Revolution in the Head by Ian MacDonald

Author:Ian MacDonald [Macdonald, Ian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Music, History & Criticism, Genres & Styles, Rock
ISBN: 9781883052843
Google: xKx9c7m1FgoC
Goodreads: 11968210
Publisher: Chicago Review Press
Published: 1994-01-01T06:00:00+00:00

[172] OCTOPUS’S GARDEN (Starkey)

Starr vocal, drums, percussion, effects; Harrison backing vocals, lead guitar, synthesiser; McCartney backing vocals, bass, piano; Lennon guitar

Recorded: 26th April, Abbey Road 2; 29th April, 17th-18th July 1969, Abbey Road 3.

Producers; Chris Thomas/George Martin. Engineers: Jeff Jarratt/Phil McDonald.

UK release: 26th September 1969 (LP: Abbey Road)

US release: 1st October 1969 (LP: Abbey Road)

When Starr temporarily left The Beatles on 22nd August 1968 (see [142]), he took his family on holiday to Sardinia where, chatting with a fisherman, he was fascinated to learn that octopuses roam the seabed picking up stones and shiny objects with which they build gardens. After the stormy air of Abbey Road, the idea of living under the sea must have held a certain attraction, and Starr forthwith set about writing this, his second song. A commonplace tune in country and western style, it was fondly welcomed back to Abbey Road along with its author some days later, and worked on a little by Starr and Harrison during the ‘Get Back’ sessions. With a spirited guitar solo and Starr’s usual vocal brand of forlorn good cheer, OCTOPUS’S GARDEN glides by without drawing attention to itself - a poor man’s [88] YELLOW SUBMARINE.

[173] YOU NEVER GIVE ME YOUR MONEY (Lennon-McCartney)

McCartney multitracked vocal, backing vocals, pianos, bass, guitars, wind-chimes, tape-loops; Lennon backing vocals, guitars; Harrison backing vocals, guitars; Starr drums, tambourine

Recorded: 6th May, Olympic Sound Studios; 1st July, Abbey Road 2; 15th July, Abbey Road 3; 30th-31st July, Abbey Road 2; 5th August 1969, Abbey Road 3.

Producer: George Martin. Engineers: Glyn Johns/Phil McDonald, Geoff Emerick.

UK release: 26th September 1969 (LP: Abbey Road)

US release: 1st October 1969 (LP: Abbey Road)

McCartney’s first post-‘Get Back’ composition reflects the upheavals of February 1969. The Beatles’ fall-out over money provided a metaphor for their dissolving personal relationships, each harbouring an aggrieved sense of being owed something he was no longer getting.1 In McCartney’s case, the others’ beef was that his middle-class reflex of adopting a diplomatic face served to repress his emotions, leaving him with little idea of how they felt. While there was justice in this, it was equally true that without his get-up-and-go, prolific ideas, and organisational gifts, The Beatles would have collapsed after Sgt. Pepper (possibly even before it). While McCartney was lecturing them about how to play their instruments, it was all too easy to forget that he had strong feelings for them and was vulnerable to their dry sniping. As a creative/commercial entity, The Beatles meant more to him than to Lennon and Harrison, who, tired of pop artifice, were inclining towards rock with its wider opportunities for self-expression (and self-indulgence). For McCartney, the group was a make-believe world in which he could be forever young. His colleagues, feeling too old for such frivolity, sourly declined to play shadows to his Peter Pan.

Acting as both The Beatles’ musical director and a stand-in manager for them during their final three years, McCartney was deeply shaken when the others drafted in the streetfighting Allen Klein to claw their finances back into shape.

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