Piggies
| "Piggies" | |
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| Song |
Template:Two other uses "Piggies" is a Beatles song from double-disc album The Beatles (also known as The White Album). It was written by George Harrison, and it features a Baroque-style harpsichord and string quartet — which take an unexpected turn at one point playing a blues riff. As the lyrics suggest, it is a social commentary about class and corporate greed.
Harrison's mother provided the line "What they need's a damn good whacking",[1] and Lennon contributed with the line "clutching forks and knives to eat their bacon"[citation needed] although he takes no composing credit. The original lyrics read "to cut their pork chops"[citation needed] Lennon does not perform on the track although he did create the tape loop for the pig noises that were sampled for this song. Chris Thomas (producing in George Martin's absence on some of the 'White Album' sessions) played the harpisichord part.
"Piggies" is sandwiched between two other songs with animals in their titles ("Blackbird" and "Rocky Raccoon"). This was a deliberate decision on the part of Lennon and McCartney while preparing the sequencing of the songs for the album.[citation needed]
Trivia
There was an additional verse written for the song in 1968 but omitted during the actual recording. It involved the "piggies" playing "piggy pranks" in order to achieve its rhyming couplet of "piggy banks". Harrison reinstated this verse in all live performances of the song in the 1990s. A version can be heard on his double album 'Live in Japan'.
Misinterpretations
Though Harrison intended the song as social commentary, it was often misinterpreted as an anti-police anthem. Charles Manson, misinterpreted many of the songs from The White Album to justify his murders, and took the phrase, "what they need's a damn good whacking", to mean that he should attack the American police. During the murders of Sharon Tate, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca and others, knives and forks were used to stab them because these utensils were mentioned in the song. The words 'pig' and 'piggy' were written with the victims' blood on the walls. Harrison was horrified when he learned his song was interpreted in this way.
Notes
- ^ Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison; Joshua M. Greene; Bantam Books; 2006
