Revolution 9
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| "Revolution 9" | ||
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| Song by The Beatles | ||
| Album | The Beatles | |
| Released | 22 November 1968 | |
| Recorded | Abbey Road Studios May–June 1968 |
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| Genre | Musique concrète, avant-garde | |
| Length | 8:22 | |
| Label | Apple Records | |
| Writer | Lennon/McCartney | |
| Producer | George Martin | |
| The Beatles track listing | ||
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Side one
Side two
Side three
Side four
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| Audio sample | ||
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"Revolution 9" is a recorded composition that appeared on The Beatles' 1968 self-titled LP release.
The recording began as an extended ending to the album version of "Revolution", to which were added vocal and music sound clips, tape loops, reverse sound/music and sound effects influenced by the musique concrète styles of Karlheinz Stockhausen, Edgard Varèse, Luigi Nono, and John Cage[citation needed], further manipulated with editing and sound modification techniques (stereo panning and fading). At over eight minutes, it is the longest track on the album, as well as the longest Beatles track ever officially released, excluding the unreleased track "Carnival of Light" (which clocks in at 13 minutes, 48 seconds), which is said to carry avant-garde influences as well.
The work is credited to Lennon/McCartney, but Paul McCartney did not actively participate in the track's creation. In actuality, "Revolution 9" was primarily the work of John Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, although Yoko Ono made small contributions (and, perhaps more importantly, her avant-garde influence on Lennon's compositional style is clear throughout the work.)
Believing the track to be too uncommercial for even the Beatles to get away with, McCartney and producer George Martin fought hard to keep the track off the The Beatles, but Lennon and Ono won out, and the track was included as the penultimate track of the album's fourth (and final) side.
Contents |
[edit] Structure and content
"Revolution 9" starts with a conversation between George Martin and Alistair Taylor:
- Alistair Taylor: ...bottle of Claret for you if I'd realised. I'd forgotten all about it, George, I'm sorry.
- George Martin: Well, do next time.
- Taylor: Will you forgive me?
- Martin: Mmmm...yes....
- Taylor: Cheeky bitch.
(Although this conversation is usually known to be the beginning of "Revolution 9," the time tracking from the CD indicates it as the tail end of the previous track, "Cry Baby Cry," following Paul's short solo song "Can You Take Me Back.")
After a brief piano introduction, a loop of a man repeating the words "number nine" (taken from an EMI examination tape) begins to be heard. This phrase fades in and out throughout the recording as a motif. Then there is chaos: feedback, impromptu screaming, rehearsed overdubs, and more tape loops.
As some portions of "Revolution 9" are recordings of other music (from bits of Sibelius, Schumann's "Carnaval" and Beethoven, to a backward snippet of a tuning orchestra, culled from the session tapes for A Day in the Life), the piece can be seen as an early example of sampling. Other audio elements include various bits of apparently nonsensical dialogue spoken by Lennon and Harrison, various found sounds, reversed sounds and recordings of American football chants. Also heard is the "all right" from the end of Revolution 1 (this piece was supposed to be the coda to Revolution 1 but was pushed back to several tracks after it). Also at 6:48 you can hear what seems to be the intro to Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" played much faster on piano.
[edit] Backmasking
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"Revolution 9" played an important part in the infamous "Paul is dead" controversy. Most notably, the repeated "number nine" played backwards can be heard as "Turn me on, dead man." Various snippets of speech included in the recording were heard as hints left by the band about Paul's alleged death.
[edit] Charles Manson
During the course of the Tate/LaBianca murder investigation, Manson Family member Paul Watkins related to Los Angeles District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi Charles Manson's belief that "Revolution 9" was a reference to Revelation 9, a book in the Bible that speaks of apocalypse and prophecy. He believed the Beatles were speaking to him through this piece, and he drew many odd interpretations from the lyrics.
It was also the battle of Armageddon, the coming black-white revolution portrayed in sound, Manson claimed. According to Poston: 'When Charlie was listening to it, he heard in the background noise, in and around the machine gun fire and the oinking of pigs, a man's voice saying "Rise"' (it is first heard 2 minutes and 34 seconds into the track, just after the crowd sounds that follow 'lots of stab wounds as it were' and 'informed him on the third night' and just before 'Number 9, Number 9'). This is actually Lennon saying "RIGHT!", as in "ALL RIGHT!"
In his own statements, Charles Manson has repeatedly denied Bugliosi's assertions that The Beatles influenced his philosophy. He has acknowledged that the "kids" in his camp were fond of The Beatles, but Manson himself was never a fan. He has claimed his tastes were more toward the likes of Hank Williams and other beer hall balladeers from the late '50s and early '60s.
[edit] Personnel
- John Lennon – tape loops, spoken vocals, effects
- George Harrison – tape loops, spoken vocals, effects
- Yoko Ono – tape loops, spoken vocals, effects
Additional spoken parts from George Martin and Ringo Starr are present, along with selected piano outtakes that sound as if they were lifted from either Honey Pie or Martha My Dear, both written and played by Paul McCartney.
[edit] Cover versions
During a concert on 31 October 1994, Phish played all the songs from The Beatles (except "Good Night") as one of the band's "Halloween musical costume" extravaganzas. The show has been released in its entirety as Live Phish Volume 13. Phish's version was more into parody and humor.
In 1996, Australian dance rock band Def FX led by celebrity witch Fiona Horne recorded a version of "Revolution 9" for their album Majick. It is done in a techno dance style with a whole different mish-mash of sound effects and sampled vocals from Fiona and keyboard player Sean Lowry.
In 2008, the contemporary classical chamber ensemble Alarm Will Sound performed an orchestral arrangement of "Revolution 9" as part of the Bang on a Can summer marathon in New York City.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- A minute-by-minute piece summary
- Revolution 9 detailed analysis
- A recording of Revolution 9 played backwards
- Alan W. Pollack's song notes
- The Beatles Bible: Revolution 9
- Manson and The Beatles
- Is Paul Dead? Turn me on dead man! The Original Radio Show
