Mixing "Only A Northern Song"

Friday, April 21, 1967 • For The Beatles

Album Songs recorded during this session officially appear on the Yellow Submarine (Mono) LP.
Studio:
EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

Master release


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About

At the end of Pepper, when we finished the whole thing, we all felt pretty elated to have finished it. So, as a little in-joke for ourselves, we decided to fix the end of the record so that there would be something on it. On the run-out grooves on the album, on the second side, we put a bit of nonsense. In fact, the way we did it we said, ‘Let’s just put a noise on the end, so people will say, ‘What the hell is that?’ And Paul, John, George and Ringo went down into the studio and just started shouting, saying a lot of gibberish in a chaotic sort of way. I recorded them for about thirty seconds and I took, literally, about four seconds and we wrapped it into the groove around the centre, so it just kept on going round and round, the same noise. It was a completely random recording. EMI engineers thought I had taken leave of my senses when I explained what I wanted. But, a month after the album was released, we found out that people had been playing the damn thing backwards, and found out, by playing it backwards, there was an obscene word to be heard. And, sure enough, Paul said, ‘Have you heard it?’ And when you play it, it does say an obscene word.

George MartinFrom “The Beatles: Off the Record” by Keith Badman, 2008

Last updated on February 13, 2023

Songs recorded


1.

Only A Northern Song

Written by George Harrison

Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 1 from takes 3 and 11


2.

Only A Northern Song

Written by George Harrison

Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 2 from takes 3 and 11


3.

Only A Northern Song

Written by George Harrison

Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 3 from takes 3 and 11


4.

Only A Northern Song

Written by George Harrison

Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 4 from takes 3 and 11


5.

Only A Northern Song

Written by George Harrison

Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 5 from takes 3 and 11


6.

Only A Northern Song

Written by George Harrison

Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 6 from takes 3 and 11


7.

Only A Northern Song

Written by George Harrison

Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 7 from takes 3 and 11


8.

Only A Northern Song

Written by George Harrison

Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 8 from takes 3 and 11


9.

Only A Northern Song

Written by George Harrison

Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 9 from takes 3 and 11


10.

Only A Northern Song

Written by George Harrison

Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 10 from takes 3 and 11


11.

Only A Northern Song

Written by George Harrison

Mixing • Mono mixing - Remix 11 from takes 3 and 11


12.

Edit for LP End

Recording • Take 1


Staff

Production staff

George Martin:
Producer
Geoff Emerick:
Engineer
Richard Lush:
Second Engineer

Going further


The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions • Mark Lewisohn

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

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If we like to think, in all modesty, that the Paul McCartney Project is the best online ressource for everything Paul McCartney, The Beatles Bible is for sure the definitive online site focused on the Beatles. There are obviously some overlap in terms of content between the two sites, but also some major differences in terms of approach.

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