In the studio
‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ was a remarkable and innovative recording for a variety of reasons. Firstly there was Ringo Starr’s thunderous drum pattern. The tom toms skins on his kit were slackened, and the recording was heavily compressed and echoed to give perhaps the most remarkable drum sound on any Beatles song.
The drums are the main constant in ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’, a perfect counterpoint to the musical anarchy that envelopes the rest of the song. Paul McCartney’s bass guitar closely matched Starr’s drums, enhancing the song’s hypnotic effect.
I moved the bass drum microphone much closer to the drum than had been done before. There’s an early picture of The Beatles wearing a woollen jumper with four necks. I stuffed that inside the drum to deaden the sound. Then we put the sound through Fairchild 660 valve limiters and compressors. It became the sound of Revolver and Pepper really. Drums had never been heard like that before.”
Then there were the tape loops. McCartney had discovered that by removing the erase head on his reel-to-reel tape machine, he could saturate a recording with sound.
People tend to credit John with the backwards recordings, the loops and the weird sound effects, but the tape loops were my thing. The only thing I ever used them on was ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’. It was nice for this to leak into the Beatle stuff as it did.We ran the loops and then we ran the track of ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ and we played the faders, and just before you could tell it was a loop, before it began to repeat a lot, I’d pull in one of the other faders, and so, using the other people, ‘You pull that in there,’ ‘You pull that in,’ we did a half random, half orchestrated playing of the things and recorded that to a track on the actual master tape, so that if we got a good one, that would be the solo. We played it through a few times and changed some of the tapes till we got what we thought was a real good one.
I think it is a great solo. I always think of seagulls when I hear it. I used to get a lot of seagulls in my loops; a speeded-up shout, hah ha, goes squawk squawk. And I always get pictures of seasides, of Torquay, the Torbay Inn, fishing boats and puffins and deep purple mountains. Those were the slowed-down ones.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
There were six loops used on ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’: a seagull noise, actually a distorted recording of McCartney laughing; an orchestra playing a B flat chord; notes played on a Mellotron’s flute setting; a second Mellotron on its violin setting; a finger rubbing the rim of a wine glass, heard midway through the song only in the stereo mix; and a distorted sitar which is most clearly heard in the instrumental break following the lines “It is being, it is being”.
I had my own little set-up to record them. As George says, we were ‘drinking a lot of tea’ in those days, and on all my tapes you can hear, ‘Oh, I hope I’ve switched it on.’ I’d get so deranged from strong tea. I’d sit there for hours making those noises.
Anthology
It has been claimed that The Beatles also used part of McCartney’s guitar solo for ‘Taxman’, reversed and slowed down a tone, in the instrumental break. However, the two parts are different and were likely recorded on different dates. Here is the section of ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ reversed, to show how the guitar solo sounded as it was recorded:
The final remarkable innovation in ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ was John Lennon’s voice. For the first half of the song it was manually double tracked (not, as has been reported elsewhere, treated with artificial double tracking or ADT).
For the second half, meanwhile, the Abbey Road engineers ran Lennon’s voice through a revolving Leslie speaker, more commonly found inside Hammond organs. It can be heard from the line ‘Love is all and love is everyone’.
For ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ he said to me he wanted his voice to sound like the Dalai Lama chanting from a hilltop, and I said, ‘It’s a bit expensive, going to Tibet. Can we make do with it here?’ I knew perfectly well that ordinary echo or reverb wouldn’t work, because it would just put a very distant voice on. We needed to have something a bit weird and metallic…A Leslie speaker is a rotating speaker, a Hammond console, and the speed at which it rotates can be varied according to a knob on the control. By putting his voice through that and then recoding it again, you got a kind of intermittent vibrato effect, which is what we hear on ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’. I don’t think anyone had done that before. It was quite a revolutionary track for Revolver.
Anthology
Geoff Emerick later explained the response among those in the studio:
It meant actually breaking into the circuitry. I remember the surprise on our faces when the voice came out of the speaker. It was just one of sheer amazement. After that they wanted everything shoved through the Leslie: pianos, guitars, drums, vocals, you name it!
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Mark Lewisohn
Despite the groundbreaking results, Lennon later claimed to have been dissatisfied with the recording.
Often the backing I think of early on never comes off. With ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ I’d imagined in my head that in the background you would hear thousands of monks chanting. That was impractical of course and we did something different. I should have tried to get near my original idea, the monks singing. I realise now that was what it needed
The Beatles, Hunter Davies
Recording began on 6 April 1966, the first session for Revolver. On that day The Beatles recorded just three takes of the rhythm track for ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’, under the working title ‘Mark I’, along with one of John Lennon’s vocal takes.
Take one, which appeared on Anthology 2, still sounds utterly remarkable. The basis of the recording appears to be a single tape loop, featuring a repeated distorted guitar line, and heavily echoed and treated percussive sounds – giving a distinctly underwater effect. Onto this drums and bass were seemingly added, along with Lennon’s eerie vocals.
Take two was incomplete, but take three formed the basis of the released album version. Onto this they added the many effects and loops, during a five-hour session on 7 April.
We did a live mix of all the loops. All over the studios we had people spooling them onto machines with pencils while Geoff did the balancing. There were many other hands controlling the panning.It is the one track, of all the songs The Beatles did, that could never be reproduced: it would be impossible to go back now and mix exactly the same thing: the ‘happening’ of the tape loops, inserted as we all swung off the levers on the faders willy-nilly, was a random event.
‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ was completed on 22 April, with a final overdub containing more vocals, organ, tambourine and piano, and the reversed guitar solo by Paul McCartney.
Very interesting how this article gathers up everything those involved in the creation of Tomorrow Never Knows have publicly said about the process. I find it fascinating that it was at McCartney’s instigation the group experimented with tape loops. In the finished song the loops form a crucial element of the extraordinary soundscape. It shows Paul making a major contribution to one of John’s songs, reportedly a more rare event by this stage in their career. Although A Day In The Life and We Can Work It Out are justly more celebrated examples of the pair melding ideas together in this way.
Nevertheless, Tomorrow Never Knows’ foregrounded use of these tape loops – created in an experimental process driven way rather than a compositional one – supports Paul’s claim he was the first Beatle to take an interest in the avant garde.
why Rare?!
Paul Contribution to Beatles songs in studio is more than any other Beatle, even if the song was written by John or George.
something any Beatles fan can notice clearly, but this fact is always ignored!
It should be mentioned that Paul lived practically around the corner from Abbey Road while the other Beatles had to motor from the burbs into the studio.
Paul has spent the last 30 years reminding everyone of his considerable contributions so this fact has not been ignored.
There are two or three Harrison songs that Paul contributed nothing or next to nothing.
Also interesting to note that Paul had zero input into “She Said She Said” and it is, IMHO, the best song they recorded in 1966. Paul was reportedly AWOL after an argument and the George helped John finish up write the song, arrange it and play bass on the track.
Which isn’t to say the song wouldn’t have been great with Paul’s assistance. Still, each one of the four Beatles was critical for the development of their sound. As much as I learned to enjoy Lennon and McCartney’s solo stuff, and as much as I immediately loved singles like “Imagine” and “Jet,” it took me a LONG time to appreciate many of the Beatles solo albums, because they seemed to alien to what the Beatles were about. Lennon seemed particularly keen to put any hint of psychedelia or baroque pop well behind himself, which was rather disappointing.
The song mind games is far out tripping
It’s a good song but it’s hardly tripping. I think you are tripping with your comment. Pure vanilla extract.
Yeah, it always disappointed me that he didn’t do more “reaching for it all” stuff in his solo work like this song, “Because”, “I Am The Walrus”, even stuff like “I Want You”(that epic ending with the white noise and what not). “#9 Dream” is the only thing I can think of that comes close.
Yet, Lennon always wanted to be known as a rock ‘n’ roller, not as a psychedelic song writer. I’d say his solo work was him being more true to himself.
Mark Lewisohn discovered that the 4-track tape to SSSS had bass and drums on one track and guitars on another track in regards to the backing track, so clearly Paul would’ve participated in the basic track and it must be remembered that given the technological limitations of 4-track tape at the time, George wouldn’t have been able to replace Paul’s bass playing with his own efforts without erasing Ringo’s drumming.
You’re probably thinking of George’s Indian songs and he mostly recorded them with Indian musicians.
Paul was mainly avant garde when it was one of John’s songs.
John wrote risk taking songs (or instigated them) for the Beatles.
Interestingly, it was Paul during their studio experimental days 1966-67 who is able to embellish alot of their songs with his electric guitar playing, most notably during the Sgt. Pepper album. Paul provides a nice guitar phrase towards the end of Strawberry fields, where frankly Harrison seemed either incappable or disinterested in providing that type of psychedelic, or even raw and biting leads. (dont get me wrong I love George, but he seemed to have a more difficult time sorting out solos, where Paul could knock parts off fairly quick. Maybe his left-handed approach had something to do with it.
Please, let’s not turn this comment thread into yet another Person A v Person B debate – it would be really helpful of you could keep the discussion focused on Tomorrow Never Knows. Thanks.
Wow. I’m a life-long fan as well as my children & now grandchildren (who love the “Yellow Submarine” animation & songs). I’ve always thought that Paul was the main creative generator/energizer for all things directional as the Beatles traveled through time & space. Because of this awesome website as well as the incredible response people, I’ve learned that Paul has also contributed lead guitar solos for how many of their songs? One more Wow !
George still played some very good guitar parts, solos included, during the psychedelic period and it wasn’t like he didn’t play it anymore.
The backwards solo on “Tomorrow Never Knows” was actually not sampled from “Taxman”, since 21st century technological advances have proven certain writers’ claims on this to be wrong, according to Robert Rodriguez, so it’s likely that George played this backward solo.
The GREATEST psychedelic song ever written and recorded.
Sorry, ‘Inagodadavita’ fans…that’s just my opinion.
I take it you are referring to In-a-gadda-da-vida. Originally In the Garden of Eden, but mistranslated courtesy of heavy drug use at the time of recording.
And, BTW, In-a-gadda-da-vida is not the best psychedelic song ever written, it just happens to be one most people remember due to the drum solo and the fact that it was played at virtually every party form 1968-1975 (or so). Nothing against the song, but Jimi outshone most with some simple and beautiful songs – Electric Ladyland is a fine place to start with Jimi’s wide artistic writing, playing and producing. talents at the fore. Syd Barrett (and early Pink Floyd), Donovan, Pretty Things and The Hollies. Fine examples of these and other artists and songs may be found on the album “Psychedelia at Abbey Road: 1965-1969”, the most recent release available from EMI Music Distribution – Item 4969122.
It still sounds miles ahead of anything being done today (and I enjoy a lot of modern rock music).
Shouldn’t Paul get a credit on this song for the guitar part they used from ‘Taxman’? Sorry to nitpick 🙂
Yes, he should. I’ve updated the line-up. On the Taxman page’s comments, though, Vonbontee points out that the solos aren’t quite the same. I think it might have been a different solo from the same Taxman session, though I can’t quite be sure.
No, in fact it’s a completely different piece of guitar playing. You can hear them played one after the other on Soundcloud Beatles multi-track melt down
Hi Qumranjoe, I can’t find that site–if you see this, can you post a link?
I was just thinking this morning about this song vs. the “Velvet Underground & Nico” as that album was being recorded around the same time as this song, and is often put up by critics as the “most influential record ever” or first really experimental album (recorded and released before Sgt Pepper’s, etc) in rock. I love VU but that record, as weird and dark and cool as it is, pales before this masterpiece.
With that awesome drum beat and the looping sounds, I feel this recording influenced and even helped create music that came about years later such as techno and other electronic beat-based music like Hip-Hop, Which shouldn’t be surprising coming from some band called the “Beat”les.
Also, I don’t say this enough, so “way to go Ringo!” Wait, was that beat even Ringo’s idea, or did Paul come up with this again? I would like to know if anyone has any evidence one way or another.
Yeah, that’s exactly what I think, Joe! Surely Paul recorded more than one take of that solo.
Well, actually Geoff Emerick claims that Paul nailed the solo for Taxman in one take!
Paul also did the solo on Good Morning, Good Morning in one take. It was completely ad libed on the spot. Not bad for the “sentimental Beatle”!
Paul could rock him some guitar no doubt. I mean just listen to his bass playing, it’s obvious the guy had serious chops. Yes, George was tasty, and I know moderator doesn’t want any debates about “Person A vs Person B”, but as I’ve learned who played what parts on lead, couldn’t it be argued Paul was a better, just in a technical sense, lead guitarist than George?
Paul having his own guitar style doesn’t make him better than George or John, let alone Clapton, Hendrix, Page, Gilmour, Blackmore, Zappa, Van Halen or even Prince. Every guitarist has their own style, setup and sound.
Geoff Emerick’s book was clearly full of fabrications and made-up stories and there is no factual evidence to back up what he or his co-writer Howard Massey stated about George’s guitar playing.
When Geoff was asked in his 1979 interview if he remembered anything about the “Taxman” session, he replied, “No, sorry”, and he got called out by Ken Scott for writing a book full of fabricated stories, most of which, I think, were fabricated by his co-author Howard Massey.
Per Wikipedia, Robert Rodriguez says that Geoff’s unnecessary condescending attitude towards George as a guitarist said more about Geoff himself, not Paul or George’s collections. Paul has stated that he had an idea for the solo and George asked him to play it.
OK, boring analysis: The TNK guitar part is split into five separate segments. Segments 2, 3 and 5 all begin with (or, when played backwards, end with) the same standard 6-note blues lick, plqyed in a slightly different fashion each time. And it’s this same 6-note bit – again, phrased slightly differently – which appears very early in the “Taxman” solo, immediately after the initial 9 repetitions of the opening note. Chief difference: It’s transposed to the key of C from D, therefore a little bit faster and higher pitched.
Which brings me to another revision, albeit one that I’m far from 100% sure of, and have no way of proving: That, rather than being slowed down, the TNK guitar parts were actually recorded at the proper speed in the key of D and retained that speed and key on the finished recording; and that the “Taxman” solo was likewise recorded in D, then sped up to C, possibly because Paul couldn’t quite play the solo cleanly enough at that tempo. And I can’t think of any other Beatles guitar work played as fast as that little descending sitar-ish bit. Basically, the slower “Taxman” solo just sounds more natural to me. But I’m basing this entirely on my own ears, so who knows?
And you start with “boring:?
You’ve got that all wrong. Taxman solo is just a well executed ,creative and inventive solo. The drone on the D etc. that was a nod to George.
It’s not that fast,as your not playing a lot of notes.
It’s very inspired and clever ,and fit the sing to a T ,or should I say D ( Taxman is in D,by the way ) TNK in C …
By the way. This was analog ( tape ) when you speed up the tape it does two things. Changes the key and tempo. You don’t speed up a D to a C … Rather other way around .
If your recording 7 1/2 ips and change capstan to 15 ips ,you doubled the BPM and brought up the key an entire octave .
You can hear all the guitar parts on Beatles multi track melt down on Soundcloud. All completely different.
I feel it’s worth pointing out how Paul tells (Anthology TV and Book) of John writing this song using one chord (C).
Andrew, I don’t know why Paul said that, because there are obviously 2 chords in this song: it’s in the key of C, with a repeating shift to B on the third quarter. Chord websites show it this way ( or B sharp, sorry, I never studied music, I just learned to play by ear.)
And out of the many covers of this song (some ho-hum, some very good), one by Stay (Homenage 50 Aniversario The Beatles album) adds in an F in alternating riffs, which gives it an interesting flavor. Check it out on iTunes.
And there’s one version that I think comes closest to what John was trying for, because it makes use of chanting monks and has a very Eastern meditative sound to it. It’s by Steve Halpern (In the Om Zone). There’s no singing, but a sitar does the melody. It’s too bad John didn’t have today’s technology back then.
But my favorite cover version of all is by Tangerine Dream on an album called Abbey Road: a Tribute to the Beatles by various artists. It doesn’t have the gregorian chanting, and in fact the vocals are so distorted you can barely understand them, but the separate chords are very obvious, and the whole composition is just damn cool!
It’s actually a Bb/C. It’s a slash chord and what creates that jarring texture. The bassline doesn’t change once.
Andrew- What about Phil Manzarena/ Bryan Ferry version? Its a magnificent work of art, if you ask me!
I think you’ll find that’s Brian Eno not Bryan Ferry !
The Beatles play only one chord during the entire song, namely C major, but the orchestral overdub plays two: C major and B-flat major, thus creating a jarring harmonic effect, which George particularly liked.
It was an attempt to write a one chord song but there are two chords in it. A good example of a one chord song is Harrisons Within You and Without You.
In the article above, there’s a quote from Harrison where he explains the whole thing with the Bb chord on top of the C drone 🙂
I can’t figure out what happens to the wine glass in the remastered mono TNK mix. I am presuming since GM says, “It is the one track, of all the songs The Beatles did, that could never be reproduced: it would be impossible to go back now and mix exactly the same thing”, that the one flying mix had to be the stereo. So they just flattened the stereo to get the mono mix–but then the wine glass disappeared! Was this a phase effect?
The Mystery of the Missing Wine Glass. Will it ever be solved? I love that sound effect on the stereo version, and for that reason alone stereo wins on this song.Erroneously removed from the mono. Removed, I think, not a phase effect.
Doesn’t the (one bar long) drum pattern sound as if it was a tape loop too? It sounds always the same, exactly the same.
nope, that’s Ringo for you, “The Human Drum Machine”.
Of course it is Ringo. I mean it is not Ringo playing the same beat all the time, but just once, and then tape loop.
Confirmed by Emerick himself:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AYL9vsPvIqw (min 13:35)
Everett’s take:
Some tape reduction may have been required, but the following is a summary of the final mix based on take 3.
Track one has Ringo’s damped, limited and compressed drums, Paul’s bass and George’s tamboura; track two has a tambourine (John?), honky-tonk piano (George Martin) and a simple Hammond organ part on the second. This second track is interrupted between 1:08 – 1:24 for George’s guitar solo. It was recorded backwards as well as being treated with a fuzz box and run through a Leslie speaker.
John added his lead vocal to track three. The first verses were recorded straight, but the vocal following the solo is also run through a Leslie speaker.
The fourth track features a wild panning sound of five tape loops made by Paul at home. The loops are said to contain Paul’s laughter and distorted and / or sped-up guitars.
According to Emerick, they began with John and Ringo playing guitar and drums, from wich they made a tape-loop. On to this they superimposed the actual drums and the first John led vocal. Lennon played the organ, too.
I think George just played tambuora. About the tambourine it´s not clear who played it. Paul played bass (and created other five tape-loops they used).
The guitars sounds comes from all the loops. And of course, Martin played piano.
I think Ian Mcdonald claims need to be check. He didn´t quote any reliable source for the credits on his book. Or did he?
By all accounts he did a lot more research than Geoff Emerick and his ghost-writer (although that’s not to say MacDonald’s book is 100% reliable).
I know he did more research, but he didn’t quote the exact source for the instruments. It seems he did this by ear. It’s ok, but there’s a lot of innacurracys and obvious mistakes.
The Beatles were really blowing there minds on “acid” on Tomorrow Never Knows. The entire LP “Revolver” is based on a psychedelic mind altering LSD experience. The Liverpool Lads aren’t what they were 3 years earlier.
I think there shouldn’t be a sitar credited on this track, because you would hear that sort of buzzing sound like in solo on ,,Love You To”. The only Indian sounds would be a tambura and the tape loop after ,,It is being, it is being”.
That’s my opinion.
If you really listen closely George’s Sitar blends in perfectly with his Tambura playing and adds an extra mystical note. Those were indeed the finest Indian instruments money can buy and George new how to make them sound.
I need to know,
Is the working title(Mark I) came from the name of the first Mellotron? which according to wikipadia – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mellotron#List_of_models_.5B9.5D,
the name is Mark I?
Mark I is just a general term meaning roughly “first version”. There’ve been computers, cars and other things all referred to as “Mark I” until they get replaced by a newer model or “Mark II”. (It’s just like in the present-day computer age, referring to a second version of a program as 2.0) So I’m pretty sure the title had nothing to do with Mellotrons. (I had no idea that those were being manufactured as early as 1963!)
Surprised nobody has pointed out that the first UK mono pressings of “Revolver” have a different version of TNK on them. They were the ones pressed before noon that day. The story goes that George Martin was sent one and played it thru, noticed the mistake, and stopped the presses until the correct version was cut into the master tape and a new “mother” made. This is the infamous XEX 601-1 master, which one sees in the deadwax only on those very first pressings.
I would absolutely LOVE to see the making of this song!
To me much of today’s music can be traced back to this song. The processed vocals, on one chord, sampled loops that are layered, backward music, a loud bass & drum sound and automatic doubled tracked vocals. Very modernistic in it’s scope.
I think what sometimes gets lost (not by Beatle people of course) is that it’s one thing to sound like this because you’ve heard the sound before – it’s quite another to do what the Beatles did which was sound like this when no one has done it before – but you sound like this because you’ve heard it in your head!
Even though John says he didn’t fully capture what he was looking for – this is a pretty amazing sound.
Finally, what many folks fail to grasp is the Beatles not only “invented” new sounds in music and popular song – their breakthroughs remain the standard even almost 50 years later.
This would be like if the Model T car was still the standard in automobile excellence.
45 years later bands are still trying to make Revolver – no less Tomorrow Never Knows
Does anyone know with any certainty if, contrary to established myth, the first half of the song is actually double tracked the old fashioned way and NOT subject to ADT? I’ve seen several discussions of this online without attribution, the only evidence being what your ears tell you with close listening to the stereo version.
Yes, it was manually double-tracked in the first two verses. Here’s an article on the final recording session for the song.
This song and “I’m Only Sleeping” because of the backward parts being recorded in reverb uses reverse reverb. Interesting this pre-dates Jimi Page use by a year at least.
Let’s sum this up, there are many first in this song and many unique things, from the way the drums are played and recorded, to the song being built around one chord, this is pure genius of the time, folks.
For part 4 of 5 see “She Loves You.”
How [not] to interpret a Beatles’ song, Part 5 of 5: the meaning of my favorite Beatles’ song.
Songs like “Eleanor Rigby” and “Here, There and Everywhere” have what musicians call a “tonal center,” i.e. a pitch that plays the pivotal role in the melody so that when the melody finally comes back to the tonal center it achieves a resolution and gives the song a natural end-point. Part of what makes TNK so unfamiliar is that it is built on just one chord: if you don’t dance away from the tonic, then you have no resolving center to return to for a sense of completion and closure. Since the song never really veers away from the tonic, the song ends as it began, which means that it begins as it ends: beginning and ending are essentially arbitrary and the fade-in-fade-out structure creates a sense that we are somehow tuning in to something that has always been going.
Certainly John did not think of TNK in terms of a “tonal center” (though George Martin may have). This is just a different way to communicate what John was communicating through the sound and lyrics. He ends by suggesting that we “play the game existence to the end of the beginning:” what we normally think of as the end of life could just as easily be considered a beginning. Death is not necessarily the permanent end-point we assume it to be, and so the birth/life/death story by which we frame our existence may not be the most important thing on which to focus.
“Turn off your mind … it is not dying.” Ceasing the kind of cognitive processing that ordinarily fills our days turns out, according to John, not to result in a “void” – in actual fact it allows us to notice things we usually ignore. This is a natural extension of John’s innate irreverence. The things on which the establishment tells us to focus are not the important things.
“That love is all and love is everyone” is a shorter version of “I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together” from “I Am The Walrus.” If death is not an end-point that limits and defines our existence, then neither is the self/other boundary. All the borders and fences we build to mark the separation of me and not-me is effort to lock ourselves into an illusion. If what I love when I love myself can persist even beyond the death of my body, then what I love when I love myself can also be loved beyond the border of self and other.
Sorry about that. John said it better.
Beautifully analyzed and said.
Thank you for your insight.
That’s a nice observation. Also particularly your pointing out that the fade in, fade out of the song as though tuning into it as though it’s always going. And in the context of the lyrics.”…end, of the beginning gg…” And of course the rest of the lyrics. That is cool. Lol It would be even more ingenious if this was deliberately done according to this particular observation. ..?
I don’t understand “manually”. Is there another way of doubletracking?
Yes, using artificial double tracking (ADT). There’s an explanation on this page.
For me,this is the best music of The Beatles. It contains a resume of al eastern philosophy in less than 3 minutes! I think even John Lennon didn’t realize that when he created this masterpiece, but is true.C’mon people, throw away your sacred old books, and listen to this music with headphones,turn off your mind,relax and flow downstream!
In many ways this is an ultimate Beatles song. You could say it is their most experimental, its most psychedelic, their most spiritual. It is certainly among the most adventurous.
Looking back, the message of the words and the feel of the music are not the most intuitive fit. But it works much better than Harrison’s Within You Without You’s overly sincere attempt at spiritually enlightening the audience.
Yeah you maybe right. Though it was all Lennon’s he was obviously on cloud 9 when he wrote it. Nothing more to do everyday other than to Trip Out and read Spiritual Books.
Regarding this era, Ringo said: “Paul was on the edge. John was the edge.”
Considering that this song was recorded in 1966,it has aged remarkably well and every time I listen to it I try and imagine its impact on the listener back then,it must have sounded out of this world …nothing like it had gone before,and IMO as an innovative game changing piece of music that has influenced a whole musical genre nothing has surpassed it since,best heard through good headphones in the dark it is simply a stunning aural experience ,probably not just my favourite Beatles (Lennon) track,but my favourite track.period.
This is my second favorite closing track of any of album second only to a day in the life. Twist and shout would be my third favorite closing track of any beatles lp. when truly engrossed in the song it feels as if im Meditating instantly. Would love two here it if john could get down the thousand monks chanting sound in proper fashion to record it to flow with the rest of the song. Certainly their most psychedelic song.
You guys always give Paul the credit for anything great the beatles have done.Paul didn’t possess the vision or the creativity as John did,John was the creator,Paul’s greatness shined when led,so please stop making him greater than John.Just look at their solo careers.
In my opinion bar Imagine and P.O.B Pauls solo career was much better than Johns In Paul I still hear the beatles and what they would have become in John apart from the two albums mentioned its all horrible horrible Americanised music by someone who lost his way….and thats from someone who likes Johns material the best in the Beatles
A brilliant song and a great finish to the classic Revolver album. A John Lennon song with great input by Paul McCartney and producer George Martin. I love the drumming by Ringo and this songs whole feel. It is always fascinating to hear how this song was put together.
Did I miss the praise for Ringo’s drumming on this song? I really think 1966 is when Ringo was at the top of his game!
Paperback Writer, Rain, Tomorrow Never Knows. Sure the stuff before and after was excellent but something about 1966 really cemented Ringo’s creds as a Drum master for me.
Ringo never gets the credit he deserves for pushing rock drumming to the next level. They all want to praise Peart, Baker or Bonham…but just give Ringo’s work a listen. He really is the best and a master.
James I totally agree..
I came across ‘Beatle related dates’ at http://www.oocities.org/mofli/july.txt and read…
1966 — `Revolver’ goes to the disc cutting room. George Martin phones Geoff Emerick, telling him to replace remix 11 of `Tomorrow Never Knows’, marked `best’, by the original best, remix 8.
WOW!!
I had only ever heard the Revolver album version, and now see there are other takes available…so…. over to iTunes and hear and download Take 1 from the Anthology … annoyed that this year (2015) is the first time I heard it!… even despite coming from Litherland and ‘growing up’ saturated with the Beatles, and yes, having their albums….
THE POINT
I was VERY surprised when I heard Ringo’s playing on Take 1, I had to find out whether it was really him. But yes it is – and I love the treatment,flattened and looped.
SUMMARY
For me there are two classic versions of ‘Tomorrow never knows’ on Revolver!
There are also a Mellotron and an oscillator in the song
The Sun Kings, does a good live version of TNK on YT. It’s an easy search.
Over 10 years ago, I read a book on their songs and the recording proccesses. It may have been Mark Lewsohn’s book. It spoke of 3 takes using the standard backing tracks we all are familiar with. Or at most, had 2 other takes in the same tempo of the standard. He mentioned that these were even heavier. And also the loops and effects were even more saturated. But it’s been so long since I read it, that I have an inkling that he also said that these 2 heavier and harder versions didnt survive. (Taped over maybe..I dont know).
An innovative composition by Lennon: The whole song in one chord, and with a bourdun note like folkmusic from the Middle Ages? Typical Lennon is that he starts singing the melody on the same note; six notes, and then the sudden drop down from “.float” to “stream” in five steps, like the beginning of From Me To You. Of course George Martin — brought up with Irwing Berlin and Frank Sinatra — didn´t like that.The song starts with a tambora drone — an idea from Harrison — playing the same note.
Nowadays — after McCartney´s comments — musicwriters are mainly interested in McCartney´s tape loops. But of course McCartney didn´t tell the he was “inspired by the initial loop that John and Ringo had created during the first night of recording” the song, according to Geoff Emerick.
McCartney had been making loops prior to this song. The loop John and Ringo did was a very simple one and Emerick did it for them. McCartney’s loops were the innovative, creative ones and it was his idea to use them in the song. Emerick also pointed out that Lennon was severely challenged when it came to technical things. He didn’t understand those types of things at all. Unlike McCartney, who was technically proficient.
Like the bass line and piano that Paul created on Lennon’s Come Together, McCartney’s contribution to this Lennon song is what very nearly defines its greatness.
Wow so what you are really saying is that Paul was a bit of a producer then. And that John didn’t really have a clue what he was doing. Get a grip the Beatles were a BAND, they wrote,rehearsed and recorded the majority of their tracks together. They all gave each other feedback and many of the classic McCartney songs had lyrics from John and vice versa. Let’s just get one thing straight here John had loads of crazy IDEAS but didn’t always have the nous to get it recorded. Paul had the technical ability to get things recorded and worked better with Martin than John did. Does this make Paul more musically talented than John? Yes. does it make him as innovative and forward thinking as him? No. This is why they were the greatest band of all time because due to some stroke of luck these two actually met and made music together……one could not have existed without the other and that is why every John v Paul argument is irrelevant
And when you say he didn’t understand the technical things at all you really are showing yourself to be nothing other than a McCartney lover. Has it ever occured to you that many of the sounds that were produced were because of johns imagery and we’re new sounds never heard before, Something that Paul tried to replicate later but never could. Elenor rigby and penny lane apart Paul was quite bad at writting anything ‘observant’ or anything philosophical. As I have already said they were both part of the Beatles and that’s all that needs to be said. Paul couldn’t have wrote a SFF and John couldn’t have wrote a hey Jude however both songs are credited to lennon/mcartney and both belong to the Beatles. If you love Paul that much go listen to wings instead……… didn’t think so
Paul didn’t need to rely on philosophies that came straight out of a book either. Or religious texts. Or from Bob Dylan. Paul’s observations came out of his own head. So enough of your silly accusations that he didn’t have the vision or creativity John did.
Johan, this “song” isn’t much of one. It’s another Lennon bout of “trying to be different” and yes, laziness. Believe it or not,. Mr. Lennon had periods when he was trying to be cute – in his own way -, just like McCartney has.
It’s the RECORDING that makes this interesting, and Martin, Emerick, and McCartney are as responsible for that as Lennon himself (maybe moreso).
This song is an acid trip. It’s about taking LSD and then going to Pepperland.
Ringo Coins the phrase, “Tomorrow Never Knows”.
One of the coolest songs ever. Love the words, love the music, love the sound effects. Ringo’s incessant drumming is hypnotic and when John sings through the filter it’s so great. Another great guitar solo from Paul. George, in the Beatles was like an extremely lyrical rockabilly cat. John was the bluesiest, but Paul’s playing seems more freestyle and perfect for the psychedelic era. I love the way he just wails. Taxman and Good Morning, Good Morning are more great examples – not to mention his breath taking slide solo on Drive My Car.
Contrary to popular opinion, there are actually 2 chords in tomorrow never knows. The 2nd chord is the one that the french horns play.
I think the point about “one chord” is regarding the fact there is no chord progression or change. There are parts added to layer the sound, including other chords, but you can play one droning chord thought the whole song.
It’s a great experimental song , and for years I would love to have witnessed the process of it bieng recorded. An abs amazing piece!aspius
Such a great song and track, and amazing that The Beatles could take the avant garde tape loop techniques used by radical minimalist composers like Steve Reich and put them on a “pop song”
Without getting into Beatle wars, the tape loop idea would be mainly down to McCartney, who being the “man about town” would spend a lot of time going to avant garde performances and concerts (Lennon was more restricted, living in Surrey with his wife and child)
3 minutes of psychedelic awesomeness. I love anything psychedelic and this song is the pinnacle for me — that and I Am the Walrus. I just understand songs like that. I guess I’m a ’60s love child in a Millennial’s body.
Paul was on the edge; John was the edge. — Ringo
Tomorrow Never Knows was the first song recorded for Revolver
Strawberry Fields was the first for Pepper
They pushed the boundaries and set the tone for both those groundbreaking albums
Furthermore, A Day in the Life is often seen as their crowning moment
I Am the Walrus is as out there as anything ever recorded
Happiness is a Warm Gun was their first suite of songs
Rain was the first song with reverse lyrics
I Feel Fine is thought to be the first pop song to bring feedback forward
Revolution took feedback to a place where people thought the pressing was defective
I Want You (She’s So Heavy) has its abrupt ending
While others certainly helped bring his vision to life, John songs paved the way to more than his fair share of the band’s sonic breakthroughs
Yes, Paul lead the way with tape loops
Probably conceived of the final chord of A Day in the Life
Still, while Paul laid down the beautiful mellotron intro on Strawberry Fields and more, it’s John’s songs and his openness to collaboration that tended to bring their music forward…
Like George adding sitar to Norwegian Wood
Or Geoff Emerick piping John’s voice through a Leslie speaker to capture the spirit of the thousand monks John imagined
Paul was obviously a genius, too, but while he provided countless flourishes, his songs tend to be more traditional
And while Sgt. Pepper is often sighted as the first concept album, it’s not, and the concept, while clever, doesn’t hold really hold together. And songs like Fixing a Hole and When I’m 64 look backwards more than forward
The major exceptions:
The long coda of Hey Jude and Eleanor Rigby, where George Martin conceived
of its strings only arrangement
And while Paul with fanboy Barry Miles is oh so eager to document his Avantgarde credentials, Paul tends to overstate them
As George Martin pointed out, it was John who had the idea for the segue between the sections of A Day in the Life; Paul tried to conduct the orchestra but George Martin had to take over to get the desired effect
Don’t get me wrong, this doesn’t make John necessarily better or more important than than Paul, but while one was more melodic and “musical”, the other was focusing more on expanding his mind and the boundaries the band would stake
As I like to say, it wasn’t Lennon OR McCartney, it was Lennon AND McCartney,
equal partners whose contributions are open to personal preference
So while some may prefer John while others may prefer Paul, let’s remember that they were each other’s biggest fans. Together, they changed the equation of pop music with a collaboration that made 1 + 1= 3. Aren’t we fortunate they admired and inspired one another?
George Martin remarked that if they hadn’t met, John would have been another Dylan or Lou Reed, and Paul another Andrew Lloyd Weber. All artists with notable achievements and huge followings. Still, I think that we are all the richer that John & Paul forged a partnership like no other that produced songs like no other. Lucky are we to breathe air that carries the music of The Beatles.
To my knowledge George Martin never said that without Paul John would have been another Dylan or Reed (how cool, how edgy) but Paul without John may have become another Andrew Lloyd Webber (how traditional, how boring). If so, he has been misquoted. Paul has lived nearly forty years without John and yet not once has he written music remotely like Webber’s, a composer whose style of music McCartney is not particularly interested in, or even likes that much. It seems that definitions (or non-definitions more like) of what is traditional and what is innovative only serve to fit one’s personal narrative for which Beatle they prefer. Remember that Picasso was considered innovative, edgy and forward thinking as well but that still doesn’t make him the great genius that Leonardo da Vinci was. History will decide on Lennon and McCartney and, once removed from the petty arguments of the generations that grew up with them, seen that it was never a case of one writer being traditional and one being innovative but that both were one and the same thing.
The inner intentions of the musician form the principle of songwriting, unless is just money-making silly muzak, that anywise adds nothing to history.
Tomorrow never knows is, definately, a serious song. Here, we have to consider the main theme. Is it an eastern-origin existensialistic statement or, frankly, an acid trip. If we hear simply a drug song it loses much of its glow, artistically it evaporates! John’s desire of “thousands monks” provides an interesting information about his intentions. He probably wanted a spiritual song than simply an LSD trip, even if he is an avid stoner.
Supposing that is a philosophical song about existential matters we got some gaps between songwriters’ intentions and final result. I have to agree with John about producing, instrumentation or whatever it is. Let’s say it’s misguided.
The great: Ringo’s drumming is exceptional and Paul’s bass is in perfect rythmic coordination creating both of them the perfect ‘carpet’ for those words to expand, reminding us same time that it’s a rock band after all. John’s voice, better say interpretation of the context, is sublime and pure. John Lennon’s talent is that he adapts ‘himself’ perfectly in the musical style he chooses to serve, plus he can exceed his idols. He can be a perfect, 50’s like, rock n roller (Elvis) , a perfect early 60’s narrator (Dylan), the psychedelic hippie poet of his generation (Beat Poets) and in his solo career he ‘s the revolutionary musician (Yoko’s hubby).
The bad: The tape loops are totally out of context in my opinion. Those sounds have nothing to do with the notions of this song. Seagulls effects, distorted guitar random pentatonic passages, western orchestral crescendos to me all these are random sounds, without reason of ‘existance’, it’s like they got trapped into the dogma of being innovative just to be … innovative. If it was to use tape loops I d rather want to hear cosmic sounds, humanized religious voices anyway something much more profound than, .. seagulls. Martin’s and Paul’s input here is epidermic as it was the first song of the group dealing with such a highly philosophical matters that could be translated to a song. Beside, it was the very start of Revolver and they had all the time to elaborate more.
Anyway it was a great effort after all
Hilarious hearing Ringo talking about their “tea” consumption back then, The Beatles copying The Ruttles 🙂
But unlike the Rutles, The Beatles were stars past noon.
So I am looking at an untitled “Suppper at Emmaus” cubist mixed media artwork by F N Souza 1975 and Tommorow Never Knows by The Beatles seems suitable companion for the contemplation of the void….
What songs by George did Paul not play on? I know John didnt do anything on lots of George’s songs
Actually, John tended to diversify his contributions to George’s songs and it made them very interesting. According to a YouTube comment, Mark Lewisohn himself regrets unintentionally kickstarting the myth that John would deliberately avoid the sessions for George’s songs when it’s not true, thus a lot of other biographers have repeated this apocryphal hokum.
Mr. Lewisohn himself acknowledges that his books had unintentional factual errors, but he did his best.
This another classic example of a song that’s way ahead it’s time for that period.
A genius song John’s lyrics were way ahead of their time
‘Lucky are we to breathe air that carries the music of The Beatles.’
That’s so beautifully put and very true.
Here’s some trivia: “Tomorrow Never Knows” was the first Beatles song to use mellotron sounds.
I think it’s time to dispel another myth. It was George Harrison who played lead guitar here. Also, Paul, not George Martin, played the piano (Kevin Howlett, Revolver/2022 SDE book, p. 68).