Recording "Martha My Dear", "Honey Pie"

The Beatles spent this entire week of recording at Trident Studios. On October 1 and October 2, they focused on Paul McCartney’s “Honey Pie“. The following day, they shifted to George Harrison’s “Savoy Truffle“. And on this day, October 4, they worked on Paul McCartney’s “Martha My Dear” and resumed work on “Honey Pie“.

The session lasted from 4 pm to 4:30 am. They started working on the basic track of “Martha My Dear“, with Paul McCartney on piano, George Harrison on electric guitar and Ringo Starr on drums. John Lennon was absent from this session. By 6 pm, they had completed a basic track, referred to as Take 1.

From 6 pm to 9 pm, The Beatles were joined by seven studio musicians to record George Martin’s brass and woodwind arrangement for “Honey Pie.”

At 9 pm, these musicians departed, and fourteen others arrived to record a brass and strings arrangement for “Martha My Dear.” It was unusual for The Beatles to record a song’s basic track and invite external musicians to complement it in the same session, indicating that George Martin likely received a demo beforehand to compose the score.

From midnight to 4:30 am, Paul McCartney overdubbed his lead vocals for “Martha My Dear” and added handclaps. Subsequently, he double-tracked the vocals and handclaps.

Solo vocal by Paul but his voice is double-tracked. That means you hear him twice over although the blending of his two vocal “takes” has been done so well it’s almost like hearing just one voice. NOT dedicated to Paul’s Good Dog Martha! A lovely ballad with rich orchestral backing. Theme is You Were Meant For Me. Incidentally Ringo bashed a hole in his brand new bass drum skin the night we started this track.

Mal Evans – From the Beatles Monthly Book, N°64, November 1968

Finally, he returned to “Honey Pie” to record the line “now she’s hit the big time!“.

“Now she’s hit the big time” was distorted as a ’78 vocal’ on track seven. It was an aural reference to the scratchy sound of discs played at the speed of 78 revolutions per minute from the era that “Honey Pie” evoked.

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

We put a sound on my voice to make it sound like a scratchy old record. So it’s not a parody, it’s a nod to the vaudeville tradition that I was raised on.

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

Work on “Martha My Dear” and “Honey Pie” continued the following day.

Session activities

1. Martha My Dear

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • Take 1

2. Honey Pie

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • SI onto take 1

3. Martha My Dear

   Written by Lennon - McCartney

   Recording • SI onto take 1

Staff

Musicians on "Martha My Dear"

Musicians on "Honey Pie"

Production staff

Visitors

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