FOR BEATLES FANATICS
At 2:08, in the left channel, there is a noticeable drop-out where George’s lead guitar disappears.
Production
Late in the evening of October 16, after recording “Day Tripper,” the Beatles rehearsed and polished “If I Needed Someone” and recorded the rhythm track. George played his Rickenbacker 320/12, John his Stratocaster Sonic Blue, Paul his 4001S, and Ringo his Ludwig drums, leaving overdubs for the next day. George recorded his vocals, and double-tracked them in the Beatles tradition, accompanied by John and Paul’s backing vocals. He also played during the instrumental chorus, with Ringo adding tambourine. The mono mix was made on October 25, the stereo on October 26. It was the only piece George wrote that they sang onstage. It was part of the live set at their final concert in San Francisco’s Candlestick Park on August 29, 1966.
Technical Details
This was most likely the first time George used his twelve-string Rickenbacker guitar with a capo placed at the seventh fret. He could play in D but the capo transposed it to A.
Run For Your Life
Lennon-McCartney / 2:19
1965
SONGWRITER
John
MUSICIANS
John: vocal, rhythm guitar
Paul: backing vocal, bass
George: backing vocal, lead guitar
Ringo: drums, tambourine
RECORDED
Abbey Road: October 12, 1965 (Studio Two)
NUMBER OF TAKES: 5
MIXING
Abbey Road: November 9–10, 1965 (Room 65)
TECHNICAL TEAM
Producer: George Martin
Sound Engineer: Norman Smith
Assistant Engineers: Ken Scott, Jerry Boys
Genesis
John never liked “Run for Your Life” because it was “just a sort of throwaway song.” He was inspired by Elvis Presley’s 1955 song “Baby, Let’s Play House,” written by Arthur Gunter. He “borrowed” two lines from it: I’d rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man.1 In 1970, he said: “I wrote it around that. I didn’t think it was all that important, but it was always a favorite of George’s.”2 Paul, however, thinks it was John who was running for his life. Barry Miles said in his book: “It was one of his confessional songs, transposed from first to the third person to veil the message.”3 John had a hard time living with Cynthia and hiding his affairs, unlike Paul who had a completely open relationship with Jane Asher. The lyrics may be interpreted through this prism, but their macho, threatening tone is still astonishing. John confessed in the lyrics, I am a wicked guy … born with a jealous mind and offered lines like Baby, I’m determined and I’d rather see you dead. What pushed John, the future advocate of peace, to write such verses? A mystery. These sentiments recur in songs such as “Getting Better” and “Jealous Guy,” but these were written for other purposes.
Production
At Abbey Road Studios, on October 12, 1965, at 2:30 P.M., the Beatles began recording songs for their new album Rubber Soul. The first song taped for the album was “Run for Your Life.” The rhythm track was recorded in five takes with each at his usual instrument: John on acoustic guitar and lead vocal, backed by Paul and George’s backing vocals. All three of them double-tracked their vocals in the choruses. In the first take, John’s voice was wrapped in a slap-back echo, which gives a rockabilly feel to the piece. Ringo played the omnipresent tambourine. George played at least three solo guitar passages: first for the distinctive riff (which he doubled) in the introduction, second for the solo, and, for the first time on a Beatles record, a doubled-tracked guitar on the main riff, plus a second guitar solo, and finally, chord “slides” accomplished by pulling the chord position on his left hand up to D major. The mono mix was made on November 9 and the stereo mix the next day. Despite John’s cavalier dismissal of this song, “Run for Your Life” is an excellent tune.
Technical Details
With “Run for Your Life,” we get a good idea of the problems that come from a lack of headphones. In the studio, John’s singing was guided by the playback coming from the speaker (White Elephant). Thus, by listening to the right channel in the stereo mix, we hear the level of the playback increase up with John’s voice.
Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out
(Double A-side)
1965
SINGLE
RELEASED
Great Britain: December 3, 1965 / No. 1 on December 16, 1965
United States: December 6, 1965 / No. 5 on December 25, 1965
Day Tripper
Lennon-McCartney / 2:48
1965
SONGWRITER
John
MUSICIANS
John: vocal, rhythm guitar
Paul: vocal, bass
George: lead guitar, backing vocal
Ringo: drums, tambourine
RECORDED
Abbey Road: October 16, 1965 (Studio Two)
NUMBER OF TAKES: 3
MIXING
Abbey Road: October 25–26 and 29, 1965 (Studio Two) / November 10, 1966 (Room 65)
TECHNICAL TEAM
Producer: George Martin
Sound Engineers: Norman Smith, Pete Bown
Assistant Engineers: Ken Scott, Ron Pender, Graham Kirkby
Genesis
John wrote “Day Tripper” as a single. In 1969, he admits, “‘Day Tripper’ was [written] under complete pressure, based on an old folk song I wrote about a month previous. It was very hard going, that, and it sounds it.”1 The song, composed in 1965 right after their North American tour, is no less a hit for its guitar riff, which makes any self-respecting guitar player happy. John: “That’s mine. Including the lick, the guitar break, and the whole bit. It’s just a rock ’n’ roll song.”2 The inspiration for the guitar riff might have come from Bobby Parker’s “Watch Your Step,” just as it did for “I Feel Fine.” Paul recalls cowriting the song with John at John’s house in Kenwood. The lyrics were an enigma for many fans at the time. First of all, what does day tripper mean? Literally, “people who go on a day trip.” More than a day trip, however, the word refers to “trips” that provide artificial paradises—not a trip through the English countryside. In 1970, John said, “It wasn’t a serious message song. It was a drug song.”3 But it wasn’t only a drug song, because there are also sexual references, as Paul confessed to Barry Miles: “She’s a big teaser, was ‘she’s a prick teaser.’ The mums and dads didn’t get it but the kids did.”4 The song is filled with hidden meanings …
Four days later, when Paul brought out “We Can Work It Out,” it was preferred over “Day Tripper” for the A-side. John objected vociferously, and in an innovative and diplomatic compromise the Beatles’ next single had a double A-side. Once again, the Beatles were ahead of their time.
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
German radio was reluctant to broadcast Tripper because the word is slang for “gonorrhea” in the language of Goethe.
Production
Most of October 16 was spent working on “Day Tripper.” In an unusual move, Cynthia along with John’s two half-sisters, Julia and Jacqui (born Dykins), were allowed to attend the recording session. After rehearsing, the Beatles finished the rhythm track in three takes with John on rhythm guitar, Paul on bass, George on lead guitar using his volume pedal in the middle eight, and Ringo on drums. After a break, John and Paul shared lead and backing vocals. The final overdub was complicated. John and Paul double-tracked their vocals and George provided a third harmonic line in the choruses of the instrumental bridge while double-tracking his lead guitar and also performing a guitar solo in the same bridge. Ringo played the tambourine. “Day Tripper” was completed, ready to climb to the top of the charts. The first mono mix was made on October 25 and then improved on October 29. The stereo mix was made on October 26. However, it was judged unacceptable, and Peter Bown redid it on November 10, 1966, adding more reverb to the vocals. The aim was to incorporate it into the first Beatles�
�� compilation, A Collection of Beatles Oldies, released in Europe on December 9, 1966.
We Can Work It Out
Lennon-McCartney / 2:13
1965
SONGWRITER
Paul
MUSICIANS
Paul: vocal, bass (?), acoustic guitar (?), harmonium (?)
John: backing vocal, acoustic guitar (?), harmonium, tambourine (?)
George: acoustic guitar (?), tambourine (?)
Ringo: drums
RECORDED
Abbey Road: October 20 and 29, 1965 (Studio Two)
NUMBER OF TAKES: 2
MIXING
Abbey Road: October 28–29, 1965 (Studio Two) / November 10, 1965 (Room 65) / November 10, 1966 (Room 65)
TECHNICAL TEAM
Producer: George Martin
Sound Engineers: Norman Smith, Pete Bown
Assistant Engineers: Ken Scott, Jerry Boys, Graham Kirkby
Genesis
Paul composed “We Can Work It Out” on his guitar at Rembrandt, the house he bought for his father in June 1964. The lyrics are very personal, probably a reference to his problematic relationship with his girlfriend, Jane Asher. As Paul explained to Barry Miles, “It is often a good way to talk to someone or to work your own thoughts out.”1 After writing the basic text of the song, he took it to John to finish it off. John said, “Paul wrote the first half, I did the middle eight,” and he added that he could not restrain himself in the face of Paul’s eternal optimism—We can work it out—Life is very short and there’s no time for fussing and fighting my friend.2 When Paul wrote the song, he was thinking of a title faster in tempo and more country and western in style. George contributed to the instrumental arrangements by suggesting a middle like a German waltz.
“We Can Work It Out” is a Beatles masterpiece. Innovation, intelligence, sophistication—all these ingredients came together to place the song in the forefront of everything they did at the time. John had to fight to prevent “Day Tripper” from ending up as the B-side of the single (see “Day Tripper”). As a result, both songs appeared as an A-side. Although “We Can Work It Out” was number 1 on the charts in the United States, “Day Tripper” peaked only in fifth place.
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
Paul bought Rembrandt, his father’s house on Baskerville Road, Heswall, Liverpool, in 1964 for £8,750 [$13,000 U.S.]. The house still belongs to Paul, and since the death of his father in 1976, Paul stops by from time to time.
Production
On October 20, only four days after recording “Day Tripper,” the Beatles were back at the studio to work on “We Can Work It Out.” The rhythm track was recorded in two takes. The instrumental distribution is unclear, and there is no clear documentation for it. Nevertheless, we can assume that Paul played his acoustic guitar while John and George were on bass and tambourine. The quality of the bass playing supports this hypothesis. Ringo played drums. During the session, the Beatles “found an old harmonium hidden away in the studio, and said, “Oh, this’d be a nice color on it.”3 Recorded on the second track, Paul, rather than John, probably played the harmonium. On the third track, Paul had the lead vocal, which was doubled-tracked, as was John’s backing vocal in the middle eight. Finally, on the last track, we clearly hear John in a second harmonium part. The first mono mix was made on October 28 for a television show, The Music of Lennon and McCartney. However, when the Beatles heard the mix the next day, they decided to overdub more vocals by superposition. After two additional hours of recording vocals, the mono mix was finalized. As with “Day Tripper,” Pete Bown redid the stereo mix on November 10, 1966, for the British compilation album, A Collection of Beatles Oldies.
Technical Details
It was the first time the Beatles used the harmonium. This instrument, found in a corner at Abbey Road, appears in various Beatles’ songs, such as “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite.” Today, this harmonium is in Paul’s home studio.
Revolver:
The Metamorphosis
1966
Taxman
Eleanor Rigby
I’m Only Sleeping
Love You To
Here, There and Everywhere
Yellow Submarine
She Said She Said
Good Day Sunshine
And Your Bird Can Sing
For No One
Doctor Robert
I Want to Tell You
Got to Get You into My Life
Tomorrow Never Knows
ALBUM
RELEASED
Great Britain: August 5, 1966 / No. 1 for 7 weeks
United States: December 6, 1966 / No. 1 for 6 weeks; June 20, 1966 (Yesterday and Today) / No. 1 for 5 weeks
At the end of 1965, the Beatles wanted to undertake new projects: they planned on making a third movie, a new version of Richard Condon’s A Talent for Loving. Their worldwide success was a fait accompli. All their records were at the top of the charts. On December 3, they started a final British tour. On January 21, George married Pattie Boyd; on March 4, John was interviewed by Maureen Cleave and got certain Catholic American circles angry; finally, on March 25, the four musicians posed as butchers for the famous cover of the American album Butcher Cover, a future collectors’ item.
On April 6, 1966, the Beatles were back at Abbey Road. The first song they recorded was the extraordinary hit “Tomorrow Never Knows” by John. This song heralded the birth of a new era. It began what were called the Beatles’ “studio years.” With the help of Geoff Emerick, the sound engineer who at barely twenty years old had recently replaced Norman Smith, they invented unheard-of sound arrangements. Emerick was the witness, as were George Martin and the whole team, of the creation of a new musical language that was at once original, avant-garde, and popular. John went through an inner change and leapt into a dream world that was intimately connected with hallucinogens. He stated later, in 1972: “Rubber Soul was the pot album, and Revolver was the acid”1 (“I’m Only Sleeping,” “She Said She Said”); Paul displayed excellent skills at creating melodies (“Here, There and Everywhere”; “For No One”); George wrote three songs on the album, including “Love You To,” that expressed his love for Indian culture; and finally, Ringo glorified the life of submarine sailors with “Yellow Submarine.”
The Beatles were on a quest for new ideas and different sounds, to the point of seriously considering recording in Memphis. But Abbey Road was where they produced Revolver, in a period of three hundred studio hours. Spending that amount of time on an album was unheard of at the time. When Revolver came out, its impact was tremendous, on the public and in artistic circles. The Beatles began to be taken seriously. From this point onwards, their music was no longer just pop songs.
In 1965, Klaus Voormann, a Hamburg graphics student who had befriended the Beatles a few years earlier, received a call from John: “How would you like to design the cover of our next album?” Surprised at first, he agreed and quickly found the main theme of the cover: for him, the Beatles’ image was hair, lots of hair; and to stand out from the colorful fashion of those days, he chose black and white. The Beatles were pleased with Voormann’s work. He was given a Grammy Award in 1967 for the best record cover for 1966. Although Revolver only paid him £50 [$75 U.S.] his name has remained forever in the hall of fame of Beatlemania. The Beatles solicited him nearly thirty years later for the cover of The Beatles Anthology.
“Revolving” the Vinyl
Abracadabra, Four Sides of the Eternal Triangle, and After Geography were a few of the titles suggested for their seventh album. But on June 24, in a Munich hotel room, they agreed on Revolver, a subtle reference to vinyl records revolving on record players.
Technical Details
Influenced by the sound of American records, the Beatles experimented in the studio: extreme equalizations (EQ), tapes played backwards, voices channeled through a Leslie cabinet, artificial double tracking (ADT), changes in tape speed, tape loops, etc.—the innovations were endless and went beyond esta
blished recording norms. One big change was that they could finally record with headphones!
The Instruments
In the spring of 1966, John and George each decided to do what Paul had done a year earlier, and purchased a Casino Epiphone. John was especially pleased with it, to the point that it remained his favorite guitar until the last Beatles record. George also acquired an SG Standard Gibson that he used until 1968. Finally, Fender Showman amplifiers appeared in the studio. As for the rest, the hardware remained identical to what they used in 1965.
Taxman
George Harrison / 2:37
1966
MUSICIANS
George: vocal, rhythm guitar
John: backing vocal
Paul: bass, lead guitar, backing vocal
Ringo: drums, tambourine, cowbell
RECORDED
Abbey Road: April 20–22, 1966 (Studio Two) / May 16, 1966 (Studio Two)
NUMBER OF TAKES: 12
MIXING
Abbey Road: April 27, 1966 (Studio Three) / May 16, 1966 (Studio Two) / June 21 (?), 1966 (Studio Three)
TECHNICAL TEAM
Producer: George Martin
Sound Engineer: Geoff Emerick
All the Songs Page 22