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I Want You (She's So Heavy)
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3 February 2011
8.59am
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An unidentified flying cupcake
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The first time I listened to it, I felt really disturbed.. I was so confused about when it started and when it ended and what happened in between.. so i decided to forget about it completely..

When I finally got the complete Abbey Road album (a-hard-days-night-john-6) I decided to play it from beginning to end and not skip any songs.. I was surprised at how much i LOVED this song and another one that i have never heard before (Oh Darling)..

 

Bottom line, I recently became obsessed with it, playing it again and again. Love the last parts with the static noise and the abrupt ending and all.. and the way they say “She's So Heavyyyyy.. Heavyyyyy”

But one thing still bothers me .. A LOT! what does “She's so heavy” mean – that is, if it means anything!! a-hard-days-night-george-1a-hard-days-night-paul-7a-hard-days-night-ringo-4a-hard-days-night-ringo-13

Do I have to keep on talking till I can't go on!

3 February 2011
4.59pm
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Von Bontee
496 km NW of the '69 Toronto Rock n Roll Revival
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In late '60s-speak, “heavy” = profound, mindblowing, important, powerful etc.  In other words, she all that!

Paul: Yeah well… first of all, we’re bringing out a ‘Stamp Out Detroit’ campaign.

         

3 February 2011
5.35pm
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mithveaen
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mr. Sun king coming together said:

mithveaen said:

Now that song makes me feel like smoking. I don't do it, but still makes me do it. a-hard-days-night-george-4

May I ask Why?



I dunno. I feel like I'm in one of those 60s cafes where people used to sit on the floor and listen to music and just move at the rhythm of the music. I think I watch too many 60s movies.

Here comes the sun….. Scoobie-doobie……

Something in the way she moves…..attracts me like a cauliflower…

Bop. Bop, cat bop. Go, Johnny, Go.

Beware of Darkness… 

3 February 2011
10.41pm
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The Walrus
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MeanMrs.Mustard said:

To the people who wish it would fade smoothly into “Here Comes The Sun :” 

You do realize that “I Want You (She's So Heavy)” is the end of Side One, right?

a-hard-days-night-george-10

The only thing I really like about this song is the guitar “solo.” Not the end, but during the verse.  


They could at least have left a pause between the two songs when they remastered Abbey Road . Heck, even if it just happened to fade, that would be better than a pathetic single guitar quietly playing suddenly after all that noise.

I told her I didn’t 

5 February 2011
3.14am
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MotherNaturesDaughter
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I know I'm a little late, but I'm going to say what I think on this song. (Especially since it seems we have gotten really off topic from the past couple of posts I've read.) I've always been a fan of this song and it really shows the guitar progression from the early years until well the end. And really it showed that John could play some hard guitar parts. I think this is probably one of his best guitar performances out of most of his Beatles career.

 

*17* (Ha! It agrees with me.)

"I am definitely a mad man with a box."- Matt Smith as the 11th Doctor of Doctor Who (Episode 1 Season 5: The Eleventh Hour)

5 February 2011
10.55am
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robert
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i remember hearing Abbey Road for the first time – it had just been released and I was not quite 12. Side one was almost a return to normal Bealtes music after the White Album and Yellow Submarine .

And then IWY(SSH) comes on and it's so heavy and it's so simple and it becomes more and more hypnotic and as that ending kicks in and repeats and repeats, we were mesmorized.

And when that abrupt ending hit we thought that the record player had overloaded. Like it had just cut off.

In those days because you were dealing with vinyl you had to go up and turn the record over. Once we had verified that this was in fact the way the song ended – what we did was we would pick the record player stylus up and reset it to see if the song cut off the same way – and of course it did.

After that we picked up the disk, flipped it over and said, “what the hell can follow that?” little did we know that Side 2 would forever change the way people thought about the “rock album” – just like Pepper had earlier.

"She looks more like him than I do."

5 February 2011
5.58pm
bt8257
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Thank You MotherNaturesDaughter for putting this thread back on topic. And I agree, John could lay down some mean guitar parts if he tried, like he did on this song and Get Back .

5 February 2011
9.37pm
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mithveaen
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You are so right Robert. I didn't remember that I want you ended the side 1. It was like “WTF?”.

 

Damn, I miss listening the Beatles on vinyl. a-hard-days-night-paul-3

Here comes the sun….. Scoobie-doobie……

Something in the way she moves…..attracts me like a cauliflower…

Bop. Bop, cat bop. Go, Johnny, Go.

Beware of Darkness… 

13 February 2011
9.00pm
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Nigel the good dog
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I remember hearing it for the first time. It was so… unexplainable. I was astounded.

 

*9* (so was the universe)

My mind is far away, off in Pepperland…
I'm a girl, don't be confused by my name.
18 May 2011
11.32am
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McLennonSon
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Loooove the solo.heartheartheartheartheartheartheartheart

My Music Blog.
One and one don't make two
One and one make one.

12 August 2013
10.11pm
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RunForYourLife
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Before Lennon had them cut it, was there a “proper” ending, or was it intended to fade out?

12 August 2013
11.01pm
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SatanHimself
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The final master runs 8:04, and the album version cuts off at 7:44, so I imagine the original intention was to fade out. Like many other songs meant to fade out, the instrumentation probably fell apart somewhere close to the 8:00 mark.  I like the decision to cut the ending.  It’s so very jarring. 

E is for 'Ergent'.

12 August 2013
11.13pm
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meanmistermustard
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The build up of the guitars and the white noise to the point where its getting overbearing and then the sudden abrupt cut is a very effective element to Abbey Road as whole. Now obviously the effect is different with the vinyl, cassette, 8-track, whatever as the listener would just sit there wondering what the heck had happened, but with the cd going straight into Here Comes The Sun the effect is one of lightness, clarity and all that which is quite wonderful. It really adds to the album overall but in a very different manner.

Personally I love the track. And that little bass run of Pauls which sounds like falling waterheartheartheart

"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)

12 August 2013
11.39pm
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Von Bontee
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Interesting question…most of the other “Abbey Road ” tracks had definite endings, so it may have been the case that they were consciously working out written endings rather than just jamming it out and relying on a fade. Would they have done so for “Heavy” if John had the idea of not letting it play out by cutting the tape?

EDIT: Ok, I started that post an hour ago before having a chance to read Satan’s answer, with the new-to-me info regarding the original running time. Interesting!

Paul: Yeah well… first of all, we’re bringing out a ‘Stamp Out Detroit’ campaign.

         

12 August 2013
11.53pm
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Linde
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The guitars and bass are just so great and hypnotising. I could listen to those last few minutes of the song for hours. 

I was just thinking that the other day when we were listening to Abbey Road in the car, about Here Comes The Sun . The song is so heavy (lol sorry) and everything is so much and then it just stops and then you hear that cheery intro of Here Comes The Sun and it just has this weird effect. Very light indeed. Couldn’t have picked a better song to follow myself.

13 August 2013
1.52am
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WETSRoosa
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Linde said
The guitars and bass are just so great and hypnotising. I could listen to those last few minutes of the song for hours. 

I was just thinking that the other day when we were listening to Abbey Road in the car, about Here Comes The Sun . The song is so heavy (lol sorry) and everything is so much and then it just stops and then you hear that cheery intro of Here Comes The Sun and it just has this weird effect. Very light indeed. Couldn’t have picked a better song to follow myself.

I feel they intentionally ended Side One with “I Want You” and started Side Two with “Here Comes The Sun ” for that very reason: the whole apocalyptic “going to hell” abrupt ending, followed by the cheery, almost radiant glow-like effect “Here Comes The Sun ” gives off. I can only imagine the effect the abrupt ending “I Want You” had in the vinyl heyday. It must have scared the fuzz out of people. paul-mccartney

"There's no such thing as bad student... only bad teacher."

13 August 2013
2.10am
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Funny Paper
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SatanHimself said
The final master runs 8:04, and the album version cuts off at 7:44, so I imagine the original intention was to fade out. Like many other songs meant to fade out, the instrumentation probably fell apart somewhere close to the 8:00 mark.  I like the decision to cut the ending.  It’s so very jarring. 

I couldn’t find a “final master” on YouTube, but I did find an “extended version” which lasts 9:55.  It ends artificially, like someone just turned it off.  Is that what you meant by “jarring”?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…..9xbEr-SumA

Faded flowers, wait in a jar, till the evening is complete... complete... complete... complete...

13 August 2013
2.15am
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Funny Paper
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Linde said
The guitars and bass are just so great and hypnotising. I could listen to those last few minutes of the song for hours. 

I was just thinking that the other day when we were listening to Abbey Road in the car, about Here Comes The Sun . The song is so heavy (lol sorry) and everything is so much and then it just stops and then you hear that cheery intro of Here Comes The Sun and it just has this weird effect. Very light indeed. Couldn’t have picked a better song to follow myself.

I think of the transition between the two songs like going from a long period of dark stormy weather, to finally an end to the rain and a sun break.

Faded flowers, wait in a jar, till the evening is complete... complete... complete... complete...

13 August 2013
2.20am
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Ron Nasty
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I remember first hearing it back on vinyl. The amount of time I spent staring at the fecking bit of plastic I’d just bought to see why the barsteward thing was jumping! Just like the genius of Her Majesty being cut out of the medley and, after a few seconds of leader tape, being stuck on the end to Paul’s delight, John’s instruction to just cut the tape gave both sides of the disc innovative endings.

"I only said we were bigger than Rod... and now there's all this!" Ron Nasty

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The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966

13 August 2013
2.46am
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SatanHimself
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Funny Paper said

SatanHimself said
The final master runs 8:04, and the album version cuts off at 7:44, so I imagine the original intention was to fade out. Like many other songs meant to fade out, the instrumentation probably fell apart somewhere close to the 8:00 mark.  I like the decision to cut the ending.  It’s so very jarring. 

I couldn’t find a “final master” on YouTube, but I did find an “extended version” which lasts 9:55.  It ends artificially, like someone just turned it off.  Is that what you meant by “jarring”?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v…..9xbEr-SumA

That’s a cut and paste job.

E is for 'Ergent'.

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