Written by George Harrison, ‘Old Brown Shoe’ was originally released as the b-side of ‘The Ballad Of John And Yoko’. It remains a largely overlooked gem from The Beatles’ back catalogue.
I started the chord sequences on the piano, which I don’t really play, and then began writing ideas for the words from various opposites… Again, it’s the duality of things – yes no, up down, left right, right wrong, etcetera.
I Me Mine, 1980
In the studio
The Beatles performed two versions of ‘Old Brown Shoe’ on 27 January 1969, during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions at Apple Studios. The first was sung by George Harrison with just a piano accompaniment, followed by an attempt by the whole group with Billy Preston.
The Beatles returned to the song the following day, playing through it eight times, and once more on 29 January. These versions have all been bootlegged from the hours of rehearsals and jams taped by The Beatles for the Let It Be album.
On 25 February, his 26th birthday, Harrison recorded two takes of a solo demo of ‘Old Brown Shoe’. He also recorded versions of ‘All Things Must Pass’ and ‘Something’, possibly so the other Beatles could learn their parts. Why he needed to do this for ‘Old Brown Shoe’ is unknown – possibly he was dissatisfied with the previous group attempts, and wanted them to reconsider the song.
Each of the demos can be heard on Anthology 3. Of the three, ‘Old Brown Shoe’ was the most elaborate. Harrison began by recording vocals and piano, before adding two guitar overdubs. The first guitar part was played mainly on the bottom strings, while the second, which included a solo, was played mainly on the higher strings.
The Beatles eventually began work on the song on 16 April 1969. In the morning Harrison recorded a second demo version, and that evening the group taped four takes.
Ringo Starr was filming The Magic Christian, and was unavailable for the session. In his place, the drums on the song were played by Paul McCartney.
The Beatles recorded four takes of the song. Take two, the first complete run-through, was included on some formats of the 50th anniversary reissue of Abbey Road. Take four, meanwhile, became the basis of the single version.
Track one of the eight-track tape contained McCartney’s drums, while the second and third featured Harrison’s guide vocals and lead guitar respectively. John Lennon’s piano part was recorded onto track four.
Once take four had been selected as the best attempt, The Beatles added a range of overdubs. McCartney’s bass guitar and another Harrison guitar part were recorded on track six, and Harrison – with backing from Lennon and McCartney – added lead vocals to track two.
Additional backing vocals from Lennon and McCartney were recorded on track five. All of the vocals were intentionally distorted by studio engineer Jeff Jarratt.
The recording of ‘Old Brown Shoe’ was completed two days later. An organ part was added to track eight, and a lead guitar solo was overdubbed onto track seven. Both of these parts were played by Harrison.
Nineteen stereo mixes, ten of which were complete, were also made of ‘Old Brown Shoe’ during the session. The last of these was selected as the master.
The release
‘Old Brown Shoe’ was Harrison’s second song to be issued on the b-side of a Beatles single, following ‘The Inner Light’ in March 1968.
The song was also included on the Capitol Records compilation Hey Jude, released in North America and elsewhere in February 1970. It was later included on the 1967-1970 compilation, also known as the Blue Album, and on the Past Masters collection.
Harrison’s demo was released on Anthology 3 in October 1996. Take two of the song, meanwhile, was included on the super deluxe 50th anniversary edition of Abbey Road in 2019.
‘Old Brown Shoe’ was one of eight Beatles songs on Harrison’s 1992 album Live In Japan, which had been recorded on tour the previous year.
Paul was a solid drummer. In fact, I consider Dear Prudence to be the best drumming done on any Beatles album. (I have a degree in music. Major: percussion, so please refrain from man-splaining anything to me or tell me “you don’t get it”. I literally grew up listening to them first run. I get it)
Paul was an adequate drummer, and dear prudence demonstrates this.
if he did in fact play drums on old brown shoe, which neither you nor i know, it’s his best drumming on a beatles song. (i have a degree in Your degree means nothing. Major: the best musicians in history didn’t go to school to learn how to do what comes to real musicians naturally; so refrain from “woman-splainin” anything at all about anything at all. i could sing the entire meet the beatles album when i was 4, in 1965 …and that means nothing.)
Adequate is right. My issue with Paul’s drumming, both here and on “The Ballad of J & Y,” is the lack os the the subtle touches Ringo always added. Paul just plods along, over and over without much in the way of nuance. Ringo was creative if not splashy in his playing. “Something,” & “Baby You Can Drive my Car,” et al.
Paul was a good drummer, but he didn’t play shuffles. I think one song he may have played, but hasn’t been credited, was Obla Di Obla Da. If you listen to the isolated drums version, it’s definitely his style.
Paul did not play drums on “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”, as the basic track contained drums, fuzz bass, piano and acoustic guitar before a reduction mix, so it would’ve been impossible for him to redo the drums.
He did drums on two takes of a new version that ended up being junked in favour of the July 9, 1968 version that ended up being released.
No disrespect, but somehow the drumming in Dear Prudence was not right in Ringo’s mind those days.
I agree that Paul is one of those rare examples of a true multi-instrumentalist. However, his style for drumming and for guitar solos is somewhat incipient.
Ridiculus….Paul played some of the best lead fills on Beatles records..”Taxman”…..”Paperback Writer”…….”Ticket To Ride”……”Good Morning , Good Morning”……”Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band”
That’s right, he did.
On the instrumental track for “Paperback Writer” it never occurred to me that he and George played their lead guitars together and John clearly played the tremolo electric guitar.
Paul is flashy on guitar. He falls prey to what almost every guitar player falls prey to: he’s good and he needs to show it. That’s why he’s not better than George. I don’t prefer Paul. If I had to have a guitar part on a song, I’m getting George. Live, maybe Paul, but I hate playing live.
I love the drumming on Dear Prudence, don’t get me wrong, but I’d hardly call it some of the best drumming in their entire catalogue. Ringo played some VERY creative drum parts in his 8 years with the band.
Yeh but they’re talking about Old Brown Shoe, and I too have a music degree.
If it’s the Beatles you are talking about you don’t need a degree in music. All you need is a birth certificate and some elementary decency. And don’t make me boy splainin’ or what ever or else…
I disagree. My take on the finest drumming on a Beatles song is “Something”. I say this as a musician in a gigging Beatles cover group and I have been playing nearly 50 years. Paul was a pretty good drummer but has never been in Ringo’s league. Just my opinion.
its horribly out of time, paul lags behind the beat for most of the song losing it entirely after the break, ringo had to dub a ton of toms over the end to try and cover up pauls atrocious time keeping, but it didnt help, this is among the worst drum parts on any beatles recording. a simple part and paul still can execute it with any confidence
As I have already indicated, Paul himself admits that he can play 4/4 on the drums, but not shuffles, and not all the line-ups in Kevin Howlett’s books are 100% correct as a result of either him or Giles Martin (who wasn’t even born when these recordings were made) making mistakes or omitting certain contributions.
It’s okay to have differing opinions and I respect that, but sometimes, it’s a good idea to trust our ears.
This webpage – http://www.beatlesebooks.com/old-brown-shoe?sitecookie=46cd9c17fee32bfe9fe45da4d79b7234 – also indicates that it’s very likely to be Ringo on drums and has the quote from Paul himself about his inability to play drum shuffles not to mention that Ringo had been developing the shuffle beat as far back as the Twickenham sessions of January 1969.
100% sure it’s Ringo on drums after watching Get Back. The scene where George is working on this song features Ringo on drums and his playing is exactly like the recorded version.
You said it.
I completely agree, Ringo all the way. Listen to any of the bootlegged versions from the Get Back sessions and you can literally hear the drum part for the record evolving as Ringo plays it. Get Back episode 3 confirms it is Ringo playing on those bootleg takes from the basement studio – in fact Paul is absent for the run through shown (which has John fully engaged, in contradiction to the ridiculous myth about his supposed apathy to working on George’s songs).
If the drum track for the record was recorded on 16 April then all I can say is “Ring, King of the Swing” (copyright Ian McNabb of the Icicle Works) must have been back from his Magic Christian duties, as there is NO way Paul could have emulated a groove like that (his drumming has improved immensely in the intervening decades but that sort of feel would be beyond his now, never mind then).
I agree with you, Paul the K., and I’m glad that you are on the same page as me. Paul himself has openly stated that he can’t play shuffles that well.
In view of the scenes in the Get Back documentary where George shows the song on the piano, with the same riff, it´s very likely that he does the piano on the backing track. So it´s Paul on drums, George on piano and John on guitar. That is also more logical, as George was singing guide vocal . So George : piano, organ, bass, lead guitar and lead vocal / Paul : drums, maybe some guitar also, backing vocal / John : guitar
Sorry Pablo, but Ezequiel is right – Ringo had been developing the shuffle, and even George Martin’s handwritten notes indicate some interesting details plus John is clearly on backing vocals.
Just because George may have played piano on the demo it doesn’t mean that he necessarily played it on the final take. I agree with Speed Skater indicating that it was more than likely Ringo on the drums and John’s voice is obvious.
I saw the rehearsal footage with George on piano, Paul on electric guitar, Billy Preston on 6-string bass and Ringo on drums. John was occupied with assisting someone with lifting a Leslie speaker.
Where can we see George Martin´s notes ? On who played drums, it´s been officially released in the Abbey Road remix that Ringo did not take part on this track. I think it´s George on piano because it would be more natural, and as the guide vocal was recorded live with the basic track, it would have been difficult to play that guitar riff along with singing. Unfortunately, no journalist who has the chance to interview Paul or Ringo seems to care to ask them about these recording details …
Paul the K. is right about Ringo’s involvement. The liner notes to the SDE books, unfortunately, have their share of factual errors as well as line-up errors/omissions, and just because Giles Martin or Kevin Howlett wrote it down, it doesn’t always mean that they get it right.
George himself said that he couldn’t really play the piano and Paul has openly admitted that he can’t really play shuffles – the drumming on OBS is clearly the work of an experienced drummer like Ringo, if you compare Paul’s basic drumming on TBOJAY.
The handwritten notes came from Mark Lewisohn’s books and this link will provide it – https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/beatles-george-harrison-old-brown-shoe-what-is-george-singing-at-end.323816/page-4.
Contrary to what Mark Lewisohn mistakenly reported, John’s rhythm guitar was actually retained in the final mix.
Surely Ian MacDonald’s and/or Mark Lewisohn’s will book(s) will confirm all this either way?
Actually, George played the bass on Old Brown Shoe. He said he emulated what he’d done on the guitar.
From the 1987/88 Creem Magazine interview:
CM: You also told me you played bass on “Old Brown Shoe.”
GH: It’s like a lunatic playing.
CM: It sounds like McCartney was going nuts again.
GH: That was me going nuts. I’m doing exactly what I do on the guitar.
Source:
If the dual bass and guitar lines, per George Martin’s handwritten production notes as well as Mark Lewisohn, were overdubbed in unison, logically, it would’ve been George on guitar and Paul on bass.
Paul was a decent drummer. But anyone who knows anything about drumming would be able to tell that the drums on this track were beyond his abilities. It’s definitely Ringo.
New flash for those unable to utter a thought they haven’t heard repeated by someone else ad nauseum: “Old Brown Shoe” IS in 4/4 time and it is not a “shuffle beat.” Those of you repeating the notion that “Paul says he can play 4/4 but not a shuffle” are spouting irrelevance.
Shuffles can be played in 4/4.. a shuffle is characterized by “shuffling/swinging” around the beat, typically in triplets. In the case of OBS, the drum part is: “a 1 a 2 a 3 a 4” as opposed to a straight rock beat of “1 + 2 + 3 + 4 +”
It’s most certainly a shuffle, especially in the bridges.
I too agree with others that it’s Ringo.
Exactly, Chuck is talking through his (hi) hat. Of course it’s Ringo.
In the Past Masters’ version of “Old Brown Shoe” in the second verse I hear this: “So help me escape from this zoo.” However, every other version, and all published lyrics have the line to be: “Got me escaping from this zoo.” Anyone care to comment? Is the Past Masters’ version different?