Beathoven

Beathoven

Studying the Beatles

The Harrisong (7)

Yellow Submarine
Harrison dominates side one of theYellow Submarine soundtrack album with Only A Northern Song and It's All Too Much.

Only A Northern Song
Another great organ opening from Harrison leads to a band track of organ, bass and drums. McCartney drives the arrangement with one his best basslines.

Two verses lead to a bridge that begins like that of I Needed Someone, and closes, Lennon-like, with the brief refrain, in this case a 6/8 insert curiously like that of Strawberry Fields Forever ("Only a Northern Song" == "Strawberry Fields Forever"). Great chords in the bridge (again).

The ensuing verse instrumental leads back to another bridge/refrain and a closing verse (as does Old Brown Shoe). Take a listen to that instrumental section: it's similar to segments of Revolution 9.

At 2.13 an instrumental bridge with a vocal refrain leads to a sequence of instrumental sections before the song closes at 3.15. The instrumental sections are neatly posited between Strawberry Fields (timpani, backwards guitar) and the full-blown chaos of Revolution 9.

The original Anthology take planned for Sgt Pepper tells us some interesting things. First, Harrison cleaned up the lyric with some critical edits. Second, most of the brass, percusion and Revolution 9 effects were added during the later sections. This was the equivalent of the same clean-up process that once saw a little harmony and guitar added to a song like Wait.

Who plays the trumpet. It's only about two notes. Perhaps McCartney took up the instrument for a brief evening.
Track 2 and 3.23 minutes long.

It's All Too Much
Harrison's first Grand March could have been the anthem of the Summer Of Love. George never sounded quite this enthusiastic again with mere mortal or lofty Beatle. He sings the song with a huge cheesy grin. 1967 did strange things to people.

If you choose to discard the repetitive outros of Hey Jude and I Want You then this is the Beatles' Biggest Song. The introduction lasts a full minute. Other songs of this dimension appear on George's solo album All Things Must Pass.

Harrison's famous "to your mother" is answered by Lennon's extended feedback (he would fill whole concerts with this sound a year later). Maestro Harrison sits at the organ again. Starr's scuffed drums are superb as always. McCartney pumps the tonic throughout.

An extended solo follows the second verse/chorus pair. McCartney is inspired to take his only bass solo in the Beatles work. The return verse shows how far Lennon's single feedback note has progressed since the thin reedy intro to "I Feel Fine".

As with Blue Jay Way, George closes the body of the song with a repeated chorus, managing to use the make/take rhyme two years before Abbey Road, and closing curiously on "for us to take" rather than "for me to take".

The standard Beatles' outro is further developed, with George returning with more genuine passion on the "long blonde hair" section. Harrison indicated recently that this had been a Lennon/McCartney suggestion. Martin follows the section with brass cooing like doves. The performance is a little rough in places, but its full of rock polyphony which would become vogue in 1969. Harrison's organ pumps throughout.

The final outro begins at the five minute mark with John and Paul handling the "too much" duet. Like Blue Jay Way, the phrase is presented in number of ways, with truncation.

On Yellow Submarine the song is followed by All You Need Is Love, the song that did become the anthem of Peppertime. It sounds little tame after this humongous epic.

At 6.15 minutes, the longest Beatle song until Hey Jude a year later. The body of this song remains the longest of the Beatles' efforts. The complex multi-section development is something Harrison would return to in his solo career. Possibly the most neglected neglected Beatlesong of them all.

George in Peppertime
Despite his unwillingness, 1967's four songs represent Harrison's busiest year as a songwriter thus far. Each piece was completely in tune with the spirit of the time. Within You Without You has survived as a major work.

Within You Within You and Blue Jay Way continue Harrison's exploration of India music in the context of rock. Within You... is the high point. Blue Jay Way combines an Indian approach with a pschedelic idiom.

Here's one to consider: had Lennon not made Revolution 9 then Harrison would have been remembered as the avant garde member of the Beatles. Blue Jay Way, Only A Northern Song and It's All Too Much delve deeply into the use of noise, electronic effects, voice, dissonance in rock. Harrison continued this work on Wonderwall at the close of 1967 and on Electronic Sounds a year later.

Structurally, Harrison's songs place the emphasis on development at the end of the song. His idea of truncation during repetition may stem from Indian influences (we see this fragmentation in the instrumental section of Within You.

Vocally Harrison is doing something rather novel: he's really trying. Blue Jay Way has chordal structure in the melody. All Too Much explores a tonic major seventh chord. The songs have strong chorus sections. Harrison starts doing more of his own harmony. The Indian influence is present here as well as heard in his use of glissando.

Every song stands alone as a major, ambituous project in its own right. Each piece explores and conquers a bit more of the virgin territory that is the right of the brave pioneer.

Next we look at Wonderwall in which our hero leaves home for an adventure all alone.