Friday, January 23, 2009

Revolution

Two versions of this Lennon composition (written in India) were recorded. The slower version, featured on The White Album, was recorded on May 30, 31 and June 4 and 21, 1968. Paul and George believed the song should be much faster (and Paul did not believe that the Beatles should be making overt political statements). For the single, a faster version was recorded on July 10, 11, and 12, 1968. Most accounts say that Lennon recorded his vocal on the floor (some say he was too stoned at the time, although other accounts disagree as to the reason for his horizontal position). The heavy distortion on the guitar was accomplished by overloading one of the amps since the desired sound could not be accomplished through guitar settings on Lennon's Epiphone Casino and peddles in those days were not nearly as sophisticated as those now in use.

McCartney played bass; Starr drums; Harrison rhythm guitar, Lennon lead guitar and lead vocal; McCartney and Harrison do background vocals. A promotional film of the song's faster version was made and used in Anthology.

An interesting Beatle fact is that when rights to the Beatles catalog was lost in the late 1980s, the remaining Beatles were very dissatisfied when Nike shoes used the song on a television commercial.

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