Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 26, 27 June; 23 July 1968
Producer: George Martin
Engineers: Geoff Emerick, Ken Scott
Released: 22 November 1968 (UK), 25 November 1968 (US)
John Lennon: vocals, guitar, percussion, handclaps
Paul McCartney: backing vocals, bass, percussion, handclaps
George Harrison: backing vocals, lead guitar, percussion, handclaps
Ringo Starr: drums, percussion, handclaps
Available on:
The Beatles (White Album)
A bridge between the willful nonsense of I Am The Walrus and the confessional songs of his early solo career, Everybody's Got Something To Hide was written by John Lennon about his relationship with Yoko Ono.
That was just a sort of nice line that I made into a song. It was about me and Yoko. Everybody seemed to be paranoid except for us two, who were in the glow of love. Everything is clear and open when you're in love. Everybody was sort of tense around us - you know, 'What is she doing here at the session? Why is she with him?' All this sort of madness is going on around us because we just happened to want to be together all the time.
Rolling Stone, 1980
Although Lennon denied it, the monkey of the title was widely taken to be a reference to heroin, as were the words "The deeper you go the higher you fly". 'A monkey on the back' was a jazz term for heroin addiction thought to have originated in the 1940s.
Lennon and Yoko Ono had begun taking heroin in 1968; they claimed they used it to escape the press interest in their relationship.
He was getting into harder drugs than we'd been into and so his songs were taking on more references to heroin. Until that point we had made rather mild, oblique references to pot or LSD. Now John started talking about fixes and monkeys and it was a harder terminology which the rest of us weren't into. We were disappointed that he was getting into heroin because we didn't really see how we could help him. We just hoped it wouldn't go too far. In actual fact, he did end up clean but this was the period when he was on it. It was a tough period for John, but often that adversity and that craziness can lead to good art, as I think it did in this case.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
In the studio
The Beatles rehearsed the song a number of times before committing it to tape. A demo version recorded at George Harrison's Esher bungalow in May 1968 shows how it started as gently blues-based song, with little hint of the rocker it would become.
Initially known as Untitled, Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey was first recorded at Abbey Road on 26 June 1968. There were no numbered takes; it was a day of rehearsal only, although it was recorded in case The Beatles came up with anything usable.
The next day they recorded six takes of the still-untitled song. Onto the last of these they overdubbed a number of instruments, including two lead guitars, handbell and shaker. A reduction mix to free up spare tracks also resulted in the song being sped up from 3'07" to 2'29"; it would end up faster still following a later mix.
On 23 July John Lennon added new lead vocals. Backing vocals - including the frantic 'come on, come on' ending - and handclaps were then recorded. The song was mixed for mono on the same day, with the stereo mix following on 12 October.
I've read on wikipedia that this song was co-written by Lennon & Harrison.
The Wikipedia article doesn't say that now. I've not read any other source that suggests that Harrison co-wrote the song, though I'd be interested if there was evidence.
Isn't that a 'triangle' being played in one of the early verses? That always amazed me.
It's not a triangle. It's a cowbell.
I think it's actually a handbell. It doesn't sound like a cowbell to me.
I read somewhere it's actually a fireman's bell, the same one used in Penny Lane.
pete townsend had "dissed" the Beatles at some point saying something to the effect that "they never did anything-that rocked as hard as "the who" had. The Second Disc of The White album-seemed to be a swift answer...
If you slow the speed of EGStHefMaMM (to something close to the original speed of the recording) the supposed cowbell does sound very much like a cowbell.
During the Anthology series, George mentions this particular song but does not mention any contribution.
I forgot where I read this, but I remember hearing something that there was a comic in the newspaper depicting the two as a zoo keeper and a monkey(John and Yoko, respectively), because "Yoko clung to Lennon like a monkey does to its keeper."
I have always thought that this song was a sly reference to heroin. Heroin is bad for you, just like Yoko Ono.