Her Majesty

Paul McCartney wrote Her Majesty for the Abbey Road album. It was a kind of "bonus track," in that it appears 14 seconds after the end of the last listed song (The End). Recording took just 3 takes on July 2, 1969. The original plan was to put the song between Mean Mr. Mustard and Polythene Pam in a medley, but Paul directed the tape operator to axe it. Instead of throwing the song away, John Kurlander, the technician, placed 14 seconds of silence on the tape to separate the song and then preserved it. The first chord of Her Majesty is really the last chord of Mean Mr. Mustard, and the song's indecisive ending is due to its having lent its last chord to open Polythene Pam. Evidently the song was unintentionally included in the final mix.

Her Majesty is the shortest Beatles song of all -- just 23 seconds in all. As part of Queen Elizabeth II's jubilee celebration in 2002, Sir Paul McCartney presented a live performance of Her Majesty in the garden of Buckingham Palace.