Recorded as one with ‘Golden Slumbers’, ‘Carry That Weight’ was written by Paul McCartney as part of Abbey Road’s long medley.
‘Carry That Weight’ referred to the troubles The Beatles were having, both within the group and in their business dealings at Apple.
I’m generally quite upbeat but at certain times things get to me so much that I just can’t be upbeat any more and that was one of the times. We were taking so much acid and doing so much drugs and all this Klein s**t was going on and getting crazier and crazier and crazier. Carry that weight a long time: like for ever! That’s what I meant.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
‘Carry That Weight’ also features the melody from ‘You Never Give Me Your Money’, firstly performed on brass instruments and then sung with different lyrics by McCartney alone, the song’s only vocal passage without the other Beatles, although it was double-tracked to give harmonies.
We were entering a period in the mid- to late sixties when we were doing LSD, staying up all night, then wishing it would wear off, discovering it wouldn’t. A bad trip could leave you feeling a bit heavy, instead of enjoying the normal lightness of youth. You know, we started off smoking pot, and it was just giggles. It was such fun. We loved it and it was great, and the worst that would happen was you’d fall asleep, and that was fine. Once it got into sort of more serious stuff, then you were just sort of doing it and there wasn’t this light relief. It could be oppressive.That was coupled with the business problems at Apple Records, which really were horrible. The business meetings were just soul-destroying. We’d sit around in an office, and it was a place you just didn’t want to be, with people you didn’t want to be with. There’s a great picture that Linda took of Allen Klein, in which he’s got a hammer like Maxwell’s silver hammer. It’s very symbolic. And that’s why we have the little nod and a wink in the middle section to ‘You Never Give Me Your Money’, in the lines ‘I never give you my pillow/I only send you my invitations’.
The Lyrics: 1956 To The Present
The arpeggiated guitar motif from the end of ‘You Never Give Me Your Money’ also reappears towards the end of ‘Carry That Weight’, acting as a bridge into ‘The End’. McCartney’s weaving of elements from other songs in the Abbey Road medley gave a sense of continuity and completeness which would otherwise have been absent.
McCartney sang ‘Carry That Weight’ on 6, 7, and 9 January 1969, during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions. Discussing the song on the latter date, he raised the possibility of it being sung by Ringo Starr.
In the studio
Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr began recording ‘Golden Slumbers’/’Carry That Weight’ while John Lennon was in hospital after a car accident in Golspie, Scotland.
On Wednesday 2 July 1969 the three Beatles recorded 15 takes of the songs, most of which were incomplete. Harrison played bass and Starr was on drums, while McCartney played piano and sang a guide vocal.
The eight-track tape had Starr’s drums on track one; Harrison’s bass guitar on two; McCartney’s piano on three; and a guide vocal on eight. Takes 1-3 from this first session were released in 2019 on some formats of the 50th anniversary reissue of Abbey Road.
The best of the takes were 13 and 15, which were edited together on 3 July. On that day McCartney and Starr double-tracked their vocals in the chorus, and Starr recorded additional drums.
The next day Harrison added electric guitar arpeggios and Starr recorded extra drums, both on track seven, and McCartney recorded lead vocals on track six.
On 30 July more vocals were added to the chorus, and again the next day. They also overdubbed timpani and more drums on 31 July. The orchestral arrangement, meanwhile, was recorded on 15 August.
Actually, Paul’s reprise of ‘…Money’ is harmonized, not a solo vocal part.
So it is. Perhaps I should rephrase that – I meant to say, of course, that he was singing without the other Beatles.
By far the worst moment on Side 2 of Abbey Road. It bleeds of Wings.
Love Wings. Anyone with any sense loves the top 25 or 26 Wings songs. You must be an idiot.
I agree. I have always felt Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight
is the worst part of the medley.
I just wish they weren’t there.
One of my favorite aspects of this song is that all four Beatles sing in the chorus. Ringo, in particular, is quite noticable during the “carry that weight” refrain. I know John was absent from some of the Abbey Road sessions because of an auto accident. Is this the reason Ringo took on the unusual role of singing backing vocals? Was it decided to add John’s vocals to the mix later on (as it appears Lennon’s only role was backing vocals) or was it always Paul’s intension that all four Beatles would sing on this song. One of my favorite Beatle songs.
Agree with everything you said JP. Ringo can CLEARLY be heard above the others on this song. It’s quite amusing really. Was it mixed improperly, was this how they wanted it to sound, was Ringo’s baritone just so distinct and strong that he overpowered the others? I always smile and chuckle when that part plays. Fantastic song. Paul killed with this at the 2012 Grammys.
Ringos voice is clearly heard!
Like the rest of you I wanted to comment on Ringo’s vocal prominence in the refrain. I love the effect! Poor Ringo hardly ever got any vocal moments and here he is singing his heart out.
According to Get Back – which hopefully we’ve all seen now! – Paul’s original concept for Carry that Weight was as a light number suitable for Ringo to sing (always a challenge). He can be heard improvising vocals in a Ringo-appropriate pitch, with Ringo chipping in gamely but tunelessly alongside.
in what order are the solos played?
If you’re referring to The End, you’ll find the answer on that song’s page.
The End solos.
Paul, George, John in that order X 3.
I get chills every time hearing this song on the heels of ‘Slumbers.’ There’s something about the transition from the most exquisite tune in the catalogue to all Four belting it out in unison…words cannot express.
An absolute tour de force. I thought the enormous response the juggler Chriss Bliss got was not for his juggling but the fact he was doing it to this medley.
The way that they brought back the elements from “You Never Give Me Your Money” makes this medley feel like a more cohesive version of the “concept” approach on Sgt. Pepper’s… basically a sequel with more attention paid to continuity and a feeling of progression.
Also, unrelated: as a kid i always heard the lyric as “carry that WAVE,” which seemed like a lot more work– having basically the entire ocean on your back! 🙂 I wish i could claim that it had audio/radio undertones (i.e. carrier wave), but i’d never heard those terms back then, so it was just dumb kid ears.
My three-year-old son sings “Boy, you’re gonna carried away, carried away a long time.” Dumb kid ears are no bad thing!
On the subject of You Never Give Me Your Money, it’s the one bit that binds the two medleys together. It’s often thought of as one long song cycle, but there’s a natural break before Golden Slumbers. When they return to YNGMYM it brings cohesion to the whole thing.
That’s funny Joe, amazing what kids hear isn’t it? 🙂
Years back, my 3-year-old son, then enamored with Twist and Shout, would belt out, “We’re shaking the baby now!” I agree, what little kids hear can be priceless!
I can hear the Lead Guitar solo but I cant hear any rhythm guitar. Was it left out of the final mix? Also, I think that the lead guitar part was played by Paul but I may be wrong.
0:01-0:22; 1:06-1:27, leads out into The End. It’s quite clean and you can’t much tell it apart from the piano and all the strings.
George certainly plays that little solo at 0:35-0:42.
I cant hear Rhythm guitar is it left or right channel
Love this, it fits perfectly with “Golden Slumbers”. Both are pieces of McCartney magic.
Nicked from Thomas Dekker –
Cradle Song
Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,
Smiles awake you when you rise ;
Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby,
Rock them, rock them, lullaby.
Care is heavy, therefore sleep you,
You are care, and care must keep you ;
Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby,
Rock them, rock them, lullaby.
Can someone tell me about the trade-offs on guitar leading up to ‘The End’…does each take turns on a lead guitar part?
Paul, George, John X 3 in that order.
George’s bass playing impressed Musicologist Alan W. Pollack, and i agree: `The bass work is particularly impressive, alternating between evenly accented perpetual motion for the refrains and syncopated scale work for the bridge.’
The lead guitar sections here are astonishing. The notes say George played them but they seem to have Paul or John’s attack.
The burden we all carry a lifetime. How McCartney at 26 could come up with that is amazing.
George’s lead guitar playing is excellent on this song, as ever!
I’ve heard that there was more lyrics to CTW. If that is an actual fact, what were the lyrics?
So here’s the latest from the new 50th anniversary Abbey Rd book that comes with the CDs. Only Ringo and Paul sing the chorus, and they are double tracked. What! I can see maybe no John but no George??
I think I’ll just pretend it is all of them… tour de force.
given john and paul’s sniping at each other via song in their solo careers, is it possible that “boy, you’re gonna carry that weight” references “she’s so heavy” being about yoko? not that i want to bring back resonances of that feud, as everyone involved are lovey people, but listening to the remaster, that notion came to mind.
It is actually well-documented that all four Beatles sang together on “Carry That Weight” and you mustn’t believe everything that Kevin Howlett says or writes, because his SDE 50th anniversary books aren’t 100% ironclad infallible and they do have their shares of unnecessary errors or omissions either in the essays or song line-ups. I don’t know if he based the information on Mal Evans’s Beatles Monthly articles.
For some reason, Kevin forgot to mention that George sang backing vocals on “Polythene Pam” in the SDE 50th anniversary book for “Abbey Road”.
I was shocked by the revelation that only Paul and Ringo perform in the chorus vocals of Carry That Weight. Always thought it was a group effort, but glad to see the record is set straight.
As I have already said, not all the song line-ups in the SDE are correct, because of their share of unnecessary errors and omissions; besides, most books indicate that all four Beatles sang the chorus in unison.
Interesting. This very article you are commenting on only credits Paul and Ringo with vocals. This is true on beatlesebooks.com as well. They both are extremely well researched across multiple sources.
If you watch the Get Back documentary you’ll see Paul play Carry That Weight on the piano and say to Ringo that he wanted him to sing it. Maybe that’s why Ringo’s vocal is louder than the others.