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5.15pm
15 November 2018
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It almost sounds like he’s making a “k” sound at the end? Maybe?
It sounds like John to me… so it could be anything. 
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10.40pm
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27 November 2016
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‘To your muv’
And I can isolate it to prove my argument
Prove me wrong
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5.26am
14 June 2016
Offline You’re right. I used to think it was John saying ‘it’s all too much’ either quickly or in shortened form.
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8.51am
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1 May 2011
Offline The Hole Got Fixed said
‘To your muv’And I can isolate it to prove my argument
Prove me wrong
Sounds like there is an edit where John drops out therefore I will kick and scream like a 3-year old throwing a tantrum due to wanting a 35p sweet in Tesco that John was saying “To your mother”. If this was recorded after ‘YMSK’ I’d used that as my case for the defence but it wasn’t so I can’t.
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2.26pm
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27 November 2016
Offline meanmistermustard said
The Hole Got Fixed said
‘To your muv’
And I can isolate it to prove my argument
Prove me wrong
Sounds like there is an edit where John drops out therefore I will kick and scream like a 3-year old throwing a tantrum due to wanting a 35p sweet in Tesco that John was saying “To your mother”. If this was recorded after ‘YMSK’ I’d used that as my case for the defence but it wasn’t so I can’t.
Yep that’s what I hear too – but because it’s been edited, it sounds like ‘muv’.
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4.37am
7 May 2017
Offline I’ve once again been listening to this one a lot lately.
For me to say it was probably their best song would be a bit silly, considering at least my top 10, if not even top 30 are always near the number 1 spot. But I’m easily ready to place it in my top 10 now.
With every other band this would have been their great signature song, their The End or Stairway to Heaven. For the Beatles it’s merely a relatively unknown and obscure song, only to be found on an insignificant soundtrack-quasi-EP, written by the guitarist who’s often seen as the secondary part-time-songwriter of the group.
I love it for how untamed it is, for feeling like complete musical anarchy while still being able to keep its structure, always on the brink of spinning out of control. So fuzzy and loose, yet still reflecting George’s soft and gentle personality. A complete masterpiece.
And to think George made this and Within You Without You in the same year is crazy. The man was a musical genius.
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3.16pm
26 January 2017
Offline Being on a big Sonic Youth kick at the moment, it’s amazing how much this song foreshadowed the way artists in the future would utilise feedback and distortion. I know the likes of Hendrix and the Velvet Underground were going pretty wild guitar-wise at the same time, but I don’t think either of them did in quite this way. I don’t know what it is but it almost decorates the sound of the song.
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2.56am
26 May 2020
Offline William Shears Campbell said
In my journey of listening to my whole Beatles collection this song of course came up recently. This is one of my absolute favorite George songs, or Beatles songs in general. I’ve honestly always heard “To your mother” at the beginning. My question is what is said after the “With your long blonde hair and your eyes of blue” bit? He says “It’s All Too Much ” and then something that sounds like “We are dead”. I remember looking up the lyrics to this song a few years ago and the lyrics said “we are dead”, however when I looked them up again recently I couldn’t find a site that said “we are dead”. So what does George say there?
It is definitely “We are dead” followed by “God bless us”…
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William Shears Campbell2.59am
26 May 2020
Offline I was so glad to hear this song as the only write-in on the Sirius countdown show “All Together Now ” — such an underrated song in my opinion — the recording truly sounds like a “happening”!
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6.16pm
14 June 2016
Offline josephpisano said
William Shears Campbell said
In my journey of listening to my whole Beatles collection this song of course came up recently. This is one of my absolute favorite George songs, or Beatles songs in general. I’ve honestly always heard “To your mother” at the beginning. My question is what is said after the “With your long blonde hair and your eyes of blue” bit? He says “It’s All Too Much ” and then something that sounds like “We are dead”. I remember looking up the lyrics to this song a few years ago and the lyrics said “we are dead”, however when I looked them up again recently I couldn’t find a site that said “we are dead”. So what does George say there?
It is definitely “We are dead” followed by “God bless us”…
Dang, that was an old post. Thanks for the input.
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8.32pm
14 December 2009
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QuarryMan said
Being on a big Sonic Youth kick at the moment, it’s amazing how much this song foreshadowed the way artists in the future would utilise feedback and distortion. I know the likes of Hendrix and the Velvet Underground were going pretty wild guitar-wise at the same time, but I don’t think either of them did in quite this way. I don’t know what it is but it almost decorates the sound of the song.
Good points! I also weirdly hear the beginnings of 90s shoegaze and drony loopy Stereolab-type stuff, maybe? (…not?)
I myself believe John’s saying “…your mo-…!” (*SCREEEE*) , and not at all paying tribute to Jefferson Airplane lead guitarist Jorma Kaukonen. Nevertheless, compare the intros of IATM with that of this Airplane album-opener, recorded sometime between June and October of ’67 – quite striking! (Like Quarryman said, many of these rock-revolutionary contemporaries were thinking along the same lines):
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11.12pm
25 February 2020
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I’d say those comparisons are accurate
wait, it’s NOT “to your mother” at the beginning????
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1 May 2011
Offline Vera Chuck and Dave said
I’d say those comparisons are accurate
wait, it’s NOT “to your mother” at the beginning????
That’s what I’ve always heard.
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6.22pm
14 December 2009
Offline I assume it IS “…to your mother!..”…but can’t discern anything past “moth…” once that guitar clangs out.
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10.33am
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20 August 2013
Offline While listening to this song this morning on my drive into work, I had a “oh-wow” moment.
John called Yoko his “mother” sometimes. Perhaps the “to your mother” at the beginning of the song is John’s way of dedicating the song to Pattie. “George, we are dedicating this song to your ‘mother’.”
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8.51pm
23 January 2022
Offline Every time this song comes on I think “which Michael Jackson rips this off?”. Turns out it’s Black And White.
(the link should start at the right timestamp, but if not it’s 1:49)
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3.33pm
14 December 2009
Offline Never noticed before, but as soon as I read “Black And White” I could hear the melodic similarity in my head. I don’t really suspect it’s a deliberate ripoff though – IATM riff is only three chords, fairly simple and adaptable enough to also resemble the riffs in John Cougar’s “Hurt So Good”, or “Hold Your Head Up” by Argent:
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