The Beatles released most of their music with impeccable and quality production. Some of their albums were noticeably messier and a bit rough around the edges, but that only added to their charm. Being songs, some of the Beatles’ songs feature one or two mistakes in terms of production, mix-ups in lyrics, and more. Let’s look at six famous mistakes found in Beatles songs!
1. “Your Majesty”
This song closes Abbey Road beautifully. However, the beginning of the song starts off with a rather discordant and loud guitar. This wasn’t exactly intentional. The song was originally going to be relocated to Side 2, but Paul McCartney decided otherwise. The album’s engineer, John Kurlander, was told to scrap the song altogether. He didn’t want to destroy something potentially valuable, so he added “Her Majesty” to the end of a rough mix a few seconds after the last notes of “The End.” When the band heard the discordant intro to “Her Majesty,” they actually liked it and decided to keep it.
2. “Please please me”
This song was the Beatles’ first number one hit in England. “Please Please Me” is noticeably loose and a bit rough, but again, it added a bit of charm to the legendary band’s earlier works. While doing several takes during the recording sessions for this song, the tempo was sped up at the request of their producer. The sudden change in tempo resulted in a lyrical error by John Lennon in the last verse. If you listen closely, you can hear it.
(Buy tickets to see Paul McCartney live in 2024)
3. “If I fell”
This is a surprising and rather underrated song from The Beatles, but it’s not without its flaws. When McCartney sings the higher harmony, you can hear his voice crack a little.
4. “What is happening”
“What Goes On” includes the first writing credit on a Beatles song for Ringo Starr, though it’s worth noting that Lennon and McCartney put in most of the songwriting work. It’s a strange, delightfully country little song on Rubber soulThe band let Lennon run wild on rhythm guitar, and if you listen closely you can hear just how disorganized his playing is.
5. “Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da”
McCartney had the band play this song a million times when they were recording it, so it’s strange that it includes a mistake. However, little mistakes like that make the Beatles’ music even more interesting. While singing the lyrics to the last verse, McCartney switches Molly and Desmond’s occupations. It wasn’t intentional, but McCartney decided to leave it.
6. “Hello Jude”
“Hey Jude” is one of the most famous songs in the Beatles’ discography. It’s a beautiful song that McCartney wrote for Julian Lennon and that many fans could easily relate to at the time. However, McCartney can be heard using a swear word under his breath in the middle of the song. No one knows why, and McCartney probably doesn’t even remember. But when he starts singing “Then you can start–,” he can be heard muttering the swear word under his breath.
Photograph from the Michael Ochs Archives
When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.
(tags to translate)article
