The Beatles Lyrics, album "Anthology 2"

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The Beatles Lyrics, album "Anthology 2"

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Cover of the Beatles album - "Anthology 2"
Real Love
(John Lennon and Paul McCartney)

All my little plans and schemes
Lost like some forgotten dreams
Seems that all I really was doing
Was waiting for you

Just like little girls and boys
Playing with their little toys
Seems like all they really were doing
Was waiting for love

Don't need to be alone
No need to be alone

It's real love
It's real
Yes, it's real love
It's real

From this moment on I know
Exactly where my life will go
Seems that all I really was doing
Was waiting for love


Yes It Is
(John Lennon)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
JOHN 1980: 'That's me trying a rewrite of 'This Boy,' but it didn't quite work.'

PAUL circa-1994: 'I was there writing it with John, but it was his inspiration that I helped him finish off.
'Yes It Is' is a very fine song of John's.'

If you wear red tonight
Remember what I said tonight
For red is the color that my baby wore
And what's more it's true
Yes, it is

Scarlet were the clothes she wore
Everybody knows I'm sure
I would remember all the things we planned
Understand, it's true
Yes, it is, it's true
Yes, it is

I could be happy with you by my side
If I could forget her, but it's my pride
Yes, it is, yes, it is
Oh, yes it is, yeah

Please don't wear red tonight
This is what I said tonight
For red is the color that will make me blue
In spite of you, it's true
Yes, it is, it's true
Yes, it is

I could be happy with you by my side
If I could forget her, but it's my pride
Yes, it is, yes, it is
Oh, yes, it is, yeah

Please don't wear red tonight
This is what I said tonight
For red is the color that will make me blue
In spite of you, it's true
Yes, it is, it's true
Yes, it is, it's true


I'm Down
(Paul McCartney)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
JOHN 1980: 'That's Paul… with a little help from me, I think.'

PAUL circa-1994: 'I could do Little Richard's voice which is a wild, hoarse, screaming thing – It's like an out-of-body experience.
You have to leave your current sensibilities and go about a foot above your head to sing it.
Alot of people were fans of Little Richard so I used to sing his stuff, but there came a point when I wanted to do one of my own, so I wrote 'I'm Down.''

You telling lies thinking I can't see
You don't cry cos you're laughing at me
I'm down (I'm really down)
I'm down (Down on the ground)
I'm down (I'm really down)
How can you laugh when you know I'm down
(How can you laugh) When you know I'm down

Man buys ring woman throws it away
Same old thing happens everyday
I'm down (I'm really down)
I'm down (Down on the ground)
I'm down (I'm really down)
How can you laugh when you know I'm down
(How can you laugh) When you know I'm down

We're all alone and there's nobody else
You still moan, "Keep your hands to yourself!"
I'm down (I'm really down)
Oh baby I'm down (Down on the ground)
I'm down (I'm really down)
How can you laugh when you know I'm down
(How can you laugh) When you know I'm down.
Waaaao! Baby I'm down

Oh baby you know I'm down (I'm really down)
Oh yes I'm down (I'm really down)
I'm down on the ground (I'm really down)
Ahhhh! Down (I'm really down)
Oh baby I'm upside down, a yea yea yea yea yea
I'm down (I'm really down)
Oh baby I'm down (I'm really down)
I'm feeling upside down (I'm really down)
Ooo! I'm down (I'm really down)
Baby I'm down yea
Oh baby I'm down yea
Baby I'm down (I'm really down)
Well baby I'm down (I'm really down)
Well baby baby baby (I'm really down)
Oh baby I'm down
I'm down, down, down


You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
(John Lennon)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)

Here I stand head in hand
Turn my face to the wall
If she's gone I can't go on
Feeling two-foot small

Everywhere people stare
Each and every day
I can see them laugh at me
And I hear them say

Hey You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
Hey You've Got to Hide Your Love Away

How can I even try
I can never win
Hearing them, seeing them
In the state I'm in

How could she say to me
Love will find a way
Gather round all you clowns
Let me hear you say

Hey You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
Hey You've Got to Hide Your Love Away


If You've Got Trouble
(John Lennon and Paul McCartney)

If you've got trouble
Then you got less trouble than me
You say you're worried
You can't be as worried as me (Oh oh)

You're quite contend to be bad
With all the vantage you had over me
Just cause you're trouble
And don't bring your troubles to me

I don't think it's funny
When you ask for money and things
Especially when you're standing there
Wearing diamond and rings (Oh oh)

You think I'm soft in the head
Well try someone softer instead anything
It's not so funny
When you know what money can bring

You better leave me alone
I don't need a thing from you
You better take yourself home
Go and count a ring or two

If you've got trouble
Then you got less trouble than me
You say you're worried
You can't be as worried as me

You're quite contend to be bad
With all the vantage you had over me
Just cause you're trouble
And don't bring your troubles to me

[Ah rock on, anybody.]

You better leave me alone,
I don't need a thing from you
You better take yourself home
Go and count a ring or two

If you've got trouble
Then you got less trouble than me
You say you're worried
You can't be as worried as me (Oh oh)

You're quite contend to be bad
With all the vantage you had over me
Just cause you're trouble
And don't bring your troubles to me
Just cause you're trouble
And don't bring your troubles to me


That Means a Lot
(Paul McCartney)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)

A friend says that your love
Won't mean a lot
And you know that your love
Is all you've got
At times things are so fine
And at times they're not
But when she says she loves you
That means a lot

Love can be deep inside
Love can be suicide
Can't you see you can't hide
What you feel when it's real

Can't you see, yeah
Can't you see, yeah
Can't you see, yeah
Can't you see, yeah
Can't you see, yeah
Can't you see, yeah
Can't you see, yeah
Can't you see, yeah


Yesterday
(Paul McCartney)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
Yesterday


It's Only Love
(John Lennon)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
JOHN 1972: 'That's the one song I really hate of mine.
Terrible lyric.'

JOHN 1980: ''It's Only Love' is mine.
I always thought it was a lousy song.
The lyrics are abysmal.
I always hated that song.'

PAUL circa-1994: 'Sometimes we didn't fight it if the lyric came out rather bland on some of those filler songs like 'It's Only Love.' If a lyric was really bad we'd edit it.
But we weren't that fussy about it, because it's only a rock 'n roll song.
I mean, this is not literature.'

I get high when I see you go by
My oh my
When you sigh, my, my inside just flies
Butterflies
Why am I so shy when I'm beside you?

It's only love and that is all
Why should I feel the way I do?
It's only love, and that is all
But it's so hard loving you

Is it right that you and I should fight
Every night?
Just the sight of you makes nighttime bright
Very bright
Haven't I the right to make it up girl?

It's only love and that is all
Why should I feel the way I do?
It's only love, and that is all
But it's so hard loving you
Yes it's so hard loving you, loving you


I Feel Fine
(John Lennon)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
JOHN 1964: 'George and I play the same bit on the guitar together – that's the bit that'll set your feet a-tapping, as the reviews say.
The middle-eight is the most tuneful part, to me, because it's a typical Beatles bit.'

JOHN 1972: 'This was the first time feedback was used on a record.
It's right at the beginning.'

JOHN 1974: 'I wrote this at a recording session.
It was tied together around the guitar riff that opens it.'

JOHN 1980: 'That's me completely.
Including the guitar lick with the first feedback anywhere.
I defy anybody to find a record… unless it is some old blues record from 1922… that uses feedback that way.
So I claim it for the Beatles.
Before Hendrix, before the Who, before anybody.
The first feedback on record.'

PAUL circa-1994: 'John had a semi-acoustic Gibson guitar.
It had a pick-up on it so it could be amplified… We were just about to walk away to listen to a take when John leaned his guitar against the amp.
I can still see him doing it… and it went, 'Nnnnnnwahhhhh!' And we went, 'What's that? Voodoo!' 'No, it's feedback.' Wow, it's a great sound!' George Martin was there so we said, 'Can we have that on the record?' 'Well, I suppose we could, we could edit it on the front.' It was a found object – an accident caused by leaning the guitar against the amp.
The song itself was more John's than mine.
We sat down and co-wrote it with John's original idea.
John sang it, I'm on harmonies.'

Baby's good to me, you know
She's happy as can be, you know
She said so
I'm in love with her and I feel fine

Baby says she's mine, you know
She tells me all the time, you know
She said so
I'm in love with her and I feel fine

I'm so glad that she's my little girl
She's so glad, she's telling all the world

That her baby buys her things, you know
He buys her diamond rings, you know
She said so
She's in love with me and I feel fine, mmm

Baby says she's mine, you know
She tells me all the time, you know
She said so
I'm in love with her and I feel fine

I'm so glad that she's my little girl
She's so glad, she's telling all the world

That her baby buys her things, you know
He buys her diamond rings, you know
She said so
She's in love with me and I feel fine
She's in love with me and I feel fine, mmm, mmm


Ticket to Ride
(John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
GEORGE 1965: 'We are always worried with each record.
With 'Ticket To Ride' we were even more worried.
There's bound to be a time when we come in at 19 (on the charts).
But this 'number one' business doesn't seem to stop – great while it lasts – but now we'll have to start all over again and people will start predicting funny things for the next one.'

JOHN 1970: 'It's a heavy record, and the drums are heavy too.
That's why I like it.'

JOHN 1980: 'That was one of the earliest heavy-metal records made.
Paul's contribution was the way Ringo played the drums.'

PAUL circa-1994: 'I think the interesting thing is the crazy ending – instead of ending like the previous verse, we changed the tempo.
We picked up one of the lines, 'My baby don't care,' but completely altered the melody.
We almost invented the idea of a new bit of a song on the fade-out with this song… It was quite radical at the time.'

I think I'm gonna be sad
I think it's today, yeah
The girl that's driving me mad
Is going away

She's got a ticket to ride
She's got a ticket to ride
She's got a ticket to ride
But she don't care

She said that living with me
Is bringing her down, yeah
For she would never be free
When I was around

She's got a ticket to ride
She's got a ticket to ride
She's got a ticket to ride
But she don't care

I don't know why she's riding so high
She ought to think twice
She ought to do right by me
Before she gets to saying goodbye
She ought to think twice
She ought to do right by me

I think I'm gonna be sad
I think it's today, yeah
The girl that's driving me mad
Is going away, yeah

Oh, she's got a ticket to ride
She's got a ticket to ride
She's got a ticket to ride
But she don't care

I don't know why she's riding so high
She ought to think twice
She ought to do right by me
Before she gets to saying goodbye
She ought to think twice
She ought to do right by me

She said that living with me
Is bringing her down, yeah
For she would never be free
When I was around

Ah, she's got a ticket to ride
She's got a ticket to ride
She's got a ticket to ride
But she don't care

My baby don't care, my baby don't care
My baby don't care, my baby don't care
My baby don't care, my baby don't care (fade out)


Yesterday
(Paul McCartney)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
Yesterday


Help!
(John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
JOHN 1965: 'We think it's one of the best we've written.'

JOHN 1980: 'The whole Beatle thing was just beyond comprehension.
When 'Help' came out, I was actually crying out for help.
Most people think it's just a fast rock 'n roll song.
I didn't realize it at the time; I just wrote the song because I was commissioned to write it for the movie.
But later, I knew I really was crying out for help.
So it was my fat Elvis period.
You see the movie: He – I – is very fat, very insecure, and he's completely lost himself.
And I am singing about when I was so much younger and all the rest, looking back at how easy it was.
Now I may be very positive… yes, yes… but I also go through deep depressions where I would like to jump out the window, you know.
It becomes easier to deal with as I get older; I don't know whether you learn control or, when you grow up, you calm down a little.
Anyway, I was fat and depressed and I was crying out for help.'

PAUL 1984: 'John wrote that… well, John and I wrote it at his house in Weybridge for the film.
I think the title was out of desperation.'

Help! I need somebody
Help! Not just anybody
Help! You know I need someone
Help!

(When) When I was younger (When I was young) so much younger than today
(I never need) I never needed anybody's help in any way
(Now) But now these days are gone (These days are gone) and I'm not so self assured
(And now I find) Now I find I've changed my mind, I've opened up the doors

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being 'round
Help me get my feet back on the ground
Won't you please, please help me?

(Now) And now my life has changed (My life has changed) in oh so many ways
(My independence) My independence seems to vanish in the haze
(But) But ev'ry now (Every now and then) and then I feel so insecure
(I know that I) I know that I just need you like I've never done before

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being 'round
Help me get my feet back on the ground
Won't you please, please help me?

When I was younger, so much younger than today
I never needed anybody's help in any way
(Now) But now these days are gone (These days are gone) and I'm not so self assured
(And now I find) Now I find I've changed my mind, I've opened up the doors

Help me if you can, I'm feeling down
And I do appreciate you being 'round
Help me get my feet back on the ground
Won't you please, please help me?

Help me, help me
Ooh


Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby
(Carl Perkins)

Well they took some honey from a tree
Dressed it up and they called it me

Everybody's trying to be my baby
Everybody's trying to be my baby
Everybody's trying to be my baby now

Woke up last night, half past four
Fifty women knocking on my door

Everybody's trying to be my baby
Everybody's trying to be my baby
Everybody's trying to be my baby now

[Instrumental/solo]

Went out last night I didn't stay late
'Fore I got home I had nineteen dates

Everybody's trying to be my baby
Everybody's trying to be my baby
Everybody's trying to be my baby now

[Instrumental/solo]

Went out last night I didn't stay late
'fore I got home I had nineteen dates

Everybody's trying to be my baby
Everybody's trying to be my baby
Everybody's trying to be my baby now

Well they took some honey from a tree
Dressed it up and they called it me

Everybody's trying to be my baby
Everybody's trying to be my baby
Everybody's trying to be my baby now


Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)
(John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
JOHN 1972: 'Me.
But Paul helped me on the lyric.'

GEORGE 1980: 'I had bought, earlier, a crummy sitar in London… and played the 'Norwegian Wood' bit.'

JOHN 1980: ''Norwegian Wood' is my song completely.
It was about an affair I was having.
I was very careful and paranoid because I didn't want my wife, Cyn, to know that there really was something going on outside of the household.
I'd always had some kind of affairs going on, so I was trying to be sophisticated in writing about an affair… but in such a smoke-screen way that you couldn't tell.
But I can't remember any specific woman it had to do with.'

PAUL 1985: 'It was me who decided in 'Norwegian Wood' that the house should burn down… not that it's any big deal.'

I once had a girl
Or should I say
She once had me

She showed me her room
Isn't it good
Norwegian wood

She asked me to stay
And she told me to sit anywhere
So I looked around
And I noticed there wasn't a chair

I sat on a rug
Biding my time
Drinking her wine

We talked until two
And then she said
"It's time for bed"

She told me she worked in the morning
And started to laugh
I told her I didn't
And crawled off to sleep in the bath

And when I awoke
I was alone
This bird had flown

So I lit a fire
Isn't it good
Norwegian wood


I'm Looking Through You
(Paul McCartney)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
JOHN 1980: 'Paul.
He must have had an argument with Jane Asher.'

PAUL circa-1994: 'As is one's wont in relationships, you will from time to time argue or not see eye to eye on things, and a couple of the songs around this period were that kind of thing… I would write it out in a song and then I've got rid of the emotion.
I don't hold grudges so that gets rid of that little bit of emotional baggage… I think it's my song totally.
I don't remember any of John's assistance.'

I'm looking through you, where did you go?
I thought I knew you, what did I know?
You don't look different, but you have changed
I'm looking through you, you're not the same

Your lips are moving, I cannot hear
Your voice is soothing, but the words aren't clear
You don't sound different, I've learned the game
I'm looking through you, you're not the same

Why, tell me why, did you not treat me right?
Love has a nasty habit of disappearing overnight

You're thinking of me, the same old way
You were above me, but not today
The only difference is you're down there
I'm looking through you, and you're nowhere

Why, tell me why, did you not treat me right?
Love has a nasty habit of disappearing overnight

I'm looking through you, where did you go
I thought I knew you, what did I know
You don't look different, but you have changed
I'm looking through you, you're not the same

Yeah
Oh baby I'm changed
Ah I'm looking through you
Yeah I'm looking through you


12-Bar Original
(John Lennon and Paul McCartney)

[Instrumental]


Tomorrow Never Knows
(John Lennon)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
JOHN 1968: ''Tomorrow Never Knows' …I didn't know what I was saying, and you just find out later.
I know that when there are some lyrics I dig, I know that somewhere people will be looking at them.'

JOHN 1968: 'Often the backing I think of early-on never comes off.
With 'Tomorrow Never Knows' I'd imagined in my head that in the background you would hear thousands of munks chanting.
That was impractical, of course, and we did something different.
It was a bit of a drag, and I didn't really like it.
I should have tried to get near my original idea, the munks singing.
I realize now that was what I wanted.'

JOHN 1972 'This was my first psychedelic song.'

JOHN 1980 'That's me in my 'Tibetan Book of the Dead' period.
I took one of Ringo's malapropisms as the title, to sort of take the edge off the heavy philosophical lyrics.'

PAUL 1984: 'That was one of Ringo's malapropisms.
John wrote the lyrics from Timothy Leary's version of the 'Tibetan Book of the Dead.' It was a kind of Bible for all the psychedelic freaks.
That was an LSD song.
Probably the only one.
People always thought 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds' was but it actually 'wasn't' meant to say LSD.'

Turn off your mind, relax and float down stream
It is not dying, it is not dying

Lay down all thoughts, surrender to the void
It is shining, it is shining

Yet you may see the meaning of within
It is being, it is being

Love is all and love is everyone
It is knowing, it is knowing...

... that ignorance and hates may mourn the dead
It is believing, it is believing

But listen to the colour of your dreams
It is not living, it is not living

So play the game "Existence" to the end...
... of the beginning, of the beginning
Of the beginning, of the beginning
Of the beginning, of the beginning
Of the beginning, of the beginning


Got to Get You into My Life
(Paul McCartney)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
JOHN 1968: 'We were doing our Tamla Motown bit.
You see, we're influenced by whatever's going.
Even if we're not influenced, we're all going that way at a certain time.'

JOHN 1972: 'I think George and I helped with some of the lyrics.
I'm not sure.'

JOHN 1980: 'Paul.
I think that was one of his best songs, too, because the lyrics are good and I didn't write them.
You see? When I say that he could write lyrics if he took the effort – here's an example.'

PAUL 1984: 'That's mine – I wrote it.
It was the first one we used brass on, I think.
One of the first times we used soul trumpets.'

PAUL circa-1994: 'I'd been a rather straight working class lad, but when we started to get into pot it seemed to me to be quite uplifting.
It didn't seem to have too many side effects like alcohol or some of the other stuff, like pills, which I pretty much kept off.
I kind of liked marijuana and to me it seemed it was mind-expanding, literally mind-expanding.
So 'Got To Get You Into My Life' is really a song about that.
It's not to a person, it's actually about pot.
It's saying, 'I'm going to do this.
This is not a bad idea.' So it's actually an ode to pot, like someone else might write an ode to chocolate or a good claret.
I haven't really changed my opinion too much, except if anyone asks me for real advice, it would be stay straight.
That is actually the best way, but in a stressful world I still would say that pot was one of the best of the tranquilizing drugs.
I have drunk and smoked pot and of the two I think pot is less harmful.
People tend to fall asleep on it rather than go out and commit murder, so it's always seemed to me to be a rather benign one.'

I was alone, I took a ride
I didn't know what I would find there
Another road where maybe I could see another kind of mind there

Ooh, then I suddenly see you
Ooh, did I tell you I need you
Every single day of my life

You didn't run, you didn't lie
You knew I wanted just to hold you
And had you gone you knew in time we'd meet again
For I had told you

Ooh, you were meant to be near me
Ooh, and I want you to hear me
Say we'll be together every day

Got to get you into my life

What can I do, what can I be
When I'm with you I want to stay there
If I'm true I'll never leave
And if I do I know the way there

Ooh, then I suddenly see you
Ooh, did I tell you I need you
Every single day of my life

Got to get you into my life
Got to get you into my life

I was alone, I took a ride
I didn't know what I would find there
Another road where maybe I could see another kind of mind there

Then suddenly I see you
Did I tell you I need you
Every single day?


And Your Bird Can Sing
(John Lennon)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
JOHN 1972: 'Another horror.'

JOHN 1980: 'Another of my throwaways.'

GEORGE 1987: 'I think it was Paul and me, or maybe John and me, playing (guitar) in harmony – quite a complicated little line that goes through the middle-eight.'

PAUL 1995: 'One of my favorites on the Anthology is, 'And Your Bird Can Sing,' which is a nice song, but this take of it was one we couldn't use at the time.
John and I got a fit of the giggles while we were doing the double-track.
You couldn't have released it at the time.
But now you can.
Sounds great just hearing us lose it on a take.'

You tell me that you've got everything you want
And your bird can sing
But you don't get me, you don't get me

You say you've seen Seven Wonders and your bird is green
But you can't see me, you can't see me

When your prized possessions start to weigh you down
Look in my direction, I'll be 'round, I'll be 'round

When your bird is broken will it bring you down
You may be awoken, I'll be 'round, I'll be 'round

You tell me that you've heard every sound there is
And your bird can swing
But you can't hear me, you can't hear me


Taxman
(George Harrison and John Lennon)
GEORGE 1980: ''Taxman' was when I first realized that even though we had started earning money, we were actually giving most of it away in taxes.
It was and still is typical.'

JOHN 1980: 'I remember the day he (George) called to ask for help on 'Taxman,' one of his first songs.
I threw in a few one-liners to help the song along because that's what he asked for.
He came to me because he couldn't go to Paul.
Paul wouldn't have helped him at that period.
I didn't want to do it.
I just sort of bit my tongue and said OK.
It had been John and Paul for so long, he'd been left out because he hadn't been a songwriter up until then.'

PAUL 1984: 'George wrote that and I played guitar on it.
He wrote it in anger at finding out what the taxman did.
He had never known before then what could happen to your money.'

GEORGE 1987: 'I was pleased to have Paul play that bit on 'Taxman.' If you notice, he did like a little Indian bit on it for me.'

1,2,3,4

Hrmm!

1,2...

1,2,3,4.

Let me tell you how it will be
There's one for you, nineteen for me
Cos I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

Should five per cent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
Cos I'm the taxman, yeah I'm the taxman

If you drive a car, I'll tax the street
If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat
If you get too cold I'll tax the heat
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet

Taxman!
Cos I'm the taxman, yeah I'm the taxman

Don't ask me what I want it for (Aahh Mr. Wilson)
If you don't want to pay some more (Aahh Mr. Heath)
Cos I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

Now my advice for those who die
Declare the pennies on your eyes
Cos I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

And you're working for no one but me
Taxman!


Eleanor Rigby
(John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
PAUL 1966: 'I was sitting at the piano when I thought of it.
The first few bars just came to me, and I got this name in my head… Daisy Hawkins picks up the rice in the church.
I don't know why.
I couldn't think of much more so I put it away for a day.
Then the name Father McCartney came to me, and all the lonely people.
But I thought that people would think it was supposed to be about my Dad sitting knitting his socks.
Dad's a happy lad.
So I went through the telephone book and I got the name McKenzie.
I was in Bristol when I decided Daisy Hawkins wasn't a good name.
I walked 'round looking at the shops, and I saw the name Rigby.
Then I took the song down to John's house in Weybridge.
We sat around, laughing, got stoned and finished it off.'

JOHN 1980: 'Paul's baby, and I helped with the education of the child… The violin backing was Paul's idea.
Jane Asher had turned him on to Vivaldi, and it was very good.'

PAUL 1984: 'I got the name Rigby from a shop in Bristol.
I was wandering round Bristol one day and saw a shop called Rigby.
And I think Eleanor was from Eleanor Bron, the actress we worked with in the film 'Help!' But I just liked the name.
I was looking for a name that sounded natural.
Eleanor Rigby sounded natural.'

Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people

Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream
Waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

Father McKenzie writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near
Look at him working, darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there
What does he care?

All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

Ah, look at all the lonely people
Ah, look at all the lonely people

Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried along with her name
Nobody came
Father McKenzie wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved

All the lonely people
(Ah, look at all the lonely people)
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
(Ah, look at all the lonely people)
Where do they all belong?


I'm Only Sleeping
(John Lennon)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
JOHN 1980: 'It's got backwards guitars… that's me dreaming my life away.'

PAUL circa-1994: 'It was a nice idea – 'There's nothing wrong with it.
I'm not being lazy, I'm only sleeping, I'm yawning, I'm meditating, I'm having a lay-in.' The luxury of all that was what it was all about.
The song was co-written but from John's original idea.'

When I wake up early in the morning
Lift my head, I'm still yawning
When I'm in the middle of a dream
Stay in bed, float up stream (Float up stream)

Please, don't wake me, no, don't shake me
Leave me where I am, I'm only sleeping

Everybody seems to think I'm lazy
I don't mind, I think they're crazy
Running everywhere at such a speed
Till they find there's no need (There's no need)

Please, don't spoil my day, I'm miles away
And after all I'm only sleeping

Keeping an eye on the world going by my window
Taking my time

Lying there and staring at the ceiling
Waiting for a sleepy feeling...

Please, don't spoil my day, I'm miles away
And after all I'm only sleeping

Ooh yeah

Keeping an eye on the world going by my window
Taking my time

When I wake up early in the morning
Lift my head, I'm still yawning
When I'm in the middle of a dream
Stay in bed, float up stream (Float up stream)

Please, don't wake me, no, don't shake me
Leave me where I am, I'm only sleeping


I'm Only Sleeping (Take 1)
(John Lennon)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)

Rock and Roll Music
(Chuck Berry)

Just let me hear some of that rock and roll music
Any old way you choose it
It's got a back beat, you can't lose it
Any old time you use it
It's gotta be rock and roll music
If you wanna dance with me
If you wanna dance with me

I've got no kick against modern jazz
Unless they try to play it too darn fast
And lose the beauty of the melody
Until they sound just like a symphony

That's why I go for that that rock and roll music
Any old way you choose it
It's got a back beat, you can't lose it
Any old time you use it
It's gotta be rock and roll music
If you wanna dance with me
If you wanna dance with me

I took my loved one over across the tracks
So she can hear my man awail a sax
I must admit they have a rocking band
Man, they were blowing like a hurricane

That's why I go for that that rock and roll music
Any old way you choose it
It's got a back beat, you can't lose it
Any old time you use it
It's gotta be rock and roll music
If you wanna dance with me
If you wanna dance with me

Way down South they had a jubilee
The jokey folks they had a jamboree
They're drinking home brew from a water cup
The folks dancing there are all shook up

And started playing that that rock and roll music
Any old time you use it
It's got a back beat, you can't lose it
Any old time you use it
It's gotta be rock and roll music
If you wanna dance with me
If you wanna dance with me

Don't care to hear them play a tango
And In the Mood they take a mambo
It's way to early for a congo
So keep a rocking that piano

That's why I go for that that rock and roll music
Any old time you use it
It's got a back beat, you can't lose it
Any old time you use it
Gotta be rock and roll music
If you wanna dance with me
If you wanna dance with me


She's a Woman
(Paul McCartney)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
JOHN 1980: 'That's Paul with some contribution from me on lines, probably.
We put in the words 'turns me on.'
We were so excited to say 'turn me on' – you know, about marijuana and all that… using it as an expression.'

PAUL circa-1994: 'This was my attempt at a bluesy thing… instead of doing a Little Richard song, whom I admire greatly, I would use the (vocal) style I would have used for that but put it in one of my own songs.'

My love don't give me presents
I know that she's no peasant
Only ever has to give me
Love forever and forever
My love don't give me presents
Turn me on when I get lonely
People tell me that she's only
Fooling, I know she isn't

She don't give the boys the eye
She hates to see me cry
She is happy just to hear me say
That I will never leave her
She don't give the boys the eye
She will never make me jealous
Gives me all her time as well as
Loving, don't ask me why

She's a woman who understands
She's a woman who loves her man

My love don't give me presents
I know that she's no peasant
Only ever has to give me love
Forever and forever
My love don't give me presents
Turn me on when I get lonely
People tell me that she's only
Fooling, I know she isn't

She's a woman who understands
She's a woman who loves her man

My love don't give me presents
I know that she's no peasant
Only ever has to give me
Love forever and forever
My love don't give me presents
Turn me on when I get lonely
People tell me that she's only
Fooling, I know she isn't

She's a woman, she's a woman
She's a woman, she's a woman


Strawberry Fields Forever
(John Lennon)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
JOHN 1968: 'Strawberry Fields was a place near us that happened to be a Salvation Army home.
But Strawberry Fields – I mean, I have visions of Strawberry Fields.
And there was Penny Lane, and the Cast Iron Shore, which I've just got in some song now, and they were just good names – just groovy names.
Just good sounding.
Because Strawberry Fields is anywhere you want to go.'

PAUL 1974: 'That wasn't 'I buried Paul' at all – that was John saying 'Cranberry sauce.' It was the end of Strawberry Fields.
Thatīs Johnīs humor.
John would say something totally out of sync, like cranberry sauce.
If you donīt realize that Johnīs apt to say cranberry sauce when he feels like it, then you start to hear a funny little word there, and you think, 'Aha!''

JOHN 1980: 'Strawberry Fields is a real place.
After I stopped living at Penny Lane, I moved in with my auntie who lived in the suburbs… not the poor slummy kind of image that was projected in all the Beatles stories.
Near that home was Strawberry Fields, a house near a boys' reformatory where I used to go to garden parties as a kid with my friends Nigel and Pete.
We always had fun at Strawberry Fields.
So that's where I got the name.
But I used it as an image.
Strawberry Fields Forever.
'Living is easy with eyes closed.
Misunderstanding all you see.' It still goes, doesn't it? Aren't I saying exactly the same thing now? The awareness apparently trying to be expressed is – let's say in one way I was always hip.
I was hip in kindergarten.
I was different from the others.
I was different all my life.
The second verse goes, 'No one I think is in my tree.' Well, I was too shy and self-doubting.
Nobody seems to be as hip as me is what I was saying.
Therefore, I must be crazy or a genius – 'I mean it must be high or low,' the next line.
There was something wrong with me, I thought, because I seemed to see things other people didn't see.
I thought I was crazy or an egomaniac for claiming to see things other people didn't see.
I always was so psychic or intuitive or poetic or whatever you want to call it, that I was always seeing things in a hallucinatory way.
Surrealism had a great effect on me, because then I realized that the imagery in my mind wasn't insanity; that if it was insane, I belong in an exclusive club that sees the world in those terms.
Surrealism to me is reality.
Psychic vision to me is reality.
Even as a child.
When I looked at myself in the mirror or when I was 12, 13, I used to literally trance out into alpha.
I didn't know what it was called then.
I found out years later there is a name for those conditions.
But I would find myself seeing hallucinatory images of my face changing and becoming cosmic and complete.
It caused me to always be a rebel.
This thing gave me a chip on the shoulder; but, on the other hand, I wanted to be loved and accepted.
Part of me would like to be accepted by all facets of society and not be this loudmouthed lunatic musician.
But I cannot be what I am not.'

Let me take you down
'Cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hung about
Strawberry Fields forever

Living is easy with eyes closed
Misunderstanding all you see
It's getting hard to be someone
But it all works out
It doesn't matter much to me

Let me take you down
'Cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hung about
Strawberry Fields forever

No one I think is in my tree
I mean it must be high or low
That is you can't, you know, tune in
But it's all right
That is, I think, it's not too bad

Let me take you down
'Cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hung about
Strawberry Fields forever

Always, no, sometimes think it's me
But you know I know when it's a dream
I think, er, no, I mean, er, yes
But it's all wrong
That is I think I disagree

Let me take you down
'Cause I'm going to Strawberry Fields
Nothing is real
And nothing to get hung about
Strawberry Fields forever
Strawberry Fields forever
Strawberry Fields forever


Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 1)
(John Lennon)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)

Strawberry Fields Forever (Take 7 and edit piece)
(John Lennon)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)

Penny Lane
(Paul McCartney)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
JOHN 1968: 'We really got into the groove of imagining Penny Lane – the bank was there, and that was where the tram sheds were and people waiting and the inspector stood there, the fire engines were down there.
It was just reliving childhood.'

JOHN 1980: 'Penny Lane is not only a street but it's a district… a suburban district where, until age four, I lived with my mother and father.
So I was the only Beatle that lived in Penny Lane.'

PAUL circa-1994: 'John and I would always meet at Penny Lane.
That was where someone would stand and sell you poppies each year on British Legion poppy day… When I came to write it, John came over and helped me with the third verse, as often was the case.
We were writing childhood memories – recently faded memories from eight or ten years before, so it was recent nostalgia, pleasant memories for both of us.
All the places were still there, and because we remembered it so clearly we could have gone on.'

In Penny Lane there is a barber showing photographs
Of every head he's had the pleasure to know
And all the people that come and go
Stop and say hello

On the corner is a banker with a motorcar
The little children laugh at him behind his back
And the banker never wears a mac
In the pouring rain
Very strange

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes
There beneath the blue suburban skies
I sit and meanwhile back

In Penny Lane there is a fireman with an hourglass
And in his pocket is a portrait of the Queen
He likes to keep his fire engine clean
It's a clean machine

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes
Four of fish and finger pies
In summer, meanwhile back

Behind the shelter in the middle of a roundabout
A pretty nurse is selling poppies from a tray
And though she feels as if she's in a play
She is anyway

In Penny Lane the barber shaves another customer
We see the banker sitting, waiting for a trim
And then the fireman rushes in
From the pouring rain
Very strange

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes
There beneath the blue suburban skies
I sit, and meanwhile back

Penny Lane is in my ears and in my eyes
There beneath the blue suburban skies
Penny Lane


A Day in the Life
(John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
JOHN 1967: 'I was writing the song with the 'Daily Mail' propped up in front of me on the piano.
I had it open to the 'News In Brief' or whatever they call it.
There was a paragraph about four thousand holes being discovered in Blackburn Lancashire.
And when we came to record the song there was still one word missing from that verse… I knew the line had to go, 'Now they know how many holes it takes to – something – the Albert Hall.' For some reason I couldn't think of the verb.
What did the holes do to the Albert Hall? It was Terry Doran who said 'fill' the Albert Hall.
And that was it.
Then we thought we wanted a growing noise to lead back into the first bit.
We wanted to think of a good end and we had to decide what sort of backing and instruments would sound good.
Like all our songs, they never become an entity until the very end.
They are developed all the time as we go along.'

JOHN 1968: ''A Day in the Life' – that was something.
I dug it.
It was a good piece of work between Paul and me.
I had the 'I read the news today' bit, and it turned Paul on.
Now and then we really turn each other on with a bit of song, and he just said 'yeah' – bang bang, like that.
It just sort of happened beautifully, and we arranged it and rehearsed it, which we don't often do, the afternoon before.
So we all knew what we were playing, we all got into it.
It was a real groove, the whole scene on that one.
Paul sang half of it and I sang half.
I needed a middle-eight for it, but Paul already had one there.'

JOHN 1980: 'Just as it sounds: I was reading the paper one day and I noticed two stories.
One was the Guinness heir who killed himself in a car.
That was the main headline story.
He died in London in a car crash.
On the next page was a story about 4000 holes in Blackburn, Lancashire.
In the streets, that is.
They were going to fill them all.
Paul's contribution was the beautiful little lick in the song 'I'd love to turn you on.' I had the bulk of the song and the words, but he contributed this little lick floating around in his head that he couldn't use for anything.
I thought it was a damn good piece of work.'

PAUL 1984: 'That was mainly John's, I think.
I remember being very conscious of the words 'I'd love to turn you on' and thinking, Well, that's about as risque as we dare get at this point.
Well, the BBC banned it.
It said, 'Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall' or something.
But I mean that there was nothing vaguely rude or naughty in any of that.
'I'd love to turn you on' was the rudest line in the whole thing.
But that was one of John's very good ones.
I wrote… that was co-written.
The orchestra crescendo and that was based on some of the ideas I'd been getting from Stockhausen and people like that, which is more abstract.
So we told the orchestra members to just start on their lowest note and end on their highest note and go in their own time… which orchestras are frightened to do.
That's not the tradition.
But we got 'em to do it.'

PAUL 1988: 'Then I went around to all the trumpet players and said, 'Look all you've got to do is start at the beginning of the 24 bars and go through all the notes on your instrument from the lowest to the highest – and the highest has to happen on that 24th bar, that's all.
So you can blow 'em all in that first thing and then rest, then play the top one there if you want, or you can steady them out.' And it was interesting because I saw the orchestra's characters.
The strings were like sheep – they all looked at each other: 'Are you going up? I am!' and they'd all go up together, the leader would take them all up.
The trumpeters were much wilder.'

I read the news today, oh boy
About a lucky man who made the grade
And though the news was rather sad
Well, I just had to laugh
I saw the photograph

He blew his mind out in a car;
He didn't notice that the lights had changed
A crowd of people stood and stared
They'd seen his face before
Nobody was really sure if he was from the House of Lords

I saw a film today, oh boy;
The English army had just won the war
A crowd of people turned away
But I just had to look
Having read the book

I'd love to turn you on

Woke up, fell out of bed
Dragged a comb across my head
Found my way downstairs and drank a cup
And looking up, I noticed I was late

Found my coat and grabbed my hat
Made the bus in seconds flat
Found my way upstairs and had a smoke
And somebody spoke and I went into a dream

Ah I read the news today, oh boy
Four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire
And though the holes were rather small
They had to count them all
Now they know how many holes it takes to fill the Albert Hall

I'd love to turn you on


Good Morning, Good Morning
(John Lennon)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
JOHN 1967: 'I often sit at the piano, working at songs with the television on low in the background.
If I'm a bit low and not getting much done, the words from the telly come through.
That's when I heard the words, 'Good Morning Good Morning.''

JOHN 1968: 'We write about our past.
'Good Morning, Good Morning,' I was never proud of it.
I just knocked it off to do a song.
But it was writing about my past so it does get the kids because it was me at school, my whole bit.'

JOHN 1972: 'A bit of gobbledygook, but nice words.'

PAUL 1984: ''Good Morning' – John's.
That was our first major use of sound effects, I think.
We had horses and chickens and dogs and all sorts running through it.'

Good morning, good morning
Good morning, good morning
Good morning ah

Nothing to do to save his life call his wife in
Nothing to say but what a day how's your boy been
Nothing to do it's up to you
I've got nothing to say but it's OK

Good morning, good morning
Good morning ah

Going to work don't want to go feeling low down
Heading for home you start to roam then you're in town
Everybody knows there's nothing doing
Everything is closed it's like a ruin
Everyone you see is half asleep
And you're on your own you're in the street

After a while you start to smile now you feel cool
Then you decide to take a walk by the old school
Nothing is changed it's still the same
I've got nothing to say but it's OK

Good morning, good morning
Good morning ah

People running round it's five o'clock
Everywhere in town is getting dark
Everyone you see is full of life
It's time for tea and meet the wife

Somebody needs to know the time, glad that I'm here
Watching the skirts you start to flirt now you're in gear
Go to a show you hope she goes
I've got nothing to say but it's OK

Good morning, good morning, good
Good morning, good morning, good
Good morning, good morning, good
Good morning, good morning, good
Good morning, good morning, good
Good morning, good morning, good
Good morning, good morning, good
Good morning, good morning, good
Good morning, good morning, good
Good morning, good morning, good


Only a Northern Song
(George Harrison)
GEORGE 1980: ''Northern Song' was a joke relating to Liverpool, the Holy City in the North of England.
In addition, the song was copyrighted Northern Songs LTD, which I don't own.'

GEORGE 1999: 'It was at the point that I realized Dick James had conned me out of the copyrights for my own songs by offering to become my publisher.
As an 18 or 19-year-old kid, I thought, 'Great, somebody's gonna publish my songs!' But he never said, 'And incidentally, when you sign this document here, you're assigning me the ownership of the songs,' which is what it is.
It was just a blatant theft.
By the time I realized what had happened, when they were going public and making all this money out of this catalog, I wrote 'Only A Northern Song' as what we call a 'piss-take,' just to have a joke about it.'

If you're listening to this song
You may think the chords are going wrong
But they're not
He just wrote it like that

When you're listening late at night
You may think the band are not quite right
But they are
They just play it like that

It doesn't really matter what chords I play
What words I say or time of day it is
As it's only a Northern song

It doesn't really matter what clothes I wear
Or how I fare or if my hair is brown
When it's only a Northern song

If you think the harmony
Is a little dark and out of key
You're correct
There's nobody there

And I told you there's no one there


Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite! (Takes 1 and 2)
(John Lennon)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)

Being For the Benefit of Mr. Kite! (Take 7)
(John Lennon)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)

Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds
(John Lennon)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
JOHN 1980: 'My son Julian came in one day with a picture he painted about a school friend of his named Lucy.
He had sketched in some stars in the sky and called it 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,' Simple.
The images were from 'Alice in Wonderland.' It was Alice in the boat.
She is buying an egg and it turns into Humpty Dumpty.
The woman serving in the shop turns into a sheep and the next minute they are rowing in a rowing boat somewhere and I was visualizing that.
There was also the image of the female who would someday come save me… a 'girl with kaleidoscope eyes' who would come out of the sky.
It turned out to be Yoko, though I hadn't met Yoko yet.
So maybe it should be 'Yoko in the Sky with Diamonds.' It was purely unconscious that it came out to be LSD.
Until somebody pointed it out, I never even thought it, I mean, who would ever bother to look at initials of a title? It's NOT an acid song.
The imagery was Alice in the boat and also the image of this female who would come and save me – this secret love that was going to come one day.
So it turned out to be Yoko… and I hadn't met Yoko then.
But she was my imaginary girl that we all have.'

PAUL circa-1994: 'I went up to John's house in Weybridge.
When I arrived we were having a cup of tea, and he said, 'Look at this great drawing Julian's done.
Look at the title!' So I said, 'What's that mean?' thinking Wow, fantastic title! John said, 'It's Lucy, a freind of his from school.
And she's in the sky.' …so we went upstairs and started writing it.
People later thought 'Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds' was LSD.
I swear – we didn't notice that when it first came out.'

Picture yourself in a boat on a river
With tangerine trees and marmalade skies
Somebody calls you, you answer quite slowly
A girl with kaleidoscope eyes

Cellophane flowers of yellow and green
Towering over your head
Look for the girl with the sun in her eyes
And she's gone

Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Aaaaahhhhh...

Follow her down to a bridge by a fountain
Where rocking horse people eat marshmallow pies
Everyone smiles as you drift past the flowers
That grow so incredibly high

Newspaper taxis appear on the shore
Waiting to take you away
Climb in the back with your head in the clouds
And you're gone

Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Aaaaahhhhh...

Picture yourself on a train in a station
With plasticine porters with looking glass ties
Suddenly someone is there at the turnstile
The girl with the kaleidoscope eyes

Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Aaaaahhhhh...
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Aaaaahhhhh...
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds
Lucy in the sky with diamonds [fade out]


Within You Without You
(John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
GEORGE 1967: 'I'm writing more songs now that we're not touring.
The words are always a bit of a hangup for me.
I'm not very poetic.
'Within You Without You' was written after dinner one night at Klaus Voorman's house.
He had a harmonium, which I hadn't played before.
I was doodling on it when the tune started to come.
The first sentence came out of what we'd been doing that evening… 'We were talking.' That's as far as I got that night.
I finished the rest of the words later at home.'

JOHN 1967: 'George has done a great indian one.
We came along one night and he had about 400 indian fellas playing, and it was a great swinging event, as they say.'

JOHN 1980: 'One of George's best songs.
One of my favorites of his, too.
He's clear on that song.
His mind and his music are clear.
There is his innate talent.
He brought that sound together.'

We were talking about the space between us all
And the people who hide themselves behind a wall of illusion
Never glimpse the truth, then it's far too late, when they pass away
We were talking about the love we all could share
When we find it, to try our best to hold it there with our love
With our love, we could save the world, if they only knew

Try to realise it's all within yourself
No one else can make you change
And to see you're really only very small
And life flows on within you and without you

We were talking about the love that's gone so cold
And the people who gain the world and lose their soul
They don't know, they can't see, are you one of them?

When you've seen beyond yourself then you may find
Peace of mind is waiting there
And the time will come when you see we're all one
And life flows on within you and without you


Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
(Paul McCartney)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)

It was twenty years ago today
Sergeant Pepper taught the band to play
They've been going in and out of style
But they're guaranteed to raise a smile
So may I introduce to you
The act you've known for all these years?
Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

We're Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
We hope you will enjoy the show
We're Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Sit back and let the evening go
Sergeant Pepper's lonely, Sgt. Pepper's lonely
Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

It's wonderful to be here
It's certainly a thrill
You're such a lovely audience
We'd like to take you home with us
We'd love to take you home

I don't really want to stop the show
But I thought that you might like to know
That the singer's going to sing a song
And he wants you all to sing along
So let me introduce to you
The one and only Billy Shears
And Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, yeah


You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)
(John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
JOHN 1980: 'That was a piece of unfinished music that I turned into a comedy record with Paul.
I was waiting for him in his house, and I saw the phone book was on the piano with the words, 'You know the name, look up the number.' It was like a logo, and I just changed it.
It was going to be a four tops kind of song – the chord changes are like that – but it never developed and we made a joke out of it.'

PAUL 1988: 'People are only just discovering the B-sides of Beatles singles.
They're only just discovering things like 'You Know My Name' – probably my favorite Beatles track! Just because it's so insane.
All the memories – I mean, what would you do if a guy like John Lennon turned up at the studio and said, 'I've got a new song.' I said, 'What's the words?' and he replied, 'You know my name look up the number.' I asked, 'What's the rest of it?' '…No.
No other words, those are the words.
And I wanna do it like a mantra!' We did it over a period of maybe two or three years.
We started off and we just did 20 minutes, and we tried it again and it didn't work.
We tried it again, and we had these endless, crazy fun sessions.
Eventually we pulled it all together and I sang, (sings in jazzy voice) 'You know my name…' and we just did a skit.
Mal (Evans) and his gravel.
I can still see Mal digging the gravel.
And it was just so hilarious to put that record together.
It's not a great melody or anything, it's just unique.
Some people haven't discovered that song yet.'

PAUL circa-1994: 'I remember at one point we asked Mal (Evans) to shovel a bucket of gravel as a rhythmic device.
We had a bit of a giggle doing those kind of tracks… Brian Jones (Rolling Stones) plays a funny sax solo.
It's not amazingly well played but it happened to be exactly what we wanted.
Brian was very good like that.'

You know my name
Look up the number
You know my name
Look up the number
You you know you know my name
You you know you know my name

Good evening and welcome to Slaggers
Featuring Denis O'Bell
Come on Ringo, let's hear it for Denis

Good evening
You know my name
Look look look up the number
You know my name
That's right, look up the number
You you know you know my name
You you know you know my name
You know my name
Ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba ba
Look up the number
You know my name
That's right, look up the number
Oh you know you know you know my name
You know you know you know my name
Huh huh huh huh
You know my name
Ba ba ba pum
Look up the number.
You know my name
Look up the number
You-a you know you know my name
Baby you-a you know you know my name
You know you know my name
You know you know my name

Go on Denis, let's hear it for Denis O'Bell

You know my name
You know you know my name
You know you know my name
Prrr you know my name and the number
You know my name and the number you know you know my name
Look up me number
You know my number three you know my number two
you know my number three you know my number four
Oh you know my name you know number too
You know my name you know my number
What's up with you?
You know my name
That's right?
Yeah


I Am the Walrus
(John Lennon)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
PAUL 1967: 'Everyone keeps preaching that the best way is to be 'open' when writing for teenagers.
Then when we do we get criticized.
Surely the word 'knickers' can't offend anyone.
Shakespeare wrote words alot more naughtier than knickers!'

JOHN 1967: 'We chose the word (knickers) because it is a lovely expressive word.
It rolls off the tongue.
It could 'mean' anything.'

GEORGE 1967: 'People don't understand.
In John's song, 'I Am The Walrus' he says: 'I am he as you are he as you are me.' People look for all sorts of hidden meanings.
It's serious, but it's also not serious.
It's true, but it's also a joke.'

JOHN 1968: 'We write lyrics, and I write lyrics that you don't realize what they mean till after.
Especially some of the better songs or some of the more flowing ones, like 'Walrus.' The whole first verse was written without any knowledge.
With 'I Am the Walrus,' I had 'I am he as you are he as we are all together.' I had just these two lines on the typewriter, and then about two weeks later I ran through and wrote another two lines and then, when I saw something, after about four lines, I just knocked the rest of it off.
Then I had the whole verse or verse and a half and then sang it.
I had this idea of doing a song that was a police siren, but it didn't work in the end (sings like a siren) 'I-am-he-as-you-are-he-as…' You couldn't really sing the police siren.'

JOHN 1980: 'The first line was written on one acid trip one weekend.
The second line was written on the next acid trip the next weekend, and it was filled in after I met Yoko.
Part of it was putting down Hare Krishna.
All these people were going on about Hare Krishna, Allen Ginsberg in particular.
The reference to 'Element'ry penguin' is the elementary, naive attitude of going around chanting, 'Hare Krishna,' or putting all your faith in any one idol.
I was writing obscurely, a la Dylan, in those days.
It's from 'The Walrus and the Carpenter.' 'Alice in Wonderland.' To me, it was a beautiful poem.
It never dawned on me that Lewis Carroll was commenting on the capitalist and social system.
I never went into that bit about what he really meant, like people are doing with the Beatles' work.
Later, I went back and looked at it and realized that the walrus was the bad guy in the story and the carpenter was the good guy.
I thought, Oh, shit, I picked the wrong guy.
I should have said, 'I am the carpenter.' But that wouldn't have been the same, would it? (singing) 'I am the carpenter…''

I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together
See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they fly
I'm crying

Sitting on a cornflake, waiting for the van to come
Corporation tee-shirt, stupid bloody Tuesday
Man, you been a naughty boy, you let your face grow long
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen
I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob

Mister City Policeman sitting
Pretty little policemen in a row
See how they fly like Lucy in the Sky, see how they run
I'm crying, I'm crying
I'm crying, I'm crying

Yellow matter custard, dripping from a dead dog's eye
Crabalocker fishwife, pornographic priestess
Boy, you been a naughty girl you let your knickers down
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen
I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob

Sitting in an English garden waiting for the sun
If the sun don't come, you get a tan
From standing in the English rain
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen
I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob g'goo goo g'joob

Expert textpert choking smokers
Don't you think the joker laughs at you?
See how they smile like pigs in a sty
See how they snide
I'm crying

Semolina pilchard, climbing up the Eiffel Tower
Elementary penguin singing Hari Krishna
Man, you should have seen them kicking Edgar Allan Poe
I am the eggman, they are the eggmen
I am the walrus, goo goo g'joob g'goo goo g'joob
Goo goo g'joob g'goo goo g'joob g'goo


The Fool on the Hill
(Paul McCartney)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
JOHN 1980: 'Now that's Paul.
Another good lyric.
Shows he's capable of writing complete songs.'

PAUL circa-1994: ''Fool On The Hill' was mine and I think I was writing about someone like the Maharishi.
His detractors called him a fool.
Because of his giggle he wasn't taken too seriously… I was sitting at the piano at my father's house in Liverpool hitting a D6 chord, and I made up 'Fool On The Hill.''

Day after day
Alone on a hill
The man with the foolish grin
Is keeping perfectly still
But nobody wants to know him
They can see that he's just a fool
And he never gives an answer

But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning 'round

Well on the way
Head in a cloud
The man of a thousand voices
Talking perfectly loud

But nobody ever hears him
Or the sound he appears to make
And he never seems to notice

But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning 'round

And nobody seems to like him
They can tell what he wants to do
And he never shows his feelings

But the fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning 'round, oh oh oh, 'round 'round 'round 'round

He never listens to them
He knows that they're the fools
They don't like him

The fool on the hill
Sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning 'round

Oh, 'round 'round 'round 'round, oh


Your Mother Should Know
(Paul McCartney)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)

Let's all get up and dance to a song
That was a hit before your mother was born
Though she was born a long long time ago
Your mother should know (your mother should)
Your mother should know

Sing it again

Let's all get up and dance to a song
That was a hit before your mother was born
Though she was born a long long time ago
Your mother should know (your mother should)
Your mother should know

Lift up your hearts and sing me a song
That was a hit before your mother was born
Though she was born a long long time ago
Your mother should know (your mother should)
Your mother should know

Your mother should know (your mother should)
Your mother should know

Sing it again

Da da dada da da da dada dada dada da da
Da dada da da
Though she was born a long long time ago
Your mother should know (your mother should)
Your mother should know

Your mother should know (your mother should)
Your mother should know

Your mother should know (your mother should)
Your mother should know, yeah


The Fool on the Hill (Take 4)
(Paul McCartney)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)

Hello, Goodbye
(Paul McCartney)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
JOHN 1980: 'That's another McCartney.
An attempt to write a single.
It wasn't a great piece.
The best bit was at the end, which we all ad-libbed in the studio, where I played the piano.
Like 'Ticket To Ride,' where we just threw something in at the end.'

PAUL circa-1994: ''Hello Goodbye' was one of my songs.
There are Geminian influences here I think – the twins.
It's such a deep theme of the universe, duality – man woman, black white, high low, right wrong, up down, hello goodbye – that it was a very easy song to write.
It's just a song of duality, with me advocating the more positive.
You say goodbye, I say hello.
You say stop, I say go.
I was advocating the more positive side of the duality, and I still do to this day.'

You say, "Yes", I say, "No"
You say, "Stop" but I say, "Go, go, go"
Oh no
You say, "Goodbye", and I say, "Hello, hello, hello"
I don't know why you say, "Goodbye", I say, "Hello, hello, hello"
I don't know why you say, "Goodbye", I say, "Hello"

I say, "High", you say, "Low"
You say, "Why?" And I say, "I don't know"
Oh no
You say, "Goodbye", and I say, "Hello, hello, hello" (hello, goodbye, hello, goodbye)
I don't know why you say, "Goodbye" (hello, goodbye)
I say, "Hello, hello, hello" (Hello, goodbye, hello, goodbye, hello, goodbye)
I don't know why you say, "Goodbye", I say, "Hello" (hello, goodbye)

Why, why, why, why, why, why, do you say, "Goodbye, goodbye, bye, bye"
Oh no
You say, "Goodbye", and I say, "Hello, hello, hello"
I don't know why you say, "Goodbye", I say, "Hello, hello, hello"
I don't know why you say, "Goodbye", I say, "Hello"

You say, "Yes", I say, "No" (I say, "Yes", but I may mean, "No")
You say, "Stop", I say, "Go, go, go", (I can stay still it's time to go)
Oh, oh no

You say, "Goodbye", and I say, "Hello, hello, hello"
I don't know why you say, "Goodbye", I say, "Hello, hello, hello"
I don't know why you say, "Goodbye", I say, "Hello, hello, hello"
I don't know why you say, "Goodbye", I say, "Hello-wow, oh hello"
Hela, heba, helloa hela, heba, helloa hela, heba, helloa
Hela, heba, helloa (hela) hela, heba, helloa hela, heba, helloa
Hela, heba, helloa
Hela, heba, helloa
Hela, heba


Lady Madonna
(Paul McCartney)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
RINGO 1968: 'It sounds like Elvis, doesn't it? No, it doesn't sound like Elvis… it IS Elvis.
Even those bits where he goes very high.'

JOHN 1980: 'Paul.
Good piano lick, but the song never really went anywhere.
Maybe I helped him on some of the lyrics.'

PAUL 1986: ''Lady Madonna' is all women.
How do they do it? – bless 'em.
Baby at your breast, how do they get the time to feed them? Where do they get the money? How do you do this thing that women do?'

PAUL circa-1994: 'The original concept was the Virgin Mary, but it quickly became symbolic of every woman – the Madonna image but as applied to ordinary working-class women.
'Lady Madonna' was me sitting down at the piano trying to write a bluesy boogie-woogie thing.
It reminded me of Fats Domino for some reason, so I started singing a Fats Domino impression.
It took my voice to a very odd place.'

Lady Madonna, children at your feet
Wonder how you manage to make ends meet
Who finds the money when you pay the rent
Did you think that money was Heaven sent?
Friday night arrives without a suitcase
Sunday morning creeping like a nun
Monday's child has learned to tie his bootlace
See how they run

Lady Madonna, baby at your breast
Wonders how you manage to feed the rest?

See how they run

Lady Madonna lying on the bed
Listen to the music playing in your head

Tuesday afternoon is never ending
Wednesday morning papers didn't come
Thursday night your stockings needed mending
See how they run

Lady Madonna, children at your feet
Wonder how you manage to make ends meet


Across the Universe
(John Lennon)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)
JOHN 1972: 'One of my best songs.
Not one of the best recordings, but I like the lyrics.'

JOHN 1980: 'I was a bit more artsy-fartsy there.
I was lying next to my first wife in bed, (song originally written in 1967) you know, and I was irritated.
She must have been going on and on about something and she'd gone to sleep – and I kept hearing these words over and over, flowing like an endless stream.
I went downstairs and it turned into a sort of cosmic song rather than an irritated song – rather than 'Why are you always mouthing off at me?' or whatever, right? …and I've sat down and looked at it and said, 'Can I write another one with this meter?' It's so interesting.
'Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup/ They slither while the pass, they slip away across the universe.' Such an extraordinary meter and I can never repeat it! It's not a matter of craftsmanship – it wrote itself.
It drove me out of bed.
I didn't want to write it… and I couldn't get to sleep until I put it on paper… It's like being possessed – like a psychic or a medium.
The thing has to go down.
It won't let you sleep, so you have to get up, make it into something, and then you're allowed to sleep.
That's always in the middle of the night when you're half-awake or tired and your critical facilities are switched off.'

Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup
They slither while they pass, they slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my opened mind
Possessing and caressing me

Jai Guru Deva, Om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world

Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes
They call me on and on across the universe
Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box
They tumble blindly as they make their way across the universe

Jai Guru Deva, Om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world

Sounds of laughter, shades of life are ringing through my open ears
Inciting and inviting me
Limitless undying love which shines around me like a million suns
It calls me on and on across the universe

Jai Guru Deva, Om
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world
Nothing's gonna change my world

Jai Guru Deva
Jai Guru Deva
Jai Guru Deva
Jai Guru Deva
Jai Guru Deva
Jai Guru Deva