Because (The Beatles song)
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| "Because" | ||||
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| Song by The Beatles
from the album Abbey Road |
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| Released | 26 September 1969 | |||
| Recorded | 1 August-5 August, 1969 Abbey Road Studios |
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| Genre | Art rock | |||
| Length | 2:45 | |||
| Label | Apple Records | |||
| Writer | Lennon/McCartney | |||
| Producer | George Martin | |||
| Abbey Road track listing | ||||
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| Music sample | ||||
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"Because" is a ballad written by John Lennon[1] (credited to Lennon/McCartney) and performed by The Beatles. It features a 3-part harmony vocal performance between Lennon, McCartney and George Harrison, overdubbed three times to make nine voices in all.[2] The results of this have been compared in sound to the Beach Boys. It appeared on the 1969 album Abbey Road, and is the song that precedes the extended medley that formed side two of the original LP record.
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[edit] Composition
The song begins with electric harpsichord played by George Martin and then joined by Lennon's guitar doubling the harpsichord and played through a Leslie speaker. Vocals and bass guitar enter in what Alan Pollack calls the "mini-bridge."[3]
The song was one of the few Beatles songs to include an analog synthesizer arrangement (although analog keyboards such as the Mellotron had been used often by The Beatles, few songs featured the use of a traditional analog synthesizer with voltage-controlled oscillators). The Beatles at the time of Abbey Road were among the first contemporary rock bands to experiment with the Moog synthesizer (the first, or at least the first to chart on the top 40, had been The Monkees).
According to Lennon, "Because" was inspired by Ludwig van Beethoven's "Moonlight Sonata". "Yoko was playing Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata' on the piano ... I said, 'Can you play those chords backwards?', and wrote 'Because' around them. The lyrics speak for themselves ... No imagery, no obscure references."[1][4]
[edit] Recording
The main recording session for "Because" was on 1 August 1969, with vocal overdubs on 4 August, and a Moog synthesizer overdub by George Harrison on 5 August.[5] As a result, this was the last song on the album to be committed to tape, although there were still overdubs for other incomplete songs.
A vocals-only version of the song can be found on Anthology 3 and Love and is an example of three part harmony from Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison, although the latter is slowed down and includes quiet nature sound effects. Both versions include the 'Ahh' at the beginning.
[edit] Personnel
- John Lennon: triple-tracked lead harmony vocals (middle register), lead and rhythm guitars.
- Paul McCartney: triple-tracked second harmony vocals (high register) and bass.
- George Harrison: triple-tracked third harmony vocals (low register) and double-tracked Moog synthesizer.
- George Martin: electric spinet Baldwin harpsichord.
- Credits per Ian MacDonald[6]
[edit] Cover versions
| Year | Artist | Release | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1969 | Gary McFarland | Today | |
| 1976 | Lynsey De Paul | All This and World War II | |
| 1978 | Alice Cooper | Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (soundtrack) | |
| 1982 | Pedro Aznar | Pedro Aznar | |
| 1994 | The Nylons | The Nylons | |
| 1999 | Elliott Smith | American Beauty (soundtrack) | |
| 1998 | Vanessa-Mae | George Martin's In My Life | She performed the song on a solo violin with a background choir singing the lyrics. |
| 2005 | George Clinton | How Late Do U Have 2BB4UR Absent? | |
| 2007 | Solveig Slettahjell | Domestic Songs | |
| 2007 | Various artists | Across the Universe | Six main characters and three minor characters in the film combined to perform the nine vocal parts. |
| 2009 | Martin John Henry | Abbey Road Now! | |
| Alejandro Dolina | Tangos del Bar del Infierno | Also used as the opening theme for his radio show La Venganza Será Terrible. |
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Sheff 2000, p. 191.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 555.
- ^ Pollack.
- ^ Snopes.com 2009, pp. 1.
- ^ Lewisohn 1988, pp. 184–185.
- ^ MacDonald 2005, p. 365.
[edit] References
- Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books. ISBN 0-517-57066-1.
- MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (Second Revised Edition ed.). London: Pimlico (Rand). ISBN 1-844-13828-3.
- Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt & Company. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6.
- Pollack, Alan W. "Notes on "Because"". Notes on ... Series. http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/b4.shtml.
- Sheff, David (2000). All We Are Saying. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-25464-4.
- "Because". Snopes.com. 2009. http://www.snopes.com/music/songs/because.asp. Retrieved 06 June 2009.
