Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 2, 3, 30, 31 July; 15 August 1969
Producer: George Martin
Engineers: Geoff Emerick, Phil McDonald
Released: 26 September 1969 (UK), 1 October 1969 (US)
Paul McCartney: vocals, piano
George Harrison: bass
Ringo Starr: drums
Unknown: 12 violins, 4 violas, 4 cellos, double bass, 4 horns, 3 trumpets, trombone, bass trombone
Available on:
Abbey Road
The beginning of the closing sequence in Abbey Road's long medley, Golden Slumbers was recorded as one with Carry That Weight and based on a poem written nearly 400 years previously.
The song's lyrics were taken from a ballad by the Elizabethan poet and dramatist Thomas Dekker (1570-1632). Paul McCartney saw the sheet music on the piano at his father's home in Liverpool.
I was playing the piano in Liverpool in my dad's house, and my stepsister Ruth's piano book was up on the stand. I was flicking through it and I came to Golden Slumbers. I can't read music and I couldn't remember the old tune, so I just started playing my own tune to it. I liked the words so I kept them, and it fitted with another bit of song I had.
Anthology
This suggests that he had written Carry That Weight already, and is therefore likely that he wrote the music for Golden Slumbers to reflect it.
Dekker's original text was amended slightly by McCartney. The original verse, first published in 1600 in The Pleasant Comedy of Old Fortunatus, went as follows:
Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,
Smiles awake you when you rise;
Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby,
Rock them, rock them, lullaby.Care is heavy, therefore sleep you,
You are care, and care must keep you;
Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby,
Rock them, rock them, lullaby.
In the studio
Recording for Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight began while John Lennon was in hospital recovering from a road accident in Scotland. George Harrison played bass and Ringo Starr was on drums.
I remember trying to get a very strong vocal on it, because it was such a gentle theme, so I worked on the strength of the vocal on it, and ended up quite pleased with it.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
On Wednesday 2 July 1969 the three Beatles recorded 15 takes of the songs. The best of these were 13 and 15, which were edited together the following day.
On 30 and 31 July McCartney recorded his lead vocals, and the orchestral arrangement was added on 15 August. More overdubs were added to Carry That Weight on other days, but the Golden Slumbers part was a relatively straightforward recording.
Related articles:
- Recording: Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight, The End, Something, Here Comes The Sun
- Recording: Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight
- Recording, editing: Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight
- Carry That Weight
- Recording: Her Majesty, Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight
One of the great songs ever in history...
although the lovely poem was already there, the melody is amazingly marvelous, while Paul's voice is so strong and beautiful..., the result is a great love song..
I don't know how the original tune goes but I'd bet that Paul's melody is prettier...
Wonderfull, superb, outstanding song... McCartney genius shines again on this one
there is a guitar in the reprise of you never give me your money, and it's quite bluesy so i'm pretty certin that it's george harrison.
That's "Carry That Weight", not Golden Slumbers.
I don't interpret this as a love song. I think it is one of the saddest (and most beautiful) songs I know.
The key is the the opening phrase "once there was a way to get back homeward / home".
Going back homeward being a shift in both location and to the time associated with home. "Sing little darling do not cry and I will sing a lullaby" being the words you would have heard at home from your mother.
The smile that awakes you when you rise would have been your mother's or other loved ones.
"Once" there was a way back to all this now implies that now there is no way back, time has moved on. His mother had died. The band was breaking up. His old friends were no longer his friends.
Its a very profound and moving invocation of the longing to immerse oneself in a lovingly remembered and less complicated past.
My mom was/is a big Beatles fan. Listening to this song as a young child, probably only a few years old at the time and thinking about how sad it was back then... kind of losing the song as my music tastes changed with age, not hearing it for years except in passing glances, makes it almost traumatic for me to listen to 30+ years later. Really triggers those childhood feelings of realizing sadness.
Bloody brilliant. In my opinion, this is one of Paul's strongest vocal performances. The bass, done by George on this, is surprisingly fitting and really hits nicely.
Aak - why would George's bass be 'surprisingly fitting'? Not a surprise. He was a top-notch musician at this point, working as a session man for no less than Cream, Billy Preston and many others. And Golden Slumbers is a very simple song.
There's a funny bit on the last Anthology disc where Paul, George, and Ringo are sitting at the mixing board listening to this song. They're wondering who played bass and Paul says something along the lines of "I think I may have played the bass." George, looks into the camera and, with tongue-in-cheek, says (with just a bit o' sarcasm) "he was king!"