Polythene Pam

Polythene Pam was composed by John Lennon. It became part of the medley that completes the album Abbey Road. Lennon had actually written this song a year earlier and had introduced it to the band during the recording sessions for The White Album. Lennon later referred to this song and Mean Mr. Mustard as "bits of crap I wrote in India." A demo made at Harrison's home studio is on Anthology 3.

The song is about a fan of the Beatles from the Cavern Club days in Liverpool. Her name was Pat Hodgett. She would eat polyethylene, and became known as "Polythene Pat." The song describes a "scrubber" with a fetish for this inert substance. The lyrics are in the form of a Limerick and sung in the heavy Liverpudlian accent called "Scouse." Polythene Pam also features the group's early trademark, the phrase "yeah, yeah, yeah" in the chorus. As such it is a bit nostalgic about the formative years of the group.

Polythene Pam follows right on the heels of Mean Mr. Mustard and ends with the guitar solo, just before She Came in Through the Bathroom Window. This song was recorded on July 25-30, 1969 with lead vocals and 12-string acoustic guitar from John Lennon, bass, guitar piano and backing vocals from Paul, guitar and vocals from George, and drums, tambourine, maracas and cowbell from Ringo. Paul's song, She Came In Through the Bathroom Window was recorded together with Polythene Pam. This is the only time that a song by John and a song by Paul were recorded together without a seam. In all, 39 takes of the rhythm track were made as well as some overdubs, completing the song on July 30.