Monday, August 11, 1969
Recording "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", "Oh! Darling", "Here Comes The Sun"
For The Beatles
Last updated on December 27, 2021
Monday, August 11, 1969
For The Beatles
Last updated on December 27, 2021
Feb 22 - Aug 25, 1969 • Songs recorded during this session appear on Abbey Road
Recording studio: EMI Studios, Studio Three, Abbey Road
Article Aug 08, 1969 • The "Abbey Road" photo session
Session Aug 08, 1969 • Recording "The End", "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", "Oh! Darling"
Session Aug 11, 1969 • Recording "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", "Oh! Darling", "Here Comes The Sun"
Session Aug 12, 1969 • Mixing "Oh! Darling", "Because", "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"
Session Aug 13, 1969 • Mixing "You Never Give Me Your Money"
AlbumSome of the songs worked on during this session were first released on the "Abbey Road" LP
The recording of “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” and “Oh! Darling” was completed on this day. Time was also spent on “Here Comes The Sun” in this 2:30 pm to 11:30 pm session.
Before that, from 1 pm to 2 pm, engineer Phil McDonald did some mono tape copies of “Dig It” and “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer“:
Neither Lewisohn nor Winn can provide any validation regarding this session. The stereo remix of Dig It is noted to have been from a session that is not among any of the dates Glyn Johns worked on the song and there is no entry in tape log from Barrett of it, or the copy of Maxwell’s Silver Hammer.
From “The Beatles Recording Reference Manual – Volume 5” by Jerry Hammack
On August 8, “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)” received some overdubs added onto the master done at Trident Studios on February 23, without the overdubs recorded on April 20, 1969.
On this day, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison added some harmony vocals, singing “She’s so heavy“. Those overdubs were added onto take 1 from April 20 but were also edited into the original Trident Studios master, before the session ends. The final release would be an edit of mixes made of the two versions of the song, made on August 20.
Till then, the working title of the track was “I Want You“. The addition of those harmony vocals led John to change the title to “I Want You (She’s So Heavy)“.
John, Paul, George then re-recorded their backing vocals on “Oh! Darling“, replacing those they had done on April 26.
John’s harmony vocals on “Oh! Darling” were his last performance on any Beatles track.
To end the day, George added a guitar overdub onto track seven of “Here Comes The Sun“. The track would receive orchestral overdubs on August 15.
Written by Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon, George Harrison
Tape copying • Mono tape copying of 13 March stereo mix
Tape copying • Tape copying of remix stereo 18
Recording • SI onto take 1
Recording • SI onto take 26
Written by George Harrison
Recording • SI onto take 15
Tape copying • Tape copying of take 1
Editing • Editing from take 1 into unnumbered Trident master
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions • Mark Lewisohn
The definitive guide for every Beatles recording sessions from 1962 to 1970.
We owe a lot to Mark Lewisohn for the creation of those session pages, but you really have to buy this book to get all the details - the number of takes for each song, who contributed what, a description of the context and how each session went, various photographies... And an introductory interview with Paul McCartney!
If we modestly consider the Paul McCartney Project to be the premier online resource for all things Paul McCartney, it is undeniable that The Beatles Bible stands as the definitive online site dedicated to the Beatles. While there is some overlap in content between the two sites, they differ significantly in their approach.
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