Recording "Good Night"

The Beatles began recording John Lennon’s “Good Night” on this day, in a session that lasted from 7 pm to 4:30 am. Initially, they focused on several rehearsals, one of which was included on Anthology 3. Subsequently, five proper takes of “Good Night” were recorded, featuring John Lennon on electric guitar and Ringo Starr on vocals.

According to Kevin Howlett’s book, which accompanied the 2018 reissue of “The Beatles,” John added some guitar overdubs to Take 5 in this session.

Work continued on “Good Night” on July 2. However, the efforts from these two sessions were eventually abandoned in favor of a new version with an orchestral arrangement, recorded on July 22.

I think John felt it might not be good for his image for him to sing it but it was fabulous to hear him do it, he sang it great. We heard him sing it in order to teach it to Ringo and he sang it very tenderly. John rarely showed his tender side, but my key memories of John are when he was tender, that’s what has remained with me; those moments where he showed himself to be a very generous, loving person. I always cite that song as an example of the John beneath the surface that we only saw occasionally… I don’t think John’s version was ever recorded.

Paul McCartney – From “Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now” by Barry Miles, 1997

At the very next session John surprised us all with the unveiling of his lush ballad ‘Good Night.’ Like ‘Across The Universe,’ the song showed his softer side, a stark contrast to the screamer he had belted out just the night before (“Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey”)…There was another surprise: John had decided to have Ringo sing the lead vocal. We were all totally caught off guard by that because we’d already recorded what we presumed was going to be the sole Ringo song on the album (“Don’t Pass Me By”). It’s hard to imagine that John actually thought Ringo could do a better job on it than he could – he knew as well as anyone that Ringo was no singer. Perhaps it was that he was embarrassed at singing such a gentle lullaby – maybe it wasn’t macho enough for him – or perhaps he made the decision just to keep Ringo happy because he sensed some disquiet in the usually placid drummer. […]

John had made a demo for Ringo to take home and practice to, and it was played back a couple of times that night…It’s a shame that this particular tape has been lost to the world, and that nobody will ever hear the gorgeous way John sang his tender little song.

During the rehearsal run-throughs, John and Yoko stayed up in the control room while the other three Beatles remained down in the studio with George Martin, who played piano while Paul and George Harrison coached their drummer on phrasing and pitching. That created a unity that had rarely been present in these sessions. Just getting Yoko out of the studio seemed to lighten the atmosphere tremendously.

Geoff Emerick – From “Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles“, 2006

[John] was happy with take five so added two more guitar parts to tracks two and three on the four-track tape. The guitar on track two was recorded at half-speed so when played back at normal speed was heard an octave higher.

From “The Beatles” Super Deluxe edition book (2018)

On the evidence of this eavesdrop into song’s first session, the transferral of composition to tape was very much a united effort, with all four Beatles and producer George Martin pitching in ideas and opinions. The performance was not numbered “take” but, rather, a rehearsal that happened to be recorded.

From the liner notes of Anthology 3

Session activities

1. Good Night

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • Take 1

2. Good Night

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • Take 2

3. Good Night

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • Take 3

4. Good Night

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • Take 4

5. Good Night

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • Take 5

Staff

Musicians on "Good Night"

Production staff

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