Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 2 July 1969
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Phil McDonald
Released: 26 September 1969 (UK), 1 October 1969 (US)
Paul McCartney: vocals, acoustic guitar
Available on:
Abbey Road
This 23-second throwaway song was originally intended to be part of the long medley that dominated the second half of Abbey Road.
It was written by Paul McCartney in Scotland, and was originally placed between Mean Mr Mustard and Polythene Pam in the medley. Instead it was the album's postscript, with a stretch of silence separating it and The End.
Her Majesty is the shortest song in The Beatles' repertoire, and was unlisted on original pressings of Abbey Road.
It was quite funny because it's basically monarchist, with a mildly disrespectful tone, but it's very tongue in cheek. It's almost like a love song to the Queen.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
Her Majesty was first performed at the Get Back/Let It Be sessions in January 1969. McCartney brought the song to the band in Twickenham on 9 January. It was played again on 24 January in the Apple studio, with McCartney joined by John Lennon on slide guitar.
In the studio
The song was recorded in three takes on 2 July, with McCartney singing live to his acoustic guitar accompaniment before the rest of the group began work on Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight.
On 30 July, when it was decided which songs would end up in the long medley, McCartney decided that Her Majesty didn't fit.
We did all the remixes and crossfades to overlap the songs, Paul was there, and we heard it together for the first time. He said, 'I don't like Her Majesty, throw it away,' so I cut it out - but I accidentally left in the last note. He said, 'It's only a rough mix, it doesn't matter...' I said to Paul, 'What shall I do with it?' 'Throw it away,' he replied.
I'd been told never to throw anything away, so after he left I picked it up off the floor, put about 20 seconds of red leader tape before it and stuck it onto the end of the edit tape.
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Mark Lewisohn
The following day a lacquer version of the album was cut at Apple, and the song was again kept in. McCartney approved of the random accident, and so it remained on the final version.
That was very much how things happened. Really, you know, the whole of our career was like that so it's a fitting end.
The crashing guitar chord that opens Her Majesty is actually the final chord from a rough mix of Mean Mr Mustard. The song cuts off without the final note, meanwhile, because it was intended to segue into Polythene Pam. It is actually possible to edit the three songs together to hear how they were originally sequenced.
Related articles:
- Recording, mixing: You Never Give Me Your Money, Come Together, Polythene Pam, She Came In Through The Bathroom Window, Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight, Sun King, Mean Mr Mustard, Her Majesty, The End
- Mean Mr Mustard
- Recording: Her Majesty, Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight
- Mixing, editing: Sun King, Mean Mr Mustard, Maxwell's Silver Hammer, Polythene Pam, She Came In Through The Bathroom Window, You Never Give Me Your Money
- Recording: Sun King, Mean Mr Mustard, Come Together, Polythene Pam, She Came In Through The Bathroom Window
"Her Majesty" seems to owe a lot to Robert Johnson's "Hot Tamales," but I've never seen the two songs linked by anyone else. Am I the only one to hear this?
It was once pointed out in the song's Wikipedia entry (see the revision here), but I think it was deleted because there was no citation and it was just someone's opinion. The Robert Johnson song is They're Red Hot - there's certainly a similarity, but I don't know if McCartney consciously based Her Majesty on it, or whether it was subconscious or coincidence. I've not heard him mention it in interviews.
The chord progression is slightly different, but you can make them work.
I dunno. I´ve always thought that cutting was kinda joke, it ended like a tape ends. Plus, if you recorded your vinyl into a 90 min cassette it fits on one side just as the "The End" was cutted for purpose (=the lack of your cassette tape). Coincidence ?
I had a schoolfriend in the 1990s who bought Abbey Road on tape. The next day he complained that the tape was broken, and was going to take it back to the record store. I asked what was wrong, and he said both sides cut out unexpectedly at the end. I had to explain that it was supposed to sound like that!
Did people think the same when it was first released on vinyl, that there might have been a mis-pressing? For those of us who weren't around then it can be hard to know how the albums were received at the time.
At the time Abbey Road came out I just thought that John (at the end of side one) and Paul (at the end of side two) were just having some fun with the abrupt endings.
My first copy of Abbey Road was on cassette tape. I would always stop the tape after "The End", thinking it was the last song. Then one day I was slow to turn off the tape...and this song just comes on out of nowhere. I couldn't believe it. Over the years, of course, hidden bonus tracks have become commonplace, but it seemed original and clever at the time.
It amazes me how much goodness the Beatles were able to fit into a short song. This little number and Mean Mr. Mustard stand out to me as extreme examples. Very little filler on Beatles records.
One night, I got so bored, I re-edited this song back in between Mean Mr. Mustard and Polythene Pam. Loved it so much, I burned a new copy of Abbey Road. Also makes me feel better about "The End" ACTUALLY being the end!!
Haha I did that too, once I had the technology! Including a crossfade from "...Window" into "Golden Slumbers".
Deadman: Wow - never heard that before but, yes, if you played this song on guitar in the style of RJ's "Hot Tamales" it does sound very similar.