Among the internet’s best features is…information. It’s great how one source of information can link to an even, better source of information.
Here’s an example: I found this story by Tyler Golsen of Far Out, which reveals how the recording of one song condenses so much about the experience of recording The Beatles, in 1965 and during peak-Beatlemania:
“Recorded in just one month and released only a few weeks after completion, Rubber Soul is a titanic record that shows off the leaps that the group had made in just a few short years. But just below the surface, the album is littered with minor slip-ups, recording errors, faulty notes, and more. It’s almost impossible to catch these mess-ups the first hundred times that you listen to the record. However, with more than five decades of close listening and enhanced technology, Rubber Soul has a few songs that aren’t quite as perfect as they sound.
The most egregious is probably ‘I’m Looking Through You’, Paul McCartney’s ode to his deteriorating relationship with actress Jane Asher. At different points, it’s audible to hear out-of-tune guitars, clicks, pops, feedback, and even some dropped instruments that are left in the song’s final mix. Minor mistakes like these weren’t uncommon in the band’s music, especially given the rate at which they were expected to crank out material. But ‘I’m Looking Through You’ might be the most painfully obvious.”
https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-beatles-song-riddled-with-errors/
Golsen's story links to the website What Goes On and its The Beatles Anomalies List where you can find stuff like this:
"Anomalies I
I Am The Walrus
0:04
Orchestra is brought up too early, rattling is heard before they begin to play (right channel).
1:33-1:35
Edit as John comes in with "yellow matter custard". Listen to the Anthology version of this take, John's voice cracked on the last "I'm crying" (hence, after editing, it sounds like "I'm cry"). The first attempt at "Yellow matter custard" also fails. The take was edited to cover this. Listen to the orchestra (right channel) and you can hear the edit clearly. There is also some drum editing.
2:10
Left channel faded up too soon, so organ and tambourine begin before beat.
2:26-2:31,2:35
Various talking reported, this is the very beginning of the recognisable Shakespeare "King Lear" excerpts (see 3:54)
Ugo Coppola has been doing his research, so I'll hand over to him
I checked Act IV, Scene 6 against the Beatles' recording. It matched perfectly, of course. So now I can positively say that Gloucester says "Now, good sir, wh[at are you?]" and Edgar answers : "[A most] poor man, made tame by fortune['s blows]".
Both sentences are also written on page 269 (September 26, 1967) of Lewisohn's Beatles Chronicle, where he explains how the whole thing got into the mix.
Michael K. picks up the next lines
[Who, by the art of known and feeling sorrows, Am pregnant to] good pity..[Give me your hand, I'll lead you to some biding]
"Good pity" is the tiny fragment before "Expert Texpert".
In the above, [sections marked like this are inaudible] due to editing. However, on the foreign language anomaly side...
Bo Sybrandt Hansen writes
Around 2:27 there are some words spoken by a male voice. These words sound like someone in crystal clear Danish language with correct phrasing, intonation and everything is saying
"Udmaerket, men kan vi ikke tage den lidt hurtigere?"
Translated into English it would be something like
"Quite good, but couldn't we do it a little faster?" or "Alright, but couldn't we try it a little quicker?"
This is where the the words occur:
If the sun don't come you get a tan
from standing in the English rain
I am the eggman
(Spoken, male voice: [?] sir )
They are the eggmen
Spoken, male voice: Udmaerket, men kan vi ikke
tage den lidt hurtigere?
I am the walrus
Goo goo g' joob
No matter how much I listen I can make nothing else of the words. Do you have any suggestions?
Shakespeare writing crystal clear Danish. Whatever next! Any better offers?
3:34-3:39
Heterodyne whistle from the radio, fading in for the ending.
3:54-4:33
Towards the end, there is talking fading in and out of the mix. It's more sections from Shakespeare's "Tragedy of King Lear" - the scene being read is like this ... times added as a guide
Osw. Slave, (3:53) Thou hast slain me:- villain, take my purse. If ever thou wilt thrive, (4:02) bury my body, and give the (4:05) letters which thous findest about me to (4:08) Edmund Earl of Gloster. (4:10) Seek him out upon the British party. :- O, (4:14) Untimely Death!
Edg. (4:23) I know thee well, a (4:25) serviceable villain. As duteous to the (4:27) vices of thy mistress as badness would desire.
Glo. (4:29) What, is he dead?
Edg. (4:31) Sit you down father, rest you. (Ends 4:33) Let's see these pockets, the letters that he speaks of may be my friends.. He's dead. I am only sorry he had no other deaths man.
So we have two sections containing Shakespeare in the song. How did this get there? Well, it was being broadcast on the radio at the time of the recording, and got mixed in for effect. They just tuned to a station and - there it was! This was not a planned event, according to evidence in Lewisohn's book. The play was being transmitted on the radio at the time the mixing was being done (compare studio notes with an extract from the Radio Times progam listing magazine), and was added live into the mix. This is the reason the mix slips into fake stereo (mono through delays and filters) if you listen to the stereo version.
It would be impossible to exactly duplicate the mix (for the stereo remix) as the Shakespeare was not recorded anywhere but directly into the finished master.
Having said that, listen to the Anthology DVD "I Am The Walrus" 5.1 surround mix. The final part of the song is now in true stereo, and elements of King Lear are much clearer than the original. This must have required Apple to get hold of the original broadcast from the BBC, or an independent archive, and remix using the original master tape as a guide. This is something that is only really possible with today's automated mixing technology, and would not have been considered back then.
4:32
The whole track seems to speed up just as it fades away to nothing.
Note that Paul Simon is thought to be making reference to this song, in his line "Coo Coo Ca Choo, Mrs. Robinson". If this is true (rather than a coincidence) he wasn't listening to the lyrics hard enough."
http://wgo.signal11.org.uk/html/content/i.htm#ilty
As a fan of The Beatles, I've purchased all of their super deluxe editions, to-date. One of my favorite sources for info about The Beatles is Andrew of the YouTube channel, Parlogram, who may be pivotal if I resume buying vinyl. He thinks 2023 could be the year The Beatles release a super deluxe edition of Rubber Soul:
