Tape copying, recording: Hey Jude, Not Guilty

Studio Two, EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Ken Scott

Two sessions took place on this day. In the first, from 3-7.45pm, a single copy was made of the previous day’s rough mono mix of ‘Hey Jude’. The previous work on the song had been done at London’s Trident Studios, so this saw the first transfer of the recordings to Abbey Road.

The second session was from 8.45pm-5.30am, and saw The Beatles begin recording a new George Harrison song, ‘Not Guilty’. After 10 weeks of recording sessions for the White Album, Harrison had recorded only a single take of ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, so was eager to recapture lost ground.

Sadly for him, Not Guilty remained unreleased until 1996’s Anthology 3. Not only that, it required a great deal of work, with more than 100 takes committed to tape.

On this evening The Beatles recorded takes 1-46, featuring Harrison on electric guitar, John Lennon on electric piano, Paul McCartney playing bass guitar and Ringo Starr on drums. The first 18 takes were for the introduction only, and only takes 26, 30, 32, 36 and 41 were complete.

The Beatles continued work on Not Guilty during the following three sessions.