Mother Nature's Son

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Mother Nature's Son is a song on The Beatles' 1968 self-titled album. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon/McCartney.

Contents

Writing

The song was written by Paul McCartney during The Beatles' visit to India in winter/spring 1968. It was written about a lecture from Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, whom they were studying meditation with. Paul later said in his authorized biography, Many Years From Now, "I seem to remember writing Mother Nature's Son at my dad's house in Liverpool. I often used to do that if I'd gone up to see him. Visiting my family I'd feel in a good mood, so it was often a good occasion to write songs. So this was me doing my mother nature's son bit. I've always loved the [Nat King Cole] song called Nature Boy: 'There was a boy, a very strange and gentle boy...' He loves nature, and Mother Nature's Son was inspired by that song. I'd always loved nature, and when Linda and I got together we discovered we had this deep love of nature in common. There might have been a little help from John with some of the verses."

Recording

The song represents the changing structure of The Beatles during the White Album sessions, with Paul being the only member to play on this track. During these sessions, it was becoming increasingly common for the band to record songs on their own, which would either be issued with only one member playing on the recording, or with overdubs added later in the recording process. On August 9, 1968, 25 takes were recorded, with Take 24 being dubbed the best. The song was completed on August 20, when Paul recorded overdubs of a timpani and more guitar. The timpani was recorded in the corridor outside the studio to make it sound more staccato. Paul and George Martin worked on the brass arrangement, which was also recorded on this date. John and Ringo were working on Yer Blues in another studio at Abbey Road Studios. They briefly entered the studio during the recording of this song. As engineer Ken Scott remembers, "Paul was downstairs going through the arrangement with George and the brass players. Everything was great, everyone was in great spirits. It felt really good. Suddenly, halfway through, John and Ringo walked in and you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. An instant change. It was like that for 10 minutes and then as soon as they left it felt great again. It was very bizarre." Also recorded on this date by Paul were Wild Honey Pie, a 50-second instrumental included on the final album, and Etcetera, one of the most sought-after unreleased, unbootleggd, Beatles tracks.

Recording Sessions


Personnel

The Beatles

Guest Musicians

It is unknown who played on this track, but it is known that there were two trumpet players and two trombone players.

Production

Available Versions

Available On

Cover Versions

  • Sheryl Crow (From the I Am Sam soundtrack)
  • John Denver
  • Harry Nilsson
  • Phish

Source

Retrieved from "http://www.beatleswiki.org/wiki/Mother_Nature%27s_Son"
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