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'Taxman' was written by George
Harrison after he found himself in the 'super-tax' bracket,
which then meant paying 19 shillings and 3 pence (96p) out
of every pound in tax.
Until 1966, the Beatles' touring
schedule had been so hectic that there had been no time to
sit down and examine the accounts. When they did get round
to it, they didn't have as much money as they had imagined.
"We were actually giving most (of our money) away in taxes,"
said George. "It was, and still is, typical. Why should this
be so? Are we being punished for something we have forgotten
to do?"
John later said that he had a hand
in the writing of 'Taxman' and he was bitter that George had
neglected to mention this in the account he wrote in his
autobiography, I Me Mine. John claimed that George phoned
him up as he was writing it. "I threw in a few one-liners to
help the song along, because that's what he asked for," he
said "I didn't want to do it... but because I loved him... I
just sort of bit my tongue and said OK."
Certainly the published version is
an improvement on George's rough draft, in which 'get some
bread' was rhymed with 'before you're dead' and there was
none of the biting humor. Nor did the background chorus yet
mention the names of the Prime Minister of Britain, Harold
Wilson, and Leader of the Opposition, Edward Heath. That
came later, when the song was recorded, giving them the
distinction of being the first living people to be named in
a Beatles' song. Although the Beatles had never met Heath,
they had met Wilson (a fellow Northerner) on several
occasions and had each received MBEs in the honours list
that Wilson approved after leading Britain's Labour Party to
victory in 1964.
The Beatles - four enterprising
young people with regional accents who came from mainly
working class backgrounds - were just the sort of people
Wilson wanted to encourage in his vision for a new classless
Great Britain.
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