Written by George Harrison, ‘Old Brown Shoe’ was originally released as the b-side of ‘The Ballad Of John And Yoko’. It remains a largely overlooked gem from The Beatles’ back catalogue.
I started the chord sequences on the piano, which I don’t really play, and then began writing ideas for the words from various opposites… Again, it’s the duality of things – yes no, up down, left right, right wrong, etcetera.
I Me Mine, 1980
In the studio
The Beatles performed two versions of ‘Old Brown Shoe’ on 27 January 1969, during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions at Apple Studios. The first was sung by George Harrison with just a piano accompaniment, followed by an attempt by the whole group with Billy Preston.
The Beatles returned to the song the following day, playing through it eight times, and once more on 29 January. These versions have all been bootlegged from the hours of rehearsals and jams taped by The Beatles for the Let It Be album.
On 25 February, his 26th birthday, Harrison recorded two takes of a solo demo of ‘Old Brown Shoe’. He also recorded versions of ‘All Things Must Pass’ and ‘Something’, possibly so the other Beatles could learn their parts. Why he needed to do this for ‘Old Brown Shoe’ is unknown – possibly he was dissatisfied with the previous group attempts, and wanted them to reconsider the song.
Each of the demos can be heard on Anthology 3. Of the three, ‘Old Brown Shoe’ was the most elaborate. Harrison began by recording vocals and piano, before adding two guitar overdubs. The first guitar part was played mainly on the bottom strings, while the second, which included a solo, was played mainly on the higher strings.
The Beatles eventually began work on the song on 16 April 1969. In the morning Harrison recorded a second demo version, and that evening the group taped four takes. Although it has been reported that Ringo Starr was away filming The Magic Christian, he can clearly be heard on the recording.
The Beatles recorded four takes of the song. Take two, the first complete run-through, 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 lead guitar respectively. John Lennon’s piano part was recorded onto track four.
Once take four had been selected as the best attempt, The Beatles added a range of overdubs. McCartney’s bass guitar and another Harrison guitar part were recorded on track six, and Harrison – with backing from Lennon and McCartney – added lead vocals to track two.
Additional backing vocals from Lennon and McCartney were recorded on track five. All of the vocals were intentionally distorted by studio engineer Jeff Jarratt.
The recording of ‘Old Brown Shoe’ was completed two days later. An organ part was added to track eight, and a lead guitar solo was overdubbed onto track seven. Both of these parts were played by Harrison.
Nineteen stereo mixes, ten of which were complete, were also made of ‘Old Brown Shoe’ during the session. The last of these was selected as the master.
The release
‘Old Brown Shoe’ was Harrison’s second song to be issued on the b-side of a Beatles single, following ‘The Inner Light’ in March 1968.
The song was also included on the Capitol Records compilation Hey Jude, released in North America and elsewhere in February 1970. It was later included on the 1967-1970 compilation, also known as the Blue Album, and on the Past Masters collection.
Harrison’s demo was released on Anthology 3 in October 1996. Take two of the song, meanwhile, was included on the super deluxe 50th anniversary edition of Abbey Road in 2019.
‘Old Brown Shoe’ was one of eight Beatles songs on Harrison’s 1992 album Live In Japan, which had been recorded on tour the previous year.
This is one of the best bass line I’ve heard, I always tought it was Paul!
Not saying George couldn’t do it, but definitely Paul’s style
Paul did play the bass according to Ian Macdonald in Revolution in the head. George played a tracking line with his lead guitar to make the funky sound. Although I did read in an interview that George claimed to have played the bass on this. John Lennon played rhythm guitar on this track although we edited out and replaced by George’s organ.
Sometimes MacDonald, though generally reliable, gets it wrong. Examples: Hey Bulldog and One After 909 where he claimed Lennon as the lead player.
You’re very correct about MacDonald. In fact, as a trained guitarist (and a Beatles aficionado –– and like many other trained musicians, I find MacDonald’s music criticism in general and his Beatles book in particular, riddled with factual errors, subjective opinion versus knowledge-based analysis, and practically worthless. You give two good examples of MacDonald’s errors; for instance, guitarists watching the film, Let It Be, can actually see Harrison playing the minor pentatonic-based guitar solo to the B7th on One After 909. How could MacDonald be so arrogantly obtuse and sloppy? Besides, however elemental a guitarist Lennon was, he simply did not have the “chops” to pull off the dexterous, bluesy take of One After 909 or the sweeping, slide-like glissandos between the chordal riffing on the Hey Bulldog solo.
As for MacDonald’s critique and commentary, let us just say, ” I know Barthes’ work. I’ve read many a Barthe essay and critique. MacDonald, you’re NO Roland Barthes”
Nuff said.
Another example: MacDonald gives light praise to Harrison’s guitar solo on Old Brown Shoe, claiming it is an “American style” approach. In fact, no noted American rock guitarist of the era –– Santana, Bloomfield, not even the great Hendrix –– were playing their solos through Leslies, and, more to the point, Harrison’s biting solo departs from the pentatonic and anticipates the FUSION style that (Jeff) Beck, Bullock, and Gomez would achieve in the following decade.
Then there is the matter of MacDonald asserting what George did or did not play without a shred of evidence –– no supporting studio logs, witnesses, bootlegs, nothing –– errors exacerbated by MacDonald’s general musical ignorance ( if memory serves, MacDonald wasn’t even a trained musician).
I prefer Mark Lewisohn’s and Simon Leng’s works, both of which are much better documented and, certainly of Leng’s, much more musically informed.
MacDonald is indeed no Barthes, and I for one thank God for it. Anybody who makes a point of saying “I know Barthes” with the implication that they like Barthes is someone whose opinion I will view askance.
Hey Bulldog’s solo is SO John, listen to Get Back and You Can’t Do That, it’s sloppy and noisy, that’s very typical of Lennon’s lead parts
I’m pretty sure that George was playing the guitar solo on “Hey Bulldog”.
On Hendrix’s “Little Wing” the guitar is put through a Leslie Speaker for the entire song. That recording was made in 1967.
I’m not sure if Canadian Robbie Robertson was then considered a “noted American rock guitarist”, but Robbie routed his guitar through keyboardist Garth Hudson’s Leslie, e.g. “This Wheel’s on Fire” on “Music from Big Pink”.
I believe that The Beatles, and especially George Harrison, not only admired The Band’s unique music, but that the “Get Back” concept was inspired by The Band’s “workshop” approach to recording roots-based music, and finding different sounds to play “live”, i.e. as opposed to adding effects afterwards.
That might explain George’s use of the Leslie.
I completely agree. It bugs me that if MacDonald rates a guitar part highly, or a keyboard part for that matter, he credits it to McCartney, almost by default. As has been revealed in other books, a lot of his song lineups and instrumental credits would have been impossible given limitations of four-track recording – eg, there’s no way Ringo could have played ALL the various percussion parts on songs on Rubber Soul.
“It bugs me that if MacDonald rates a guitar part highly, or a keyboard part for that matter, he credits it to McCartney, almost by default … there’s no way Ringo could have played ALL the various percussion parts on songs on Rubber Soul.” Absolutely spot on! I like MacDonald’s Revolution in the Head for the way it locates the Beatles’ music and impact in the context of the 1960s, but the book’s importance beyond it standing as a record of one Ian MacDonald’s personal opinions is fast fading with every year.
I agree with you – Ian MacDonald was clearly not a reliable source.
I agree with you – it was very disgraceful of Mr. MacDonald, who as you pointed was not even a trained musician, to be so arrogantly obtuse and sloppy and made dodgy assertions about what George did or did not play with no modicum of evidence to prove it.
If he had bothered to watch the footage of them performing “One After 909” from the rooftop concert, it was more than obvious that George was playing the lead guitar solo and besides, they recorded it at the session for “From Me to You”.
Groan. Disinformation like this muddles the bleeding filpping obvious. George plays bass–brilliantly–on this song of his: just like he played bass–brilliantly–on the song of his (“Taxman”) that opens “Revolver.”
For one, every credible authority (which excludes the tiresomely clueless MacDonald)–including, you know, GEORGE HIMSELF–attributes the bass here to George.
And for two, the signature of a Harrison bass line is the idosyncratic ‘lead guitar’ feel–just such as this one.
Next?
Taxman is Paul playing bass, absofreakinglutely no doubt about that.
“Taxman” is Paul on bass, nobody anywhere at any point in time has said otherwise. I do agree that “Old Brown Shoe” is George though!
What kind of piano is that? It’s just like the hammer does a roll on the piano strings or something like that
It’s the same piano that’s used on Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da: the Challen that was in Studio Three, with a “jangle” pedal.
“Jangle pedal”? THAT’s a new one!
No, it’s a tack piano, with thumbtacks (or something similar) on the hammers.
Sounds like the bass line on the demo by George where he played everything. Think it is George, sounds like a Bass VI
At the end of the song the words come out to me as ” tu la tura tu. I don’t know if I am hearing this correctly. It might be Indian.
To me, they seem like “Do-dah! Doo-dah-doo!”
Truly, truly gone???
I believe that it’s “Too loud, turn it down”
I’m sure it’s “Paul is dead, honestly”. 😉
Interesting. Does anyone know a definitive answer to this? What ARE they singing at the end. Been wondering for years.
They are singing “good as, good as you “
The slogan adopted by the SAN Francisco homosexual community, since abbreviated to GAY
“Old brown, old brown shoe” maybe?
That’s what i always assumed as well, but some of the other suggestions seem more plausible.
Maybe the song should have been called “Old Brown Eye!”
“My shoes – good as new” !
Is it just me or does the song sound like it’s getting louder around the end?
I agree – it seems to get louder as it ends –
Think George played a Fender Jazz. He had one at that time. Same bass part as on the demo. Seen a pic of George playin a Jazz.
It is clearly McCartney on the bass. I believe tha the Harrison quote is from a time when memories (and attitudes) tended to adversely impact memory. Something akin to lennon’s response to the authorship of “Getting Better”.
The quote is from 1987. George is on bass. George is actually competent on bass.
One of the greatest of all Beatles numbers. A glorious piece of work, ridiculously neglected by the generality and a tribute to George’s equally ridiculously underrated luminous talent as writer/arranger.
Is there any interview with Paul McCartney where he speaks about this bass playing? There must be one.
Paul used to record all the bass parts last. It wouldn’t surprise me if he re-recorded the bass track without telling George.
No, Paul wouldn´t dare do that with George´s song.
But sure he did re-record bass for Let It Be without telling John who would not mind anyway 🙂
Sure, George played drums too.
Come on ! We all Beatle fans must know that this particular bass can´t be George´s because he´s never been a fast time guitar (or bass) player. It might have been Paul or whoever else playing bass (Klaus Voorman, John Entwistle, or any other friend). The band was eventually broken so…it could have happened
If George did play bass, it’s possible that he could have recorded it at half speed, which would enable him to play those fast bass riffs that sound great when played back at normal speed. The bass line does sound high, which could be the result of this, as recording at half speed results in the instrument being one octave higher when played back at normal speed. Does anyone think this could be the case?
Yes. They did that a LOT and yes, it does have a bit of an unnatural sound. Great music even if they did “cheat” a little!
Slowed down, maybe, not half speed; the bass would sound ridiculous at normal speed then.
And everybody is “cheating” (sampling and programming) these days…
The bassline in this sounds JUST like in the demo, and VERY similar in style to Taxman.
And we have a secondary source from one of the primary players confirming that it is George.
It’s George on bass, guys.
Mink
Paul played Bass on Taxman….
Yeah, I don’t know why there’s a controversy about this. George clearly, emphatically says that he played bass himself. I know of no other example of George trying to claim credit for something somebody else played. He never denied that the “Taxman” solo was Paul’s. And Paul would surely make an effort to correct the record if he thought George was wrongly taking credit.
I tend to believe that George played the bass part probably played on the Fender Jazz or Fender Bass VI.
@Carlos, George later played a 6 string bass on a song on Belinda Carlisle’s album “Runaway Horses”
George said (in the interview) that he played the bass line. I believe him. But read this: “They then overdubbed lead guitar and bass onto take four (…)”. It states that when they were doing overdubs the lead guitar and the bass were playing simultaneously (onto the same track). George must have been playing the guitar, so I presume that Paul played the bass, which leads us to the conclusion that the bass line on “Old Brown Shoe” is played both by George and Paul (who did the overdubs). 🙂
You’re confusing takes with tracks. They recorded four takes, the last of which had various overdubs added to it. According to the session notes, the doubled-up guitar and bass riffs were played simultaneously onto track five – it’s unclear exactly who did what, but possible that Harrison was on bass and McCartney on guitar. Then again, Harrison’s memory may have been faulty at the time of the Creem interview.
Thank you for correcting my mistake, I’ve used the wrong quotation. Nevertheless, it is still true that – as you said – these riffs were played at the same time. But all in all, we still don’t know who played which instrument and I believe that the “Paul on lead guitar” version seems as plausible as the “Paul on the bass”. Which one is the right one? I don’t know. It seems to be the matter of opinion.
Hi Joe
You are correct vis-a-vis faulty memories, but I very much doubt that George would’ve swapped guitar and bass roles with Paul, as I have stated many times before.
I like how George near the end of this song, Paul in “Mother Nature’s Son” and John in “Polythene Pam” each manage to reuse The Beatles most famous tagline, “yeah, yeah, yeah” within the context of the song which I imagine was a very conscious inclusion by them. There’s probably at least one other occasion where the line’s used within a post 1963 Beatles song but I can’t think of it.
The most obvious one is probably All You Need Is Love, towards the end of the song.
I’d never really noticed George using the phrase on this song. I disagree, though, that this and Mother Nature’s Son were very consciously included due to their similarity to She Loves You – both instances sound ad-libbed and have different melodies from SLY. However, I do think Lennon’s use of the phrase on Polythene Pam was a deliberate reuse of the phrase.
George had stated that he played bass, ‘going crazy on the bass part’.
Whatever, great song and top notch guitar solo.
When George played bass, his style was matter-of-fact (root notes, thirds and fifths), whether it be during the Beatles or on his solo albums.
I can accept that George gave Paul the idea of having a bass guitar following a lead guitar-line but to me the bass line on Old Brown Shoe is technically challenging and to me, has McCartney’s fingerprints all over it. On the assumption that it is Paul playing bass, I reckon it is one of his finest bass lines throughout the canon of Beatles songs.
And what a tight, powerhouse performance the Beatles give! Starr really hits the groove (off-beat must suit him!) and the guitar solo is brilliantly executed. The only let down is the paper-thin (and distorted) lead and backing vocals. If they could be remastered and brought up in the mix, then you have an amazing ‘Beatles’ recording proving that toward the end of their collective career, they could still rock!
That this was shoved to the b-side of The Ballad Of John and Yoko shows that Paul and John STILL treated George like a little brother. Old Brown Shoe is streets ahead of The Ballad Of John and Yoko.
And that’s why I pleased the Beatles called it a day when they did, otherwise we may never have had All Things Must Pass and Living In The Material World!
The Ballad was a number one hit. Their last in the UK actually. Correct decision to have it as the A side.
David Lee Fairey, Ringo didn’t appear on this track at all.
Yes he did – Kevin Howlett or Giles Martin got it wrong.
it is quite obvious that Paul and George are very compitent guitar and bassist. So why couldnt George play bass while Paul doubled the part on guitar. George already knew the bass part since he had done it on the demo.
George wouldn’t have done a thing like that and no way was he going to relinquish lead guitar parts to Paul on “Old Brown Shoe”.
not that George couldn’t have.. he played competent bass… but the bass can be a more challenging instrument to play in terms of fingering. the same set of notes played at the same speed would be more challenging unless it was done on the Fender VI and the sound of the bass on OBS sounds like the Fender Jazz or the Rick.
Based on Maggie having no trouble playing it, I doubt George would have any trouble playing it either.
The comments about bass playing kill me. A four string bass is simply a regular guitar minus the two (B-E) highest strings. If someone’s a lead guitarist, they can play more than competent bass. What makes good bass lines is similar to what makes good solos: note choices and dexterity. But good bass players also have to have taste and rhythm. If you can play lead guitar, you can play bass.
Sounds like Paul on the bass to my ears.
Nah. If Paul had played that part, George would have complained that he “overplayed” (ala “Something”).
Shouldn’t availability list this song under The Beatles/1967-1970 (The Blue Album) as well? So the song isn’t entirely lost in the catalogue.
I´ll give my bit to the confusion : although I thought it was naturally Paul on bass, even because it´s on of the most difficult bass lines on the entire Beatles catalogue, I hadn´t seen this Harrison interview in which he claims to have played it . If he claimed it, it must have been him.
But the most important thing is that, contrary to Mark Lewhison´s account, there still is a bit of John´s rhythm Cassino guitar, which is very audible on the refrains. It´s definitely him , because his sound is unmistakable. Then it ceases to appear until the next refrain and in the coda, whenh it´s quite loud.
I always thought George played the piano, as he had done earlier on the demo recording, but if it´s true that he is on bass, then it´s quite possible that Paul played the piano.
One of George´s best ever rocks , good lyrics and , unfortunately, the vocals were mixed low.
Superb guitar solo, by the way, by George Harrison, undoubtly.
Guitar solo sounds like Clapton?
It is totally believable that George played the bass on this track , just like he did on She Said She Said, golden Slumbers , carry That Weight, even a bass part played on acoustic guitar on Two of Us, a great bass line on Maxwell Silver Hammer. Of course !
Just a little correction: George played the Two Of Us bassline on his Fender Telecaster, not an acoustic guitar. 🙂
George actually didn’t play bass on “She Said She Said” – Mark Lewisohn discovered that the basic track had two guitars, bass and drums, so this clearly means that Paul played bass.
George did play bass on Taxman?? …
No.
lillo78, No Paul McCartney plays the lead guitar on the solo and the bass on “Taxman”.
lillo78, No, Paul McCartney plays the lead guitar on the solo and the bass on “Taxman”.
Is that Ringo singing backing vocals on the line ‘wearing rings on every finger ‘ ? Sounds like him and would make sense.
I’ve always thought it was Ringo, but I’m not sure. It does certainly make sense.
I thought it was John’s backing voc.
No, it’s John’s voice, as he and Paul did sing backing vocals plus you can hear him shouting excitedly and he even mimics George’s guitar riff in a falsetto voice, according to Dave Rybaczewski’s page on the song.
A cracking tune. Wasn’t there when it was recorded (I should be so lucky), but the solo sounds like Telecaster (ordinarily played by George at that time), and the rhythm fills sound like Casino (John’s main electric during the latter Beatles years).
Just enjoy!
Ok so lets settle this I AM REALLY MR CAMPBELL AND I PLAY BASS ON IT
It is mentioned that both guitar and bass doing the bass line was recorded unto track 6. How could George play both at the same time?
I’d like this song a lot better if it didn’t sound like George’s vocal mic was unplugged the entire time. Or he was recorded while inside the Abbey Road bathroom stall lol
An absolutely great sounding song. A couple thoughts.
Such a shame they had such limited tracks compared to today’s standards that they had to wipe out tracks for example John’s rhythm guitar in order to add more instruments.
To me it sounds like Paul on Bass. The fact that the guitar and bass were on the same track leads me to believe it’s Paul on bass. Secondly in the interview I think George probably referred to the fact test his guitar line is mimicking the bass line. He said a similar thing about Drive my Car. Additionally I think all of them had faulty memories to a certain points as to who played what. In an Anthology clip George says he played bass on “Sun” I doubt he played bass on Sun king since his guitar line is easily identifiable and the standard band arrangement played the medley almost live. Secondly I don’t think that’s him on Here comes the Sun. In that clip when they are listening to the master tape of You Never Give Me Your Money, George Martin had to correct them as to who played what.
I didn’t know that’s him on bass on Taxman. I know he’s on bass on She Said only because Paul says its Geoge.
no he said he played on You Never Give Me Money
Neither “Taxman” nor “You Never Give Me Your Money” feature George on bass, but in reality, it’s Paul and his left-handed Rickenbacker bass – the tone is so obvious.
Paul was the one playing bass on “Sun King”.
John’s rhythm guitar actually ended up in the final mix of “Old Brown Shoe” and Paul played bass on “She Said She Said”, as the basic track had two guitars, bass and drums. Like you said, their memories are faulty, and had they asked for and been given facsimiles or photocopies of session sheets to help refresh their recollections, it may be a very different story.
I’ve heard somewhere that Old Brown Shoe was intended for Joe Cocker, as a follow up to With A Little Help From My Friends. I’m not sure if this was true or not, but I think it could’ve been a great number for Joe, especially with his Mad Dogs and Englishmen band.
My understanding has always been the George played the bass on this song, and he used the Fender VI, which had a shorter scale and lighter strings, making the cracking fast runs (before returning to the head in) much easier to play.
Old Brown Shoe seems to be a reprise of I Want to Tell You– same piano, bass guitar, drums, vocal pattern.
simple bass part that anyone could play(john,paul or george). but i think george since it is the same as demo
It’s Harrison on Bass Guitar, he said so, and the demo version says he can play the bass line,. Why anyone thinking the guitar line dupllicated on a bass is “harder” I don’t know. The strings are just bigger, you can still play the same notes on them.
Anyway! Lets look at how inconsistent the recording notes are:
Track one contained Ringo Starr’s drums, while the second and third featured Harrison’s guide vocals and lead guitar. Paul McCartney’s piano was recorded onto track four, and John Lennon added rhythm guitar onto track eight.
1 = Drums
2/3 = Lead Vocals / Guitar
4 = Piano
8 = Guitar
You still have tracks 5/6/7 free for recording.
Lennon and McCartney then overdubbed backing vocals onto track five.
1 = Drums
2/3 = Lead Vocals / Guitar
4 = Piano
5 = Vocals
8 = Guitar
Electric guitar and bass parts were added by McCartney and Harrison on six, both instruments doubling up the same riffs. Harrison’s lead vocals were the last to be added, onto track eight, for which he positioned himself in a corner of the studio to give an intimate sound.
1 = Drums
2/3 = Lead Vocals / Guitar
4 = Piano
5 = Vocals
6 = Guitar/Bass
8 = Guitar
Well Harrison’s lead vocals can’t be recorded to track eight without wiping Lennon’s guitar part.
Two days later Lennon’s rhythm guitar was wiped in favour of a Hammond organ part. Another lead guitar track was also recorded, both of which were played by Harrison.
1 = Drums
2/3 = Lead Vocals / Guitar
4 = Piano
5 = Vocals
6 = Guitar/Bass
7 =
8 = Guitar / Lead Vocals / Hammond Organ
Why people can’t fathom how Harrison could play the bass part when it’s very obvious that the recording notes are completely flawed and inconsistent. Harrison cannot record a vocal onto track 8 without wiping Lennon’s rhythm guitar part. It then says Lennon’s rhythm guitar part was wiped two days later in favour of a Hammond Organ part. Well, you’re not going to record that Hammond Organ part without wiping Harrison’s lead vocal.
For f…. sake. Confusion about who plays the bass part should be the least of anyone’s concerns., Getting proper recording notes and doing that job correctly should be your concern. Doesn’t change the fact that a John/Paul derived Beatles on The Ballad of John and Yoko is basically kicked in the ass by a George/Ringo derived Beatles on Old Brown Shoe.
What about the guides on tracks 2 and 3. Wouldn’t they have been wiped to free up space? That’s what I would have done once I’d got the meat of the song recorded. Makes no sense to keep the guide vocal/guitar once you get to the point of finishing the track.
Who sang “yeah yeah yeah” at 2:44 in the song? I feel it’s John, others believe it’s George. Could be Paul. Sounds like a John vocal.
George. It’s too thin to be Paul, not raw enough to be John, and the vibrato at the very end is very George.
So, what’s Gary Brooker, Eric and Dhani singing in the fade out of “Old Brown Shoe” at the Concert for George?( I hear -truly, truly gone.)
Remember in their early song “Tell Me Why” how they kind-of sang the line “is there anything I can do” in a very ‘blurry” way, I think with pushing their tongues to the bottom of their mouths, so the words are blurry and hard to make out – possibly they are singing “old brown, old brown shoe” in the same way? I’ve tried it and it certainly sounds close.
If George said he played bass, I wouldn’t doubt him. But it does sound a lot like Paul’s style.
Ringo played the bass on this………….
Very surprising, as today they realeased an outtake of Old Brown Shoe , and there is written on the technical list that it was John on piano, George on guitar, and Paul on drums !!! It´s very curious, it seems one of those songs where Ringo was not present. Anyway, I think it´s more likely that George played the piano and John the guitar, as I guess it´s very difficult that George sang the lyrics while playing those fast phrases on the guitar bass line at the same time.
Ringo plays the drums on this, not Paul. The part is VERY tricky on drums, way beyond Paul’s drumming technique abilities. The super fast breaks played by both hands at the same time on snare and floor tom make it clear. Ringo has incredibly fast wrists.
Ringo was not in the studio. It’s Paul
Yes, Ringo WAS in the studio – in the FILM-studio, making “The Magic Christian”. 😉
So you’re correct, he was unavailable, so Paul played the drums on this.
It’s curious that both Paul and Ringo are still alive and nobody who have any access to them ever asks these details. It’s important for the fans. I always thought it was Ringo, for obvious reasons, and I agree it´s not an easy drum pattern to play, furthermore if you´re not a drummer. Paul was a fantastic musician, but I didn´t know he was capable of playing this hard piece. Anyway, I am also amused by the fact that John plays the piano, as it is the mains conductor of the song, and George had done a demo playing the piano . The question of the bass remains opened, as George claimed he’d played the bass line, but the guitar plays along together in unisson with the bass, and I don´t know if these overdubs were made at the same time. Finally, I wonder why Old Brown Shoe was not remixed on this Abbey Road 2019 release.
I agree it’s Ringo playing. Someone goofed on the documentation, because in the same sessions, they say the Beatles recorded ‘Something’, with Ringo on drums. It wouldn’t make sense for them to record a song WITHOUT Ringo unless he was away for a long time. Not just half a day. They were the Beatles, they could make whatever studio time they wanted to record. The drumming on Ballad of John & Yoko is competent, but safe. The drumming on Old Brown Shoe is that of someone very confident, and who can keep time, Paul was okay for pinch hitting, but he couldn’t play THAT well. Even on bowl of cherries, his drums sound like someone who is doing it more like a hobby than a pro.
No, they say the Beatles recorded “Something” with PAUL on drums on the same day.
Firstly, it is listed as “First version”, recorded April 16th with George (rhythm guitar), John (bass) and Paul (drums) and George Martin (piano).
“The next session for “Something” at Abbey Road took place during the evening of 16 April, following an afternoon spent recording “Old brown shoe”. Two days previously, Ringo had been unavailable to play on “TBOJAY” due to his acting commitments for The Magic Christian. As Ringo was also away filming on this day, Paul again played drums for “Something”, recorded on track two. John took over the bass on track one; George’s electric guitar is on three; George Martin’s piano performance on track four. The three Beatles and their producer worked out an instrumental arrangement over the course of 13 takes. “An ending already!” John observed at the end of take nin. “I missed two notes out”, he admitted at the conclusion of take 12.”
So whoever wrote this listened to the actual reels and witnessed Paul on drums and Ringo missing.
Who knows what made Lewisohn make this mistake, fact is, these informations are the most recent, so I have no reason not to trust them.
Absolutely no way that is Paul drumming. Listen to his barely passable drumming on TBOJAY and compare it to Old Brown Shoe. As a musician with multiple decades of drumming one is clearly played by a drumming hack and the other by a very good drummer.
Your opinion, and no more meaningful than anyone else’s here. Ringo and others have said the drumming on “The Ballad…” is quite good. Maybe all of your “experience” doesn’t really account for all that much…
I don’t mind people giving their opinion, but when they try to cloak it as “Fact” by “someone with experience” …well, I’ll take the opinions of the true experts – as well as trusting my own ears with decades of experience actually listening.
I agree with you Mike.
I agree with you. I listened to a version of “Old Brown Shoe” from the Savile Row sessions and the drumming is virtually identical to the final version that made the B-side to TBOJAY, so it’s clearly Ringo.
I am very sceptical of the idea that John would play bass and Paul would play drums on an early version of “Something” – Ringo confirmed in an interview that John was not going to play bass.
Unfortunately, the SDE books have their share of errors and omissions.
Yeah, I saw that too!
Totally blew me away, and it’s just another slap in the face of all these “Paul was never a great drummer”-people.
I mean, forget about the end of “Dear Prudence” – THIS drum part really sounds difficult to me! It’s fast, it’s off-beat, and then it changes in the bridge.
There’s this crazy guy who even made a video, trying to “prove” how Paul wasn’t on time on some of the hi-hats on “Dear Prudence”, thus “proving” that Paul wasn’t able to keep time.
I mean, if THIS song doesn’t convince you Paul was a “capable” drummer at the very least, what else do you need?!
Oh, I know, just like with “Dear Prudence” there will be conspiracy theories that Ringo overdubbed the part later…
About that bass part: It also says in the book that it’s Paul, but it doesn’t really matter. It’s the same as the guitar bass line, so George obviously COULD have played it. I can play, so it’s not THAT difficult.
It’s a great song by George, it’s nasty, it’s tough, and it has a great guitar solo by George.
Also love the vocal arrangement.
The fact that it’s Paul on the drums makes it even more exciting for me!
This thread is hilarious. Years of arguing about who played what on a b-side. I’m pretty sure that within these comments Paul is credited as playing nearly every instrument on Old Brown Shoe lmao
Until Abbey Road 50th anniversary reissue appeared, no sources questioned that Old Brown Shoe was recorded by all four Beatles. It was Kevin Howlett who first pointed out that Ringo was absent from the recording session due to filming commitments on The Magic Christian (similar to The Ballad Of John And Yoko). I am not saying that Paul did not play drums here, as an excellent musician he was certainly able to do it, but …:
1. Would George want Paul to play drums in his song in 1969?
2. Was Ringo’s arrival at the recording studio a big problem since the filming locations were mainly in London and Twickenham?
3. The same Kevin Howlett gave amazing details in his Track by Track for White Album 50th anniversary box set. According to him, Paul played drums in Don’t Pass Me By, and Ringo in Martha My Dear. John did not participate in the recording of The Inner Light. So what? I don’t think anyone took this seriously. At least on The Beatles Bible there are no changes in the section: Personnel.
4. Maybe the line-up given in the book by Kevin Howlett (with Paul on drums) applies only to take 2 of the song?
Here are some answers to you questions:
1. Why wouldn’t George let Paul play drums?? He let him play the lead guitar before!!
2. Obviously it was a problem big enough so Ringo also couldn’t attend the session on the 14th where John and Paul recorded TBOJAY.
3. Ha, I never even noticed that nugget about Don’t pass me by, because it literally is the least interesting Beatles song for me. But now you say it the tom-fills TOTALLY sound like Paul! And the drums on “Martha my dear” sound very much like Ringo. So I have no reason to question him, why would anybody else? I DEFINITELY would want to know more details about how he came to different conclusions than most others, though.
4. They obviously recorded all 4 takes on the same session and used take 4 for the master.
Thanks a lot for Your answers, but … two things:
1. Bad example. George let Paul to play the lead guitar only once in HIS song. It was in April 1966 (“Taxman”). Somehow from July 1968 (recording “Hey Jude”), and especially from January 1969 ( “Get Back” sessions), the relationship between them significantly deteriorated and Paul did not have a chance to replace George on the lead guitar in HIS song (e.g why didn’t Paul replace him in this role in “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”)?
2. The recording of “The Ballad Of John And Yoko” (April 14, 1969) without Ringo (and of course George), is also not a good example. It was a John’s song who wanted to record it very quickly (Paul: “John was in an impatient mood so I was happy to help.”). Paul was a pretty good drummer and that was enough for John.
Undoubtedly, George did not care so much for such a rush to record “Old Brown Shoe” and Ringo was certainly a star who could leave a NEARBY movie location for several hours. He could do it especially for George.
These are just my thoughts. The last official source claims that Paul played the drums here and it remains to agree.
1. No, it’s a good example, because it proves that George didn’t have a problem in GENERAL to let Paul play other instruments than bass on his songs.
I don’t know if you were there or how you know how their relationship was in that time, but if Ringo wasn’t there and Paul would be the one to make it possible to record the song, George had no reason to deny it, just because “he might have had a problem with Paul”. “WMGGW” on the other hand is a bad example, because why on earth should have Paul “replaced” George on lead guitar on that song? George brought Clapton! Paul still stole the show with his great piano, the INSANE bass and his backing vocals. But you make it sound like their relationship was strained because Paul didn’t have the chance to replace George on one of his songs for some time! That’s crazy talk!
2. TBOJAY is another GOOD example, because it DOES prove that was NOT possible for Ringo to just leave the set and come over to the record studio. John himself stated “Ringo was gone filming”, so he couldn’t take part in the session. Everything else is just speculation on your part.
You like to be right, but your arguments are weak, malicious and do not convince me:
1. You wrote: “He (George) let him play the lead guitar before !!” I only pointed out that this only happened ONCE for a George song, and it was in 1966, which has nothing to do with the Old Brown Shoe period.
And “While My Guitar …” is a good example. George had a problem with a good guitar solo here and he would rather give it to someone outside the band than Paul (as it was two and a half years earlier).
2. As for Ringo’s possibility of leaving the film set, I recommend you an excellent article: Recording: Don’t Let Me Down referring to February 20, 1969. Its author rightly remarks in it: “Starr was filming The Magic Christian during this period, although he was FREE on most evenings and weekends”.
So it wasn’t that hard for him to get off the set.
Good night
Lol, I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks Paul lowkey stole the show with his piano, bass, and backing vocals in WMGGW. Eric Clapton who?
PS
3. LOL, and you’re wrong, Joe changed the line-ups on the Beatles Bible accordingly to what Kevin Howlett wrote very quickly! 😀
Joe was definitely right. The line-ups given by Kevin Howlett in the books added to the anniversary editions of the White Album and Abbey Road are Apple’s official position on the matter. Undoubtedly, Kevin Howlett did not come up with it in the publishing rush, and Paul and Ringo did not question it. Anyone has the right to question Howlett’s statements, but that doesn’t change anything. Well … it’s kind of weird, but Paul played the drums in Old Brown Shoe and Don’t Pass Me By, and Ringo in Martha My Dear. It was difficult for me to accept this, especially in the case of the Old Brown Shoe, but I have no convincing arguments.
Here’s what I think about the line-up:
Yes, Ringo was filming “Magic Christian” but he was around! The location for the movie was London, the song was being recorded at EMI (Abbey Road) Studios, also in London. Ringo was probably on the film set by day and in the recording studio by night. I think George was getting a couple of his songs done while Ringo was available, as “Something” was also started that same evening.
Where there may be some confusion about Ringo’s presence on the record is that probably George, Paul and John started to work on OBS before Ringo turned up. George had his elaborate 25 February demo for the others to work from and so the session was possibly concluded quite quickly. But was it was concluded before Ringo turned up…? That seems to be the question.
George had a good relationship with Ringo, much better than it had been with Paul over the previous few months. I’d be fairly certain that if The Beatles were about to record one of George’s songs, he’d have made sure that Ringo was going to be around to play drums on it, rather than Paul. Maybe Paul played drums on an early run-through (rehearsal, rather than a recoded ‘take’) of the song before Ringo arrived.
Now, when I listen very carefully to the drumming on TBofJ&Y and then I listen to the drumming on OBS, they seem like it’s two different people. There’s a fluidity to the drumming on OBS and a pace a style that just screams RINGO! I’m not saying Paul couldn’t do it, but I don’t think he could have done that drumming with that level of fluidity particularly with the speed at which the ‘fills’ are played (for example, when the group goes into the instrumental break).
I reckon someone has misremembered the events of that time simply because Ringo was working on “Magic Christian”. But it is strange that the two people in question – Paul and Ringo – are both still around and there is still this doubt over who played what! My hunch is that Paul remembers playing drums on a rehearsal of the song (or playing along to the drumless demo) and therefore with “Ringo working on his movie”, an assumption has been made that it’s Paul on the recorded takes.
Listen to Take 7 of TBofJ&Y and then listen Take 2 (Take 2!!!!!) of OBS. OBS has to be Ringo. And I don’t think Paul could’ve nailed that in 2 takes. If it’s proven not to be Ringo I’ll eat my old brown shoe! If it’s Paul then, well, kudos to him because it’s a really competent performance.
Sam Okell was asked directly on Twitter if it really was Paul drumming on the recorded takes of OBS, and he answered “Yep”.
While would I find it surprising that Ringo didn’t drum on this, The Beatles were in a hurry (or rather John was!) to get TBOJAY out as a single and they did need a B side for it, so they might not have had time to wait for Ringo
Coming back to the subject of who played the drums in this amazing song, I recommend an interesting and convincing description of the history of its recording at: http://www.beatlesebooks.com/old-brown-shoe by Dave Rybaczewski. And yet Ringo played in the version known from the single?
Paul himself has admitted that he cannot play drum shuffles – if you compare Paul’s basic 4/4 drumming on “The Ballad of John and Yoko” with the shuffle drumming on “Old Brown Shoe”, it’s clearly Ringo playing on the latter song; besides, Ringo was filming “The Magic Christian” in the London area, so he could have easily made it to Abbey Road on most evenings.
I also read somewhere – I’m not sure if it’s a YouTube comments section or not – that John’s rhythm guitar part wasn’t fully erased and traces of it remain in the final mix.
George Martin’s handwritten production notes did reveal that Paul was in fact on bass, not George, and both John and George did the organ overdub together, according to a forum on Steve Hoffman’s website.
According to Dave Rybaczewski’s page on “Old Brown Shoe”, John was also vocally mimicking George’s guitar riff in falsetto on the coda.