Matchbox

Once the Beatles finally conquered America, they not only garnered a new set of fans for the group as a whole, but subsets of fans developed, as well, for each individual member of the band.  And, in 1964 in the USA, no other Beatle was as popular as Ringo.  Though he would only be allotted one lead vocal on an official UK single during the group's career, Capitol Records here in the US took multiple opportunities to showcase the fan favorite drummer on singles, including this A-side released in August of '64.

On June 1st of that year, the group met at EMI Studios to record a batch of songs necessary to complete the non-soundtrack side of the album A Hard Day's Night.  While Ringo was not seen singing in any sequence in the film, it was already becoming customary for him to have one vocal spotlight on each British album, and he knew what he wanted to sing.

Just a few days earlier, the group had met one of their rock and roll idols, Carl Perkins, at a reception.  And it was Ringo who had the nerve to approach Perkins and ask if he would give them permission to record one of his songs.  Perkins smartly and graciously offered his entire catalog of compositions to the Beatles.  In return, they invited him to attend the session on the day of the recording.  Unfortunately, he was witness to one of the most slapdash recordings they ever made.

With producer George Martin on piano, the boys rushed through five takes of Matchbox, and just three of those takes were complete.  Ringo's voice was not in the best shape (he would be hospitalized two days later with tonsillitis), so he actually triple-tracked his vocals.  Furthermore, Dave Rybaczewski, in his in depth look at the song, states that John, not George, played lead guitar on the track.  This strikes me as odd since George was probably the biggest fan of Perkins and the rockabilly style.  In any case, the lead guitar solo was double-tracked, but both guitar lines tend to meander at the end.

The band was certainly familiar with the song, as it had served as drummer Pete Best's vocal spotlight right from their first engagement in Hamburg in 1960.  At roughly the same time, Ringo was singing the song as a member of Rory Storm and the Hurricanes.  Yet once Ringo joined the Beatles, John took over the lead vocal on Matchbox.  He can be heard (though not very well) on the Star Club tapes from December of 1962, in a performance which also features an extended lead guitar solo.

Ringo finally got his shot at the number on a BBC recording for the program Pop Go the Beatles in July of 1963.  This recording is available on the album Live at the BBC.  Before the instrumental break, does he call out "Alright, George" or "Alright, John?"  I'm not sure, but it is the extended guitar solo once again.

The official version from the June 1964 session was left off of A Hard Day's Night, making it one of the only albums in the UK catalog without a lead vocal from Ringo.  Instead, the song was added to the EP Long Tall Sally, quickly released on June 19th.

In the US, the song appeared on the Capitol album Something New on July 20th.  Then, surprisingly, on August 24th, came the single.  But even though the song had already been available on the album for over a month, Ringo's popularity helped propel the record to a respectable number 17 on the Billboard chart. 

Martha My Dear

Paul was easily the most accomplished keyboard player among the Beatles, yet he has admitted that even he was usually limited to just playing chords and/or a melody line.  The one time that he pushed himself beyond his capabilities was on Martha My Dear, playing a neat little two-handed exercise that he had composed.  And, though many believe that Paul was the only member of the Beatles to appear on the track, George is clearly visible in the photo above, taken at the original session at Trident Studios on October 4th, 1968.

Some rehearsal must have preceded the recording, because Paul, George and Ringo needed only one take to nail the basic track.  While George and Ringo merely added brief, simple contributions to the middle of the song, Paul turned in an impressive performance on piano, getting through the entire number on the first real attempt.  The 50th anniversary deluxe edition of the "White Album" presents this basic track along with a lead vocal and handclaps.

Paul must have given a demo of his composition to producer George Martin days earlier, because this was a rare instance when a score was prepared in advance for two groups of studio musicians, working in shifts.  The six brass players pictured above recorded their parts first, then made way for eight string players.  All of this was accomplished so efficiently that Paul stayed on afterwards to re-record his lead vocal, then double-track it with handclaps.

All that was required on October 5th was for Paul to overdub his bass part, although records indicate that an additional guitar part was recorded, as well.  This could have been played by either Paul or George, who was also present at Trident Studios on this date.

Though Martha was the name of McCartney's sheepdog, the song seems to be addressed more to his longtime girlfriend and fiancee, actress Jane Asher.  The engagement had been broken off for some time at this point, but the lyrics suggest looking back fondly at their former relationship.

But the words take a backseat to the music on this delightful song.  Martin incorporates McCartney's melody beautifully throughout his elegant score.  The song is the opening track of side two on the sprawling double album.  Like every song on that album, it stands in stark contrast to the one that follows, which in this case is Lennon's I'm So Tired, though Paul's falling bass line at the end of Martha My Dear segues perfectly into the rising guitar part at the top of that next song.  This was obviously done by design during the marathon 24-hour session on October 16th and 17th when Martin, Lennon and McCartney painstakingly laid out the sequence of the album's four sides.

Magical Mystery Tour

As a song, Magical Mystery Tour is not in the same league as A Hard Day's Night, Help!, Let it Be or even Yellow Submarine, yet it fulfills its purpose as the title song of a film better than any of these hit singles.  Only A Hard Day's Night comes close in that regard, thanks to director Richard Lester's presence at the recording session for that song (much to producer George Martin's dismay), urging the group for a rousing introduction at the top of the number, the result being George Harrison's huge, crashing guitar chord.

The Beatles may have incorrectly fancied themselves as filmmakers after working twice with Lester, but they had clearly paid attention to his innovative blend of images with their music.  Thus, when Paul McCartney hit upon the idea for the group's next project in April of 1967, he knew exactly how to craft an opening number for the television show he had in mind.

They reported to the studio on the evening of April 25th, just a few days after putting the final touches on the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.  Paul only had the basic outline of the song in his head, but he already knew that trumpets would be required to provide the opening fanfare.  He sat at a piano and, with John on acoustic guitar, George on electric guitar and Ringo on drums, the group laid down three takes of the backing track.  In addition a tape loop was made of the sound of a motor coach, found in the studio's sound effects archives, to be dropped into the finished recording at various points.

On the following evening, Paul continued his new practice of overdubbing his bass line onto the best backing track, in this instance the best being take three.  He also asked everybody, including assistants Neil Aspinall and Mal Evans, to call out words or phrases used to advertise the bus tours common in Liverpool when they were growing up, and Mal was tasked with writing everything down.  All six of them added percussion such as maracas, tambourine and cowbell to the master tape, as well.

Paul's lead vocal and George and John's backing vocals were added on the 27th, the third consecutive day of work on the track.  The backing vocals were played back at different speeds and treated with a good deal of echo, thereby sounding quite distorted on the finished product.

Four trumpeters were recruited on May 3rd.  Unfortunately, this was one of those sessions where no arrangement had been worked out in advance, which proved very frustrating for the musicians when Paul gave them a general idea of what he wanted by simply humming.  They split into two groups, Paul working with George Martin, and the trumpeters going off on their own.  According to Mark Lewisohn in The Beatles: Recording Sessions, they eventually settled on using trumpeter Elgar Howarth's ideas.

The track was then considered complete and was set aside - in fact, the entire project was set aside - for several months.  The Beatles did not return to the title song until the film was nearing completion.  On November 7th, Paul decided that something else was needed at the top of the song and recorded his call of, "Roll up for the Magical Mystery Tour, step right this way."

In the film, the first thing we hear is the trumpets as the title graphic splashes onto the screen.  The song plays while a montage of shots from the movie promise a wild and colorful ride (the fact that it was broadcast in black and white by the BBC only added to its failure with critics and the public).  During the brief instrumental section, the music fades down a bit as we see Ringo buy a ticket and a voiceover by John guarantees "...the trip of a lifetime."  The music swells back up and the montage continues until the dreamy, meandering fadeout, which segues perfectly into the action of Ringo leading his Aunt Jessie up a steep sidewalk to begin their trip.

As unpopular as the film was, the accompanying soundtrack was very successful, whether sold as a somewhat pricey double EP in the UK, or a hit-filled album in the US.  The song Magical Mystery Tour later appeared on the Blue Album in 1973 as well as the album Reel Music in 1982.   

Maggie Mae

A brief entry about a little ditty.

Back in the days of the Quarry Men, John had sung this old Liverpool tune about a prostitute who robbed her clients until a judge found her guilty and sent her to jail.  Being short of material at the Get Back sessions in January of 1969, he revived the song a few times on the 24th while the group was working on McCartney's Two of Us.  He even wanted a proper recording of it made on January 31st, the final day of those sessions, but so much time was spent on getting good performances of other songs that the band never got around to it again.

When Glyn Johns was assembling both versions of his Get Back albums, he included the third and final attempt at the song from January 24th, even though it broke down at only thirty-nine seconds.  Phil Spector used the same take for the Let it Be album in 1970, placing the song immediately after Let it Be at the end of side one.

The Let it Be...Naked album from 2003 did not completely overlook the song.  The first attempt from January 24th appears on the bonus disc Fly on the Wall, though it is edited, thereby lasting not even as long as the version we already know.

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds

John Lennon was usually upfront when speaking about the intentions behind any of his compositions, so when he declared that the initials LSD in the title Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds were not arranged that way on purpose, you can be pretty certain that that is indeed the case.  Supposedly, his son Julian simply spoke those exact words when asked what a drawing he was showing to his father depicted.  Of course, the Through the Looking Glass imagery crafted by Lennon and McCartney into the lyrics of the song inspired by that drawing just happened to coincide perfectly with the psychedelic movement of 1967.

The Beatles were already a few months into working on the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band when they turned their collective attention to this composition on February 28th.  Unusually, that entire session was devoted to merely rehearsing the arrangement of the number, without a single take.  Recording of the basic track commenced on March 1st, featuring the lineup of John singing a guide vocal and shaking maracas, George on acoustic guitar, Ringo on drums, producer George Martin on piano and Paul on the Lowery DSO organ.  Paul plays the distinctive opening passage of the song on this organ and continues using this "voice" throughout the verses, switching to a more conventional organ sound for the refrains.

A bonus track on the 50th anniversary editions of Sgt. Pepper allows us to hear take one, starting with a little chatter before they all launch into the song.  John only sings the verses, remaining silent every time the refrain comes around.  After the take, Paul suggests that John alter his stacatto-like delivery of the lines to a more flowing style, something John readily agrees to.  Anthology 2 gives us take six from this day, although overdubbed vocals are added.

The master is take seven, which was most notable for the fact that George abandoned his acoustic guitar for a droning tamboura, changing the overall feel of the soundscape to something decidedly more exotic.  A reduction mix of the four track tape completed the day's work.

All overdubs were done on March 2nd.  John recorded his dreamy lead vocal as Paul joined in for each refrain.  John then double-tracked his vocal in places and Paul added high harmonies to the refrains.  The final touches were Paul's bass part and a distorted electric guitar part played by George.  Including the rehearsals on February 28th, twenty-four total hours were spent on the song, yet it was still one of the quickest recordings of the Sgt. Pepper sessions.

Though no single was released from Sgt. Pepper, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds proved to be a standout on the album, becoming such a well-known track that it was an obvious choice for the Blue Album in 1973.  The song is used to great effect in the animated film Yellow Submarine.  Though it does not advance the story in any way, it is one of the most visually stunning and psychedelic sequences in the movie, which is saying a lot.  A new mix of the song appears on the 1999 album Yellow Submarine Songtrack.

John Lennon was involved in another studio recording of the song in 1974, playing rhythm guitar and singing backing vocals on a rather odd arrangement by Elton John.  This version jumps from a slow, dreamlike style to a quirky reggae interlude and back again.  It was released as a single and went to number one.  When Lennon joined Elton onstage at Madison Square Garden on Thanksgiving Day of '74, their live performance of the number was recorded and wound up being issued on various compilations by both artists over the years.