Baby You're A Rich Man

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Baby You're A Rich Man is a song originally released in 1967 as the B-Side of The Beatles' All You Need Is Love single and later included on the US edition of the album Magical Mystery Tour. It was written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.

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[edit] AKA an Working Titles

[edit] Writing

Baby You're A Rich Man was a combination of two song fragments, one written by John Lennon and one written by Paul McCartney. Lennon recalled, "We just stuck two songs together for this one, the same as A Day In The Life." The song was the first one recorded for the 1968 animated Beatles film Yellow Submarine, though the song ended up only partially being featured in the film. John's section, entitled One Of The Beautiful People prior to combining the sections, could have possibly been inspired by the 14-Hour Technicolor Dream, a "happening" shortly before the song was recorded. The event was attended by John Lennon and Pink Floyd headlined. The lyrics are thought to be about Beatles manager Brian Epstein. In fact, during some of the choruses in the song, John is heard singing "Baby, you're a rich fag Jew," insulting Epstein for being homosexual and Jewish. Though it was originally intended for the Yellow Submarine soundtrack, Baby You're A Rich Man was instead first released as the B-Side to the single All You Need Is Love, which was rush-released because of The Beatles' worldwide appearance on Our World performing this song. George Harrison visited the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco on August 7, 1967. In a local park, he performed this song on acoustic guitar, accompanied by his wife Pattie, Neil Aspinall, and Derek Taylor.

[edit] Recording Sessions

Baby You're A Rich Man was recorded in one session on May 11, 1967 at Olympic Studios in Barnes, London between 9:00 PM and 3:00 AM. The song was the first Beatles song to be recorded and mixed completely away from Abbey Road Studios. According to Keith Grant, the studio manager and engineer for that session, The Beatles were not used to working at such a fast pace in 1967. Grant recalls, "I do a lot of orchestral work and you naturally push people along. The Beatles said that this was the fastest record they'd ever made. They were used to a much more leisurely pace. We started the session at about 9pm and it was finished and mixed by 3am, vocals and everything. They kept on playing, version after version, then we spooled back to the one they liked and overdubbed the vocals." John Lennon played the clavoline, a three-octave monophonic keyboard, which was sped up on the recordin to give a more oboe-like effect. He also played piano and sang lead and backing vocals with Paul McCartney and George Harrison. Paul McCartney played bass and piano, George Harrison played lead guitar, and Ringo Starr performed percussion. Eddie Kramer, a session musician, played vibraphone. Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones was at the sessions, and his name is on the tape box, suggesting that he may have sung backing vocals in the choruses.

[edit] Recording Sessions

  • May 11, 1967: Recording Session. Songs Recorded: Baby You're A Rich Man. →

[edit] In The Film Yellow Submarine

The song Baby You're A Rich Man was used in the 1968 Beatles film Yellow Submarine. It was played quietly in the background when The Beatles release Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band from a bubble that they were trapped inside by the Blue Meanies.

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