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- Album This song officially appears on the The Beatles (Mono) LP.
- Timeline This song has been written (or started being written) in 1968 (Paul McCartney was 26 years old)
Related sessions
This song has been recorded during the following studio sessions
Late May 1968
Recording "Not Guilty", "Mother Nature's Son"
Aug 09, 1968
Recording and mixing "Back In The U.S.S.R."
Aug 23, 1968
January 1991
First half of 2018 ?
Other Beatles songs where Paul McCartney is the only Beatle playing
Officially appears on Help! (Mono)
Officially appears on The Beatles (Mono)
Officially appears on The Beatles (Mono)
Related interviews
Paul McCartney Talks The Beatles: Rock Band
Aug 18, 2009 • From Game Informer
Paul McCartney on acoustic guitar - "I never learned the proper way of picking"
2004 • From musicradar
Interview with Radio Luxembourg
Nov 21, 1968 • From Radio Luxembourg
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Song facts
‘Mother Nature’s Son’ was inspired by a lecture on nature given by the Maharishi, but mostly written in Liverpool when we got back. The same lecture inspired John to write ‘I’m Just A Child Of ‘Nature.’
Paul McCartney – From “The Beatles: Off the Record” by Keith Badman
From Wikipedia:
“Mother Nature’s Son” is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 double album The Beatles (also known as “the White Album”). The song was written primarily by Paul McCartney, and credited to Lennon–McCartney. It was inspired by a lecture given by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi while the Beatles were in India. The same lecture inspired Lennon’s song “Child of Nature”, the tune of which he later re-used for “Jealous Guy”. Although credited to the group, the song was performed by McCartney alone (with a brass arrangement by George Martin), while the other Beatles were working on other “White Album” songs.
According to Paul McCartney he was inspired by Nat King Cole’s song “Nature Boy” he heard growing up. He wrote the song in Liverpool when he visited his father.
Recording
McCartney recorded the song during the height of the tensions that marred the sessions for the White Album. On 9 August 1968, he recorded 25 takes singing and playing acoustic guitar simultaneously. Take 24 was perceived to be the best (take 2 later appeared on Anthology 3). McCartney recorded overdubs of timpani, another guitar, and drums on 20 August, when George Martin’s orchestral contributions were also added. The drums were put halfway down an uncarpeted corridor with the microphones at the far end, resulting in a bongo-like staccato sound. John Lennon did not play on the recording, but McCartney said he contributed some words to the song in India. When Lennon (who hated it whenever McCartney recorded without the rest of the band) and Ringo Starr walked into the studio after McCartney had finished, “you could have cut the atmosphere with a knife”, recalled engineer Ken Scott. […]
Paul McCartney in "Many Years From Now", by Barry Miles:
I seem to remember writing Mother Nature’s Son at my dad’s house in Liverpool. I often used to do that if I’d gone up to see him. Visiting my family I’d feel in a good mood, so it was often a good occasion to write songs. So this was me doing my mother nature’s son bit. I’ve always loved the [Nat King Cole] song called Nature Boy: ‘There was a boy, a very strange and gentle boy…’ He loves nature, and Mother Nature’s Son was inspired by that song. I’d always loved nature, and when Linda and I got together we discovered we had this deep love of nature in common. There might have been a little help from John with some of the verses.
Mountain streams, fields of grass, swaying daisies. A lazy song sung beneath the sun. In fact it was sung by Paul in the middle of the night beneath the artificial moonlight of EMI studio lamps! Almost folksy simplicity about this little number. It was done at a sort of after-session session when the rest of the fellows had gone home. Paul just sat in the box, sang and played his acoustic guitar. At three o’clock in the morning.
Mal Evans – From the Beatles Monthly Book, N°64, November 1968
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.
Last updated on September 26, 2021
The book "The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present", published in 2021, covers Paul McCartney's early Liverpool days, the Beatles, Wings, and solo careers, by pairing the lyrics of 154 of his songs with first-person commentaries of the circumstances in which they were written, the people and places that inspired them, and what he thinks of them now.
"Mother Nature's Son" is one of the 154 songs covered.
Lyrics
Born a poor young country boy
Mother Nature's son
All day long I'm sitting, singing songs for everyone
Sit beside a mountain stream
See her waters rise
Listen to the pretty sound of music as she flies
Find me in my field of grass
Mother Nature's son
Swaying daisies, sing a lazy song beneath the sun
Mother Nature's son
Variations
Officially appears on
LP • Released in 1968
2:48 • Studio version • B • Mono
- Paul McCartney :
- Acoustic guitars, Bass drum, Percussion, Vocals
- George Martin :
- Producer
- Ken Scott :
- Recording engineer
- Unknown musician(s) :
- Two trombones, Two trumpets
- Session Recording:
- Aug 09, 1968
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
- Session Overdubs:
- Aug 20, 1968
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Abbey Road
- Session Mixing:
- Oct 12, 1968
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
LP • Released in 1968
2:48 • Studio version • A • Stereo
- Paul McCartney :
- Acoustic guitars, Bass drum, Percussion, Vocals
- George Martin :
- Producer
- Ken Scott :
- Recording engineer
- Unknown musician(s) :
- Two trombones, Two trumpets
- Session Recording:
- Aug 09, 1968
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
- Session Overdubs:
- Aug 20, 1968
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Abbey Road
- Session Mixing:
- Oct 12, 1968
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Official album • Released in 1996
3:17 • Outtake • C • Stereo • Take 2. Its lyrics inspired by the text of a lecture heard in Spring in India, the basic track of Mother's Nature Son was recorded one summer's evening in London a few months later. The White Album master was Take 26, a reduction of the "best" take (24) with overdubbed drums, timpani, brass and a second acoustic guitar passage, the brass players being the only musicians apart from Paul McCartney to play on the recording of his new song. En route to the master the composer taped a succession of strictly solo pieces, seeking out the right sound and feel - this Anthology selection is Take 2, the opening strand of conversation emphasising well the willingness, common to all Beatles, to seize upon a new sound or effect, whether discovered accidentally or otherwise.
- Session Recording:
- Aug 09, 1968
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Official album • Released in 1997
2:53 • Studio rehearsal • L1 • Although this performance may originate from a soundcheck, it most likely comes from the Unplugged rehearsals.
- Session Recording:
- January 1991
- Studio :
- The Barn, Hog Hill, Rye, UK
Official live • Released in 2002
2:11 • Live • L2
- Paul McCartney :
- Executive producer
- Performed by :
- Paul McCartney • Rusty Anderson • Abe Laboriel Jr. • Paul Wickens • Brian Ray
- David Kahne :
- Producer
- Michael Brauer :
- Recording engineer
- Ricardo Chavarria :
- Assistant engineer
Concert From the concert in Dallas, USA on May 10, 2002
Official live • Released in 2003
2:11 • Live • L2
- Paul McCartney :
- Executive producer
- Performed by :
- Paul McCartney • Rusty Anderson • Abe Laboriel Jr. • Paul Wickens • Brian Ray
- David Kahne :
- Producer
- Michael Brauer :
- Recording engineer
- Ricardo Chavarria :
- Assistant engineer
Concert From the concert in Dallas, USA on May 10, 2002
The Beatles (Mono - 2009 remaster)
Official album • Released in 2009
2:48 • Studio version • B2009 • Mono • 2009 mono remaster
- Paul McCartney :
- Acoustic guitars, Bass drum, Percussion, Vocals
- George Martin :
- Producer
- Ken Scott :
- Recording engineer
- Paul Hicks :
- Remastering
- Guy Massey :
- Remastering
- Sean Magee :
- Remastering
- Allan Rouse :
- Project co-ordinator
- Unknown musician(s) :
- Two trombones, Two trumpets
- Session Recording:
- Aug 09, 1968
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
- Session Overdubs:
- Aug 20, 1968
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Abbey Road
- Session Mixing:
- Oct 12, 1968
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
The Beatles (Stereo - 2009 remaster)
Official album • Released in 2009
2:48 • Studio version • A2009 • Stereo • 2009 stereo remaster
- Paul McCartney :
- Acoustic guitars, Bass drum, Percussion, Vocals
- George Martin :
- Producer
- Ken Scott :
- Recording engineer
- Guy Massey :
- Remastering
- Steve Rooke :
- Remastering
- Allan Rouse :
- Project co-ordinator
- Unknown musician(s) :
- Two trombones, Two trumpets
- Session Recording:
- Aug 09, 1968
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
- Session Overdubs:
- Aug 20, 1968
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Abbey Road
- Session Mixing:
- Oct 12, 1968
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
The Beatles (Mono - 2014 vinyl)
LP • Released in 2014
2:48 • Studio version • B2014 • Mono • 2014 remaster
- Paul McCartney :
- Acoustic guitars, Bass drum, Percussion, Vocals
- George Martin :
- Producer
- Ken Scott :
- Recording engineer
- Sean Magee :
- Remastering
- Unknown musician(s) :
- Two trombones, Two trumpets
- Steve Berkowitz :
- Remastering
- Session Recording:
- Aug 09, 1968
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
- Session Overdubs:
- Aug 20, 1968
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Abbey Road
- Session Mixing:
- Oct 12, 1968
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Official album • Released in 2016
3:17 • Outtake • C2016 • Stereo • Take 2. Its lyrics inspired by the text of a lecture heard in Spring in India, the basic track of Mother's Nature Son was recorded one summer's evening in London a few months later. The White Album master was Take 26, a reduction of the "best" take (24) with overdubbed drums, timpani, brass and a second acoustic guitar passage, the brass players being the only musicians apart from Paul McCartney to play on the recording of his new song. En route to the master the composer taped a succession of strictly solo pieces, seeking out the right sound and feel - this Anthology selection is Take 2, the opening strand of conversation emphasising well the willingness, common to all Beatles, to seize upon a new sound or effect, whether discovered accidentally or otherwise.
- Session Recording:
- Aug 09, 1968
- Studio :
- EMI Studios, Studio Two, Abbey Road
Bootlegs
Driving USA Super Tree Volume 13 - Uniondale, NY 21 April 2002
Unofficial live
3:19 • Live
Concert From the concert in Uniondale, USA on Apr 21, 2002
Live at The Palace - Auburn Hills, Detroit MI May 1, 2002
Unofficial live
3:14 • Live
Concert From the concert in Detroit, USA on May 01, 2002
Live performances
“Mother Nature's Son” has been played in 26 concerts and 4 soundchecks.
Latest concerts where Mother Nature's Son has been played
Ft. Lauderdale • National Car Rental Center • USA
May 18, 2002 • Part of Driving USA Tour
Ft. Lauderdale • National Car Rental Center • USA
May 17, 2002 • Part of Driving USA Tour
May 15, 2002 • Part of Driving USA Tour
May 13, 2002 • Part of Driving USA Tour
May 12, 2002 • Part of Driving USA Tour
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Love this song but I will admit that John Denver sings it better. Did Paul approve of how John Denver sings this? Totally different.....
Thanks for your message @Nikki, I have to listen to that cover that I didn't know ! Thanks !