Album Summary: Abbey Road

Abbey Road, with its many magnificent medleys, has been an interesting and bittersweet journey. It's technically the last album by The Beatles (as The Beatles, together) and its eclectic yet cohesive track listing lulls the audience into a false sense of security. 

At this point in time, the Beatles were putting on a show for the world, meanwhile knowing it was virtually over for them. There was the odd hope here or there that the group could be salvaged--and their business dealings reflected that delusion, scheduling them for more releases and recording sessions. However, deep down everyone in the know knew that it was over. 

Abbey Road was born in that uncertain atmosphere, starting with the biographical unity of "Come Together" and charming the listener with some of the best Harrison works of his career ("Something" and "Here Comes the Sun") and drawing the audience deeply into the music with an entrancing 8-song medley. This album also contains what may be my personal favorite: "Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight", which I can listen to over and over without tiring of the lyrics or the tune.

In short, Abbey Road was a fitting send-off for the greatest band of the age. (This may be confusing, since we're about to start the next (and final) Beatles album, Let It Be, but we're about to clear that up. :) )

Her Majesty

Sorry for the skipped song... very busy and exhausting day yesterday. Here it is!

"Her Majesty" is a quick little song that was added onto the end of Abbey Road due to Paul's fondness for it. Since it wasn't included in the original track listing, it's considered one of the first examples of a hidden track in rock music--a trick that everyone does nowadays. 

As we know already, it was supposed to be placed between "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam", which is why the notes at the beginning and end correspond with the end and beginning notes of those two songs (respectively). "Her Majesty" is the shortest Beatles song at 23 seconds, and it's one of the three Beatles songs that reference, but not name, Queen Elizabeth II (the other two are "Penny Lane" and "Mean Mr. Mustard").

I think this song is pretty cute; I think it's probably required for any British artist to mention the queen at least once, and this might be the best one of them all. :P

That's it for "Her Majesty", now for the album summary!

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Heard It Tally: 47

Songs Completed: 188

Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight / The End

Today we've reached the titular song of this blog, and even better--it's a triple song day! "Golden Slumbers", "Carry That Weight", and "The End" technically count as three songs (they're listed separately on the album), but the first two were recorded as a single song and, much like Chris Farley and David Spade, are better together. Also, "Carry That Weight" segues so effortlessly into "The End", a couplet, that it would be a shame to leave it out.

Although Lennon was absent during the first recording session due to his car accident, he was present for subsequent sessions. This medley features all four Beatles' voices on the tracks--a true rarity at this point and achieved through overdubbing--as well as individual solos for each person and their instrument/voice. "Carry That Weight" reprises the riff from "You Never Give Me Your Money", but instead of talking about money, it talks about pillows and invitations. 

The lyrics of "Carry That Weight" clearly refer to the Beatles themselves; Wikipedia gives us some slightly differing angles:

Music critic Ian MacDonald interpreted the lyric as an acknowledgment by the group that nothing they would do as individual artists would equal what they had achieved together, and they would always carry the weight of their Beatle past. McCartney said the song was about the Beatles' business difficulties and the atmosphere at Apple at the time. In the film Imagine: John Lennon, Lennon says that McCartney was "singing about all of us."

Personally, this might be my favorite Beatles song. The lyrics are astounding and Paul's voice is incredible, particularly in the beginning when he belts out "Golden slumbers fill your eyes / smiles awake you when you rise" (I still can't decide if it's "awake" or "await"). There's really nothing about this medley that I don't love--from the amazing crescendos that blow my mind every time, to the killer guitar solo near the end that precedes that thought-provoking couplet written by McCartney.

Although this medley was intended to close Abbey Road, "Her Majesty was tacked onto the end; McCartney enjoyed it there, so there it remained. We'll listen to that one tomorrow, and that'll be curtains for the album. See you then.

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Heard It Tally: 45 - 46 - 47

Songs Completed: 185 -186 - 187

She Came in Through the Bathroom Window

"She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" was written by Paul McCartney. He was inspired by the Apple Scruffs, a term coined by George Harrison for the "dedicated fans who hung around outside the Abbey Road studio and the homes of the Beatles". 

One of these fans, generally girls, was Jessica Samuels, who gave her account of the time she and a few others broke into McCartney's home at St John's Wood. McCartney wasn't home at the time, so they propped a ladder up to the bathroom window and Samuels climbed in and let the others in by the front door. They ended up stealing several photographs, but other than that, the break-in seems to have been mostly good-natured. 

Of course, this could've been a made-up story; Mike Pinder, the former keyboard player of BirminghamR&B band The Moody Blues, claims the incident actually happened to him and that when he related the story to Paul McCartney, Paul proceeded to strum a tune on his guitar and sing, "She came in through the bathroom window". Wherever the inspiration for the song truly lies, chances are a groupie really did sneak into a musician's home through a bathroom window. :P

I really enjoy this song. The melody is catchy, and the lyrics are interesting and amusing, if somewhat nonsensical at times. Although this song wasn't featured in the film Across the Universe, it was referenced when the character Prudence introduces herself to the other characters by sneaking into their flat. When Sadie asks, "Where'd she come from?", Jude replies, "She came in through the bathroom window."

That's all for today! See you tomorrow. :)

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Heard It Tally: 44

Songs Completed: 184

Polythene Pam

Today we meet "Polythene Pam", which continues the medley where "Mean Mr. Mustard" left off; both were written at the same time while Lennon and the others were in India. 

Wikipedia gives us a quote from John about the song as well as some interesting tidbits:

In 1980, John Lennon said about "Polythene Pam": "That was me, remembering a little event with a woman in Jersey, and a man who was England's answer to Allen Ginsberg...I met him when we were on tour and he took me back to his apartment and I had a girl and he had one he wanted me to meet. He said she dressed up in polythene, which she did. She didn't wear jack boots and kilts, I just sort of elaborated. Perverted sex in a polythene bag. Just looking for something to write about." The song is sung in a very strong Liverpudlian "Scouse" accent.

The lines "She's so good-looking but she looks like a man / Well you should see her in drag dressed in her polythene bag" really remind me of "Lola" by The Kinks. Overall a fun song. :)

That's all for today... see you tomorrow.

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Heard It Tally: 43

Songs Completed: 183

Mean Mr. Mustard

The notorious "Mean Mr. Mustard" was created by John Lennon while he was in India,

...inspired by a newspaper story about a miser who concealed his cash wherever he could in order to prevent people from forcing him to spend it. On reflection, he did not think highly of the composition, describing it in Anthology as 'a bit of crap I wrote in India.'

Mr. Mustard's sister was originally named "Shirley", but she was renamed "Pam" so that the song could segue into tomorrow's song, "Polythene Pam". Also, "Mean Mr. Mustard" was supposed to precede "Her Majesty" before the latter was moved to the end of the album, which is why Mustard ends so abruptly and doesn't seem to flow very smoothly into "Polythene Pam". 

As a standalone song, there's not that much to talk about other than the lyrics; however, as part of the ongoing medley, it's a perfectly weird and suitable addition to the mix. :P

That's all for today! See you tomorrow. :)

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Heard It Tally: 43

Songs Completed: 182

Sun King

Today we meet the "Sun King". It was originally called "Here Comes the Sun King" but was changed to avoid confusion with George Harrison's song "Here Comes the Sun". "Sun King" was written mostly by John Lennon and is the second part of the B-side medley that begins with "You Never Give Me Your Money". 

Starting with the swamp noises that end "You Never Give Me Your Money", the song features another three-part harmony from Lennon, McCartney and Harrison (similar to "Because") as well as some nonsense "Romance" language words in the last three lines. According to Wikipedia, Lennon talked about those lyrics:

We just started joking, you know, singing 'cuando para mucho.' So we just made up... Paul knew a few Spanish words from school, you know. So we just strung any Spanish words that sounded vaguely like something. And of course we got 'chicka ferdy' in. That's a Liverpool expression. Just like sort – it doesn't mean anything to me but (childish taunting) 'na-na, na-na-na!'

That's all for today! See you tomorrow. :)

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Heard It Tally: 43

Songs Completed: 181