Mother Nature's Son

Music critic Tim Riley was not a big fan Mother Nature's Son.  In his 1988 book Tell Me Why, one of the first serious looks at the work of the Beatles, he states that in this song Paul "...targets Donovan's foppishness as he unwittingly outlines a career for John Denver..."  Ouch.  Most fans would disagree with this assessment.

The composition was written in early 1968 in Rishikesh, India on an occasion when McCartney was inspired by one of the Maharishi's lectures.  When the Beatles reunited at George Harrison's house in May to record demos of all the songs they proposed for their next album, Paul double-tracked his vocals on this number and accompanied himself on acoustic guitar, with his guitar work sounding almost note for note like the official recording he would make a few months later.  There is even a tapping not unlike that heard on the finished product. 

The first session took place on August 9th, once again featuring only Paul and an acoustic guitar.  He ran through 25 takes before he settled on take 24 as the best.  Anthology 3 gives us take 2, which was the first full runthrough of the number, with only a few minor flubs keeping it from being perfect.  The 50th anniversary deluxe edition of the "White Album" presents take 15, on which he plays around with some vocal variations, none of them making the final cut.  

Producer George Martin then was given the task of writing an arrangement for brass instruments to accompany the song.  John Lennon had inadvertently given Paul this idea when dropping in on the session for Blackbird back in June, stating that that song could benefit from having a brass band.  Paul immediately switched to playing Mother Nature's Son at the suggestion, realizing that John had hit on a good suggestion, but for the wrong song.

On August 20th, Martin conducted two trumpeters and two trombonists hired to play his arrangement, which, as usual, meshed perfectly with the recording-in-progress.  Aside from Paul, these four musicians were the only others to appear on the track.  The rest of the Beatles were not involved, although John and Ringo reportedly stopped by this session for a few moments, creating a palpable tension noticed by the staff on hand in the studio. 

After the brass players and the other Beatles departed, Paul turned to the overdubs.  He double-tracked his vocals and acoustic guitar in places, though not as much as on the May demo.  Ringo's bass drum was then moved out into a corridor (perhaps this was the source of the tension - Ringo's famous walkout occurred just a few days later) so that, when Paul played it, it could be recorded by a microphone placed a couple floors up a stairwell with a good deal of natural echo.

Finally, the tapping.  As Paul listened to the track in the control room, he tapped a book with his finger.  Liking the sound and perhaps recalling the similar effect on the May demo, he had engineer Ken Scott set up yet another microphone to capture the sound and add it to the finished master.    

The song sounds as though it belongs on side two of the "White Album" with most of the other quieter numbers, but it actually works quite well as an oasis of calm on side three sitting between Lennon's searing Yer Blues and the screaming rocker Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey.

And, in case you were wondering, Tim Riley reports that, yes, John Denver did do a cover version of Mother Nature's Son.