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October 1995

"The Ballad Of The Skeletons" session

For Paul McCartney

Last updated on September 19, 2020

From The Beatles Monthly, N°244, August 1996:

Paul McCartney has recorded a new track, ‘The Ballad Of The Skeletons’, with legendary American poet Allen Ginsberg. The recording is the result of several transatlantic overdub sessions, which began in New York when Ginsberg, along with guitarists Mark Ribot and David Mansfield, recorded the basic track with producer, rock journalist and Patti Smith’s
long-term guitarist, Lenny Kaye, at Kampo Studios – a small, low-key facility in Greenwich Village. The tapes were then sent over to the U.K., where Paul added organ, drums and maracas. Once Paul returned the tapes to the States, minimalist composer Philip Glass added further keyboard overdubs.

We made a basic track and sent it to him, on 24 tracks, and he added maracas and drums, which it needed. It gave it a skeleton, gave it a shape. And also organ; he was trying to get that effect of Al Kooper on the early Dylan. And guitar, so he put a lot of work in on that. And then we got it back just in time for Philip Glass to fill in his arpeggios on piano.

Allen Ginsberg, from the Flaming Pie Archive Collection, 2020

Session activities

  1. The Ballad of the Skeletons

    Written by Paul McCartney, Allen Ginsberg, Philip Glass

    Recording


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