Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 20 August 1968
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Ken Scott
Released: 22 November 1968 (UK), 25 November 1968 (US)
Paul McCartney: vocals, acoustic guitar, drums
Available on:
The Beatles (White Album)
A solo recording by Paul McCartney, Wild Honey Pie was a singalong written in Rishikesh, India, and recorded at the end of the session for Mother Nature's Son.
We were in an experimental mode, and so I said, 'Can I just make something up?' I started off with the guitar and did a multitracking experiment in the control room or maybe in the little room next door. It was very home-made; it wasn't a big production at all. I just made up this short piece and I multitracked a harmony to that, and a harmony to that, and a harmony to that, and built it up sculpturally with a lot of vibrato on the strings, really pulling the strings madly. Hence, 'Wild Honey Pie', which was a reference to the other song I had written called Honey Pie. It was a little experimental piece.
Paul McCartney
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
Wild Honey Pie was recorded on 20 August 1968, during the second and final session for Mother Nature's Son. McCartney also recorded another demo, Etcetera, during the same session, but the song remains unreleased.
[Wild Honey Pie] was just a fragment of an instrumental which we were not sure about, but Pattie Harrison liked it very much, so we decided to leave it on the album.
Paul McCartney
I know Lennon sings on this, you can distinctly hear him singing on the album.
No, I'm pretty sure it's just Paul. Actually, Paul could imitate John pretty well. He sings on top of John's vocal on "Real Love", and it sounds like John's double tracked but he's not.
I could be wrong about that. The "Real Love" video does show Paul singing along with John's voice in the studio, but that might not have been on the final cut.