Revolution 9

Yoko Ono had suddenly become a permanent fixture by John Lennon's side.  On May 30th, 1968, the very first day of sessions for the "White Album," John had brought her into the control room, introduced her to those present, and that was that.  During the numerous takes for Revolution 1 recorded on this day, she had begun playing a tape recorder close by John's microphone, much to the surprise of producer George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick.  Even more surprising was the fact that John encouraged this, so that random noises and fragments of spoken words were eventually captured on the rambling 10-minute master take.

As stated in my previous post, Lennon intended to have this song be the A-side of the group's next single, but its unwieldy length, plus the chaotic nature of the final six minutes after the main body of the song, made it an unlikely candidate for airplay on AM radio.  Lennon finally realized this after more work had been done on the track on May 31st and June 4th, and he duly ordered a separation of the two sections, seeing an opportunity to get a very different piece onto a Beatles album, something akin to the experimental recordings he and Yoko had recently made after their first night together.

On June 6th, John and Yoko began assembling various tapes of music and other sounds from the vast collection in the EMI complex.  George once related that he and Ringo assisted in this search, though Ringo was busy in studio two on this date recording his composition Don't Pass Me By with Paul.  Some of the sound effects compiled on this date were actually part of another project.  Actor Victor Spinetti, who had co-starred in A Hard Day's Night, Help!, and Magical Mystery Tour, was directing a stage version of Lennon's book In His Own Write for the National Theatre, and John was assisting in the sound design of that production.

George and Ringo were out of the country as the search for sound effects continued on June 10th and 11th, with Martin's assistant Chris Thomas now helping John and Yoko to create tape loops.  (On the second of these dates, Paul was in studio two with Francie Schwartz by his side - if John could bring his new girlfriend to the sessions, why not? - recording Blackbird.)  John now had almost all of the components he wanted to create his sound collage.  What he required was the organization to somehow put it all together.  It would be a massive undertaking.

Paul was out of the country on June 20th, allowing John to essentially commandeer all of Abbey Road Studios.  All three studios and every tape machine in the building was at his disposal, not to mention as many staff members as necessary.  The only other Beatle who was present on this day was George.  He accompanied John into one of the studios where they made one final recording of random phrases that could be used throughout the piece, while Yoko added a high-pitched hum for good measure.

Engineers throughout the facility stood by into the wee hours of the morning holding pencils that kept tape loops running continually into tape machines, as John sat at a mixing console with Geoff Emerick at his side.  Using the final six minutes of Revolution 1 as a basis, John played the faders with Emerick's assistance, bringing up and down the sounds that he wanted until he had a track that extended to nine minutes in length.  As the stereo mix of the piece was made over the next few days, he continued this practice, playing with the faders and moving the sounds from speaker to speaker.  An edit was also made, bringing the total time of the track down to 8:15.

During the 24-hour sequencing session on October 16th and 17th, Paul fought unsuccessfully to keep the sound collage off of the album, though it did wind up being essentially buried as the penultimate track.  Many people have a low tolerance or an outright hatred for Revolution 9, either skipping over it or simply omitting side four of the double album altogether, but I have always found listening to it to be a fascinating experience.  There is no question that Lennon's innate musical abilities were guiding his choices as he made them in real time.  

While he went on to make three experimental albums with Yoko, John only made one other attempt at such a piece with the Beatles.  What's the New Mary Jane was recorded later in the summer of '68 with the assistance of George, Yoko and the ever-faithful Mal Evans.  Once its three nonsensical verses have been sung, its loose structure falls apart completely over several painful minutes, lacking any of the musical sensibility behind Revolution 9.  Thankfully, Paul did succeed in preventing this track from making the cut for the "White Album."  If you absolutely must give it a listen, it is available on Anthology 3.