Having said this, not as much has been written about individual songs. In this article I would like to review the song “Revolution”.

At the time of the tracks creation The Beatles were recording songs for “The White Album”. These “sessions were filled with tension as members of the group stormed out periodically and often failed to record together, turning in tracks recorded independently”. This didn’t make for a good atmosphere and very rarely were all four members present at album tracks initial recording.

In the summer of 1968 it was time for a new single to be released. As ever, there were discussions over which song was most suitable. Eventually, they decided upon two tracks to create a double A side. Track one was “Hey Jude” and track two was “Revolution”.

“Revolution” was written exclusively by John Lennon. The lyrics were “Lennon’s dry response to the calls for revolution amongst the once pacifist counter culture” . Peace and love ethics were no longer working and the hippies were turning to violence to get their views heard. In 1968, at the Chicago Democratic Convention, police openly beat protesters to stop them sabotaging the political purpose of the convention.  John disagreed with the Hippies newfound violence and did not want any part of it.

John was in favour of social revolution. Hippies and peace protesters looked up to him as their media mouthpiece. Unfortunately, he angered them with the phrases “don’t you know you can count me out” and "don’t you know its gonna be, alright”. These lyrics were in reference to their recently violent protests and not to the cause as a whole. Therefore, to soothe their upset, in the promotional film for revolution, he said “don’t you no you can count me out… in”.

At its inception “Revolution” was an acoustic Dylanesque sounding track. This demo can be found on the Esher Bootleg Tapes. The Demo demonstrates John’s soft vocal, backed up with an acoustic guitar and handclaps supplied by fellow band members. This style was carried through to the version that found its way onto “The Beatles” album, nicknamed “The White Album” by their fans.

John wanted to release the album version as the single. However, the others said it was to slow and may not be as successful as their previous singles. Therefore, they went back to the drawing board. It was certainly worth the effort.

They’re new interpretation of the lyrics was created between the 9th and 11th July 1968.  The band wanted a fast and loud song and that’s what John was going to give to them. The overdriven lead guitar introduction and the scream that leads into the vocal track really draws the listener in. It also manages to keep the audience glued with anticipation for the next three minutes twenty three seconds.

The distorted electric guitar effect, that is one of the tracks trademarks, was obtained by plugging the guitar directly into the mixing desk to create the strong feedback sound. It is said that if certain engineers or George martin, The Beatles producer, had been present at the time they would have forbidden from doing such a thing. It was against company rules and could have been extremely dangerous. This was “the most distorted production” ever created by the Beatles.  This sound can be seen as the grand father, or at least an aging uncle, of the grunge style that was popular in the 1990’s and continues to be today.

Ringo, as ever, is on top form here. If you close your eyes you can see images of him with damp tea towels over his drum kit, as is seem in the lady Madonna video. It’s a great crashing and breaking sound that matches the guitar sound superbly.

As a way to ease tensions, at the beginnings of the end of the group, guest musicians were asked to perform on certain tracks. This was as an aid to stop them being so aggressive towards each other and get on with the music. This can be seen on this track where Nicky Hopkins plays electric piano. His work can be heard in the middle eight. As George’s lead guitar fades out there are only drums, electric piano and John’s grunting voice. Essentially Hopkins keeps the song alive here. The electric piano is used to build the momentum to get the listener ready, and totally hooked for the last verse.

Many elements of the album version were omitted from the single master. The most noticeable of these omissions is George’s and Paul’s harmonies. The repeating of  “shoo bee do wahh, bob, shoo bee do wahh” has a swing essence that doesn’t match well with this real rocker. They decided well to discard it for this version.

Even though it was a great song it was relegated to track two, behind Paul’s, Hey Jude for the double A side. By this time John’s heart was elsewhere, with Yoko and his waiting to begin solo career. He, as were the others, angry that Paul had taken over as the leader of the group. However, there is no sign of musical differences or disputes that tarnishes their final years on this track. There is just a strong, group-sounding effort that still sounds fresh thirty-four years after its original release. Fantastic.

Copyright ©2002 by Alex Kocan.

What is perhaps The Beatles most criticised and possibly loathed track, to this day, is that of Revolution 9. It was the brainchild of the Lennon who was intensely in love with his, soon to be wife, the Japanese conceptual artist Yoko Ono.

Whatever your personal opinion about their private lives, this sound collage was very different from the majority of the originally released Beatles tracks. At this time The Beatles apple was going very sour. They were all now married, except Paul, who was in a serious relationship. They were also growing apart, musically. A style of avent guard music that was popular with Paul in 1965- 66 was now a favourite of Johns. There are clear similarities between “Revolution 9” and “Tomorrow Never Knows”, which resides on the Revolver album, released several years previously.

The track was created on and off between the 6th June to 21st June 1968 . The track was truly the beast of John and Yoko. The only other Beatle to appear, in any form, was George who contributed several vocal overdubs.

The foundation onto which the track was built was the last six minutes of the album version of “Revolution 1”. Unfortunately, for historical purposes, very little of the originally track made it through the wall of sound into the final mix.

As mentioned above, the track can be seen to have influences from the avent guard scene. This may have been the influence of Yoko upon John. However, it was also the influences of Paul upon John. The main difference between “Tomorrow Never Knows” and “Revolution 9” is that there are no formal lyrics to the latter and the intentions of the track are tinged with “cynical darkness” , unlike the former. This is why Paul wanted the track to be removed from the album. Perhaps this is precisely why “What’s the New Mary Jane” didn’t see the light of day until 1995.

Many hours were spent creating tape loops, trying out different mixes and recording fresh material to create this manic sounding piece. Many hours were also spent rummaging in EMI’s vast sound archives. John, Yoko and George read and recorded several adlibs and excerpts from poems that were to be added into the mixing bowl. Few of George’s pieces peep through the montage. George’s can be heard contributing phrases such as “upon a telegram” and “who’s to know?”

The faceless voice that appears randomly throughout the track, uttering the words  “number 9, number 9” has a somewhat confused origin. Official sources say that the voice was “lifted off an old examination recording for the Royal Academy of Music then kept in the library at Abbey Road”. However, other sources believe that it was The Beatles roadie, Mal Evans’s voice and others believed it to be an unknown engineer that just happened to be the studio when John and Yoko were experimenting with different ideas.

The track contained many gigantic sounds. Most noticeable were the orchestral bursts. According to Mark Lewishom, who examined the original four track tapes from which the track was created, there is an excerpt from the overdub prepared for “A Day In The Life”.

At the end of the track there are protestors shouting “lock that gate, lock that gate”. This seems to suggest that John was trying to distance himself from The Beatles so that situation could no long hurt him, as it had been doing for several years.

“This type of art was designed to change the way its beholders experienced reality” . John and Yoko were attempting to create something that would allow people to experience something more than pure pop music. If they succeeded or not is difficult to conclude without doubt. However, the use of samples from previous songs and from other sound sources could possibly be the inspiration behind the use of sampling which is prominent within Dance and Hip Hop music today.

A year after The Beatles officially separated, in 1971; John recalled his aims while creating the track. “I thought I was painting in sound a picture of revolution- but I made a mistake. The mistake was that it was anti revolution”.

Many reviewers believe that this track is incredibly irritating and that people only listened to it once. It appears to be a commercial version of the works John and Yoko released on their first three solo albums. There are clear links between “Unfinished Music 2: - Life With The Lions”. It has the repetition of “Cambridge 1969”. However, there is more variation, which allows it to be more accessible to the more blinkered listener. Perhaps, the only difference between the two tracks is that one says  “The Beatles” and one doesn’t. Far from being a disaster it is “one of the most significant acts The Beatles ever perpetuated”?  And it is worth sitting through, more than once, even if it is not easy listening.

Copyright ©2002 by Alex Kocan.

I was graciously granted one time rights to reproduce the above work. This article may not be reproduced in any form without the expressed permission of the author.