- Album Songs recorded during this session officially appear on the Abbey Road LP.
- Studio:
- EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Timeline
More from year 1969
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About
On this day, in a 2:30 pm to 1:15 am session, The Beatles continued the work on three songs of the “Abbey Road” medley – “You Never Give Me Your Money” and “Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight“.
The day before, several reduction mixes of take 30 of “You Never Give Me Your Money” had been made and some overdubs were added onto the reduction mix named take 40. On this day, Paul McCartney returned to take 30 and re-recorded his bass part (on track seven). He also recorded a piano track, recorded at half-speed, which gave the honky-tonk effect when played at the correct speed.
At this stage, the remaining question was how to segue “You Never Give Me Your Money” into the next medley track, “Sun King“. This would be solved with additional overdubs added on August 5, 1969.
Paul then re-recorded some lead vocals on “Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight” (on track six) and Ringo Starr added some extra drum hits (on track seven).
Some timpani drums were also added on “Carry That Weight“. The studio documentation doesn’t mention who played timpani and photographic evidence shows that both Paul and Ringo attempted to achieve the right timpani sound.
“Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight” would receive its final (orchestral) overdubs on August 15, 1969.


Last updated on December 27, 2021
Songs recorded
1.
2.
3.
Staff
Musicians on "Carry That Weight"
- Paul McCartney:
- Timpani ?, Backing vocals
- Ringo Starr:
- Timpani ?, Drums
Musicians on "You Never Give Me Your Money"
- Paul McCartney:
- Bass, Piano
Musicians on "Golden Slumbers"
- Paul McCartney:
- Lead vocals
- Ringo Starr:
- Drums
Production staff
- George Martin:
- Producer
- Geoff Emerick:
- Engineer
- Phil McDonald:
- Engineer
- John Kurlander:
- 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!
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.
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