Baby You're a Rich Man
By:
The Beatles
Lyrics:
Baby You're a Rich Man Lyrics
Lead vocals:
John Lennon
Songwriter(s):
Lennon/McCartney
Release date:
July 7, 1967
Length (≈):
3:03 Baby You're a Rich Man is the b-side for the single, All You Need is Love. It was a blend of two songs, one written by John Lennon, the other by Paul McCartney. The working title was One of the Beautiful People, the title John gave to his song. The verses are John's and the chorus is Paul's work. It was recorded on May 11, 1967 in the Olympic Sound Studios in London in 12 takes, the first to be recorded and mixed completely apart from the Abbey Road studio home of the Beatles. Eventually, these recording sessions would yield the Magical Mystery Tour album. Baby You're a Rich Man was always intended for Yellow Submarine, though ironically it is almost inaudible in the film. The 1999 soundtrack album of Yellow Submarine remedies this problem. The exotic instrument heard in the song is a clavioline played by John. It was an early version of a synthesizer (introduced around 1947), which created in this case a pinched, oboe-like sound. A vibraphone was used in the track as well, played by Eddie Kramer. The tape box for the recording session indicates that Mick Jagger was present, and many suspect that he sat in on the vocals, though his voice can not be distinguished from the others.
The verse lyrics appear to be about manager Brian Epstein, though Lennon said that his part of the song was just a reference to rich people who, in spite of material well-being, fail to enjoy their lives. Paul's chorus does not convey any such notion.
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Baby You're A Rich Man about Epstein
You probably have to have a couple of things going for you to make the connection between BYARM and Brian Epstein. First, it helps if you were alive (and old enough) when the single was first released in mono in 1967. Also, and sadly, archives from music magazines from that era are not available on the Internet. Finally, you need a of of patience to search the Internet for proof.
1. On the original single, you can clearly hear "Baby you're a rich fag Jew" near the fade. Find it (if you can) and listen to it. Subsequent re-pressings of the single do not count.
2. Though many people think Lennon was putting down the "Beautiful People" in this song, not so, at least, not at that time. It wouldn't be until after the "Summer of Love" in 1967 that Lennon (and Harrison) would become disenchanted with the "Beautiful People", not in May, when the song was recorded.
3. Who were the "Beautiful People"? Anyone who became "enlightened", be it by LSD or otherwise. Timelines of Brian's life show that Brian first used LSD right before John wrote his verses for the song, thus the questions he asked in the song were directed at Brian. Look up drug slang from the 60's to see what "there" meant.
4. "Baby you're a rich man" (Paul's contribution) could very well refer to Brian, who was indeed, a rich man. But that's not enough. The big brown bag refers to the bag that Brian was carrying on their 66 world tour, in which he carried the concert receipts (money). This bag was eventually taken from Brian by the Philippine authorities after the so-called snub of Madame Marcos by the Beatles. Many biographies cite this. Other biographies mentioned that Brian carried concert money on earlier tours, but don't specify the color of the bag.
5. As or "zoo", I can only offer my opinion. The "zoo" might refer to Beatlemania, that is, the way the Beatles were "caged" for public viewing, not free to wander around in public because of their fame. Or it might be used to describe the situation at the Philippines airport where the soldiers acted like animals or treated the Beatles like animals. Thus, "You keep all your money in a big brown bag inside a zoo" might very well refer to Brian.
6. Subsequent remixes of BYARM are different from the original. Comparing the original mono single with the MMT version, the MMT version has vocals that are nowhere as clear as the single. The consonants do NOT pop out of the speakers during the fade. On the remastered (2009) remix, "rich fag Jew" cannot be heard at all. I am just as sure that I heard it in 1967 as I am certain that I can't hear it from 2009. Unfortunately, skeptics dismiss the "RFJ" line because they don't have access to the original mono.
7. Why the change? This is only my guess. When released early in the summer of 1967, it might be viewed as a harmless, semi-private joke. With Epstein's death in August of that year, perhaps it was then considered to be somewhat tasteless.
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