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"The End" was initially intended to be the final track on ''Abbey Road'', but it is followed by "[[Her Majesty (song)|Her Majesty]]". In the first practice mix of the medley, constructed on 30 July, "Her Majesty" followed "[[Mean Mr. Mustard]]" (on the released version of the album, "Her Majesty" begins with the excised final chord of "Mean Mr. Mustard"). According to [[audio engineering|sound engineer]] John Kurlander, McCartney said, "I don't like 'Her Majesty,' throw it away." Kurlander cut it out, but said, "I'd been told never to throw anything away, so after he left I picked it up off the floor, put about 20 seconds of red leader tape before it, and stuck it onto the end of the edit tape." When McCartney heard "Her Majesty" in its new position he liked it and decided that it should remain on the album.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=183}}
"The End" was initially intended to be the final track on ''Abbey Road'', but it is followed by "[[Her Majesty (song)|Her Majesty]]". In the first practice mix of the medley, constructed on 30 July, "Her Majesty" followed "[[Mean Mr. Mustard]]" (on the released version of the album, "Her Majesty" begins with the excised final chord of "Mean Mr. Mustard"). According to [[audio engineering|sound engineer]] John Kurlander, McCartney said, "I don't like 'Her Majesty,' throw it away." Kurlander cut it out, but said, "I'd been told never to throw anything away, so after he left I picked it up off the floor, put about 20 seconds of red leader tape before it, and stuck it onto the end of the edit tape." When McCartney heard "Her Majesty" in its new position he liked it and decided that it should remain on the album.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1988|p=183}}


==Musical Structure==
The song is initially in A key, with an initial I-IV-II-V-I structure matching the vocals on "Oh, yeah, All right!" This is followed by a #ivdim-I pattern (D#dim chord to A chord) on "dreams tonight." During this, the accompanying bass and one guitar move chromatically from A to B and D#, while the second guitar harmonises a minor third higher to reach F#.<ref>Dominic Pedler. The Songwriting Secrets of the Beatles. Music Sales Limited. Omnibus Press. NY. 2003. pp392-394</ref> The sequential three guitar solos rotate through I7 (A7 chord)-IV7 (D7 chord) changes in the key of A in a mix of "major and minor pentatonic scales with slides, doublestops, repeated notes, low-bass string runs and wailing bends".<ref>Dominic Pedler. The Songwriting Secrets of the Beatles. Music Sales Limited. Omnibus Press. NY. 2003. p669</ref> The final "Ah" is in C with a spiritually evocative Plagal cadence IV-I (F-C chord) on piano while the voices do an F to E shift.<ref>Dominic Pedler. The Songwriting Secrets of the Beatles. Music Sales Limited. Omnibus Press. NY. 2003. p33</ref> "And in the end the love you take" is in A major, but the G/A chord supporting the word "love" begins to dissolve our certainty that we are in A, by adding a ♭VII. The next line shifts us to the fresh key of C, with a iv (F) chord that threatens the dominance of the departing A key's F#: "Is eq-ual" (supported successively by iv (F) -iii (Em) chords with an A-G bass line) "to the love" (supported successively by ii (Dm) vi (Am) ii7 (Dm7) chords with a F-E bass line) "you make" (supported by a V7 (G7) chord).<ref>Dominic Pedler. The Songwriting Secrets of the Beatles. Music Sales Limited. Omnibus Press. NY. 2003. pp669-670</ref> The final bars in the key of C involve a I-II-♭III rock-type progression and a IV-I soothing cadence that appear to instinctively reconcile different musical genres.<ref>Dominic Pedler. The Songwriting Secrets of the Beatles. Music Sales Limited. Omnibus Press. NY. 2003. p671</ref>
==Reception==
==Reception==
[[Richie Unterberger]] of [[Allmusic]] considered "The End" to be "the group's take on the improvised jamming common to heavy rock of the late '60s, though as usual The Beatles did it with far more economic precision than anyone else."{{sfn|Unterberger|2007}} John Mendelsohn of ''Rolling Stone'' said it was "a perfect epitaph for our visit to the world of Beatle daydreams: "The love you take is equal to the love you make."{{sfn|Mendelsohn|1969}}.
[[Richie Unterberger]] of [[Allmusic]] considered "The End" to be "the group's take on the improvised jamming common to heavy rock of the late '60s, though as usual The Beatles did it with far more economic precision than anyone else."{{sfn|Unterberger|2007}} John Mendelsohn of ''Rolling Stone'' said it was "a perfect epitaph for our visit to the world of Beatle daydreams: "The love you take is equal to the love you make."{{sfn|Mendelsohn|1969}}.

Revision as of 06:19, 30 December 2011

"The End"
Song

"The End" is a song by The Beatles composed by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon–McCartney) for the album Abbey Road. It was the last song recorded collectively by all four Beatles,[1] and is the final song of the medley that dominates side two of the LP version of the album.

Composition and recording

McCartney said, "I wanted [the medley] to end with a little meaningful couplet, so I followed the Bard and wrote a couplet."[2] In his 1980 interview with Playboy, John Lennon acknowledged McCartney's authorship by saying, "That's Paul again ... He had a line in it, 'And in the end, the love you get is equal to the love you give,' which is a very cosmic, philosophical line. Which again proves that if he wants to, he can think."[3] Lennon misquoted the line; the actual words are, "And, in the end, the love you take/ Is equal to the love you make."[4]

Recording began on 23 July 1969, when the Beatles recorded a one-minute, thirty-second master take that was extended via overdubs to two minutes and five seconds. At this point, the song was called "Ending."[5] The first vocals for the song were added on 5 August, additional vocals and guitar overdubs were added on 7 August, and bass and drums on 8 August, the day the Abbey Road cover picture was taken.[6] Orchestral overdubs were added 15 August, and the closing piano and accompanying vocal on 18 August.[7]

All four Beatles have a solo in "The End", including a Ringo Starr drum solo. Starr disliked solos; he preferred to cater drumwork to whoever sang in a particular performance.[8] The take in which he performed the solo originally had guitar and tambourine accompaniment,[5] but other instruments were muted during mixing giving the effect of a drum solo. The additional instruments were restored for a remix on the Anthology 3 compilation album.[9] The drum solo was also later used at the beginning of "Get Back" on the 2006 album Love.

McCartney, Harrison, and Lennon perform a rotating sequence of three, two-bar guitar solos.[1][10] The solos begin approximately 53 seconds into the song and end just before the final piano part. Lennon described it in his 1970 interview with Rolling Stone: "There's a nice little bit I played on Abbey Road. Paul gave us each a piece, a little break where Paul plays, George plays and I play."[11] The first two bars are played by McCartney, the second two by Harrison, and the third two by Lennon, then the sequence repeats.[1] Each has a distinctive style which McCartney felt reflected their personalities: McCartney's playing included string bends similar to his lead guitar work on "Another Girl" from the Help! album and the stinging style he had first perfected on "Taxman" from Revolver; Harrison's solo incorporated the melodic yet technically advanced slides that were becoming his trademark; lastly Lennon's contribution was rhythmic, snarling, and had the heaviest distortion, echoing his lead work in Revolution. Immediately after Lennon's third solo, the piano chords of the final line "And in the end..." begin. Then the orchestration arrangement takes over with a humming chorus and Harrison playing a final guitar solo that ends the song.

"The End" was initially intended to be the final track on Abbey Road, but it is followed by "Her Majesty". In the first practice mix of the medley, constructed on 30 July, "Her Majesty" followed "Mean Mr. Mustard" (on the released version of the album, "Her Majesty" begins with the excised final chord of "Mean Mr. Mustard"). According to sound engineer John Kurlander, McCartney said, "I don't like 'Her Majesty,' throw it away." Kurlander cut it out, but said, "I'd been told never to throw anything away, so after he left I picked it up off the floor, put about 20 seconds of red leader tape before it, and stuck it onto the end of the edit tape." When McCartney heard "Her Majesty" in its new position he liked it and decided that it should remain on the album.[12]

Musical Structure

The song is initially in A key, with an initial I-IV-II-V-I structure matching the vocals on "Oh, yeah, All right!" This is followed by a #ivdim-I pattern (D#dim chord to A chord) on "dreams tonight." During this, the accompanying bass and one guitar move chromatically from A to B and D#, while the second guitar harmonises a minor third higher to reach F#.[13] The sequential three guitar solos rotate through I7 (A7 chord)-IV7 (D7 chord) changes in the key of A in a mix of "major and minor pentatonic scales with slides, doublestops, repeated notes, low-bass string runs and wailing bends".[14] The final "Ah" is in C with a spiritually evocative Plagal cadence IV-I (F-C chord) on piano while the voices do an F to E shift.[15] "And in the end the love you take" is in A major, but the G/A chord supporting the word "love" begins to dissolve our certainty that we are in A, by adding a ♭VII. The next line shifts us to the fresh key of C, with a iv (F) chord that threatens the dominance of the departing A key's F#: "Is eq-ual" (supported successively by iv (F) -iii (Em) chords with an A-G bass line) "to the love" (supported successively by ii (Dm) vi (Am) ii7 (Dm7) chords with a F-E bass line) "you make" (supported by a V7 (G7) chord).[16] The final bars in the key of C involve a I-II-♭III rock-type progression and a IV-I soothing cadence that appear to instinctively reconcile different musical genres.[17]

Reception

Richie Unterberger of Allmusic considered "The End" to be "the group's take on the improvised jamming common to heavy rock of the late '60s, though as usual The Beatles did it with far more economic precision than anyone else."[18] John Mendelsohn of Rolling Stone said it was "a perfect epitaph for our visit to the world of Beatle daydreams: "The love you take is equal to the love you make."[19].

Other versions

McCartney's second guitar solo, Lennon's last guitar solo and the drum solo were used in the intro to "Get Back" in the Beatles' Love.

Personnel

Personnel above per Ian MacDonald[1]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d MacDonald 2005, p. 361.
  2. ^ Miles 1997, p. 558.
  3. ^ Sheff 2000, p. 204.
  4. ^ Hal Leonard 1993, pp. 252–253.
  5. ^ a b Lewisohn 1988, p. 181.
  6. ^ Lewisohn 1988, pp. 185–186.
  7. ^ a b Lewisohn 1988, p. 190.
  8. ^ Larry King Show 2007.
  9. ^ Apple Records 1996.
  10. ^ The Beatles 2000, p. 337.
  11. ^ Wenner 2000, p. 22.
  12. ^ Lewisohn 1988, p. 183.
  13. ^ Dominic Pedler. The Songwriting Secrets of the Beatles. Music Sales Limited. Omnibus Press. NY. 2003. pp392-394
  14. ^ Dominic Pedler. The Songwriting Secrets of the Beatles. Music Sales Limited. Omnibus Press. NY. 2003. p669
  15. ^ Dominic Pedler. The Songwriting Secrets of the Beatles. Music Sales Limited. Omnibus Press. NY. 2003. p33
  16. ^ Dominic Pedler. The Songwriting Secrets of the Beatles. Music Sales Limited. Omnibus Press. NY. 2003. pp669-670
  17. ^ Dominic Pedler. The Songwriting Secrets of the Beatles. Music Sales Limited. Omnibus Press. NY. 2003. p671
  18. ^ Unterberger 2007.
  19. ^ Mendelsohn 1969.
  20. ^ Search

References

  • Anthology 3 (Media notes). London: Apple Records. 1996. {{cite AV media notes}}: |format= requires |url= (help); Unknown parameter |albumlink= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |bandname= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |publisherid= ignored (help)
  • The Beatles (2000). The Beatles Anthology. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. ISBN 0-8118-2684-8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • The Beatles - Complete Scores. Milwaukee: Hal Leonard Publishing Corporation. 1993. ISBN 0-7935-1832-6.
  • "Interview Transcript". Larry King Show. 26 June 2007. Retrieved 25 April 2009.
  • Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books. ISBN 0-517-57066-1. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (Second Revised ed.). London: Pimlico (Rand). ISBN 1-844-13828-3. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Mendelsohn, John (15 November 1969). "Review of Abbey Road". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 1 March 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt & Company. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • 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. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  • Unterberger, Richie (2007). "Review of "The End"". Allmusic. Retrieved 1 March 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: ref duplicates default (link)
  • Wenner, Jann S (2000). Lennon Remembers (Full interview from Lennon's 1970 interview in Rolling Stone magazine). London: Verso. ISBN 1-85984-600-9. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
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