polythene Pam’, from Abbey Road, in John’s hand but rather faint and some words hard to read.
Well you should see Polythene Pam
She’s so good-looking but she looks like a man
Well you should see her in drag
Dressed in her polythene bag
Yes you should see Polythene Pam
Yeah yeah yeah
Get a dose of her in jackboots and kilt
She’s killer-diller when she’s dressed to the hilt
She’s the kind of a girl that makes the News of the World
Yes you could say she was attractively built
Yeah yeah yeah
She Came In Through The Bathroom Window
This is probably the best of the medley of short songs–written by Paul and based on a girl who actually did come through his bathroom window. She was one of the so-called Apple Scruffs who hung around Paul’s house and the Abbey Road Studios, day and night, hoping for a glimpse. John, Ringo and George were usually spared this attention at their homes, living out in the suburbs in gated communities, but Paul was in the heart of London, and very handy for the studios. He also tended to indulge them, going out to say hello, pose for photographs, even asking the more sensible-looking ones to take Martha for a walk or do little jobs for him.
On this occasion, while Paul was away, some of them managed to find a ladder and climbed in through a bathroom window. Others poured in and went through Paul’s clothes and belongings, one of which was a photograph of his father he particularly treasured. The neighbours spotted the girls, rang the police and each other–hence ‘Sunday’s on the phone to Monday’. The photograph was eventually returned.
After the first couple of lines, setting the narrative, the lyrics are a bit of a hotchpotch, not apparently connected, not meaning much, more like a John song, throwing in half-remembered phrases: ‘And so I quit the police department’ is said to have been inspired by a Los Angeles traffic cop named Eugene Quits. Or it could have referred to Pete Shotton, his boyhood friend, who did for a time become a policeman. But the tune is good.
The manuscript, in Paul’s hand, on Apple Corps headed notepaper, looks like a version written out for somebody in the studio, perhaps George. At the end has been added: ‘Another Lennon and McCartney original’.
She came in through the bathroom window
Protected by a silver spoon
But now she sucks her thumb and wonders
By the banks of her own lagoon
Didn’t anybody tell her?
Didn’t anybody see?
Sunday’s on the phone to Monday,
Tuesday’s on the phone to me
She said she’d always been a dancer
She worked at 15 clubs a day
And though she thought I knew the answer
Well I knew but I could not say.
And so I quit the police department
And got myself a steady job
And though she tried her best to help me
She could steal but she could not rob.
Didn’t anybody tell her?
Didn’t anybody see?
Sunday’s on the phone to Monday,
Tuesday’s on the phone to me
Oh yeah.
‘She Came In Through The Bathroom Window’, from Abbey Road, in Paul’s hand, again on Apple notepaper. There must have been a lot of it lying around, handy for writing out lyrics.
Golden Slumbers
Paul wrote this at his father’s house, ‘Rembrandt’, a rather smart villa with a conservatory and vines growing. Jim had moved there, thanks to Paul’s financial help, abandoning their old family council house in Forthlin Road. By this time Jim had married Angie, whose daughter Ruth was learning the piano. Propped up on the piano was the sheet music of the well-known lullaby, ‘Golden Slumbers’. Paul took the title and wrote his own version.
There are few words, just eight lines. The first two lines are Paul’s–‘Once there was a way to get back homewards’–but the next six are taken almost word for word from the old lullaby, originally a poem written by Thomas Dekker in 1603. No sign of any credit for the words on the Abbey Road sleeve, but I suppose you don’t have to worry about being sued when the author has been dead almost four centuries.
It’s a sweet lullaby, nice melodies, but I never cared for the bit when he suddenly breaks into loud rocker mode, shattering the mood, before he goes back again to the soft going-to-sleep music.
Again, we move straight on, into the next tune in the Medley. Back before the shift in the balance of power, the Beatles had wanted to do a whole album where there were no breaks, but EMI had vetoed the idea, preferring songs to be clearly separated. On this their last album, the Beatles achieved one minor ambition.
Carry That Weight
As with ‘You Never Give Me Your Money’, Paul is feeling the weight of all the Apple arguments and the court cases, and his rows with Klein.
The notion of a weight having to be carried might also have been in Paul’s mind in another sense, thinking of them as ex-Beatles: how would they cope, making music or anything else by themselves, saddled with the burden of having been Beatles. But this is probably a bit fanciful on my part.
After the first two lines–and there are only five lines in total–Paul reverts to the earlier song, and the words, repeating ‘You Never Give Me Your Money’ melody, but with slightly different wording, ‘I never give you my pillow’. So it becomes a parody of his own parody.
And then goes straight on into…
The End
Which was the end, of the medley, of the album, and of the Beatles. They did record one more song after Abbey Road was completed–George’s ‘I Me Mine’, but after Abbey Road came out in September 1969, the Beatles had effectively died.
Despite the lack of lyrics–just three lines, two of which are pretty good–there is a musical finale with the three guitarists doing battle. They each have a little solo–and even Ringo is persuaded, for the first time ever on a Beatles record, to do a drum solo. Then it all rises to a farewell crescendo, before Paul sings that final couplet: ‘And in the end the love you take / is equal to the love you make.’
It sounds vaguely familiar, almost Shakespearian, but perhaps that’s because it has been quoted so often. Paul said he wanted to finish, like the Bard, with a couplet, then exit left. Interesting that he went out on words, with a final lyrical flourish. Words did matter to them.
John thought the couplet was good, even if in talking about it to Playboy he got the words wrong, quoting it as ‘the love you get is equal to the love you give’. But he did call it cosmic, which was praise enough.
Her Majesty
But, hee hee, having indicated it was the end, and done their farewells, and guitar flourishes, there is then quite a long pause. On the album sleeve it clearly lists the last song as ‘The End’, so clearly, nothing can be left. After all, with such an extended sequence of songs all strung together, it must surely all be over now. Then you suddenly hear Paul strumming away. It was originally part of the medley, then edited out. It supposedly appeared at the end of the master tape by accident. It lasts just twenty-three seconds, the shortest ever Beatles number.
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nbsp; And he has a good joke. He tells us that Her Majesty is a pretty nice girl, though she doesn’t have a lot to say, but some day he wants to make her his. More affectionate teasing. As a schoolboy of nearly eleven, in June 1953, Paul had won an essay competition for the Queen’s Coronation, writing about our lovely young Queen.
The Queen was still with us in 2014, and so was Paul and also Ringo–unlike the ten-bob note. And Her Majesty did knight Paul. So I am sure he would agree she was a pretty nice girl…
The Beatles’ last ‘public’ performance on the roof of Savile Row in London in January 1969.
DISCOGRAPHY
Single playing records, by the Beatles, issued by Parlophone Records in England. All songs composed by Lennon and McCartney unless otherwise stated.
1962
Oct–Love Me Do/PS I Love You
1963
Jan–Please Please Me/As Me Why
Apr–From Me To You/Thank You Girl
Aug–She Loves You/I’ll Get You
Nov–I Want To Hold Your Hand/This Boy
1964
Mar–Can’t Buy Me Love/You Can’t Do That
Jul–A Hard Day’s Night/Things We Said Today
Nov–I Feel Fine/She’s A Woman
1965
Apr–Ticket To Ride/Yes It Is
Jul–Help!/I’m Down
Dec–Day Tripper/We Can Work It Out
1966
Jun–Paperback Writer/Rain
Aug–Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby
1967
Jan–Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields Forever
Jul–All You Need Is Love/Baby You’re A Rich Man
Nov–Hello, Goodbye/I Am The Walrus
1968
Mar–Lady Madonna/The Inner Light (Harrison)
Single playing records issued by Apple Records
1968
Aug–Hey Jude/Revolution
1969
Apr–Get Back/Don’t Let Me Down
May–The Ballad of John and Yoko/Old Brown Shoe (Harrison)
Oct–Something (Harrison)/Come Together
1970
Mar–Let It Be/You Know My Name
Long playing records issued by Parlophone, England
1963
May–PLEASE PLEASE ME
I Saw Her Standing There; Misery; Ask Me Why; Please Please Me; Love Me Do; PS I Love You; Do You Want to Know A Secret; There’s A Place
Songs not composed by the Beatles:
Anna; Chains; Boys; Baby It’s You; A Taste Of Honey; Twist And Shout
Dec–WITH THE BEATLES
It Won’t Be Long; All I’ve Got To Do; All My Loving; Don’t Bother Me (Harrison); Little Child; Hold Me Tight; I Wanna Be Your Man; Not A Second Time
Songs not composed by the Beatles:
Till There Was You; Please Mister Postman; Roll Over Beethoven; You Really Got A Hold On Me; Devil In Her Heart; Money
1964
Jul–A HARD DAY’S NIGHT
A Hard Day’s Night; I Should Have Known Better; If I Fell; I’m Happy Just To Dance With You; And I Love Her; Tell Me Why; Can’t Buy Me Love; Any Time At All; I’ll Cry Instead; Things We Said Today; When I Get Home; You Can’t Do That; I’ll Be Back
Dec–BEATLES FOR SALE
No Reply; I’m A Loser; Baby’s In Black; I’ll Follow The Sun; Eight Days A Week; Every Little Thing; I Don’t Want To Spoil The Party; What You’re Doing
Songs not composed by the Beatles:
Rock And Roll Music; Mr Moonlight; Kansas City; Words Of Love; Honey Don’t; Everybody’s Trying To Be My Baby
1965
Aug–HELP!
Help!; The Night Before; You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away; I Need You (Harrison); Another Girl; You’re Going To Lose That Girl; Ticket To Ride; It’s Only Love; You Like Me Too Much (Harrison); Tell Me What You See; I’ve Just Seen A Face; Yesterday
Songs not composed by the Beatles:
Act Naturally; Dizzy Miss Lizzy
Dec–RUBBER SOUL
Drive My Car; Norwegian Wood; You Won’t See Me; Nowhere Man; Think For Yourself (Harrison); The Word; Michelle; What Goes On (Lennon, McCartney and Starkey); Girl; I’m Looking Through You; In My Life; Wait; If I Needed Someone (Harrison); Run For Your Life
1966
Sep–REVOLVER
Taxman (Harrison); Eleanor Rigby; I’m Only Sleeping; Love You Too (Harrison); Here, There And Everywhere; Yellow Submarine; She Said She Said; Good Day Sunshine; And Your Bird Can Sing; For No One; Dr Robert; I Want To Tell You (Harrison); Got To Get You Into My Life; Tomorrow Never Knows
1967
Jun–SGT. PEPPER’S LONELY HEARTS CLUB
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band; With A Little Help From My Friends; Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds; Getting Better; Fixing A Hole; She’s Leaving Home; Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite; Within You, Without You (Harrison); When I’m Sixty-Four; Lovely Rita; Good Morning, Good Morning; A Day In The Life
Long playing records issued by Apple Records
1968
Nov–THE BEATLES (THE DOUBLE WHITE ALBUM)
Back In The USSR; Dear Prudence; Glass Onion; Ob La Di Ob La Da; Wild Honey Pie; The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill; While My Guitar Gently Weeps (Harrison); Happiness Is A Warm Gun; Martha My Dear; I’m So Tired; Blackbird: Piggies; Rocky Raccoon; Don’t Pass Me By; Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?; I Will; Julia; Birthday; Yer Blues; Mother Nature’s Son; Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey; Sexy Sadie; Helter Skelter; Long Long Long; Revolution 1; Honey Pie; Savoy Truffle; Cry Baby Cry; Revolution 9; Good Night
1969
Jan–YELLOW SUBMARINE
Yellow Submarine; Only A Northern Song; All Together Now; Hey Bulldog; It’s All Too Much (Harrison); All You Need Is Love. Not composed by the Beatles: Pepperland; Sea Of Time; Sea Of Holes; Sea Of Monsters; March Of The Meanies; Pepperland Laid Waste; Yellow Submarine In Pepperland
Oct–ABBEY ROAD
Come Together; Something (Harrison); Maxwell’s Silver Hammer; Oh! Darling; Octopus’s Garden; I Want You (She’s So Heavy); Here Comes The Sun (Harrison); Because; You Never Give Me Your Money; Sun King; Mean Mr Mustard; Polythene Pam; She Came In Through the Bathroom Window; Golden Slumbers; Carry That Weight; The End
1970
May–LET IT BE
Two of Us; Dig a Pony; Across the Universe; I Me Mine (Harrison); Dig It (Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, Starkey); Let It Be (version two); Maggie Mae (arr. Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, Starkey); I’ve Got A Feeling; One After 909; The Long And Winding Road; For You Blue (Harrison); Get Back (version two)
Extended Players
1967
Dec–MAGICAL MYSTERY TOUR (Two EPs)
Magical Mystery Tour; Your Mother Should Know; I Am The Walrus; The Fool On The Hill; Flying (Lennon, McCartney, Harrison, Starkey); Blue Jay Way (Harrison)
NOTE: There were twelve other extended plays, but only one contains a song (‘I Call Your Name’ on the EP Long Tall Sally), not already on an LP or single.
Other songs written by the Beatles,
But recorded by other artists, not by the Beatles
LENNON/McCARTNEY
‘I’ll Be On My Way’ (Billy J. Kramer)
‘I’ll Keep You Satisfied’ (Billy J. Kramer)
‘Bad To Me’ (Billy J. Kramer)
‘From A Window’ (Billy J. Kramer)
‘Tip Of My Tongue’ (Tommy Quickly)
‘Hello Little Girl’ (The Fourmost)
‘I’m In Love’ (The Fourmost)
‘Love Of The Loved’ (Cilla Black)
‘It’s For You’ (Cilla Black)
‘Step Inside Love’ (Cilla Black)
‘One And One Is Two’ (The Strangers)
‘A World Without Love’ (Peter and Gordon)
‘Nobody I Know’ (Peter and Gordon)
‘I Don’t Want To See You Again’ (Peter and Gordon)
‘Woman’ (Peter and Gordon)
‘Like Dreamers Do’(The Applejacks)
&nb
sp; ‘That Means A Lot’ (P.J. Proby)
‘Thingumybob’ (Black Dyke Mills Band)
‘Catcall’ (The Chris Barber Band)
‘Penina’ (Carlos Mendes)
‘Goodbye’ (Mary Hopkin)
‘Come And Get It’ (Badfinger)
GEORGE HARRISON
‘Sour Milk Sea’ (Jackie Lomax)
‘Badge’ (Cream)
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Music Books
There must by now be well over 2,000 different books about the Beatles–by different I mean with their own ISBN numbers if nothing else. So many do repeat the same old stuff. On this project, it was the music that mattered to me, so I would like to recommend the following music books which I found most useful.
Steve Turner, A Hard Day’s Write, Sevenoaks, 2012
Steve Turner, The Gospel According to the Beatles, Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville, 2006
Ian MacDonald, Revolution in the Head, Pimlico, 2005
Kevin Howlett, The Beatles, The BBC Archives, 1962-70, BBC Books, 2013