Recording "In My Life", "Nowhere Man"

This was the seventh day of work on The Beatles’ new album “Rubber Soul.” 

On October 18, they had recorded John Lennon’s autobiographical song “In My Life,” completing the backing track and overdubs. One of the overdubs added onto Take 3 was an organ part played by George Martin. On this day, in a session running from 10:30 am to 11:30 am and engineered by Stuart Eltham (with Mike Stone as second engineer), it was decided to remake this overdub, with George Martin choosing to replace the organ with a piano.

However, he faced a difficulty playing the solo at the tempo he imagined. The solution was to record the piano at half speed and then play back the tape at double speed, creating the distinctive sound heard on the final recording. This completed work on the track. The mono mix was prepared on October 25, followed by the stereo mix on October 26.

‘In My Life’ is one of my favourite songs because it is so much John. A super track and such a simple song. There’s a bit where John couldn’t decide what to do in the middle and, while they were having their tea break, I put down a baroque piano solo which John didn’t hear until he came back. What I wanted was too intricate for me to do live, so I did it with a half-speed piano, then sped it up, and he liked it.

George Martin – From “The Beatles Anthology” book, 2000

From 2:30 pm to 7 pm, The Beatles continued the work begun the previous day on “Nowhere Man.” They decided to remake the track and recorded three new takes of the backing track, labelled Takes 3 to 5, with John Lennon on acoustic guitar, Paul McCartney on bass and Ringo Starr on drums. All instruments were recorded on track one of the four-track tape.

Take 4 was judged the best and received overdubs. On track three, John and Paul recorded their lead vocals while George Harrison added backing vocals; the three Beatles then double-tracked their vocals onto track four. John and George subsequently recorded a dual lead guitar part onto track two, completing the recording. The mono mix was prepared on October 25, followed by the stereo mix on October 26.

Session activities

1. In My Life

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • SI onto take 3

2. Nowhere Man

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • Take 3

3. Nowhere Man

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • Take 4

4. Nowhere Man

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • Take 5

5. Nowhere Man

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • SI onto take 4

Staff

Musicians on "Nowhere Man"

Musicians on "In My Life"

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