Paperback Writer

"Paperback Writer"
US single sleeve
Single by The Beatles
B-side	"Rain"
Released	30 May 1966 (US) 10 June 1966 (UK)
Format	7"
Recorded	13 & 14 April 1966 EMI Studios, London
Genre	Hard rock, power pop
Length	2:18 (stereo version) 2:26 (mono single version)
Label	Parlophone R5452 (UK) Capitol 5651 (US)
Writer(s)	Lennon–McCartney
Producer	George Martin
Certification	Gold (RIAA)
The Beatles singles chronology
"We Can Work It Out" / "Day Tripper" (UK-1965) — "Nowhere Man" (US-1966) "Paperback Writer" / "Rain" (1966) "Eleanor Rigby" / "Yellow Submarine" (1966)

"Paperback Writer" is a 1966 song recorded and released by the Beatles. Written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon (credited to Lennon–McCartney), the song was released as the A-side of their eleventh single. The single went to the number one spot in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, West Germany, Australia, New Zealand and Norway. On the US Billboard Hot 100, the song was at number one for two non-consecutive weeks, being interrupted by Frank Sinatra's "Strangers in the Night".

"Paperback Writer" was the last new song by the Beatles to be featured on their final tour in 1966, and was the group's only U.S. number one released that year.

Recording

The track was recorded between 13 April and 14 April 1966.

"Paperback Writer" is marked by the boosted bass guitar sound throughout, partly in response to John Lennon demanding to know why the bass on a certain Wilson Pickett record far exceeded the bass on any Beatles records. This changed with the "Paperback Writer" single.

"'Paperback Writer' was the first time the bass sound had been heard in all its excitement," said Beatles' engineer Geoff Emerick in Mark Lewisohn's book The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions. "Paul played a different bass, a Rickenbacker. Then we boosted it further by using a loudspeaker as a microphone. We positioned it directly in front of the bass speaker and the moving diaphragm of the second speaker made the electric current."

The background vocal harmonies at the beginning of the third chorus are provided by Lennon and George Harrison who sing the title of the French nursery rhyme "Frère Jacques" in several slow incantations. These harmonies occur at a little over one minute into the track.

Emerick stated that the "Paperback Writer" / "Rain" single was cut louder than any other Beatles record up to that time, due to a new piece of equipment used in the mastering process, referred to as "Automatic Transient Overload Control", which was devised by the EMI maintenance department.

Song lyrics

According to disc jockey Jimmy Savile, McCartney wrote the song in response to a request from an aunt who asked if he could "write a single that wasn't about love." Savile said, "With that thought obviously still in his mind, he walked around the room and noticed that Ringo was reading a book. He took one look and announced that he would write a song about a book." In a 2007 interview, McCartney recalled that he started writing the song after reading in the Daily Mail about an aspiring author, possibly Martin Amis. The Daily Mail was Lennon's regular newspaper and copies were in Lennon's Weybridge home when Lennon and McCartney were writing songs.

The song's lyrics are in the form of a letter from an aspiring author addressed to a publisher. The author badly needs a job and has written a paperback version of a book by a "man named Lear." This is a reference to the Victorian painter Edward Lear, who wrote nonsense poems and songs of which Lennon was very fond (though Lear never wrote novels).

Aside from deviating from the subject of love, McCartney had it in mind to write a song with a melody backed by a single, static chord. "John and I would like to do songs with just one note like 'Long Tall Sally.' We got near it in 'The Word.'" McCartney claimed to have barely failed to achieve this goal with "Paperback Writer," as the verse remains on G until the end, at which point it pauses on C. The backing vocals during this section are from the French children's song "Frère Jacques".

Promotion

In Britain, the single was promoted with a photograph depicting the Beatles draped with joints of raw meat and decapitated baby dolls. This same photograph was later used, albeit briefly, as an album cover in the USA, which has become known as the butcher cover.

For the American release of the single, the cover depicted the Beatles playing live, but with Lennon and Harrison's images reflected so that it appeared they were playing left-handedly. (See the image at the top of the page).

The promotional film for the song, one of the first of its type, shot amongst ornate garden statuary, was directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, who went on to direct the Beatles' final film, the documentary Let It Be.

Personnel

There is some dispute over who played what on "Paperback Writer". In the November 2005 issue of Guitar Player magazine, Paul McCartney claims to have played the song's famous opening riff on his Epiphone Casino guitar, and photos from the song's session seem to verify this claim. McCartney is also widely credited for the song's iconic bass line, but photos from the session show George Harrison playing a Burns Nu-Sonic bass, not an electric guitar. Whether or not Harrison recorded a bass line for "Paperback Writer" that was later removed and retracked by McCartney remains unclear. On page 74 of The Beatles Recording Sessions is a photograph of a session note by Phil McDonald. The note shows that Harrison and Lennon were on guitars and McCartney was on bass.

• Paul McCartney – lead vocal, bass guitar*
• John Lennon – backing vocal, rhythm guitar
• George Harrison – backing vocal, lead guitar*
• Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine

Personnel per Ian MacDonald

• It is unknown, for certain, if McCartney played the bass or the lead guitar or if Harrison played lead guitar or bass.

Release

Country	Title
US	"Paperback Writer" b/w "Rain" Label: Capitol 5651 Released: 30 May 1966 Format: single
UK	"Paperback Writer" b/w "Rain" Label: Parlophone R 5452 Released: 10 June 1966 Format: single
UK	A Collection of Beatles Oldies... but Goldies Label: Parlophone R 5452 Released: 9 December 1966 Format: LP
US	Hey Jude Label: Apple SW-385 Released: 26 February 1970 Format: LP

"Paperback Writer" appears on subsequent re-releases including 1962–1966 (1973), a re-released single (1976), Past Masters, Volume Two (1988), and 1 (2000). The single was later released part of a Record Store Day reissue in 2010.

Promotional films

Michael Lindsay-Hogg directed four promotional films for the song shot on 19 and 20 May 1966. On the first day they recorded a colour performance at Abbey Road, for The Ed Sullivan Show, which was shown on 5 June, and two black and white performance clips for British television. These were shown on Ready Steady Go! and Thank Your Lucky Stars on 3 June and 25 June, respectively.

On 20 May, another colour film was made at Chiswick House in west London. The Beatles mimed to the song, and they were shown in and around the conservatory in the grounds of the house. The clip was first broadcast in black and white on BBC-TV's Top of the Pops on 2 June. The Beatles made their only live appearance on Top of the Pops to mime to "Paperback Writer" and "Rain". They were introduced by DJ Pete Murray. This session is famous for being wiped by the BBC when they were cleaning tapes for re-use. The session showed how difficult it was for the Beatles to even mime to their later material - they had difficulty in taking their performance seriously.^{[citation needed]}

Cover versions

• Tempest covered the song on their 1974 album Living in Fear.
• Kris Kristofferson recorded a version of the song for the 1995 Beatles tribute album Come Together: America Salutes The Beatles.
• Sweet covered the song on the 2004 re-release of their debut album Funny How Sweet Co-Co Can Be.
• Eric Johnson covered the song on his Internet release Souvenir.
• Les Fradkin recorded an instrumental version for his 2005 album While My Guitar Only Plays.
• The Cowsills recorded the song for their 1969 live album The Cowsills in Concert.
• ApologetiX parodied the song as "David & Goliath" on their debut album.
• The Bastard Sons of Dioniso covered the song on their 2007 album Even Lemmy sometimes sleeps.
• The Bee Gees recorded the song in 1966 in Australia. It was first released on the album Inception/Nostalgia in 1970.

References

• Aldridge, Alan, ed. (1990). The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics. Boston: Houghton Mifflin / Seymour Lawrence. ISBN 0-395-59426-X. 
• Ayoub, Chuck (2008). "Paperback Writer Lyrics". Retrieved 5 March 2008. 
• Colapinto, John (4 June 2007). "When I'm Sixty-Four". The New Yorker. Retrieved 24 February 2012. (subscription required)
• Emerick, Geoff (2006). Here, There and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles. New York: Gotham (Penguin). ISBN 978-1-59240-269-4. 
• Fontenot, Robert (2008). "Paperback Writer". About.com. Retrieved 8 March 2008. 
• 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 1-84413-828-3. 
• Sheff, David (2000). All We Are Saying. St Martin's Griffin. ISBN 0-312-25464-4. 
• "Paperback Writer". The Beatles Bible. 2008. Retrieved 11 October 2008. 
• Pollack, Alan (22 December 1993). "Notes on "Paperback Writer" and "Rain"". Notes On ... Series. 
• "RIAA Gold & Platinum Searchable Database - The Beatles Gold Singles". RIAA. 2009. Retrieved 20 July 2009. 
• Turner, Steve (2005). A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song (3rd ed.). New York: Harper Paperbacks. ISBN 0-06-084409-4. 

Preceded by "Strangers in the Night" by Frank Sinatra	UK number-one single 23–30 June 1966	Succeeded by "Sunny Afternoon" by The Kinks
Preceded by "Paint It, Black" by The Rolling Stones	Billboard Hot 100 number-one single 25 June 1966 9 July 1966	Succeeded by "Strangers in the Night" by Frank Sinatra