Questions about "Abbey Road" album
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Nancy R:
#1 "The track could have gone on until 8:04, but John decided on a 'sudden' ending. Engineer Alan Parsons recalled 'We were putting the final touches to that side of the LP, and we were listening to the mix. John said 'There, cut the tape there.' Geoff Emerick cut the tape and that was it.'" (from the book 100 Best Beatles Songs by Spignesi & Lewis) BTW, fun trivia fact: This was the last time all four Beatles were in the studio together (Aug. 20, 1969) for the remixing & editing of this song. #3 Just one of Paul's crazy songs. No background on this that I know of. Mal Evans bangs the hammer in this. #4 "John said that Sun King came to him in a dream (Shades of Yesterday!)" and "'chicka ferdi'--that's a Liverpool expression; it doesn't mean anything, just like 'ha ha ha' "(also from same book as above) You should get that book I mentioned--really good!
That ending used to make me very nervous...."Is it now? Is it now?" I sort of didn't like how, when on vinyl, the needle just lifted from the record...like they ran out of room for the proper ending. I kind of wished they had done a fade out. (I always heard the Japanese version did just that.) Now, I'm much more accepting of it. However, when they issued the album on CD, I sort of wished they had edited it to start "Here Comes The Sun" immediately after....no break at all....as if the two songs were a medley or sorts. One song being the bright-spot answer for the preceding heaviness. I try to edit my own copy that way....but the beginning of "Here Comes The Sun" isn't loud enough to work the way I would like. Initially, there is only music coming out of one speaker.....so!
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Question: If the song "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" was written about an Apple Scruff who broke into Paul's house, was he not afraid of encouraging this sort of behavior by writing about it? It's almost like rewarding a criminal, isn't it? Why would Paul have done that since he was upset about losing some of his belongings...some had to be tracked down in the US apparently?
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I listened to an interview with John last night on YouTube re the 2nd side of Abbey Road and the medley. He mentioned that Paul had had this line in his head for a while, but never mentioned a break-in at his house as the source of this lyric. So I don't know how accurate the "scruff" story is.
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According to my "A Hard Day's Write" book, Paul said to a specific Apple Scruff Carol (who wrote a Beatles book herself) "I've written a book about the girls who broke in. It's called "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window". She was surprised to hear this as "He hated it so much when we broke in. But then I suppose anything can inspire a song, can't it? I know that all his neighbors rang him when they saw we got in and I'm sure that gave rise to the lines "Sunday's on the phone to Monday, Tuesday's on the phone for me."
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Scarlett14:
According to my "A Hard Day's Write" book, Paul said to a specific Apple Scruff Carol (who wrote a Beatles book herself) "I've written a book about the girls who broke in. It's called "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window". She was surprised to hear this as "He hated it so much when we broke in. But then I suppose anything can inspire a song, can't it? I know that all his neighbors rang him when they saw we got in and I'm sure that gave rise to the lines "Sunday's on the phone to Monday, Tuesday's on the phone for me."
You answered your own question there! Carol was Carol Bedford who wrote that Apple Scruffs book I gave you the link to somewhere!
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Aside from what the book says, I was wondering if anyone knew why he would do that when it really only encourages that behavior in other fans. And fans don't need much encouragement anyway.
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Scarlett14:
Aside from what the book says, I was wondering if anyone knew why he would do that when it really only encourages that behavior in other fans. And fans don't need much encouragement anyway.
Why he would write the song you mean? Why don't you ask him on "You Gave Me The Answer" on his website?
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It just makes sense to me that you shouldn't write songs about people who do things that are criminal. In the same vein that if The Beatles had still been together when John was killed they wouldn't have come out with a song about his killer. (I won't even use his name as it just furthers his fame.) I probably won't ask this question because there must be more pressing questions I should be asking Paul. But thanks for the suggestion!
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Well if the story is correct about the song, then maybe he tried to turn a negative into a positive by writing a great song about it rather than to always fret about the "break in." I know of another song writer, Michael Franks, doing something similar though I'm not at liberty to say what the specifics were.
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The song may have been inspired by a scruff to tell a beautiful lyrical story, but not everything in the song is about them/that. The line about And so I quit the Police Dept was just random, Paul was in a cab with a driver with the last name Quits and his name was next to something about the NY Police department - and there was his inspiration. Paul is great at pulling together random words/thoughts like that.
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Erik in NJ:
Well if the story is correct about the song, then maybe he tried to turn a negative into a positive by writing a great song about it rather than to always fret about the "break in." I know of another song writer, Michael Franks, doing something similar though I'm not at liberty to say what the specifics were.
Plus, it was Paul's fault--he left a ladder on the side of the house, right up to his bathroom window, which wasn't locked! Later, he asked the girls how they got in and they told him about the ladder. he didn't believe they could climb it, so they showed him!
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I'm in the process of putting the "Abbey Road" album aside for just a bit to start my journey through "The White Album" for the very first time. No joke. First time. I have gotten through the first half of the songs but not easily. Some were really tough for me to listen to - I kept wanting to go back to the familiarity and comfort of "Abbey Road" and did in fact dump some songs right in the middle just to listen to "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" again. I think I'll start a new thread for "The White Album" soon so that those who consider this the best Beatles album can let me know what I'm missing, at least on some of the songs anyway. This "Yesterday" forum is very quiet today. I figure most of you have been trying to buy tickets to Paul's various US concerts that were just announced. For those of you who bought premium packages and are now standing as you read this because you had to sell off personal belongings in order to do it such as your favorite man cave recliner, sectional sofas, beds, old lava lamps, Fab Four memorabilia, souls...just be happy in the knowledge that you will soon be standing in the presence of The Master and it will all be worth it! And if you're really lucky he'll sing "Rocky Raccoon"!