Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 12 May 1967
Producer: Paul McCartney
Engineer: Geoff Emerick
Released: 17 January 1969 (UK), 13 January 1969 (US)
Paul McCartney: vocals, acoustic guitar, bass, handclaps
John Lennon: vocals, acoustic guitar, ukulele, harmonica, handclaps
George Harrison: backing vocals, handclaps
Ringo Starr: backing vocals, drums, finger cymbals, handclaps
Available on:
Yellow Submarine
Yellow Submarine Songtrack
A childlike singalong written in the music hall tradition, All Together Now was written in the studio for the Yellow Submarine film.
Paul McCartney came up with the idea for the song and wrote the verses and chorus, while Lennon contributed the 'Sail the ship, chop the tree' middle section.
All Together Now features during an animated sequence in Yellow Submarine, and again towards the end of the film, introduced by The Beatles themselves.
It's really a children's song. I had a few young relatives and I would sing songs for them. I used to do a song for kids called Jumping Round The Room, very similar to All Together Now, and then it would be 'lying on your backs', all the kids would have to lie down, then it would be 'skipping round the room', 'jumping in the air'. It's a play away command song for children. It would be in G, very very simple chords, only a couple of chords, so that's what this is. There's a little subcurrent to it but it's just a singalong really. A bit of a throwaway.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
McCartney was delighted when the song became a popular terrace chant at football matches shortly after its release in early 1969.
Jazz musician Paul Horn remembers him singing it in India; instead of 'H, I, J, I love you', he is said to have sung 'E, F, G, H, I, jai Guru Dev' in honour of Maharishi's spiritual master.
In the studio
The Beatles completed the song in a six-hour session on 12 May 1967. In the absence of George Martin, the song was essentially produced by McCartney with assistance from engineer Geoff Emerick.
It took the group nine takes to get right. They then added a number of overdubs, including ukulele and harmonica, both played by John Lennon.
Ringo is also on backing vocals and Lennon took some lead vocals (as you mentioned it 'Sail the ship, chop the tree')
Thanks for that. All corrections and extra info are always appreciated.
How awesomely catchy is this song?
It's almost embarassing how catchy it it...
Having your friends give you weird looks while you accidently say SAIL THE SHIP CHOP THE TREE
Although Lennon sings the "Sail the ship..." part, that doesn't necessarily mean that he wrote it. Is there any concrete evidence that those lines were his lyrical contribution?
This song bears quite a strange similarity to Beethoven's 13th Sonata (Opus 27) first notes… you can even sing "All together Now" melody along the first few bars of Beethoven's piano… see : http://www.lvbeethoven-music.com/Beethoven-Midi/BunjiHisamori/Sonates/Sonate13_Opus27_1.mid
There's a bicycle horn or something in the mix there as well, that should probably be noted. Joe?
There could well be, but unless I know who played it I'll probably leave it out.
Probably that horn is the plastic sax. Walter Everett confirms this, but didn't mention the player.