The White Album was ajnny one, because ar

the rime they carne back )%m abroad and they

I n A ~ g u s t 1 9 6 7 , l h e B e o fl e s
and enlour~ge ser out for
ali had a huge collection of songs they wanted
to recon And they wanted them done ali ar
the same rime. By this rime they were four indi-
viduais with thtir individual songs, wanting
to record them with the assistance of the other
people rathtr than bting a group.

Bangor, W(JI s, to meel

George Martin, 1993
wit~ t~e Mahariskbi

Maheskh Yogi, o mo~ter of

Tr a n s c e n d e n l o l M e d i t a l i o n

who prornised to shw

Ihem ah untopp~d fount ot

inner reoliv~ po~enlial.

 The BealFes

M y s t e r y To u r s a n d D i s c o r d 1 9 6 7 - 8

Even at their peak, the Beatles used to reler to 'the downfall' that
they believed would eventually come. No one could accuse them of
staving ir offby playing ir safe in tbeir rnusic or, lately, in their public
pronouncements. And indeed, when 'the down fali' did come, ir was
not because the group had lost its following, but because the band's
collective will had shattered. Ironically, the seeds of 'the downall'
were planted vir tually ar the moment ofthe Beat|es' greatest
artistic success.
Early on, when they packed into a van night after night and trav-
elled between performances, they became a cohesive unir, not just
a band bur a brotherhood. But tbat was when they were nineteen,
twenty, twenty-one years old. Their lives, public and personal, were
tied up in the band. There was nothing else. But by 1967 there was
plenty else. They eacb had interests of their own. Lennon, Starr and
Harrison had families and lived outside London. McCarmey, still
single, lived.in London and was a man about town,
Harrison, drawn to lndian music, culture and philosophy, was
able to interest the others in bis new obsession to some extent, bur be
was still testing the degree to which he could integrate this interest
into his Beatles work, He had also cuhivated friendships among other
rock musicians, and while at the Beatles' sessions be felt like Lennon's
and McCarmey's water boy, outside the group he commanded
considerable respect.
For Lennon this was a particularly unsetding rime. Having grown
bored with live performance in 066, a year later be was bored with
the routine of making recordings. ]ncreasingly estranged from
Cynthia and enamoured ofdrug experimentation, be witbdrew into
a world ofhis own. Still, be could rouse himself to moments of
briHance when pressed. 'Ali You Need is Love' is a perfect example:
asked to come up with a song the Beatles could sing on a live global
telecast just three weeks after the re[ease ofSgt. Pepper, he tapped into
M y s t e r y To u r s a n d D i s c o r d 1 9 6 7 8 16~

the Zeitgeist and came up with the peffect anthem for the fiower-
power summer.
Starr had no particulax ambitions outside the group, alrhough
having been singlel our for Fraise la the Beatles' two movies, be put
rhe word out that he would be interested in ah acting role. By the end
of 1967 be agreed to phy a cameo role in Candy. Within the group,
his drummiivg provided a distincrive and essential element, but he
suggested little, demanded less, and was content to serve as required.
McCarmey, by conrrast, had come into his own ou the last few
aibums, and he was eager to continue the explorations that the
Beatles had started. Ar this poinr, he was rhe one who carne up with
new ideas. And over rhe nexi two years, be would find it increasingly
difficult to get Lennon and Harrison to shase his vision of the Beatles'
future. One ofhis ideas in I967 was Apple, a company meant to over-
see ali the Beatles activities, induding not only their musical endeav-
ours, bur everyrhing from merchandising to sponsoring projects by
other musicians and artists. A hint ofthe concept could be found in
the sma[l-print credits ou the back cover ofSgt. Pepper. The company
was incorporated in May, and by ear]y 1969 ir was running a fashion
boutique, a film production company and a record label.
E st p~L2~opposed the idea of Apple for understandable reasons. His
management contracr wi~h the Bea~]es would expire ou 3 September,
and be was not sure ou what basis or m'en whether the re[ation-
ship would be renewed. Now that the Beatles had stopped touring,
his primary managerial function was irrelevam. His influence ou their
creaUve work was nil: early on, when he made a suggestion during
a recording session, Lennon told him to see to the percen~ages and
leave tbe music to them. Most recently, he objecred to the ornate Sgt.
Pepper cover, making it clear that he was nor ou rheir wavelength.
Apple's first endeavour would be a new projec~ of McCarmey's.
Dufing a rrip to America la April I967, just after the Sgt. Pepper
sessions, McCartney dreamed up ah hourdong television ~lm. Tbe
Beatles could hire a bus, fill ir wirh actors and extras, and tour around
England with a camera crew. They would each write short episodes,
with plenty of room for improvisation. And of course, some of tbe
film would be devoted to performances of their latest songs. His
original notes, jotted ou che phne trip back to England, were quite
detailed. He had already settled ou Magical Mystery Tour as the title,

For their selproduced
Magical Myslery Tour
televis[on fi~, the Bealles
rented a tour bus, Iilled il
with actors, and cr u[sed
a~ound England with a
sketc~y scripL hoping thol
sponlgneos odv~lllure
would unfold before their
came~as Ir didn'L
The Bealles
and had the theme song written by the time hc presented the idea to
the others on z5 April. His notes also speified a scene with a stripper,
a sequence at ah a*my recruiting station, a marathon, and a labora-
tory scene. His cast list induded a courier, a driver, a busty hostess,
a fat woman and a small man. Ali these things were induded in
the film.
Agreeing to the plan, the Beades began working on tbe title song
- complete with highway sound effects and elegant brass flourishes -
fivc weeks before Sgt. Pepper reached Lhe shops. They were j uggling
another project too: the solmdtrack for the Yellow Submarine anim-
ated film, which would go into production iate in the year. Apart
ffom McCar tney, who read the scfipt and offered suggestions, the
Beatles were not particularly interested in this cartoon. Their obliga-
tion involved providing a few new songs and allowing some of their
M y s l e r y To u r s a n d D ~ ~ o r d 1 9 6 7 8 165

For part of the '1 Aro the

Walrus' sequence, lhe
Beatles donned animal
COSlU mes: lefl to right:
McCartney, Harrison and
Starr, wilh Lennon, as lhe
walr us, fronl and centre

rcccnt rccordings to be used on the soundtrack. When the production

was complete, they agreed to make a screen appearance at the end.
So after taping the title song forMagicalMystery Tour, they set
that project aside and tumed their attention to Yellow Submarine.
Harrison's 'Only a Nor thern Song', left over flora the Sgt. Pepper
sessions, would be used. Also taped in May and early June were 'Ba.by
You'rc a Rich Man', a Lennon McCartney collaboration; McCarmey's
popsy ~dl Together Now', and another Harrison song, a magni-
ficently &ase, heavy metal precursor, 'h's Ali Too Much'. They also
began work on one of Lennon's quir!der songs, 'You Know My Namc
(Look Up the Number)', an evocation ofa lounge show gone
haywire. Whether oi" not this was intended for Yellaw Submarine, ir
ended up on hold - bur with periodic touch-ups - until I97o, when
it was released on a single with 'Ler It Be'.
The Beatles devoted the last two weeks of June to prepadng
L&ll You Need is Love', thc most rhythmically complex song the
group had worked on to date, and one that demanded grear delicacy
of texture. Considerable care was lavished on the backing track
against which the Beatlcs and studio musicians performed live during
the global broadcast on 25 June. And taking advantage of rhe expos-
ure, the song was rush-released as a single. Needing a B-si&, they
166
The M~ harishi Mahesh
Yogi, right, holds court,
with lhe Beatles siting at
his feel But Iheir bief stay
ai bis retreat in RJshike$~,
Indica, in February 1968,
poved a }aiPure By Mc~y,
Lonnon and McCartney
announced thot lhe Beatles
and their guru had gone
thei separ~te ways
The Beatles
raided their Yellow Submarine file, and included 'Baby You're a
Rich Man'.
It had been a hectic year, and ali four ofthe Beatles wan~ed a
break. So in July they lcft both MagicalMystery Tour and Yellow
Submarir*e hanging and did not return to work unti122 August. Even
then, their activities were scattered. They spent two days working
on McCarmey's old-timey 'Your Mother Shouid Know', for Magical
Mystery Tour, and then followed Harrison to Bangor, Wales, for
a seminar on Transcendental Meditation given by the Maharishi
Mahesh Yogi. The Maharishi taught that by using Eastern medita-
tion techniques mainiy, focusing one's thoughts on a mantra, or a
repeated chant practitioners could have the samc kind ofinsights
and visions they were currently getting from drugs.
Their spiritual quest was interrupted, however, by the ncws that
Brian Epstein had been found dead in his London horne on 7.7 Au-
gust, having taken what the coroner ru[ed was ah accidental overdose
of balbiturates. Lennon and Harrison, interviewed by television
M y s t e r y To u s a n d D i s e o r d 1 9 6 7 - 8
McCartney ond bis
Iongtime girl[riend, lhe
aclrgss Jatle Asher, leave
the~r rendezvog$ wilh lhe
Mahar[shi in ggngor afler
learning of grian EpsleiWs
death on 27 August 1967
17
reporters in Bangor, were stunned: with glazed eyes, they repeated
what the Maharishi had told them about the Hindu concept ofsoui
transmigration. Putting offthe question ofwhether or how to replace
Epstein, the Beatles threw themselves fully into Magical ~ystery Tour,
for which they had only recorded two songs. Filming was ser to begin
on n September, and in the preceding week they began work on ali
the other songs that would be used in the show. The first in the new
batch was another tour defbrce of nonsense verse from Lennon, 'i Am
the Walrus'.
Lennon's lyric was deliberately incomprehensible, partly because
afrer ali the aaalysis recent Beades recordings were given, ~he
prankster in him wanted to give analysrs something truly meaning-
less to ponder. The opening line, ~1 am he as you are he as you are
me and we are a/I together', could be rationalized as a philosophical
insight, and 'Crabalocker fishwife pornographic priestcss boy you
bccn a naughty girl, you let your knickers down' actually seemed
fairly clear. But what to make of 'Semolina pilchard climbing up the
Eiffel Tower'?
Lennon's verte melody wavers chromatically, like ~he sound la
European police siren, and builds to an almost cathartic declaration,
'I am the eggman, they are the eggmen, 1 aro the walrus'. And once
again, the combination ofrhe Beatles' experimentation and Martin's
ear for orchestration yielded the pcrfect setting. Over a airly bland
basic track, Martin overlaid winds and strings, plus a choir which was
asked to produce a variety ofeffects, ranging from careful[y orches-
trated sardonic laughler to chanting 'oompah, oompah, stick it up
your jurnper' and 'got one, goi one, everybody's got one'. As a final
touch, the Bcatles decided, during the mixing sessions, to bring ii~ the
sound ora radio being tuned across ffequencies, and stumbled upon
a BBC performance of Shakespeare's KingLer Thus, after four and a
hall minutes of biz~rre [yrics and urtusual noises, the record ends with
Gloucester's question, 'What, is he dead?' and Edgar's immcdiate, 'Sit
you down, father; rest you.'
The other songs recorded for the show inalude MeCarmey's
malancholy but typically melodic 'Fool on thc HiI[', ah easygoing
instrumental credited to ali four Beatles, called 'Flying', and
Harrison's 'Blue Jay Way', a deliciously gloomy evocation (abetted
 The Beolles

by organ, ccllos and backwards tape) of waiting late imo the night
for friends who have lost tho]r way to his housc (or auJly to one
he was renting during a visit to Los Angeles).
The filming ofMag~calMysterj urwas fraughr with the prob-
lems one roight anticipate when a bus full of actors scts offon ah
improvisatory journey, led by four musicians without directorial
experience and varying leveis ofinterest. When the BBC aired it on
z6 December, ir failed disastrously. Ir was, for one thing, entirdy
inappropriate holiday fare. But the BBC stacked the cards against ir
by screening it in black and white, thereby negating its vivid hues and
rendering me~mingless the stretches offilm that depend on altered
colour registration to make their effect. The recording, released ~s a
double EP ii~ England and as ah I,P in the USA (the first side was
devoted to songs from the show, the second to recent singles) was
snapped up enthusi~stico]]y. So was the group's new single, 'Hel]o
Goodbye', an upbeat McCarmey song recorded during ~he filming
but not induded in the show.
Nar the end of the year, Harrison was commissioned to compose
a score for the film WonderwalL He responded with a collection of
instrument0]s, sp]it between Western and Indian music. In January
t968 he flew to Bombay to complete bis soundtrack, and while he was
~here, he recorded his Indian musicians (he did not play himself) in
some short pieces, based on traditiono] ragas, with the idea ofwriting
]yrics for these and proposing them as Beades songs.
This may seem a dubious, perhaps even piratico] approach to
composition; indeed, for the one that was used, 'The Inner Light'.
Harrison's approach to the text was similady freehanded. In Novem-
ber t967 Juan Masear, a Cambridge scholar of Eastern religion, sent
Harrison a letter praising 'Within You Without You', and a copy of
his book, Lamps ofFire, which included anciem texrs flora various
sources. Mascar~ suggested that Harrison sct some of hese to music,
and specifically pointcd out ~The lnner Light', a poem about wisdom,
fi'om the Tao Te Cbing. With only slight changes~ Harrison fitted this
text to a serene melody his Indian musicians recorded in Bombay.
The other Beades were taken with i, and released it as the B-side of
the next single, 'Lady Madonna'. The first Harrison composi6on to
be released on a Beades single, therefore, was a combination ora
traditional Indian me]ody and ah ancient Chinese text.
M y s t e r y To u r s a n d D i s o d 1 9 6 7 8
McCartney gires the double
thumbs up, bis sign of
exceplional approval, w'nile
wolchng a ~equence frarn
lhe Beatles' animared film
Ye~low Submotine
169
In February, ali four Beatles flew to Rishikesh, lndia, to continue
their studies with the Maharishi. Bur belo te they ]eft, they fi]cd into
Abbey Road once more, adding vocais to 'The lnner Lighr' and com
pleting ~l~rce o~her ncw songs. McCar rney's 'Lady Madonna' was a
ro]licking, Fats Domino-inspired track, driven by McCartncy's ener-
getic piano playing and overlaid with saxophones and some wild
scatsinging by Lennon, McCarmey and Harrison. Another song
taped during thesc sessions was 'Hcy Bulldog', destined for Fellow
Submarine and essentially a riff-based throw-away.
The real gcm, however, was L&cross rhe Universe', another of
[.ennoffs rnusical diary entries. Cu riously, this rccording lay un-
released for nearly t~vo years. ~cross the Urfiverse', like McCartney's
'Yesterday', was composed in a sudden burst of inspiration. As
Lennon explalned ir, be had spent ah exasperating evening arguing
with Cynthia, and aler she reli asleep, the lyris carne to him ali ar
oncc. The first lines perfectly evoke the argument (roto Lennon's
point a view, yet to a listener ignorant ofthe song's provenance, they
stand as a stream oflovely images:
 LEE~IINOFF,,,ALI;ROI)AX.IACKMLNi)ISOHN,,,H~iCH
IJ:~l~IlNOH~'.IIEINZI{I)EL~IANN-ALI~IIOI)AX
Mystery Tours and Discord 196~8 I }'1

A thcatrical poster Ior

yellow Submar~ne shows the
e,ltire cast of anirnaled
character s, wilh the good
guys (Young Fred Jeremy
Boob, lhe Beatles and OId
Fred] ali lhe lefl, and the
bad g,sys {vofious species af
Blue Meanie) on the right
 The Beatles

Words areflowing out

like endless rain into a oaper cup,

They slither while they pass,

th~y slip away across tbe universe.

To accommodate the odd metres ofthe poeta, Lennon uses a gently

lyrical mdody, as beautififl and wrenching in its way as the best of
McCarmey's ballads. But he was dissatisfied with the recording, so
with 'Lady Madonna' and 'The Inner Light' sharing the single and
'Hey Bulldog' reserved for Yellow SubmaHne, 'Across the Universo'
was shclvcd.
There was another autobiographical clue buried in the lyric.
'Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letterbox,' Lennon
sang, using an imagc wind in a letterbox similar to those used by
the Japanese avant-garde artist Yoko Ono in her writings and 'instruc-
tion' pieces. Ono had come to London from New ork, where she
was a member of Fluxus, an undevground collective ofconceptual
artists that induded the composers La Monte Young, Jackson Mac
Low and Dick Higgins, thc axtists Gcorge Maciunas, Takako Saito
and Geoffrey Hendricks, and at least a dozen others who were influ-
enced by the music of John Cage and the art of Mareei Duchamp.
Lennon had attended a previcw of'Ono's show at the Indica G:dlery
a fcw months earlier, and had been taken with Ono's dclibcrately
outrageous sculptures and performance pieces. Their paths crosscd
severa] more times, whereupon they began a peculiar correspondente,
sending each other aphoristic postcards. They continued their corres-
pondence while Lennon and the other Beatles sat ar the Maharishi's
feet irt Rishikesh.
The Beat[es had game[y followed Harrison on his spiritual quest,
but the Rishikesh expedition brought their interest to ah end. Starr
left after eleven days, complaining about the food. The others lasted
a few more weeks, but abandoned Rishikesh precipitately after the
Maharishi came under suspicion of making adwances to onc ofthe
women in the c[ass, the actress Mia Farro~ They annotmced thcir
break with thc Maharishi, but continued to say though with mutcd
enthusiasm that they considered mcditation beneficiai. Indecd, they
had ample proof of that. During and immediately after their Indian
sojourn, Lennon, McCarmey and Harrison were unusually prolific.
M y s t e r y To u r s o n d D i s c o r d 1 9 6 ~ 8 173

and even Starr finishd a song that the others considered acceptable.
This bumper crop would yield The Beatles - the doubie-disc set
popularly known as the 'White Album' because ofits blank covcr, thc
antithesis o f Sgt. Pepper- and the single 'Hey Jude'.
Work began in May, when the Beades gathered at Kinauns,
Harrison's bungalow in Eshcr, to rchcarsc and make test recordings of
twenty-three new Lennon, McCarmey and Harrison songs. Four of
these were droppcd bcforc the official scssions began at Abbey Road
latcr that month, and ofthe nineteen that were ormally recorded,
two were left unreleased. That left seventeen ofthe Esher songs, more
than enough for a conventional album. Bur the Beatles continued to
write during the sessions, which lasted from May to October, and by
the time they were finished they had recorded thirty-three new songs.
Most ofthe Esher surplus eventually turned up in other forros.
Lennon's lytical 'Child of Nature' was later rewritten as 'Jealous Guy',
and appeared on his lmaginealbum in i97I, McCartney's 'Junk' was
included on his eponymous solo dbut in I97o. Harrison, having
broughr seven songs to the sessions, ended up with three leftovers. He
gare 'Sour Milk Soa' to Jackic Lomax, one ofthe first artists signed
by Apple Records. His 'Not Guilty' turned up on Geo~ge Harrison
in I979, and 'Circles' was included on Gone Troppo in 198z. Only a
quirky avant-garde piece by Lennon, 'Whar's the New Mary Janc?',
wa_s nevcr rcleascd commcrcially.
A few notable changes occurred in the Beat]cs' livcs just bcfore the
sessions began. Back from India, they began transforming Apple from
ah amorphous concept into a real production company. Oflces were
ser up, arid plans were announced. Lennon and McCartney flew to
New York to talk about the venture in a series of television interviews,
where they described AppIe as 'Western Communism' - a company
that would share the Beatles' wealth by offcring opportunities for
artists to develop their potential. This magnanimity was short-lived,
but it lasted Iong enough to turn Apple into a money drain, as its
largcssc was tapped by both sinccrc hopcfuls and outright con artists.
Apple Records turned out to be a remarkably eclectic enterprise.
There were early hits with the Welsh folk-singer Mary Hopkin,
thc Bcatlcsquc rock band Badfingcr and the American fulk-rock
singer James q~ylor. The organist and singer Billy Preston and thc
soul-singer Doris Troy filled out the rhythm and blues end ofthe
174 The Beatles

One ot the first pu blic

ventures of Apple, the
product[on ~nd
merhandising company
t]~at the Betles formed
in 196~ was a London
boutique Ir was disaslrous
[ror. t~e start neighbouring
businesses complained
about the psychedelic
muro!, anal ~~e shop
haemorrhaged m,~ney unfil
lhe Bealles gare away its
cvstom designed stock ond
closed its doors

Harrison had introduced the

Beatles lo Indian cul~u re,
and ahhougK for the others
il proved to be a [ad~
Harrison continued bis
studies of Indion music for
~orne yeor$ with Revi
Shankar, rig ht, one of the
world's masler ~ilarist$
M y s t e r y To u r s a n d O i s c o r d 1 9 6 7 - 8 17S

spectrum. The Modern Jazz Quartet, one ofthe prcmicr American

jazz ensembles, recorded two Apple albums. So did John Tavener, a
young British composer whose music would come into vogue in the
late 198os. Harrison brought in thc sitar virtuoso Ravi Shankar, as
well as the Radha Krishna Temple, which sang in praise ofthe Hindu
pantheon. What other label could boast this stylistic brcadth within
its first two years?
Meanwhile, in mid-May Lennon and Ono decided that they wcrc
fated for each other, and after spending a night together, whi]e
Cynthia was away on holiday, thcy rccorded thcir first avant-garde
collaboration, Unfinished Music No. *: 77w0 Virgins, a collection of
atmospheric, seemingly improvisatory instrumenta[ and vocal picces.
This too would find an outlet on Apple, :in a jacket showing the col-
laborators entirdy nudc, front and back.
Lennon and Cynthia separated forthwith, and ~hey were divorced
by November. From late May, Lennon and Ono were inseparable,
and were frequently in the news. Two Vi~gim, or its cover art, was
naturally the focus ofcontroversy when it was released soon after
Lennon's divorce was final. A month earlier Lennon and Ono were
arrested for posseision of cannabis resin whi]e staying in a London
apartment owned by Starr. And when Ono had a miscarriage in
November, Lennon documented hcr hosp!tal stay with a portable
cassette recorder and released the results (including a tape of~he
dying baby's hcartbeat) as part of UnflnishedMusic No. 2: Life With
the Liom.
The inseparability of Lennon and On extended to Beatles record-
ing sessions, to the irritation ofthe others, who prcferrcd thc privacy
that had been part of the group's working method. It is absurd to
blame Ono for the breakup ofthe Beatles; the reasons are lCar more
complex. Yet her prcsence clearly increased the tension in the musi-
cians' relationship. Ono stumbled into tfiis atmosphcrc with thc navc
belief that as she and Lennon were nmv collaborators, Lennon's other
collaborators would happily follow Lennon's lead and avail themselves
ora new artistic sensibility. Lenaon also apparently thought they
might see ir that way, and he was deeply wounded by what he later
described as McCarmey's and Harrison~s dismissive treatment of Ono.
Ir became a resentment that he dwelled on in interviews for the rest
of his life.
 The Beolles

In 1968, Lennon and Yoko

0~o, soon to be his second
wJle, decrared that Ihey had
nothing to h[de, and pov~d
ir by posing nude for the
cover of their controversiaP
Two Vrrg;~s album, a
callectJon of avangade
collages. Banned in many
places, rt was sold in o
brown paper sleeve.

Stil[, it is likely that the 'White Album' sessions would have seen
the fragmentation ofthe group even without Ono. The fact is,
Lennon, McCarmey and Harrison were by this point fully engaged
only by their own songs. When the intensive session work began,
the band worked together, and it continued to do so periodically,
particularly when thc basic tracks for a new song wcre starred, or
when a song demanded a sense of live interaction. Bur within the
first week, a new working method had evoived. Often, one or two
Beafles could be found working on a song in one ofthe Abbey Road
studios, while another worked elsewhere in the building. Each was
in charge ofhis own songs, with the others drifting in and out, con-
tributing where necessary.
This seemingly chaotic approach proved quite efficient, yet the
apparent insularity ofthe four musicians did not prevent disputes.
During the sessions for McCartney's 'Hey Jude', McCarmey and
Harrison were ar odds over Harrison's desire to add a bluesy answer-
ing figure between the vocal lines. Harrison ended up sitting out the
session, spending bis time in the recording booth with Martin. There
was also a battle over 'Revolution', a Lennon song released as the
M y s r e r y To u r s a n d D i s c o r d 1 9 6 7 8 177

B-side of'Hey Jude'. Lennon first recorded a slow, mostly acoustic

version and wanted to release it as a single. But McCartlxey and
Harrison objcctcd that it lackcd thc neccssary energy, and Lennon
acquiesced, remakin~ the song as one ofthe most raucous ofall
Beatlcs tracks.
Other disputes erupted regular]y during the sessions. Geoff
Emerick, an engi'neer (ant [ater producer} who had bccn on Martin's
team since Revolver, resigned because the atmosphere was so poison-
ous. And Starr found the sessions so dispiriting that on 22 August be
quit the band, convinced that be was not needed. In a way, he was
right. During bis neady two week absence, McCarmey did much of
the drumming. Still, they coaxed him back on 4 September, in time
to film promotional clips for 'Hcy Judo' and 'Rm'olutiod. The group's
first single on its new Apple label, these two songs offered a glimpse
ofwhat thc Beatles wcrc up to ar Abbey Road. Thc musical implica
tions were clear enough: apart from comparatively subtle chamber
orchcstra assistancc on 'Hey Jude', thcsc songs showcd thc Bcatlcs as
a straightforward rock band, with no overt studio trickery, backwards
tapes, exotic instruments or psychedelic sounds,
There were a few new twists. McCarmey's 'Hey Jude' - bis avun-
cu]ar advice to the five-year-old Julian Lennon about dealing with his
parents' divorce ('take a sad song and make ir better') is a ttmeul
piano ballad that c]ocks in at ovcr scvcn minlltcs, ah unusual strctch
for a pop single, and ]onger than anything the Beatles had included
on an album. Moreover, the last four minutes were simply a sing-
along word]ess chorus ('nah nah nah nah-nah-nah naaaah') repeated
over and ove,, with occ~sional scat-singing flourishes ~'rom McCarmey.
'Revohltion' was raw Lennon, back in forro as a rock screamer
and supported by aggressive, distorted guitars and a rollicking piano.
Cosmic imagery and evocations of universal Iove are sidelined for the
moment. Here Lennon expresses his uneasiness with the exhortations
to revolution by militant student movements both in the USA and
in Europe. Lennon felt be had common cause with these groups. He
agreed with their opposition to d~e Viemam war, and be was ali (or
the empowerment ofwhat be considered to be bis audience. But in
singing that 'we ali want to change the world', be addcd a caveat. 'But
when yotl ta[k about destrucdon, don't you know that you can count
me out.'

Opposite, Ihough not lhe
Beolles' principol spokes-
m~n fo peace ~h~t wo~
Lennonrs job Stocr poses
here with a dove in a 1968
10or toit by Richd Avodon position is brilliant in its incongruiry.
The Bealle~
Although hc acquicsccd in tfie decision to remakc 'Revolurion' as
a r&'ker, Lennon had no intentior~ of abandoning thc original slow
version. That yersion, "renamed 'Revolution t', was inclu~ed on the
albuila, and with the singlS and another recording from the album,
'Revolution 9', ir made a compellingly picturesque trilogy. In the
acoustic version Lennon presenrs his argument gently~ and a little
ambiguously: here, when talk turns to destruction, he is unable to
make up his mind, and sings 'don'r you know that you can count me
out~ in'. n the more furious electric version, violente seems a cer-
tainty, and Lennon has decided: count him out. But bis protests do
not stop rhe rush towa*d destruction. The rriology's denouement,
"'Revolution 9', is an extraordinary piece of clcctrolfic music that, in
just over eight minutes, paints a vivid picture of revolutionary chaos.
it is not a paean to revolution as a heroic endeavour, although frag-
ments of tumphal music peek thmugh the texrure. It is a gritty Iook
at the collapse ofa society.
The basis ofthe work, though virtually inaudible in the finished
production, is ah instrumental jam, cut from the end of 'Revolution f.
Over several days, Lennon and Ono, with help ar one session from
Harrison, raided EMI's archives and their own record collections, and
made cape loops ffom sound cffccts recordings and flora snippets of
rcbestral, chorai and opera recordings. They used material from the
'A Day in the Life' sessions, and recorded mellotron sounds, spoken
obse~vatiofis and off-the-cuffaphorisms, hysterica2 laughter, shouts
and even the chanting of football crowds. Ali this was laid over the
original Beatles recording, as was a tape loop ofa clinical volte inton-
ing the words 'number nine'. This repeating 'aumber nine', panned
across thc stereo image and fading in and out over rhe course of the
work, became the recording's most recognizable leitmorif, bur there
were recurring musical morifs as well. Whar ali this added up to was
a work thar was alternately comicai and terrifying, ah incoberent mass
ofsound from which a cinemaric drama seemed to emerge,
Stranger still, the song that follows this nightmare on tbe album
(and which ciosos the final side) is Lennon's 'Good Nigfit', a sweet
lullaby, sung by Starr and accompanied by a lush string backing that
emerges from benead~ the filial shouts of'Rcvolution 9'. The iuxta
M y s t e r y To u r s a n d D ~ s c o r d J 9 6 7 - 8 17~
 The Bealles

Actually, 'Revolution 9' was not the Beat[cs' first piece of electronic
music. The group had assemblcd ah electronic work during the early
part of the Sgt. Peppersessions. Directed by Paul McCarme); the
untitled piece ran nearly fourteen minutes and actually had a p*tblic
performancc in January I967 ar a 'Carnival of Light' concer t ar the
Roundhouse Theatre in London. But it was never released on disc.
Starr, roo, presided over a tape work that used percussiov, sounds.
Apart flora 'Revolution 9', there was little on The Beatles that
broke new ground in the way that tracks an Revolver ar Sg~ Pepper
had. And in act, much the same can be said ofthe two albums they
would record in x969, Ler Ir Be and Abbey RoacL Lennon, McCarmey,
Harrison, anal naw Starr, were composing first-rate material. Yet if the
Beades development from 'I,ove Me Do' to I Aro The Walrus' was a
story of incessant forward movement and growth, this fina] phase was
one of consolidation.
The Beatles, in fact, is a fascinating compendium of compositional
and performance sty[es that shows how wide-ranging the Beatles'
mlisical imaginations were, and how versatile they were as performers
and arrangers. There are some marvellous parodies and tributes here,
mosr of them by McCarmey. His 'Back in the U.S.S.R.' piays affthe
title of Chuck Berry's I959 'Back in the U.S.A.', bu~ is actually a take-
offon the Beach Boys' eady surf music style. 'Ob-La-Di, Ob-I.a-Da'
is calypso. 'Marcha My Dear', a song abaut McCarmey's sheepdog,
has its roots in the turn-of" the-century salon song. 'Rocky Racoon'
parodies the storytelling bal[ads ofthe An~erican West, and <Honey
Pie', scared with jazzy winds, is fully in the style popularized by the
crooners ofthe i92os. 'Heker Skelter' was meant to show that the
Beades could rock as hard as any ofthe bands just coming up; in fact,
McCartney has said that he was inspired by hearing an interview
in which Pete Townshcnd ofthe Who says that his group kad just
recarded the heaviest, most firebreathing picce of rock ever commit-
ted to record. McCartney wanted to pre-empt them.
Lennotfs parodies are less straightforward. Happiness is a Warm
Gun' begins as another in Lennan's introspective series, but a dark,
eerie, organ-based opening section gives way to pure blucs, and then
ar the reffain to a highly effectivc skewering ofthe zg$os' doo-wop
vocal style. He toys with the Beatles themselves in 'Glass Onion', a
song that refers to lyrics in several earlier Beat[es recordings, and
M y s l e l y To u r s a n d D i s c o r d 1 9 6 7 - $ 181

includes the kind ofred hcrrings (the claim that Paul was the walrus,
for cxample) that would keep amateur Beatleologists speculating for
years. And just as McCarmey's 'Honey Pie' captured the sound ofthe
igzos, Lennon's 'Good Night' could easily pass as something from ~he
Bing Crosby or Frank Sinatra songbooks. Othe~vise, his borrowings
are from current styles. He responcls to the growing vogue for British
blucs rock in the hard-driving 'Everybody's Got Something to Hide
Except Me and My Monkey', and more stunning[y in 'Yer Blucs',
itself another thoroughly Lennonesque study in word imagery.
Of course, nor everything on The Beatles is referentiaJ. Of the
Lennon contributions 'The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill' is
a Lennon fantasy about a saari hunter, and 'Cry Baby Cry' hints
at the Alice ir* I, FrJer/and-s tyle imagery of 'Lucy in the Sky with
Diamonds,' though without the psychedelia. 'Sexy Sadie', dcspite the
altered name and sex ofthe central character, is an acidic assessment
of the Mal~ashi, couched in a nicely arching mclody, and ah alluring
texture based on an electronically altered piano sound. The more
sensitive side of Lennon's songwriting is here roo. In the graceful,
plaintive 'Julia', he accompanies himself on acoustic guitar, and sings
a pained ode to the memory ofhis mother, tinged with imagery that
refers to Ono.
McCartney's non-parodic explorations take a few unusual turns.
Besides such sn-aight forwardly attractive, light-textured songs as
'Blackbird', 'Mother Nature's Son', and 'I Will', be toyed with bis
listeners' expectations if only briefly with 'Wild Honey Pie' and
'Why Dott We Do It In the Road?; two free-wheeling bursts so
uncharacteristic that many listeners at first thought Lennon must
have been behind them.
Starr's 'Don'r Pass Me By', the song he had been tinkering with
since 1963, has its roots in country music. Had the Beatlcs recorded ir
on Beatles For Sale or Rubber Soul, it undoubtedly would have come
complete with twangy guitars. But they saw the song dit~-erently now.
lnstead, they brought in a few piano tracks on which the sound is
electmnically processed to imitate a Hammond organ. Also in the
texture are s[eigh bells, an eccentric touch for a country song. Yet the
country influence comes through, not least bcause Martin brought
in a vio[inist to play a fidd[e solo appropriate to a barn dance.
 The Beatles

Ofthe seven new songs that Harrison brought to the sessions, tive
were recorded and four made it onto tbe album, each entirely difl~r-
ent in character and none showing any trate of Harrison's Indian
dabblings. 'Piggies', for example, is social satire in the style of tbe
day, dressed in a faux-Baroque setting built around harpsichord and
strings. The contrast between the civilized veneer ofthe music, and
the imagery ofthe lyrics, in which narrily dressed pigs are shown to
be cannibalistic, was what made the song seem sardonic rather than
heavy-handed. 'Savoy Trufl], a tribute to a friend's sweer tootb
(and a tongue in-cheek warning about the consequentes) is basically
a good-namred rhrowaway in a hard rock style. And ~Long, Long,
Long' is ah introspecrive love song so dark in texture as to seem ready
to implode.
The best of Harrison's new songs, and one of the album's most
inviting moments, is 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps'. Both the
Esher rehearsal tape and the first formal recording ofthe song at
Abbey Road show that Harrison originally conceived ir as a gentle,

As members of Cream,
Eric Claplon (seoled} ond
Jock Bruce {lehI were
hcroes of th nasent Brilish
blues Iock movemenl
Claplon had been Friendly
wilh Harriso~ since 1965

when, as a member of lhe

Ya r d b i r d $ , h e p e r t o m e d o n

The Beotles' Chrislmos Show

In 1968, he contributed on
exquisilely doleful lead
guitor IJNe 1o Horrison's

'Whil My Guitar Genlly

We e p s r j H a r fi s o n r e t u r n e d
the fovour the fo~low=n9

y e o r, t o w r i l i n g o n d p l ~ y i n g

on Crem's ~Bodg'
Mys*ety Toms a~d Discord 1967-8 | 83

minor key folk-song, slightly mournful bur not Iugubrious. Bur his
ideas expanded during the sessiom, and the finished version thrives
on textural details. Its introduction, ofiginally a simple walk through
the song's chord progression, ended up featuring a piano repeating
a single note in a varied rhythm for three bars before escaping into
a gloss ofthe song's melody. Ser against this is a strummed acoustic
guitar and a drum pattern punctuated by a quickly closing high hat.
But the most striking aspect of the recording is the lead guitar part,
pLayed by Eric Clapton. Using a wah-wah peda] (which lets a guitarist
pivot between extreme treble and extreme bass timbres), CLapton
added a line that wove around Harrison's vocal, perfect]y conveying
the image ofa weeping gukar.
Clapton, once a member of the Yardbirds and John MayalFs
Bluesbreakers, was by this time a star ofthe b[ucs-rock power trio
Cream, and was revered in the rock world as a virtuoso soloist.
For the Beatles and otber pop bands ofthe x96os, virtuosity in its
showiest form was never a principal concern. Obviousl); one had
to come through with solos where required, and the right kinds of
accompaniments; and McCarmey's bass lines were cer tainly virtuosic.
Bur the extended jamming that Clapton and Cream were known
for- as were musicians like Jimi Hendrix, a bhck American guitarist
who had move<] to 1 ondon - took instrumental virtuosity in rock to
a new levei. The Beatles themseh,es never took up the challenge,
ahhough they alluded to it in 1969, in a jam at the end ofAbbey Road.
The one Harrison song that was recorded bur not included on the
album, 'Not Guilty', was nearly as interesting. In ir, Harrison sings
about the tensions within the band in terms that barely disguised the
subject. He worked hard on ir, recording more than a hundred takes
before he had ah acceptable backing track, and then adding aggres-
sive, layered guitars and double-tracked percussion. Perhaps the lyrics
doomed it: it was one thing for Lennon to criticize the Maharishi or
for Harrison to skewer bourgeois society, but 'Not Guih3,' aired the
band's own dirty laundry.
There was a certain irony in calling this co[lection ofsolo projects
TheBeatles, a title that asserts the band's unity. But then, this was the
Beatles as they were: four musicians +hose musical personalities had
been forged in the same crucibte, but who were now intent on explor-
ing different terrain. And in any case, ir was not until Lennon began
184 The Beatles

publicly airing the group's internal battles, in I97o, that anyone out-
side the group and EMI's engineers knew how fractious things were.
To ali appearances, life was still tine in Beatle-land, and The Beatles,
far from exploding that myth, seemed to support it.