Recording "Here Comes The Sun", recording and mixing "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"

On this day, overdubs were added onto George Harrison’s “Here Comes The Sun” and Paul McCartney’s “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer“, in two concurrent sessions.

I got involved in the last three weeks of Abbey Road. They kept two studios running and I would be asked to sit in the studio two or three – usually three – just to be there, at the Beatles’ beck and call, whenever someone wanted to come in and do an overdub. At this stage of the album, I don’t think I saw the four of them together.

Tony Clark​ – From “The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions” by Mark Lewisohn, 1988

“Here Comes The Sun” had last been worked on July 16, 1969. From 2:30 pm to 11 pm, George was in Studio Three, to add acoustic guitar overdubs onto take 15 of the track, specifically during the “Sun, Sun, Sun, here it comes…” section of the song.

Further guitar overdubs would be added on August 11.

Meanwhile, Paul McCartney was in Room 43, where George Harrison’s Moog synthesizer had been installed earlier in August, to work on “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.” The signal from the Moog was fed into the control room of Studio Two, where the engineering team recorded the overdubs.

As the eight-track tape had been filled during the last work on the song, on July 11, 1969, the session began with several reduction mixes of Take 21, which were numbered Takes 22 to 27. While the reduction mixes were being made, Paul simultaneously recorded a first Moog part onto track four.

He then added two additional Moog overdubs onto tracks five and six of Take 27, the best of the reduction mixes.

From 11 pm to 1 am, ten attempts were made to create a stereo mix of “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer,” numbered 14 to 26 (with no mixes numbered 19, 20, or 21). Remix 18 was considered the best at this stage, although further mixing work would be carried out on August 12, 1969.

Paul used the Moog for the solo in ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer,’ but the notes were not from the keyboard. He did that with a continuous ribbon-slide thing, just moving his finger up and down on an endless ribbon. It’s very difficult to find the right notes, rather like a violin, but Paul picked it up straight away. He can pick up anything musical in a couple of days.

Alan Parsons, engineer – From “Solid State: The Story of Abbey Road and the End of the Beatles” by Kenneth Womack, 2019

I suppose we were still influenced by real sounds and we were still trying to get sounds that were like instruments we knew more than synthetic sounds, but nevertheless, there was a floaty mystical thing about the sound on ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.’

George Martin, producer – From “The Producer Series”, Part 2, interview by Ralph Denver, February 1985 – Quoted in “Solid State: The Story of Abbey Road and the End of the Beatles” by Kenneth Womack, 2019

Session activities

1. Here Comes The Sun

   Written by George Harrison

   Recording • SI onto take 15

2. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Tape copying • Tape reduction take 21 into take 22, with simultaneous SI

3. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Tape copying • Tape reduction take 21 into take 23, with simultaneous SI

4. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Tape copying • Tape reduction take 21 into take 24, with simultaneous SI

5. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Tape copying • Tape reduction take 21 into take 25, with simultaneous SI

6. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Tape copying • Tape reduction take 21 into take 26, with simultaneous SI

7. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Tape copying • Tape reduction take 21 into take 27, with simultaneous SI

8. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 14 from take 27

9. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 15 from take 27

10. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 16 from take 27

11. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 17 from take 27

12. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 18 from take 27

13. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 22 from take 27

14. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 23 from take 27

15. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 24 from take 27

16. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 25 from take 27

17. Maxwell's Silver Hammer

    Written by Lennon - McCartney

    Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 26 from take 27

Staff

Musicians on "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"

Musicians on "Here Comes The Sun"

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!

Buy on Amazon

The Beatles Recording Reference Manual: Volume 5: Let It Be through Abbey Road (1969 - 1970)

The fifth and final book of this critically acclaimed series, "The Beatles Recording Reference Manual: Volume 5: Let It Be through Abbey Road (1969 - 1970)" follows The Beatles as they "get back to where they once belonged...". Not once, but twice. With "Let It Be", they attempted to recapture the spontaneity of their early years and recordings, while "Abbey Road" was a different kind of return - to the complexity, finish and polish that they had applied to their work beginning with "Revolver" and through to "The Beatles".

Buy on Amazon

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.

Buy on Amazon