Because

From BeatlesWiki

Jump to: navigation, search

Because is a song off The Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road. It was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon/McCartney.

Contents

[edit] Writing

The composition came when John was listening to Yoko play piano. She was playing Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 27, No. 2 (AKA The Moonlight Sonata), when John asked her to play it backwards. While the composition is not exactly Moonlight Sonata backwards, it is very similar to it. John said in 1980, "I was lying on the sofa in our house, listening to Yoko play Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata on the piano. Suddenly, I said, 'Can you play those chords backward?' She did, and I wrote Because around them. The song sounds like 'Moonlight Sonata,' too. The lyrics are clear, no bullshit, no imagery, no obscure references." One interesting part of this recording is the three-part harmony, overdubbed twice to give the equivalent of nine voices. George Harrison commented on the song in 1969, "John wrote this tune. The backing is a bit like Beethoven. And three-part harmony right throughout. Paul usually writes the sweeter tunes, and John writes the, sort of, more the rave-up things, or the freakier things. But John's getting to where he doesn't want to. He just wants to write twelve-bars. But you can't deny it, I think this is possibly my favorite one on the album. The lyrics are so simple. The harmony was pretty difficult to sing. We had to really learn it. But I think that's one of the tunes that will impress most people. It's really good." A version with the harmonies only was included on Anthology 3 in 1996. Paul said about this song, "I wouldn't mind betting Yoko was in on the writing of that, it's rather her kind of writing: wind, sky and earth are recurring, it's straight out of Grapefruit (a book written by Yoko) and John was heavily influenced by her at the time."

[edit] Recording

The basic track was recorded in 23 takes on August 1, 1969. These takes featured Lennon on lead guitar and McCartney on bass. Ringo was also playing a rhythm on hi-hat at the time to guide them, however this was not recorded or intended to be on the recording. Take 16 was considered best out of all the takes. After that, John, Paul, and George recorded the first harmony vocal part. They recorded the other two parts on August 4. On August 5, George recorded two Moog Synthesizer parts, filling up the tracks on the tape and finishing the song.

[edit] Recording Sessions


[edit] LOVE Mix

The song was included on the 2006 remix album LOVE. It included a slowed-down version of the harmonies-only version included on Anthology 3. In the background, there are the bird sounds recorded for the "Wildlife" version of Across the Universe. This song is also one of the two (the other being While My Guitar Gently Weeps) that includes new recordings. The new recording on this track was one of a Wood Pigeon, included by George Martin to make the song sound "more British."

[edit] Personnel

[edit] The Beatles

[edit] Guest Musicians

[edit] Production

[edit] Available Versions

[edit] Available On

[edit] Cover Versions

  • Joe Anderson
  • Pedro Aznar (on his self-titled debut album)
  • T.V. Carpio, Jim Sturgess, and Evan Rachel Wood (in the Across The Universe film)
  • George Clinton (on his album How Late 2 U Have 2BB4UR Absent?)
  • Alice Cooper (in the Sgt. Pepper's Loenly Hearts Club Band film)
  • Lynsey De Paul (in the All This and World War II film)
  • Alejandro Dolina (on his album Tangos del Bar del Infierno)
  • Vanessa Mae (on George Martin's album In My Life)
  • Martin Luther McCoy
  • The Nylons (on their 1994 self-titled album)
  • Elliot Smith (in the film American Beauty)
  • Solveig Slettahjell (on his 2007 album Domestic Songs)

[edit] Sources

Retrieved from "http://www.beatleswiki.org/wiki/Because"
Personal tools