She Came In Through The Bathroom Window

Song facts

We were bored, he was out and so we decided to pay him a visit. We found a ladder in his garden and stuck it up at the bathroom window which he’d left slightly open. I was the one who climbed up and got in.

Diane Ashley – From “The complete Beatles songs : the stories behind every track written by the Fab Four” by Steve Turner

From Wikipedia:

“She Came In Through the Bathroom Window” is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1969 album Abbey Road. Written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney, it is the fifth song of the album’s climactic B-side medley, immediately following “Polythene Pam“.

Origin

McCartney said the song was inspired by Apple scruffs (dedicated fans who hung around outside the Abbey Road studio, the Apple Corps offices, and the individual homes of the Beatles), who broke into McCartney’s St John’s Wood home. Diane Ashley says:

“We were bored, he was out and so we decided to pay him a visit. We found a ladder in his garden and stuck it up at the bathroom window which he’d left slightly open. I was the one who climbed up and got in.”

She then opened the front door to let the others in. The scruffs also stole a number of photographs in addition to clothes. Another Apple scruff, Margo Bird, remembers being good friends with McCartney – she would often take his dog for walks – and later got a job at Apple Corps. She says that she was asked to retrieve a photograph of his father Jim, which she did.

Recording

The rhythm track was recorded by the Beatles for this and “Polythene Pam” as one piece on 25 July 1969. After take 39, they added lead vocals, and re-recorded the drums and bass parts. On 28 July they added more vocals, guitar, percussion and piano. The song was completed two days later with additional guitar and percussion. “She Came In Through the Bathroom Window” segues abruptly after “Polythene Pam”, the song on the preceding track, without pause. At the very beginning of the song, in anticipation of the change of tempo, John Lennon gives out a laugh and then shouts “Oh, look out!”

A slower, ethereal version of this song, recorded in late January 1969 during the Let It Be sessions, appears on the 1996 compilation Anthology 3.

[The song] goes back to the fact a woman did actually sneak into my house through the bathroom window that was a bit ajar. A fan, apparently – one of a group called the ‘Apple scruffs’. She found a ladder lying outside my house in London. As far as I recall, she stole a picture of my cotton salesman dad. Or robbed me of it. But I got the song in return.

Paul McCartney – From “The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present” book (2021)

We were bored, he was out and so we decided to pay him a visit. We found a ladder in his garden and stuck it up at the bathroom window which he’d left slightly open. I was the one who climbed up and got in.

Diane Ashley – From “The complete Beatles songs : the stories behind every track written by the Fab Four” by Steve Turner

They rummaged around and took some clothers. People didn’t usually take anything of real value but I think this time a lot of photographs and negatives were taken. There were really two groups of Apple Scruffs – those who would break in and those who would just wait outside with cameras and autograph books. I used to take Paul’s dog for a walk and got to know him quite well. I was eventually offered a job at Apple. I started by making the tea and ended up in the promotions department working with Tony King.

Margo Bird – From “The complete Beatles songs : the stories behind every track written by the Fab Four” by Steve Turner

I knew who had done it and I discovered that a lot of the stuff had already gone to America. But I knew that there was one picture he particularly wanted back – a colour-tinted picture of him in a Thirties frame. I knew who had taken this and got it back for him.

Margo Bird – From “The complete Beatles songs : the stories behind every track written by the Fab Four” by Steve Turner

Later, Paul would have told Carol Bedford, an Apple Scruff who wrote the book “Waiting For The Beatles” (published in 1984):

I’ve written a song about the girls who broke in. It’s called ‘She Came In Through The Bathroom Window’

Paul McCartney to Carol Bedford, according to Carol Bedford

I didn’t believe at first [that the break-in had become the subject of a Beatles’ song] because he’d hated so much when we broke in. But then I suppose anything can inspire a song, can’t it? I know that all his neighbors rang him when they saw we’d got in and I’m sure that gave rise to the lines, ‘Sunday’s on the phone to Monday/Tuesday’s on the phone to me ‘.

Diane Ashley

This version of the story was challenged by the official Apple Scruffs, as explained on their official website:

Miss Ashley, a fan who frequented Cavendish Avenue, (she was NOT an Apple Scruff!) obviously wanted this song to be about her and of her breaking into Paul’s house.  This offence happened late December 1968 but the song was written in May 1968 – 8 months previously (see question below). 

We contacted the publisher of the book ‘The Lyrics’ regarding this song and Paul’s ‘recollection’ and asked them to remove the accusation that an ‘Apple Scruff’ had stolen items from his house. They replied:

“We are also aware that there are numerous other published accounts, both online and in print from reputable publishers, which evidence that an Apple Scruff was involved in the theft of the photograph from Paul’s house. These publications, copies of which we have obtained and reviewed in detail, contain accounts from people who themselves identify as Apple Scruffs. Notwithstanding your assertions now, these accounts make it clear that the woman who reportedly took the photograph from Paul’s house identified, and was identified by others – including by other Apple Scruffs — as an Apple Scruff. The recollection in Paul’s book is therefore widely supported by these other accounts as true” […]

At the time of the song release we believed this was written about Francie Schwartz as we used to see her sitting on the roof of the porch of Paul’s house after climbing out of the bathroom window – and maybe protected by ‘a silver spoon’??

Did an Apple Scruff break into Paul’s House and steal his belongings?

The answer to this is NO.  This ‘story’ has been around for a very long time and we have tried our best to rectify it over the years.

An Apple Scruff’s Diary entry records:   Wed 1st Jan 1969:   ‘Paul in terrible mood as some girls broke in’

It is well documented who committed this offence and this person was NOT an Apple Scruff – she and a couple of other known ‘fans’ of Paul committed this offence ‘because she was bored’ as she tells it, this comprised of a breaking-in and stealing photographs and a silver-framed photograph – along with some items of clothing. 

In early December 1968, Paul vacationed in Portugal with Linda Eastman, her daughter Heather and The Beatles biographer Hunter Davis—a trip highlighted by Paul proposing to Linda.   Linda took many photographs of this holiday and many of these ‘photographic slides’ were included with the stolen items.

A version of the theft was documented in a book written by Carol Bedford and has been quoted in various places. Her account about being involved in any way is pure fabrication and untrue as she didn’t arrive in the UK until January 1969. A lot of her book was a ‘fan-fantasy’.

Margo and Gill – ‘regular’ fans (not actually Apple Scruffs at the time as the name hadn’t yet been conceived!) were approached by Paul and asked if they knew of the culprit and if so, could they help obtain and return any of the stolen items. These were later recovered and returned to Paul – the returned items included a framed photograph of ‘Paul and Linda’ and was not a photograph of his Dad as widely reported in the media. The date of the retrieval was Summer 1969.

According to John Lennon, the Apple Scruff story was not the main inspiration though:

This wasn’t to do with the American fans (The Apple Scruffs). It was when Paul and I went to America (New York – May 1968) to publicise Apple about two years ago, and we were just in the flat we were staying in and he just came out with that line, ‘She came in through the bathroom window.’ So, he had it for years, and he eventually finished it. Most of the songs (on the album) were started back then, except for ‘You Never Give Me Your Money’ and ‘Golden Slumbers.’

John Lennon – From “The Beatles: Off the Record” by Keith Badman

In the 2006 documentary “The Classic Artists Series: The Moody Blues” (Released in October 2006), Mike Pinder, the former keyboard player of The Moody Blues, stated that the inspiration for the “She Came In Through The Bathroom Window” actually comes from an incident that happened to them — a groupie climbing into an open bathroom window in the band’s home and spending the night with band member Ray Thomas. The next day, Pinder and Thomas told the story to Paul McCartney, who — guitar in hand — strummed and sang “She came in through the bathroom window…“.

Ray was woken up in the night. And what had happened was the trap window of the bathroom was open, just letting air in, I presume. This girl climbed up the drainpipe and came in through the bathroom window…and went into Ray’s room in the middle of the night. And I don’t know what happened after that! But I do know that when I told John and Paul that story, the next thing we knew was, ‘She Came in through the Bathroom Window.’ 

Mike Pinder

There is also another story which doesn’t seem genuine, considering the number of dimensions on which the storyteller fits her story to the song :

Here, all this time I thought this song was written about me and my friend Judy. What a surprise to learn there was someone named Diane Ashley who put a ladder up to Paul’s house and climbed in through the bathroom window. This and the bit about “quit the police department” being inspired by an ex-cop taxi driver in NYC tells me something I already know about songwriting, which is that many songs are composites. This one obviously was because Diane wasn’t the only person having a profound effect on Paul McCartney by crawling in a bathroom window in 1967 (maybe ’68 in her case). Judy and I were paid $1500 by Greene & Stone, a couple of sleazy artist managers driving around the Sunset Strip in a Chinchilla-lined caddy limo, to “borrow” the quarter-inch master of “A Day In The Life” off of David Crosby’s reel-to-reel, drive it to Sunset Sound studios in Hollywood where Greene & Stone duped it, then put it back where we found it at Crosby’s Beverly Glen Canyon pad. Crosby was playing with the Byrds that day in Venice so we knew his house was empty. This was the day after a major rainstorm so the back of his house was one big mudslide. We climbed up it, leaving 8-inch deep footprints and, you guessed it, gained access via the bathroom window, leaving behind footprints and a veritable goldmine of forensic matter. We were really nervous and did not make clear mental notes of how the master reel was on the player, but did have the sense to leave Crosby’s front door unlocked while we drove across town and back. After the tape was back on the machine (badly) we changed out of our muddy shoes, drove to the Cheetah in Venice, and hung out with the Byrds into the evening, thinking we were awfully clever and cute. We did not know why Greene & Stone would pay so much money for a copy of a Beatles song, other than the fact that is was a groundbreaking and mind-blowing piece, but found out the next day when we heard “A Day In The Life” on KHJ, I think it was. Greene & Stone had used it as payola to get one of their groups, The Cake, singing “Yes We Have No Bananas,” on the air. Which they did, and it sucked, but oh well. By the following day “A Day In The Life” was no longer on the air. And just a day or two after that there was a front page blurb in the LA Times about “A Day In The Life” getting aired one month prior to the release date of the single and the Sgt. Pepper LP, which apparently cost the Beatles plenty and they were suing Capitol or Columbia, whichever the label was, for $2 million… and McCartney was flying in from London to deal with the mess. Oops. Judy and I nearly sank through the floor. Though we were active “dancers” in the various nightclubs on the Sunset Strip, we lay low for a while, not knowing what to expect. In fact, other than a song being written and a GREAT cover by Joe Cocker, nothing happened. We got our money, spent it on groovy clothes, of course (what else was there?) and never heard a word about it.

“I knew what I could not say” and “protected by a silver spoon” seemed to explain why there were no repercussions. My dad was a TV director who had already threatened to bust and ruin David Crosby for smoking pot with and deflowering his daughter; he had clout and David was afraid of him. Judy was from money and influence too. I feel that David knew exactly who had broken in and borrowed the tape but couldn’t press charges. He probably wasn’t supposed to be playing the master for all his friends and hangers-on, so there must have been hell to pay for him. I always felt bad for the cred it must have cost him with his friend Paul McCartney.

Oh, the bit about “Sunday’s on the phone to Monday, Tuesday’s on the phone to me” – that was somebody named Sunday, maybe a detective, I can’t remember now, calling the producer Billy Monday about the break-in and song leak. Billy Monday, knowing she was a friend of McCartney’s, called Tuesday Weld, and it was she who called Paul in London and told him the news. Well, I guess I didn’t make this very short after all. But you can’t tell me that this incident didn’t feed into the overall inspiration for the song. I’m just glad it turned out so cool and hope it made a heap for them in compensation for the publicity costs at the outset.

It was interesting and exciting then, that’s for sure. Even though I came of age into that scene and had nothing to compare it to, I still had a sense at the time of being at the epicenter of something big. Some of that was attributable to the hubris of youth, but some of it turned out to be real, as it happened. Now, present time, it makes my day to come across someone who still finds it interesting or even knows what or whom I’m talking about. By the way, I never did get to meet the Beatles, though I was invited to party where they were staying once, when I was 17. My mother wouldn’t let me go! I never forgave her.

Landis Kearnon (known at the time as Susie Landis) – From Songfacts

In October / November 1968, Paul spent a ten-day holiday with Linda Eastman and her daugher Heather in New York. He was writing “She Came In Through the Bathroom Window” and needed a final verse. In the yellow cab to the airport to fly back to London, he noticed a mug shot with the driver name written in large black letters (Eugene Quits), with the mention “New York Police Dept” beneath that.

So I got “So I quit the police department”, which are part of the lyrics to that. This was the great thing about the randomness of it all. If I hadn’t been in this guy’s cab, or if it had been someone else driving, the song would have been different. Also I had a guitar there so I could solidify it into something straight away.

Paul McCartney – From “Many Years From Now” by Barry Miles, 1997

So I got “So I quit the police department”, which are part of the lyrics to that. This was the great thing about the randomness of it all. If I hadn’t been in this guy’s cab, or if it had been someone else driving, the song would have been different. Also I had a guitar there so I could solidify it into something straight away.

Paul McCartney – From “Many Years From Now” by Barry Miles, 1997

From The Usenet Guide to Beatles Recording Variations:

[a] stereo 14 Aug 1969. crossfaded 14 Aug 1969.
UK: Apple PCS 7088 Abbey Road 1969.
US: Apple SO-383 Abbey Road 1969.
CD: EMI CDP 7 46446 2 Abbey Road 1987.

[Polythene Pam / She Came In Through The Bathroom Window] were recorded straight through. The crossfade joins this to the preceding song, Sun King / Mean Mr Mustard.

Last updated on October 17, 2022

Lyrics

Variations