Recording "You Know My Name (Look Up That Number)"

Wednesday, May 17, 1967 • For The Beatles

Album Songs recorded during this session officially appear on the Let It Be / You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) 7" Single.
Studio:
EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road

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About

On this day, The Beatles started the recording of “You Know My Name (Look Up That Number)”. The recording process over a number of sessions between this day and November 1969, and it was finally released in March 1970, almost 3 years after this session.

The Beatles arrived at Studio Two on this day with no songs in mind, and without the presence of producer George Martin; in his place the session was supervised by balance engineer Geoff Emerick.

John had arrived one night with this song which was basically a mantra: ‘You know my name, look up the number.’ And I never knew who he was aiming that at, it might have been an early signal to Yoko. It was John’s original idea and that was the complete lyric. He brought it in originally as a 15-minute chant when he was in space-cadet mode and we said, ‘Well, what are we going to do with this then?’ and he said, ‘It’s just like a mantra.’ So we said, ‘Okay, let’s just do it’.

Paul McCartney – From “Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now” by Barry Miles, 1997

In fact, You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) was inspired by a slogan on the front of the 1967 London telephone directory, which John Lennon saw at Paul McCartney’s London home. It was originally envisaged as a 15-minute mantra.

That was a piece of unfinished music that I turned into a comedy record with Paul. I was waiting for him in his house, and I saw the phone book was on the piano with ‘You know the name, look up the number.’ That was like a logo, and I just changed it. It was going to be a Four Tops kind of song – the chord changes are like that – but it never developed and we made a joke of it. Brian Jones is playing saxophone on it.

John Lennon – All We Are Saying, David Sheff

The final recording was made up of five discrete parts, and during this session the first part was recorded. The Beatles taped 14 takes of the rhythm track, with guitars, bass and drums, and take 10 was labelled the best for the time being. The song was then set aside until 7 June 1967, when overdubs were added to take nine.


From Facebook – 17 May 1967 Photo by Leslie Bryce © Beatles Book Photo Library (https://www.beatlesbookphotolibrary.com/)
From Facebook – 17 May 1967 Photo by Leslie Bryce © Beatles Book Photo Library (https://www.beatlesbookphotolibrary.com/)
From Facebook – 17 May 1967 Photo by Leslie Bryce © Beatles Book Photo Library (https://www.beatlesbookphotolibrary.com/)

Last updated on June 10, 2023

Songs recorded


1.

You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)

Written by Lennon - McCartney

Recording • Part 1 - Take 1


2.

You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)

Written by Lennon - McCartney

Recording • Part 1 - Take 2


3.

You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)

Written by Lennon - McCartney

Recording • Part 1 - Take 3


4.

You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)

Written by Lennon - McCartney

Recording • Part 1 - Take 4


5.

You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)

Written by Lennon - McCartney

Recording • Part 1 - Take 5


6.

You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)

Written by Lennon - McCartney

Recording • Part 1 - Take 6


7.

You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)

Written by Lennon - McCartney

Recording • Part 1 - Take 7


8.

You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)

Written by Lennon - McCartney

Recording • Part 1 - Take 8


9.

You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)

Written by Lennon - McCartney

Recording • Part 1 - Take 9


10.

You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)

Written by Lennon - McCartney

Recording • Part 1 - Take 10


11.

You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)

Written by Lennon - McCartney

Recording • Part 1 - Take 11


12.

You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)

Written by Lennon - McCartney

Recording • Part 1 - Take 12


13.

You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)

Written by Lennon - McCartney

Recording • Part 1 - Take 13


14.

You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)

Written by Lennon - McCartney

Recording • Part 1 - Take 14

Staff

Production staff

Geoff Emerick:
Producer, Engineer
Richard Lush:
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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