Tuesday, May 6, 1969
Recording "You Never Give Me Your Money"
For The Beatles
Last updated on April 4, 2025
Tuesday, May 6, 1969
For The Beatles
Last updated on April 4, 2025
Feb 22 - Aug 25, 1969 • Songs recorded during this session appear on Abbey Road
Recording studio: Olympic Sound Studios • London • UK
Session May 05, 1969 • Recording "Something"
Single May 05, 1969 • "Get Back / Don't Let Me Down (US - Stereo)" by The Beatles released in the US
Session May 06, 1969 • Recording "You Never Give Me Your Money"
Session May 07, 1969 • Mixing the "Get Back" album (2nd compilation)
AlbumSome of the songs worked on during this session were first released on the "Abbey Road" LP
This was the second of four days The Beatles spent at Olympic Sound Studios. On this day, Paul McCartney introduced “You Never Give Me Your Money” — the first song recorded for the album “Abbey Road” that had not been rehearsed during the “Get Back” sessions in January 1969. The session began at 3 p.m. and continued until 4 a.m. the following morning.
“You Never Give Me Your Money” would become the opening track of “The Long One,” the medley that would eventually occupy the entire Side B of “Abbey Road.” In the May 3rd edition of New Musical Express, John Lennon explained that the concept of creating a medley was already in place when they began recording this track.
I suppose the next Great Beatle Event will be the next LP, in about eight weeks. A lot of the tracks will be like
John Lennon – From New Musical Express, May 3, 1969
“Get Back,” and a lot of that we did in one-take kind of thing. We’ve done about 12 tracks, some of them still to be re-mixed, and Paul and I are now working on a kind of song montage that we might as one piece on one side. We’ve got two weeks to finish the whole thing, so we’re really working on it.
Structurally, “You Never Give Me Your Money” was a medley in itself, made up of three distinct segments often referred to as “You Never Give Me Your Money,” “Out of College,” and “One Sweet Dream.” Studio documentation from the day labeled the track as “You Never Give Me Your Money – Part I.”
That day, the band recorded 36 takes of the basic track on eight-track tape. Paul laid down a guide vocal on track one and played piano on track two. John Lennon contributed distorted electric guitar on track five, George Harrison played electric guitar on track six, and Ringo Starr handled drums on track three.
It’s exactly half-past two and it’s ’36’ and here we go!
Paul McCartney
The final take of the session — Take 36 — was released on the “Abbey Road (50th Anniversary Box Set)” in 2019. However, Take 30 was ultimately selected as the best, and a rough stereo mix was then made.
As bootlegs reveal, Take 30 (like Take 36) featured extended jamming toward the end. This would later be faded out during mixing, indicating that at this early stage, they hadn’t yet devised a transition to the next song in the medley.
Interestingly, despite John’s comments to New Musical Express, The Beatles did not continue working on the medley — or even the “Abbey Road” album — after these four sessions at Olympic. Instead, they took a break from the studio for some much-needed holidays. Paul, for instance, spent about a month in Corfu with his new wife, Linda. Recording resumed in early July, with Paul returning alone to the studio on July 1 to begin overdubs for “You Never Give Me Your Money.”
Recording • Take 1
Recording • Take 2
Recording • Take 3
Recording • Take 4
Recording • Take 5
Recording • Take 6
Recording • Take 7
Recording • Take 8
Recording • Take 9
Recording • Take 10
Recording • Take 11
Recording • Take 12
Recording • Take 13
Recording • Take 14
Recording • Take 15
Recording • Take 16
Recording • Take 17
Recording • Take 18
Recording • Take 19
Recording • Take 20
Recording • Take 21
Recording • Take 22
Recording • Take 23
Recording • Take 24
Recording • Take 25
Recording • Take 26
Recording • Take 27
Recording • Take 28
Recording • Take 29
Recording • Take 30
Recording • Take 31
Recording • Take 32
Recording • Take 33
Recording • Take 34
Recording • Take 35
Recording • Take 36
AlbumOfficially released on Abbey Road (50th anniversary boxset)
Mixing • Stereo mixing - Remix 1 from take 30
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!
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".
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.
If we modestly consider the Paul McCartney Project to be the premier online resource for all things Paul McCartney, it is undeniable that The Beatles Bible stands as the definitive online site dedicated to the Beatles. While there is some overlap in content between the two sites, they differ significantly in their approach.
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