Abbey Road (album)

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" are based on Ludwig van Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata" played backwards.

Related Topics:
Come Together - Timothy Leary - 1969 - California - Something - Morris Levy - Chuck Berry - I Want You (She's So Heavy) - Yoko Ono - Minutes - Revolution 9 - Moog - Synthesizer - Because - Ludwig van Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Paul McCartney

Paul's first song on the album is "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. Before recording "Oh! Darling", McCartney sang the song many times, to get his voice to sound strained, as if he had been performing it all week.

Related Topics:
Maxwell's Silver Hammer - Let It Be - Oh! Darling

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

George Harrison

"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." It was originally given to Joe Cocker, but then recorded by The Beatles for Abbey Road. "Something" was Lennon's favorite song on the album and Frank Sinatra's favorite love song. "Here Comes the Sun" is Harrison's second song on the album and one of his most well-known songs. It was influenced by the Cream song Badge (which was co-written by Harrison).

Related Topics:
Something - White Album - James Taylor - Joe Cocker - Frank Sinatra - Here Comes the Sun - Cream - Badge

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ringo Starr

Ringo wrote and sang one song for the album, Octopus's Garden. It was inspired by Ringo's vacation from recording to the sea. Whilst there, he composed the song, which became his most successful writing.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

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. 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 ironic and fitting climax, "The End", featuring the first and only Starr drum solo to make it to tape (in its original album form), as well as alternating blistering lead guitar solos from Lennon, McCartney and Harrison (an alternate version with Harrison's lead guitar solo played against Starr's drum solo appears on the Anthology 3 album).

Related Topics:
The Beatles - Let It Be - You Never Give Me Your Money - Sun King - Because - Mean Mr. Mustard - Polythene Pam - She Came in Through the Bathroom Window - Golden Slumbers - Thomas Dekker - Carry That Weight - The End - Anthology 3

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The song "Her Majesty", tacked on the end, was originally part of the side two medley. 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 note of "Mean Mr. Mustard" at the start, because "Her Majesty" was supposed to follow it in the medley. Some consider it to be the first true hidden track on an album.

Related Topics:
Her Majesty - Engineer - John Curlander - Mean Mr. Mustard - Hidden track

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~