Friday, May 20, 1966

Mixing "And Your Bird Can Sing", "Doctor Robert", "I'm Only Sleeping"

For The Beatles

Last updated on October 19, 2022

Master session

Recording "Revolver"
April 6 - June 22, 1966 • Songs recorded during this session appear on Revolver (UK Mono)

Location

Recording studio: EMI Studios, Studio One, Abbey Road

Timeline

Previous session May 19, 1966 • Recording "For No One"

Film May 19, 1966 • Shooting of "Paperback Writer (Version 3 - Black & White)" promo film

Film May 19, 1966 • Shooting of "Rain (Version 1 - Colour)" promo film

Session May 20, 1966 • Mixing "And Your Bird Can Sing", "Doctor Robert", "I'm Only Sleeping"

Film May 20, 1966 • Shooting of "Paperback Writer (Version 4 - Colour)" promo film

Film May 20, 1966 • Shooting of "Rain (Version 3 - Colour)" promo film

Next session May 26, 1966 • Recording "Yellow Submarine"

Some of the songs from this session also appear on:

In the US, Capitol Records was preparing a new Beatles album to be released under the title “Yesterday And Today” in June 1966. In keeping with the record company’s policy for all the Beatles’ North American LPs until 1967, Capitol Records selected songs by culling from the albums the band released in Britain and from tracks issued on non-album singles outside North America.

Three tracks from the not-yet-released album “Revolver“ were picked to be included. Those were “I’m Only Sleeping“, “Doctor Robert” and “And Your Bird Can Sing“, which had been mixed in mono on May 12, 1966, to serve Capitol’s purpose.

On this day, during a short session from 11 am to 12:30 pm, the tracks were mixed in stereo, for inclusion on the stereo version of “Yesterday And Today” but also of “Revolver“. Still, the US and UK mixes for two of the three songs were different.

The first song to be mixed was “And Your Bird Can Sing“. Two stereo mixes were made, one each of take 10 and take 6. The version released on both albums was an edit of take 10 with the ending of take 6.
“Doctor Robert” was also mixed in two attempts, both from take 7. The first of these was used for “Yesterday And Today“, while the second was used on “Revolver“.
The third song was “I’m Only Sleeping” and also took two goes to get right. These were from take 13. As before, the first was used by Capitol while the second was released by EMI.

Session activities

And Your Bird Can Sing
Written by Lennon - McCartney
Mixing • Stereo Mixing - Remix 1 from takes 10 and 6
And Your Bird Can Sing
Written by Lennon - McCartney
Mixing • Stereo Mixing - Remix 2 from takes 10 and 6
Doctor Robert
Written by Lennon - McCartney
Mixing • Stereo Mixing - Remix 1 from take 7
AlbumOfficially released on Yesterday and Today (Stereo)
Doctor Robert
Written by Lennon - McCartney
Mixing • Stereo Mixing - Remix 2 from take 7
AlbumOfficially released on Revolver (UK Stereo)
I'm Only Sleeping
Written by Lennon - McCartney
Mixing • Stereo Mixing - Remix 1 from take 13
AlbumOfficially released on Yesterday and Today (Stereo)
I'm Only Sleeping
Written by Lennon - McCartney
Mixing • Stereo Mixing - Remix 2 from take 13
AlbumOfficially released on Revolver (UK Stereo)
And Your Bird Can Sing
Written by Lennon - McCartney
Editing • Editing of stereo remixes 1 and 2
AlbumOfficially released on Yesterday and Today (Stereo)
Doctor Robert
Written by Lennon - McCartney
Editing • Editing of stereo remixes 1 and 2

Staff

Production staff

George Martin : Producer
Geoff Emerick : Engineer
Phil McDonald : 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!

Buy on Amazon

The Beatles Recording Reference Manual - Volume 2 - Help! through Revolver (1965-1966)

The second book of the Association for Recorded Sound Collections (ARSC)-nominated series, "The Beatles Recording Reference Manual: Volume 2: Help! through Revolver (1965-1966)" follows the evolution of the band from the end of Beatlemania with "Help!" through the introspection of "Rubber Soul" up to the sonic revolution of "Revolver". 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.

Buy on Amazon

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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