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- Album Songs recorded during this session officially appear on the Revolver (UK Mono) LP.
- Studio:
- EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Timeline
More from year 1966
Some songs from this session appear on:
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About
This was the 25th day of the recording sessions for the “Revolver” album.
On this day, from 7 pm to 3:30 am, The Beatles started the recording of the George Harrison-penned song, “I Want To Tell You“, under the working title… “Laxton’s Superb“.
Exasperated by George’s habit of not titling his compositions, John Lennon jokingly named it “Granny Smith Part Friggin’ Two” – referring to the working title, derived from the Granny Smith apple, for “Love You To” (another “Revolver” track from George recorded some weeks ago). Following John’s remark, Geoff Emerick, the Beatles’ recording engineer, named the new song “Laxton’s Superb” after another variety of apples.
The Beatles recorded five takes of the rhythm track with George on electric guitar, Paul McCartney on piano and Ringo Starr on drums. Take 3 was deemed the best.
Overdubs onto take 3 followed, including George’s lead vocals, John and Paul’s backing vocals, an additional piano line by Paul, some tambourine from Ringo and some maracas played by an unknown Beatle.
A tape reduction (named take 4 like one of the backing track takes) was then made, and some handclaps (by the four Beatles) were overdubbed onto it.
One really got the impression that George was being given a certain amount of time to do his tracks whereas the others could spend as long as they wanted. One felt under more pressure when doing one of George’s songs.
Geoff Emerick
Work on “I Want To Tell You” would continue on the following day.
“Yellow Submarine” had been recorded on May 26, 1966, and June 1. The track was mixed in mono during this session, but this mix was never used. It would be mixed in mono on June 3, 1966, and in stereo on June 22.
Last updated on October 20, 2022
Songs recorded
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Staff
Musicians on "I Want To Tell You"
- Paul McCartney:
- Piano, Backing vocals, Handclaps
- Ringo Starr:
- Tambourine, Drums, Handclaps
- John Lennon:
- Handclaps, Backing vocals
- George Harrison:
- Lead guitar, Lead vocals, Handclaps
- ?:
- Maracas
Production staff
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!
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.
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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