I'm Only Sleeping

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I'm Only Sleeping is the third song off The Beatles' 1966 album Revolver.

Contents 1 Writing 2 Recording 3 Recording Sessions 4 Personnel 4.1 The Beatles 4.2 Production 5 Available Versions 6 Cover Versions 7 Source

[edit] Writing

A John Lennon composition, this song was written about his habit of sleeping until the early afternoon, when Paul would have to wake him up to write songs. When the band wasn't touring, John would often stay home with nothing to do. On March 4, 1966, journalist Maureen Cleave published an article with interviews with Lennon. It said this "He can sleep almost indefinitely, is probably the laziest person in England. 'Physically lazy,' he said. 'I don't mind writing or reading or watching or speaking, but sex is the only physical thing I can be bothered with any more'." The song was written on the back of a letter from the Post Ofiice, which said that John owed 12 pounds and 3 shillings for his radio license.

[edit] Recording

The song was first recorded on April 27, 1966, when eleven takes of the basic track were recorded. Two days later, the lead vocals were overdubbed. The song's backwards solo was recorded on May 5 in two parts. The solo was extremely heard to do because George had to write out a melody, then have it recorded, then played backwards by George Martin so that he could get it to sound right with the song. This alone took 14 hours. The idea for the backwards solo came when a tape operator accidentally threaded the tape in the wrong way. As Paul McCartney said, "It played backwards, and, 'What the hell is going on?' Those effects! Nobody knew how those sounded then. We said, 'My God, that is fantastic! Can we do that for real?'... So that was what we did and that was where we discovered backwards guiutar. It was a beautiful solo actually. It sounds like something you couldn't play." The following day, John, Paul, and George overdubbed harmony vocals and a yawn, finishing work on the song. There are five different mixes of the song, all containing different guitar parts and many including different orders of verses. The only mix including all the guitar parts is the British mono mix.

[edit] Recording Sessions

• May 5, 1966: Recording Session. Songs Recorded: I'm Only Sleeping. →

• June 6, 1966: Two tape copies of I Want To Tell You RM1(4); RM9 and RM10 of And Your Bird Can Sing; RM1-6 of For No One; RM5 and RM6 of I'm Only Sleeping; RM5 and RM6 of Tomorrow Never Knows →

[edit] Personnel

[edit] The Beatles

• Lead Vocals: John Lennon
• Lead Guitar: George Harrison
• Rythm Guitar: John Lennon
• Backing Vocals: Paul McCartney
• Bass: Paul McCartney
• Backing Vocals: George Harrison
• Drums: Ringo Starr

[edit] Production

• Producer: George Martin
• Engineer: Geoff Emerick

[edit] Available Versions

• Remake Rehearsal, April 29, 1966 (Anthology 2)
• Remake Take 1, April 29, 1966 (Anthology 2)
• Take 13 with overdubs, May 6, 1966. (Revolver)

[edit] Cover Versions

• Rosanne Cash
• Oasis
• Stereophonics
• Suggs
• The Vines

[edit] Source

• [1]
• [2]