The Beatles

The Quarrymen and name changes

In November 1956, sixteen-year-old John Lennon formed a skiffle group with several friends from Quarry Bank High School for Boys in Liverpool. They were called the Quarrymen, a reference to their school song "Quarry men old before our birth". Fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney met Lennon on 6 July 1957 and joined as a rhythm guitarist shortly after. In February 1958, McCartney invited his friend George Harrison, then aged fifteen, to watch the band. Harrison auditioned for Lennon, impressing him with his playing, but Lennon initially thought Harrison was too young. After a month's persistence, during a second meeting (arranged by McCartney), Harrison performed the lead guitar part of the instrumental song "Raunchy" on the upper deck of a...

Early residencies and UK popularity

Allan Williams, the Beatles' unofficial manager, arranged a residency for them in Hamburg. They auditioned and hired drummer Pete Best in mid-August 1960. The band, now a five-piece, departed Liverpool for Hamburg four days later, contracted to club owner Bruno Koschmider for what would be a 3+1⁄2-month residency. Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn writes: "They pulled into Hamburg at dusk on 17 August, the time when the red-light area comes to life ... flashing neon lights screamed out the various entertainment on offer, while scantily clad women sat unabashed in shop windows waiting for business opportunities."

Influences

The Beatles' earliest influences include Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Little Richard, Chuck Berry and Gene Vincent. During the Beatles' co-residency with Little Richard at the Star-Club in Hamburg, from April to May 1962, he advised them on the proper technique for performing his songs. Of Presley, Lennon said, "Nothing really affected me until I heard Elvis. If there hadn't been Elvis, there would not have been the Beatles." Chuck Berry was particularly influential in terms of songwriting and lyrics. Lennon noted, "He was well advanced of his time lyric-wise. We all owe a lot to him." Other early influences include Buddy Holly, Eddie Cochran, Roy Orbison, the Everly Brothers and Jerry Lee Lewis.

Legacy

Former Rolling Stone magazine associate editor Robert Greenfield compared the Beatles to Picasso, as "artists who broke through the constraints of their time period to come up with something that was unique and original ... [I]n the form of popular music, no one will ever be more revolutionary, more creative and more distinctive ..." The British poet Philip Larkin described their work as "an enchanting and intoxicating hybrid of Negro rock-and-roll with their own adolescent romanticism" and "the first advance in popular music since the War".

Hey Jude

"Hey Jude" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a non-album single in August 1968. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership.

The single was the Beatles' first release on their Apple record label and one of the "First Four" singles by Apple's roster of artists, marking the label's public launch. "Hey Jude" was a number-one hit in many countries around the world and became the year's top-selling single in the UK, the US, Australia and Canada.

Inspiration and writing

In May 1968, John Lennon and his wife Cynthia separated due to his affair with artist Yoko Ono. The following month, Paul McCartney drove out to visit the Lennons' five-year-old son Julian, at Kenwood, the family's home in Weybridge. Cynthia had been part of the Beatles' social circle since before the band's rise to fame in 1963; McCartney later said he found it "a bit much for them suddenly to be personae non gratae and out of my life". Cynthia recalled of McCartney's surprise visit: "I was touched by his obvious concern for our welfare [...] On the journey down he composed 'Hey Jude' in the car. I will never forget Paul's gesture of care and concern in coming to see us." The song's original title was "Hey Jules", and it was intended to...

Trident Studios recording

The Beatles recorded the master track for "Hey Jude" at Trident, where McCartney and Harrison had each produced sessions for their Apple artists, on 31 July. Trident's founder, Norman Sheffield, recalled that Mal Evans, the Beatles' aide and former roadie, insisted that some marijuana plants he had brought be placed in the studio to make the place "soft", consistent with the band's wishes. Barry Sheffield served as recording engineer for the session. The line-up on the basic track was McCartney on piano and lead vocal, Lennon on acoustic guitar, Harrison on electric guitar, and Ringo Starr on drums. The Beatles recorded four takes of "Hey Jude", the first of which was selected as the master. With drums intended to be absent for the first...

Composition and structure

"Hey Jude" begins with McCartney singing lead vocals and playing the piano. The patterns he plays are based on three chords: F, C and B♭ (I, V and IV). The main chord progression is "flipped on its head", in Hertsgaard's words, for the coda, since the C chord is replaced by E♭. Everett comments that McCartney's melody over the verses borrows in part from John Ireland's 1907 liturgical piece Te Deum, as well as (with the first change to a B♭ chord) suggesting the influence of the Drifters' 1960 hit "Save the Last Dance for Me".

Release

"Hey Jude" was released on a 7-inch single on 26 August 1968 in the United States and 30 August in the United Kingdom, backed with "Revolution" on the B-side. It was one of four singles issued simultaneously to launch Apple Records – the others being Mary Hopkin's "Those Were the Days", Jackie Lomax's "Sour Milk Sea", and the Black Dyke Mills Band's "Thingumybob". In advance of the release date, Apple declared 11–18 August to be "National Apple Week" in the UK, and sent gift-wrapped boxes of the records, marked "Our First Four", to Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the royal family, and to Harold Wilson, the prime minister. The release was promoted by Derek Taylor, who, in author Peter Doggett's description, "hyped the first Apple...

Come Together

"Come Together" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song is the opening track on the band's 1969 studio album Abbey Road.

It was also a double A-side in the United Kingdom with "Something", reaching No. 4 in the UK charts, as well as No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Background and inspiration

In early 1969, John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, held nonviolent protests against the Vietnam War, dubbed the Bed-ins for Peace. In May, during the Montreal portion of the bed-in, counterculture figures from across North America visited Lennon. Among the visitors was the American psychologist Timothy Leary, an early advocate of LSD whom Lennon admired. Leary intended to run for Governor of California in the following year's election, and he asked Lennon to write him a campaign song based on the campaign's slogan, "Come Together – Join the Party!" The resulting chant was only a line long: "Come together and join the party". Lennon promised to finish and record the song, and Leary later recalled Lennon giving him a tape of the piece, but...

Recording

The Beatles taped the basic track for "Come Together" at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) in Studio Three on 21 July 1969, during the sessions for Abbey Road. George Martin produced the session, assisted by the balance engineers Geoff Emerick and Phil McDonald. At McCartney's request, the session marked Emerick's first with the group since July 1968; Emerick had quit working with the group during sessions for their 1968 album, The Beatles (also known as "the White Album"), due to what he found to be a tense and negative atmosphere. The song was Lennon's first new composition for the band in three months, after he and McCartney recorded "The Ballad of John and Yoko" on 14 April.

Release and legacy

Apple Records, the Beatles' EMI-distributed record label, released Abbey Road on 26 September 1969, with "Come Together" sequenced as the opening track. The song was issued as a double A-side single (as Apple 2654) with Harrison's "Something" on 6 October in America. Commercially, the single was a massive success, staying on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for 16 weeks. During the single's chart run on Billboard in the US, "Come Together" peaked at number 7 until the magazine changed its practice of counting sales and airplay separately for each song; following this change on 29 November, the single topped the Hot 100 for one week. "Come Together" / "Something" became the Beatles' eighteenth number 1 single in Billboard, surpassing Elvis...

Here Comes The Sun

"Here Comes the Sun" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their eleventh studio album Abbey Road (1969). It was written and sung by George Harrison, and is one of his best-known compositions.

Harrison wrote the song in April 1969 at the country house of his friend Eric Clapton, where Harrison had chosen to play truant for the day to avoid attending a meeting at the Beatles' Apple Corps organisation. The lyrics reflect his relief at the arrival of spring and the temporary respite he was experiencing from the band's business affairs.

Background and inspiration

The early months of 1969 were a difficult period for Harrison: he had quit the Beatles temporarily, he was arrested for marijuana possession, and he had his tonsils removed. Writing in Oz magazine at the end of the year, Barry Miles commented on the "isolated life" of the individual Beatles, with "George strangely upset by his bust, uncertain about his friends but singing Hare Krishna."

Composition

"Here Comes the Sun" is in the key of A major. The main refrain uses a IV (D chord) to V-of-V (B chord–a secondary dominant) progression (the reverse of that used in "Eight Days a Week" and "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band"). The melody in the verse and refrain follows the pentatonic scale from E up to C♯ (scale steps 5, 6, 1, 2, 3).

Recording

Harrison, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr recorded the rhythm track at EMI Studios (now known as Abbey Road Studios) in 13 takes on 7 July 1969. John Lennon did not contribute to the song, as he was recovering from a car crash. Towards the end of the session, Harrison spent an hour re-recording his acoustic guitar part. He capoed his guitar on the 7th fret, resulting in the final key of A major, which was then varispeeded less than a semitone higher. He had also used the same technique on his 1965 song "If I Needed Someone", which shares a similar melodic pattern. The following day he taped his lead vocals, and he and McCartney recorded their backing vocals twice to give a fuller sound.

Release

Abbey Road was released on 26 September 1969 with "Here Comes the Sun" sequenced as the first track on side two of the LP. Along with "Something", which was issued as a single from the album, the song established Harrison as a composer to match Lennon and McCartney. According to author Alan Clayson, Harrison's two Abbey Road compositions received "the most widespread syndication" of all the tracks on the album, partly through the number of cover versions they attracted.

Twist And Shout

"Twist and Shout" is a 1961 song written by Phil Medley and Bert Berns. It was originally recorded by The Top Notes, but it did not become a hit in the record charts until it was reworked by the Isley Brothers for their album Twist & Shout in 1962.

The song has been covered by several artists, including the Beatles, Salt-N-Pepa, and Chaka Demus & Pliers, who experienced chart success with their versions.

Critical reception

Rick Anderson from AllMusic named the song "a fun novelty." Larry Flick from Billboard magazine wrote, "Who'da thunk this Beatles evergreen would become viable fodder for a reggae reconstruction? It has, and it works far better than you might imagine." He added, "With assistance from Jack Radis and Taxi Gang, Chaka Demus & Pliers playfully skip around a fast and jaunty island groove, darting in and out of familiar lyrics with bits of chatter and toasting. Visionary programmers will find this will flow over playlists like a fresh, cool breeze." Troy J. Augusto from Cash Box declared it as an "infectious cut", that "add peppy new island life to this classic made famous, of course, by The Beatles."

Dear Prudence

"Dear Prudence" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 double album The Beatles. The song was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership.

Written in Rishikesh during the group's trip to India in early 1968, it was inspired by actress Mia Farrow's sister, Prudence Farrow, who became obsessive about meditating while practising with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. Her designated partners on the meditation course, Lennon and George Harrison, attempted to coax Farrow out of her seclusion, which led to Lennon writing the song.

Background and inspiration

The inspiration and ostensible subject of the song is Prudence Farrow, the sister of actress Mia Farrow, both of whom were present when the Beatles went to India to study with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi at his ashram in Rishikesh, in the foothills of the Himalayas. Farrow came to Transcendental Meditation and the Maharishi's teachings as a result of a highly disturbing experience with the hallucinogenic drug LSD. Whilst in Rishikesh in early 1968, Farrow became intensely serious about meditating, refusing to venture out of her bungalow for days on end. Of all the Beatles, Farrow felt closest to John Lennon and George Harrison, who were assigned by the Maharishi to act as her "team buddies".

Composition

Lennon wrote "Dear Prudence" using a guitar finger-picking technique that he learned from Donovan, who had followed the Beatles out to Rishikesh to study Transcendental Meditation. The technique, known as clawhammer picking, was later described by Donovan as "the Carter Family finger style". Donovan recalled that Lennon asked him to demonstrate the technique one morning as they sat playing guitar under a jacaranda tree; Lennon, a "fast learner", subsequently mastered it in just two days. Author Steve Turner comments that the Beatles' songwriting in Rishikesh reflected the simplicity of their environment, with the lyrics' frequent references to "birds, flowers, clouds, the sun, and the wind", while Paytress finds Lennon's songs particularly...

Studio recording

The Beatles formally recorded the song at Trident Studios in London from 28 to 30 August. This period was marked by tension and hostility within the group, which had led to Ringo Starr temporarily leaving the band during the recent sessions for McCartney's song "Back in the U.S.S.R." On 28 August, the three remaining Beatles completed the basic track for "Dear Prudence", comprising various guitar parts by Lennon and Harrison, including Lennon's finger-picked electric rhythm part, and McCartney on drums in place of Starr. Using eight-track recording equipment – which gave them more options than the four-track equipment they usually worked with at EMI Studios – the band were able to perfect and re-record their parts as they developed the...

Reception and legacy

Apple Records released The Beatles on 22 November 1968, with "Dear Prudence" sequenced as the second track on side one of the double LP. Its introduction was cross-faded with the sounds of a jet aircraft landing which conclude the previous track, "Back in the U.S.S.R." On the Beatles' 1967–1970 compilation 2023 edition, the crossfade is cut off, and the track begins abruptly after the start of the original recording, the song starts cleanly, with no jet aircraft landing effects. In a contemporary review of the album, Record Mirror's writer said: "A shock to my mind was the second track opening with the old folk clawhammer pick done on an open tuned electric guitar. John sings 'Dear Prudence' as instrumentation fades in and out from wistful...

I Feel Fine

"I Feel Fine" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in November 1964 as the A-side of their eighth single. It was written by John Lennon and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership.

The recording includes one of the earliest uses of guitar feedback in popular music.

Release and commercial performance

Backed by "She's a Woman", "I Feel Fine" was issued as a single A-side on 23 November 1964 in the United States, with the UK release following on 27 November. Public demand for the single was unprecedented, according to author Nicholas Schaffner, particularly in the US, where the market had been saturated with Beatles releases over the first seven months of 1964, "making the ensuing gap seem like forever". He recalled that fans remained "glued" to their transistor radios over the ten days between the single's unveiling on radio and its retail release, and that this established a fan ritual for all the band's subsequent records.

Other releases

In the United States, "I Feel Fine" was released on the Capitol album Beatles '65. The mono version of the LP featured an exclusive mix of "I Feel Fine" with added reverb and a shorter fade as created by Beatles producer George Martin, which was also released as a single on Capitol. The stereo version presented a duophonic (mock stereo) mix of the song featuring a layer of reverb added by executive Dave Dexter Jr. Both versions were released on CD in 2004 as part of The Capitol Albums, Volume 1 box set.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps

"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 double album The Beatles. It was written by George Harrison, the band's lead guitarist, as an exercise in randomness inspired by the Chinese I Ching.

The song conveys his dismay at the world's unrealised potential for universal love, which he refers to as "the love there that's sleeping".

Background and inspiration

George Harrison wrote "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" after his return from India, where the Beatles had been studying Transcendental Meditation under Maharishi Mahesh Yogi during the spring of 1968. The visit had allowed Harrison to re-engage with the guitar as his primary instrument, after focusing on the Indian sitar for the previous two years, and also marked the start of a prolific period for him as a songwriter. Inspiration for the song came to him when he was visiting his parents in Warrington, Cheshire, and he began reading the I Ching, or "The Book of Changes". As Harrison put it, "[the book] seemed to me to be based on the Eastern concept that everything is relative to everything else, as opposed to the Western view that things...

Lyrics

In his lyrics to "While My Guitar Gently Weeps", Harrison revisits the theme of universal love and the philosophical concerns that were evident in his overtly Indian-influenced compositions, particularly "Within You Without You". The song is a lament for how a universal love for humankind is latent in all individuals yet remains unrealised. In the description of theologian Dale Allison, the song "conveys spiritual angst and an urgent religious point of view without being explicitly theological". Harrison sings of surveying "you all" and seeing "the love there that's sleeping". Musicologist Walter Everett comments that the change from the minor-mode verse to the parallel major might express hope that "unrealized potential" described in the...

Release and reception

Apple Records released The Beatles on 22 November 1968. One of four Harrison compositions on the double album, "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" was sequenced as the penultimate track on side one in the LP format, appearing between the John Lennon–led songs "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" and "Happiness Is a Warm Gun". It is the first of four compositions by Harrison to appear on the record. Additionally, at 4 minutes and 46 seconds in length, it is the longest track to appear on the album aside from the avant-garde sound collage "Revolution 9", which crosses eight minutes. The song was issued as the B-side of "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da", a McCartney-written song that had also tested the Beatles' patience during the White Album sessions....

Retrospective assessment and legacy

"While My Guitar Gently Weeps" became a staple of US rock radio during the early 1970s, on a par with songs such as "Layla" by Clapton's short-lived band Derek and the Dominos, Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" and the Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again". In 1973, it appeared on the Beatles' double album compilation 1967–1970, as one of only three tracks representing the White Album. Capitol Records included it on The Best of George Harrison in 1976; a year before this, Harrison released a sequel to the song, titled "This Guitar (Can't Keep from Crying)", which also served as the final single issued by Apple in its original incarnation. The Beatles' recording appeared on the soundtrack to Withnail and I, a 1987 comedy film set in late-1960s...

Let It Be

"Let It Be" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, released on 6 March 1970 as a single, and as the title track of their album Let It Be. It was written and sung by Paul McCartney, and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership.

The single version of the song, produced by George Martin, features a softer guitar solo and the orchestral section mixed low, compared with the album version, produced by Phil Spector, featuring a more aggressive guitar solo and the orchestral sections mixed higher.

Origin and background

Two conflicting explanations exist concerning the origin of the song. McCartney stated that he had the idea of "Let It Be" after he had a dream about his mother Mary Patricia McCartney, who had died of cancer in 1956 when Paul was 14. "It was great to visit with her again. I felt very blessed to have that dream. So that got me writing 'Let It Be'." In a later interview, he said about the dream that his mother had told him, "It will be all right, just let it be." The song is widely interpreted as an allusion to the Virgin Mary, in particular the Annunciation, although McCartney has typically replied that listeners can interpret the song however they like.

Lyrics

Jacob Uitti writing for American Songwriter interpreted the lyrics of the song to be McCartney's farewell song to the group expressed through his mixed feelings of sadness for seeing the breakup of the group. The lyrics of the song have three main stanzas of four verses each, with a large number of repetitions of the main chorus sung in minor variations of the repeated lyrics "Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be/ Whisper words of wisdom, let it be." Uitti presents the opening stanza as stating McCartney's call to his listeners to accept that the reality of the break-up the group needs to be faced squarely using the words:

Recordings

The song would be rehearsed properly at Twickenham Film Studios on 3 January 1969, where the group had, the previous day, begun what would become the Let It Be film. During this stage of the film they were only recording on the mono decks used for syncing to the film cameras, and were not making multi-track recordings for release. A single take was recorded, with just McCartney on piano and vocals. The first attempt with the other Beatles was made on 8 January. Work continued on the song throughout the month. Multi-track recordings commenced on 23 January at Apple Studios.

Critical reception

In his review of the single, for the NME, Derek Johnson admired McCartney's performance and the lyrics' "pseudo-religious" qualities. Although he considered that the melody paled beside some of the band's previous singles, Johnson added: "As ever with The Beatles, this is a record to stop you dead in your tracks and compel you to listen attentively." John Gabree of High Fidelity magazine found the lyrics "dangerous politically", but viewed the song as possibly "the best thing musically that McCartney has done". In his album review for Melody Maker, Richard Williams said that McCartney's compositions "seem to be getting looser and less concise" and added that, although the album version of "Let It Be" featured a "much harder guitar solo"...

We Can Work It Out

"We Can Work It Out" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon. It was first issued as a double A-side single with "Day Tripper" in December 1965.

The song was recorded during the sessions for the band's Rubber Soul album. The single reached number one in Britain, the United States, Australia, Canada, and Ireland.

Composition

McCartney wrote the words and music to the verses and the chorus, with lyrics that "might have been personal", probably relating to his relationship with actress Jane Asher. McCartney then presented the song to Lennon, who contributed the bridge:

Recording

The Beatles recorded "We Can Work It Out" at EMI Studios (later Abbey Road Studios) in London on 20 October 1965, during the sessions for their Rubber Soul album. Along with Lennon's "Day Tripper", the song was earmarked for a non-album single that would accompany the release of the new LP. The band taped a satisfactory basic track in just two takes. With nearly eleven hours dedicated to the song, however, it was by far their longest expenditure of studio time up to that point. A vocal overdubbing session took place on 29 October.

Release

In a discussion about which of the two songs should be the A-side of the new single, Lennon had argued for "Day Tripper", differing with the majority view that "We Can Work It Out" was more commercial. On 15 November, EMI announced that the A-side would be "We Can Work It Out", only for Lennon to publicly contradict this two days later. As a result, the single was marketed as a "double A-side". Lennon's championing of "Day Tripper", for which he was the principal writer, was based on his belief that the Beatles' rock sound should be favoured over the softer style of "We Can Work It Out". Airplay and point-of-sale requests soon proved "We Can Work It Out" to be the more popular of the two sides.

A Hard Day's Night

"A Hard Day's Night" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. Credited to Lennon–McCartney, it was primarily written by John Lennon, with some minor collaboration from Paul McCartney.

It was released on the soundtrack album A Hard Day's Night in 1964. It was also released as a single in the UK, and in the US.

Composition

Lennon dashed off the song in one night, and brought it in for comments the following morning. As he described in his 1980 Playboy interview, "the next morning I brought in the song ... 'cuz there was a little competition between Paul and I as to who got the A-side – who got the hits. If you notice, in the early days the majority of singles, in the movies and everything, were mine ... in the early period I'm dominating the group ... The reason Paul sang on 'A Hard Day's Night' (in the bridge) is because I couldn't reach the notes." However, McCartney and others remember McCartney collaborating with Lennon.

Recording

During the recording of "A Hard Day's Night", Lennon and McCartney doubletracked their vocals throughout including the chorus. Lennon sings the lead vocal on the verses and Paul sings lead on the middle eight. During the chorus, McCartney handles the high harmony and Lennon the low harmony. Take 7 reveals that the lyrics were still not set with Lennon singing "you make me feel all right" and McCartney and Harrison still unsteady with their respective lines, ending with Lennon chiding them with the line "I heard a funny chord".

Lyrics

The lyrics speak about the singer's devotion to his lover, and how he works so she can buy the things she wants. The singer sings about his tiredness when he comes home from work, but how the things that his lover does perk him up.

Release and reception

"A Hard Day's Night" was first released to the United States, coming out on 26 June 1964 on the album A Hard Day's Night, the soundtrack to the film, and released by United Artists. It was the first song to be released before single release (see below).

Because

"Because" is a song written by John Lennon and recorded by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on their 1969 album Abbey Road, immediately preceding the extended medley on side two of the record.

It features a prominent three-part vocal harmony by Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, recorded three times to make nine voices in all.

Composition

The song begins with a distinctive electric harpsichord intro played by producer George Martin. The harpsichord is joined by Lennon's guitar (mimicking the harpsichord line) played through a Leslie speaker. Then vocals and bass guitar enter.

Blackbird

"Blackbird" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 double album The Beatles. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney, and performed as a solo piece by McCartney.

When discussing the song, McCartney has said that the lyrics were inspired by hearing the call of a blackbird in Rishikesh, India, and by the civil rights movement in the Southern United States.

Meaning and interpretation

Since composing "Blackbird" in 1968, McCartney has given various statements regarding both his inspiration for the song and its meaning. He has said that he was inspired by hearing the call of a blackbird one morning when the Beatles were studying Transcendental Meditation in Rishikesh, India, and also writing it in Scotland as a response to the Little Rock Nine incident and the overall civil rights movement, wanting to write a song dedicated to people who had been affected by discrimination.

Composition and recording

The song was recorded on 11 June 1968 at EMI's Abbey Road Studios' Studio 2, in London, with George Martin as the producer and Geoff Emerick as the audio engineer. It is a solo performance with McCartney playing a Martin D-28 acoustic guitar. The track includes recordings of a male common blackbird singing in the background.

Legacy

The song is regarded as one of the best in the Beatles' discography, and is generally considered one of McCartney's finest musical achievements. Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of its release, Jacob Stolworthy of The Independent listed "Blackbird" at number five in his ranking of the White Album's 30 tracks. He said that its "beautiful calmness" was at odds with the growing racial tensions that allegedly inspired the song, and concluded: "For many, it's the apotheosis of McCartney's career and remains a standout in his solo live shows." Although the 1985 Mr. Mister song "Broken Wings" contains an identical lyric, "Take these broken wings and learn to fly", Mr. Mister member Richard Page has described this as "a mindless unintentional...

Cover versions

Crosby, Stills & Nash recorded a version in February of 1969 during sessions for their debut album; it was later released on their box set of 1991. Concert versions by the trio can also be found on the document of their 1974 tour as well as the 2019 expanded set of performances from the Woodstock Festival.

Eight Days A Week

"Eight Days a Week" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. It was written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon based on McCartney's original idea.

It was released in December 1964 on the album Beatles for Sale, except in the United States and Canada, where it was first issued as a single A-side in February 1965 before appearing on the album Beatles VI. The song was the band's seventh number 1 single on the Billboard Hot 100, a run of US chart success achieved in just over a year.

Inspiration

Paul McCartney has attributed the inspiration of the song to at least two different sources. In a 1984 interview with Playboy magazine, he credited the title to one of Ringo Starr's malapropisms, which similarly provided titles for the Lennon–McCartney songs "A Hard Day's Night" and "Tomorrow Never Knows". McCartney recalled: "He said it as though he were an overworked chauffeur: 'Eight days a week.' When we heard it, we said, 'Really? Bing! Got it!'"

Recording

"Eight Days a Week" was the first song that the Beatles took into the studio unfinished to work on the arrangement during the session, a practice that would become common for the band. The song was recorded on 6 October 1964 during two sessions that together lasted nearly seven hours, with a fifteen-minute break in between. The band tried out several ideas for the intro and outro of the song. The first take featured a simple acoustic guitar introduction. The second take introduced an "oo"-ing vocal that was experimented with until the sixth take, when it was abandoned in favour of a guitar intro. The final outro (along with unused intro takes) was recorded separately, on 18 October.

Release and reception

"Eight Days a Week" was released on Beatles for Sale on 4 December 1964. It was sequenced as the opening track on side two of the LP. Describing the unusual effect provided by the fade-in, particularly at the start of an LP side, author Mark Hertsgaard writes that it gave listeners "the sensation of hearing the music before the song actually arrived; it was as if the sound arose out of the distance, like a flock of migrating birds that suddenly fills the sky."

Two Of Us

"Two of Us" is a song written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The song was recorded by the Beatles on 31 January 1969.

In popular culture

Two of Us is the title of a 2000 VH1 television drama which offers a fictionalised account of 24 April 1976, the day Lorne Michaels of Saturday Night Live offered the Beatles $3,000 to appear on the program, when by coincidence McCartney was visiting Lennon at his New York apartment and watching the program.

Yesterday

"Yesterday" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was first released on the album Help! in August 1965, except in the United States, where it was issued as a single in September.

The song reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart. It subsequently appeared on the UK EP Yesterday in March 1966 and made its US album debut on Yesterday and Today, in June 1966.

Composition and structure

Ostensibly simple, featuring only McCartney playing an Epiphone Texan steel-string acoustic guitar backed by a string quartet in one of the Beatles' first uses of session musicians, "Yesterday" has two contrasting sections, differing in melody and rhythm, producing a sense of variety and fitting contrast. The main melody is seven bars in length, extremely rare in popular songs, while the bridge, or "middle eight", is the more standard form of eight bars, often two four-bar phrases combined.

Recording

The track was recorded at Abbey Road Studios on 14 June 1965, immediately following the taping of "I'm Down" and four days before McCartney's 23rd birthday. There are conflicting accounts of how the song was recorded. Some sources state that McCartney and the other Beatles tried a variety of instruments, including drums and an organ, and that George Martin later persuaded them to allow McCartney to play his Epiphone Texan steel-string acoustic guitar, later overdubbing a string quartet for backup. Regardless, none of the other band members were included in the final recording.

Release

Concerning the debate on how the song should be released, Martin later said: "['Yesterday'] wasn't really a Beatles record and I discussed this with Brian Epstein: 'You know this is Paul's song ... shall we call it Paul McCartney?' He said 'No, whatever we do we are not splitting up the Beatles.'" Since "Yesterday" was unlike the Beatles' previous work and did not fit in with their image, the Beatles refused to permit the release of a single in the United Kingdom. This did not prevent Matt Monro from recording the first of many cover versions of "Yesterday". His version made it into the top ten in the UK charts soon after its release in the autumn of 1965.

Reception and legacy

"Yesterday" is one of the most recorded songs in the history of popular music. Its entry in Guinness World Records states that, by January 1986, 1,600 cover versions had been made. After Muzak switched in the 1990s to programs based on commercial recordings, its inventory grew to include about 500 "Yesterday" covers. In his 1972 article on the development of rock music, Joel Vance of Stereo Review magazine credited the song with originating the vogue for classical and baroque rock, anticipating the Rolling Stones' recording of "As Tears Go By" and works by artists such as the Moody Blues and the Classics IV.