Sun King

Here Comes the Sun-King, as the song was originally titled, sounds unlike anything else in the catalog of the Beatles.  This is due to the fact that they were trying to emulate an instrumental by an up-and-coming British band called Fleetwood Mac.  The song Albatross was a number one hit in the UK in late 1968, written by Peter Green, who was a guitarist and frontman of the early incarnation of that band.

On the first day of the Get Back sessions in January of 1969, Lennon began toying with a musical idea very much like Albatross, while simultaneously playing around with lyrics from both Sun King and Don't Let Me Down.  A very tiny snippet of this can be heard at the beginning of the Fly on the Wall disc from the 2003 release Let it Be...Naked.  As we all know, only Don't Let Me Down became fully developed during these sessions.

It wasn't until Paul approached John in the spring of that year and asked if he had any unfinished songs that could become part of a huge medley that Lennon returned to the composition.  By this time, George Harrison had taken John's title and created his own song called Here Comes the Sun.  On July 24th, still using the title Here Comes the Sun-King, recording commenced on Lennon's song, which was linked to his other piece Mean Mr. Mustard.  The backing track began with the atmospheric, Albatross-inspired theme, then quickly shifted into the grungy, slow groove of Mean Mr. Mustard.  To achieve this, Ringo had to change drumsticks, and Paul had to switch on the fuzz box for his bass.  For whatever reason, thirty-five takes were necessary before the take that became the master.

The writing of the nonsense lyrics was also done around this time, with at least Paul contributing to the string of Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and even Liverpudlian slang words that make up the last part of Sun King.  All in all, it was reported to be a very loose and enjoyable session, which was definitely not the norm at this stage of the group's career.

On July 25th, John, Paul and George recorded their three-part harmonies, no doubt arranged by producer George Martin.  Martin also added a bit of organ to the track.  Even more harmonies were overdubbed on July 29th, and Martin re-recorded his organ part, while Ringo added some bongos.

The biggest problem was figuring out how to make the ending of You Never Give Me Your Money link to the beginning of Sun King.  The group listened to a rough edit of the entire medley on July 30th and Paul suggested a single organ note could do the trick.  John was not particularly satisfied, but he left the decision to others.  By August 5th, Paul had come up with another idea, arriving at the studio with a bag of tape loops including the sounds of crickets and gentle bells.  These effects were added to a four-track tape on this date, but the first attempts at actually creating the segue did not occur until August 14th.  The eleventh and final attempt was used for the master tape of the album, which was assembled on August 20th.  

But not so fast.  Paul was still not happy, and so, on August 21st, they tried again, until the perfect link was achieved that met with everyone's approval.  The sound effects begin about thirty seconds before the long fadeout of the previous song comes to an end, then continue as Ringo plays a delicate roll on a cymbal with timpani sticks and George begins his variation of the Albatross riff on electric guitar.

While the song has come to be regarded as an essential part of the medley, it has had no life outside of that context, never appearing on any compilations over the years, although take twenty from July 24th, 1969, is included on the 50th anniversary editions of the album Abbey Road.