She Said She Said

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She Said She Said is a song off The Beatles' 1966 album Revolver. It was written by John Lennon, with help from George Harrison.

Contents

[edit] Writing

The song was written about an incident during The Beatles' 1965 world tour. All four Beatles rented a house on Los Angeles' Mulholland Drive. They invited David Crosby and Roger McGuinn from The Byrds over as well as actor Peter Fonda on August 24. During this occasion, all Beatles except Paul (he was still refusing to try it) and all their guests were on LSD. Roger McGuinn recalled meeting The Beatles. "It was all pretty crazy when we were hanging out with The Beatles. It was like going to see the president, or something. You had to go down in a limousine and there were screaming girls on either side. Then the guards would open the gates and you’d drive into the estate and they’d close again and everybody would be pressed up against the fence. Guys would be patrolling around the house, but once you got in there, it was kind of normal." Don Short, journalist for The Daily Mirror recalls, "Neil Aspinall escorted me downstairs to the pool room, because I was the only journalist on the premises. His job was to divert my attention from the fact that everyone else was taking acid." George Harrison had started believing that he was dying. Fonda tried to comfort him and assert that he was not. Peter Fonda recalls, "I told him there was nothing to be afraid of and that all he needed to do was relax. I said that I knew what it was like to be dead because when I was 10 years old I'd accidentally shot myself in the stomach and my heart stopped beating three times while I was on the operating table because I'd lost so much blood. John was passing at the time and heard me saying 'I know what it's like to be dead'. He looked at me and said, 'You're making me feel like I've never been born. Who put all that shit in your head?'" John recalled it differently, though. "Peter Fonda came in when we were on acid and kept coming up and sitting next to me, and whispering, 'I know what it's like to be dead.' We didn't want to hear about that! We were on an acid trip, and the sun was shining, and the girls were dancing (some from Playboy, I believe) and the whole thing was really beautiful and Sixties. And this guy - who I didn't really know, he hadn't made Easy Rider or anything - kept coming over, wearing shades, saying, 'I know what it's like to be dead,' and we kept leaving him, because he was so boring. It was scary, when you're flying high: 'Don't tell me about it. I don't want to know what it's like to be dead!' I used it for She Said She Said. But I changed it to 'she' instead of 'he'... It was an acidy song." One of The Byrds recalls, "We were all on acid and John couldn’t take it. He was feeling insecure and he said ‘Get this guy out of here’." This was only John's second LSD trip, and he was not yet used to taking it. The song switches from 4/4 and 3/4 time signatures. It was written with a small amount of help from George Harrison. George remembers, "I was at his house one day - this is the mid-Sixties - and he was struggling with some tunes. He had loads of bits, maybe three songs, that were unfinished, and I made suggestions and helped him to work them together so that they became one finished song, She Said She Said. The middle part of that record is a different song."

[edit] Recording

The song was the last one recorded for Revolver. Because they were one song short, they quickly recorded this in a nine-hour session, rehearsing it more than twenty-five times and doing three normal takes. Onto the last one, John's lead vocals, John and George's backing vocals, more guitar, and John playing Hammond organ were overdubbed. Paul McCartney did not play on this song. Paul recalled, "John brought it in pretty much finished, I think. I'm not sure but I think it was one of the only Beatle records I never played on. I think we'd had a barney or something and I said, 'Oh, fuck you!' and they said, 'Well, we'll do it.' I think George played bass."

[edit] Recording Sessions


[edit] Personnel

[edit] The Beatles

[edit] Production

[edit] Available Versions

  • Demo (As He Said, He Said), March 1966, (Bootlegs)
  • Demo (As He Said, He Said), March 1966, (Bootlegs)
  • Demo (As He Said, He Said), March 1966, (Bootlegs)
  • Demo (As He Said, He Said), March 1966, (Bootlegs)
  • Demo (As He Said, He Said), March 1966, (Bootlegs)
  • Demo (As She Said, She Said), March 1966, (Bootlegs)
  • Demo (As She Said, She Said), March 1966, (Bootlegs)
  • Demo (As She Said, She Said), March 1966, (Bootlegs)
  • Take 3 plus overdubs, June 21, 1966, (Revolver)
  • Get Back sessions, January 8, 1969, (Bootlegs)

[edit] Available On

[edit] Cover Versions

  • The Black Keys
  • The Chords
  • The Dead and Joan Osbourne
  • Gov't Mule
  • Lone Star
  • Mark Mulcahy
  • The Snake River Conspiracy
  • R. Stevie Moore
  • Ween

[edit] Source

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