Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey

"Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey"
Song by The Beatles from the album The Beatles
Released	22 November 1968
Recorded	27 June 1968
Genre	Hard rock
Length	2:24
Label	Apple Records
Writer	Lennon–McCartney
Producer	George Martin
The Beatles track listing
30 tracks Side one "Back in the U.S.S.R." "Dear Prudence" "Glass Onion" "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" "Wild Honey Pie" "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" Side two "Martha My Dear" "I'm So Tired" "Blackbird" "Piggies" "Rocky Raccoon" "Don't Pass Me By" "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" "I Will" "Julia" Side three "Birthday" "Yer Blues" "Mother Nature's Son" "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey" "Sexy Sadie" "Helter Skelter" "Long, Long, Long" Side four "Revolution 1" "Honey Pie" "Savoy Truffle" "Cry Baby Cry" "Revolution 9" "Good Night"

"Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey" is a song written by John Lennon (credited to Lennon–McCartney) and performed by The Beatles on their 1968 album The Beatles, also known as "The White Album".

Origins

In 1980, Lennon said: "That was just a sort of nice line that I made into a song. It was about me and Yoko. Everybody seemed to be paranoid except for us two, who were in the glow of love. Everything is clear and open when you're in love. Everybody was sort of tense around us: You know, 'What is she doing here at the session? Why is she with him?' All this sort of madness is going on around us because we just happened to want to be together all the time."

George Harrison said that the first part of song's title originated from a quote by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, however, as for the "... except me and my monkey" part, he attested that he did not "know where that came from" though McCartney believes it was a reference to Lennon's heroin habit.

Recording

An unreleased demo of the song, recorded in George Harrison's Esher home in May 1968, features all-acoustic instrumentation, and a vocal sung an octave lower than the released version. The released version of the song was recorded at Abbey Road Studios on 27 June 1968, and an overdub session on 1 July.

Personnel

• John Lennon – vocal, rhythm guitar, percussion, handclaps
• Paul McCartney – backing vocal, bass guitar, bell, percussion, handclaps
• George Harrison – backing vocal, lead guitar, percussion, handclaps
• Ringo Starr – drums, percussion, handclaps

Personnel per Ian MacDonald except as noted.

Cover versions

• Fats Domino covered the song in 1970, which reportedly pleased Lennon, a long-time fan of Domino's.^{[citation needed]}
• The Latin music group Orchestra Harlow, led by pianist Larry Harlow, covered the song on his 1969 album Me and My Monkey (Mi Mono y Yo).
• Ramsey Lewis included an instrumental version of the song on his 1968 album Mother Nature's Son.
• The American rock group the Feelies also covered the song on their 1980 debut album, Crazy Rhythms.
• Soundgarden covered the song during a 1989 John Peel session during which they also covered a Sly and the Family Stone song.
• Phish covered the song when they played the entire album on Halloween 1994, which they released as Live Phish Volume 13.
• Beatallica covered the song as "Everybody's Got a Ticket to Ride Except for Me and My Lightning", which combines the titles of this song, "Ticket to Ride", and the Metallica song "Ride the Lightning".
• Kristin Hersh covered this song on her 1999 Echo EP, which was released in conjunction with her third solo album, Sky Motel.
• The Trews have covered this song during many of their live sets.
• 60ft Dolls put a live cover of the song on track two of their 'Happy Shopper' CD Single in 1996.
• Hoodoo Gurus covered the song for an Australian radio performance and released it on Bite the Bullet in 1998.
• Dr. Sin made a version for the song in the project "White Album 40 years", 2008.
• My Brightest Diamond covered the song for The White Album: Revisited, a CD of cover versions from The Beatles, given away free with Mojo magazine in the UK in late 2008.
• The British post-punk band The Chameleons recorded a medley of the song with Tomorrow Never Knows, though it was listed simply as "Tomorrow Never Knows". It was included on the reissue of their 1986 album Strange Times.

References

• Emerick, Geoff; Massey, Howard (2006). Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles. New York: Penguin Books. ISBN 1-592-40179-1. 
• 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 ed.). London: Pimlico (Rand). ISBN 1-844-13828-3. 
• Sheff, David (2000). All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-25464-4. 

External links

• Alan W. Pollack's analysis of the song
• The Beatles Bible: Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey