Long, Long, Long

From BeatlesWiki

Long, Long, Long is a song off The Beatles' 1968 self-titled album. It was written by George Harrison.

AKA and Working Titles

It's Been A Long Long Long Time: working title.

Writing

Although the lyrics of Long, Long, Long suggest that the song might be about a lover, it is actually about George Harrison finding God. George talked about it in I Me Mine, his 1980 autobiography. "The 'you' in Long, Long, Long is God. I can't recall much about it except the chords, which I think were coming from Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands - D to E minor, A, and D - those three chords and the way they moved." 'Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands' is the final track off Bob Dylan's 1966 album Blonde On Blonde.

Recording

The song was recorded on October 7, 1968, when George, Paul, and Ringo recorded 67 takes of the basic track. George sang and played guitar, Paul played organ, and Ringo played drums. The ringing sound at the end of the song resulted from an accident in the studio. Chris Thomas, George Martin's assistant, recalled, "There's a sound near the end of the song which is a bottle of Blue Nun wine rattling away on top of a Leslie speaker cabinet. It just happened. Paul hit a certain note and the bottle started vibrating. We thought it was so good that we set the mikes up and did it again. The Beatles always took advantage of accidents." To top this ringing sound, George howled and played a G minor 11th chord on his Gibson J-200 and Ringo recorded frentic drumming. On October 8, they continued with the song, with George recording more lead vocals and guitar, and Paul recording a new bass part. They completed the song on October 9, when Paul recorded some backing vocals and Chris Thomas recorded a piano part.