Recording "It's All Too Much"

Friday, June 2, 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

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About

On May 25 and May 31, 1967, The Beatles began recording “It’s All Too Much,” a George Harrison composition, which would be used for the soundtrack of the “Yellow Submarine” animation film, at the independent De Lane Lea Studios. On June 1, they returned to De Lane Lea for a jam session.

On this day, for their fourth night at the studio, The Beatles collaborated with five additional musicians to record the horn section for “It’s All Too Much.” George Martin, absent from the earlier sessions, was present and conducted the players.

David Mason, who had previously played the solo on “Penny Lane,” played trumpet, while three other trumpet players and Paul Harvey on bass clarinet completed the horn section. The instruments were added to Take 2 of the song.

George Harrison was in charge of that session. I don’t think he really knew what he wanted.

David Mason – From “The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions” by Mark Lewisohn, 1988

With the horn section recorded, the recording of “It’s All Too Much” was completed. The mixing process would begin three months later on October 12, still at De Lane Lea Studios.


During this session, The Beatles also filled two tape reels with unstructured instrumental jamming, as they had on the previous evening.

Last updated on April 18, 2023

Songs recorded


1.

It's All Too Much

Written by George Harrison

Recording • SI onto take 2


2.

Untitled

Recording • No numbered takes

Staff

Musicians on "It's All Too Much"

David Mason:
Trumpet
Paul Harvey:
Bass clarinet
?:
Trumpets

Production staff

George Martin:
Producer
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!

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 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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