Recording "Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight"

On July 1, 1969, John Lennon was on holiday in Scotland and got involved in a car accident along with his wife Yoko, his son Julian, and Yoko’s daughter, Kyoko. He was hospitalised and stayed at this hospital till July 6. He would rejoin The Beatles’ sessions on July 9, missing five days of work.

On this day, the three other Beatles continued the work on “Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight“ done on July 2 and July 3.

When they arrived at the studio at 2:45 pm, the production team was listening to BBC Radio 2’s live broadcast of the tennis match between Great Britain’s Ann Jones vs USA’s Billie Jean King (the final match of the Wimbledon Ladies’ tennis championship).

We were sitting there listening to the final before the Beatles came in. We had it coming through the mixing console. Then they came in and we thought, ‘Oh, blimey, that’s it,’ especially when they pulled faces and went ‘Uggghhh.’ But they said we could carry on listening for a while and then, a few minutes later, one of them asked how Ann Jones was getting on, so we put it through on the studio speakers so that they could listen, too!

Dave Harris, technical engineer ​– From “The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions” by Mark Lewisohn

When the tennis match was over, The Beatles added some undocumented overdubs onto take 17. This was a short session, ending at 5:30 pm.

“Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight” was then shelved for about a month, and further work would resume on July 30, 1969.

Session activities

1. Golden Slumbers

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • SI onto take 17

2. Carry That Weight

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • SI onto take 17

Staff

Production staff

Going further