Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 9, 20 August 1968
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Ken Scott
Released: 22 November 1968 (UK), 25 November 1968 (US)
Paul McCartney: vocals, acoustic guitar, drums, timpani, bass
Uncredited: two trumpets, two trombones
Available on:
The Beatles (White Album)
Anthology 3
Written by Paul McCartney, Mother Nature's Son was inspired by a lecture on nature given by Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in India, although the song was mostly completed in Liverpool.
I seem to remember writing Mother Nature's Son at my dad's house in Liverpool. I often used to do that if I'd gone up to see him. Visiting my family I'd feel in a good mood, so it was often a good occasion to write songs. So this was me doing my mother nature's son bit. I've always loved the [Nat King Cole] song called Nature Boy: 'There was a boy, a very strange and gentle boy...' He loves nature, and Mother Nature's Son was inspired by that song. I'd always loved nature, and when Linda and I got together we discovered we had this deep love of nature in common. There might have been a little help from John with some of the verses.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
By including Mother Nature's Son on the White Album, it was decided that a lyrically similar one by John Lennon should remain unrecorded.
That was from a lecture of Maharishi where he was talking about nature, and I had a piece called I'm Just A Child Of Nature, which turned into Jealous Guy years later. Both inspired from the same lecture of Maharishi.
All We Are Saying, David Sheff
In the studio
Mother Nature's Son was recorded during an often fractious period for The Beatles. McCartney worked mostly alone on the song; no other Beatles appear on the recording.
On 9 August 1968 he recorded 25 takes of Mother Nature's Son. He recorded his vocals and acoustic guitar simultaneously, and take 24 was judged to be the best attempt. Take two, meanwhile, was released on Anthology 3 in 1996.
The song was completed on 20 August in studio two. Onto take 24 McCartney overdubbed timpani, another acoustic guitar part, and drums – the latter set up in the corridor outside the studio, to give a staccato effect.
McCartney worked with George Martin on the brass arrangement, also recorded on this day. John Lennon and Ringo Starr were working on Yer Blues elsewhere in Abbey Road at the time; they did, however, briefly enter studio two.
Paul was downstairs going through the arrangement with George and the brass players. Everything was great, everyone was in great spirits. It felt really good. Suddenly, halfway through, John and Ringo walked in and you could cut the atmosphere with a knife. An instant change. It was like that for 10 minutes and then as soon as they left it felt great again. It was very bizarre.
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Mark Lewisohn
McCartney also recorded two other songs, Wild Honey Pie and Etcetera, during the 20 August session.
‘Mother Natures Son’- What a special song on such a; should I say, ‘Intense’ album! It seems to float by like a feather in the wind. The songs simple beauty brings back memories of ‘And I love her’ or ‘You’ve got to hide your love away’. Paul, was absolutely essential to so many Beatles’ songs. The years 1968′-1969′ we’re in many respects ‘very’ un- pleasant;..and yet songs like this we’re such a
welcomed + pleasant surprise! Richard 2009′
I think it’s even more far beyond those songs… My impression is that “Mother Nature’s son” has got a almost metaphisical essence.
It’s a bit of a shock to me to learn that George Harrison did not play the guitar break on this track. It has the ‘style’ of George, and exhibits a very confident hand, particularly the note selection and vibrato in the end chords. Kudos to Paul if he played this.
That’s something that ended up happening a lot near the end of the Beatles’ career, is that when it would just be Paul writing or doing music, he would write things like guitar solos that have the feel of someone else as a way of kind of including them. However, the group ended up sort of resenting him for this, as he often didn’t actually invite them to play the solo.
A beautiful song, full of peace.
I don’t fancy the drums or the Horns being in the song. It would have sounded better with just Paul, his guitar and a second guitar overdub.
I can’t believe such a lovely song doesn’t have more comments. It’s one of my absolute favorites, and I really enjoy Paul’s odd finger picking style here. I watched a tutorial on it, and his style is very distinct on songs such as this, Blackbird, and Mull of Kintyre.
Like with Dear Prudence, I didn’t really appreciate this song when I was younger. I love it now–easily in my top three favorite Paul songs.
I love the brass backing. What chords are created when the brass backing is added? It has a fantastic effect on the atmosphere of the song.
On the brass backing, if you listen closely, and you’ll hear the same musical phrase as “Doctor Robert” from “Revolver”.
Does anyone know what guitar Paul used on this song? The Epiphone Texan perhaps?
Probably the Martin D-28. This website is amazing, they list all Paul, George and John’s guitars:
http://www.thecanteen.com/mccartney7.html
C’est dans ce style très personnel, que l’on s’aperçoit que Paul est un fabuleux guitariste. Bravo à ce grand monsieur qui a marqué la musique pop !
Does anyone else think the intro to this sounds a bit like the intro to Michelle?
Full of peace indeed. When he gets to the line “swaying daisies sing a lazy song beneath the sun” my spirit is in such peace and at the same time elevated by the beauty of the song. Beauty enhanced by profound quietness.
I am a film producer and this song always brings images of soldiers playing their guitars in their off time and images of them fighting in the fields….one of my favorites… sounds like Nam to me…
Just for You, not to be published as a reply:
There are no timpani here:
http://recordingthebeatles.com/1968ProductionPreview.pdf
And what about the book hardcover tapping?
Ciao!
John Denver covered this,and in doing so, ruined it. He had other music, some quite fine.
I like John Denver’s version. It seems an appropriate song for his genre.
I always wondered whether Paul might have been giving a slight wink to the Bonzo Dog Band on this song. “I’m Bored”, which came out a year earlier, included the lyric: “I’m bored/with Mother Nature or her son!” Since Paul produced a single of theirs and they were in Magical Mystery Tour it seems like more than a coincidence.
There’s a snippet of conversation on one of the Purple Chick CDs (PC 12 Vol 3 Disc 02 Track 13, “Blackbird-Mother Natures Son – rehearsal i”) where Paul and George Martin are talking in the studio about the arrangement for Mother Nature’s Son. Paul suggests a string quartet starting in verse 2; George counters by suggesting “an arranged sound coming from a distance, a fairly complicated one like a bit of decoration you’ve got on the back of a painting”. Then John comes on the studio intercom and suggests “a little bit of brass band… a very nice little bit of brass band… a little bit of Nilsson’s brass band…”
I thought this was kind of interesting. Despite the tension between the individual Beatles, there was John pitching in. It was surprising to me to hear how collaborative the arrangement for this all-Paul song was. Especially surprising given Ken Scott’s comments.
Thank you for sharing, Jim. I’ve always thought, that the Ken Scot’s testimony has a overweight role, when evaluating the Beatles relationship during the White Album sessions.
I always thought this song should have been cut from the White Album. It has a very similar feeling to Blackbird and I Will and it’s placement after Yer Blues just slows the album down. It’s not that it’s bad it’s just a bore. Should have been on McCartney instead with Not Guilty or Sour Milk Sea in its place.
Beautiful song and fascinating to learn how the horn arrangement evolved. Seems like the end result was more a combination of Lennon and Martin’s ideas than McCartney’s. Also this shows that the orchestral arrangements in general were a combination of the Beatles ideas and Martin’s. I always assumed the song was recorded and then Martin went off on his own and scored the orchestral parts on his own and dubbed them in.
This is the true prototype of the “Ram” album.