Side one McCartney wrote "
Back in the U.S.S.R." as a parody of
Chuck Berry's song "
Back in the U.S.A." and the Beach Boys. A field recording of a jet aeroplane taking off and landing was used at the start of the track, and intermittently throughout it. The backing vocals were sung by Lennon and Harrison in the style of the Beach Boys, further to
Mike Love's suggestion in Rishikesh that McCartney include mention of the "girls" in the USSR. The track became widely bootlegged in the
Soviet Union, where the Beatles' music was banned, and became an underground hit. "
Dear Prudence" was one of the songs recorded at Trident. The style is typical of the acoustic songs written in Rishikesh, using guitar
arpeggios. Lennon wrote the track about
Mia Farrow's sister
Prudence Farrow, who rarely left her room during the stay in commitment to the meditation. "
Glass Onion" was the first backing track recorded as a full band after Starr's brief departure. MacDonald claimed Lennon deliberately wrote the lyrics to mock fans who claimed to find "hidden messages" in songs, and referenced other songs in the Beatles catalogue – "The Walrus was Paul" refers back to "
I Am the Walrus" (which itself refers to "
Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds"). McCartney, in turn, overdubbed a
recorder part after the line "I told you about
the Fool on the Hill", as a deliberate reference to the earlier song. A string section was added to the track in October. "
Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" was written by McCartney as a
pastiche of
ska music. The track took a surprising amount of time to complete, with McCartney demanding perfectionism that annoyed his colleagues. Jimmy Scott, a friend of McCartney, suggested the title and played bongos on the initial take. He demanded a cut of publishing when the song was released, but the song was credited to "Lennon–McCartney". After working for three days on the backing track, the work was scrapped and replaced with a new recording. Lennon hated the song, calling it "granny music shit", while engineer Richard Lush recalled that Starr disliked having to record the same backing track repetitively, and pinpoints this session as a key indication that the Beatles were going to break up. McCartney attempted to remake the backing track for a third time, but this was abandoned after a few takes and the second version was used as the final mix. The group, save for McCartney, had lost interest in the track by the end of recording, and refused to release it as a single.
Marmalade recorded a version that became a number one hit. McCartney recorded "
Wild Honey Pie" on 20 August at the end of the session for "Mother Nature's Son". It is typical of the brief snippets of songs he recorded between takes during the album sessions. "
The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" was written by Lennon after an American visitor to Rishikesh left for a few weeks to hunt tigers. It was recorded as an
audio vérité exercise, featuring vocal performances from almost everyone who happened to be in the studio at the time. Ono sings one line and co-sings another, while Chris Thomas played the
Mellotron, including improvisations at the end of the track. The opening
flamenco guitar flourish was a recording included in the Mellotron's standard tape library. "
While My Guitar Gently Weeps" was written by Harrison during a visit he made to his parents' home in
Cheshire. He first recorded the song as a solo performance, on acoustic guitar, on 25 July – a version that remained unreleased until
Anthology 3. He was unhappy with the group's first attempt to record the track, and so invited his friend
Eric Clapton to come and play on it. Clapton was unsure about guesting on a Beatles record, but Harrison said the decision was "nothing to do with them. It's my song." Clapton's solo was treated with
automatic double tracking to attain the desired effect; he gave Harrison the guitar he used, which Harrison later named "
Lucy". "
Happiness Is a Warm Gun" evolved out of several song fragments that Lennon compiled into one piece, having previewed two of the segments in his May 1968 demo. According to MacDonald, this approach was possibly inspired by the
Incredible String Band's songwriting. The basic backing track ran to 95 takes, due to the irregular time signatures and variations in style throughout the song. The final version consisted of the best halves of two takes edited together. Lennon later described the song as one of his favourites, while the rest of the band found the recording rejuvenating, as it forced them to re-hone their skills as a group playing together to get it right. Apple's press officer
Derek Taylor made an uncredited contribution to the song's lyrics.
Side two McCartney got the title of "
Martha My Dear" from his
Old English Sheepdog, but the lyrics are otherwise unrelated. The entire track is played by him backed with session musicians, and features no other Beatles. Martin composed a
brass band arrangement for the track. "
I'm So Tired" was written in India when Lennon was having difficulty sleeping. It was recorded at the same session as "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill". The lyrics make reference to
Walter Raleigh, calling him a "stupid
git" for introducing tobacco to Europe; while the track ends with Lennon mumbling "Monsieur, monsieur, how about another one?" This became part of the
Paul is Dead conspiracy theory, when fans claimed that when the track was
reversed, they could hear "Paul is dead man, miss him, miss him, miss him". "
Blackbird" features McCartney solo, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar. According to Lewisohn, the ticking in the background is a
metronome, but Emerick recalls capturing the sound via a microphone placed beside McCartney's shoes. The birdsong on the track was taken from the Abbey Road sound effects collection, and was recorded on one of the first EMI portable tape recorders. Harrison wrote "
Piggies" as an attack on greed and materialism in modern society. His mother and Lennon helped him complete the lyrics. Thomas played
harpsichord on the track, while Lennon supplied a
tape loop of pigs grunting. "
Rocky Raccoon" evolved from a jam session with McCartney, Lennon and
Donovan in Rishikesh. The song was taped in a single session, and was one of the tracks that Martin felt was "
filler" and put on only because the album was a double. "
Don't Pass Me By" was Starr's first solo composition for the band; he had been toying with the idea of writing a self-reflective song for some time, possibly as far back as 1963. It went by the working titles of "Ringo's Tune" and "This Is Some Friendly". The basic track consisted of Starr drumming while McCartney played piano. Martin composed an orchestral introduction to the song but it was rejected as "too bizarre" and left off the album. Instead,
Jack Fallon played a bluegrass fiddle part. McCartney wrote "
Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" in India after he saw two monkeys copulating in the street and wondered why humans were too civilised to do the same. He played all the instruments except drums, which were contributed by Starr. The simple lyric was very much in Lennon's style, and Lennon was annoyed not to be asked to play on it. McCartney suggested it was "tit for tat" as he had not contributed to "Revolution 9". McCartney wrote and sang "
I Will", with Lennon and Starr accompanying on percussion. In between numerous takes, the three Beatles broke off to busk some other songs. A snippet of a track known as "Can You Take Me Back?" was put between "
Cry Baby Cry" and "
Revolution 9", while recordings of
Cilla Black's hit "
Step Inside Love" and a joke number, "Los Paranoias", were released on
Anthology 3. "
Julia" was the last track to be recorded for the album and features Lennon on solo acoustic guitar, which he played in a style similar to McCartney's on "Blackbird". This is the only Beatles song on which Lennon performs alone. It is a tribute to his mother,
Julia Lennon, who was killed in 1958 in a road accident when Lennon was 17, and the lyrics deal with the loss of his mother and his relationship with Ono, the "ocean child" in the lyrics. Ono helped with the lyrics, but the song was still credited to Lennon–McCartney as expected.
Side three According to McCartney, the authorship of "
Birthday" was "50–50 John and me, made up on the spot and recorded all on the same evening". He and Lennon were inspired to write the song after seeing the first UK showing of the
rock 'n' roll film ''
The Girl Can't Help It'' on television, and sang the lead vocal in the style of the film's musical star,
Little Richard. After the Beatles taped the track, Ono and Pattie Harrison added backing vocals. Lennon wrote "
Yer Blues" in India. Despite meditating and the tranquil atmosphere, he still felt unhappy, as reflected in the lyrics. The style was influenced by the
British Blues Boom of 1968, which included
Fleetwood Mac,
Cream,
the Jimi Hendrix Experience,
Jeff Beck and
Chicken Shack. The backing track was recorded in a small room next to the Studio 2 control room. Unusual for a Beatles recording, the four-track source tape was edited directly, resulting in an abrupt cut-off at 3'17" into the start of another take (which ran into the fadeout). " and "
Sexy Sadie" were both written in reference to
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. McCartney wrote "
Mother Nature's Son" in India, and worked on it in isolation from the other members of the band. He performed the track solo alongside a Martin-scored brass arrangement. "
Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey" evolved from a jam session and was originally untitled. The final mix was sped up by mixing the tape running at 43
hertz instead of the usual 50. Harrison claimed the title came from one of the Maharishi's sayings (with "and my monkey" added later). "
Sexy Sadie" was written as "Maharishi" by Lennon shortly after he decided to leave Rishikesh. In a 1980 interview, Lennon acknowledged that the Maharishi was the inspiration for the song: "I just called him 'Sexy Sadie'." "
Helter Skelter" was written by McCartney and was initially recorded in July as a blues number. The band performed the initial takes live and included long passages during which they jammed on their instruments. Because these takes were too long to practically fit on an LP, the song was shelved until September, when a new, shorter version was made. By all accounts, the session was chaotic, but nobody dared suggest to any of the Beatles that they were out of control. Harrison reportedly ran around the studio holding a flaming ashtray above his head, "doing an
Arthur Brown". The stereo version of the LP includes almost a minute more music than the mono, which culminates in Starr famously shouting "I've got blisters on my fingers!" Cult leader and mass murderer
Charles Manson was unaware that the term
helter skelter is British English for a spiral slide found on a playground or funfair, and assumed the track had something to do with
hell. This was one of the tracks that led Manson to believe the album had coded messages referring to apocalyptic war, and led to his
movement of the same name. The final song on side three is Harrison's "
Long, Long, Long", part of a
chord progression he took from
Bob Dylan's "
Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands". MacDonald describes the song as Harrison's "touching token of exhausted, relieved reconciliation with God" and considered it to be his "finest moment on
The Beatles". The recording session for the basic track was one of the longest the Beatles ever undertook, running from the afternoon of 7 October through the night until 7 am the next day. McCartney played
Hammond organ on the track, and an "eerie rattling" effect at the end was created by a note causing a wine bottle on top of the organ's
Leslie speaker to resonate.
Side four "
Revolution 1" was the first track recorded for the album, with sessions for the backing track starting on 30 May. The initial takes were recorded as a possible single, but as the session progressed, the arrangement became slower, with more of a laid-back groove. The group ended the chosen take with a six-minute improvisation that had further overdubs added, before being cut to the length heard on the album. The brass arrangement was added later. McCartney wrote "
Honey Pie" as a pastiche of the 1920s'
flapper dance style. The opening section had the sound of an old
78 RPM record overdubbed while Martin arranged a saxophone and clarinet part in the same style. Lennon played the guitar solo on the track, but later said he hated the song, calling it "beyond redemption". "
Savoy Truffle" was named after one of the types of chocolate found in a box of
Mackintosh's Good News, which Clapton enjoyed eating. The track featured a saxophone sextet arranged by Thomas, who also played keyboards. Harrison later said that Derek Taylor helped him finish the lyrics. Lennon began writing "
Cry Baby Cry" in late 1967 and the lyrics were partly derived from the tagline of an old television commercial. Martin played
harmonium on the track. "
Revolution 9" evolved from the overdubs from the "Revolution 1" coda. Lennon, Harrison and Ono added further tape collages and spoken word extracts, in the style of
Karlheinz Stockhausen. The track opens with an extract of a piano theme from a
Royal Schools of Music examination tape, and climaxes with Ono saying "if you become naked". Ono was heavily involved in the production, and advised Lennon on what tape loops to use. McCartney was out of the country at the time and did not contribute to the track, and was reportedly unhappy that it was included. He had led similar tape experiments such as "
Carnival of Light" in January 1967. The track has attracted both interest and disapproval from fans and critics over the years. Japan, Austria and Switzerland.
Unreleased material Some songs the Beatles were working on individually during this period were revisited for inclusion on their subsequent albums, while others were released on the band members' solo albums. According to the
bootlegged album of the demos made at Kinfauns, the latter of these two categories includes Lennon's "
Look at Me" and "Child of Nature" (eventually reworked as "
Jealous Guy"); McCartney's "
Junk"; and Harrison's "Not Guilty" and "
Circles". In addition, Harrison gave "
Sour Milk Sea" to the singer
Jackie Lomax, whose recording, produced by Harrison, was released in August 1968 as Lomax's debut single on Apple Records. Lennon's "
Mean Mr. Mustard" and "
Polythene Pam" were used in the medley on
Abbey Road the following year. The Lennon composition "
What's the New Mary Jane" was demoed at Kinfauns and recorded formally (by Lennon, Harrison and Ono) during the 1968 album sessions. McCartney taped demos of two compositions at Abbey Road – "
Etcetera" and "
The Long and Winding Road" – the latter of which the Beatles recorded in 1969 on
Let It Be.
The Beatles versions of "Not Guilty" and "What's the New Mary Jane" and a demo of "Junk" were released on
Anthology 3. "
Revolution (Take 20)", a previously uncirculated recording, surfaced in 2009 on a bootleg. This ten-minute take was later edited and overdubbed to create two separate tracks: "Revolution 1" and the avant-garde "Revolution 9". ==Release==