Only A Northern Song | Fab Forum | The Beatles Bible

I had never really figured out the appeal or meaning of Only A Northern Song . I knew it was the name of the publishing company, and figured out that it was somehow referencing the fact that Liverpool is in northern England. Anyway I was listening to it on headphones today and realized just how damn trippy the arrangement/effects are. Then I read the write-up in the Songs section and understand it so much better. I searched the song in this forum and found words like “chaos” and “random” used to describe the effects. The song is a sterling example of some of the things that made the Beatles great.

George wrote the song as a satirical comment on the fact that his songs to-date had been published by the company, which George had no ownership in and was formed primarily to publish the L-M songbook – but the arrangement doesn’t seem to me to have been done with that in mind. This is one of the things that makes great music and wordplay in general imo, the ability to send multiple, sometimes conflicting, messages in one creation. Another example (not coincidentally, George’s biting sarcasm again) is the song “This Song” which comments sarcastically on the My Sweet Lord copyright infringement lawsuit using simple, happy-go-lucky arrangement and lyrics.

The rhythm section was mixed on top of itself to create a “phasing effect” – I’m not clear on exactly how that was done, but it was innovative and definitely gives the song a strange and unique feel. The odd chords (Bmin, G# and F# in a key of E song) and some weird intervals in the “tinkerbell percussion instrument” (glockenspiel and chimes) parts are contrapuntal and dissonant (methods the Beatles – including much expertise from George Martin – often used with great effect. It can be found all over MMT and in some other notable vocal harmonies, as discussed in some detail in this topic and an earlier one that is pointed to in the first post there. I wouldn’t call the effects “random”, but “chaos” seems appropriate at some level – however I think they probably all make sense if you’re on the right drugs ;).

George creates an amazing staccato effect with his guitar (I’m pretty sure it’s his guitar – around 0:28-0:35 and other places on the stereo mix from the PC deluxe version of Revolver ) which becomes the theme of the trippy background sounds. Interestingly, the drums don’t play a part in that theme – they have essentially just a basic timekeeping role in the song. It’s really neat how they created that special effect using staccato notes from some very diverse instruments not usually associated with staccato – guitar, keys, glockenspiel, trumpet, and probably others.

Anyway I now wish I had given the song a higher rating in the poll!