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2.36am
27 March 2015
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I’m with @Zig on this one: I love singing along to Mr. Moonlight, and I’ll really lay on the drama when John gets to the ‘begging if you please’ part.
Is it their best? Nope. But bloody hell, I like it! I think I’ve grown to like it even more since I got the Anthology Highlights album.
John: “MISTEEEEEEEER MOOOOONLIIIIIIGHT…(laughing) whoah, stop!”
Paul: “Nearly!”
John: “Yeah, ‘s not bad that one.”
George: (sniffling) “You don’t know now…”
Gets me every time.
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11.29am
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1 May 2011
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Is this the most disappointing (not worst, there is a difference) track in the Beatles catalogue?
John’s opening is phenomenal, the remaining 2:35 never reaches the same heights.
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Zig, Vera Chuck and Dave"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
2.36pm
Reviewers
14 April 2010
Offline I believe “disappointing” sums it up best. It’s really not a bad song but, as you say, it falls off quite a bit after John’s opening vocal.
To the fountain of perpetual mirth, let it roll for all its worth. And all the children boogie.
7.23pm
1 November 2013
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This is my favorite Beatles, I like the hammyness of the vocals.
12.29am
31 July 2014
Offline I love this song. It was a stab at a llittle calypso which was quite popular late 50s, early 60s. My only bite with the recording is that it’s muddy, like they were singing and playing under a wet blanket. Wish there were a way to crisp it up. (Loved the Hammond & drumming.)
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BeatlebugMatches...Candles...Matches...Candles
5.37pm
27 February 2010
Offline I love to read too much into songs, so I think Mr. Moonlight is about Faust making a pact with Mephistopheles who gives Gretchen (the young woman in Goethe’s play).
I'd like to say "thank you" on behalf of the group and ourselves and I hope we passed the audition.
John Lennon
10.46am
26 January 2017
Offline Marcelo said
I love to read too much into songs, so I think Mr. Moonlight is about Faust making a pact with Mephistopheles who gives Gretchen (the young woman in Goethe’s play).
Woah, this is really weird. I’m studying Faustus in English at the moment, and we read that scene in class today. Interesting explanation.
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MarceloI've been up on the mountain, and I've seen his wondrous grace,
I've sat there on the barstool and I've looked him in the face.
He seemed a little haggard, but it did not slow him down,
he was humming to the neon of the universal sound.
10.11pm
23 February 2019
Offline New member, and I think this site is great.
I have a question about something in the recording of Mr Moonlight that’s bugged me since I bought the Beatles 65 album as a teenager. There’s something in the organ solo that I originally assumed was a flaw in the recording or LP pressing process, but it seems to show up in every version I’ve heard over the years. There’s one note played on the organ that sounds like it’s overloading and creating a strange resonant note that’s completely foreign to the music. Is that a limitation imposed by the recording technology of the 60’s? After hearing how fastidious they were about the recordings, I’ve never been able to understand why it wasn’t corrected……If not then, then now with digital technology.
12.07pm
15 November 2018
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Interesting question, @Beatlebass , and welcome!
I never noticed that before, I’ll have to give Mr. Moonlight a relisten.
Love one another.
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3.02pm
Moderators
27 November 2016
Offline Beatlebass said
New member, and I think this site is great.
Wonderful to have you on board, @Beatlebass
I have a question about something in the recording of Mr Moonlight that’s bugged me since I bought the Beatles 65 album as a teenager. There’s something in the organ solo that I originally assumed was a flaw in the recording or LP pressing process, but it seems to show up in every version I’ve heard over the years. There’s one note played on the organ that sounds like it’s overloading and creating a strange resonant note that’s completely foreign to the music. Is that a limitation imposed by the recording technology of the 60’s?
Analysing the song’s waveform, that note is the loudest in the solo – perhaps it’s clipping? I’ve never worked out what might cause that sound.
After hearing how fastidious they were about the recordings, I’ve never been able to understand why it wasn’t corrected……If not then, then now with digital technology.
Analysing the spectrogram – one couldn’t use EQ to get rid of anything (the noise has the same frequencies as the actual organ), and I don’t know what else you could use to remove the sound other than EQ.
Chalk it down to a glitch, I guess?
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5.52am
26 January 2017
Offline Can you pinpoint the timestamp within the song that you hear this, @Beatlebass ? Welcome to the forum 
I've been up on the mountain, and I've seen his wondrous grace,
I've sat there on the barstool and I've looked him in the face.
He seemed a little haggard, but it did not slow him down,
he was humming to the neon of the universal sound.
11.58am
23 February 2019
Offline Thanks for the welcomes, guys. The same thing happens numerous times throughout the organ solo, but a good example happens at 1:33.
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50yearslate12.20pm
22 December 2013
Offline I find it to be more noticeable on the ‘Beatles ’65’ album than on the ‘Beatles For Sale ‘ record… I did initially think that my copy of ‘Beatles ’65’ was defective when I’d first heard it… it’s hard to say if it was by design or not… the sessions were kinda crammed into a brief window between tours so it’s entirely possible that it was an oversight… I’d lean towards them experimenting a bit with distortion though… they were really trying out a lot of new ideas here in the studio… the feedback intro to ‘I Feel Fine ‘ from the same era comes to mind, not to mention the alternate ‘Anthology’ take of ‘Mr. Moonlight’ which is even weirder than the one that we’re familiar with… it’s nice to compare these two to the Hamburg live version where we’re treated to a great glimpse of just how much they’d grown musically in just a couple of years…:-)
3.30pm
23 February 2019
Offline I’m glad that someone has at least confirmed what I’m hearing, and it’s not just me, lol.
I initially thought, as Billy Rhythm said, that it was a defect in the LP pressing. It’s interesting though, that the issue is more apparent on the Beatles 65 album than on Beatles For Sale . It obviously goes deeper than that though, because today I identified the timestamp in the recording by listening to an online recording, rather than vinyl, and it’s readily apparent on a digital version.
The only other thing I’ve been able to conjecture is that it might have been something caused by the recording equipment of the day. I’ve heard somewhat similar effects from my Fender Twin Reverb guitar amp that turned out to be a microphonic preamp tube. Is it likely that either the organ or other studio equipment used in the recording would have been vacuum tube-type, rather than solid state?
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Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Offline I prefer the guitar solo take 4 over what they did release but I guess the weird solo by Paul was a step forward over the regular and they were always trying different ideas.
Maybe it was a nod to Buddy Holly.
"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
4.34am
25 February 2020
Offline I had Beatles For Sale on in the car with my dad today (he hadn’t heard that album)
he called the organ solo on this the worst piece of music he’s ever heard, hahahaha
also holy crap page 2 of this thread is a RIDE
7.34pm
14 June 2016
Offline Not sure why this song gets so much hate. I don’t think it’s the best song they did, but I find it enjoyable to listen to.
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"Sometimes I wish I was just George Harrison" - John Lennon
7.40am
7 November 2022
Offline On my first careful listen (10 minutes ago), it sounded like the Beatles harmonies were not quite up to snuff. Then I found an isolated vocals recording on YT, and it’s clear the vocals are (as usual) well nigh perfect. So the effect of something slightly off I think may be an effect due to the guitars not quite tuned accordingly.
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RubeNow today I find, you have changed your mind
12.05pm
Reviewers
Moderators
1 May 2011
Offline I find the Hammond organ is what does it for me, it sounds too empty to bring anything substantial and the solo is incredibly weak. Take 4 with the scrunching guitar solo is far better. Maybe a hybrid mash-up would be the answer.
"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
1.05am
7 November 2022
Offline My impression is that Paul was aiming for a sound he would later find in perhaps more advanced keyboards (like the intro to Strawberry Fields), but at that early date all he had was a rinky dink organ.
Now today I find, you have changed your mind
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