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Thursday, October 2, 1969

Mixing "Across The Universe"

For The Beatles

Last updated on November 24, 2021

During the recording of “Across The Universe” in February 1968, John Lennon was so dissatisfied by the end result that he didn’t want the song to be released at all. But interestingly, there was a guest in the recording studio.

The legendary comedian and ex-Goon Spike Milligan (who was one of John’s idols) happened to be at the session that night as a guest of George Martin’s. He was so impressed with what he was hearing that he asked Lennon if the track, in its current state, could be used for to help raise funds for a charity he was involved in. A distracted, aggrieved John simply said, ‘Yeah, whatever,’ and that’s how ‘Across The Universe’ came to be released on a charity record for the World Wildlife Foundation.

Geoff Emerick – From “Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles“, 2006 – Quoted in beatlesebooks.com

On this day, in a session lasting from 9:30 am to 11 am, George Martin prepared new stereo mixes from the February 1968 recordings. Two mixes were done, one without sound effects and one with birds, children and galloping horses. Those mixes were also sped up. Without the effects, the song was 3’37” long at normal speed. With the effects and sped up, the new mix lasted 3’47”.

Remix 2 was released on the charity LP, “No One’s Gonna Change Our World“, released in December 1969 in the UK.


Session activities

  1. Across The Universe

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 1 from take 8

  2. Across The Universe

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 2 from take 8


Staff

Production staff


Going further

The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions • Mark Lewisohn

The definitive guide for every Beatles recording sessions from 1962 to 1970.

We owe a lot to Mark Lewisohn for the creation of those session pages, but you really have to buy this book to get all the details - the number of takes for each song, who contributed what, a description of the context and how each session went, various photographies... And an introductory interview with Paul McCartney!

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If we modestly consider the Paul McCartney Project to be the premier online resource for all things Paul McCartney, it is undeniable that The Beatles Bible stands as the definitive online site dedicated to the Beatles. While there is some overlap in content between the two sites, they differ significantly in their approach.

Read more on The Beatles Bible

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