As ever, this isn't some scholarly investigation into the Fab Four's art - just me rambling on about a favourite album and what it means to me. And it does mean quite a lot...
What a way to start an album! Lennon's mid-paced, oblique R'n'B groover with a contrastingly clear message for the radicalised, post-hippie times: "One thing I can tell you is you've got to be free". Everything literally comes together ( see what I did there? ) on this track - great vocal interplay from John and Paul, soulful electric piano from Billy Preston and some wonderful drum patterns from the sadly much-maligned Ringo.
Something
George Harrison's crying guitar sound heralds his most beautiful, heartfelt ballad. "All I have to do is think of her..." Smooth, easy listening maybe... but none the worse for that.
Maxwell's Silver Hammer
Paul McCartney's tasteless but guiltily funny tale of an unrepentant serial killer, presented as a children's song. Only The Beatles could get away with such whimsical nonsense. Just. Love the "do-do-doo" backing vocals!
Paul again, but this time with a far superior song: a pastiche '50s / doo-wop rocker, harking back to the band's early days. McCartney's voice is raw and ragged, tearing the final "do you no harm" from his battered larynx.
Octopus's Garden
Another kiddies' song. Ringo's charming but inconsequential sub-aqua ditty is a close relation of Yellow Submarine and passes the time amiably enough.
I Want You ( She's So Heavy )
A slow, strangely menacing and bluesy examination of lust, John patently singing about his obsession with Yoko. The final guitar riff repeats and repeats, clanging into itself again and again, the band's new toy - the Moog synthesiser - churns out white noise... and then...
Here Comes The Sun
...the sun comes out. Clearly one of the greatest songs in all of pop history. Optimism, love and good vibes - the epitome of The Beatles' philosophy. "And I say, it's alright..."
Because
And the sun keeps on shining! Because is a beautifully summery example of the boys taking a fairly simple song and transforming it with soaring, ethereal harmonies.
Pretty much the dictionary definition of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. The medley, constructed by McCartney, takes up most of Side Two of the original vinyl album and consists of various scraps of songs which the band had kicking around, sequenced into one fantastic collage. Perhaps realising that Abbey Road would be their final creative flourish ( Let It Be was their last album to be released but had been recorded previously ) The Beatles went out on a sky-scraping high.
It starts with the mournful piano notes of Paul's You Never Give Me Your Money, a sad reflection on the band's long and painful dissolution which turns into a hymn to freedom: "but oh, that magic feeling - nowhere to go", with some scorching lead guitar, before drifting into the Albatross-like Sun King, all lazy Mediterranean siestas and nonsense lyrics. A quick drum-beat and we're into two upbeat, rockin' Lennon songs about two eccentric characters, Mean Mr Mustard and Polythene Pam, complete with some very self-aware "yeah, yeah, yeahs" and nostalgia for the band's early years. With an "Oh, look out!" the medley shifts back towards Paul with his strange tale of a persistent Beatles fan - She Came In Through The Bathroom Window, a jangly, quintessential Fabs song with some perfect harmonies. Then it's the high point of the medley: Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight, a staggeringly moving meditation on the band, the past, the future, with Olympian melodies and a red-blooded "boy, you're gonna carry that weight" from the full Fabs vocal ensemble. You Never Give me Your Money is reprised, this time with an orchestra in tow, before things get surprisingly funky and raucous as the guitarists duel it out for the last time. Finally, The End does exactly what it says on the tin and says goodbye to the band and the era with the sublime last line, "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make..."
Her Majesty
Well, it's not exactly over as Paul's daft acoustic ditty surfaces 20 seconds after the end of The End to ensure we leave with smiles on our faces...
So, Abbey Road...It's all very wonderful and encapsulates everything the Beatles ( and all great pop music ) stood for: love, sex, fun, longing, freedom, mischief, melancholy - it's all here. And, of course, it all means different things to different people. On a very personal note, this album helped me immeasurably four years ago when my Mum was very ill. Things were as bad as they could get and then they got worse. The Beatles' wonderful music was there for support. The beautiful melodies, harmonies and awesome instrumental sounds were very resonant at this tough time and I took things from some of the lyrics that the writers surely never intended, but which gave me strength and spoke of love and history and peace. At the end of the day, music can be just music, a pleasant distraction, aural wallpaper, but sometimes... sometimes it's something more...
"Golden slumbers fill your eyes / Smiles awake you when you rise..."
( By the way... a special thanks goes out to new Follower John Pitt, whose recent comments inspired me to revive this 'ere blog. Cheers! )
But does this mean you don't have the White Album yet?
ReplyDeleteHi Steve! No, I don't have the White Album. Yet again, it always seems to be too pricey. ( And there are a few dodgy songs on there. ) Will probably get it at some point...
ReplyDeleteThanks for this post, Cer. Steve is right, you've GOT to get the white album!
ReplyDeleteI shall now put my thinking cap on and try and come up with some trivial facts to compliment your post.
See you later!
Cheers, John! I'm always up for more trivial facts :-)
ReplyDeleteBetween '69 & "07 I bought this album 5 times, so I am quite familiar with it. Unofficially there exist many other versions, including a mono mix, an instrumental and a version of John previewing it track by track on Radio Luxembourg. It was Timothy Leary who approached John and asked him to write an anthem for people to come together.
ReplyDeleteAt this time, James Taylor was on Apple and one track on his album - Something In The Way She Moves resulted in George being accused of plagiarism. A long version of Something exists, where the song goes into a different instrumental in much the same way as Clapton's Layla. And both were written about the same girl!
Listen carefully to Maxwell and you may hear a stylophone. ( It's also on Bowie's Space Oddity ).
Here Comes The Sun was written in Clapton's garden with the original working title of Badge - Part 2. Check out YouTube for son Dhani's remix " HereComes The Son...er, Sun! " and George Martin playing Dhani George's unreleased guitar licks for the song.
The guitar chord picks on Sun King were used on the embryo of Don't Let Me Down which can be heard on the bonus disc of Let It Be - Naked.
A very faithful cover of Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight ( there's that riff from Badge again! )was released by ( White ) Trash on Apple.
The End featured all 3 guitarists taking turns to play lead breaks. Can you tell who plays what?
If you listen to the beginning of Her Majesty you will hear a split second of the end of Polythene Pam, where it was originally segued in the medley. But Paul thought that it wasn't strong enough, so he asked the sound engineer to remove it, which he duly did and tagged it onto the end of the tape, where it lay forgotten about and accidentally got pressed onto the vinyl. I wonder how it would sound in its original position?
Thanks for the comment, John! Some of the info is familiar from reading Ian MacDonald's masterly Revolution In The Head, but not all of it... a stylophone? Who knew?
ReplyDeleteBut, tell me... why did you buy Abbey Road 5 times??
I first bought it in Dec. '69, but before I even played it I gave it to a girlfriend as a xmas present, so I bought it again formyself the next year, but it developed a jump, so when it was remastered in the 80's I got a brand new copy. Then I got it on CD and finally when they remastered the CDs around 2007 I got that as well.
ReplyDeleteNow, DON'T ASK how many times I have bought the double red & blue collections!!!!
And no doubt within a few years you'll be able to upload it directly into your brain. It would make it tricky to lend to a girlfriend though...
ReplyDelete