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11.05am
20 January 2012
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Why the name of 1966 Beatles album is revolver?
While none of its songs have this name ?
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12.29pm
16 February 2011
Offline I’m sure a lot of the people can answer this question better than I do, but anyway, here is what I remember to be said about it:
The record obviously revolves, or goes round, when it’s put to the player. So the title doesn’t really refer to a gun. I don’t think there is anything deeper behind the title, they just made it up.
But I think it should be taken into account that the Beatles never really named their albums based on the “leading single” like a lot of the bands do ( possibly because most of the time the singles weren’t even included on the albums), except for their first album, which was for marketing purposes (the name), anyway. Magical Mystery Tour album does have a song bearing the same name but the song was conceived of after coming up with the name of the album( and film). Rubber Sould doesn’t have a title song, neither does The Beatles (White Album ) or Abbey Road .
1.47pm
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1 May 2011
Offline They thought up a whole load of names like Beatles on Safari, Abracadabra and AfterGeography (a Ringo pun on the Rolling Stones album Aftermath) but nothing was suitable. Then, i think it was in Japan, the foursome came up with Revolver for the reasons Minime said.
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5.09pm
3 May 2012
Offline I never knew that – thanks for sharing minime!
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4.12am
10 August 2011
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meanmistermustard said, “Then, i think it was in Japan, the foursome came up with Revolver “
Interesting premise.
Revolver came out very shortly after the Beatles arrived in Japan (along with which super famous male movie star [still today]?).
If meanmistermustard is correct, then with just a few weeks to go before the release date, the band still had no title and no cover art.
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1.50pm
19 September 2010
Offline Into the Sky – I hate to do this, but I must correct you. Voorman did the artwork before the title, I believe. At least their portraits
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7.05pm
10 August 2011
Offline No problem – i can readily believe that. It certainly would have been easy to add the title at the bottom at the last moment.
However, the Beatles were performing songs from Revolver in the summer of ’66, so you’d think the album art and title would have been finalized by then – but maybe not.
Generally speaking, looking at all the albums, it would be interesting to check out the time lag between the choice of the album art, the choice of the album title, and the release date of the album.
"Into the Sky with Diamonds" (the Beatles and the Race to the Moon – a history)
7.47pm
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1 May 2011
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Taken from wiki regarding the album cover
The title was chosen while the band were on tour in Japan in June–July 1966. Due to security measures, they spent much of their time in their Tokyo Hilton hotel room; the name Revolver was selected as all four collaborated on a large psychedelic painting.
The Rubber Soul sessions were finished with only a few weeks before deadline, anyone know when the title and artwork was decided on. It may have been a frequent occurance with the beatles to have the coverwork finished only a few weeks before release. There is an alternate cover for Revolver doing the rounds, some details can be found here.
On another note that mentioned psychedlic picture is quite something. Ive seen it once before in a book but if anyone knows where to find it online it would be fabulous to see it again.
"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
4.35pm
31 March 2008
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They settled on the title Revolver in Munich three days after finishing the recording. However, earlier in the year Robert Freeman came up with a cover concept featuring a collage of their faces (that one in the previous post). The idea was that it would spin and merge their faces when put on a turntable – presumably there would have been a hole in the middle. Maybe they remembered this when they chose Revolver .
AFAIK The Beatles didn’t really care for Freeman’s design so asked Klaus Voormann to design alternative artwork – this was while sessions were still going on, as KV visited some of them to get a feel for the music. So, Freeman, then Voormann, then Revolver .
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8.13pm
26 July 2011
Offline There’s a very neat (but brief) interview with Klaus Voormann on how the REVOLVER album cover came about.
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2.46am
10 August 2011
Offline IMDeWalrus, yes, quite good, thanks.
"Into the Sky with Diamonds" (the Beatles and the Race to the Moon – a history)
11.09am
3 May 2012
Offline I´m in complete awe after listening to this album. Just feel like lying here now and trying to comprehend how a band, four people, can make such greatness.
I think it´s my favourite, for now at least.
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BeatlebugMoving along in our God given ways, safety is sat by the fire/Sanctuary from these feverish smiles, left with a mark on the door.
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6.00pm
12 November 2012
Offline Not to sound creepy, but I’m glad that they chose the name Revolver for the album. After hearing some of the other ideas (like Beatles on Safari), I feel that the name Revolver fits. In an interview that you could here part of if you put a 2009 remastered Revolver album into your computer, Paul said they got the name because they thought of what records do, and records revolve.
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Beatlebug"The world is a very serious and, at times, very sad place - but at other times it is all such a joke."-George Harrison
6.31pm
3 May 2012
Offline I thought at first that it was a reference to the gun so I was glad when I heard that actually, it’s got nothing to do with guns and violence etc. So for that reason alone, I love the title.
Moving along in our God given ways, safety is sat by the fire/Sanctuary from these feverish smiles, left with a mark on the door.
(Passover - I. Curtis)
3.55pm
14 October 2012
Offline I thought at first that it was a reference to the gun so I was glad when I heard that actually, it’s got nothing to do with guns and violence etc. So for that reason alone, I love the title.
Same here! I think its cool word to say, “Rrreevvvoooolllllvvverrrrrr,” but it seemed it weird title for that album. I only found out it was a pun when I read Many Years From Now (or possibly the Huner Davies biog, can’t remeber which one) . And now it seems blindingly obvious that they meant a revolving record!
"I don't think we were actually swimming, as it were, with shirts on, 'cos we always wear overcoats when we're swimming,"-
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9.25pm
29 September 2012
Offline Another One said
Why the name of 1966 Beatles album is revolver?While none of its songs have this name ?
What does a record do?
It revolves.
11.46pm
20 December 2010
Offline It could also mean that their music was ‘revolving’ in a new direction!
The further one travels, the less one knows
11.28am
3 May 2012
Offline Inner Light said
It could also mean that their music was ‘revolving’ in a new direction!
I don´t think they thought of it like that but it´s an interesting take on it!
Moving along in our God given ways, safety is sat by the fire/Sanctuary from these feverish smiles, left with a mark on the door.
(Passover - I. Curtis)
5.17pm
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1 May 2011
Offline Got listening to this last night and somehow my ipod got onto random mode so ended up back at the start so i had to turn off random and play it thru. Whilst listening to ‘Love You To ‘ the thought occurred to me of young Beatle fans brought up on ‘She Loves You ‘ and ‘Yesterday ‘ listening to the all out Indian intro for the first time and wondering what on earth was going on, it must have been a huge WTF moment.
With ‘Pepper’ the sounds had very much been there if you had been been keeping tabs on the Beatles progress and advance in music thru ‘Revolver ‘ and ‘Strawberry Fields’ of new sounds and experiments on the records but before Revolver there wasn’t that much in regards to major differences with instruments and effects; ‘Norwegian Wood ‘ had a bit of sitar through it but wasn’t in your face, ‘Rain ‘ had some backwards effects but was mainly noticeable at the end. ‘Revolver ‘ on the other hand would have been off the wall for some and their reactions to hearing such variations in the tracks would have been priceless to witness (we got a taste with the audience reactions to ‘SFF’ and ‘PL’ on ‘American Bandstand‘ however a lot of the comments were on the new Beatles looks). Little surprise therefore that it wasn’t until ‘Pepper’ that most of the Western world had caught up and finally got it.
At times i miss that experience of listening to a new song and being overwhelmed that what i am hearing is a completely new experience.
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6.42pm
Reviewers
4 February 2014
Offline I miss that experience too.
Listening to Revolver for the first time blew me away. Although it was relatively recent, the sounds were still fresh because no one has been able to execute the innovation quite like the Beatles since. The solo played backwards and reversed to be forward and sound backwards in I’m Only Sleeping was genius, TNK was revolutionary. Hearing the first few notes of Love You To was interesting enough, but when the whole Indian band came in with the strong percussion, it was amazing.
Revolver was probably the biggest overt leap in the Beatles music. An amazing album!
My (probably) favorite! 
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