.

Beatles Secrets


03/01/06
.
(antiMusic) One of the Beatles most beloved songs contains the words "F**king hell!" The hidden lyric to "Hey Jude" is just one of the revelations in Geoff Emerick's new book "Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the music of the Beatles". Although "Hey Jude" was one of the rare Beatles tracks that Emerick didn't engineer, he reveals in his book that the mix to the song contains curse by Paul McCartney.

"Just after the start of the third verse, right between the lines 'The minute you let her under your skin / oh, then you begin,' you can clearly hear Paul curse off-mic, saying 'F**king hell!'" John Lennon caught the curse during the playback and said "Paul hit a clunker on the piano and said a naughty word, but I insisted we leave it in, buried just low enough so that it can barely be heard. Most people won't ever spot it� but we'll know it's there."

There have been plenty of "inside story" type books about the Beatles but Emerick gives us the inside story not about the tabloid like going-ons with the band members but instead the inside story of recording of the songs and how the Beatles broke new ground as recording artists. Of course, the book is filled with other interesting tidbits, for example how the album Abbey Road got its name. Many believe it was named in tribute to the EMI recording studios but Emerick gives the real story about the naming of the album.

Emerick relates the story in his book. Here is the basic story: The band had been debating on the name of the album with the general agreement that they would name it "Everest" in honor of the brand of cigarettes that Emerick smoked. The name gave way to the idea of a cover featuring a photo of the four Beatles on Mt Everest, with Paul being particularly keen on making the trip. However, Ringo hated the idea of going off to Tibet and as the deadline for the cover drew closer, John and George grew cold on the idea of traveling that far just to take a photo.

From the book: "'Well, if we're not going to name it Everest and pose for the cover in Tibet, where are we going to go?' a frustrated Paul asked one afternoon.

"John and George Harrison looked flummoxed. Finally, Ringo chirped in.

"'F**k it; let's just step outside and name it Abbey Road,' he joked.

"And that, believe it or not, is how the album got its name. It had nothing to do with how much they loved the studio, despite what the Abbey Road executives have claimed for decades. In point of fact, they hated the place. It was simply because they were unwilling to travel any further than they had to."

Emerick goes on to tell the tale of how they shot the famous album cover photo and when they were proofing the photos, although each member had a different favorite, all of them seemed to be photos of them walking away from Abbey Road. Perhaps consciously or subconsciously the band knew that they would soon walk away from the studio where they recorded most of their music together and more importantly would soon walk away from the Beatles.

Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the music of the Beatles will hit stores on March 16, 2006 and we should have our review of the book up next week. But for now I can tell you that it is filled with insights about the Beatles and their music not found in most books and is a must read for any fan of the fab four. This is the Beatles book I have been waiting years for. The true stories behind the music.

- Keavin Wiggins


More News for Beatles

Preview and Purchase Beatles music



.




advertisement