Mixing "Run For Your Life", "We Can Work It Out", recording "The Word", "I'm Looking Through You"

This was the seventeenth day of work on The Beatles’ new album “Rubber Soul.” Two separate sessions took place.

The afternoon session, from 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm, was devoted to preparing stereo mixes for two tracks.

“Run For Your Life” had been recorded on the first day of the Rubber Soul sessions, and its mono mix (Take 5 RM1) had been done the previous day. On this day, a single attempt was needed to produce a satisfactory stereo mix, labelled as Take 5 Remix Stereo 1.

The mono mix of “We Can Work It Out” had been made on October 29. On this day, again, only one attempt was required to obtain a satisfactory stereo mix, Take 2 Remix Stereo 1.

The evening session began at 9 pm. The Beatles recorded a new John Lennon composition, “The Word.”

The backing track featured John on electric guitar, Paul McCartney on piano and Ringo Starr on drums. All instruments were recorded onto track one of the four-track tape. Three takes were recorded; two were complete, and Take 3 was selected as the best.

Overdubs on Take 3 followed. Onto track two, Paul added bass, John double-tracked part of his guitar part, George Martin added harmonium, and Ringo contributed maracas. Onto track three, John recorded his lead vocal, while Paul and George Harrison sang backing vocals; these vocals were then double-tracked onto track four.

With the recording completed, the track was mixed in mono and stereo the following day.

Work then shifted to “I’m Looking Through You.” On October 24, The Beatles had completed a version of Paul’s song with all necessary overdubs, but on November 6 they chose to remake it. On this day, they decided on a further remake.

They recorded a new backing track, Take 4, using the same instrumentation as Take 3: Paul on bass, George on acoustic guitar, John on tambourine and Ringo on drums.

Overdubs onto Take 4 followed, with Ringo adding organ and matchbox percussion, and George adding electric guitar. The track would be completed the following day with Paul’s double-tracked lead vocals.

The session ended at 4 am.

I had a question about a percussion sound on Rubber Soul and thought this was a good opportunity to ask Ringo. “What’s that tapping sound on “I’m Looking Through You”? I asked. He said, “Oh, I just tapped on a pack of matches with my finder.” That’s great! Fantastic! I’m really happy to know that bit of inside information!

Barry Tashian – Leader of the Remains, one of the opening acts of the Beatles for the 1966 US Tour – From “Ticket To ride – The Extraordinary Diary of The Beatles’ Last Tour” by Barry Tashian

Session activities

1. Run For Your Life

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Mixing • Stereo mixing from take 5

   AlbumOfficially released on Rubber Soul (UK Stereo)

2. We Can Work It Out

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Mixing • Stereo mixing from take 2

   AlbumOfficially released on Yesterday and Today (Stereo)

3. The Word

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • Take 1

4. The Word

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • Take 2

5. The Word

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • Take 3

6. I'm Looking Through You

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • Take 4

Staff

Musicians on "I'm Looking Through You"

Musicians on "The Word"

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!

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