Beatles 50th Blog

The Beatles are given permission to perform in Japan.

Pattie posing at a press conference at the London Waldorf Hotel to launch the new blanket, Nightlong Bliss, by Morphy Richards.

Playhouse Theatre, London

The Beatles gave two sets of interviews for BBC radio programs on this day, at the Playhouse Theatre in London.

The first was for the 400th edition of Saturday Club. The Beatles discussed their work so far on the as-yet-untitled Revolver, along with the forthcoming US tour and their lower public profile in 1966. The interviewer was Brian Matthew.

Afterwards Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr remained behind to be interviewed again by Matthew for Pop Profile, a show for the BBC Transcription Service to be syndicated overseas. John Lennon and George Harrison had made a similar appearance on November 30, 1965.

The pair were interviewed separately. Starr's was recorded from 5pm, and McCartney's from 5.30pm, both lasting 15 minutes but later edited down to eight. The interviews were posted to participating stations worldwide later in May 1966 on 7" vinyl discs.

The 400th edition of Saturday Club, meanwhile, was broadcast from 10am-midday on 4 June on the BBC Light Programme service.

Empire Pool, Wembley

A fourth and final appearance at the New Musical Express Annual Pool-Winner's All Star Concert, this time the 1965-66 version, performed before an audience of 10,000 during this Sunday afternoon. It was also the Beatles' last live concert in Britain, a short set in which they delivered "I Feel Fine", "Nowhere Man", "Day Tripper", "If I Needed Someone" and "I'm Down".

The group were on a bill which also included The Spencer Davis Group, The Fortunes, Herman's Hermits, Roy Orbison, The Overlanders, The Alan Price Set, Cliff Richard and The Shadows, The Rolling Stones, The Seekers, The Small Faces, Sounds Incorporated, Dusty Springfield, Crispian St Peters, The Walker Brothers, The Who, The Yardbirds and Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich. The comperes were Peter Murray and Jimmy Savile.

Although ABC TV was filming the concert, Brian Epstein failed to reach an agreement over terms, so the cameras were turned off while The Beatles performed. The group were, however, filmed receiving their poll awards.

APRIL 30, 1966 KRLA BEAT MAGAZINE

Studio Three, EMI Studios, London

Vocal overdubbing onto "Eleanor Rigby" was the main task today in this 5:00pm to 1:00am session, after which the recording was considered complete and mixed into mono. (A further overdub on June 6th rendered this mix redundant, though, and a new one was made on June 22nd for inclusion on the LP)

Following this work, John added his lead vocal onto the previously recorded "I'm Only Sleeping", the first of three overdub sessions for the song.

Studio Two, EMI Studios, London

The first session for Paul McCartney's most famous and best-loved songs, Elanor Rigby, took place on this day, with the recording of the string octet backing.

The session was a short one, beginning at 5pm and finishing at 7.50pm. A string octet had been booked, featuring four violins (played by Tony Gilbert, Sidney Sax, John Sharpe and Jurgen Hess), two violas (Stephen Shingles and John Underwood), and two cellos (Derek Simpson and Norman Jones).

The performers were each given a standard Musicians' Union fee of £9 for their work, and performed a score written by George Martin. Two brief rehearsals took place, with and without vibrato, and the musicians opted to play without.

Both John Lennon and Paul McCartney were present at the studio, but remained in the control room of Studio Two. George Martin was on the studio floor conducting the musicians.

The strings were recorded with a close microphone technique, giving them a timbre different from anything that had previously been heard.

Fourteen takes of the strings backing were recorded, the last of which was the best. The instruments were recorded two per track, and a reduction mix - numbered take 15 - was made at the end of the session to free up three further tracks.

A new mix of the instrumental backing was made in 1995 for the Anthology 2 collection, presenting the strings in full stereo for the first time.

The picture below is from the graveyard next to the church where Paul and John met. However, Paul said in later interviews that the line in the song had nothing to do with the grave that he could remember, but maybe subconsciously he did.

Studio Three, EMI Studios, London

The Beatles were not only attending mix sessions, but also to make presence felt is clear from this day's studio documentation. One mix of "Taxman", one of "And Your Bird Can Sing" and nine of "Tomorrow Never Knows" was produced between 6:00 and 11:30 pm, yet none was used for the finished album.

Between 11:30 and 3:00 am, the Beatles started work on a new song, John's dreamy "I'm Only Sleeping", taping 11 takes of a mostly acoustic basic track. Overdubs were added on April 29th and May 5th and 6th.

Studio Two, EMI Studios, London

Booked for 2:30-5:30 and 7:00-10:00 pm, the Beatles got thoroughly stuck into this day's re-make of John's "And Your Bird Can Sing", working uninterrupted from 2:30 pm until 2:45 the following morning. They recorded 11 more takes of the song's rhythm track and overdubbed onto what they considered to have been the "best" of these, take ten.

(An interesting blend of lead guitar vamping and Paul's bass guitar notes ended the song, and the best version of this section came in take six, so future mixes combined the two elements.)

Two rough mono mixes of "Got To Get You Into My Life", without echo or the Beatles' attendance, were made this day at EMI, 10:00-11:00 am, for the purpose of cutting acetates.