Written by: Lennon-McCartney-Harrison-Starkey
Recorded: 8, 28 September 1967
Producer: George Martin
Engineers: Geoff Emerick, Ken Scott
Released: 8 December 1967 (UK), 27 November 1967 (US)
John Lennon: vocals, organ, Mellotron, sound effects
Paul McCartney: vocals, guitar, bass
George Harrison: vocals, guitar
Ringo Starr: vocals, drums, maracas, sound effects
Available on:
Magical Mystery Tour
A mostly instrumental recording with wordless vocals from all four Beatles, Flying was recorded as incidental music for the Magical Mystery Tour film.
Originally titled Aerial Tour Instrumental, it was the first Beatles recording to have a songwriting credit featuring all four members.
It was the only Beatles instrumental released by EMI. The group had previously recorded Cry For A Shadow in Hamburg in 1961, and 12-Bar Original during the Rubber Soul sessions in 1965.
In the Magical Mystery Tour film, Flying was used to accompany landscape scenes of Iceland taken from an aeroplane. These sequences were unused outtakes from Stanley Kubrick's film 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Paul McCartney revealed the background to Flying in Barry Miles' biography Many Years From Now:
Flying was an instrumental that we needed for Magical Mystery Tour so in the studio one night I suggested to the guys that we made something up. I said, 'We can keep it very very simple, we can make it a twelve-bar blues. We need a little bit of a theme and a little bit of a backing.' I wrote the melody. The only thing to warrant it as a song is basically the melody, otherwise it's just a nice twelve-bar backing thing. It's played on the Mellotron, on a trombone setting. It's credited to all four, which is how you would credit a non-song.
In the studio
On 8 September 1967 The Beatles recorded six takes of the song. It underwent various changes during the session, and a saxophone jazz solo was used during the lengthy coda, sampled from an unidentified modern jazz recording.
Take six featured drums, organ and guitar. Three organs, recorded then played backwards over the basic rhythm track, were then added, and John Lennon recorded the main melody on a Mellotron. Following this, all four Beatles taped their chanted vocals.
On 28 September Flying was completed, with the addition of more Mellotron from Lennon (the mellifluous melodies most noticeable at the end of the track), guitar by Harrison, and various percussion instruments played by Starr. Lennon and Starr then compiled a series of tape loops, effects and backwards recordings.
At this point the tune was 9:36 long, so it was edited down to the more manageable form in which it appeared on the Magical Mystery Tour EP.
Related articles:
- Recording, mixing: Flying
- Recording, mixing, editing: I Am The Walrus, Flying
- Recording, mixing, editing: Blue Jay Way, Flying, Magical Mystery Tour
- Mixing: Magical Mystery Tour
- Recording: Your Mother Should Know
The song is superb
The ending, is pure psychedleia
The Song itself is an instrumental ecstasy
The "jazz" sample was from a setting on the Mellotron, not from a recording.
...brilliantly covered by The Residents.
Yeah, that "The Residents Play The Beatles/The Beatles Play The Residents" EP is brilliant in every way!
According to the article, the personnel should read:
John: main organ, three backward organs, two mellotrons, vocals, sound effects and tapes loops.
Paul: guitar, bass and vocals.
George: guitar and vocals.
Ringo: drums, percussion, vocals, sound effects and tape loops.
I think most of the articles feature the personnel as presented by Ian McDonald. It would be better if every article is redoing according to Lewishon.
I disagree on the last point. A lot of Lewisohn's 1980s research has since been improved upon. Most of the articles do take their cue from Macdonald's book, but with amendments when they come to light.
Lewisohn research has been improved, but still it seems more accurate than McDonald.
Macdonald's line-ups aren't perfect, and I don't use them exclusively. He did, however, correspond with Mark Lewisohn while writing Revolution In The Head, so I think the latter is probably more accurate. Also, Macdonald had a greater understanding of musicology than Lewisohn, so is more likely to have been able to pick out performances as being by particular band members.
I try and draw on various sources, including Mark Lewisohn, Ian Macdonald and Walter Everett, and compile an accurate line-up based on their findings. I think it's a far better method than sticking to one source from the 1980s. As it happens, I think Everett's books are far more accurate than either of the others'.
9:36 of 'Flying'? I would love to hear it!
Here it is for you, Joe.
I always liked this trippy little track. I wondered how it was written - jointly by the band. Did they have a deliberate plan to do a primarily instrumental track, or did it just develop out of a jam session? Also, I wondered if Flying is considered by the band as Ringo's vocal contribution to the MMT project, or did they feel Ringo didn't need a song on this one? Considering that John only had one song on MMT, I guess Ringo didn't merit one of his own (with only 6 new songs in the entire project).