Abbey Road

Track list

Side 1

1. Come Together

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   4:20 • Studio version • A • Stereo

   Paul McCartney : Bass, Electric piano, Harmony vocals Ringo Starr : Drums, Maracas John Lennon : Handclaps, Harmony vocals, Rhythm guitar, Tambourine, Vocals George Harrison : Lead guitar, Rhythm guitar George Martin : Producer Geoff Emerick : Recording engineer Phil McDonald : Recording engineer

   SessionRecording : Jul 21, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Abbey Road

   SessionOverdubs : 22, 23, 25, 29, 30 Jul 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Abbey Road

   SessionMixing : Aug 07, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Abbey Road

2. Something

   Written by George Harrison

   3:03 • Studio version • A • Stereo

   Paul McCartney : Backing vocals, Bass Ringo Starr : Drums John Lennon : Piano George Harrison : Lead guitar, Rhythm guitar, Vocals George Martin : Producer, String arrangement Geoff Emerick : Recording engineer Phil McDonald : Recording engineer Chris Thomas : Producer Jeff Jarratt : Recording engineer Glyn Johns : Recording engineer Billy Preston : Hammond organ Unknown : Four cellos, Four violas, One double-bass, Twelve violins

   SessionRecording : May 02, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road

   SessionOverdubs : May 05, 1969 • Studio : Olympic Sound Studios, London

   SessionOverdubs : 11,16 Jul, 15 Aug 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Abbey Road

   SessionMixing : Aug 19, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

3. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   3:28 • Studio version • A • Stereo

   Paul McCartney : Backing vocals, Guitar, Moog synthesiser, Piano, Vocals Ringo Starr : Anvil, Backing vocals, Drums George Harrison : Backing vocals, Bass, Lead guitar George Martin : Hammond organ, Producer Phil McDonald : Recording engineer

   SessionRecording : Jul 09, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

   SessionOverdubs : 9, 10, 11 Jul, 6 Aug 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Abbey Road

   SessionMixing : Aug 12, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

   SessionMixing : Aug 14, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

4. Oh! Darling

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   3:27 • Studio version • A • Stereo

   Paul McCartney : Backing vocals, Piano, Vocals Ringo Starr : Drums John Lennon : Backing vocals, Guitar George Harrison : Backing vocals, Bass George Martin : Producer Phil McDonald : Recording engineer Chris Thomas : Producer Jeff Jarratt : Recording engineer

   SessionRecording : Apr 20, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road

   SessionRecording : Apr 20, 26, Jul 23, Aug 08, 11, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Abbey Road

   SessionMixing : Aug 12, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

5. Octopus's Garden

   Written by Ringo Starr

   2:51 • Studio version • A • Stereo

   Paul McCartney : Backing vocals, Bass, Piano Ringo Starr : Drums, Effects, Percussion, Vocals John Lennon : Guitar George Harrison : Backing vocals, Lead guitar, Synthesiser George Martin : Producer Phil McDonald : Recording engineer Chris Thomas : Producer Jeff Jarratt : Recording engineer

   SessionRecording : Apr 26, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

   SessionOverdubs & mixing : Apr 29, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road

   SessionOverdubs & mixing : Jul 18, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Abbey Road

6. I Want You (She's So Heavy)

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   7:47 • Studio version • A • Stereo

   Paul McCartney : Backing vocals, Bass Ringo Starr : Congas, Drums John Lennon : Lead guitar, Moog synthesiser, Organ, Vocals George Harrison : Backing vocals, Lead guitar George Martin : Producer Tony Clark : Recording engineer Phil McDonald : Recording engineer Chris Thomas : Producer Barry Sheffield : Recording engineer Jeff Jarratt : Recording engineer Glyn Johns : Producer Billy Preston : Hammond organ

   SessionRecording : Feb 22, 1969 • Studio : Trident Studios, London, UK

   SessionOverdubs : Apr 18 and 20 and Aug 11, 1969 • Studio : Trident Studios, London, UK & EMI Studios, Abbey Road

   SessionMixing : Aug 20, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Abbey Road

Side 2

1. Here Comes The Sun

   Written by George Harrison

   3:06 • Studio version • A • Stereo

   Paul McCartney : Backing vocals, Bass, Handclaps Ringo Starr : Drums, Handclaps George Harrison : Acoustic guitar, Backing vocals, Handclaps, Harmonium, Moog synthesiser, Vocals George Martin : Producer Phil McDonald : Recording engineer Unknown : Four cellos, Four violas, One double-bass, Two alto flutes, Two clarinets, Two flutes, Two piccolos

   SessionRecording : Jul 07, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

   SessionOverdubs : 7, 8, 16 Jul, 6, 11, 15, 19 Aug 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Abbey Road

   SessionMixing : Aug 19, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

2. Because

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   2:46 • Studio version • A • Stereo

   Paul McCartney : Bass, Vocals John Lennon : Lead guitar, Vocals George Harrison : Moog synthesiser, Vocals George Martin : Electric spinet baldwin harpsichord, Producer

   SessionRecording : Aug 01, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

   SessionOverdubs : Aug 04, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Abbey Road

   SessionOverdubs : Aug 05, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Abbey Road

   SessionMixing : Aug 12, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

3. You Never Give Me Your Money

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   4:03 • Studio version • A • Stereo

   Paul McCartney : Backing vocals, Bass, Chimes, Guitar, Piano, Tape loops, Vocals Ringo Starr : Drums, Tambourine John Lennon : Backing vocals, Guitar George Harrison : Backing vocals, Guitar George Martin : Producer Geoff Emerick : Recording engineer Phil McDonald : Recording engineer Glyn Johns : Recording engineer

   SessionRecording : May 06, 1969 • Studio : Olympic Sound Studios, London

   SessionOverdubs : 1,15,31 Jul, 5 Aug 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Abbey Road

   SessionMixing : Aug 13, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

4. Sun King

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   2:26 • Studio version • A • Stereo

   Paul McCartney : Bass, Harmonium, Harmony vocals, Piano, Tape loops Ringo Starr : Bongos, Drums, Tambourine John Lennon : Guitar, Maracas, Vocals George Harrison : Harmony vocals, Lead guitar George Martin : Lowrey organ, Producer Geoff Emerick : Recording engineer Phil McDonald : Recording engineer

   SessionRecording : Jul 24, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

   SessionOverdubs : Jul 25, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

   SessionOverdubs : Jul 29, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road

   SessionMixing : Jul 30, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Abbey Road

5. Mean Mr. Mustard

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   1:07 • Studio version • A • Stereo

   Paul McCartney : Fuzz bass, Harmony vocals, Piano Ringo Starr : Drums, Tambourine John Lennon : Guitar, Maracas, Vocals George Harrison : Lead guitar George Martin : Producer Geoff Emerick : Recording engineer Phil McDonald : Recording engineer

   SessionRecording : Jul 24, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

   SessionOverdubs : Jul 25, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

   SessionOverdubs : Jul 29, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road

   SessionMixing : Jul 30, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Abbey Road

6. Polythene Pam

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   1:13 • Studio version • A • Stereo

   Paul McCartney : Backing vocals, Bass, Electric piano, Lead guitar, Piano Ringo Starr : Cowbell, Drums, Maracas, Tambourine John Lennon : 12-string acoustic guitar, Handclaps, Rhythm guitar, Vocals George Harrison : Backing vocals, Lead guitar George Martin : Producer Geoff Emerick : Recording engineer Phil McDonald : Recording engineer

   SessionRecording & overdubs : Jul 25, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

   SessionOverdubs : Jul 28, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Abbey Road

   SessionOverdubs & mixing : Jul 30, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Abbey Road

7. She Came In Through The Bathroom Window

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   1:59 • Studio version • A • Stereo

   Paul McCartney : Bass, Electric piano, Lead guitar, Piano, Vocals Ringo Starr : Cowbell, Drums, Maracas, Tambourine John Lennon : 12-string acoustic guitar, Backing vocals, Handclaps, Rhythm guitar George Harrison : Lead guitar George Martin : Producer Geoff Emerick : Recording engineer Phil McDonald : Recording engineer

   SessionRecording & overdubs : Jul 25, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

   SessionOverdubs : Jul 28, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Abbey Road

   SessionOverdubs & mixing : Jul 30, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Abbey Road

8. Golden Slumbers

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   1:32 • Studio version • A • Stereo

   Paul McCartney : Piano, Vocals Ringo Starr : Drums George Harrison : Bass George Martin : Producer Geoff Emerick : Recording engineer Phil McDonald : Recording engineer Unknown : Four cellos, Four horns, Four violas, One bass trombone, One double-bass, One trombone, Three trumpets, Twelve violins

   SessionRecording : Jul 02, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

   SessionOverdubs : 3, 4, 30, 31 Jul, 15 Aug 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Abbey Road

   SessionRecording : Aug 18, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

9. Carry That Weight

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   1:37 • Studio version • A • Stereo

   Paul McCartney : Harmony vocal, Lead vocal, Piano, Rhythm guitar Ringo Starr : Chorus vocal, Drums, Timpani George Harrison : Bass, Lead guitar George Martin : Producer Geoff Emerick : Recording engineer Phil McDonald : Recording engineer Unknown : Four cellos, Four horns, Four violas, One bass trombone, One double-bass, One trombone, Three trumpets, Twelve violins

   SessionRecording : Jul 02, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

   SessionOverdubs : 3, 4, 30, 31 Jul, 15 Aug 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Abbey Road

   SessionMixing : Aug 18, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

10. The End

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    2:22 • Studio version • A • Stereo

    Paul McCartney : Backing vocals, Bass, Lead guitar, Piano, Vocals Ringo Starr : Drums, Tambourine John Lennon : Lead guitar, Rhythm guitar George Harrison : Lead guitar, Rhythm guitar George Martin : Producer Geoff Emerick : Recording engineer Phil McDonald : Recording engineer Unknown : Four cellos, Four horns, Four violas, One bass trombone, One double-bass, One trombone, Three trumpets, Twelve violins

    SessionRecording : Jul 23, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road

    SessionOverdubs : 5, 7, 8, 15, 18 Aug 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Abbey Road

    SessionMixing : Aug 19, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

11. Her Majesty

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    0:26 • Studio version • A • Stereo

    Paul McCartney : Acoustic guitar, Vocals George Martin : Producer Phil McDonald : Recording engineer

    SessionRecording : Jul 02, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

    SessionMixing : Jul 30, 1969 • Studio : EMI Studios, Abbey Road

From Wikipedia:

Abbey Road is the eleventh studio album by the English rock band the Beatles, released on 26 September 1969 by Apple Records. Named after the location of EMI Studios in London, the cover features the group walking across the street’s zebra crossing, an image that became one of the most famous and imitated in popular music. The album’s initially mixed reviews were contrasted by its immediate commercial success, topping record charts in the UK and US. The single “Something” / “Come Together” was released in October and topped the US charts.

The album incorporates genres such as blues, rock and pop, and makes prominent use of Moog synthesizer, sounds filtered through a Leslie speaker, and tom-tom drums. It is the Beatles’ only album recorded exclusively through a solid-state transistor mixing desk, which afforded a clearer and brighter sound than the group’s previous records. Side two contains a medley of shorter song fragments. The sessions also produced a non-album single, “The Ballad of John and Yoko” backed with “Old Brown Shoe“.

Producer George Martin returned on the condition that the Beatles adhere to the discipline of their earlier records. They found the album’s recording more enjoyable than the preceding Get Back sessions, but personal issues still permeated the band. Production lasted from February to August 1969, and the closing track “The End” marked the final occasion that all four members recorded together. John Lennon privately left the group six days before the album’s release; Paul McCartney publicly declared the band’s break-up the following April.

Upon release, detractors found Abbey Road to be inauthentic and bemoaned the production’s artificial effects. Since then, many critics have hailed the album as the Beatles’ finest and a contender for the greatest album of all time; in particular, “Something” and “Here Comes the Sun” are considered among the best songs George Harrison wrote for the group. The album has also been ranked as one of the Beatles’ best-selling, including a multi-platinum certification by the RIAA. Shortly after its release, the cover photograph fuelled rumours of McCartney’s purported death. EMI Studios was also renamed Abbey Road Studios in honour of the album. A deluxe version of the album was released in September 2019 to celebrate its 50th anniversary. In 2020, it was ranked fifth in Rolling Stone‘s list of the greatest albums of all time.

Background

After the tense and unpleasant recording sessions for the proposed Get Back album, Paul McCartney suggested to music producer George Martin that the group get together and make an album “the way we used to do it”, free of the conflict that had begun during sessions for The Beatles (also known as the “White Album”). Martin agreed, but on the strict condition that all the group – particularly John Lennon – allow him to produce the record in the same manner as earlier albums and that discipline would be adhered to. No one was entirely sure that the work was going to be the group’s last, though George Harrison said “it felt as if we were reaching the end of the line”.

Production – Recording history

The first sessions for Abbey Road began on 22 February 1969, only three weeks after the Get Back sessions, in Trident Studios. There, the group recorded a backing track for “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” with Billy Preston accompanying them on Hammond organ. No further group recording occurred until April because of Ringo Starr’s commitments on the film The Magic Christian. After a small amount of work that month and a session for “You Never Give Me Your Money” on 6 May, the group took an eight-week break before recommencing on 2 July. Recording continued through July and August, and the last backing track, for “Because“, was taped on 1 August. Overdubs continued through the month, with the final sequencing of the album coming together on 20 August – the last time all four Beatles were present in a studio together.

McCartney, Starr and Martin have reported positive recollections of the sessions, while Harrison said, “we did actually perform like musicians again”. Lennon and McCartney had enjoyed working together on the non-album single “The Ballad of John and Yoko” in April, sharing friendly banter between takes, and some of this camaraderie carried over to the Abbey Road sessions. Nevertheless, there was a significant amount of tension in the group. According to Ian MacDonald, McCartney had an acrimonious argument with Lennon during the sessions. Lennon’s wife, Yoko Ono, had become a permanent presence at Beatles’ recordings and clashed with other members. Halfway through recording in June, Lennon and Ono were involved in a car accident. A doctor told Ono to rest in bed, so Lennon had one installed in the studio so she could observe the recording process from there.

During the sessions, Lennon expressed a desire to have all of his songs on one side of the album, and McCartney’s on the other. The album’s two halves represented a compromise: Lennon wanted a traditional release with distinct and unrelated songs while McCartney and Martin wanted to continue their thematic approach from Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by incorporating a medley. Lennon ultimately said that he disliked Abbey Road as a whole and felt that it lacked authenticity, calling McCartney’s contributions “[music] for the grannies to dig” and not “real songs”, and describing the medley as “junk … just bits of songs thrown together”.

Production – Technical aspects

Abbey Road was recorded on eight-track reel-to-reel tape machines rather than the four-track machines that were used for earlier Beatles albums such as Sgt Pepper, and was the first Beatles album not to be issued in mono. The album makes prominent use of guitar played through a Leslie speaker, and of the Moog synthesizer. The Moog is not merely used as a background effect but sometimes plays a central role, as in “Because”, where it is used for the middle eight. It is also prominent on “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” and “Here Comes the Sun”. The synthesizer was introduced to the band by Harrison, who acquired one in November 1968 and used it to create his album Electronic Sound. Starr made more prominent use of the tom-toms on Abbey Road, later saying the album was “tom-tom madness … I went nuts on the toms.”

Abbey Road was also the first and only Beatles album to be entirely recorded through a solid-state transistor mixing desk, the TG12345 Mk I, as opposed to earlier thermionic valve-based REDD desks. The TG console also allowed better support for eight-track recording, facilitating the Beatles’ considerable use of overdubbing. Emerick recalls that the TG desk used to record the album had individual limiters and compressors on each audio channel and noted that the overall sound was “softer” than the earlier valve desks. In his study of the role of the TG12345 in the Beatles’ sound on Abbey Road, music historian Kenneth Womack observes that “the expansive sound palette and mixing capabilities of the TG12345 enabled George Martin and Geoff Emerick to imbue the Beatles’ sound with greater definition and clarity. The warmth of solid-state recording also afforded their music with brighter tonalities and a deeper low end that distinguished Abbey Road from the rest of their corpus, providing listeners with an abiding sense that the Beatles’ final long-player was markedly different.”

Alan Parsons worked as an assistant engineer on the album. He later went on to engineer Pink Floyd’s landmark album The Dark Side of the Moon and produce many popular albums himself with the Alan Parsons Project. John Kurlander also assisted on many of the sessions, and went on to become a successful engineer and producer, most noteworthy for his success on the scores for the Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

Songs – Side one

“Come Together” was an expansion of “Let’s Get It Together”, a song Lennon originally wrote for Timothy Leary’s California gubernatorial campaign against Ronald Reagan. A rough version of the lyrics for “Come Together” was written at Lennon’s and Ono’s second bed-in event in Montreal.

Beatles author Jonathan Gould suggested that the song has only a single “pariah-like protagonist” and Lennon was “painting another sardonic self-portrait”. MacDonald has suggested that the “juju eyeballs” has been claimed to refer to Dr John and “spinal cracker” to Ono. The song was later the subject of a lawsuit brought against Lennon by Morris Levy because the opening line in “Come Together” – “Here come old flat-top” – was admittedly lifted from a line in Chuck Berry’s “You Can’t Catch Me”. A settlement was reached in 1973 in which Lennon promised to record three songs from Levy’s publishing catalogue for his next album.

“Come Together” was later released as a double A-side single with “Something”. In the liner notes to the compilation album Love, Martin described the track as “a simple song but it stands out because of the sheer brilliance of the performers”.

Harrison was inspired to write “Something” during sessions for the White Album by listening to label-mate James Taylor’s “Something in the Way She Moves” from his album James Taylor. After the lyrics were refined during the Let It Be sessions (tapes reveal Lennon giving Harrison some songwriting advice during its composition), the song was initially given to Joe Cocker, but was subsequently recorded for Abbey Road. Cocker’s version appeared on his album Joe Cocker! that November.

“Something” was Lennon’s favourite song on the album, and McCartney considered it the best song Harrison had written. Though the song was written by Harrison, Frank Sinatra once commented that it was his favourite Lennon–McCartney composition and “the greatest love song ever written”. Lennon contributed piano to the recording and while most of the part was removed, traces of it remain in the final cut, notably on the middle eight, before Harrison’s guitar solo.

The song was issued as a double A-side single with “Come Together” in October 1969 and topped the US charts for one week, becoming the Beatles’ first number-one single that was not a Lennon–McCartney composition. It was also the first Beatles single from an album already released in the UK. Apple’s Neil Aspinall filmed a promotional video, which combined separate footage of the Beatles and their wives.

“Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”, McCartney’s first song on the album, was first performed by the Beatles during the Let It Be sessions (as seen in the film). He wrote the song after the group’s trip to India in 1968 and wanted to record it for the White Album, but it was rejected by the others as “too complicated”.

The recording was fraught with tension between band members, as McCartney annoyed others by insisting on a perfect performance. The track was the first Lennon was invited to work on following his car accident, but he hated it and declined to do so. According to engineer Geoff Emerick, Lennon said it was “more of Paul’s granny music” and left the session. He spent the next two weeks with Ono and did not return to the studio until the backing track for “Come Together” was laid down on 21 July. Harrison was also tired of the song, saying “we had to play it over and over again until Paul liked it. It was a real drag”. Starr was more sympathetic to the song. “It was granny music”, he admitted, “but we needed stuff like that on our album so other people would listen to it”. Longtime roadie Mal Evans played the anvil sound in the chorus. This track also makes use of Harrison’s Moog synthesizer, played by McCartney.

“Oh! Darling” was written by McCartney in the doo-wop style, like contemporary work by Frank Zappa. It was tried at the Get Back sessions, and a version appears on Anthology 3. It was subsequently re-recorded in April, with overdubs in July and August.

McCartney attempted recording the lead vocal only once a day. He said: “I came into the studios early every day for a week to sing it by myself because at first my voice was too clear. I wanted it to sound as though I’d been performing it on stage all week.” Lennon thought he should have sung it, remarking that it was more his style.

As was the case with most of the Beatles’ albums, Starr sang lead vocal on one track. “Octopus’s Garden” is his second and last solo composition released on any album by the band. It was inspired by a trip to Sardinia aboard Peter Sellers’s yacht after Starr left the band for two weeks with his family during the sessions for the White Album. Starr received a full songwriting credit and composed most of the lyrics, although the song’s melodic structure was partly written in the studio by Harrison. The pair would later collaborate as writers on Starr’s solo singles “It Don’t Come Easy”, “Back Off Boogaloo” and “Photograph”.

“I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” was written by Lennon about his relationship with Ono, and he made a deliberate choice to keep the lyrics simple and concise. Author Tom Maginnis writes that the song had a progressive rock influence, with its unusual length and structure, repeating guitar riff, and white noise effects, though he noted the “I Want You” section has a straightforward blues structure.

The finished song is a combination of two different recording attempts. The first attempt occurred almost immediately after the Get Back/Let It Be sessions, in February 1969, with Billy Preston. This was subsequently combined with a second version made during the Abbey Road sessions proper in April. The two sections together ran to nearly eight minutes, making it the Beatles’ second-longest released track. Lennon used Harrison’s Moog synthesizer with a white noise setting to create a “wind” effect that was overdubbed on the second half of the track. During the final edit, Lennon told Emerick to “cut it right there” at 7 minutes and 44 seconds, creating a sudden, jarring silence that concludes the first side of Abbey Road (the recording tape would have run out within 20 seconds as it was). The final mixing and editing of the track occurred on 20 August 1969, the last day all four Beatles were together in the studio.

Songs – Side two

“Here Comes the Sun” was written by Harrison in Eric Clapton’s garden in Surrey during a break from stressful band business meetings. The basic track was recorded on 7 July 1969. Harrison sang lead and played acoustic guitar, McCartney provided backing vocals and played bass and Starr played the drums. Lennon was still recuperating from his car accident and did not perform on the track. Martin provided an orchestral arrangement in collaboration with Harrison, who overdubbed a Moog synthesizer part on 19 August, immediately before the final mix.

Though not released as a single, the song attracted attention and critical praise, and was included on the compilation 1967–1970. It has been featured several times on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, having been chosen by Sandie Shaw, Jerry Springer, Boris Johnson and Elaine Paige. The Daily Telegraph‘s Martin Chilton said it was “almost impossible not to sing along to”. Since digital downloads have become eligible to chart, it reached number 56 in 2010 after the Beatles’ back catalogue was released on iTunes. It is also the most streamed Beatles song on Spotify.

Harrison recorded a guitar solo for this track that did not appear in the final mix. It was rediscovered in 2012, and footage of Martin and Harrison’s son Dhani listening to it in the studio was released on the DVD of Living in the Material World.

“Because” was inspired by Lennon listening to Ono playing Ludwig van Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata” on the piano. He recalled he was “lying on the sofa in our house, listening to Yoko play … Suddenly, I said, ‘Can you play those chords backward?’ She did, and I wrote ‘Because’ around them.” The track features three-part harmonies by Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, which were then triple-tracked to give nine voices in the final mix. The group considered the vocals to be some of the hardest and most complex they attempted. Harrison played the Moog synthesizer, and Martin played the harpsichord that opens the track.

The remainder of side two consists of a 16-minute medley of eight short songs (known during the recording sessions as “The Long One”), recorded over July and August and blended into a suite by McCartney and Martin. Some songs were written (and originally recorded in demo form) during sessions for the White Album and Get Back / Let It Be, which later appeared on Anthology 3. While the idea for the medley was McCartney’s, Martin claims credit for some structure, adding he “wanted to get John and Paul to think more seriously about their music”.

The first track recorded for the medley was the opening number, “You Never Give Me Your Money“. McCartney has claimed that the band’s dispute over Allen Klein and what McCartney viewed as Klein’s empty promises were the inspiration for the song’s lyrics. However, MacDonald doubts this, given that the backing track, recorded on 6 May at Olympic Studios, predated the worst altercations between Klein and McCartney. The track is a suite of varying styles, ranging from a piano-led ballad at the start to arpeggiated guitars at the end. Both Harrison and Lennon provided guitar solos with Lennon playing the solos at the end of the track.

This song transitions into Lennon’s “Sun King” which, like “Because”, showcases Lennon, McCartney and Harrison’s triple-tracked harmonies. Following it are Lennon’s “Mean Mr. Mustard” (written during the Beatles’ 1968 trip to India) and “Polythene Pam“. These in turn are followed by four McCartney songs, “She Came In Through the Bathroom Window” (written after a fan entered McCartney’s residence via his bathroom window), “Golden Slumbers” (based on Thomas Dekker’s 17th-century poem set to new music), “Carry That Weight” (reprising elements from “You Never Give Me Your Money”, and featuring chorus vocals from all four Beatles), and closing with “The End“.

“The End” features Starr’s only drum solo in the Beatles’ catalogue (the drums are mixed across two tracks in “true stereo”, unlike most releases at that time where they were hard panned left or right). Fifty-four seconds into the song are 18 bars of lead guitar: the first two bars are played by McCartney, the second two by Harrison, and the third two by Lennon, and the sequence is repeated two more times. Harrison suggested the idea of a guitar solo in the track, Lennon decided they should trade solos and McCartney elected to go first. The solos were cut live against the existing backing track in one take. Immediately after Lennon’s third and final solo, the piano chords of the final part of the song begin. The song ends with the memorable final line, “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make”. This section was taped separately from the first, and required the piano to be re-recorded by McCartney, which was done on 18 August. An alternative version of the song, with Harrison’s lead guitar solo played against McCartney’s (and Starr’s drum solo heard in the background), appears on the Anthology 3 album and the 2012 digital-only compilation album Tomorrow Never Knows.

Musicologist Walter Everett interprets that most of the lyrics on side two’s medley deal with “selfishness and self-gratification – the financial complaints in ‘You Never Give Me Your Money,’ the miserliness of Mr. Mustard, the holding back of the pillow in ‘Carry That Weight,’ the desire that some second person will visit the singer’s dreams – perhaps the ‘one sweet dream’ of ‘You Never Give Me Your Money’? – in ‘The End.'” Everett adds that the medley’s “selfish moments” are played in the context of the tonal centre of A, while “generosity” is expressed in songs where C major is central. The medley concludes with a “great compromise in the ‘negotiations'” in “The End”, which serves as a structurally balanced coda. In response to the repeated A-major choruses of “love you”, McCartney sings in realisation that there is as much self-gratifying love (“the love you take”) as there is of the generous love (“the love you make”), in A major and C major, respectively.

“Her Majesty” was recorded by McCartney on 2 July when he arrived before the rest of the group at Abbey Road. It was originally included in a rough mix of the side two medley (and officially available in this form for the first time on the album’s 3CD Super Deluxe edition box set), appearing between “Mean Mr. Mustard” and “Polythene Pam”. McCartney disliked the way the medley sounded when it included “Her Majesty”, so he asked for it to be cut. The second engineer, John Kurlander, had been instructed by George Martin not to throw out anything, so after McCartney left, he attached the track to the end of the master tape after 20 seconds of silence. The tape box bore an instruction to leave “Her Majesty” off the final product, but the next day when mastering engineer Malcolm Davies received the tape, he (also trained not to throw anything away) cut a playback lacquer of the whole sequence, including “Her Majesty”. The Beatles liked this effect and included it on the album.

“Her Majesty” opens with the final, crashing chord of “Mean Mr. Mustard”, while the final note remained buried in the mix of “Polythene Pam”, as a result of being snipped off the reel during a rough mix of the medley on 30 July. The medley was subsequently mixed again from scratch although the song was not touched again and still appears in its rough mix on the album.

Original US and UK pressings of Abbey Road do not list “Her Majesty” on the album’s cover nor on the record label, making it a hidden track. The song title appears on the inlay card and disc of the 1987 remastered CD reissue, as track 17. It also appears on the sleeve, booklet and disc of the 2009 remastered CD reissue, but not on the cover or record label of the 2012 vinyl reissue.

Unreleased material

Three days after the session for “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)”, Harrison recorded solo demos of “All Things Must Pass” (which became the title track of his 1970 triple album), “Something” and “Old Brown Shoe“. The latter was re-recorded by the Beatles in April 1969 and issued as the B-side to “The Ballad of John and Yoko” the following month. All three of these Harrison demos were later featured on Anthology 3.

During the sessions for the medley, McCartney recorded “Come and Get It“, playing all the instruments. It was assumed to be a demo recording for another artist but McCartney later said that he originally intended to put it on Abbey Road. It was instead covered by Badfinger, while McCartney’s original recording appeared on Anthology 3.

The original backing track to “Something”, featuring a piano-led coda, and “You Never Give Me Your Money”, which leads into a fast rock-n-roll jam session, have appeared on bootlegs.

Cover photo

Apple Records creative director Kosh designed the album cover. It is the only original UK Beatles album sleeve to show neither the artist name nor the album title on its front cover, which was Kosh’s idea, despite EMI claiming the record would not sell without this information. He later explained that “we didn’t need to write the band’s name on the cover … They were the most famous band in the world”. The front cover was a photograph of the group on a zebra crossing based on ideas that McCartney sketched and taken on 8 August 1969 outside EMI Studios on Abbey Road. At 11:35 that morning, photographer Iain Macmillan was given only ten minutes to take the photo while he stood on a step-ladder and a policeman held up traffic behind the camera. Macmillan took six photographs, which McCartney examined with a magnifying glass before deciding which would be used on the album sleeve.

In the image selected by McCartney, the group walk across the street in single file from left to right, with Lennon leading, followed by Starr, McCartney, and Harrison. McCartney is barefoot and out of step with the others. Except for Harrison, the group are wearing suits designed by Tommy Nutter. A white Volkswagen Beetle is to the left of the picture, parked next to the zebra crossing, which belonged to one of the people living in the block of flats across from the recording studio. After the album was released, the number plate (LMW 281F) was repeatedly stolen from the car. In 2004, news sources published a claim made by retired American salesman Paul Cole that he was the man standing on the pavement to the right of the picture.

Release

In mid-1969, Lennon formed a new group, the Plastic Ono Band, in part because the Beatles had rejected his song “Cold Turkey”. While Harrison worked with such artists as Leon Russell, Doris Troy, Preston and Delaney & Bonnie through to the end of the year, McCartney took a hiatus from the group after his daughter Mary was born on 28 August. On 20 September, Lennon told McCartney, Starr, and business manager Allen Klein (Harrison was not present) he was leaving the group, (or in his words, he wanted a divorce) six days before Abbey Road was released. The single “Something”/”Come Together” followed in October, while Lennon released the Plastic Ono Band’s “Cold Turkey” the same month.

The Beatles did little promotion of Abbey Road directly, and no public announcement was made of the band’s split until McCartney announced he was leaving the group in April 1970. By this time, the Get Back project (by now retitled Let It Be) had been re-examined, with overdubs and mixing sessions continuing into 1970. Therefore, Let It Be became the last album to be finished and released by the Beatles, although its recording had begun before Abbey Road.

Abbey Road sold four million copies in its first two months of release. In the UK, the album debuted at number one, where it remained for 11 weeks before being displaced for one week by the Rolling Stones’ Let It Bleed. The following week (which was Christmas), Abbey Road returned to the top for another six weeks (completing a total of 17 weeks) before being replaced by Led Zeppelin II. Altogether, it spent 81 weeks on the UK albums chart. Reaction overseas was similar. In the US, the album spent 11 weeks at number one on the Billboard Top LPs chart. It was the National Association of Recording Merchandisers (NARM) best-selling album of 1969. In Japan, it was one of the longest-charting albums to date, remaining in the top 100 for 298 weeks during the 1970s.

Critical reception – Contemporary

Abbey Road initially received mixed reviews from music critics, who criticised the production’s artificial sounds and viewed its music as inauthentic. William Mann of The Times said that the album will “be called gimmicky by people who want a record to sound exactly like a live performance”, although he considered it to be “teem[ing] with musical invention” and added: “Nice as Come Together and Harrison’s Something are – they are minor pleasures in the context of the whole disc … Side Two is marvellous …” Ed Ward of Rolling Stone called the album “complicated instead of complex” and felt that the Moog synthesizer “disembodies and artificializes” the band’s sound, adding that they “create a sound that could not possibly exist outside the studio”. While he found the medley on side two to be their “most impressive music” since Rubber Soul, Nik Cohn of The New York Times said that, “individually”, the album’s songs are “nothing special”. Albert Goldman of Life magazine wrote that Abbey Road “is not one of the Beatles’ great albums” and, despite some “lovely” phrases and “stirring” segues, side two’s suite “seems symbolic of the Beatles’ latest phase, which might be described as the round-the-clock production of disposable music effects”.

Conversely, Chris Welch wrote in Melody Maker: “the truth is, their latest LP is just a natural born gas, entirely free of pretension, deep meanings or symbolism … While production is simple compared to past intricacies, it is still extremely sophisticated and inventive.” Derek Jewell of The Sunday Times found the album “refreshingly terse and unpretentious”, and although he lamented the band’s “cod-1920s jokes (Maxwell’s Silver Hammer) and … Ringo’s obligatory nursery arias (Octopus’s Garden)”, he considered that Abbey Road “touches higher peaks than did their last album”. John Mendelsohn, writing for Rolling Stone, called it “breathtakingly recorded” and praised side two especially, equating it to “the whole of Sgt. Pepper” and stating, “That the Beatles can unify seemingly countless musical fragments and lyrical doodlings into a uniformly wonderful suite … seems potent testimony that no, they’ve far from lost it, and no, they haven’t stopped trying.”

While covering the Rolling Stones’ 1969 American tour for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau reported from a meeting with Greil Marcus in Berkeley that “opinion has shifted against the Beatles. Everyone is putting down Abbey Road.” Shortly afterwards, in Los Angeles, he wrote that his colleague Ellen Willis had grown to love the record, adding: “Damned if she isn’t right – flawed but fine. Because the world is round it turns her on. Charlie Watts tells us he likes it too.”

Critical reception – Retrospective

Many critics have since cited Abbey Road as the Beatles’ greatest album. In a retrospective review, Nicole Pensiero of PopMatters called it “an amazingly cohesive piece of music, innovative and timeless”. Mark Kemp of Paste viewed the album as being “among The Beatles’ finest works, even if it foreshadows the cigarette-lighter-waving arena rock that technically skilled but critically maligned artists from Journey to Meatloaf would belabor throughout the ’70s and ’80s”. Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph dubbed it the Beatles’ “last love letter to the world” and praised its “big, modern sound”, calling it “lush, rich, smooth, epic, emotional and utterly gorgeous”.

AllMusic’s Richie Unterberger felt that the album shared Sgt. Pepper‘s “faux-conceptual forms”, but had “stronger compositions”, and wrote of its standing in the band’s catalogue: “Whether Abbey Road is the Beatles’ best work is debatable, but it’s certainly the most immaculately produced (with the possible exception of Sgt. Pepper) and most tightly constructed.” Ian MacDonald gave a mixed opinion of the album, noting that several tracks had been written at least a year previously, and would possibly have been unsuitable without being integrated into the medley on side two. He did, however, praise the production, particularly the sound of Starr’s bass drum.

Abbey Road received high rankings in several “best albums in history” polls by critics and publications. It was voted number 8 in Colin Larkin’s All Time Top 1000 Albums 3rd Edition (2000). Time included it in their 2006 list of the All-Time 100 Albums. In 2009, readers of Rolling Stone named Abbey Road the greatest Beatles album. In 2020, the magazine ranked the album at number 5 on its list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”, the highest Beatles record on the list; a previous version of the list from 2012 had ranked it at number 14. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

Legacy – Abbey Road crossing and “Paul is dead”

The image of the Beatles on the Abbey Road crossing has become one of the most famous and imitated in recording history. The crossing is a popular destination for Beatles fans, and a webcam has operated there since 2011. In December 2010, the crossing was given grade II listed status for its “cultural and historical importance”; the Abbey Road studios themselves had been given similar status earlier in the year.

Shortly after the album’s release, the cover became part of the “Paul is dead” theory that was spreading across college campuses in the US. According to followers of the rumour, the cover depicted the Beatles walking out of a cemetery in a funeral procession. The procession was led by Lennon dressed in white as a religious figure; Starr was dressed in black as the undertaker; McCartney, out of step with the others, was a barefoot corpse; and Harrison dressed in denim was the gravedigger. The left-handed McCartney is holding a cigarette in his right hand, indicating that he is an imposter, and the number plate on the Volkswagen parked on the street is 28IF, meaning that McCartney would have been 28 if he had lived – despite the fact that he was only 27 at the time of the photo and subsequent release of the record. The escalation of the “Paul is dead” rumour became the subject of intense analysis on mainstream radio and contributed to Abbey Road‘s commercial success in the US. Lennon was interviewed in London by New York’s WMCA, and he ridiculed the rumour but conceded that it was invaluable publicity for the album.

The cover image has been parodied on several occasions, including by McCartney on his 1993 live album Paul Is Live. On the cover of its October 1977 issue, the satirical magazine National Lampoon depicted the four Beatles flattened along the zebra crossing, with a road roller driving away up the street. The Red Hot Chili Peppers’ The Abbey Road E.P. parodies the cover, with the band walking near-naked across a similar zebra crossing. In 2003, several US poster companies airbrushed McCartney’s cigarette out of the image without permission from Apple or McCartney. In 2013, Kolkata Police launched a traffic safety awareness advertisement against jaywalking, using the cover and a caption that read: “If they can, why can’t you?”

Legacy – Cover versions and influence

The songs on Abbey Road have been covered many times and the album itself has been covered in its entirety. One month after Abbey Road‘s release, George Benson recorded a cover version of the album called The Other Side of Abbey Road. Later in 1969 Booker T. & the M.G.’s recorded McLemore Avenue (the location in Memphis of Stax Records) which covered the Abbey Road songs and had a similar cover photo.

While matching albums such as Sgt. Pepper in terms of popularity, Abbey Road failed to repeat the Beatles’ earlier achievements in galvanising their rivals to imitate them. In author Peter Doggett’s description, “Too contrived for the rock underground to copy, too complex for the bubblegum pop brigade to copy, the album influenced no one – except [Paul McCartney]”, who spent years trying to emulate its scope in his solo career. Writing for Classic Rock in 2014, Jon Anderson of the progressive rock band Yes said his group were constantly influenced by the Beatles from Revolver onwards, but it was the feeling that side two was “one complete idea” that inspired him to create long-form pieces of music.

Several artists have covered some or all of the side-two medley, including Phil Collins (for the Martin/Beatles tribute album In My Life), The String Cheese Incident, Transatlantic and Tenacious D (who performed the medley with Phish keyboardist Page McConnell). Furthur, a jam band including former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir and Phil Lesh, played the entire Abbey Road album during its Spring Tour 2011. It began with a “Come Together” opener at Boston on 4 March and ended with the entire medley in New York City on 15 March, including “Her Majesty” as an encore.

Legacy – Continued sales and reissues

In June 1970, Allen Klein reported that Abbey Road was the Beatles’ best-selling album in the US with sales of about five million. By 1992, Abbey Road had sold nine million copies. The album became the ninth-most downloaded on the iTunes Store a week after it was released there on 16 November 2010. A CNN report stated it was the best-selling vinyl album of 2011. It is the first album from the 1960s to sell over five million albums since 1991 when Nielsen SoundScan began tracking sales. In the US, the album had sold 7,177,797 copies by the end of the 1970s. As of 2011[update], the album had sold over 31 million copies worldwide and is one of the band’s best-selling albums. In October 2019, Abbey Road re-entered the UK charts, again hitting number one.

Abbey Road has remained in print since its first release in 1969. The original album was released on 26 September in the UK and 1 October in the US on Apple Records. It was reissued as a limited edition picture disc on vinyl in the US by Capitol on 27 December 1978, while a CD reissue of the album was released in 1987, with a remastered version appearing in 2009. The remaster included additional photographs with additional liner notes and the first, limited edition, run also included a short documentary about the making of the album.

In 2001, Abbey Road was certified 12× platinum by the RIAA. The album continues to be reissued on vinyl. It was included as part of the Beatles’ Collector’s Crate series in September 2009 and saw a remastered LP release on 180-gram vinyl in 2012.

A super deluxe version of the album was released in September 2019 to celebrate the original album’s 50th anniversary.

NEW ALBUM OUT THIS MONTH

The Beatles have definitely decided to release their first LP this year during the first half of September. It will be titled Abbey Road and will have a coloured photograph of the Beatles on the cover taken on the zebra crossing in Abbey Road, near EMI’s St. John’s Wood studios, by Ian Hamilton.

One side will have a continuous series of numbers performed one after the other lasting for 17 minutes as a main track together with two other numbers. The other side will be made up of six songs.

From The Beatles Book N°74, September 1969

NEW BEATLES ALBUM OUT IN A FORTNIGHT

A new 16-track album by the Beatles — mostly recorded only within the past six to eight weeks — is to be released by Apple on September 12. Title of the LP is Abbey Road, inspired by the address of EMI’s recording studios in London’s St. John’s Wood. One side features six numbers in medley form, and lasts more than a quarter-of-an-hour. Beatles’ Press Officer Derek Taylor told the NME this week: “The album is very compact and very real, and was recorded at nice, workmanlike sessions which usually began at 2 pm and continued until the end of the evening.”

Two of the songs on the LP — again produced by George Martin — are composed and sung by George Harrison and one by Ringo.

Titles are: Come Together, Something (George Harrison), Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, Oh! Darling, Octopus’s Garden (Ringo), I Want You (She’s So Heavy), Here Comes The Sun (George), Because, You Never Give Me Your Money, Sun King, Mean Mr. Mustard, Polythene Pam, She Came In Through the Bathroom Window, Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight, and Ending — Her Majesty.

Several of these numbers had already been suggested by the NME as likely tracks for the next Beatles LP.

There is still no news of release of the Beatles’ earlier-produced Get Back album, which was in “rehearsal” format and was undertaken as part of the group’s project for a film or TV spectacular.

It is understood that this will still be issued as a soundtrack album for the film, however, and that Christmas is a likely date.

Mary Hopkin’s next single will be released around the same time as the Abbey Road album — that is, the end of September. The number, “Que Sera Sera,” was recorded several years ago; and Paul McCartney is understood to have added further material. Mary has now flown in for an appearance on the Andy Williams’ Show.

From New Musical Express – August 30, 1969

Beatles’ new album

RADIO ONE deejay Kenny Everett last Saturday played snatches of the Beatles new album, “Abbey Road”—three weeks before the official release date on September 26.

“I shall be playing it every Saturday morning up to the release date,” Kenny told the MM on Monday. Kenny circumvented a pre-release block on the album by, in his own words, indulging in a little “jiggery-pokery.” “I hummed over a backing track and played a doubled up version of one of the tracks, ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer,’” he said.

Kenny describes the album as “delicious.” “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer” is his particular favourite. “It will become a standard,” he says. “It’s a groovy thing that identifies the very first time you play it. It’s delightful.”

On the other hand, Kenny’s verdict on “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” which John sings is “very average.” Of Ringo Starr’s “Octopus’s Garden,” Kenny says: “I think they’ve tried to do a ‘Yellow Submarine’ here, but it’s not half as effective.” Kenny regards George Harrison’s “Here Comes The Sun” as “the best thing he’s ever done.” The track titled “Because” he regards as “pure harmony,” and “very beautiful.”

“You Never Give Me Your Money” is the start of a medley including the titles “Sun King,” “Mean Mr. Mustard,” “Polythene Pam,” “She Came Through The Bathroom Window” and “Golden Slumbers.” “Each track lasts from 45 seconds to about a minute,” says Kenny.

“The Bathroom Window and Maxwell’s Silver Hammer titles were written about seven or eight months ago by Paul”, adds Kenny. “Carry That Weight is a blues,” says Kenny, “and I don’t like blues.”

The medley on the second side of “Abbey Road” is another winner for the Beatles — and the advance sales of 50,000 already indicate it.

From Melody Maker, September 13, 1969

Strange lyrics from Beatles “ABBEY ROAD” album…

YES, it gets more amazing every minute, folks. Those four likeable Liverpool lads have turned into two bearded wonders, an actor and the barefoot boy. On the cover of Abbey Road, they are snapped strolling across same on a zebra crossing with a police van casually parked behind in case of sudden mob recognition. Inside the same sleeve is a record that is every bit as good as the last three.

It begins with “Come Together”, a bass orientated song wherein John distorts his voice and sings of “Old Flat Top”, a freedom pusher. “He want spinal crackin, he got feet down below his knees — hold you in his arms, you can feel his disease”. Excellent and subtle combination of bass, vocal hiss and piano.

“Something” follows and is another beautiful Harrison composition involving much of the principles used in “My Guitar Gently Weeps” in its chord patterns. It leaps scales in its heavy orchestral arrangement, then drifts down to George’s simple but effective guitar style. It remains a love song. James Taylor could have something to say about the main phase.

Back to 1920 for “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer”, which we think will be a ha, ha ditty, mirthful and light. No Dice. Inside the bouncy happy beat and melody, Maxwell Edison is a murderer. A medical student, he does away with Joan the physics student and his teacher before going to court and hammering the poor judge. 1965 drooling rock ballads have never been so good as when “Oh! Darling” comes to the ears. Every such number was built on this tune and Paul screams it out again with hideous pleading in his voice.

Ringo’s chance in “Octopus’s Garden”, an extension of “Yellow Submarine”. Still taking the mick, the other three put chorals behind Ringo’s boyhood sensitivity on the lead vocal. “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” is much like Electric Mud. It is heavy blues with Lennon’s vocal following every note of George’s lead guitar in a kind of scat singing. Suddenly, it bangs into electric picking, loud percussion and weighty bass, plus added effects for about 3 minutes. Another day in the life? The ending will surprise you.

My pet track follows — a western style harmony number titled “Here Comes The Sun”. Nice string picking backs it as the vocals approach Beach Boys or Vanity Fare. Excellent melody creates one of the best atmospheres present on the record. “Little darling, it’s been a long and lonely winter…”

“Lucy In The Sky” noises open an even more Beach Boyish harmony song, “Because”. Symphonic in parts and the lyrics are not the most important factor. “You Never Give Me Your Money” starts softly and breaks into Paul’s heavy rock voice. Very frantic, especially George’s guitar. Ends with a series of “One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, all good children go to heaven”, followed by the nighttime soothing sound of crickets. It isn’t “Albatross” that is next, but much like it until more falsetto voice harmonies are added and it gets that “Catch A Wave” feeling. Suddenly shifts to Italian, then into a combination of “Mean Mr. Mustard” and his sister “Polythene Pam”. Very condensed about here, for styles are changing rapidly. Buddy Holly is there, Delaney and Bonnie are there and many more. No break between that and “She Came In Through The Bathroom Window.” Lots of acoustic guitar and confusion in the lyrics — “Sunday’s on the phone to Monday and Tuesday’s on the phone to me”.

All quiet — temporarily — on “Golden Slumbers”. Paul sings a lullaby, which bursts into sections of marchbeat and brass, then back into his soft reminiscence. A tune of longing. It slides back into bits of “You Never Give Me Your Money” re-worded, then a punch drum solo carries it over to “Carry That Weight”, which houses the phrase of all phrases to conclude: “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.”

P.S. That doesn’t exactly close the LP, Paul strikes out for all of about 15 seconds in his stately but country humour, singing “Her Majesty’s a pretty nice girl but hasn’t a lot to say…” a little loving poke at Liz. Will he gain her royal favour? An Apple Record, nothing to do with Philip’s, he said princely…

From Record Mirror – September 27, 1969

BEATLES ALBUM NEXT MONTH – JOHN, YOKO PEACE CRUISE

BEATLES’ new LP is to be called “Abbey Road” after the studios in London’s St. John’s Wood where most of their recording career has been centred.

The album — out now before the originally-planned “Get Back” collection of songs — is released on the Apple label on September 12.

“Abbey Road” contains 15 brand new compositions — most of them written by Paul McCartney. There is also Ringo’s track, “Octopus’s Garden,” and two tracks by George Harrison — “Here Comes The Sun” and “Something.” One whole side of the album consists of a medley lasting over 15 minutes.

Says Paul McCartney: “It lasts as long as you have a bath. The time it takes to have a bath, get out, dry yourself, and get dressed!”

“Abbey Road” has created a lot of excitement at the Beatles’ Apple office. It is reported to be as commercially interesting as their “Revolver” collection.

Apparently Paul McCartney has had to stop writing songs for the time being because his output has been so prolific in recent weeks that a backlog of numbers has accumulated.

Says Apple’s Derek Taylor: “This album was put out in preference to the ‘Get Back’ set because of about six tracks left over after that session. Paul has had to stop writing for a while because of a tremendous backlog which is building up.”

The “Get Back” album has now been put back to December release. […]

From Disc And Music Echo – August 30, 1969

BEATLES; Abbey Road (Apple):

They haven’t let us down yet, and this record proves they’re still the most inventive force around. From the beautifully understated “Come Together” to the frivolity of Ringo’s composition “Octopus’s Garden”, right through to George’s pretty “Here Comes The Sun”. This is an enchanting collection of songs by the Fab Four.

It breaks little new ground. It is just an amalgamation of excellent songs.

Not a “milestone” album. Just superb. That’s enough.

From Disc And Music Echo – September 27, 1969

Beatle George takes a walk up Abbey Road… and reviews the album track by track

GEORGE HARRISON’S songs on the new Beatles LP “Abbey Road” mark his complete “arrival” as a songwriter. That, at least, is the view of many people. He isn’t completely certain about the record. “To me,” he says, “listening to ‘Abbey Road’ is like listening to somebody else. It doesn’t feel like the Beatles. But overall I think it’s a very good album.”

As the album is now top of the LP chart, a lot of other people obviously think it’s good too! Here, George takes Disc readers on a track-by-track visit to “Abbey Road” as he sees it:

“Come Together, the first track on side one, was one of the last tracks to be recorded. John wrote it just after his car accident. It’s a 12-bar type of tune — and one of the nicest things we’ve done musically. Ringo’s drumming is great. It’s an upbeat, rock-a-beat-a-boogie, with very Lennon lyrics.

Something is a song of mine. I wrote it just as we were finishing the last album, the white one. But it was never finished. I could never think of the right words for it. Joe Cocker has done a version too, and there’s talk of it being the next Beatles’ single. When I recorded it, I imagined somebody like Ray Charles doing it, that was the feel I thought it should have. But because I’m not Ray Charles — I’m much more limited in what I can do — we just did what we could. It’s nice though, probably the nicest melody I’ve ever written.

Maxwell’s Silver Hammer is just something of Paul’s. We spent a hell of a lot of time recording this one. It’s one of those instant, whistle-along tunes which some people will hate and others will love. It’s like Honey Pie, a fun sort of song, but probably sick as well because the guy keeps killing everybody. We used my Moog Synthesizer on this track, and I think it came out effectively.

Oh! Darling is another of Paul’s songs which is typical 1959–1960 sort of period in its chord structure. It’s a typical 1955 song which thousands of groups used to make — the Moonglows, the Paragons, the Shells and so on.

Octopus’s Garden is Ringo’s song, the second he’s written. It’s lovely. Ringo gets very bored playing the drums, so at home he plays the piano. But he only knows about three chords. And he knows about the same on guitar. He mainly likes country music, so this has a C & W feel. It’s really a great song. On the surface, it’s a daft kids’ song, but I find the lyrics very meaningful. I find very deep meaning in the lyrics which Ringo probably doesn’t even know about. Lines like “Resting our head on the seabed” and “We’ll be warm beneath the storm.” It makes me realise that when you get deep into your consciousness it’s very peaceful. So Ringo writes his cosmic songs knowing it.

I Want You (She’s So Heavy) is very heavy. It has John playing lead guitar and singing the same as he plays. This is good because the riff he sings is basically a blues. But it’s a very original Lennon-like song, even though people thought I’d written it. The middle bit is great. John has an amazing thing with his timing. He always comes across with different timing things, for example “All You Need Is Love,” which sort of skips beats out and changes from 3-4 to 4-4 all the time, in and out of each other. Yet when you question him about it, he doesn’t know. He just does it naturally and you can’t pin him down.

Here Comes the Sun, the first cut on side two, is the other song I wrote for the album. It was written on a very nice sunny day in Eric Clapton’s garden. We’d been through real hell with business, and it was all very heavy. Being in Eric’s garden felt like playing hooky from school. I found some sort of release and the song just came.

Because is one of the most beautiful things we’ve ever done. It has three-part harmony — John, Paul and George. John wrote the song, and the backing is a bit like Beethoven. It does resemble Paul’s writing style but only because of the sweetness it has. Paul usually writes the sweet things and John does the rave-ups and freakier things. But every now and then, John just wants to write a simple 12-bar thing. I think this is my favourite track on the album, it’s so simple, especially the lyrics. The harmony was very difficult to do, we had to really learn it.

You Never Give Me Your Money is like two songs, the bridge of it is like a completely different song. You whip out of that and into Sun King, which John wrote. He originally called it Los Paranois.

Mean Mr. Mustard and Polythene Pam are two short songs which John wrote in India 18 months ago.

She Came In Through the Bathroom Window is a very good song of Paul’s with great lyrics. Golden Slumbers is another very melodic song by Paul which links up.

Carry That Weight keeps coming in and out of the medley all the way through.

The End is just that, a little sequence which ends it all.

From Disc And Music Echo – October 11, 1969

ABBEY RD IS HIT WITH POP FANS

ABBEY ROAD, St. John’s Wood, has become the most talked about thoroughfare this side of the Iron Curtain. It has ousted trendy Carnaby Street and King’s Road in the “street pop charts.”

Weekend sightseers who used to flock to Lord’s Cricket Ground or the Regent’s Park rose gardens now head for the tree-lined road which links St. John’s Wood with West Hampstead.

Most of them just leave their cars to pace up and down outside the E.M.I. recording studios. Others take photographs of a zebra crossing in the street local residents have dubbed “Murder Mile” because of the high accident rate.

Abbey Road street nameplates are in demand, too. One astute resident who has bought some obsolete signs from the City Council expects to make a fortune.

“They have become collectors’ pieces,” he says.

The cause of this sudden interest in Abbey Road? The Beatles’ new long-playing record, “Abbey Road.”

The four mop-haired lads from Liverpool made some of their earliest discs in the Abbey Road studios.

The fans have always besieged Beatle Paul McCartney’s home in nearby Cavendish Avenue. But now it’s all eyes on Abbey Road…

From Kensington and Chelsea News – October 31, 1969

BEATLE LP SELLS FOUR MILLION

SALES of the Beatles’ “Abbey Road” album — still No. 1 in the NME LP Chart — had reached an estimated world total of more than four million at press-time this week! George Harrison’s “Something” track from the album is up to No. 1 in the Top Thirty, and he is reported to be now forming an Apple Band to back sessions for the label and to record in its own right. Spurred on by its multi-million sales in the past 12 months, Apple is also planning a blitz of new singles and albums for early 1970. […]

From New Musical Express – November 15, 1969

Going further

Solid State: The Story of "Abbey Road" and the End of the Beatles

Acclaimed Beatles historian Kenneth Womack offers the most definitive account yet of the writing, recording, mixing, and reception of Abbey Road. In February 1969, the Beatles began working on what became their final album together. Abbey Road introduced a number of new techniques and technologies to the Beatles' sound, and included "Come Together," "Something," and "Here Comes the Sun," which all emerged as classics.

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