This is my favorite
Beatles album. It was originally going to be called
Everest, and this was the title that was worked with for much of the recording sessions. The name was from a brand of
cigarettes that
engineer Geoff Emerick smoked. As part of this idea, it was proposed that
The Beatles would be flown to
Nepal, so that the picture could be taken in the
Himalayas, but with the way that they were fighting at the time, this wasn't very likely. So, they ended up going to the
crosswalk directly outside of the studio. This album is like a final
hurrah for
The Beatles, and represents what they wanted to be their last album (
Phil Spector and
John Lennon had other ideas with
Let it Be). The last time that all four of them were in the studio together was on
August 20, 1969. But, this album represents a spectacular final acheivment.
There are many things that are simply amazing about this album. What other group would have every member of the band on the album within the first five tracks? For me, the best part of this album is the "long medley," as it is known, that closes the album. It starts on You Never Give Me Your Money and continues through Her Majesty. Several of the songs on this medley, expecially Sun King, Polythene Pam, Mean Mr. Mustard, and She Came In Through The Bathroom Window, all great songs, would never have been included if not for this medley. It begins softly, with the piano of You Never Give Me Your Money, and varies up and down in both volume and tempo (Sun King to the raucous solo at the end of Polythene Pam to the soft ballads Carry That Weight and Golden Slumbers to the driving rock of The End to the soft finish with Her Majesty). The medley provided the excuse to include the otherwise throwaway songs: Polythene Pam, about a fetishist that they knew in their Cavern Club days; She Came In Through The Bathroom Window, about one of the apple scruffs stealing a prized photo belonging to Paul; and Sun King, about nothing in particular. Originally, the medley wasn't intended to end the album. On the LP that was actually released, the first side ended with I Want You (She's So Heavy), but this was originally planned for the conclusion of the album.
Concerning Her Majesty: as was said above, this song wasn't originally listed on the album. It was entirely recorded by Paul because he was the first one to come to the studio after the long, two month vacation. He recorded this song, which was originally planned to go between Mean Mr. Mustard and Polythene Pam (which, as was also said above, accounts for the opening chord). But, Paul disliked it, and told one of the engineers to cut it. This engineer had been told never to throw away anything that The Beatles recorded, so he added in the 30 second pause, and placed it at the end. After hearing this, Paul loved it, (The Beatles loved things that seemed 'random'), and so it was included as a quasi-hidden track.
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