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Released in 1968

Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey

Written by Lennon - McCartney

Last updated on November 22, 2024

Album This song officially appears on the The Beatles (Mono) LP.

Timeline This song was officially released in 1968

Master album

Related sessions

This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:

Related articles

From Wikipedia:

“Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey” is a song by the English rock group the Beatles from their 1968 double album The Beatles (also known as “the White Album”). The song was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney.

Background

“Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey” was written about Lennon’s future wife, Yoko Ono. Lennon said of the song:

That was just a sort of nice line that I made into a song. It was about me and Yoko. Everybody seemed to be paranoid except for us two, who were in the glow of love. Everything is clear and open when you’re in love. Everybody was sort of tense around us: you know, ‘What is she doing here at the session? Why is she with him?’ All this sort of madness is going on around us because we just happened to want to be together all the time. – John Lennon, All We Are Saying

Many listeners, including Paul McCartney, believed that the song was about heroin, as the term “monkey” is often associated with the drug. Although Lennon and Ono used the drug, McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr did not, with McCartney later saying, “It was a harder terminology, which the rest of us weren’t into.”

Recording

Lennon’s working title for the composition was “Come on, Come on”. An Esher Demo of the song, recorded in George Harrison’s Esher home in May 1968, features all-acoustic instrumentation, and a vocal sung in a more Bob Dylan-like spoken word style than the released version.

“Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey” evolved from a jam session and was originally untitled. The final mix was sped up by mixing the tape running at 43 hertz instead of the usual 50. According to Harrison, the title came from one of the Maharishi’s sayings (with “and my monkey” added later).

The released version of the song was recorded at EMI Studios on 27 June 1968, and an overdub session on 1 July. Final stereo mixing was completed on 12 October. […]

[John] was getting into harder drugs than we’d been into and so his songs were taking on more references to heroin. Until that point we had made rather mild, oblique references to pot or LSD. Now John started talking about fixes and monkeys and it was a harder terminology which the rest of us weren’t into. We were disappointed that he was getting into heroin because we didn’t really see how we could help him. We just hoped it wouldn’t go too far. In actual fact, he did end up clean but this was the period when he was on it. It was a tough period for John, but often that adversity and that craziness can lead to good art, as I think it did in this case.

Paul McCartney – From “Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now” by Barry Miles, 1997

From The Usenet Guide to Beatles Recording Variations:

[a] stereo 12 Oct 1968.
UK: Apple PCS 7068 white album 1968.
US: Apple SWBO 101 white album 1968.
CD: EMI CDP 7 46443 2 white album 1987.

[b] mono 12 Oct 1968.
UK: Apple PMC 7068 white album 1968.

The screaming after “come on” in the last verse is different in [a] and [b].

Lyrics

Come on, come on

Come on, come on

Come on, it's such a joy

Come on, it's such a joy

Come on, let's take it easy

Come on, let's take it easy

Take it easy

Take it easy

Everybody's got something to hide

Except for me and my monkey

The deeper you go the higher you fly

The higher you fly the deeper you go

So come on, come on

Come on, it's such a joy

Come on, it's such a joy

Come on, let's make it easy

Come on, let's take it easy

Take it easy

Take it easy

Everybody's got something to hide

Except for me and my monkey

Your inside is out when your outside is in

Your outside is in when your inside is out

So come on, come on

Come on, it's such a joy

Come on, it's such a joy

Come on, let's make it easy

Come on, let's make it easy

Make it easy

Take it easy

Everybody's got something to hide

Except for me and my monkey

Come on, come on, come on

Variations

Officially appears on

Bootlegs

Live performances

Paul McCartney has never played this song in concert.

Paul McCartney writing

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