Recording, mixing: The Ballad Of John And Yoko

Studio Three, EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Geoff Emerick

Just three days after the release of the ‘Get Back’ single, John Lennon and Paul McCartney were back in the studio once again, for the recording of The Beatles’ next single ‘The Ballad Of John And Yoko’.

George Harrison was looking for a new house to buy, and Ringo Starr was working on the set of the film The Magic Christian, so Lennon and McCartney were the only members of the group to perform on the song.

It was recorded in Abbey Road’s Studio Three between 2.30pm and 9pm, and immediately afterwards it was mixed in stereo in a two-hour session in the control room. The balance engineer was Geoff Emerick, whose first Beatles session was on 20 February 1963. Emerick had stopped working with them in July 1968 during the making of the White Album, but had recently been employed as the chief engineer at Apple Studios.

‘The Ballad Of John And Yoko’ recounted the titular couple’s wedding and honeymoon, and was a product of Lennon’s desire to make music an instant snapshot of a moment. It was recorded in 11 takes under the working title ‘The Ballad Of John And Yoko (They’re Gonna Crucify Me)’.

Five of the 11 takes broke down because McCartney added an extra snare drum hit prior to the line “Made a lightning trip to Vienna”, and the second take ended after Lennon broke a guitar string.

Take seven from the session was released in 2019 on the super deluxe 50th anniversary reissue of Abbey Road.

The 11th take was recorded in a higher key – G instead of E. Lennon and McCartney then decided that take 10 was the best, and it became the basis of the final version.

The eight-track tape had Lennon’s acoustic guitar on track two, McCartney’s drums on three, and Lennon’s vocals on four, all of which were recorded simultaneously.

McCartney then overdubbed bass guitar onto track one, after which Lennon added two electric guitar parts onto tracks five and six. The second of these also featured McCartney’s piano, recorded simultaneously.

McCartney sang backing vocals onto track seven, and the pair added percussion onto track eight. This featured Lennon hitting the back of his guitar, and McCartney shaking a pair of maracas.

‘The Ballad Of John And Yoko’ was The Beatles’ first single to be released exclusively in stereo. Five remixes were made before work ended at 11pm.

‘The Ballad Of John And Yoko’ was a very fast session. It was a really good record too, helped by Paul’s great drumming and the speed in which they did it all.