I'm So Tired

I'm So Tired was written by John Lennon after he had been in India on a retreat for three weeks in 1968. It was recorded on October 8, 1968 at Abbey Road, in one session, including all overdubs. The song appeared in the November 1968 release of The Beatles (known as The White Album). After years of dulling his concentration with drugs and drink, Lennon found himself on a retreat with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in Rishikesh, India, clean, sober and missing his love, Yoko Ono. He suffered insomnia, hence the title of the song, and he was becoming tired of meditation and lectures. Back in London, the vocals were recorded at 3 am, further adding realism to the song's theme. The chord sequence of this song is similar to the doo-wop phrasing in This Boy, Yes It Is and Happiness Is A Warm Gun. A demo of the song from May 1968 (made in Harrison's home) even includes a spoken segment similar to the one in Happiness Is A Warm Gun: "When I hold you in your arms, when you show each one of your charms, I wonder should I get up and go to the funny farm." The final phrase fueled the "Paul is Dead" hoax. Lennon mumbles "Monsieur, monsieur, monsieur, how about another one?" Playing it backwards, some "Paul is Dead" theorists thought it said, "Paul is dead, man, miss him, miss him, miss him." On the subject of this song, Paul was quoted by his biographer as saying, "I think we were all pretty tired but he chose to write about it." On Anthology 3 one can hear a composite of takes 3, 6 and 9 from the October 8 recording session.