The Beatles (1968)

First released: November 22, 1968, on The White Album in the UK

Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
August 22, 1968: Five takes of the rhythm track were recorded.
August 23, 1968: Overdubbing of drums, bass, lead guitar, piano, vocals, handclaps, and the opening airplane sound.

Musicians and Instruments Played
Paul - lead and backing vocal, lead guitar, drums, piano
John - backing vocal, six-string bass
George - backing vocal, jazz bass

Paul: "I wrote that as a kind of Beach Boys parody. And 'Back in the USA' was a Chuck Berry song, so it kind of took off from there. I just liked the idea of Georgia girls and talking about places like the Ukraine as if they were California, you know?"

Other Information
- Ringo left the group for a time because of all the tension in the studio during the sessions for The White Album, so Paul took over drumming while he was gone. Paul explained, "I'm sure it pissed Ringo off when he couldn't quite get the drums to 'Back in the USSR,' and I sat in. It's very weird to know that you can do a thing someone else is having trouble with. If you go down and do it, just bluff right through it, you know, 'What the hell? At least I'm helping.' Then the paranoia comes in, 'But I'm going to show him up!' I was very sensitive to that."

First released: November 22, 1968, on the The White Album in the UK

Recording Information
Location: Trident Studios, London
August 28, 1968: The basic track of the song was taped.
August 29, 1968: Bass, vocals, handclaps, and tambourine were added.
August 30, 1968: A piano track and flugelhorn were added.

Musicians and Instruments Played
John - lead and backing vocal, lead guitar, tambourine
Paul - lead and backing vocal, bass, piano, drums, flugelhorn, drums
George - backing vocal, acoustic guitar
Mal Evans - tambourine

John: "'Dear Prudence' is me. Written in India. A song about Mia Farrow's sister, who seemed to go slightly barmy, meditating too long and couldn't come out of the little hut that we were living in."

First released: November 22, 1968, on The White Album in the UK

Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
September 11, 1968: Thirty-four takes were recorded. Take 33 was the best.
September 12, 1968: John's lead vocal and Ringo's tambourine were overdubbed.
September 13, 1968: Overdubbing of drums and piano.
September 16, 1968: Overdubs of recorder.
September 26, 1968: John added sound effects - a window being smashed, ringing alarm clock, and an announcer saying, "It's a goal!" The version with the sound effects can be heard on Anthology 3.
October 10, 1968: Overdubbing of strings.

Musicians and Instruments Played
John - vocal, acoustic guitar
Paul - bass, piano, recorder
George - lead guitar
Ringo - drums, tambourine
Session musicians - violins, cellos, violas

John: "With 'Glass Onion' I was just having a laugh, because there'd been so much gobbledygook written about Sgt. Pepper. People were saying, 'Play it backwards while standing on your head, and you'll get a secret message'."

Paul: "John wrote the tune, but I helped him on it, and when we were writing it we were thinking specifically of this whole idea of all these kind of people who write in and say, 'Was the walrus John? Were you the walrus?' So John happened to have a line go, 'Oh yeah, the walrus was Paul,' and we had a great giggle to say, 'Yeah, let's do that, let's put this line in 'cause everybody's gonna read into it and go crackers'..."

First released: November 22, 1968, on the UK LP The White Album

Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
Dates: July 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, and 15, 1968

Musicians and Instruments Played
Paul - lead vocal, bass
John - backing vocal, piano
George - backing vocal, guitar
Ringo - drums, bongos
Session musicians - saxophones

Other Information
- "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" is an everyday phrase in Africa that means something like "life goes on." Paul heard a conga drummer named Jimmy Scott saying it a lot, and when he heard Paul singing it he wanted credit for it as if he'd invented the phrase himself. Paul told him, "It's just an expression. If you'd written the song, then you could have had the cut."

First released: November 22, 1968 on the UK LP The White Album

Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
August 20, 1968

Musicians and Instruments Played
Paul - lead vocal, acoustic guitar, drums

Other Information
- The Beatles were going to cut this from the album, but Pattie Boyd spoke up and told them she liked it, so they decided to leave it in.

First released: November 22, 1968, on the UK LP The White Album

Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
October 8, 1968

Musicians and Instruments Played
John - vocal, acoustic guitar, organ
Paul - backing vocal, bass
George - backing vocal, guitar
Ringo - backing vocal, drums, tambourine

John: "That was written about a guy in Maharishi's meditation camp who took a short break to go shoot a few poor tigers and then come back to commune with God. There used to be a character called Jungle Jim, and I combined him with Buffalo Bill. It's sort of a teenage social comment song, and a bit of a joke."

First released: November 22, 1968, on The White Album in the UK

Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
July 25, 1968: More of a rehearsal than a recording session. Only one numbered take of George playing acoustic guitar and singing the song for that day exists. An organ was overdubbed onto the end.
August 16, 1968: Fourteen takes of the rhythm track were recorded; this time an electric version of the song was made.
September 5, 1968: Vocals, maracas, drums, and guitar were added.
September 6, 1968: Overdubbing.

Musicians and Instruments Played
George - lead vocal, acoustic guitar, lead guitar
Paul - harmony vocal, bass, piano
John - organ
Ringo - drums, castanets, tambourine
Eric Clapton - lead guitar

George: "I decided to write a song based on the first thing I saw upon opening any book. I picked up a book at random, saw 'gently weeps,' then laid the book down again and started the song. Some of the words to the song were changed before I finally recorded it."

Other Information
- Believers of the "Paul is dead" rumors thought George was saying, "Paul, Paul, Paul" at the end of the song, but he was actually saying, "Oh, oh, oh."
- When George performed this live, he would sometimes change the lyrics to, "While my guitar gently smiles."

First released: November 22, 1968, on The White Album in the UK

Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
September 23, 1968: Forty-five takes were recorded.
September 24, 1968: Twenty-five more takes of the rhythm track were recorded. Take 53 was the best first half of the song, and Take 65 was the best second half.
September 25, 1968: Takes 53 and 65 were edited together. Then vocals, organ, piano, tuba, drums, tambourine, and bass were added.

Musicians and Instruments Played
John - lead and backing vocal, lead guitar, tambourine
Paul - backing vocal, bass
George - backing vocal, lead guitar
Ringo - drums

John: "They all said it was about drugs, but it was more about rock 'n' roll than drugs. It's sort of a history of rock 'n' roll. I don't know why people said it was about the needle in heroin. I've only seen somebody do something with a needle once, and I don't like to see it at all."

Other Information
- John got the idea for this from a magazine cover that said "happiness is a warm gun."
- This is Paul's and George's favorite song on The White Album.

First released: November 22, 1968, on The White Album in the UK

Recording Information
Location: Trident Studios, London
October 4, 1968: Paul recorded one take of the song, and later horns, piano, drums, and a guide vocal were added.
October 5, 1968: Bass and electric guitar were overdubbed.

Musicians and Instruments Played
Paul - vocal, piano, bass, guitars, drums, handclaps
Session musicians - violins, violas, cellos, trumpets, French horn, trombone, tuba, flugelhorn

Paul: "You can read anything you like into it, but really it's just a song. It's me singing to my dog."

Other Information
- Paul wasn't joking when he said he was singing to his dog; he really did have a sheepdog named Martha.

First released: November 22, 1968, on The White Album in the UK

Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
October 8, 1968: Fourteen takes were recorded, then overdubbing.

Musicians and Instruments Played
John - lead vocal, lead guitar, organ
Paul - harmony vocal, bass
George - lead and rhythm guitar
Ringo - drums

John: "'I'm So Tired' was me, in India again. I couldn't sleep; I'm meditating all day and couldn't sleep at night. The story is that. One of my favorite tracks."

First released: November 22, 1968, on The White Album in the UK

Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
June 11, 1968: Thirty-two takes were recorded.

Musicians and Instruments Played
Paul - vocal, acoustic guitar

Paul: "I had in my mind a black woman rather than a bird. Those were the days of the civil rights movement, which all of us cared passionately about. This was really a song from me to a black woman experiencing these problems in the States... 'Let me encourage you to keep trying, to keep your faith. There is hope'."

First released: November 22, 1968 on the UK LP The White Album

Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
September 19, 1968
September 20, 1968
October 10, 1968

Musicians and Instruments Played
George - lead vocal, guitar
Paul - bass
John - tape-loops
Ringo - tambourine
Chris Thomas - harpsichord
Session musicians - violins, violas, cellos

First released: November 22, 1968 on the UK LP The White Album

Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
August 15, 1968

Musicians and Instruments Played
Paul - lead vocal, acoustic guitar
John - backing vocal, harmonica, harmonium, six-string bass
George - backing vocal
Ringo - drums
George Martin - piano

Paul: "I was sitting on the roof in India with a guitar; John and I were sitting 'round playing guitar, and we were with Donovan. We were just sitting around enjoying ourselves, and I started playing the chords of 'Rocky Raccoon,' you know, just messing around. It was originally Rocky Sassoon, and we just started making up the words, you know, the three of us - they came very quickly. Eventually I changed from Sassoon to Raccoon, because it sounded more like a cowboy. So there it is."

First released: November 22, 1968, on the UK LP The White Album

Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
June 5, 1968
June 6, 1968
July 12, 1968
July 22, 1968

Musicians and Instruments Played
Ringo - lead vocal, drums, piano
Paul - piano, bass
Jack Fallon - violin

Other Information
- Ringo had been asking the others to record this ever since 1964, but they didn't agree till The White Album times.
- Jack Fallon, who played the violin bit at the end, begged The Beatles to cut it out because he thought it sounded awful.

First released: November 22, 1968, on the UK LP The White Album

Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
October 9, 1968
October 10, 1968

Musicians and Instruments Played
Paul - lead vocal, guitar, bass, piano, handclaps
Ringo - drums, handclaps

This song is pretty self-explanatory (Paul got the idea for it in India when he happened to notice some monkeys doing it)...

First released: November 22, 1968, on The White Album in the UK

Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
September 16, 1968: Sixty-seven takes were recorded.
September 17, 1968: Overdubs.

Musicians and Instruments Played
Paul - vocal, acoustic guitar
Ringo - drums, bongos, maracas
John - percussion

Paul: "I wrote a couple of things while I was [in India]. I had a song called 'I Will,' but I didn't have any words for it."

First released: November 22, 1968, on The White Album in the UK

Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
October 13, 1968: Three takes were recorded.

Musicians and Instruments Played
John - vocal, guitar

John: "Julia was my mother, but it was sort of a combination of Yoko and my mother blended into one."

First released: November 22, 1968, on The White Album in the UK

Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
September 18, 1968: Twenty takes were recorded.

Musicians and Instruments Played
Paul - lead vocal, piano
John - backing vocal, lead guitar
George - bass, tambourine
Ringo - drums
Yoko Ono and Pattie Harrison - chorus vocals

Paul: "We thought, 'Why not make something up?' So we got a riff going and arranged it around this riff. So that is fifty-fifty John and me, made up on the spot and recorded all in the same evening."

John: "I think Paul wanted to write a song like 'Happy Birthday Baby,' the old fifties hit. But it was made up in the studio. It was a piece of garbage."

First released: November 22, 1968, on the UK LP The White Album

Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
August 13, 1968
August 14, 1968
August 20, 1968

Musicians and Instruments Played
John - lead vocal, backing vocal, lead guitar
Paul - bass
George - lead guitar
Ringo - drums

First released: November 22, 1968, on The White Album in the UK

Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
August 9, 1968: Twenty-five takes were recorded by Paul alone in the studio. Take 24 was the best.
August 20, 1968: Overdubbing.

Musicians and Instruments Played
Paul - vocal, acoustic guitar, timpani, bongos

Paul: "It says 'born a poor young country boy' and I was born in Woolton hospital, actually, so it's a dirty lie."

John: "That was from a lecture of the Maharishi where he was talking about nature."

First released: November 22, 1968, on The White Album in the UK

Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
June 26, 1968: The Beatles rehearsed and recorded the rhythm track.
June 27, 1968: Six takes of the rhythm track were recorded. Take 6 was the best.
July 1, 1968: John's lead vocal and Paul's bass were overdubbed.
July 23, 1968: A new lead vocal was overdubbed.

Musicians and Instruments Played
John - lead vocal, guitar, percussion, handclaps
Paul - backing vocal, bass, percussion, handclaps
George - backing vocal, lead guitar, percussion, handclaps
Ringo - drums, percussion, handclaps

John: "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. 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 going around us just because we happened to want to be together all the time."

First released: November 22, 1968, on The White Album in the UK

Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
July 19, 1968: Twenty-one takes were recorded.
July 24, 1968: The song was remade. Twenty-three takes were recorded. Take 23 was considered the best.
August 13, 1968: The song was remade again with eight takes recorded of the basic track.
August 21, 1968: Overdubbing.

Musicians and Instruments Played
John - lead and backing vocal, rhythm guitar, organ
Paul - backing vocal, bass, piano
George - backing vocal, lead guitar
Ringo - drums, tambourine

John: "That was inspired by the Maharishi. I wrote it when we had our bags packed and were leaving [India]. I was leaving the Maharishi with a bad taste."

George: "I like that tune. The words - that was John's concept of what happened to him, but even John was wrong some of the time."

Other Information
- This was originally titled "Maharishi," but John changed it. There is a tape in EMI's archives where John sings an original part of the song that expressed how he really felt about the Maharishi:

You little twit
Who the fuck do you think you are?
Oh, you cunt

It's probably a good thing that he didn't use them on the version that was released on the album.

First released: November 22, 1968, on The White Album in the UK

Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
July 28, 1968: Three rehearsal takes were recorded.
September 9, 1968: More takes were recorded. Take 21 was considered the best.
September 10, 1968: Overdubbing.

Musicians and Instruments Played
Paul - lead vocal, bass, lead guitar
John - backing vocal, bass, lead guitar, saxophone
George - backing vocal, rhythm guitar
Ringo - drums
Mal Evans - trumpet

Paul: "I was in Scotland, and I read in Melody Maker that Pete Townshend had said, 'We've just made the raunchiest, loudest, most ridiculous rock 'n' roll record you've ever heard.' I never actually found out what track it was that The Who had made, but that got me going, just hearing him talk about it. So I said to the guys, 'I think we should do a song like that; something really wild.' And I wrote 'Helter Skelter'."

First released: November 22, 1968, on The White Album in the UK

Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
October 7, 1968: Sixty-seven takes of the basic rhythm track were recorded.
October 8, 1968: Overdub of guitar, vocal, and bass.
October 9, 1968: Overdubs of Paul's backing vocals and a piano.

Musicians and Instruments Played
George - lead vocal, acoustic guitar
Paul - bass, piano, Hammond organ
Ringo - drums
Chris Thomas - piano

George: "I think all of love is part of a universal love. When you love a woman, it's the God in her that you see. The only complete love is for God."

Other Information
- The sound effect at the end came about by accident. George said, "There was a bottle of Blue Nun wine on top of the Leslie speaker during the recording, and when Paul hit some organ note the Leslie started vibrating and the bottle rattling. You can hear it on the record at the very end."

First released: August 26, 1968, as the B side of the "Hey Jude" single in the US

Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
May 30, 1968: Eighteen takes of the rhythm track were recorded.
May 31, 1968: Overdubbing of vocals and bass.
June 4, 1968: Re-recording of John's lead vocal.
June 21, 1968: Overdubbing.

Musicians and Instruments Played
John - lead and harmony vocal, guitar
Paul - harmony vocal, bass, piano
George - harmony vocal, guitar
Ringo - drums
Session musicians - trumpets, trombones

John: "What I said in 'Revolution,' in all the versions, is 'change your head'."

First released: November 22, 1968, on the UK LP The White Album

Recording Information
Location: Trident Studios, London
October 1, 1968
October 2, 1968
October 4, 1968

Musicians and Instruments Played
Paul - lead vocal, piano, guitar
John - lead guitar
George - six-string bass
Ringo - drums
Session musicians - saxophones and clarinets

Other Information
- This may have been Paul's try at getting Linda to come to England, because he was "in love but lazy" to go and visit her in New York.

First released: November 22, 1968, on the UK LP The White Album

Recording Information
Locations: Trident Studios, London
Abbey Road Studios, London
October 3, 1968: One take of the basic track was recorded.
October 5, 1968: Overdubbing of George's lead vocal.
October 11, 1968: Brass overdubs.
October 14, 1968: Overdubs of electric guitar, organ, tambourine, and bongos.

Musicians and Instruments Played
George - vocal, lead guitar, organ
Paul - bass
Ringo - drums, tambourine
Session musicians - saxophones

George: "'Savoy Truffle' was written for Eric [Clapton]. He's got this real sweet tooth, and he'd just had his mouth worked on. His dentist said he was through with candy. So as a tribute I wrote, 'You'll have to have them all pulled out after the Savoy truffle.' The truffle was some kind of sweet, just like all the rest - cream tangerine, ginger sling - just candy, to tease Eric."

Other Information
- I'm not 100% sure, but I think Savoy truffles were a type of chocolate that would be sweet when you first put them in your mouth but then would turn and have a sort of sour taste. That may be why George put in the line "what is sweet turns so sour..."

First released: November 22, 1968, on the UK LP The White Album

Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
Dates: July 15, 16, and 18, 1968

Musicians and Instruments Played
John - lead vocal, guitar, piano, organ
Paul - bass
George - lead guitar
Ringo - drums, tambourine
George Martin - harmonium

Other Information
- The "can you take me back" bit at the end was originally over two minutes long, but it was cut to be just twenty seconds.

First released: November 22, 1968

Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
Dates: June 6, 10, 11, 20, and 21, 1968

Other Information
- This sound collage by John is called avant-garde music. Before he met Yoko, he always said avant-garde was "French for bullshit." "Once I heard her stuff," John said, "and not just the screeching and the howling, but her word pieces, the talking and breathing and all this strange stuff - I thought, 'My God!' I wanted to do one."

First released: November 22, 1968, on the UK LP The White Album

Recording Information
Location: Abbey Road Studios, London
Dates: June 28, July 2 and 22, 1968

Musicians and Instruments Played
Ringo - lead vocal
Other musicians - violins, violas, cellos, double-bass, flutes, clarinet, horn, vibraphone, harp

Ringo: "He's got a lot of soul, John has."

Other Information
- John wrote this for Julian, his son, because he wasn't sleeping well. John thought it'd be a good one for Ringo to sing, so Ringo sang it.
- The early takes started with a spoken piece by Ringo. He said, "Come on now, it's time you little toddlers are in bed. I'm having no more messing. You've been out to the park all day, and you've had a lovely time. Now it's time for bed. Are we ready? Daddy'll sing."