Studio sessions
25 April 1967
26 April 1967
27 April 1967
3 May 1967
4 May 1967
28 September 1967
6 November 1967
7 November 1967
An attempt to create a new sort of Pepperish fanfare, but it doesn't work nearly as well, though there are some great production touches (the cocktail jazz at the end) and Ringo gives it his all. Actually, the performance and production are still here; it's the composition that's lacking. Probably because total time from concept to execution was about three days.
Studio sessions
6 September 1967
25 September 1967
26 September 1967
27 September 1967
20 October 1967
25 October 1967
1 November 1967
7 November 1967
A strange ballad from Paul: wistful but also implacably sad. Fascinating in its gravity, however - it's the tension between minor and major that works so well. This was a leftover from the Sgt. Pepper's sessions, which is just as well, since it works better here. Only Paul knows what it means.
Studio sessions
8 September 1967
28 September 1967
7 November 1967
Original Title: Aerial Tour Instrumental
The only one of the Beatles' instrumentals to make it to an official release while the band was together; it's actually not bad, just unfinished. It's anchored by a great blues groove that seems wasted here, but it does serve to show how timeless the music really is (listen to the first few bars and think: Beck).
Studio sessions
6 September 1967
7 September 1967
16 September 1967
6 October 1967
12 October 1967
7 November 1967
A drone by George that loses one's interest after about a minute or so. Pity that it keeps going. (Although Ringo does do some of his finest work here.) Written while George was waiting for Derek Taylor to show up at his rented house in California, hence the lyrics (the street George's house was on was Blue Jay Way).
Studio sessions
22 August 1967
23 August 1967
16 September 1967
29 September 1967
2 October 1967
6 November 1967
7 November 1967
Some people say that this is one of Paul's lamest songs with the Beatles but I disagree. I think it is a very good song and should get credit.
Studio sessions
5 September 1967
6 September 1967
16 September 1967
27 September 1967
28 September 1967
29 September 1967
6 November 1967
7 November 1967
17 November 1967
John's ultimate indulgence in Carrollian wordplay; after this, he'd begin to use his lyrics as pointed sticks more than watercolor pictures. Or maybe he'd started already: this song takes definite, direct swipes at the Establishment (corporations, police). Psychedelically, it's the Beatles' best song, in part because the chord structure is so jerry-built and the effects are so random that the effect is completely disorienting. What you're hearing in the background is a BBC radio production of King Lear that was being broadcast; John, genius that he was, mixed it into the song live. And, amazingly, it works. By far the project's best song, and not coincidentally the one that took the longest to perfect.
Studio sessions
2 October 1967
19 October 1967
20 October 1967
25 October 1967
1 November 1967
2 November 1967
6 November 1967
15 November 1967
Original Title: Hello Hello
Another example of an uninspired song made inspiring by beautiful production (the contrapuntal background vocals, the walkdown at the end, the coda). Again, ask Paul what it means.
Studio sessions
29 December 1966
30 December 1966
4 January 1967
5 January 1967
6 January 1967
9 January 1967
10 January 1967
12 January 1967
17 January 1967
25 January 1967
THE quintessential Paul story-song, wistful without being cloying, and sentimental without being unsubstantial. Once again, the musical and lyrical details are what make the song, from the nice (the "Yellow Submarine" - esque sound effects) and naughty (you don't want to know what "four of fish and finger pies" are). And once again, there's a dramatic major to minor change and a strangely disconcerting ending. Paul doing what Paul does better than anyone in the world.
Studio sessions
11 May 1967
22 August 1968
A sadly underrated Beatle song, seemingly lightweight fun that, as always with this group, also contains a shot at convention and a bit of a nasty streak (it's pretty certain that they sing "...rich fag jew" at the end as a slur to manager Brian Epstein, who wasn't dead when the song was recorded). The weird sound is a clavioline, which you can find out about below. A wonderful number that was recorded in six hours, it represents one of the last true joint writing efforts of John and Paul, as it combines two songs together much in the way "A Day In The Life" was done. Think of this as the happy flip side.
Studio sessions
14 June 1967
19 June 1967
21 June 1967
23 June 1967
24 June 1967
25 June 1967
26 June 1967
1 November 1967
29 October 1968
Recorded almost completely live during the world's first global television broadcast on June 25, 1967, this was a made-to-order song that John hoped would spread a simple message to all countries; it's probably a better expression of the hippie philosophy than anything on Sgt. Pepper. A truly pan-global song, the intro quotes La Marsellaise, while the outro quotes Glenn Miller's "In The Mood", and, in a stroke of genius, "She Loves You". Paul was later heard to comment, "I don't know what you need."
