The White Album

The Beatles: The Beatles a.k.a. The White Album

"...Oh, that was written about a guy in Maharishi's meditation camp who took a short break to go shoot a few poor tigers and then come back to commune with God. There used to be a character called Jungle Jim, and I combined him with Buffalo Bill. It's a sort of teenage social comment song and a bit of a joke..." John Lennon 1980 (see Beatles quotes about The White Album, below). Also see the audio/video accompanying Sexy Sadie, below.

...but given the time restraints per side, the only place to reinstate it (on my edit)...or any of the tracks for that matter, is by deleting his Revolution 9, 8.30 mins on Side 4, a track that Lennon fought tooth and nail for, which I was unprepared to do. Bad luck, Bungalow Bill. So, the White Album edit look like this:

Side 1:  Out goes:   Ob-la-di Ob-la-da        McCartney 3.15  
                            Wild Honey Pie           McCartney 1.00
                            Bungalow Bill             Lennon      3.15

            In comes:   Hey Jude                  McCartney 7.00

Side 2    Out goes: Rocky Racoon*              McCartney 3.25                   
          
            In comes: Across The Universe     Lennon      2.30          

Side 1

Back in the USSR: McCartney's tip o'-the-hat to Chuck Berry and affectionate parody of The Beach Boys' California Girls, delivered via a very ambiguous comment on The Cold War (the world wasn't that far from Nuclear war for much of the 1960s) via the pulchritude of Russian girls.

"...Well, Ukraine girls really knock me out
They leave The West behind
And Moscow girls make me sing and shout
That Jo-jo's always on my my-my-my-my-my-mind

Show me round the sloping mountains way down south
Take me to your daddy's farm
Let me hear your balalaikas ringing out
Come and keep your comrade warm
I'm back in the USSR..."

          Back In The USSR

It's a confident, amusing way to start the album, with the band sonically stripped back & de-Peppered. Incidentally, the first line of the song is:

     "...Flew in from Miami Beach, B.O.A.C...." BOAC was the old name for British Air, standing for British Overseas Airways Corporation.

[On a more serious note, some modern day Russians consider that The Beatles actually did played a significant part in bringing down Communism.]

Dear Prudence  about actress Mia Farrow's sister and her unwillingness to socialise with The Beatles et al at the Mahrishi's ashram.

"...(She)... seemed to go slightly balmy, meditating too long, and couldn't come out of the little hut we were livin' in. They selected me and George to try and bring her out because she would trust us...She'd been locked in for three weeks and was trying to reach God quicker than anybody else..." John Lennon 1980 (see Beatles quotes about The White Album, below)

Hippy:   ...Irrespective, it still works for a generalised interpretation, where all of us are Prudences...

Me:       Oh shut up!

Glass Onion
Lennon's turn to rock and be ambiguous. The song seems to start as if it's an attack upon Beatle John...

"...I told you about Strawberry Fields
You know the place where nothing is real..."

...and then upon Beatle Paul, referencing the terrifying walrus from Lennon's I Am The Walrus

"...I told you about the walrus and me, man
You know that we're as close as can be, man
Well, here's another clue for you all
The walrus was Paul..."

          Glass Onion

...and goes on to mention Lady Madonna, The Fool On The Hill & Fixing A Hole, all then-recent McCartney compositions. Although it's seldom mentioned, I've always loved Glass Onion, from the no-frills thump-thump intro to the Beatle-world lyrics, delivered in Lennon's best newscaster-voice. It's a gem! 

Hey Jude (see above: My Edit)
McCartney's astonishing ballad + rave out that seems to work so much better than it should.

While My Guitar Gently Weeps
George Harrison's lyrically atmospheric, some might say "vague"...but stunning warning about (?) wasting Life. Fab guitar solo from guest Eric Clapton.

"...I worked on that song with John, Paul, and Ringo one day and they were not interested in it at all and I knew inside of me that it was a nice song. The next day I was with Eric Clapton, and I was going into the session and I said:  We're going to do this song. Come and play on it.

He said: Oh no. I can't do that. Nobody ever plays on the Beatles records.

I said:  Look, it's my song, and I want you to play on it. So Eric came in, and the other guys were as good as gold - because he was there. Also, it left me free to just play the rhythm and do the vocal..." George Harrison 1987 (see Beatles quotes about The White Album, below)

Happiness Is A Warm Gun
Dislocated lines of lyrics predating David Bowie's "cut-up" style popularised in the 70s that, in turn had come from William Burroughs' influence.

"...A gun magazine was sitting around and the cover was the picture of a smoking gun. The title of the article, which I never read, was 'Happiness Is a Warm Gun.' I took it right from there. I took it as the idea of happiness after having shot somebody. Or some animal..." John Lennon 1980 (see Beatles quotes about The White Album, below)

Incidentally:

"...multicolored mirrors on his hobnailed boots..." probably alludes to weirdos wearing mirrors on their shoes to look up girls' miniskirts

"...hands are busy working overtime..." probably infers masturbation

"The National Trust", amongst other duties, looks after England's Artworks

"Happiness Is A Warm Gun" is a headline Lennon saw in an American magazine about the feeling of joy from having just shot a gun

Side 2

Martha My Dear
Written for McCartney's English sheepdog, Martha. Typical McCartney pap that is just so damn memorable. Lovely!

I'm So Tired
Written at the Maharishi's compound, possibly a letter to then-secret lover, Yoko Ono, rumour has it that I'm So Tired is Lennon's recollection of having been up for weeks without sleep from taking too much LSD for too long. Interestingly, Lennon has a very different explanation, so you make up your own mind about what the truth is!

"...I'm So Tired was me, in India again. I couldn't sleep, I'm meditating all day and couldn't sleep at night. The story is that. One of my favorite tracks. I just like the sound of it, and I sing it well..." John Lennon 1980 (see Beatles quotes about The White Album, below)

"...You'd say
I'm putting you on
But it's no joke
It's doing me harm
You know it's three weeks -
I'm going insane
You know, I'd give you everything I got
For a little piece of mind..."

Incidentally, in the lines:

"...Although I'm so tired
I'll have another cigarette
And curse Sir Walter Raleigh  
He was such a stupid git..."

       I'm So Tired

...Sir Walter Raleigh, is believed to have been responsible for popularizing tobacco in England...and "git" is English slang for "fool".

Blackbird
McCartney at his poetic best. I'm surprised I haven't heard more cover versions.

Piggies
Wonderful biting sarcasm and social criticism from George Harrison over harpsichord & strings. My favorite song by George, ever!

"...Everywhere there's lots of piggies
Living piggy lives
You can see them out for dinner
With their piggy wives
Clutching forks and knives
To eat their bacon..."

           Piggies

"...I was stuck for one line in the middle until my mother came up with the lyric, 'What they need is a damn good whacking' which is a nice simple way of saying they need a good (beating)..." George Harrison 1980 (see Beatles quotes about The White Album, below)

"I gave George a couple of lines about forks and knives and eating bacon." John Lennon 1980 (see Beatles quotes about The White Album, below)

Across The Universe (see above: My Edit)

Don't Pass Me By
Ringo's first full songwriting credit. A rather macabre country stomper about a fellow feeling he's been jilted when his lady's actually been delayed by a car crash.

"...I'm sorry that I doubted you
I was so unfair
You were in a car crash
And you lost your hair
You said that you would be late
About an hour or two
I said: 'That's alright, I'll be waiting here
Just waiting to hear from you'..."

             Don't Pass Me By

Why Don't We Do It In The Road?
Why don't we call this as it is: In my mind, McCartney at his very worst. Mind you, wikipedia sheds some interesting light on the story behind it.

"...One of (Paul's best)..." John Lennon 1972 "...We came in, and he'd made the whole record. Him drumming, him playing the piano, him singing...I was always hurt when Paul would knock something off without involving us..." John Lennon 1980 (see Beatles quotes about The White Album, below)

I Will
McCartney at his saccharine best. Acoustic and gorgeous, like being 15 and having your first crush, Mccartney said it was written for the-new girlfriend (and later, wife) Linda.

"...And when at last I find you
Your song will fill the air
Sing it loud so I can hear you
Make it easy to be near you
For the things you do

Endear you to me
Oh, you know I will
I will..."

           I Will

Julia
Aching, longing Lennon love song, arguably his best ever, for Julia, his mother. Simple but beautiful acoustic guitar fingerpicking, too, which sounds wonderful on the Anthology version, too. 

"...Half of what I say is meaningless
But I'd say it just to reach you, Julia..."

           Julia

The Beatles framed door poster

Side 3

Birthday
McCartney could rock singing a shopping list if he wanted to. Fortunately he chose to sing about having a birthday. Fun!

Yer Blues
Lennon was very proud of Yer Blues, going so far as to play it with a makeshift band (The Dirty Mac) LIVE in December 1968 on Rock'n'Roll Circus, an aborted Rolling Stones TV special...

The Rolling Stones: Rock & Roll Circus

"...A very decent little concert! The Stones allegedly pulled it because The Who outshined them (which they did... sort of), but the big reason to grab this one is the had to find little bits:

• John Lennon & Mick talking over a bowl of noodles
• The Dirty Mac band with Clapton and Lennon on guitars and Keith Richards on bass, with Mitch Mitchell on drums and Yoko in a plastic bag as "The Darkness" is just great..." Amazon reviewer Adam Berretta

"...This has to be my favorite "music video" of all time. This is more David Lynchian than anything David Lynch has ever produced...It is a Festival of the Bizarre and the Hilarious. And, in my opinion, the music is superb. Approach this with the right expectations, and you will be dazzled!!!..." Amazon Tome Raider

Like most of Lennon's work it's totally self involved...but this time, I think it's crap and I consider Yer Blues to be his worst Beatle song since Run For Your Life, off Rubber Soul!

Mother Nature's Son
Acoustic guitar McCartney sounding nice but not saying much

"...It says 'Born a poor young country boy' and I was born in Woolton hospital actually - so it's a dirty lie..." Paul McCartney 1968 (see Beatles quotes about The White Album, below)

Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey
Like McCartney's Birthday, lots of raucous noise from adults who should know better. It's great fun but the Wikipedia entry for the song is really worth checking out! 

Sexy Sadie

"...Sexy Sadie what have you done?
You made a fool of everyone..."

           Sexy Sadie 

Lennon's Sexy Sadie was originally titled Maharishi but was changed under legal advice. At one level it's very bitter and very angry but on another, it's historically interesting...and strangely convincing

"...I was just using the situation to write a song, rather calculatingly but also to express what I felt. I was leaving the Maharishi with a bad taste. You know, it seems that my partings are always not as nice as I'd like them to be..." John Lennon 1980 (see Beatles quotes about The White Album, below)

N.B.: You may also want to check out Lennon's bitter pre-Sexy Sadie rave recorded with Yoko

Helter Skelter
McCartney's attempt to make the heaviest noise ever is interesting but ultimately leaves me cold.

Helter Skelter Incidentally, Helter Skelter apparently inspired Beatle-nut Charles Manson to unleash his mini-apocalypse in late 1969, murdering the very pregnant movie star Sharon Tate amongst others. The definitive book on the tragedy is Bugliosi & Gentry's Helter Skelter but Manson's Manson In His Own Words was eventually published in 1994, adding more light (and confusion) to the awful subject.

Long, Long, Long
A fairly unimpressive George Harrison song that I've always loved and never known why! The subject matter is vague but methinks Harrison meant it as some kind of a God-song but I just love the l-o-n-g f-a-d-e o-u-t, though. Great stuff!

Side 4

Revolution  (see above: My Edit)

A great Lennon rocker, proving that Lennon the LSD wimp was dead. Fantastic tabloid lyrics, immediate and political (at the time), when student radicals were promoting violent change, as in May 1968 in France, where they eventually brought down the conservative De Gaulle government. There's a great book on the subject, Feenberg & Freeman's When Poetry Ruled The Streets

"...You say you want a revolution
Well, you know
We'd all love to change the world

You tell me that it's Evolution
Well, you know
We all want to change the world

But when you talk about destruction
Don't you know that you can count me out..."

              Revolution

Honey Pie
McCartney's clever music hall fluff, an antidote to Revolution.

"...John played a brilliant solo on 'Honey Pie' - sounded like Django Reinhardt or something. It was one of them where you just close your eyes and happen to hit all the right notes... sounded like a little jazz solo..." George Harrison 1980 (see Beatles quotes about The White Album, below)

Savoy Truffle
Another winner from George Harrison. A dental warning written for friend Eric Clapton who had a penchant for "Good News", the popular soft center chocolates. Savoy Truffle is brooding, dangerous and very droll with a great brass section, too. It's exquisite, seldom heard and certainly one of the hidden Beatle gems.

"...Creme tangerine
Montelimat
A ginger sling
With a pineapple heart
Coffee Dessert
Yes you know it's Good News
  
But you'll have to have them all pulled out
After the Savoy Truffle..."

                 Savoy Truffle

Cry Baby Cry
God knows what Lennon meant by Cry Baby Cry. Impenetrable but always interesting, it sets up Revolution 9 nicely.

Revolution 9
Lennon's bizarre sound collage...or rubbish, depending on what you like. I actually don't mind it...but I can't really see what it's doing on a Beatle album when Lennon could have easily released it on a SOLO Apple album for a more limited release and a more enthusiastic response. Methinks he was actually plucking up the courage to say: "I'm outta here!"

Good Night
Lennon provided this beautiful lullaby to end the album. It's sweet and safe, especially as sung by Ringo. Also, as far as I know, the only use of female singing voices on a George Martin-produced Beatle track.

"...I think John felt it might not be good for his image for him to sing it, but it was fabulous to hear him do it, he sang it great. We heard him sing it in order to teach it to Ringo and he sang it very tenderly. John rarely showed his tender side, but my key memories of John are when he was tender, that's what has remained with me - those moments where he showed himself to be a very generous, loving person..." Paul McCartney circa 1994 (see Beatles quotes about The White Album, below)

The Beatles: The White Album

"...John had gone off with Yoko so my sister stopped buying The Beatles' records after Sgt Pepper. Consequently, I didn't hear this album until the mid-1970s, when I and my friends began to earn money enough to invest in double albums..." Amazon.co.uk reviewer D.J.H. Thorn

"...I've been listening to this album since I was 4 years old, my old man forced it on me. Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased he did, because it still sounds great today...after 22 years. 10/10..." Amazon.co.uk reviewer matthewwilson12 

"...You really had to have lived through that era to understand that 1967/68 was a time of experimentation in record making. The White Album was like a journey through the labyrinth of human emotions. As a young teen when I got it for a Christmas present, it scared me a bit. It was a musical orgy of neurotic feelings, mixed up emotions and dark thoughts...

...It reflected...a time when the Western world was delicately poised on the brink of both social and artistic anarchy. I believe it should be judged in that context. But if you just like good songs, there are at least 18 or 20 here that travel very nicely, thank you..." Amazon reviewer Michael Rapson

"...What can I say? It's the legendary White Album. It's on my home sound system, it's in my media player library, on my laptop, it's in my MP3 player..." Amazon reviewer Diane Graham

"...Hadn't heard this in years, just listened to it all the way through. So many moods and textures and so much weirdness..." Amazon reviewer Kyle Swanson

The White Album was pointedly released with an insert of 4 free glossy Beatle mugshots now plainly functioning as individuals, not as a group. Time, though, enables us to still think of them as a band, so, on this poster, they're gathered together. 

The Beatles: The White Album mugshots

So, there you have it, The White Album, a sprawling set of often impressive tracks going nowhere but yes, of its time! A few months late John & Paul would team up to bang out the next Beatle single, The Ballad Of John & Yoko and in the summer they'd record Abbey Road hobbling together many of the left-overs from Rishikesh into something somehow lasting and wonderful.

see also:

• wikipedia The White Album
• Paul returns from Rishikesh, in March 1968, briefly talking about meditation  
• John & Paul fly into New York to announce Apple to the world in May
• John & Paul on The Johnny Carson Show text & almost unintelligible video in May
• John & Paul on Newsfront talking about the Maharishi, racial issues (?) and the royal family (?) in May
• a Radio London interview with John Lennon being very evasive at the start of recordings for the White Album, May
• McCartney in a brief interview for the documentary "All My Loving - A Film Of Pop Music" about not taking The Beatles' music too seriously, broadcast in May. All My Loving is, I gather a v-e-r-y 1960s documentary and includes rare footage of The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Cream, The Who, Pink Floyd, Eric Burdon, Donovan, Frank Zappa etc.  
• Lennon and (Beatle-movie actor & friend) Victor Spinetti interviewed about the adaptation of Lennon's book In His Own Write to become a one-act play, which opened at The Old Vic Theatre in June
• Paul McCartney produces Those Were The Days (and the album Postcard) for TV talent-show winner Mary Hopkins and is released on Apple in August , going to #1 around the world!   
• a transcript of John & Yoko's appearance on Frost On Saturday, in October, talking about modern Art etc.
• Lennon busted for dope in October, as reported by Apple exec, Derek Taylor This incident would be what the US govt. cited to deny Lennon citizenship until 1976
• pretty good Radio Luxembourg interview with Paul McCartney about the White album, mostly talking about his own tracks, November
• George Harrison appears on The Smothers Brothers TV show in November just to say "Hi" (and not much else!). Here's the story & the video  
• John Lennon's Rolling Stone interview in November
• John & Yoko release Two Virgins in November (see John Lennon)
• John Lennon appears with impromptu super-group, The Dirty Mac, in the Rolling Stones' TV special Rock'n'Roll Circus (see Yer Blues, above)
• Ringo appears as a Mexican gardener in the movie Candy with Marlon Brando & Walter Matthau, released in December
• The Beatles, quotes over the years about The White album

* N.B. Lonnie R. Dawson has made a fascinating analysis of Rocky Racoon that may elevate the song considerably in your appreciation of it. I'm undecided about what he actually says but I have to admit that his analysis, postulating how McCartney deliberately hides information is not dissimilar to my own thoughts, discussed in my review of Macca's solo album, Ram.