‘Blue Jay Way’, George Harrison’s songwriting contribution to the Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack, was written while he was waiting for The Beatles’ publicist Derek Taylor, who was lost in fog in the Los Angeles canyons.
The song was composed in the Hollywood hills on 1 August 1967. Harrison was visiting California with his wife Pattie, plus Neil Aspinall and Alexis Mardas. They were staying at a rented house in Blue Jay Way, high in the Hollywood hills, which belonged to the manager of Peggy Lee.
The Beatles’ former publicist Derek Taylor had become delayed on his way to meet them. The jetlagged Harrison found a Hammond organ in the house and began writing the song as an outlet for his ennui.
Derek Taylor got held up. He rang to say he’d be late. I told him on the phone that the house was in Blue Jay Way. And he said he could find it OK… he could always ask a cop. So I waited and waited. I felt really knackered with the flight, but I didn’t want to go to sleep until he came. There was a fog and it got later and later. To keep myself awake, just as a joke to pass the time while I waited, I wrote a song about waiting for him in Blue Jay Way. There was a little Hammond organ in the corner of this house which I hadn’t noticed until then… so I messed around on it and the song came.
Harrison’s stay in the house was arranged by Brian Epstein, who called The Beatles’ attorney Robert Fitzpatrick to enquire whether a house could be leased. Fitzpatrick persuaded the owner of the house, another entertainment attorney named Ludwig Gerber, to lend Harrison his LA residence.
Ludwig Gerber was a former US Army colonel who had managed Peggy Lee for many years. He was also a film producer and lawyer. In his house there was a Hammond S-6 organ, which Harrison used for writing the song while waiting for Taylor to arrive.
In the Magical Mystery Tour film, Harrison ‘performed’ the song while playing a keyboard chalked onto the ground. One of the movie’s most psychedelic sequences, Harrison’s appearance is subjected to dated camera techniques involving prism refractions to create multiple images.
In the studio
The rhythm track of ‘Blue Jay Way’, including the distinctive swirling organ part, was recorded in one take on 6 September 1967. Crucial to the recording was ADT – artificial double tracking, a technique invented by Abbey Road engineer Ken Townsend in 1966 – which on the song gave the phasing effect.
The vocals – many of which were played backwards in the final mix – were recorded the following evening. The final overdubs – cello and tambourine parts – were added on 6 October.
The cello part was played by Peter Willison. He was booked at short notice by Sidney Sax, who helped enlist a number of session musicians for Beatles recordings. Willison recorded the part and was paid in cash – the standard date was £27. He later performed on Paul McCartney’s solo album Tug Of War.
I was playing at the Albert Hall beforehand and arrived at the studio after 10. As I was in tails Ringo said I didn’t have to dress for them. There were no other musicians there, no music stand and no music. George Martin asked me to listen to the track and just play along. We experimented a bit and finally at 4 am we were finished.
i’ve read Brian Jones played the cello
Where did you read that? I sincerely doubt it was him on this track. Most likely a professional session musician.
No, a chap called Peter Willison is the ‘cellist. He remembers the session as he was called in late at night after playing in a concert at London’s South Bank Centre. He’s currently executive director of The Sinfonia Of London
Is he also the man who appears in the music video playing the cello, before he poofs off and disappears? Is he the curly haired man in the second half of the video playing the cello, because it sort of looks like Eric Clapton from 1967 because of his hair, but I’m not sure.
That is in your imagination. He didn’t. The only Beatles song Brian played on was You Know My Name where he plays a soprano sax at the end.
Blue Jay Way is a very creepy song, as well as a very short street.
(Can you find the house? Google “1400 Blue Jay Way Hollywood” and you’ll land at the beginning of the street. Good Luck!)
Well the sequence did have the “Magical Mystical Boy” picture in the film. (Seriously, look it up if you want to see a decapitated corpse)
I’m not quite sure it’s a decapitated corpse; rather it looks like a live man with a naked torso, filmed in such a short plane that his head falls out of the frame. A very strange image indeed, but not quite as macabre as it is claimed to be…
The “Magical Mystical Boy” in the movie can clearly be identified as Mal Evans.
….and the street signs on the corners that Beatles Fans steal within minutes of them being replaced, are now non-existent ….. stolen as fast as they are replaces and it’s been that way for 50 years.
The house is located at 1654 Blue Jay Way, Los Angeles, CA 90069.
The view of LA is MAGNIFICENT!
there is no 1654 Blue Jay Way…the house George stayed in is 1567 Blue Jay Way.
1567 Blue jay way is still there intact. the new owner from 2013 has maintained it and has further memorolized it
you forgot to mention the (backing) vocals were put through a Leslie
The use of cello in this song and others from 1967 helped to provide the template for the early work of ELO…
That is certainly a possibility, given that Jeff Lynne has openly cited The Beatles as a major influence, but it was actually Roy Wood who conceived the idea of ELO and Jeff joined The Move primarily to facilitate the start of ELO.
I always felt that, towards the end of the song, when the words “please don’t be long” and “don’t be long” are repeated over and over again, Harrison was starting to say “don’t belong”. Far-fetched I’m sure, but given the relationships between the four of them towards the end I suppose it’s quite possible. Even if it was more of an after-thought.
Wow, I never thought of that. Could be. I love the whole story of how this song came to be.
Oh yes, I seem to recall some of the highbrow music critics thought the same– something about George encouraging young people to not belong to society, and to drop out, or the saying whole generation had lost their way. I’m fairly sure it was just another “goo goo, goo joob” type sound.
I don’t think it’s far fetched at all, in fact I think it’s the main message of the song. Very much in line with Timothy Leary’s ”turn on, tune in, drop out” mantra that was so popular at the time.
i agree pinky that the “don’t belong” part is more than clear at times, and i always thought this was an anti-establishment kind of statement
I’ve always loved Ringo on this track…actually come to thing of it some of my favorite Ringo drum tracks come on Harrison songs.
I agree. Ringo’s work here is great (as is pretty much everything he did behind the drum kit for the Fabs). I assume Ringo probably enjoyed working on George’s songs, and John’s songs, more than Paul’s around this time. I think it was about a year later that Ringo walks out of White Album sessions due to Paul’s perstering. Then a few months later, George does the same for the same reason. I think Paul is brilliant and love a vast majority of his work. Still, you can see what an arrogant control-freak he was and how he attempted to dominate the group (acquiescing a supporting role to John, but deliberately trying to minimize the roles played by George, in particular, and Ringo).
Yes that’s true. Ringo put up with a lot from Paul.
John was only going to endure a supporting role position in the group for only so long. Same with George.
Perhaps a good indication of what you both (JP & Joseph) say can be seen at the beginning of the “I am the Walrus” clip in MMT, when Paul energetically “cues” Ringo into the song, as if this monster of a drummer wasn’t able to measure the right time with uncanny accuracy! in fact, when ALL the other three got lost amid the screaming maelstrom of live performances (and in quite a few studio takes too) it was “Big Ben” Ringo who kept the time as solidly as the Rock of Gibraltar! Paul was/is a talented musician and a competent lyricist, but no more than that. He’s not the over-arching genius he likes to believe he is and, certainly, contrary to his belief, the world did not begin going round on June 18th, 1942!
Oh, please….people do like to read their own biases into everything.
Paul was playing to the cameras – “Direct your attention here, folks! This is where it’s happening!” Paul was, and is. a ham for cameras and an audience.
Talented musician and competent lyricist. How many more years do we have to put up with these tiresome stereotypes. I guess Paul will have to die before he achieves the God-like status of John and George. A handful of good songs, of which this isn’t one of them, doesn’t make Harrison a genius. You might not like him, but McCartney was and is tremendously hardworking and lives and breathes music. The others didn’t. Perhaps that’s why people find it hard to deal with.
I like how the song’s words – which are literally a description of a rather mundane situation – take on an ominous, metaphoric overtone when they are married to the song’s spooky music and instrumentation.
Yes, “Beatless” (what a FAB nick!) That’s what GENIUS is all about. With this song, George proves he’s on a par with the other two great composers (and monster egos) of The Beatles in quality, if not quantity.
It could also be a Mellotron doin the cello part also
The cello part is looped but it’s an actual cello. The song uses so many things like leslie vocals on the vocals and backup vocals, phasing on the drums, backward vocals and drums, altered organ sounds and there is no guitars also. The song is obviously influenced by Indian music and it uses the rarely used Lydian mode.
One of my absolute favorites, it sticks with you.
Blue Jay Way is not a Small House! My daughter lived right across the street for 5 years…..and I have heard practically ever “story” that has gotten confusingly distorted over the years. I agree that the lyrics combined with you just “sticks!” Especially when you are creepily sleeping across the street of this house!
I don’t believe that John says “Paulie is bloody”, but what IS he saying? Are their any lyrics that try to tell us what John is saying backwards(im pretty sure most of them are backwards.)
It’s the song played backwards being faded into and out of the final mix, so it’s either “Pease Don’t Be Long” backwards or “Don’t Be Long” backwards.
For Part 1 of 5, see “Help!”
How [not] to interpret a Beatles’ song, Part 2 of 4: Don’t delude yourself.
George was waiting at a rented house on Blue Jay Way in the Hollywood Hills of L.A., California. His friend said that he would be there soon – he could ask a cop for directions if he needed them – but still he got lost in the fog and was delayed. Wishing that his friend wouldn’t be long in arriving, George whiled the time away by writing a song, a hauntingly beautiful song as it turns out: “There’s a fog upon L.A. and my friends have lost their way. ‘We’ll be over soon,’ they said; now they’ve lost themselves instead. Please don’t be long.” The meaning is obvious. The wrinkle is that the phrase “be long” sounds like the word “belong.” Is there an anti-establishment message in the song?
Rule #1 for interpreting a Beatles’ song warns us not to be fooled by what the songwriter says about a song’s meaning. Rule #2 is the companion: don’t fool yourself by reading into a song what you want to hear. Charles Manson heard interesting things in Beatles’ songs that clearly were not there. We all know to be wary of optical illusions; it is also important to be wary of aural illusions: you can think you hear something that isn’t really there.
If “Blue Jay Way” contains an anti-establishment message, then we may have to conclude that the song is badly written. The sound the Beatles’ achieved in the recording, together with the hypnotic pace, fits perfectly with the feeling created in the lyrics of bleary-eyed sleepiness and the boredom of waiting; the foggy-headed feeling is matched by the “fog” in the lyrics and the misty tones George achieved on the Hammond organ. An anti-establishment message sneaking in at the end might be like pinning a donkey’s tail on a swan: it just doesn’t fit organically with the rest of the creature, and that’s just poor craftsmanship.
The best defense of this potential donkey’s tail is the reference in the second verse to the police. Police can be helpful, but why should George add the additional comment about the police that, “There’s so many there to meet”? This line completes the verse, and “meet” rhymes with “street.” However, it is difficult to ignore the role the police play in forcefully defending the established order. “There’s so many” suggests the difficulty of escaping their gaze. No matter how innocent our actions, e.g. trying to find a friend, the police with their coercive force are never far away – it’s almost like being surrounded by fog.
Are we over-thinking the song? Perhaps. And yet, it was George who wrote both “Taxman” and “Piggies,” and who, just a few days after working out “Blue Jay Way,” visited the Haight Ashbury district in San Francisco to see what the anti-establishment fuss was all about. He was a reflective, culturally aware, intelligent songwriter, and it is possible that some of his cheeky irreverence colors “Blue Jay Way.” Just as John wasn’t fully aware at the time he wrote “Help,” that he was crying for help in his song, so also George’s anti-establishment sentiments may have exerted a subtle influence even he may not even have been fully aware of at the time he wrote it. The song simply sounded good to him, but it may well be that it sounded good to him partly because his ear heard the subtle insinuation of coercion in the reference to the “many” police, and perhaps also in the slightly claustrophobic texture of the foggy sound the Beatles achieved in the studio.
The simple fact that “be long” sounds like “belong” is not enough to support an anti-establishment interpretation. There are aural illusions and we mustn’t fool ourselves. In order to make this a reasonable interpretation, we must listen more carefully to hear whether the song is a well-written whole, and if so, whether such a message emerges organically from the whole sound.
For Part 3 of 5, see “From Me To You.”
So, in other words, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar?
In other words…. I couldn’t be bothered with that rambling tome.
You mean some people actually read all of this post?
This song feels very beat-based in the guitar-rock dominated era. Almost like some psychedelic ancestor to Trip Hop, underrated track for sure.
Thanks Don for your reflection. I wonder if there´s a timpani in the first verse. It sounds like a timpani. Is there any information about it? Ringo playing timpani and then the drum kit?
The Beatles “Blue Jay Way” house is located at 1567 Blue Jay Way right next door to the house I just bought!
Have a look at the house on Google Maps. Man, even now it is a paradise, so God knows what kind of other planet LA must’ve been when coming over from Britain in the 60s.
I think that this is a song that becomes a lot more charming once you hear the above story.
This was written just a few weeks before Brian died, during the “late” part of their psychedelic phase. Not only was George bored while waiting for Derek Taylor to show up (who really was lost in the fog) but he was bored with the Beatles. I love the double meaning of “Don’t Be Long” and “Don’t Belong”. George meant both.
I think it was the beginning of the end for the group and he knew it.
The Beatles hadn’t toured in a year, and though Pepper was a triumph for the group and a great ego boost for Paul and John, it was not very much fun for George (or Ringo) to record. Pepper was assembled much like a movie and NOT 4 guys in a room playing Rock-n-Roll, like the records before or the live band on stage. Both were looking for ways to “Not Belong”. The band wasn’t having fun any more.
Paul was trying to lead the band by then, mostly because John was occupied with acid and laying around in bed watching TV for weeks on end. Paul began making more and more decisions about what the group would do next and when. I think anyone in George’s position, would consider (or hope) that it would be over soon. Or at least see the writing on the wall. Two years later it really was over and George saw it coming.
The Beatles continued to record basic tracks with all four present during the “Sgt. Pepper” sessions – I mean in general, not every song – and the basic track to “Lovely Rita” was recorded with all four present.
This is one of the worst songs the Beatles ever released. They must have been quite desperate for more material as filler to have put this on the album. It was a poor decision.
This song perfectly expresses the feeling of loss and abandonment the Beatles must all have felt at this time
Agree. A top candidate for worst Beatles song. It’s about a mundane situation and achieves said levels of boredom. The effects are interesting but that’s about it.
I don’t agree at all. This is one of their most succesful psychedelic tracks, the atmosphere is dreamlike and unusually creepy, ringo’s drumming and the cello parts are perfect. The production is also top-notch.
It’s basically another George ”Indian” song based on a drone and a raga instead of the usual western chord progressions. It represents a state of mind rather than the musical ”journey” we find in most Beatles songs. Maybe that’s why some folks find it boring.
This has been my favorite track on the Magical Mystery Tour album and all this time I thought it was Lennon’s…well I found my favorite Harrison song 🙂 listening to this track on acid is wicked
This is a great song. The melody is haunting and that, combined with the smooth lyrics draws one in. Ringo’s drumming is just right for this song (as is always the case). He truly holds the band together throughout all the rhythmic changes. The vocal effects are superb. As with all their recordings, you still can hear the actual timber and pitch in their voices, unlike most modern pop stars with their auto-tune and vocal filtering. George wrote a great song and the group, George Martin and his engineers made a great recording.
I have a reproduction poster for MMT and just noticed on it where the songs are listed for the song Blue Jay Way. But instead of Blue Jay Way it is Blue Day Way. I know that this is just a reproduction but it would be a good guess to say that the original poster is also like that. Has anyone else ever seen this? Or have heard about it. Would be curious to find out. Thanks.
The poster you are referring to was created in the mid 70’s after MMT had a brief limited theatrical run. It was probably just a spelling error when the Carson Entertainment Group picked up the distribution and made that poster. But if it were Blue Day Way that would suggest George is on a depressing path.
You mean Lennon actually showed up for a Harrison recording?
Of course he did. He did not deliberately go AWOL from the recording of George’s songs – this is another frequent misconception.
I don’t know why people think that John purposely avoided the sessions for George’s songs when it’s clearly not true – he may have been absent for a week during the sessions for the White Album, likely because Yoko was pregnant, and he was going through his divorce from Cynthia, but he came back.
He didn’t play on “Here Comes the Sun”, because he was recuperating from a car accident and perhaps following doctor’s orders, and he was on holiday in Denmark when “I Me Mine” was cut.
i cant hear john anywhere on this, the isolated backing vocals dont contain any hint of lennons voice and he sure isnt playing keyboards , so if he is on this where is he? georrge got it right when he flat out accused lennon of missing all his sessions at the famous board meeting of 1969 , lennon missed this one, didnt play on piggies , savoy truffle , long long long, his piano part was wiped from “something” he isnt on here comes the sun, i me mine….i mean thats most of georges songs from 68 onwards that lennon misses. you might think thats not by design but i think not.
I was playing tourist in LA this weekend, and drove up to George’s Blue Jay Way house. I don’t know how anyone could have found it pre-GPS. I saw several street signs, so it appears there is no longer an interest in taking them. Leo DiCaprio’s house is nearby. I also visited Love Street, the inspiration for Jim Morrison’s song of the same name. There are signs explaining its history. It is off Laurel Canyon across from the Laurel Canyon Country Store (“there’s a store where the creatures meet”). The Store has valet parking for $10!
It´s very curious that , in all his indian-style songs, George Harrison experimented different scales, or modes, against the drone pedal note. In Love You To, the melody is dorian, in Within You Without You , the melody is almost entirely in the mixolydian mode. In The Inner Light, also we have a mixolydian mode. In Blue Jay Way, by contrast, we find not a simple greek mode, but an octatonic scale, which display the following notes : C – D – Eb – E- F# – G – A – B . I don´t know wether George invented it , or heard it somewhere, but it provides the perfect strange and creeppy atmosphere for the lyrics and intention of the song.
In all four cases the melodies are based on Hindustani ragas. These sometimes coincide with western modes such as Mixolydian, in other cases not.
The mono mix is notably different, as it lacks the backward backing vocals, while the cello sounds normal instead of being subjected to the delay effect you hear in the stereo.
A slightly dull song, a shame It’s All too Much wasn’t used for MMT instead, though to be fair the Blue Jay Way sequence in the movie is good.
It’s weird how little guitar George is playing around this time, especially on his own songs where he’s either using Indian instrumentation or playing the organ.
He was allowed to branch out to organ and sitar and it was no different to John writing keyboard-dominated songs – this was actually very good for John and George to develop their own keyboard techniques, but it’s not like they quit playing guitar altogether during the psychedelic period.
While staying at Blue Jay Way, Maxine Casey, wife of local musician and music store owner Al Casey, delivered the first prototype Bartell Fretless guitar to George Harrison. The guitar was designed by the legendary Paul Barth (National, Rickenbacker, Magnatone) it was made by Paul’s company, Bartell’s of California in partnership with Ted Peckels. George kept the fretless guitar, he called the “Mad” guitar until 1985 when he gifted it to U.K. session guitarist Ray Russell when they worked together on the Handmade film WATER. The fretless was in Abbey Road during the White Album period and played by Lennon on 6th June 1968 during an interview with Kenny Everett.
In the film MMT, what is the meaning of the writing next to George, something about 2 wives and kids to support?
George is playing the part of a street musician. They would sometimes have signs saying “I have a wife and two kids [or whatever] to support” in order to guilt passers-by into making a donation. Harrison’s sign, indicating multiple wives and one kid, is a reverse of the usual situation–although George did end up with two wives and one kid, which may be why he included a still from this scene in his memoir I, ME MINE.
Sorry, but I find this song boring and repetitious. George’s Indian songs and psychedelic songs from ‘66 to early ‘68 leave me cold, although I like his other material. “Within You, Without You” is the song I always skip on “Pepper”.
The “White Album”/“Abbey Road” songs notwithstanding, I think my personal favorites of his are “Don’t Bother Me” and “I Need You”, but I generally have a preference for their earlier material, anyway.
this is the best song I’ve ever heard. like previously stated I always think george is playing around w the wording of ‘dont be long’ and don’t belong’.
as a drummer I also think this is ringo’s best performance.