Abbey Road

The Beatles: Abbey Road album review

The Beatles: Abbey Road

Q: When is a great Beatles album not a quality Beatles album?

A: When it's Abbey Road.

To be honest, over the years, Abbey Road has increasingly become one of my favorite muzak pop albums, cut & pasted together seamlessly by McCartney at the height of his skills. Like much of his subsequent solo work, it means nothing but provides wonderful, innocuous sounds. In particular:

thankfully, those three-voice John/Paul/George backing vocals are returned after virtually being absent from The White Album
sensitive, subtle use of prototype Moog synthesizer &
some occasionally inspired ensemble playing

However, like a doomed marriage in which the two hapless souls are pretending to make a go of it, dig a little and Abbey Road is really a bit of a mess. While there are some genuine highlights, the album is mostly a collection of second-rate (for The Beatles) songs, glossed over by fab new production techniques and McCartney's Sgt Pepper-like segues (on what was Side 2).

There isn't really any point reviewing Abbey Road, I'm sure you all know it and have a copy...but here are my "comments", track by track. Perhaps they'll clear up a few things that you never thought to ponder:

Side 1

Come Together
Abbey Road opens with Come Together, Lennon's mostly self-portrait with the vague last verse seeming to refer to McCartney. Funky, tantalising and menacing it's the best track on the album, by far, for me.

"...Come Together was one of the last ones to be recorded. John was in an (automobile) accident, so he was off for a period of time.Then when (he) got back, which was only a week or so before we finished the album, we did this one. George Harrison 1969 (see Beatles quotes about Abbey Road, below)

"...Come Together changed at the session...I just said: 'Look, I've got no arrangement for you, but you know how I want it.' I think that's partly because we've played together a long time...and they all just joined in..." John Lennon 1969 "...it's one of my favorite Beatle tracks...it's funky, it's bluesy and I'm singing it pretty well. I like the sound of the record. You can dance to it. I'll buy it!..." John Lennon 1980 (see Beatles quotes about Abbey Road, below)

Something
It says something about the paucity of material that Something was acknowledged by the band and the public as the best song on the album. It's good, yes, but it's got some sloppy lyrics...

"...I could never think of words for it. And also because there was a James Taylor* song called There's Something In The Way She Moves which is the first line of that. And so then I thought of trying to change the words, but they were the words that came when I first wrote it, so in the end I just left it as that, and just called it Something. When I wrote it, I imagined somebody like Ray Charles doing it. That's the feel I imagined, but because I'm not Ray Charles, you know, I'm sort of much more limited in what I can do, then it came out like this. It's nice. It's probably the nicest melody tune that I've written..." George Harrison 1969 (see Beatles quotes about Abbey Road, below)

*James Taylor's very promising self-titled first album was being recorded at Apple at that time.

Something

Demo version

Maxwell's Silver Hammer
McCartney at his most inane although the song becomes more interesting when interpreted as Macca hinting that he would sue The Beatles and they would all end eventually up in court.

"...Maxwell's Silver Hammer is my analogy for when something goes wrong out of the blue, as it so often does, as I was beginning to find out at that time in my life..." Paul McCartney circa 1994 (see Beatles quotes about Abbey Road, below)

"...We spent a hell of a lot of time on it and it's one of those instant sort of whistle-along tunes...you know, a fun sort of song but it's pretty sick as well though, 'cuz the guy keeps killing everybody but that's one of the tunes we use synthesizer on, which is pretty effective on this..." George Harrison 1969 (see Beatles quotes about Abbey Road, below)

Oh! Darling
Oh! Darling, on the other hand, is a fabulous McCartney knees-up, all noise and hoarse screaming, meaning nothing, other than pledging allegiance to (presumably) new wife, Linda.

Oh! Darling was a great one of Paul's that he didn't sing too well. I always thought that I could've done it better - it was more my style than his. He wrote it, so what the hell, he's going to sing it. If he'd had any sense he should have let me sing it..." John Lennon 1980 (see Beatles quotes about Abbey Road, below)

Macca would provide a much more emotional statement to her on his first solo album, McCartney, with Maybe I'm Amazed...and dammit, even the much maligned but actually very cool Silly Love Songs from 1975's otherwise abysmal Wings At The Speed Of Sound.

However, getting Back to Oh! Darling. Why would McCartney write such a song in the throes of a new romance? Are they just words conjured out of the Ether or are they really McCartney's flailing reaction to Lennon telling The Beatles that he wanted to leave the group?

"...When you told me you didn't need me anymore
Well you know I nearly broke down and cried
When you told me you didn't need me anymore
Well you know I nearly broke down and died

Oh! Darling, if you leave me
I'll never make it alone
Believe me when I tell you
I'll never do you no harm..."

Oh! Darling

Octopus's Garden
Yellow Submarine Part 2. The story goes that during the tense recordings of The White Album, Ringo had "quit" the band and went off to Sardinia for a couple of weeks holiday. Offered otopus for lunch by a ship captain, Ringo declined but...

"...He told me all about octopuses - how they go 'round the sea bed and pick up stones and shiny objects and build gardens. I thought, 'How fabulous!' because at the time I just wanted to be under the sea, too. I wanted to get out of it for a while..." Ringo Starr 1981 (see Beatles quotes about Abbey Road, below)

"...Octopus's Garden' is Ringo's song. It's only the second song Ringo wrote, and it's lovely...For me, you know, I find very deep meaning in the lyrics, which Ringo probably doesn't see, but all the things like 'Resting our head on the sea bed' and 'We'll be warm beneath the storm'...if you get sort of deep in your consciousness, it's very peaceful..." George Harrison 1969 (see Beatles quotes about Abbey Road, below)

I Want You
Lennon's oedipal 4-line Yoko grunt:

"...I want you
I want you so bad
It's driving me mad...

...She's so heavy..."

I Want You (She's So Heavy)

Clocking in at 7.44 mins, it's a plodding bluesy jam that's fairly uneventful, except for some great bass from McCartney, some Moog synthesizer and Lennon's pre-Primal Scream therapy (see: John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band) screams...

"...a reviewer wrote: "...He seems to have lost his talent for lyrics, it's so simple and boring..."...When it gets down to it - when you're drowning, you don't say "I would be incredibly pleased if someone would have the foresight to notice me drowning and come and help me"...you just scream...." John Lennon 1971 (see Beatles quotes about Abbey Road, below)

Side 2

Here Comes The Sun
Unlike Something, George Harrison's Here Comes The Sun is a beauty, a modest acoustic guitar masterpiece with McCartney-like production touches, which lift it up a notch, too. Methinks it's Harrison subconsciously coming to terms with the inevitability of the bickering band breaking up...and that soon they could all relax

"...Little darling, it feels that ice is slowly melting
Little darling, it seem s like years since it's been clear
Here comes the sun
Here comes the sun
It's alright..."

Here Comes The Sun

Because
Sonically gorgeous, dreamy Lennon with fabulous harmonies from both McCartney & Harrison and heavily Ono-influenced dippy lyrics which only seem believable because of Lennon's incredible track record. In the hands of a hippy band like The Moody Blues, the same words would have just seemed trite. I'm led to believe the toon is close to Beethoven's Sonata backwards.

"Because is one of the most beautiful tunes...I think this is possibly my favorite one on the album. The lyrics are so simple. The harmony was pretty difficult to sing. We had to really learn it but I think that's one of the tunes that will impress most people..." George Harrison 1969 (see Beatles quotes about Abbey Road, below)

Experienced drug-takers have claimed that Because is the closest thing to audio-heroin ever created and various Beatle books have claimed that this was Lennon's drug of choice at the time. To support that premise, it should be noted that a few months later, Lennon released his powerful Cold Turkey as a solo single.

Incidentally, there's an acapella version that's simply stunning on Anthology and a cover version of that acapella version by Elliott Smith at the end of the Academy Award-winning movie American Beauty, which would have made a brilliant movie even better, if the producers could have afforded The Beatles track instead.

You Never Give Me Your Money
Apparently McCartney's veiled comments about the

Klein/Lennon -v- Eastman/McCartney

business tussles that was making the tense Lennon/McCartney relationship even more fragile.

Sun King
You can basically DITTO the "Because" observations...in a nice way with lyrics in a mixture of English, Spanish, Italian & Potuguese!

"...We just started joking, you know, singing 'quando para mucho'...Paul knew a few Spanish words from school, you know, so we just strung any Spanish words that sounded vaguely like something. And of course we got 'chicka ferdy' in. That's a Liverpool expression. Just like sort of...(childish taunting) 'na-na, na-na-na!'..." John Lennon 1969 (see Beatles quotes about Abbey Road, below)

Mean Mr. Mustard
A smutty little Lennon cartoon about a pervy old man. Incidentally, the line "...Keeps a ten bob note up his nose..." refers to a 10 shillings note, (then UK currency), equivalent to about $1.

"..I'd read somewhere in the newspaper about this mean guy who hid his five-pound notes, not up his nose but 'somewhere else.' No, it had nothing to do with cocaine..." John Lennon 1980 (see Beatles quotes about Abbey Road, below)

Polythene Pam
Another little Lennon cartoon. Ridiculous over-the-top Liverpudlian vocals add a certain humor, if nothing else. Wikipedia states that it's about a threesome that Lennon was remembering.

She Came In Through The Bathroom Window

Unintelligible McCartney word-spew, apparently based upon a true story, which Joe Cocker made into a remarkable and very unlikely Top 30 hit during the last days of The Sixties!

Golden Slumbers
Hmmm. Possibly McCartney's recognition that the Beatle fairy-tale was over.

"...Once there was a way
To get back homeward..."

Two things:

Firstly, an indication that thing's can't return to what they were
Secondly,the punning Get Back reference to The Beatles McCartney-penned last official single

"...Once there was a way...
...To get back home...
Sleep pretty darling
Do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby..."

Golden Slumbers

Then again, it may be about something else altogether, or knowing McCartney, nothing at all!

Carry That Weight
Again, possibly another McCartney statement about the band's demise and the recognition that they'll never stop being Beatles.

"...Boy, you're gonna carry that weight
Carry that weight a long time..."

He was right.

The End
Three duelling lead guitars, George, John (truly brutal and wonderful) & Paul and Ringo's first and only Beatle drum solo, these should have been the final words from an incredible band that changed the world, whether they are true or not.

"...And in the end
The love you make
Is equal to
The love you take..."

The End

Her Majesty
Unfortunately, with none of the band caring about the legend, they trashed it appending this disrespectful (to the fans) piece of McCartney nonsense accidentally added to The End...and then just left there. Appalling!

The Beatles: Abbey Road

"...Abbey Road is a colorful, generous, and thoughtful piece of art, and if given the chance, it can breathe new life into a weary soul and shine warm sunlight into a cold heart. Ah, the essence of The Beatles..." Amazon reviewer ol' nuff n' den sum

"...Even though I am a diehard Thrash/Death Metal fan...The Beatles are my favorite band of all time, and this album shows why. Flawless writing and playing. If you do not own this album you need help..." Amazon reviewer Matthew Theisen

"...The best album ever made. What more needs to be said?...there isn't a moment on this record I'd give up..." Amazon reviewer finulanu

"...I was a little scared about buying this cd because I didnt know if i was going to like it...I especially like Ringo's Octopus' Garden. It's a very up beat and happy song..." Amazon reviewer S. McNeal

However, Abbey Road is so much more than the sum of its parts. Released just before the end of the decade, it's a sumptuous, silly end to a tumultuous decade. While movies like Midnight Cowboy heralded that time with ugly gritty realism, The Beatles sailed the world into the 70s with this essentially "up", smiling album, moptops out to please until the end.

"...And in the end
The love you make
Is equal to
The love you take..."

The End

The Abbey Road poster

The Abbey Road t-shirt