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12-Bar Original
12-Bar Original was recorded in 1965 at the Abbey Road studios. It is essentially an informal Beatles jam session, improvised for fun as an instrumental. (The Beatles produced only 4 instrumental tracks during their time together.) Producer George Martin liked what he was hearing, and started the recording equipment. He asked the group to play it another time, and take 2 was archived. The recording never made its way into an album during the time the Beatles were together. In 1996, when the Anthology 2 collection was compiled from various...more»
Instrumental
Monday, March 18, 1996
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A Beginning
A Beginning is hardly a song. More correctly, it is a short composition by George Martin, the Beatles' producer and sometime musical contributor to their recordings. Martin felt that Ringo's song, Don't Pass Me By, lacked an introduction. Martin dashed off this fragment for that purpose. Curiously, the piece did not make its way into Don't Pass Me By, but was used instead as a lead-in to Eleanor Rigby in the Beatles' animated film, Yellow Submarine. When the time came for Anthology 3, a new Beatles song was slated to be used (called Now and...more»
Instrumental
Monday, October 28, 1996
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A Day in the Life
10
This song is the last track of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967). Many experts consider it to be the best Beatles song ever, and certainly it is one of the most innovative and influential of all their songs. Lennon and McCartney each wrote parts of the song and collaborated in the final arrangement. As was typical of the Beatles' sound during this period, Lennon and McCartney integrated orchestral elements with the vocals. Music critics deem it the high point in the collaboration of these two famous and prolific pop composers. (It...more»
Lennon and McCartney
Thursday, June 1, 1967
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A Hard Day's Night
This song is the title track of the Beatles' third UK album. It was released on July 10, 1964 to accompany their first movie, of the same name. United Artists released their "sound track" album from the movie in the US earlier, on June 26, with a different track list (for reasons of permissions, rights and copyrights). John Lennon was the sole composer of A Hard Day's Night, though the credits state "Lennon-McCartney" as usual. Lennon wrote the song on April 13-15, 1964 on a matchbook cover, and then on a birthday card. He was inspired by a...more»
Lennon and McCartney
Friday, July 10, 1964
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A Shot of Rhythm and Blues
Written by Terry Thompson, A Shot of Rhythm and Blues (1961) was a Beatles cover of a song made popular by Arthur Alexander, a well-known soul singer in the US. Lennon sang lead in three recordings the Beatles made of the song for BBC in 1963, the third of which (August 1, 1963) was released on the retrospective album, Live at the BBC, in 1994. The first recording was in the Paris studios of the BBC on June 18, 1963 for a Pop Go the Beatles special broadcast, an important step in the path to "Beatlemania" in that summer of 1963. The song was...more»
John Lennon
Wednesday, November 30, 1994
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A Taste of Honey
A Taste of Honey was originally an instrumental theme for a 1960 Broadway adaptation of a 1958 British play of the same name. In 1961 the work was made into a film. The soaring theme won Grammy Awards, and was admired by the Beatles. Starting in 1962, they started covering this song in their performance set, basing their treatment mainly on a vocal version by Kenny Welsh. They slightly modified the lyrics in the chorus and added distinctive musical touches of their own. When songs were hurriedly selected for their first album in February of...more»
Paul McCartney
Friday, March 22, 1963
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A World Without Love
A World Without Love was composed by Paul McCartney (attributed to Lennon/McCartney). The Beatles never released a recording of it. In fact, the only known recording of this song by a member of the group is Paul's demo track. Paul never thought the song was up to snuff for the Beatles, so after writing it, he offered it to Billy J. Kramer, who decided against recording it. Then he offered it to the British duo Peter and Gordon. They released it as their first single record in February of 1964, and it went to Number 1 in the UK two months later...more»
Tuesday, January 21, 1964
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Across the Universe
Across the Universe is a composition by John Lennon appearing on the Beatles' last album, Let it Be. An earlier version was released in December of 1969 as part of a charity fundraising album with various groups and artists, called No One's Gonna Change Our World. John later recalled that he wrote the lyrics in 1967 after a difficult conversation with his wife, Cynthia, and he thought of words "flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup." He worked this phrase into a song and went to bed. The next day, he started with the chords and melody...more»
John Lennon
Friday, May 8, 1970
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Act Naturally
Act Naturally was written by Johnny Russell. Buck Owens and the Buckaroos first recorded it in 1963, and it went to number 1 in the country charts in the US. The Beatles covered the song for their Help! album (UK version). It was the b-side of the Yesterday single in the US. Ringo sings the song on the album, and performed it on an Ed Sullivan broadcast in September of 1965. It was a favorite on the Beatles' US tour in 1965. In the studio it took 13 takes to get a good base track (June 17, 1965). It was slated for Help! in order to give Ringo...more»
Ringo Starr
Monday, September 13, 1965
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Ain't She Sweet
Ain't She Sweet, written by Milton Ager (tune) and Jack Yellen (words), came out in 1927 and immediately became a favorite song of the flapper era in the United States. The authors were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame as a result. The Beatles liked the song and often performed their version during the formative years, especially during their days in Hamburg. Two recordings survive: One is a version made in the Friedrich Ebert Halle in Hamburg on June 23, 1961, with Pete Best on Drums. The song was not released for nearly three years...more»
John Lennon
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All I've Got to Do
All I've Got to Do is one of several John Lennon compositions inspired by Smokey Robinson and the Miracles (You Can Depend on Me). It is track two on the Beatles' second album, With The Beatles. The Beatles never performed this song live. One theory is that Lennon had written the song earlier but had not shared it with McCartney and the others. He pulled it out at the last minute because the Beatles were in need of new material for their second album. It is pretty well established that the other members of the group learned about this song...more»
John Lennon
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All My Loving
Though credited as "Lennon/McCartney," this love song was totally a McCartney. composition. He wrote it in May of 1963 while on tour in the UK with Roy Orbeson. It was a poem first, penned for Jane Asher, his girlfriend at the time, whom he was missing. Later he applied the music to the words. This is an unusual sequence for McCartney, who usually conceived the melody first and then sought the words to fit. Originally conceived as a country-western tune, All My Loving evolved quickly into a standard pop number, capable of becoming a general...more»
Paul McCartney
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All Things Must Pass
All Things Must Pass was written by George Harrison in 1968. It was slated for the Get Back album when those recording sessions took place in January of 1969. However, the Get Back project was abandoned, and the song was never released as a Beatles track. Harrison did record a solo demo in February of 1969, overdubbing voice and guitar. The Anthology 3 album contains this recording. The official premier of the song was on Harrison's 1970 solo album, also called All Things Must Pass. When the song was written, Harrison was deeply influenced by...more»
George Harrison
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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,...more»
Lennon and McCartney
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All You Need Is Love
All You Need is Love is a John Lennon composition, written "to spec" for the BBC for its part in "Our World," a live television hookup with many different performers, witnessed and heard by over 400 million people in 26 countries, on June 25, 1967. The requirement was for a simple message that could easily be understood, literally, by everyone in the world. Lennon built on the idea he first articulated in The Word (released on Rubber Soul, 1965). For the live performance, the Beatles were seated with friends all around, and they joined in for...more»
John Lennon
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And I Love Her
McCartney conceived this song, and Lennon collaborated. It was the first of several soft, ballad-like songs McCartney wrote over the years. He wrote it in the house of his girlfriend, Jane Asher in February of 1964 between the Paris and US outings. Lennon helped work out the middle eight bars during the initial recording sessions. The large number of takes reflects the fact that the song evolved greatly during recording. The structure of And I Love Her is a fairly standard verse-verse-bridge followed by bridge-verse-to-final, except that in...more»
Paul McCartney
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And Your Bird Can Sing
And Your Bird Can Sing is a track originally released on the Beatles' Revolver album. John Lennon composed the song with input from Paul in the bridge and harmonies. The lyrics have caused a great deal of speculation and discussion because they seem autobiographical, but the situation is unclear: the narrator is criticizing a friend for his (or her) air of superiority. One theory is that the song is about Mick Jagger and his girlfriend ("bird"), Marianne Faithfull, who was becoming well-known as a pop singer in her own right. Another...more»
John Lennon
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Anna (Go to Him)
Anna (Go to Him) is the first cover to appear on their debut album, Please Please Me. It is track three. Written and recorded the previous year by Arthur Alexander, Anna was re-recorded by the Beatles in February of 1963 and twice more later in 1963 for the BBC special, "Pop Go the Beatles." John Lennon always considered it one of his favorites. The full title is officially, "Anna Go to Him," though the lyrics say "Go with Him." In the February 11, 1963 session at Abbey Road, the Beatles completed their recording in just three takes. The...more»
John Lennon
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Another Girl
Paul wrote Another Girl in early February of 1965 while vacationing on Hammamet, a Tunisian resort island. The lyrics indicate that McCartney's troubles in his relationship with Jane Asher were worsening. In the recording for the Help! album, Paul not only sings lead, but plays a guitar solo, something new. Another Girl starts with a chorus of all voices, then a verse in the blues-swing style McCartney liked very much. The bridge shifts key from A to C -- an innovation in pop music, but employed twice by the Beatles in the album Help!. (The...more»
Paul McCartney
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Any Time at All
Any TIme at All is not one of the most widely-known Beatles hits of 1964. Yet, it provides some very interesting insights into their music. Lennon wrote this song in May of 1964, and McCartney collaborated on the middle 8. When recording time came, they still had not come up with lyrics for that section, so McCartney improvised some piano chords with lead guitar from George, and that is how the song remained. Lennon said it was essentially a rewrite of It Won't Be Long, as both songs vary between a tonic C and Am. The song sandwiches in two...more»
John Lennon
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Ask Me Why
Ask Me Why was originally the B-side of the British release of the single, Please Please Me. It appears on that debut album on side one, track 6. The original song was composed in the main by John Lennon early in 1962, and was a part of the Beatles' performance repertoire before they landed their recording contract. On June 6, 1962 the Beatles performed their audition for Parlophone records at the Abbey Road Studio, and Ask Me Why was one of the songs they sang. John Lennon admired Smoky Robinson (and the Miracles), and imitated their style in...more»
John Lennon
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Baby It's You
Baby It's You was written in 1961 by Burt Bacharach, lyrics by Mack David. Luther Dixon produced the Shirelles original and influenced the arrangement, receiving credit as "Barney Williams." The Beatles sang the song in their performing act as early as 1961, and then recorded it in the February 11, 1963 Abbey Road session that led to the debut album, Please Please Me. Another Shirelles cover, Boys, appears in this album. John Lennon really loved the Shirelles' sound, and surely influenced the group to cover their songs in the performance act....more»
John Lennon
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Baby You're a Rich Man
10
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...more»
John Lennon
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Baby's in Black
Baby's in Black is the third of the Lennon trilogy on lost love -- the first three tracks on the Beatles' fourth album, Beatles for Sale. Lennon set the tone and lyrical premise of the song, while McCartney collaborated on the harmonies and arrangement. It was finished while the group was touring New Zealand and Australia during the southern hemisphere's winter of 1964. Baby's in Black is noteworthy because of its grim mood, uncharacteristic for the Beatles in their early period, and for the complicated guitar solo, probably written by...more»
John Lennon
Paul McCartney
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Back in the USSR
Back in the U.S.S.R. was written mainly by Paul McCartney in 1968. It is the opener to The Beatles (known almost universally as The White Album). On the album, this song leads right into track 2, which is Dear Prudence. The title is an ironic or playful allusion to Chuck Berry's Back in the USA. The chorus has musical references to the Beach Boys style, in part because Mike Love of the Beach Boys was in India at the same time with Paul, at the time he wrote the song. Love helped him imitate the sound and feel of the Beach Boys. The Beatles had...more»
Paul McCartney
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Bad Boy
John Lennon sings Bad Boy, a song written by Larry Williams. On May 10, 1965 the Beatles covered two Larry Williams songs in one recording session. The other was Dizzy Miss Lizzy. The recordings were made for the US audience, and released the following month on Capitol's Beatles VI album. Because Capitol had so hacked up the previous Beatles' UK releases, holding back songs, replacing others and rearranging track order, the Beatles VI album was needed to "catch up" on songs well-known in Britain, but previously unreleased in the States. Into...more»
John Lennon
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Bad to Me
Bad to Me was never recorded by the Beatles. John Lennon wrote it for Billy J. Kramer & The Dakotas, who released it in 1963. It was that group's first number one song in the UK. The next year it climbed to number 9 in the US charts. Kramer recorded the song at the Abbey Road Studios. McCartney was present. John made a demo track of the song on May 31, 1963, bootleg copies of which are in circulation. In 2003, Graham Parker released Lost Songs of Lennon & McCartney, (songs written by the duo but performed only by other groups). Bad to...more»
John Lennon
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Be-Bop-A-Lula
Gene Vincent and His Blue Caps came out with Be-Bop-A-Lula in 1956. It is one of the classic rock and roll songs. The title is an amalgam of slang from the Jazz era that became known as "be-bop." Vincent is credited with the music, and his manager, Bill "Sheriff Tex" Davis is credited with the words, even though it appears that he bought the rights from Donald Graves, the true author. Capitol records pressed the disc in hopes of finding a pop music phenom to rival Elvis. The song went double gold in 1957. Be-Bob-A-Lula quickly became a...more»
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Because
Because was written by John Lennon for the 1969 album, Abbey Road. It is a ballad-like composition, in which each of the three vocalists (John, Paul & George) sings on three dubs or tracks, resulting in a chorus effect of nine male voices (as can be heard a cappella on the Love album and Anthology 3) The influence of the Beach Boys is evident from the vocal sound and the harmonies. George Martin plays electric harpsichord, to which Lennon contributes guitar (through a Leslie speaker). This song is also one of the few Beatles songs that...more»
Lennon, McCartney and Harrison
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Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!
John Lennon wrote Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite! with collaboration from Paul as part of the set for The Beatles, "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, an album released in 1967. While in Kent in January of 1967, on site for the filming for a promotional video for Strawberry Fields Forever, he came across a 19th century circus poster in an antique shop, indicating that the last performances of the run were "for the benefit of Mr, Kite," (an employee of Pablo Fanque's circus from 1843-45). The song was recorded shortly thereafter, on...more»
John Lennon
Thursday, June 1, 1967
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Bésame Mucho
Bésame Mucho was written by Mexican songwriter Consuelo Velázquez in 1940, and became a worldwide standard in many languages, including English. The Beatles had been singing this song in their early performance repertoire, and manager Brian Epstein chose it as one of the songs to be recorded in January of 1962 for the Decca audition. In June, the Beatles performed this song for George Martin as part of the Parlophone auditions in the Abbey Road Studios. The accounts of that famous day indicate that Martin was not impressed with certain aspects...more»
Paul McCartney
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Birthday
John Lennon and Paul McCartney collaborated to write Birthday, a song that appears on The Beatles (the double album commonly known as The White Album). It opens the third side and illustrates a trend back towards traditional Rock and Roll at the end of their "middle period." Paul came up with the main riff, and then with John, they hammered out the rest of the song at the Abbey Road studios during a recording session on September 18, 1968. Lennon said the song was just "made up on the spot." George Martin was not present at recording that day...more»
McCartney with Lennon
Friday, November 22, 1968
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Blackbird
Blackbird was recorded on June 11, 1968 and released on November 22, 1968 on The Beatles (White Album). It was written by Paul in Scotland earlier in the year. He said he was reacting to the news of serious racial trouble in the US, and had a black woman in mind when he wrote the lyrics ("bird" being UK slang for "girl"). The recording features Paul alone, with his Martin D-28 (Dreadnought) and real blackbird singing in the background. The opening of the piece was inspired by Bach's Bourrée in E, which he and George had been studying off and...more»
Paul McCartney
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Blue Jay Way
George Harrison wrote Blue Jay Way in 1967, inspired by the name of a street in Hollywood, high above Sunset Boulevard, difficult to reach on a foggy night, but with beautiful views of the whole city on a clear day. (The song starts with "There's a fog upon L.A., and my friends have lost their way"). Derek Taylor (the Beatles' publicist) was supposed to meet him at the house on Blue Jay Way where he was staying, and got lost. Harrison wrote the song while waiting for his friends to show up. Shortly after that event, back in the UK, the Beatles...more»
George Harrison
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Boys
Boys was first recorded in 1960 by the Shirelles, an all-female, African-American R&B group that Jon Lennon particularly admired. It was the B-side of Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow. When the Beatles first performed this song, Pete Best (the drummer-predecessor to Ringo Starr) sang the lead. In the Abbey Road recording session on the evening of February 11, 1963, Ringo Starr appears as lead vocalist, his first appearance for the Beatles in that role. It was recorded in a single take. The song speaks of the power of a kiss -- "When a boy...more»
Ringo Starr
Pete Best
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Can't Buy Me Love
Can't Buy Me Love is considered to be completely a McCartney composition. Written in Paris during the latter part of January and early February of 1964, the song was created to be the follow-on single after the great success of I Want to Hold Your Hand. The melodic style is blues, though the beat is more of a fast-tempo rock. The song opens with a chorus, only the second time this happened. She Loves You was the first. This change was suggested by producer George Martin. For the first time, Paul's vocal track was overdubbed with his own voice...more»
Paul McCartney
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Carnival of Light
1
Carnival of Light was an experiment that was never released. After finishing up Penny Lane on January 5, 1967, the Beatles turned to making this track for the Million Volt Light and Sound Rave, which was scheduled for later in the month in London. The connection was through Paul, who had commissioned a psychedelic design for a piano in his home from artist David Vaughan. Vaughan asked Paul to contribute a track to the upcoming avant-garde event, which he and his partners (Binder & Edwards) had created for putting a spotlight on electronic...more»
Instrumental
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Carol
The Beatles, all of them, greatly admired Chuck Berry. It was natural, then, that they would cover his song, Carol, during their early performance career. Berry released it in 1958. Once the Beatles had released their first albums for EMI, they stopped recording covers of other singers' compositions and restricted their performances to songs that could be purchased on records. For this reason, the only surviving recording of the Beatles' version of Carol appears on Live at the BBC, the 1994 collection of recordings made in 1963 for BBC...more»
John Lennon
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Carry That Weight
The credit for Carry That Weight goes to all four Beatles, something of a rarity. It is part two of the long medley that completes the album, Abbey Road. Golden Slumbers precedes it, and The End follows it. The song itself is a medley of sorts, with references to You Never Give Me Your Money and instrumental work similar to Harrison's Here Comes the Sun and Badge (co-written with Eric Clapton). Several different ideas have circulated about what the lyrics mean. By this time it was clear that the group would disband soon. Paul said the lyrics...more»
Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Star
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Cayenne
Paul McCartney wrote Cayenne in the late 1950's or in 1960. It has always been credited just to "McCartney" as opposed to "Lennon/McCartney," indicating that it is a pre-Beatles composition though recorded after their collaboration had begun. It first came to light in a recorded jam session at Paul's Liverpool house in the Spring or Summer of 1960. The original recording is two minutes, 24 seconds long. Cayenne is completely instrumental. Stuart Sutcliffe plays the bass in this recording. (The three other members play guitar.) An sped up and...more»
Instrumental
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Chains
Chains was first recorded in 1962 by the Cookies, a female group that had evolved from the "Raylettes," Ray Charles' back-up singers. It was somewhat well-known in the States, but in Britain it achieved wide popularity. The Beatles covered the song in concerts, including a live performance on BBC, before recording it in the evening of February 11, 1963 for their debut album, Please Please Me. The first take of four was chosen for the album. It is the second cover on the album, after Anna, and like Anna, was lowered three half-tones from its...more»
George Harrison
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Christmas Time (Is Here Again)
On November 28, 1967, The Beatles produced a fan club disc called Christmas 1967 (a "flexi-disc" pressed by Lyntone Records). It contained the expected mélange of patter, commentaries and jokes. It also contained the highly improvisational Christmas Time (is Here Again), a song credited to all four of the Beatles. All four joined in the vocals, as did producer George Martin and a visitor, actor Victor Spinetti. The song is interrupted at various times by small skits, mainly parodies of television personalities and advertisements. Starr and...more»
Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Star
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Clarabella
Clarabella was written by Frank Pingatore and recorded originally by the Jodimars in 1956. This group was comprised of former members of Bill Haley's comets (Joey Ambrose, Dick Bocelli and Marshall Lytle), who had quit in a dispute over wages. The song was their fifth single. It did not make the charts. The Beatles discovered the song and placed it in their performance repertoire. Unlike the Jodimars, who sang the song in a slower, swing-like rhythm, the Beatles sped up the pace to a full-tilt rock and roll. Clarabella is the original example...more»
Paul McCartney
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Come and Get It
Come and Get It is credited to Lennon/McCartney, but was a 100% McCartney composition. On the morning of July 24, 1969 Paul recorded this song all by himself as a demo, before the recording sessions for the Abbey Road album started. Lennon was present in the control booth, but did not contribute. Paul put down the base track in one take of the vocals and piano. He then overdubbed vocals and maracas, then drums, then a bass guitar part. The whole process took less than an hour. The song was considered for Abbey Road, but the Iveys (later to be...more»
Paul McCartney
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Come Together
Come Together was recorded in late July of 1969 and released on the Abbey Road album in September of 1969. Lennon wrote the song as a gesture of support for Timothy Leary, famed pro-drug activist, psychologist, writer and gad-fly to the conventional generation. John himself described his vocal performance as "funky," "bluesy" and danceable. Lennon composed the song in the studio, basing the lyrics on Leary's political campaign slogan in California, "Come Together, Come to the Party." It was to be John's last "political" song while with the...more»
John Lennon
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Cry Baby Cry
John Lennon wrote Cry Baby Cry during his trip to India, before returning to London in May of 1968, when the group recorded a demo at George Harrison's home. On July 15, 1968, the Beatles started recording this song for The White Album. Cry Baby Cry refers to a well-known English nursery rhyme, Sing a Song of Sixpence. Lennon told Hunter Davies that the words came from a television commercial, and later, he was quoted as calling the song "a piece of rubbish." Regardless of Lennon's own severe judgment, most Beatles enthusiasts appreciate the...more»
Lennon with McCartney
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Cry for a Shadow
Cry for a Shadow is an early Beatles number, their first professionally-recorded song. It is an instrumental, credited to Harrison-Lennon (the only such song in the catalog). This historic first recording session occurred in Hamburg, in a school assembly hall, in June of 1961. The personnel were Lennon (rhythm), McCartney (bass), Harrison (lead) and Pete Best (drums). This recording was finally released in 1964 as a Polydor single (backed by the Tony Sheridan song, Why). In November of 1994 it came out on Anthology 1. The other song taped in...more»
Instrumental
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Crying, Waiting, Hoping
Crying, Waiting, Hoping was written by Buddy Holly and performed by the Beatles in their early performance sets. On July 16, 1963 the group performed this number for the BBC radio show Pop! Go the Beatles, and the track eventually was released on the album, Live at the BBC. The Beatles had also performed this song earlier (January 1, 1962) for the (unsuccessful) Decca audition. George sings lead vocals on the song and he reproduces exactly the guitar solo played in the original Buddy Holly recording by Don Arnone. During the Get Back recording...more»
George Harrison
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Day Tripper
John Lennon and Paul McCartney collaborated on Day Tripper in October of 1965. John invented the guitar riff and the melody motif, and the two of them rapidly turned it into a song. They were rushed, as they needed a good flip side for the forthcoming single, We Can Work It Out. In fact, this single had two "a-sides" and no "b-side," a first for the recording industry. Day Tripper was the first release from the Rubber Soul recording sessions. It became public on December 3, 1965 (December 6 in the US), and it can be heard on Yesterday and...more»
Lennon and McCartney
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Dear Prudence
Dear Prudence was written in India by John Lennon. It is about Mia Farrow's younger sister, who was in the meditational retreat at the same time. She was so focused on reaching enlightenment that she did little else but meditate in her room for over three weeks. George and John were appointed to coax her out. The song relates their concerns for her. Dear Prudence was recorded on August 28 through 30, 1968 during the recording sessions for the White Album, and released on November 22, 1968 (UK; November 25 in the US). John sings the lead, and...more»
John Lennon
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Devil in Her Heart
The Donays, a Detroit girls-group, only made one record, and this was it. It was a flop. The Beatles decided to cover it, making gender changes in the lyrics and speeding it up. They added more of a Latin flavor to it as well. George takes the spotlight in this song, not only with the lead vocal (double-tracked), but also with some flashy, Latin-style lead guitar work. Ringo provides the percussion for a solid four-bar intro, which is followed by three chorus-verse sequences, concluding with an extended reprise of the chorus, ending, not with...more»
George Harrison
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Dig a Pony
The Beatles released Dig a Pony in 1970 on the Let It Be album. It was the next to last number sung in the rooftop concert at Apple Studios in London on January 30, 1969, when several of the Let it Be tracks were recorded. John Lennon wrote the music and words to this song, which he directed to Yoko Ono, soon to be his wife. Many of the phrases are either abstruse abstractions, nonsense or in-jokes between John and Yoko. The chorus repeats the line, "All I want is you." Famously, there is a false start in the rooftop recording, as Ringo needed...more»
John Lennon
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Dig It
Dig It is credited to all four members of the Beatles, one of just a few songs with this distinction. (Compare it with Flying (Magical Mystery Tour).) It was composed and recorded at the Apple Studios in a single, improvisational process, in two sessions (January 24 & 26, 1969). The public first heard this track on May 8, 1970, when the Let it Be album was released in the UK (May 18, 1970 in the US). The production of the song was simple: Lennon is the lone vocalist, engaging in a free-association of extemporized lyrics. The song's chord...more»
John Lennon
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Dizzy Miss Lizzy
Dizzy Miss Lizzy was written by Larry Williams in 1958. He was a rhythm-and-blues singer from New Orleans whom the Beatles particularly admired. This song would be the third of three Larry Williams covers recorded by the group. John particularly liked singing this lively, up-tempo song, and it was a performance favorite through 1962. It was resurrected for the 1965 US tour, and Lennon also performed it as part the "Plastic Ono Band's" live gig in Toronto in September of 1969. The recorded track was made during the Help! recording sessions (May...more»
John Lennon
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Do You Want to Know a Secret
In Disney's 1937 film of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the main character sings a song that begins: "Want to Know a Secret? Promise not to tell?" Lennon's mother sang this to him when he was little, and the Beatles song emerged as a nostalgic favorite. McCartney added harmonies and arrangements, making it a common collaboration of these two gifted musicians. The lyrics begin with "You'll never know how much I really love you; you'll never know how much I really care." Then the song quotes the opening phrases from the Disney classic. Lennon...more»
George Harrison
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Doctor Robert
Doctor Robert is mainly a John Lennon composition with collaboration from Paul McCartney. It was written for the Revolver album in the UK, and then was released on Yesterday and Today in the US. Doctor Robert was recorded on April 17, 1966 in a total of 7 takes. (Vocal overdubs were added a couple of days later.) John sings lead and plays rhythm guitar and harmonium. The others play their usual instruments and roles, except that George, and not Ringo, added the maracas. The song is rather explicitly about taking "feel-good" pills- It is said...more»
George Harrison
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Don't Bother Me
Don't Bother Me was George Harrison's first composition to be sung by the group. From this point forward he took a place with Lennon and McCartney as composer as well as intrumentalist. Written around August 19, 1963 while on tour and recovering in his hotel room from a bout with the flu, Harrison penned both the words and the music. The song has is lonely and sad. The lyrics explain the "down" mood of the song is because a girl has just gone away from the boy. Most students of the Beatles feel that the real explanation is George's quieter...more»
George Harrison
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Don't Ever Change
Don't Ever Change is a composition by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, a well-known pop music writing team. It is not one of their most famous compositions. The song was written for Buddy Holly's backup group, The Crickets, who continued recording even after Buddy Holly's death in 1959. In the UK the Crickets version became a hit (1962), but did not make the US charts. The Beatles adopted the song in their repertoire, and in August of 1964 recorded it for the BBC presentation, Pop! Go the Beatles! The song is on the album Live at the BBC (1994)....more»
George Harrison
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Don't Let Me Down
Don't Let Me Down is a John Lennon song, written in November of 1968 and recorded in January of 1969 during the "Get Back" (Let it Be) sessions with Billy Preston. It was also sung twice during the rooftop concert on January 30, 1969 at the Apple Studios. One of the rooftop performances was included in the Let it Be film. The song was released as the b-side to Get Back, which was also recorded on January 28. It charted to number 35 in the US. Phil Spector rejected Don't Let Me Down for the Let it Be album. The released single version was later...more»
Lennon with McCartney
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Don't Pass Me By
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Don't Pass Me By was written by Ringo Starr as early as 1963, and was eventually recorded and released for the White Album in 1968. It is Ringo's first solo composition, and he sings lead vocals on the recording. The song has the standard blues structure (I-IV-V) and a Country-Western feel. The lead vocal track was recorded on June 6, 1968. Neither George nor John participated in the recording. Ringo plays drums, sleigh bells and piano; Paul plays piano and bass. A violin was added (played by Jack Fallon). George Martin wrote an orchestral...more»
Ringo Starr
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