It's Only Love

In the first couple of years following the break-up of the Beatles, an angry John Lennon was dismissive of much of the group's work.  Even taking that into account, he held few of his own compositions in such low esteem as It's Only Love.  Still, his main complaint was with his lyrics, which he felt were particularly lazy and sub-par.  There is little doubt that the melody is lovely, so much so that producer George Martin chose to record an instrumental arrangement of it under its original working title That's a Nice Hat (Cap), as listed on the album cover pictured above.

Another reason that Lennon may have felt insecure about his somewhat lightweight composition is the fact that the group recorded it only one day after McCartney's most impressive day yet, recording three distinctly different songs - the fast-paced acoustic number I've Just Seen a Face, the screaming rocker I'm Down and the world-class ballad Yesterday.  It is entirely possible that Lennon sensed a shift in the group dynamic at that time, though he himself would hit a personal high-mark a few months later with his outstanding collection of songs for the album Rubber Soul.

June 15th, 1965 was the date of this recording.  Six takes were made using two acoustic guitars, bass and drums.  Anthology 2 gives us a brief false start noted as being take three, then jumps back to the complete take two.  Take six was deemed the best, so George added a distinctive electric guitar part which some sources claim to be achieved using the tone pedal while others say it was done by putting the sound through a rotating Leslie speaker.  Ringo also added tambourine, and John played electric rhythm guitar and double-tracked his lead vocal in places.

It's Only Love was the second track on the non-soundtrack side of the Help! album in the UK.  It also appeared on the UK EP Yesterday.  Capitol held on to this song for a few months and used it to open side two of the US version of Rubber Soul at the end of 1965.  It actually works quite well in this prominent position, leading straight into another Lennon composition, Girl.

Aside from the Anthology 2 outtake mentioned above, the other notable post-career appearance of the song was on the compilation album Love Songs. 

It's All Too Much

George Harrison's second contribution to the Yellow Submarine soundtrack was this extended psychedelic track, with lyrics combining some of his newfound Indian influences, insights gleaned from LSD experiences, and a few references to his wife Pattie, all filtered through his dry, characteristic Liverpudlian wit.

For some reason, the Beatles chose to work at several different studios around London in 1967.  In this instance, they visited De Lane Lea Studios for all work on this number.  This meant that they were assisted by engineers unknown to them, since every studio had its own staff.  Even producer George Martin was not present at the first session on May 25th, though he was a freelancer by this point in time and able to work anywhere he wished.

With Paul on his bass and Ringo on drums, George sat at an organ and led the group through four takes of the basic track on this date.  Given the chance to play lead guitar, John channeled his best Jimi Hendrix impersonation and cut loose with some feedback right from the top of the number.  Take four, running a lengthy 8'09", was chosen as the best.

The group returned to the studio on May 31st with the same engineering team, though the producer's chair was still empty.  George recorded his lead vocal, John and Paul sang backing vocals, and all four Beatles added handclaps, which would be prominently placed in the mix.  They also threw in some tambourine, cowbell and woodblock for good measure.

George Martin was present at De Lane Lea on June 2nd for completion of the number.  He recruited four trumpeters and one bass clarinetist, but there was no arrangement waiting for them, as George Harrison wasn't sure what he wanted.  The session dragged on for several hours while everyone tried to figure out what they should be playing under the rambling eight minute track.  They even wound up throwing in a bit of The Prince of Denmark's March to fill some space.

Though the film Yellow Submarine premiered on July 17th, 1968, the soundtrack album was delayed by the Beatles and George Martin while they worked on the "White Album."  A full six months went by before it finally saw the light of day in January of 1969.  In the interim, one verse and chorus were edited out of It's All Too Much, bringing the running time down to 6'27" - still one of the longest songs in the group's catalog.

Only two and a half minutes of the song are used at the very end of the film for a celebratory sequence.  But the missing verse and some instrumental sections cut out of the version on the soundtrack album are used, so fans have probably actually heard the bulk of the recording.

It Won't Be Long

Shortly after recording the single She Loves You - before it was even released, in fact - Lennon felt that he had come up with the perfect chorus for the group's next hit record.  He met with McCartney and they wrote some verses and a bridge to flesh out his composition.  By this time, the Beatles had begun a series of sessions which would be spread out sporadically over the next few months to record their second album.  July 30th, 1963 was only the second day earmarked for these recordings, and work commenced bright and early at 10 am.

It Won't Be Long was the first original composition tackled at these sessions, the other songs completed at this point all being covers of the boys' Motown favorites.  Ten takes of this high-energy track were taped in the morning session, but they left knowing it wasn't quite up to their expectations.

The afternoon was spent at the BBC Playhouse Theatre, where the group did an interview for the radio program Non Stop Pop, then recorded six songs and some typically silly banter with the host of the program Saturday Club before returning to EMI Studios for an evening session.  Believe it or not, such a day was not unusual under their relentlessly hectic schedule in 1963.

Two others songs were completed in the evening session before they turned their attention back to It Won't Be Long.  Seven more takes were necessary until the master was achieved.  Takes eighteen through twenty-three concentrated on George's strummed guitar part at the end of the song.  Finally, takes seventeen and twenty-one were combined, and the song was deemed complete.

Two months later, a week after the album was in the can, the group recorded I Want to Hold Your Hand as their next single, leaving It Won't Be Long as an album track.  While all agreed that it wasn't quite good enough to be a single, producer George Martin knew a rousing number when he heard one, so he chose it as the opening track of With the Beatles.

When the group hit it big in America a few months later, Capitol Records chose the hit I Want to Hold Your Hand and its US and UK B-sides as the first three tracks of Meet the Beatles!  Still, It Won't Be Long manages to jump out as the fourth track on that album after the mellow fadeout of This Boy.  To this day, With the Beatles and Meet the Beatles! remain the only places where you can hear the song, as it was never included on any subsequent compilations.

The group did not choose to add the tune to their stage act, not did they ever perform it on the BBC.  They did, however, revisit the song one last time for the Rediffusion TV show Ready, Steady, Go! on March 20th, 1964.  This was a full eight months after they had recorded the number, and it shows, as they mime to the record with fans dancing all around them.  John, who always had difficulty remembering lyrics, is mouthing incorrect words much of the time, even coming in with the word "yeah" at the wrong place during the call-and-response refrains.  By the way, 1964 was no less hectic than 1963.  They were not even halfway through the shooting schedule of A Hard Day's Night, and had actually been filming a few scenes earlier on this day!

The Inner Light

This rare, little-known B-side by George Harrison shares an unusual distinction with the early single Can't Buy Me Love - they are the only two original tracks attributed to the Beatles that were largely recorded outside of England during the band's career.  While McCartney's hit song was a group effort put on tape at EMI Pathe Marconi studio in Paris in 1964, Harrison's raga featured Indian musicians playing his composition at EMI's Bombay studio in January of 1968.

George was working with these musicians on a soundtrack he had written for an obscure film called Wonderwall.  A two-track machine was brought from Calcutta to Bombay for his use, and the studio was booked for several days.  The recordings progressed so rapidly that two full days remained, and not wishing to waste the talent at his disposal, George had the musicians record a number of ragas for possible future use by the Beatles.

On January 12th, 1968, the backing track for The Inner Light required five takes before George was satisfied.  He had the entire song already written at this point, as a 2014 re-release of the Wonderwall Music soundtrack attests.  On a bonus track, George can be heard singing the lyrics so the musicians know how they will fit in the completed piece.

The Beatles convened at Abbey Road Studios in February for the specific purpose of recording their next single, which was to be released while they were in Rishikesh, India  studying Transcendental Meditation.  On February 6th, George had the two-track tape from Bombay transferred to four-track tape so he could record his lead vocal.  A few accounts reveal that he was nervous about doing so and actually tried to convince Paul to sing it instead.  But Paul encouraged George to do it himself, assuring him that the melody was lovely.

They returned to the song on February 8th, with George double-tracking one of his lines near the end, and John and Paul supplying harmony vocals for the final line, thus ensuring that it was a true Beatles track.  That evening, the decision as to which songs would be on the single was made.  Once John withdrew Across the Universe from consideration, unhappy with the recording, Lady Madonna got the A-side and The Inner Light became the B-side, finally giving George his first song on an official British single.

This single was the only source to contain the song during the Beatles' career.  By all rights, it should have been included on the Capitol compilation album Hey Jude in 1970, especially since Lady Madonna did appear there, but manager Allen Klein probably felt that the authentic Indian music and the mystical lyrics derived from the Tao Te Ching were off-putting to most Beatles fans, so it was conspicuously absent from that release.

The song did appear years later on the differing British and American versions of the album Rarities, and later surfaced on Past Masters Volume Two.  

In My Life

As with Eleanor Rigby, Lennon and McCartney both lay claim to being the major contributor for this composition.  While both agree that Lennon wrote the original lyrics, their stories diverge from that point forward, with Lennon saying that McCartney wrote the middle eight, and McCartney saying that he went off and wrote the entire melody on a Mellotron in John's house, then they finished writing the verses together.  Many have accepted McCartney's version concerning the tune, pointing out that it sounds more like his style, but recently, some musicologists created a program which examined the Beatles catalog and concluded that it trends more towards Lennon musically.

Whoever is responsible for it, it is a superb piece of work, displaying the new maturity of many of the songs on the album Rubber Soul.  Lennon's first draft mentions a few specific locations in Liverpool, including Penny Lane.  Once McCartney became involved, the song became more generic, immediately rendering it more universal in its appeal.

On October 18th, 1965, the Beatles only required three takes of a simple, yet beautiful arrangement before they had the master take.  John then recorded and double-tracked his lead vocal, as Paul and George supplied backing vocals and Ringo added a tambourine.  The middle of the track was left open for producer George Martin to provide a solo on keyboard.  The group was not even present when he overdubbed his contribution on October 22nd.

Martin's intention was to play something sounding like a Bach invention on harpsichord.  He first attempted the part on a Hammond organ, but it wasn't to his liking.  He then applied a trick that he knew to help him get the sound he wanted using a piano.  Since he was not able to play the line he had written at the proper speed, he recorded it an octave down at half speed, then sped up the tape to plug it into the Beatles' arrangement.  The end result was the classic track that we know today.

Aside from Rubber Soul, In My Life appeared on The Red Album in 1973 and the collection Love Songs in 1977. 

I'm So Tired

It is pure coincidence that when looking at the work of the Beatles in alphabetical order that Lennon's I'm Only Sleeping is immediately followed by his I'm So Tired - with the first song luxuriating in the joys of sleep and the second bemoaning the lack thereof.

Lennon had written I'm So Tired about his personal experience in Rishikesh, India, where too many hours of meditation coupled with his new fixation on Yoko Ono and growing alienation from his wife Cynthia (though she was actually with him at the ashram) resulted in many sleepless nights.  John presented the song to the other Beatles when they recorded a batch of demos at George Harrison's house in Esher in May of 1968. 

It was not until October, however, when work on most of the "White Album" had already been done, that the group finally turned their attention to the song.  They spent much of an overnight session spanning October 8th and 9th starting, perfecting and completing the track before moving on to The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill, quickly finishing that song off, as well.

They ran through 14 takes of the number on their usual instruments, with John singing his lead vocal live on every take.  In addition to the Esher demo, the 50th anniversary edition of the "White Album" gives us take 7 and the basic track of the master, take 14.  Add to that the Anthology 2 amalgam of takes 3, 6 and 9, and you have a fairly comprehensive overview of how the song developed at that session.  Surprisingly, apart from George simplifying his lead guitar part, very little changed.  John merely got more confident in his lead vocal and eventually got the best take that he was seeking.

Several overdubs were added to take 14 including a "far-off" guitar part played by George, three-part harmonies by John, Paul and George at the end of the first verse, and mumbling by John at various quiet moments throughout the track.  All of these were omitted at the mixing stage except for John's mumbling at the very end of the song.  An organ part played by John and some harmony vocals by Paul did make the cut.

John was always highly critical of the recordings made by the Beatles when he reflected on them in later years, but he was particularly happy with this track, right down to his own vocal performance.  "I just like the sound of it, and I sing it well," he said.

I'm Only Sleeping

Right from the start, the sessions for Revolver were markedly different from any previous sessions by the Beatles, with experimentation in the studio taking precedence over any rush to release the next finished product.  The goal this time was to find the perfect sonic setting for each composition, no matter how much time it took to achieve.  Some still came quickly, while others went through a number of variations before all involved, especially the song's composer, were satisfied with the result.  Lennon's dreamy I'm Only Sleeping went through a few incarnations, though he ultimately returned to the first.

Work on the song began just before midnight on April 27th, 1966.  The group recorded eleven takes of the basic track before finishing up around 3 am.  They returned to the song during the night session on the 29th, but a new approach was considered, and some rehearsal of the new arrangement was deemed necessary.  The tape was running as the boys tried a version that curiously involved a vibraphone most likely played by Paul.  This idea was scrapped, the tape was rewound and a third arrangement was attempted.  As can be heard on Anthology 2, John introduced this as, "I'm Only Sleeping, take one," thus ignoring all previous attempts.  This version features acoustic guitars and a tambourine, plus joint vocals by John and Paul.  It lacks the drowsy quality of the first version and, after five takes, John must have realized this.  He spent the remainder of the session overdubbing his lead vocal onto take eleven of the original.

By the way, it is only after the fifth take of version three that the last minute of the rehearsal with the vibraphone was preserved on the tape.  Otherwise, we may never have even known about it.  This interesting little snippet was also included on Anthology 2.

On May 5th, the entire session was devoted to a complex overdub.  The group had recently added a backwards vocal to the end of the B-side Rain.  Now, some backwards guitar lines were created to enhance the dreamlike quality of this track.  George Harrison could have simply played anything until they hit upon what they liked, but he wanted a specific melody for his solo.  Thus, producer George Martin found a way to notate the sequence (since none of the Beatles could read music) so that Harrison could play it in reverse and achieve the desired result.  This was a lengthy and tedious process.  Paul even joined in on a second guitar for the last section of the song which fades out.

Finally, on May 6th, John, Paul and George added more vocals and the track was complete.  Only days later, Capitol Records in the US requested a few tracks to complete the compilation album "Yesterday"...and Today.  A mono mix was made on May 12th and quickly dispatched.  Two stereo mixes were made on the 20th of May, one for the US and the other appearing on the UK album Revolver.  On the 6th of June, yet another mono mix was made for the UK.

What does all of this mean?  Depending on which of the four versions you are listening to, you will hear backwards guitar phrases occurring at different times, as each mix has slight variations.  Capitol treated fans in America to the UK stereo version of the song for the first time on the 1980 release Rarities.  No matter how you hear it, you are listening to history - no one had played with sound in this way before, but as was often the case, once the Beatles did it, everybody else soon followed.