Come and Get It

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Come and Get It is a song written by Paul McCartney. Paul had written the song, recorded a demo, and intended The Beatles to record it for the Abbey Road album, but it was instead given to Badfinger.

Contents

Writing

Come and Get It was originally intended to be a Beatles song, though Paul McCartney eventually gave it to The Iveys, who would change their name to Badfinger shortly before the single's release. The song was a reference to Apple's money troubles of the time. Paul McCartney recalled, "I'd written the song Come And Get It and I'd made a fairly decent demo. Because I lived locally, I could get in half an hour before a Beatles session at Abbey Road - knowing it would be empty and all the stuff would be set up - and I'd use Ringo's equipment to put a drum track down, put some piano down, quickly put some bass down, do the vocal, and double-track it. I said to Badfinger, 'OK, it's got to be exactly like this demo,' because it had a great feeling on it. They actually wanted to put their own variations on, but I said, 'No, this really is the right way.' They listened to me - I was producing, after all - and they were good. The song was a hit in 1970." Badfinger's version, sung by fellow Liverpudlian Tom Evans, was almost exactly the same as Paul's demo. The major difference was that Badfinger's version was in E flat, a semitone lower than Paul McCartney's version, which could possibly be blamed on the varispeeding in the mixing stage. They recorded it nine days after McCartney's version. It would become a top five hit and the theme to the movie The Magic Christian, starring Ringo Starr.

Recording

The Beatles demo was recorded by Paul McCartney on July 24, 1969. Engineer Phil McDonald and John Lennon were both present in the control room, though John did not participate in the recording. Paul recorded the song in a single take, with him playing piano and singing. After that, he double-tracked his vocals and overdubbed maracas. Next, he added drums, with the final overdub being bass. Recording took less than an hour.

Personnel

The Beatles

Production

Available Versions

Available On

Cover Versions

Source

Retrieved from "http://www.beatleswiki.org/wiki/Come_and_Get_It"
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