Although ‘Abbey Road’ was released before ‘Let it Be’, the truth is that it was recorded after that one. That means that ‘Abbey Road’ was, in fact, the last album the Beatles recorded, and it was recorded after those hard recording sessions of ‘Let it Be’, those sessions in which the Beatles were arguing all the time, specially Lennon and McCartney, and also Harrison and McCartney. For ‘Let it Be’, they thought about going back to their early years style, a rock and roll album, without orchestra or weird instruments to play with. The name of that album, because of that reason, it was going to be ‘Get back’, but at the end, ‘Get back’ became just a song and a single, and the album was called ‘Let it Be’. In the middle of rough arguments, Harrison thought about recording the album in the roof of the studios. It didn’t work, the feelings were the same. They Beatles were dying, slowly dying (and that’s why The Rolling Stones released their ‘Let it Bleed’ album).

They finished recording lots of bits of songs, and gave to their producer, George Martin, the tapes. He declined to make an album from all that mess, so ‘Let it Be’ became the only album released by the Beatles not produced by George Martin, the fifth Beatle. It was this little weird guy, Phil Spector, who produced it. But, before Spector took those tapes and decided to produce an album, there was a contract. The Beatles needed a new album to release, and that’s the reason why they joined again, at Abbey Road Studios, in London, to record a new album, probably their best one, probably knowing it was going to be their last one as well. Martin told them the way to record it, just like as usual, with every one knowing what the rest ones were doing, and doing it right. Years after, every Beatle member would agree in the good feelings around those abbey road sessions. They knew, as I said, it was going to be their last album, and they were working together, doing their best. The results, just excellent, resulting the best album I’ve ever heard in my life, and I mean the best album, not only the best album by The Beatles.

Not all the members were involved in every song. I’ve read there were lots of days in which some of the members wouldn’t appear at the studios. The last time the Beatles were together, trying to finish some song from this album, Lennon wasn’t there. But when they were together, every thing was fine with every one.

When the album was in the production part, they decided to let ‘The End’ to be the last song, as a goodbye, but at the end, not included in the credits of the album (and I’m talking about the original album, the one they released in 1969, not the compact discs you can find theses days), there’s a last song, just a few seconds of McCartney singing a nice tune with his acoustic guitar. Anyway, in 1970 ‘Let it Be’ was released, so ‘The End’ would not have been the last song in any way.

For 1968 ‘White Album’ (real name just ‘The Beatles’, but the white cover made every one call it ‘White Album’, even the Beatles themselves) count with Eric Clapton’s collaboration (Harrison’s good close friend, even when he married to Harrison’s ex-wife). For 1969 recording sessions of ‘Let it Be’ (released in 1970) they count with great keyboard and piano player Billy Preston (he’s always been proud of his ‘Get Back’ keyboard solo bit). For ‘Abbey Road’, where just The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. It’s a Beatle album, written by the Beatles, and produced by the fifth Beatle, George Martin. And, again, their best one. It’s also a long album, not specially long, just like 40 minutes, but that was about 10 more minutes than the usual. And with 16 songs, 17 if we include that last one I talked about, the one before ‘The End’, called ‘Her majesty’.

The cover is a classic one. Almost every one must have seen it some time, and it’s also been imitated by others musicians, other bands, like ‘Red Hot Chilli Peppers’, crossing the street naked, or even by The Simpson in some posters. The photograph shows The Beatles crossing a street in a line, with Lennon at the first place, dress in white, Ringo the second one, with black clothes, Paul at the third place, in brown, and following them Harrison, with blue jean clothes. The clothes, and the colour of them, might appear to be useless information, but there was a weird interesting story around those clothes, involving the death of Paul McCartney. The thing is that by that time, last 60’s, some yellow paper wrote something about McCartney’s death, in the middle 60’s. They ‘proved’ this with loads of clues, some of them really amazing. In this cover, there were a few of this clues, the following: McCartney is not wearing shoes, and somehow, this must explain something about his death (something about dead people and naked foot got something to do with mafia, I’ve read). He’s walking with his right leg in front, and his left at the back, just the opposite way the other ones are walking, and this means that he is not a real Beatle (by the way, they said McCartney was replaced by some Canadian guy who looked like him, called William Campbell, and that this Campbell was rejected by the others in ways like the one I just described). Another clue, there’s a car parked with the number plate ‘28IF’, and this means that Paul McCartney would have been 28 years old IF he was alive. Above this ‘28IF’ you can see ‘LMW’, from ‘Linda McCartney Waits’ (and all this, at the number plate of a Beetle car…). There’s a car coming to the point were McCartney is crossing the street, pointing clearly to him, as a representation of McCartney’s car accident (they said he died in a car crash). If you look close to the photograph, you’ll see a mark at McCartney’s head. This was the scar that results from William Campbell’s surgery operation. And, going back to the clothes, Lennon was dressed with a white suit, as the priest of the funeral. Then goes Ringo dress in black (mourning), then McCartney in brown, as the dead buried man, and then Harrison as the undertaker, with normal clothes to bury the dead man. I’m probably missing a few clues, and there plenty more in other covers, and even more at loads of songs, some day I’ll write something about all this, it’s very funny.

And now, lets talk about the important thing, the songs of this album, 17 great songs, some of then mixed with the following, some of them too shorts (‘Her majesty’ lasts just 15 seconds or so). The songs are the following:

1. Come Together (Lennon-McCartney):

This song was penned by Lennon. Weird lyrics and great bass played by McCartney. It’s a rock song, that reminds me to this style, rap, in some parts. The song was very similar to one of Chuck Berry’s hits (‘You can’t catch me’), and Berry’s company sue The Beatles (the truth is that this song has nothing to do with Berry’s, but Lennon used a line that Berry used in his, ‘Here come old flat-top’). Berry would win the sue, and Lennon (because when Berry won The Beatles were already split) had to release Berry’s original song in some of his album (1975’s ‘rock and roll’, exactly). Almost all the song is played in a repetitive D, with B-A-G at the bridge parts. Lennon was, obviously, drugged when he wrote this song. In fact, he was an addict to cocaine and heroin in 1969. Weird lyrics like: “He bag production, he got walrus gumboot, He got Ono sideboard, he one spinal cracker, He got feet down below his knee, Hold you in his armchair you can feel his disease, Come together right now over me”.

Rate: 10/10

2. Something (Harrison)

This is probably the best song George Harrison ever wrote in his life. It’s a love slow song he wrote to his wife, trying to save his relation with her. Though is probably his best song, it didn’t work, and they divorce (Patty Harrison would become Patty Harrison Clapton after that). He wrote during the ‘white Album’ sessions, but it was a bit too late to record it and include it on that album, so he gave it to Joe Cocker, and the following year, the Beatles recorded it. The song is great, very slow and nice, and the bass is marvellous and very important during all the song, but the best part is the guitar solo, by Harrison. Just wonderful, lovely, and perfectly played, with clear notes. I also like in the last part of the song McCartney’s voice, when he joins to sing with Harrison. For me, is the best song penned by Harrison, one the best songs of the Beatles, and maybe the best song from this album (or let say one of the bests ones). “Something in the way she moves, Attracts me like no other lover, Something in the way she woos me, I don't want to leave her now, You know I believe her now”.

Rate: 10/10

3. Maxwell’s Silver Hammer (Lennon-McCartney):

Another song with weird lyrics, but in a different way. This is a very funny song penned by McCartney, in which he sings about a medicine student involved in some murders with his silver hammer. Very funny lyrics for this piano song, in which Mal Evans (The Beatles road manager) played the anvil with a hammer…. As Harrison’s ‘Something’, this track was written during the ‘White Album’ sessions, but, again, the was no time to include it on that album, so the y recorded it and included at this one, ‘Abbey Road’. Lennon didn’t like this song, and he didn’t collaborate much on it. Some lyrics: “Joan was quizzical, studied pataphysical Science in the home, Late nights all alone with a test-tube ohh oh oh oh, Maxwell Edison majoring in medicine, Calls her on the phone, Can I take you out to the pictures, Joan? But as she's getting ready to go a knock comes on the door, Bang, bang, Maxwell's silver hammer came down upon her head, Bang, bang, Maxwell's silver hammer made sure that she was dead”.

Rate: 10/10

4. Oh! Darling (Lennon-McCartney):

Another one penned by Paul, but this one is much better. It’s a love song, one of the best love songs I’ve heard, maybe because is not the typical slow love song. The rhythm is something between slow and fast, becoming much faster at the bridges parts, with Paul playing piano roughly. The guitar riff is excellent, and also the bass, by Paul again. There’s a bootleg including some rehearsals of this song in a different style, more slow, more bluesy, with John Lennon singing some parts and really enjoying it. “Oh! Darling, if you leave me, I'll never make it alone, Believe me when I thank you, ooo, Don't ever leave me alone, When you told me you didn't need me anymore, Well you know I nearly broke down and cried, When you told me you didn't need me anymore, Well you know I nearly broke down and died”.

Rate: 10/10

5. Octopus’s Garden (Richard Starkey):

The only song penned by Ringo in this album, and not one of his bests ones. He walk out the ‘White Album’ sessions, annoyed by some comment Paul made to him. He spent that bight on a yacht owned by Peter Sellers, and there’s were he wrote this track. At ‘Let it Be, the movie’, it can be seen Ringo showing the song to Harrison, and Harrison almost finishing for his drummer friend. It’s a song similar to ‘yellow submarine’, not in the tune, but in the style, a ‘song for kids’ kind, about living under the sea, just ‘Yellow Submarine’ talked about living in a yellow submarine… The best thing of this song are the second voices, the guitar riffs, and the guitar solo, perfectly mixed with Lennon’s and McCartney’s second voices, in a very high tune. A bit of the song: “I'd like to be under the sea, In an octopus's garden in the shade, He'd let us in, knows where we've been, In his octopus's garden in the shade, I'd ask my friends to come and see, An octopus's garden with me, I'd like to be under the sea, In an octopus's garden in the shade”.

Rate: 7/10

6. I Want You (She’s So Heavy) (Lennon-McCartney):

This was the last song of the A-side of the original album, penned by John Lennon. ‘I want you, she’s so heavy’, is almost the only lyrics you’ll hear in this song, very repetitive, getting maybe a bit too bored in some parts, but with a great jazz solo. A song inspired by Yoko Ono. Excellent bass during all the song, and great guitar solo with this jazz style. Not much lyrics to write, but here they go: “want you, I want you so bad, I want you, I want you so bad, It's driving me mad, It's driving me mad”.

Rate: 8/10

7. Here Comes The Sun (Harrison):

Second and last song penned by Harrison in this album (and so, last so, last Harrison’s song recorded by The Beatles, thou ‘I Me Mine’, from ‘Let it Be’ would be the last one released). The song talks about the fact of leaving the band, like the sun coming again to his life. He was one day at the studios, and he got tired and fed up, so he left and went to Eric Clapton’s home. In his garden, sitting at the sun, he wrote this lovely acoustic tune. Great acoustic guitar played by Harrison, with a nice slow beginning, and with McCartney playing second voice well. Some lyrics: “Little darling, it's been a long cold lonely winter, Little darling, it feels like years since it's been here, Here comes the sun, here comes the sun, And I say it's all right”.

Rate: 10/10

8. Because (Lennon-McCartney:

Song penned by John Lennon. Strange lyrics, and a piano tune Lennon wrote before listening his girlfriend, Yoko Ono, playing some tune at their piano, some Beethoven chords (‘Moonlight sonata’). He got that tune, and played in the opposite way, from end to beginning, resulting this ‘Because’. Very interesting way to write a song, and excellent results: a very slow tune, with nine voices. There was a rumour that said that John Lennon recorded those nine voices by his own. The truth is that Lennon, Harrison and McCartney recorded this song, singing together in three different tunes each. Then, George Martin, producing it, play those three voices in three tracks, so he got the sensation of having nine voices singing the song. Here you got some of the lyrics. “Aaaaaahhhhhh..., Because the world is round it turns me on, Because the world is round...aaaaaahhhhhh”.

Rate: 9/10

9. You Never Give Me Your Money (Lennon-McCartney):

Song penned by Paul McCartney. Paul had a few non finished songs, so he put them together and made this one. This means that this songs got different styles, with a piano as main instrument. It starts very slowly with a slow piano tune, and McCartney’s voice, and then gets faster, specially when Harrison’s guitar joined. The whole song, with it different styles, is one of my favourites ever, and not only from this album. I love the voice of McCartney in the last part, the part of ‘one sweet dream’. A bit of the lyrics: “Out of college, money spent, See no future, pay no rent, All the money's gone, nowhere to go, Any jobber got the sack, Monday morning, turning back, Yellow lorry slow, nowhere to go, But oh, that magic feeling, nowhere to go, Oh, that magic feeling, nowhere to go, Nowhere to go”.

Rate: 10/10

10. Sun King (Lennon-McCartney):

Lennon penned this song, which starts with the sound of a cricket, same sound you can hear at the end of the last song, ‘You never give your money’, so both songs are kind of mixed or joined, but by the sound of a cricket, not by any instrument. ‘Sun King’ is a very slow song, also a short one, with a few lines in Italian, in nonsense Italian to be honest. Nice guitar lines through all the song, and also nice bass, played by McCartney. Here some of that Italian: “Aaaaahhhhhhhhhh..., Here comes the sun king, Here comes the sun king, Everybody's laughing, Everybody's happy, Here comes the sun king, Quando paramucho mi amore de felice carathon, Mundo paparazzi mi amore cicce verdi parasol, Questo abrigado tantamucho que canite carousel”. In fact, this lyrics are the whole lyrics of the song. As you see, is not a long song.

Rate: 8/10

11. Mean Mr. Mustard (Lennon-McCartney):

Another song penned by John Lennon, but this one is more a song than the other. ‘Mean Mr. Mustard’ is a rock and roll song, simple, but a great one, and it comes together with the last one, ‘Sun King’, starting this one with some good drums by Ringo. The original name for this song was ‘Mad Man A-coming’, but at the end Lennon Changed it for ‘Mean Mr. Mustard’ (there are some albums with this version of ‘mad man a-coming’, and I’m not sure, but I’d say this version was included in the third ‘Anthology’). Very good rock and roll song, with good drums and good bass. And, again, this song is perfectly join and mix with the next one. But, before talking about the next, a few lines of this one: “Mean Mister Mustard sleeps in the park, Shaves in the dark trying to save paper, Sleeps in a hole in the road, Saving up to buy some clothes, Keeps a ten-bob note up his nose, Such a mean old man, Such a mean old man”.

Rate: 10/10

12. Polythene Pam (Lennon-McCartney):

This is the fourth song of the five ones that are joined together. This one was again written by John Lennon, and is another rock and roll, a song that Lennon sings with his Liverpool accent. Thou is a rock and roll, the main part is with an acoustic, a rough acoustic, and great bass playing very high notes, by great McCartney. The end of the songs consists on a long good electric guitar solo. And again, without stop listening to this song, Ringo’s drums introduce as the next one. In ‘Polythene Pam’, with Liverpool accent, you’ll hear: “Well you should see Polythene Pam, She's so good-looking but she looks like a man, Well you should see her in drag dressed in her polythene bag, Yes you should see Polythene Pam, Yeah yeah yeah”.

Rate: 10/10

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Pictures of Abbey Road - Beatles (The)

Cover

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She Came in Through The Bathroom Window (Lennon-McCartney):

The last of these five songs joined together as one, and probably the longer, because the other ones, specially those three ones written by Lennon, were really short songs. This one, ‘She came in through the bathroom window’, was penned by Paul. For some reason I don’t know, Paul wrote this song with musician Joe Cocker in mind (Cocker even recorded this song too). The lyrics and the title of the song were based on a real life experience Paul had, when some fan of the band broke into Paul’s house through the bathroom window, and stole some photographs and clothes. It’s a slow tune, with nice second voices at the first and third parts of it, and with a great bass played by Paul at the second one, instead of those second voices. “She came in through the bathroom window, Protected by a silver spoon, But now she sucks her thumb and wanders, By the banks of her own lagoon, Didn't anybody tell her?, Didn't anybody see?, Sunday's on the phone to Monday, Tuesday's on the phone to me”.

Rate: 9/10

14. Golden Slumbers (Lennon-McCartney):

Penned by Paul, this song is a very slow piano one. In fact, there’s only that piano and McCartney’s voice in almost all the song, with some drums by Ringo. A short nice song, anther try for Paul to Prove his quality at writing tunes, in the line of ‘Yesterday’ or ‘Here, there and every where’. It was originally an English hymn based on a poem by Thomas Dekker . It’s a short song, and Paul wasn’t about how to finish it, so he did it by joining this one with the next one, another McCartney’s song, ‘Carry that weight’. “Once there was a way to get back homeward, Once there was a way to get back home, Sleep pretty darling do not cry, And I will sing a lullabye, Golden slumbers fill your eyes, Smiles awake you when you rise, Sleep pretty darling do not cry, And I will sing a lullabye”.

Rate: 8/10

15. Carry that weight (Lennon-McCartney):

As I said, this song comes together with the last one, filling the part between both with Ringo’s drums. Both this one and ‘Golden Slumbers’ where recorded the same days as one song, thought the timings are different, being this one much faster. It was sung by all the members of the band, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. There’s a part of the song with the same tune than ‘You Never give me your money’, with just a change in the lyrics. The funny thing about this song you can see at ‘Imagine’, from John Lennon. In that film (documentary) there was a young guy drug who broke into Lennon’s house (his garden) and accused him of writing songs inspiring on his life. Lennon asked him for an example, and he said ‘Carry that weight’, so Lennon answers: ‘well, that’s Paul, go to his house’ (at the end, he would let the guy in, and gave some food to him, there was also George Harrison at Lennon’s that day, having breakfast with that drugged guy). “Boy, you're going to carry that weight, Carry that weight a long time, Boy, you're going to carry that weight, Carry that weight a long time, I never give you my pillow, I only send you my invitation, And in the middle of the celebrations, I break down”.

Rate: 8/10

16. The End (Lennon-McCartney):

Great song this one, with very little lyrics, but very good music, with the four members of the band doing their best, and counting with the second and last Ringo’s drums solo (the first one, was at ‘Birthday’, from ‘The White Album, in 1968). As I said at the beginning of this opinion, this song was meant to be the last of the album, and of the Beatles career, but ‘Her majesty’ happened to be the last song included (in the album, not in the credits of it), and ‘Let it Be’ would happened to be their last album, produced by Phil Spector. Is a fast song, at the beginning, and the solo part, but a slow one in the last verse, a nice one. The end of the songs consists on a long good electric guitar solo, a guitar solo with three different styles, because it was played by Lennon, Harrison, and McCartney, playing short lines and taking turns, and this, just after Ringo’s solo (a shorter one). The whole lyrics of this song are: “Oh yeah, all right, Are you going to be in my dreams tonight? (then goes the drum solo, and then the excellent guitar solos by Lennon, McCartney and Harrison), And in the end, The love you take, Is equal to the love you make”.

Rate: 10/10

17. Her Majesty (Lennon-McCartney):

The shortest song recorded by The Beatles, Penned by Paul McCartney, and consisting on 23 seconds of Paul singing with his acoustic guitar, and that’s it. The reason for this is that Paul used to live really close to abbey road studios, so he was usually the first member to get into the studios, and he usually started recording some things waiting for the rest of the members of the band. One day, waiting for the others, he recorded this short song, that would became the last track of their best album. It was so short, that it wouldn’t appear in the credits of the album, so it would sound by surprise, and after 20 seconds of silence after ‘The End’. The lyrics: “Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl, But she doesn't have a lot to say, Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl, But she changes from day to day, I want to tell her that I love her a lot, But I gotta get a bellyful of wine, Her Majesty's a pretty nice girl, Someday I'm going to make her mine, oh yeah, Someday I'm going to make her mine”.

Rate: 10/10

And that’s it. Seventeen songs, all of them really good ones, much of them great. For lots of Beatles fans, this is their last album, as it was the last one they recorded. The, the following year, ‘Let it Be’ would be released, and it would be, this ‘Let it Be’, the most sold album by this band (every album released by the Beatles would always became the most sold one). The Beatles enjoy recording this album, much more than they would have done recording ‘Let it Be’, and that’s something you can tell by listening to it. After recording this album, the Beatles would split for ever, but, at least, we still have their album, their songs, their music, to enjoy for the rest of our lives…

The only disadvantage I can think about, is the price of this, and the rest of the albums released by The Beatles. At least, this is the situation here in Spain, where the prices of the albums of this band are the most expensives.

The members of the biggest band ever were:

• John Winston Lennon: Main instrument: second guitar
• James Paul McCartney: Main instrument: bass
• George Harrison: Main instrument: Guitar
• Richard Starkey (Ringo): Main instrument: Drums
• George Martin: Producer and fifth Beatle

Thanks for reading this opinion,

Ciao!

BLUESY