Studio Three, EMI Studios, Abbey Road
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Jeff Jarratt
John Lennon and Paul McCartney had recorded ‘The Ballad Of John And Yoko’ on 14 April 1969. Two days later, three of The Beatles met at Abbey Road to record its b-side, George Harrison’s song ‘Old Brown Shoe’.
There were two separate sessions on this day. From 2.30-5pm Harrison recorded a solo demo of ‘Old Brown Shoe’ in a single take.
He had previously demoed the song on 25 February 1969. On this day, however, his demo was recorded over once The Beatles’ session began at 7pm. It is likely that Harrison played the recording to them for reference before work began.
Although Ringo Starr was busy filming The Magic Christian during this period, he did perform drums during this session.
The Beatles recorded the backing track for ‘Old Brown Shoe’ in just four takes, although the first was incomplete. Take two was included on some formats of the 50th anniversary reissue of Abbey Road. Take four, meanwhile, became the basis of the single version.
Track one of the eight-track tape contained Starr’s drums, while the second and third featured Harrison’s guide vocals and electric guitar respectively. John Lennon’s piano part was recorded on track four.
A range of overdubs were then added to take four. McCartney’s bass guitar part and another guitar part by Harrison were recorded on track six. Harrison then added lead vocals to track two, with backing from Lennon and McCartney.
Additional backing vocals by Lennon and McCartney were then recorded on track five. All of the vocals parts were intentionally distorted by studio engineer Jeff Jarratt.
With work on ‘Old Brown Shoe’ finished for the night, The Beatles began work on Harrison’s most celebrated Beatles song, ‘Something’. This, too, had been demoed on 25 February, and had been played during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions on 28 and 29 January.
The Beatles taped 13 instrumental takes in this initial session, with Harrison on rhythm guitar, Paul McCartney on drums, Lennon on bass guitar, and George Martin on piano. The recording was later abandoned in favour of a remake on 2 May 1969.
Before the session ended at 2.45am, three stereo mixes of ‘Old Brown Shoe’ were made. None of them was used, and further overdubs were added on 18 April 1969.
Also on this day...
- 2024: Restored Let It Be film coming to Disney+
- 2021: Album release: McCartney III Imagined by Paul McCartney
- 2002: Paul McCartney live: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia
- 1993: Paul McCartney live: Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles
- 1966: Recording, mixing: Rain
- 1965: Television: Ready, Steady, Go!
- 1964: Recording: A Hard Day’s Night
- 1964: Filming: A Hard Day’s Night
- 1963: Television: Scene At 6.30
- 1962: The Beatles live: Star-Club, Hamburg
- 1961: The Beatles live: Top Ten Club, Hamburg
Want more? Visit the Beatles history section.
Something is wrong: second sentence: “Two days later all four members of The Beatles met at Abbey Road to record its b-side, (…)”; below: “Ringo Starr was absent from the session, due to filming commitments on The Magic Christian”.
I guess the fragment about Ringo’s absence was added after the release White Album 50th anniversary box set.
But … an interesting and convincing suggestion that Ringo played the drums in this great song is on the site: https://www.beatlesebooks.com/old-brown-shoe
Thanks for this. Yes, it was a mix up after the 50th anniversary reissue of Abbey Road – I updated part of the article but missed out the other references to Ringo. It should be fixed now.
Sorry Joe. I pay attention to the incompatibility in the text, and at the same time I confuse Beatles albums.
This page needs corrections: as Speed Skater pointed out, Dave Rybaczewski’s page reveals that it was in fact Ringo who played the drums on “Old Brown Shoe”, so I assume that he would’ve been on the drums for this early performance of “Something”, but I doubt that John would’ve played the bass on that performance and according to assorted comments on YouTube, he absolutely did not like playing bass at all.
Paul himself admits that he’s an okay drummer and can play basic 4/4, but he can’t play shuffles, so this implies that the shuffle drumming on “OBS” is in fact Ringo, clearly being the work of an experienced drummer.
George played piano and sang on this…as he does on his demo, as he does in the Get back film.
John played guitar on the backing track. There is no bass, because Paul is playing the drums.
Sorry guys, please listen to take 2. No matter what you think or believe, there is only 3 instruments: Drums, Guitar, Piano. There is only 3 Beatles present. Whoever played the drums on take 2 was the same drummer for the final recording. it was Paul McCartney. The song was completed this same day, April 16th, John was in a hurry to release his new Single. Also Master tapes reveal Only George, Paul and John were there. Also is very well known George played bass on this song, as he stated during his interview for Creem Magazine 1987-1988. Also Paul has never claimed he played bass here.
These are undeniable facts: *** Only 3 Beatles on all takes and *** George Harrison (the songwriter) made it very clear that he played bass here. The reason George played bass was because Paul was playing another instrument (drums).
Case closed.