Abbey Road (album)

Abbey Road was the twelfth album released by The Beatles. Although its release preceded that of Let It Be, it was the last to be recorded, and is therefore widely considered as the band's swan song. It was released on September 26, 1969 in the UK and October 1, 1969 in the US. It was produced and orchestrated by George Martin for Apple Records. Geoff Emerick was the engineer and Tony Banks tape operator. It is considered one of the Beatles' most tightly constructed and praised albums.

Genesis of the album

After the near-disastrous sessions for the proposed Get Back album (later retitled Let It Be for release), Paul McCartney suggested to producer George Martin that the Beatles get together and make an album "just like the old days... just like we used to", free of the conflict that began with the sessions for The Beatles (aka the White Album). Martin agreed to this if the band would be "the way they used to be", and the final result was this album.

The two album sides are quite different in character, designed to accommodate the differing wishes of McCartney and John Lennon. Side one (to please Lennon) is a collection of single tracks, while side two (to please McCartney) consists of a long suite of compositions, many of them being relatively short and segued together.

Songs

John Lennon

"Come Together", the album opener, was written by Lennon originally for Timothy Leary's 1969 campaign for governor of California, and released as a double-A-side single along with "Something". Lennon was later sued by Morris Levy for stealing the guitar riff and line "Here comes old flat-top" from the Chuck Berry song "You Can't Catch Me." "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", conceived in part with Yoko Ono, is a combination of two unfinished Lennon songs and at over 7 minutes long, it is the second-longest released Beatles song ("Revolution 9" being the longest). It also features one of the earliest uses of a Moog synthesizer. "Because" also features a Moog synthesizer (which was played by Harrison). The chords in "Because" were inspired by Ludwig van Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata."

Paul McCartney

Paul's first song on the album, "Maxwell's Silver Hammer", is about a hammer-wielding murderer and was originally from the Let It Be sessions as seen in the Let It Be documentary. When recording "Oh! Darling", McCartney attempted recording only once per day, so that his voice would be fresh on the recording. He would practice the song when in the bath.

George Harrison

George Harrison contributed two songs to the album, including the first number one single by The Beatles that was not a Lennon-McCartney composition.

"Something" was George Harrison's first A-side single with The Beatles. Originally written during the White Album sessions, the first line is based on the James Taylor song "Something in the Way She Moves" (Taylor was signed to Apple at the time). It was originally given to Joe Cocker, but then recorded by The Beatles for Abbey Road. "Something" was Lennon's favourite song on the album. Frank Sinatra once made the comment that "Something" was his all-time favourite Lennon-McCartney song (the joke being it was not written by them at all, but by Harrison).

"Here Comes the Sun" is Harrison's second song on the album and one of his best-known songs. It was influenced by the Cream song "Badge" (which was co-written by Harrison, Eric Clapton, and Ringo Starr).

Ringo Starr

Ringo wrote and sang one song for the album, "Octopus's Garden," only his second Beatles composition. It was inspired when Ringo left the band for a few weeks during the sessions for The White Album and went to the seashore. Whilst there, he composed the song, which became his most successful writing. The song was almost totally re-written in the studio by Harrison, but credit still went to Ringo.

The medley

The climax of the album is a sixteen-minute medley consisting of several short songs, both finished and unfinished, tagged together by McCartney. They appear on the B-side and many consider it to be the best single album side of all time. Most of these songs were written (and originally recorded in demo form) during sessions for The Beatles (also known as the White Album) and Let It Be. McCartney's "You Never Give Me Your Money" (based loosely on The Beatles' financial problems with Apple) leads off the long suite, followed by three Lennon compositions, "Sun King" (which, along with "Because" from earlier on the album, showcases Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison's overdubbed harmonies), "Mean Mr. Mustard" (written during The Beatles' trip to India), and "Polythene Pam", followed by four McCartney songs, "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" (written after a fan came into Paul's residence literally through the bathroom window), "Golden Slumbers" (based on Thomas Dekker's 17th-century poem), "Carry That Weight" (one of the few songs to feature harmony vocals from all four Beatles), and the fitting climax, "The End". This features the first and only Starr drum solo to make it to tape (in its original album form), and the three extended guitar solos performed in turn by Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and John Lennon, although it is not positively known when each one begins and ends. Each had a distinctive style which McCartney felt reflected their personalities. An alternate version with Harrison's lead guitar solo played against Starr's drum solo appears on the Anthology 3 album. The final line, "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make", in the view of many fans, captures the essence of the Beatles' message.

The song "Her Majesty", tacked on the end, was originally part of the side two medley, appearing in between "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam". McCartney did not like the way the medley sounded with "Her Majesty" included, so he had the medley re-edited to remove it. However, second engineer John Curlander had been instructed never to throw out anything the Beatles created, so he placed it at the end of the medley after 20 seconds of silence. The Beatles liked this seemingly random effect and left it on the album. On some versions of the LP cover, "Her Majesty" is not listed; however, it is shown on the record label. If you listen closely, you can hear the last chord of "Mean Mr. Mustard" at the start. Some consider it to be the first true hidden track on an album.

Production notes

Abbey Road was the only Beatles album exclusively recorded on an 8 track Studer reel to reel, as opposed to 4 track. This is noticeable by the better sound separation and micing of the drum kit. The album was also the first to be recorded and mixed entirely on a solid state sound board, giving the album's sound a noticeably different "feel" from its predecessors (Harrison once remarked that the new sound was too "harsh" for his liking). Also, the burgeoning Moog synthesizer features on the majority of tracks, not merely as a background effect, but sometimes playing a central role, such as in "Because"; where it's used for the middle 8. It is also prominent on "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" and "Here Comes the Sun." The instrument was probably introduced to the band by George, who released Electronic Sounds on Apple in 1968, an album featuring dissonant sounds entirely made from a Moog. George had anticipated, if not set trends before with the introduction of the sitar on Rubber Soul in 1965.

The famous photograph

"At some point the album was going to be titled Everest, after the brand of cigarettes I used to smoke," recalls Geoff Emerick. The idea included a cover photo of The Beatles in the Himalaya, but by the time the group had to take the photo, they decided to call it Abbey Road and take the photo outside the studio on August 8, 1969. The cover designer was Apple Records creative Director Kosh. The cover photograph was taken by photographer, Iain MacMillan. MacMillan was given only ten minutes around 10:00AM that morning to take the photo. That cover photograph has since become one of the most famous and most imitated album covers in recording history. The cover also supposedly contains clues adding to the "Paul Is Dead" phenomenon: Paul is barefoot, with eyes closed, out of step with the others, and holds a cigarette in his right hand, though he is left handed, and the car license plate "LMW 281F" supposedly referred to the fact that McCartney would be 28 years old if he was still alive. (While the "I" in "28IF" is actually a "1," it is hard to tell on the cover. As an aside, Paul was only 27 at the time of Abbey Road's release, though some take this to mean he would have been 28 "if" he had lived despite the fact that McCartney has supposedly been dead for years at this point.) "LMW" is said to stand for "Linda McCartney Weeps." Paul had married Linda Eastman in March of 1969, though strangely, the rumor suggests he was already dead several years before this time. Therefore, Linda would never have even met Paul. The four Beatles on the album cover, according to the "Paul is Dead" myth, represent the priest (John, dressed in white), the Undertaker (Ringo in a black suit), the Corpse (Paul, in a suit but barefoot--like a body in a casket), and the Gravedigger (George, in jeans and a denim work shirt). The man standing on the pavement in the background is Paul Cole, an American tourist who was unaware that he was being photographed until he saw the album cover months later.

Imitations and Parodies

One imitation cover came with a unique tribute. Booker T. & the M.G.'s, famed soul combo, covered most of the songs on the Abbey Road in their 1969 album McLemore Avenue, named after the street address of the Stax records studio. The Red Hot Chili Peppers have also imitated the album cover, on their The Abbey Road E.P., with the band appearing nude, apart from tactfully placed socks. McCartney himself revisited the famous album cover for his live album Paul Is Live.

In the opening titles of the 2006 series of Grumpy Old Men, Rick Wakeman, Tim Rice, Rory McGrath and Arthur Smith are walking across the crossing when they get run over by a speeding chav talking on his mobile while driving.

The promotional photo of the 2004-2006 Reebok home shirt of Liverpool FC (the last home shirt made by the company, because Liverpool starts an association with Adidas starting on season 2006-07) was a resemblance of the photo. It features Steven Gerrard and Sami Hyypiä. the other two players were unidentified, but are possibly Xabi Alonso, Dietmar Hamann, John Arne Riise or Jamie Carragher

The photo has also made the particular zebra crossing at Abbey Road a popular tourist destination, and each day visitors can be seen posing in the popular position.

In the television show The Simpsons, Homer's successful barbershop quartet The Be Sharps second album "Bigger Than Jesus" included a parody of the cover with the four band members walking on water.

The Beetle

The VW Beetle parked next to the intersection belonged to one of the people living in the apartment across from the recording studio. After the album came out the license plate was stolen repeatedly from the car. In 1986 the car was sold at an auction for $23,000 and is currently on display at the VW museum.

Cover versions

One month after Abbey Road's release, George Benson recorded a cover version of the album called The Other Side of Abbey Road.
Joe Cocker played a version of She Came in Through the Bathroom Window during his Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour, in 1970.
As mentioned above, in 1970 Booker T. & the M.G.'s recorded McLemore Avenue which covered the Abbey Road songs and has a cover photo which mimicked the Abbey Road cover. Stax Records was located at McLemore Avenue.
In 1998, Phil Collins covered the medley "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End" for the George Martin/Beatles tribute album In My Life.
Ben Folds covered "Golden Slumbers" for the soundtrack to the 2001 movie, I Am Sam.
Aerosmith has a particularly famous cover of "Come Together", recorded for the film version of The Beatles' earlier album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Richie Havens had a top twenty hit with his cover version of "Here Comes the Sun" in 1971.
The Legendary Pink Dots covered a small portion of "Here Comes the Sun" in the song "I Love You In Your Tragic Beauty".
Elliott Smith covered the song "Because" on the American Beauty soundtrack.
Tenacious D have also been known to include the "You Never Give Me Your Money" part of the medley in their live performances. The band also covered "Something" during concerts shortly after George Harrison's death.
Coldplay and Belle & Sebastian have both covered "Here Comes the Sun" in live performances. Travis performed the song at the first Top of the Pops awards on 30 November 2001, in tribute to George Harrison, who had died the previous day.
Dream Theater covered the "Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End" medley as part of their 1988 "Xmas Demos". The Live In Tokyo video also includes footage of Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy joining countless tourists in mimicking the Abbey Road cover (barefoot, a la Paul).
Transatlantic also covered a large portion of the Abbey Road medley, as well as some other Beatles songs, on their Live in Europe DVD, which was released in 2003.
Trey Anastasio has covered the medley from "Mean Mr. Mustard" through "The End" with his band 70 Volt Parade. The first performance of this took place at New York's Hammerstein Ballroom on May 13, 2005.
Coroner covered "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" as the closing track to their 1991 album Mental Vortex.
On their album Paul's Boutique, the Beastie Boys use the guitar and drum solo from "The End" as the background to their song "Sounds of Science".
Noel Gallagher of Oasis would occasionally add "Octopus's Garden" to the end of "Whatever" at live performances. Also, the third album by Oasis, entitled Be Here Now's cover features a replica of the police car's license plate on a car inside a pool. The cover also features a number of other rock n roll references, citing historical moments of The Beatles, and The Who to name just a few
On his album Whose Garden Was This, John Denver covered "Golden Slumbers" along with his original composition "Sweet Sweet Life" and a reprise of a previous album track called "Tremble If You Must", before seguing into the last track on the album, a cover of Jingle Bells.
The song "Come Together" was covered by Michael Jackson. It is performed in a mock up live performance at the end of the movie Moonwalker. It also appears on his HIStory album.

Accolades

In 1997 Abbey Road was named the 12th greatest album of all time in a 'Music of the Millennium' poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM; it received the same ranking in a 1998 poll of Q magazine readers. In November 2003, it was named the 13th best album of the rock era by a Rolling Stone poll of critics, journalists, and others in the industry. Also in 2003, the TV network VH1 named it the 8th greatest album ever.

In November 2004, it was named the 14th best album by Rolling Stone.

Track listing

All tracks written by Lennon-McCartney, except where noted.

Side one

"Come Together" – 4:20
"Something" (Harrison) – 3:03
"Maxwell's Silver Hammer" – 3:27
"Oh! Darling" – 3:26
"Octopus's Garden" (Starkey) – 2:51
"I Want You (She's So Heavy)" – 7:47

Side two

"Here Comes the Sun" (Harrison) – 3:05
"Because" – 2:45
"You Never Give Me Your Money" – 4:02
"Sun King" – 2:26
"Mean Mr. Mustard" – 1:06
"Polythene Pam" – 1:12
"She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" – 1:57
"Golden Slumbers" – 1:31
"Carry That Weight" – 1:36
"The End" – 2:19
"Her Majesty" – 0:23

Note: "Her Majesty" is regarded as the first ever Hidden Track.

One cassette tape version in the US had "Come Together" and "Here Comes The Sun" swapped so that Harrison's composition actually opens the album. All subsequent versions (including the CD) have restored the track listing to its original order.

Note: "Sun King", "Mean Mr. Mustard", "Polythene Pam", "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window", "Golden Slumbers", and "Carry That Weight" all are noted as one song (or medley) called, "The Sgt. Pepper/Abbey Road Medley".

Clips

Release history

Country	Date	Label	Format	Catalog
United Kingdom	September 26 1969	Apple Records	LP	PCS 7088
United States	October 1 1969	Apple, Capitol Records	LP	SO 383
Worldwide reissue	October 10 1987	Apple, Parlophone, EMI	CD	CDP 7 46446 2
Japan	March 11 1998	Toshiba-EMI	CD	TOCP 51122
Japan	January 21 2004	Toshiba-EMI	Remastered LP	TOJP 60142

External links

1969 albums | Albums with hidden tracks | Apple Records albums | Grammy Hall of Fame Awards | The Beatles albums

Gourt Home::Gourt :: Abbey Road (album)