Revolution 1

Manager Brian Epstein had always tried to keep the Beatles from making any statements that were controversial or political in nature, though he was not entirely successful at enforcing this policy.  After his untimely death in August of 1967, it was up to the members of the group to decide whether or not they wished to maintain this policy.  John Lennon, in particular, had been wanting to make his views on the Vietnam War, among other issues, known for some time.  He had been humiliated in 1966 when he was forced to apologize to the American press for his "we're bigger than Jesus" remarks, and he had no intention of ever backing down again.

By early 1968, there was political unrest around the globe.  This weighed on Lennon's mind, even as he was isolated from most news at the Maharishi's compound in Rishikesh, India.  He began to write a song about revolution tempered by the Transcendental Meditation belief that change comes from within oneself, and that everything is "gonna be alright."

When the group gathered at George Harrison's house in May to make demos of the songs they intended for their next album , Lennon played acoustic guitar and sang this composition in an uptempo style, with the other Beatles clapping and even singing along in the chorus.  Just two verses were written at this time, so the first verse is repeated after a third verse of wordless gibberish.

Only a few days later, on May 30th, 1968, sessions began for what would become a sprawling double album, but Lennon was determined that Revolution would instead be the group's next single.  (The third verse may have been written in the studio on this date.)  Eighteen takes were recorded before he was satisfied with a new arrangement that was slower and more laid back than the demo recorded days earlier, though the final take lasted over ten minutes and devolved into chaos.  These takes featured John on acoustic guitar, Paul on piano and Ringo on drums. 

On the following day, May 31st, John recorded his lead vocal, continuing well into the chaotic part of the track with moans and screams of "alright."  He then double-tracked his lead vocal, but only in the main body of the song.  Paul added his bass guitar part, and Paul and George (and John?) recorded the "shoo-be-doo-wop" backing vocals. 

Returning to the song on June 4th, John decided to re-record his lead vocal, but he wanted to sound as relaxed as possible, so he chose to lie down on the floor (as pictured above) with a microphone suspended over him.   (His notebook from India, which contains the first two verses, also has the note "Martha - Diana - light voice" at the top of the page.  The references are most likely Martha Reeves and Diana Ross.)  He double-tracked this vocal, Ringo added some drums, Paul overdubbed an organ part, and John played a tone pedal guitar part.  Tape loops were created of all four Beatles singing a very high "Aaah," a guitar playing a high-pitched A repeatedly, and an overdub of Paul, George and Francie Schwartz (Paul's girlfriend at the time) singing "mama dada mama dada" over and over was made for the end of the song.

Around this time, it was decided that this ten-minute Revolution was not fit for a single, thus Lennon lopped off the final six minutes to form the basis of the sound collage Revolution 9, which was already taking shape in his mind.  He was still determined that the first four minutes of the song would be the group's next single, however, so he asked producer George Martin to write a brass arrangement to augment that portion of the song.  The session musicians, two trumpets and four trombones, were not brought in until June 21st to record the arrangement.  The only other Beatle who was present on this day besides John was George, who finally added his lead guitar part to the track, completing the overdubs.

The other Beatles, particularly Paul and George, voted against the song being a single.  Even though the lyrics are largely anti-revolution, the lingering effects of Epstein's non-political policy may have been on their minds.  In addition, they fell back on the argument that the recording was too slow.  This only fueled Lennon to ultimately insist on a remake.  He did not want to abandon this version, either, so he renamed it Revolution 1 and made sure it was included as the opening track on side four of the "White Album."  Though that album came out three months after the song's appearance as the B-side to Hey Jude, I'm sure most of us fans were unaware that this slower version had been recorded first.

The deluxe 50th-anniversary edition of the "White Album" contains the upbeat demo of the song, as well as the 10-minute take eighteen.  Even a die-hard fan like myself can find listening to this take to be a trying experience, though it is interesting to note the bits that bubble to the surface during Revolution 9 and discover some fascinating bits that remained buried, such as Paul momentarily slipping into a verse of Love Me Do!