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    The Beatles - The White Album
    The Beatles - The White Album
    The Beatles - The White Album
    Ebook120 pages1 hour

    The Beatles - The White Album

    By Opher Goodwin

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    About this ebook

    Arguably the greatest album by the best rock band ever, The Beatles - also known as The White Album – proved to be a watershed recording. This extraordinary double album reflects a remarkable, turbulent time. They were attempting to follow on from the psychedelic masterpiece Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band; manager Brian Epstein had died, long-term relationships were coming to an end, and they had become disillusioned with the Maharishi. The album heralded changes in style and marked the start of the falling apart of the previously tight-knit group. A wildly diverse album, its creation and dynamics are revealed. But as the sixties came to an end, so too did the band.
    The album also followed on from their first highly criticised TV flop, Magical Mystery Tour, the success of the first global satellite triumph of ‘All You Need Is Love’, and the highly ambitious Apple business venture. George Martin ducked out and conflict broke out between band members. But, among all the pressures and stress, they found time to write and record an incredible array of songs that synergised into a spectacularly successful album with a fascinating story. This is the tale of every track and every facet of this remarkable record.


    Opher Goodwin is the author of many books on rock music and science fiction and taught the first History of Rock Music classes in the UK. He was fortunate to spend the sixties in London, the epicentre of the underground explosion of rock music and culture, where he was able to see everyone from Pink Floyd, Hendrix and Cream to The Doors, Captain Beefheart and Roy Harper. He was also fortunate to spend time in the Abbey Road Studios, where the Beatles recorded. He never fully recovered but now lives happily in East Yorkshire, UK.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSonicbond Publishing
    Release dateOct 25, 2024
    ISBN9781789520958
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      Book preview

      The Beatles - The White Album - Opher Goodwin

      Chapter 1

      Background Turmoil Leading Up To The Recording Of The White Album

      The Singles

      In 1967 and 1968, The Beatles were contractually obliged to produce a constant stream of singles, all of which were expected to be innovative and commercially successful.

      ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ b/w ‘Penny Lane’ (Lennon, McCartney) – 13 February 1967

      These songs were written for inclusion on Sgt. Pepper, but due to pressure for a single, they were released prior to the album coming out. They were the first tracks recorded for the album. ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ was recorded in late November 1966, and ‘Penny Lane’ in December and January 1967. Because of their release as a double A-side, neither were included on the album. Lennon later claimed that ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ was the best thing he ever did with The Beatles. The track was firmly in the forefront of the LSD-inspired stream-of-consciousness poetry that typified this period. ‘Penny Lane’ was more melodic and conventional.

      ‘All You Need Is Love’ b/w ‘Baby You’re A Rich Man’ (Lennon, McCartney) – 7 July 1967

      The Lennon-penned A-side was written for the Our World global TV project. (This will be dealt with later). John wrote a repetitive chorus with simple words designed to be understood everywhere. The TV broadcast recording was the basis for the single.

      ‘Baby You’re A Rich Man’ was more of a collaboration. John had written a song fragment called ‘One Of The Beautiful People’, to which Paul added a chorus. John wrote the piece after attending the underground psychedelic happening The 14 Hour Technicolour Dream headlined by Pink Floyd at Alexander Palace on 29 April 1967. He was blown away by the array of psychedelic bands and antics of bands and participants and revelled in the gathering of all the counterculture freaks.

      ‘Hello Goodbye’ b/w ‘I Am The Walrus’ (Lennon, McCartney) – 24 November 1967

      ‘Hello Goodbye’ was Paul’s song. Based on duality, it reflected the conflicting aspects of his life at the time – particularly his disintegrating relationship with Jane Asher. Nonetheless, it had a commercial, jaunty feel.

      ‘I Am The Walrus’ was John’s Lewis-Carroll-inspired song. Courting problems with the BBC, which banned it on the basis of obscene lyrics, it was more edgy and had a memorable promo video.

      ‘Lady Madonna’ (Lennon, McCartney) b/w ‘The Inner Light’

      (Harrison) – 15 March 1968

      ‘Lady Madonna’ is an out-and-out thumping piano boogie-woogie in the style of Fats Domino and a good indication that Paul was moving away from the more sophisticated studio-produced psychedelia of Sgt. Pepper.

      ‘The Inner Light’ is a George Harrison number and his first outing on a single. The backing track was recorded in India using traditional Indian instruments. The vocals were added in London, with a lyric based on a translation of chapter 47 of the Tao Te Ching. George created quite an upbeat number reflecting The Beatles’ interest in transcendental meditation and the Maharishi. George was studying sitar with Ravi Shankar at the time.

      ‘Hey Jude’ b/w ‘Revolution’ (Lennon, McCartney) – 26 August 1968

      At the end of July – halfway through recording The White Album – they set about producing the required single. They selected Paul’s ‘Hey Jude’ following a lively debate. John wanted ‘Revolution 1’ with ‘Revolution 9’ as the B-side. He found himself vetoed.

      ‘Hey Jude’ reflects the perilous state of affairs The Beatles were in. Paul wrote it on the way to visit John’s wife Cynthia and their son Julian after John left them for Yoko Ono. It was originally called ‘Hey Jules’. The song was intended to cheer Julian up, but the lyric seemed broader than that. John thought they were directed at him and Yoko. There are also lines that seem to reflect Paul talking to himself about his split with Jane Asher and his new relationship with Francie Schwartz.

      The song was the first Beatles track to be recorded at Trident Studios, and The Beatles were delighted with the flexibility the 8-track recorder brought to the recording process. To add studio ambience, Mal Evans brought in a number of marijuana plants!

      Following rehearsals in which Paul had arguments with George about his guitar part, George took himself off to the control room with George Martin. The three remaining Beatles created the basic track in four takes, and the recording was filmed. They then overdubbed vocals, bass, orchestra, handclaps and guitar over the next day.

      The song is piano-based, around the chords F, C and Bb. It consists of three minutes of verses and bridges, followed by an extended four- minute coda based around the chords F, Eb and Bb and outro of D, C, G, D. The track’s seven-minute length was extremely unusual for a single. Richard Harris had the similarly long hit song ‘MacArthur Park’, but Paul was worried that ‘Hey Jude’ might not receive radio airplay. John reassured him, ‘They will if it’s us’. In line with their usual policy, they did not include the single on the album.

      John insisted that the newly recorded hard-rock version of ‘Revolution’ be released as the B-side. Ringo – who had walked out on the band – returned just in time to participate in the promo film for the release of the single, which was the first on The Beatles’ new Apple label. The contractual obligation and constant pressure to provide singles interfered with the recording of the follow-up album, but the songs do give insight into some of the development and changes that were taking place during that year.

      Chapter 2

      Other Ventures

      The Beatles’ minds were swamped with creative possibilities and business ventures far beyond the bounds of their music.

      Our World – Broadcast 25 June 1967

      In 1967, the BBC dreamt up the idea of producing a live show that would be shown worldwide, simultaneously in 25 countries. For the first time, by bouncing the signals off four satellites, they now had the technology to beam a live broadcast across the globe. It was a huge, groundbreaking venture. The programme was to take live input from different countries, and broadcast them to Australia, the USA, Canada, Japan, Tunisia and Europe, with an estimated audience of up to 400,000,000:

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