Recording "It's All Too Much"

Thursday, May 25, 1967 • For The Beatles

Album Songs recorded during this session officially appear on the Yellow Submarine (Mono) LP.
Studio:
De Lane Lea Music Recording Studios, London, UK

Master release


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About

On this day, The Beatles held a recording session at the independent De Lane Lea Studios. The band was there to record “It’s All Too Much,” a song written by George Harrison, which would be used for the soundtrack of the “Yellow Submarine” animation film.

The recording session was managed by the studio’s in-house engineer, Dave Siddle, and the tape operator, Mike Weighell, as George Martin was absent on this occasion. The band had rehearsed extensively and recorded the rehearsals before proceeding with the actual recording.

The backing track for “It’s All Too Much” was recorded in four takes with George on the organ, John Lennon on distorted electric guitar, Paul McCartney on bass, and Ringo Starr on drums. Take 4, which lasted 8:09, was considered the best and was subjected to overdubs on May 31, still at De Lane Lea Studios.

Last updated on April 18, 2023

Songs recorded


1.

It's All Too Much

Written by George Harrison

Recording • Take 1


2.

It's All Too Much

Written by George Harrison

Recording • Take 2


3.

It's All Too Much

Written by George Harrison

Recording • Take 3


4.

It's All Too Much

Written by George Harrison

Recording • Take 4

Staff

Musicians on "It's All Too Much"

Paul McCartney:
Bass
Ringo Starr:
Drums
John Lennon:
Electric guitar
George Harrison:
Organ

Production staff

Dave Siddle:
Engineer
Mike Weighell:
Second engineer

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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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.

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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.

Read more on The Beatles Bible

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