Polythene Pam

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Polythene Pam is a song off The Beatles' 1969 album Abbey Road. It was written by John Lennon.

Contents

[edit] Writing

John Lennon had actually written Polythene Pam in 1968, though it woul not be recorded in a studio until 1969. The song is about a person with a sexual fetish pertaining to Polythene. The song is believed to be about two different people. The first was Pat Hodgett, who had earned the nickname of Polythene Pat in the early days of the badn because of her love for the substance. Hodgett recalls, "I started going to see The Beatles in 1961 when I was 14 and I got quite friendly with them. If they were playing out of town they'd give me a lift back home in their van. It was about the same time that I started getting called Polythene Pat. It's embarrassing really. I just used to eat polythene all the time. I'd tie it in knots and then eat it. Sometimes I even used to burn it and then eat it when it got cold. Then I had a friend who got a job in a polythene bag factory, which was wonderful because it meant I had a constant supply." The other person was Royston Ellis, a beat poet who The Beatles backed in 1960 and a friend of the band. John had an encounter with him and his girlfriend Stephanie after a gig in Guernesy on August 8, 1963. John told Playboy in 1980, "Polythene Pam was me remembering a little event with a woman in Jersey, and a man who was England's answer to Allen Ginsberg. She didn't wear jackboots and kilts, I elaborated. Perverted sex in a polythene bag. I was just looking for something to write about." Ellis and Stephanie invited John to their flat, where they shared a bed. Royston Ellis recalled, "We'd read all these things about leather and we didn't have any leather but I had my oilskins and we had some polythene bags from somewhere. We all dressed up in them and wore them in bed. John stayed the night with us in the same bed. I don't think anything very exciting happened and we all wondered what the fun was in being 'kinky'. It was probably more my idea than John's." In May 1968, a demo of this song was recorded at John's Kenwood home. They considered it for the album The Beatles, but it was not properly recorded until over a year later. The demo differs slightly from the final version. A major difference is that the line "She's the kind of a girl that makes the News of the World" included in the final version is "Well it's a little absurd but she's a nice class of bird" in the demo version. Also, the chord changes are slightly different. Also recorded in the May 1968 demos was an early version of Mean Mr Mustard. In this song, the lyrics go "his sister Shirley works in a shop," while the album version, included on Abbey Road right before Polythene Pam, goes, "his sister Pam works in a shop," Even though these two songs were recorded seperately, they are edited together to sound like they were recorded at the same time.

[edit] Recording

Polythene Pam was recorded in a medley with She Came In Through The Bathroom Window. The first day this medley was recorded was July 25, when 39 takes of the basic track were recorded. This basic track featured Lennon on acoustic rhythm guitar, McCartney on bass, Harrison on lead guitar and Starr and drums. John and Paul also sang guide vocals. Latr in that session, they rerecorded the drum and bass parts, as well as recording the lead vocals. On July 28, they recorded several overdubs, including lead vocals, acoustic and electric guitars, tambourine, percussion, electric piano, and acoustic piano. They finished the song on July 30, when percussion and guitars were overdubbed. They mixed the long medley on Side Two of Abbey Road later this day.

[edit] Personnel

[edit] The Beatles

[edit] Production

[edit] Available Versions

[edit] Available On

[edit] Cover Versions

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