Wednesday, February 13, 2008

I Want You (She's so Heavy)

My Dear Sir Paul McCartney,

Tommy just climbed down from his high chair via the computer desk in the kitchen. On the way down he stopped to open my blog and turn on some itunes and grease up the keyboard a little with his hot-cereal-encrusted hands. He chose I Want You (She's so Heavy) from your Beatles Abbey Road album.

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about this tune:

"I Want You (She's So Heavy)", is a combination of two somewhat different recording attempts. The first attempt occurred almost immediately after the "Get Back/Let It Be" sessions in February 1969 and featuring Billy Preston on keyboards. This was subsequently combined with a second version made during the "Abbey Road" sessions proper, and when edited together ran nearly 8 minutes long, making it The Beatles's second-longest released song ("Revolution 9" being the longest). Perhaps more than any other Beatles song, "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" reveals a pronounced progressive rock influence, with its unusual length and structure, repeating guitar riff, and "white noise" effects; the "I Want You" section has a straightforward blues structure. It also features one of the earliest uses of a Moog synthesizer to create the white-noise or "wind" effect heard near the end of the track. During the final edit, as the guitar riff continues on and on, Lennon told engineer Geoff Emerick to "cut it right there" at the 7:44 mark, creating a sudden, jarring silence which concluded side one of "Abbey Road". The final overdub session for "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" would be the last time all four Beatles worked in the studio together.

Like Tommy, I think Abbey Road is one of the best rock albums of all time. I'll have to say I Want You isn't my favorite song (I'd have to give it to the medley on side two, a collection of short, unfinished songs written during The White Album recording sessions. My favorite is Golden Slumbers.) Apparently, John liked the more polished singles on Side 1, while you preferred the medley on side 2. So I guess Tommy is John to my Paul. So, then, who is Yoko? Jane?

Love, Kelly

P.S. I'll bet I know Heather Mills' favorite song on Abbey Road: You Never Give Me Your Money. Paul, don't let that soon-to-be-ex-wife of yours take the bucks I paid you for Abbey Road. That's all for you. If you want, you can share it with Ringo. (Or maybe Michael Jackson, if he still owns the rights).

You can listen to our (Tommy's, Heather's and mine) favorite Abbey Road songs in the player at top right.

What is your favorite Beatles album and song?

3 comments:

Allygirl said...

I have no comment per se on the Beatles, I never was to into them. I did however peruse your playlist and found Edwin's Tale by Peter Breionholt. Wow, I forgot how much I loved that album. I really need to listen to more than just Down by the Station and London Bridge.

Jolene said...

Have you seen Across the Universe? It is in the Red Box DVD thing at Albertsons. I am not a huge Beatles fan but I really liked that movie and even downloaded some of the songs from the soundtrack.

Hailey said...

I think that I want to get into the Beatles because I have friends that I adore that are obsessed with them. I can tell you that I could listen to Sarah M.'s cover of Blackbird all day long and I also just bought Rufus Wainwritght's cover of Across the Universe. So I will make it my homework to become more Beatles-savvy.