In the studio
The Beatles began recording Come Together on 21 July 1969, recording eight takes in Abbey Road's studio three. John Lennon sang without his guitar, and clapped while singing the line "Shoot me".
The words allegedly referred not to a desire for martyrdom, but to a fix of heroin. They were adapted from the unreleased Watching Rainbows, a song The Beatles rehearsed in January 1969 during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions.
On the finished record you can really only hear the word 'shoot'. The bass guitar note falls where the 'me' is.
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Mark Lewisohn
Although Come Together was conceived as a Chuck Berry-style rocker, The Beatles slowed it down at Paul McCartney's suggestion.
He originally brought it over as a very perky little song, and I pointed out to him that it was very similar to Chuck Berry's You Can't Catch Me. John acknowledged it was rather close to it so I said, 'Well, anything you can do to get away from that.' I suggested that we tried it swampy – 'swampy' was the word I used – so we did, we took it right down. I laid that bass line down which very much makes the mood. It's actually a bass line that people now use very often in rap records. If it's not a sample, they use that riff. But that was my contribution to that.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
The original track had Lennon on vocals and tambourine, McCartney on bass, George Harrison on guitar and Ringo Starr on drums. Take one, with slightly different lyrics and a raw vocal from Lennon, can be heard on the Anthology 3 album.
Come Together changed at a session. We said, 'Let's slow it down. Let's do this to it, let's do that to it,' and it ends up however it comes out. I just said, 'Look, I've got no arrangement for you, but you know how I want it.' I think that's partly because we've played together a long time. So I said, 'Give me something funky,' and set up a beat, maybe, and they all just join in.
Anthology
Over the next two days the group overdubbed another lead vocal take, along with electric piano, rhythm guitar and maracas, onto take eight. On 25 July harmony vocals were added, and on 29 and 30 July the song was completed with some final guitar overdubs.
Initially, Paul played the electric piano part, but John kind of looked over his shoulder and studied what he was playing. When it came time to record it, John played the electric piano instead of Paul. Paul might have been miffed, but I think he was more upset about not singing on the choruses – John did his own backing vocals.
Music Radar
Paul McCartney later expressed regret that he hadn't sung alongside Lennon on Come Together. His harmony vocals were instead added as an overdub.
Even on Abbey Road we don't do harmonies like we used to. I think it's sad. On Come Together I would have liked to sing harmony with John and I think he would have liked me to but I was too embarrassed to ask him and I don't work to the best of my abilities in that situation.
Evening Standard newspaper, 1970
Chart success
Released as a single on 6 October 1969, Come Together reached number one in the US. It entered the top 40 on 18 October, and remained in the charts for 16 weeks.
As a double a-side with George Harrison's Something, Come Together only released number four in the UK. It was released on 31 October. Its poor chart performance may have been affected by a ban from the BBC, who decreed that the line "He shoot Coca-Cola" was unacceptable product placement.
This was the first single released by The Beatles which contained songs already available on an album; the move was one of Allen Klein's attempts to put The Beatles' struggling finances back on an even keel.
Thanks for the post and drilling down so deeply into Abbey Road’s opening track. It does sound like Paul but I don’t think anyone could be sure as there is a lot of distortion on it.
There’s more to the song than that isn’t there? I’ve heard that each verse is a description of each Beatle – goes George, Ringo, John and lastly (and least?) Paul. It seems to make sense. What is your take there? Thanks.
I played the song revolution the slow version backwards eerily it is the sound of come together listen yourself it’s real easy to hear it
I love Lennon’s flippant comment for one of his greatest songs ever….”its gobbledygook!”
Question: Why wasn’t Paul included in the lawsuit. Is he not legally a co-writer?
Lennon played the piano part, not Paul.
On your article:
“Initially, Paul played the electric piano part, but John kind of looked over his shoulder and studied what he was playing. When it came time to record it, John played the electric piano instead of Paul. Paul might have been miffed, but I think he was more upset about not singing on the choruses – John did his own backing vocals.”
It just amazes me that people think THEY know better than the composer what the lyrics mean.
I’m pretty sure John plays the lead guitar parts. The sound of his guitar at the Time Epiephone Casino, while George played Telecaster and Les Paul. It’s the same sound and style as John’s solos in Get Back- Honey Pie I Want You.George’s style is very different with more chord progression and playing on bass ( low) strings and more sharper sound ( Telecaster) e.g. Old Brown Shoe, Maxwell, Polythene Pam etc
If George is the lead guitarists in this song, then he’s playing a rarely used guitar by him at the time plus perfectly imitating John guitar style
I hear the guitar solo on “Come Together” to be very reminiscent of George’s solo on “Something.”
George plays lead
For me this is a border song of Lennon, it’s obvious he sings “come together over me” over the crashed group. He was outside that time, he believed after Toronto concert he could make it, but as an artist, a group leader he was gone forever.
I’m going to bullet point my theories on this tune. Come Together is the real ‘Glass Onion’:
– McCartney IS doing the lower register harmony vocal. NO question about it. But…he kind of sounds like John.
– George is playing the rhythm guitar throughout (in Lennon’s kind of way/style). Solos and outro licks are all Lennon. Listen to rehearsal/jamming clips. Kind of sounding like John.
– During the verses, Ringo plays it ‘dry’…no cymbals. AND, ALL ‘beat’ on towel muffled snare and toms…as in BEATles…the very essence of the band itself…no wonder this tune opens Abbey Road..it’s a doorway…
– The verses are NOT about the four Beatles. Here’s what I think:
Verse 1 – Maharishi
Verse 2 – Timothy Leary
Verse 3 – Lennon/Ono
Verse 4 – McCartney
= John Lennon
(make no mistake, this song is about an amalgam of all these people, sum total, John. Ono’s name is the ONLY name mentioned because he saw her as already part of him/bonded/soul mates).
– Here’s John’s glass onion kind of clue: He say, ‘One and One and One is three…etc.’
See it as, the ONE (John/Yoko) is made of THREE…
– the line: He say, ‘I know you, you know me’…one thing I can tell you is you’ve got to be free……many people see this as the singer decreeing – one thing I can tell you…etc…this is incorrect. The WHOLE line is being said by the person the verse is describing and John is describing what he says, Should be seen as:
HE SAY, ‘I know you, you know me, one thing I can tell you is you’ve got to be free (now) Come Together..’ (etc)
– Verse 1, Laced with bitterness. Lennon had many instances of disliking himself too. He himself could be a ‘holy roller’ espousing his beliefs etc.
Verse 2, liked Leary but was ‘leery’ that he MIGHT get disappointed again by another one claiming he had ‘the answer’. Often sat around in bare feet in ‘rap sessions’, seminars etc. Lennon often times didn’t trust himself to make the right decisions
Verse 3, Lennon with a side of Ono…yes, ‘spinal cracker’ means: he’s funny, he cracks me up. Feet solidly on the ground but, diseased…John/Ono understand the challenges and the sickness of humanity…feel his disease…
Verse 4, McCartney…Up/down, in/out, hello/goodbye…he’s got soul/muddy water but, he’s a ‘buzz kill’ sometimes, one and one and one are the three Beatles without John as well…the audience thinks he’s good looking so you don’t get to know the REAL guy..a deceiver…Lennon could be that way too…indecisive, not always fully truthful etc…
John saw HIMSELF in all these people….
Okay, blast away…lol…
Happy New Year to all!
Paul played,the elctric piano. Why distort this?
Paul did not sing on this song
on some lines he does; for example, “one and one and one is three” and “I know you, you know me” I think McCartney does harmonies.
Yet another example where Geoff Emerick is incorrect. I think that makes it 200. John didn’t sing the backing vocals. Clearly anyone can tell it’s paul. It’s frustrating that Emerick has a beef against Lennon and has never recovered from some of the things Lennon said to him but the constant attack on most things Lennon and on the remixes and alternate versions is embarrassing
Emerick clearly says that Paul did not sing on the chorus, which is correct. He perhaps could have worded it better because one might get the impression that he meant that John did all the backing vocals. I don’t think Emerick has been shown to be wrong on too many things… I realize that his accounts on average slightly favor McCartney over Lennon, but that doesn’t necessitate some unyielding bias against John. I think Lennonites can be narrow-minded when it comes to the positive things Paul contributed to the band.
“Clearly anyone can tell…”? Sorry. It, in fact, sounds like John (as anyone can tell).
The song he wrote for Leary was completely different in tempo and melody. He briefly sang it in an interview.
“Come together
and join the party.
Cooo oo ome to gether”
The song he wrote for Leary was completely different in tempo and melody. He briefly sang it in an interview.
“Come together
and join the party.
Cooo oo ome to gether”
Emerick’s recollections are nonsense. The el. piano part is quite complicated. The middle solo has tricky left hand playing, beyond Lennon’s capabilities. Plus, John said in 1972 that the el. piano was played by Paul and Paul said the same in 1984.
Because, of course, you know better. You were there, after all……
Was listening to the Beatles Channel on Sirius XM when Berry’s “You Can’t Catch Me” came on (for those of you who don’t have the channel, they frequently play artists who influenced the Fabs). Even before the “flat top” line, my son, who didn’t know about the whole lawsuit, just blurts out that it sounds like Come Together. I found it quite amusing.
Everybody talks about the lyrics and who sung a second voice.
The song is clearly a Lennon-song, but the contribution from Paul’s bass makes it unique. Everybody who covers the song takes care on it, ( as also on the famous drum-line.) Hear Bobby Mc Ferrin.
Today all additions and small changes on the lyrics and/or the music are credited. So it isn’t wrong to say that this is a Lennon/McCartney song.
What amuses me is the constant bickering, firstly among the Beatles themselves, then their associates and finally their fans, over who did what. While it’s nice to know if Paul sang harmony vocals or Ringo played euphonium, at the end of the day it’s the sound of the record that matters, and the record sounds fab. I don’t care who played what. If The Beatles were worried about the general public knowing these facts, they would have made more of an effort to record them; but they didn’t, so we shouldn’t. If it takes knowing who did what to enjoy the record, you shouldn’t be listening to it.