Slow Down

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Slow Down is a 1958 song by Larry Williams. The Beatles covered it for their 1964 EP Long Tall Sally. This recording was also included on the 1988 compilation Past Masters Volume 1.

Contents

Original Version

Larry Williams originally performed this song as the B-Side to his 1958 single Dizzy Miss Lizzy.

The Beatles Version

The Beatles initially covered Slow Down live from 1960 to 1962. On July 16, 1963, the band had recorded the song at the BBC Paris Theatre in London for BBC Radio's program Pop Goes The Beatles. This recording, the only Larry Williams song played by The Beatles for the BBC, was included on the 1994 compilation Live at the BBC. The best-known studio version appearing on the Long Tall Sally EP and Past Masters Volume was recorded on June 1, 1964, two years after The Beatles had ceased regularly playing it. Six takes were recorded, the last three takes being overdubs onto Take 3. Onto this, John Lennon recorded his double-tracked lead vocals. On June 4, George Martin recorded his piano part. None of the performers seemed to take the recording very seriously, with a vocal mistake on the lines "But now you got a boyfriend down the street," where one of John Lennon's vocals accidentally says 'girlfriend' instead of 'boyfriend.'

Two viable alternate theories to the vocal mistake are possible. John sang "guy" instead of boyfriend, which when combined sound like "girlfriend." Or, the original line was "Now you don't care a dime for me" then they changed the second take to "Now you got a boyfriend down the street." Again, combining the word "care" with "boyfriend" could make it sound like "girlfriend."

Recording Sessions


Release

The Beatles' version of Slow Down was first released in the UK as part of the Long Tall Sally EP. In the US, it was first released in August 1964 as a single backed by Matchbox, another song originally from the Long Tall Sally EP. It was again released in the US later that year as a track on the album Something New. The song was first released on CD in 1988 with the release of Past Masters Volume 1. In 1994, the recording of the BBC version was first available on disc on the compilation Live at the BBC. When The Beatles' remastered catalog was released in 2009, both volumes of Past Masters were combined, and this song was part of that two-disc set.

Personnel

The Beatles

Guest Musicians

Production

Available Beatles-Related Versions

The Beatles

Known Unavailable Versions

All tracks are unavailable on any release, bootleg or legitimate, unless otherwise noted

A (%) indicates an overdub, edit piece, or basic track available only as part of another recording. The overdub, edit piece, or basic track by itself has not been released.

Available On

Sources

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