All Together Now

All Together Now was written mainly by Paul McCartney during the time of the Magical Mystery Tour and recorded shortly afterwards, on May 12, 1967, at the Abbey Road studios. The recording was not made public until January 13, 1969 when the time came to prepare the soundtrack for the Beatles' animated feature, Yellow Submarine. This appears to have been McCartney's intention at the time he wrote the music and lyrics. The mood of the song is light hearted, designed by Paul as a sing-along for kids, somewhat like the days of the Music Hall era, when the audience took part in the singing. The phrase "We are all together now" provides another layer of meaning for grown-ups, indicating an embracing political outlook of the Beatles based on universal love and acceptance, and for that reason, in an epilogue to the animated feature, the Beatles reprise All Together Now. Recording required 9 takes in fewer than 6 hours, with Geoff Emerick sitting in as producer for the absent George Martin. In the recording, Paul sings lead vocal and provides bass, handclaps and acoustic guitar. John also provides handclaps, as well as harmony vocals, ukulele, harmonica and rhythm guitar. George participates in the handclaps and the harmony. Ringo added hand claps, drums and finger cymbals.