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Thursday, October 12, 1967

Mixing "It's All Too Much", "Blue Jay Way"

For The Beatles

Last updated on May 7, 2023


Master session

Location

  • Recording studio: EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road

  • Recording studio: De Lane Lea Music Recording Studios, London, UK

Timeline

Master releases

AlbumSome of the songs worked on during this session were first released on the "Magical Mystery Tour (US LP - Mono)" LP

On this day, The Beatles had two recording sessions, the first one at De Lane Lea studios and the second one at EMI Studios.


The recording of “It’s All Too Much,” a George Harrison-penned track intended for the “Yellow Submarine” film soundtrack, occurred in the De Lane Lea studios in London on May 25, May 31, and June 2, 1967.

On this day, the same engineering team, comprising producer George Martin, engineer Dave Siddle, and second engineer Mike Weighell, convened at the De Lane Lea studios from 2:30 pm to 8 pm to mix the track. They generated one mono mix from Take 2 (designated as RM1 and lasting 8:15) and one stereo mix (designated as RS1 and lasting 6:22), although neither mix was ultimately released.

The song was eventually completed over a year later, on October 16, 1968.


The second session took place at EMI Studios from 6:30 pm to 2 am. As it overlapped with the earlier session, George Martin couldn’t join. This was the first time that John Lennon was credited as a producer for a Beatles session.

On September 6, 1967, The Beatles recorded the basic track of “Blue Jay Way,” which was George Harrison’s contribution to the “Magical Mystery Tour” soundtrack. The following day, on September 7, the band overdubbed lead vocals and backing vocals. The final overdubs for the track were added on October 6, completing the recording of the track.

On this day, engineers Ken Scott and Richard Lush worked on the mono mix of “Blue Jay Way“. They created eight mixes from Take 3, numbered RM2 to RM9, featuring artificial double tracking (ADT) applied to George Harrison’s vocals. The team then worked on an edit of RM6 and RM9, but the final mono mix was not completed until November 7, 1967, along with the stereo mix.


After completing work on “Blue Jay Way,” the band moved on to create some incidental music known as “Shirley’s Wild Accordion,” which remained unreleased until its inclusion on the 2012 reissue of the “Magical Mystery Tour” TV special.

Shirley’s Wild Accordion” was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The track featured Shirley Evans on accordion, accompanied by her musical partner and then-husband Reg Wale on percussion. Paul played maracas and cheered on Evans with shouts of “Go on, Shirl!” while Ringo Starr played drums.

The recording of the track, which was initially named “Accordion (Wild),” was made in eight basic takes with Shirley Evans playing from a score created by Mike Leander from ideas by John and Paul. Two reduction mixes were then made, numbered 9 and 10, followed by overdubs. The recording was completed with five additional takes, numbered 11-15.

Three mono mixes of “Shirley’s Wild Accordion” were created, numbered RM1 to RM3, and taken from takes 10, 7, and 14, respectively. The second mix was subtitled “Waltz,” and the third was known as “Freaky Rock.” The session ended at 2 am on the morning of October 13, 1967.

Although the drums and maracas were excluded, the mix of “Shirley’s Wild Accordion” included in the bonus material of the 2012 reissue of the “Magical Mystery Tour” film kept various other percussive sounds. The track was initially cut from the final edit of the film and remained unreleased until the reissue.


From 12 October 1967 – UK, Studio Two, EMI Studios, Abbey Road – Shirley’s Wild Accordion. – Beatles and Solo Photos Forum (tapatalk.com) – Shirley Evans and John Lennon

Session activities

  1. It's All Too Much

    Written by George Harrison

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 1 from take 2

  2. It's All Too Much

    Written by George Harrison

    Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 1 from take 2

  3. Blue Jay Way

    Written by George Harrison

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 2 from take 3

  4. Blue Jay Way

    Written by George Harrison

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 3 from take 3

  5. Blue Jay Way

    Written by George Harrison

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 4 from take 3

  6. Blue Jay Way

    Written by George Harrison

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 5 from take 3

  7. Blue Jay Way

    Written by George Harrison

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 6 from take 3

  8. Blue Jay Way

    Written by George Harrison

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 7 from take 3

  9. Blue Jay Way

    Written by George Harrison

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 8 from take 3

  10. Blue Jay Way

    Written by George Harrison

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 9 from take 3

  11. Blue Jay Way

    Written by George Harrison

    Editing • Editing of mono remixes 6 and 9

  12. Shirley's Wild Accordion

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 1

  13. Shirley's Wild Accordion

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 2

  14. Shirley's Wild Accordion

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 3

  15. Shirley's Wild Accordion

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 4

  16. Shirley's Wild Accordion

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 5

  17. Shirley's Wild Accordion

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 6

  18. Shirley's Wild Accordion

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 7

  19. Shirley's Wild Accordion

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 8

  20. Shirley's Wild Accordion

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Tape copying • Tape reduction take 8 into take 9

  21. Shirley's Wild Accordion

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Tape copying • Tape reduction take 8 into take 10

  22. Shirley's Wild Accordion

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • SI onto take 10

  23. Shirley's Wild Accordion

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 11

  24. Shirley's Wild Accordion

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 12

  25. Shirley's Wild Accordion

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 13

  26. Shirley's Wild Accordion

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 14

  27. Shirley's Wild Accordion

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Recording • Take 15

  28. Shirley's Wild Accordion

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 1 from take 10

  29. Shirley's Wild Accordion

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 2 from take 7

  30. Shirley's Wild Accordion

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 3 from take 14


Staff

Musicians on "Shirley's Wild Accordion"

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!

Shop on Amazon

The Beatles Recording Reference Manual: Volume 3: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band through Magical Mystery Tour (late 1966-1967)

The third book of this critically - acclaimed series, nominated for the 2019 Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC) award for Excellence In Historical Recorded Sound, "The Beatles Recording Reference Manual: Volume 3: Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band through Magical Mystery Tour (late 1966-1967)" captures the band's most innovative era in its entirety. From the first take to the final remix, discover the making of the greatest recordings of all time. Through extensive, fully-documented research, these books fill an important gap left by all other Beatles books published to date and provide a unique view into the recordings of the world's most successful pop music act.

Shop on Amazon

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

Paul McCartney writing

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