Revolution 9
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| “Revolution 9” | ||
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| Song by The Beatles | ||
| Album | The Beatles | |
| Released | 22 November 1968 | |
| Recorded | Abbey Road Studios May–June 1968 |
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| Genre | Musique concrète, avant-garde | |
| Length | 8:22 | |
| Label | Apple Records | |
| Writer | Lennon/McCartney | |
| Producer | George Martin | |
| The Beatles track listing | ||
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Side one
Side two
Side three
Side four
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| Music sample | ||
"Revolution 9" is an audio collage that appeared on The Beatles' 1968 self-titled LP release (commonly known as the White Album).
The recording began as an extended ending to the album version of "Revolution", to which were added vocal and music sound clips, tape loops, and sound effects influenced by the musique concrète styles of Karlheinz Stockhausen, Edgard Varèse, Luigi Nono, and John Cage, further manipulated with editing and sound modification techniques (stereo panning and fading). At over eight minutes, it is the longest track on the album, as well as the longest Beatles track ever officially released.
The work is credited to Lennon/McCartney (as were most Beatles songs written by either composer), though it was primarily the effort of John Lennon. George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Yoko Ono made small contributions, while Paul McCartney did not actively participate in the track's creation. Ono's avant-garde influence on Lennon's songwriting and composition is clear throughout "Revolution 9."
Believing the track to be too uncommercial for even the Beatles to get away with, McCartney and producer George Martin fought hard to keep the track off the White Album, but Lennon and Ono won out, and the track was included as the second from last song at the end of the album's fourth side.
Contents |
[edit] Structure and content
"Revolution 9" starts with a conversation between George Martin and Alistair Taylor:
- Alistair Taylor: ...bottle of Claret for you if I'd realised. I'd forgotten all about it George, I'm sorry.
- George Martin: Well, do next time.
- Taylor: Will you forgive me?
- Martin: Mmmm...yes....
- Taylor: Cheeky bitch.
(Although this conversation is usually known to be the beginning of "Revolution 9," the time tracking from the CD indicates it as the tail end of the previous track, "Cry Baby Cry," following Paul's short solo song "Can You Take Me Back.")
After a brief piano introduction, a loop of a male repeating the words "number nine" (taken from an EMI examination tape) begins to be heard. This phrase fades in and out throughout the recording as a motif. Then there is chaos: feedback, impromptu screaming, rehearsed overdubs, and more tape loops.
As some portions of "Revolution 9" are recordings of other music (from bits of Sibelius and Beethoven, to a backward snippet of a tuning orchestra, culled from the session tapes for A Day in the Life), the piece can be seen as an early example of sampling. Other audio elements include various bits of apparently nonsensical dialogue spoken by Lennon and Harrison, various found sounds, reversed sounds and recordings of American football chants. Also heard is the "all right" from the end of Revolution 1 (this piece was supposed to be the coda to Revolution 1 but was pushed back to several tracks after it). Also at 6:48 you can hear what seems to be the intro to Harrison's "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" played much faster on piano.
[edit] "Paul is Dead" significance
"Revolution 9" played an important part in the infamous "Paul is dead" controversy. Most notably, the repeated "number nine" played backwards can be heard as "Turn me on, dead man." If one listens carefully, the "babble", many believe, includes other hints left by the band about Paul's alleged death, including "My wings are broken," "Paul is Dead... Since the..his suicide was..." and "Get me out!" As the "Paul is dead" rumours were quickly debunked, these "clues" are creative misinterpretations of "Revolution 9", but they remain an interesting footnote to the Beatles' history. The mob sounds throughout are believed to be the people circling around Paul McCartney's "fatal car crash".
In the "Paul is dead" hoax, people claimed that Paul McCartney died in November 9, 1966.
[edit] Charles Manson
Los Angeles District Attorney Vincent Bugliosi and Manson Family member Paul Watkins came up with the theory that Charles Manson believed that "Revolution 9" was a reference to Revelation 9, a book in the Bible that speaks of apocalypse and prophecy. He believed the Beatles were speaking to him through this song, and he drew many odd interpretations from the lyrics.
Manson said, "It was the Beatles' way of telling people what was going to happen; it was their way of making prophecy; it directly paralleled the Bible's Revelation 9."[citation needed] It was also the battle of Armageddon, the coming black-white revolution portrayed in sound, Manson claimed. According to Poston: 'When Charlie was listening to it, he heard in the background noise, in and around the machine gun fire and the oinking of pigs, a man's voice saying "Rise"' (it is first heard 2 minutes and 34 seconds into the song, just after the crowd sounds that follow 'lots of stab wounds as it were' and 'informed him on the third night' and just before 'Number 9, Number 9'). This is actually Lennon saying "RIGHT!", as in "ALL RIGHT!"
In his own statements, Charles Manson has repeatedly denied Bugliosi's assertions that The White Album influenced his philosophy. He has acknowledged that the "kids" in his camp were fond of The Beatles, but Manson, himself, was never a fan. He has claimed his tastes were more toward the likes of Hank Williams and other beer hall balladeers from the late '50s and early '60s.
[edit] Related works
While "Revolution 9" is the Beatles' longest and easily strangest recording, it is not the only avant-garde song they recorded in their career. There is another, legendary recording known as "Carnival of Light", written by Paul McCartney and recorded by the Beatles during the Sgt. Pepper sessions on 5 January 1967. Like "Revolution 9", Carnival of Light is an avant garde piece, and clocks in at 13:48 minutes. The song has never been released, nor has it even been bootlegged. Very few people have ever heard the track. Paul McCartney has confirmed its existence, and the track was supposed to appear on Anthology 2 but George Harrison or George Martin vetoed it.
The Beatles also dabbled in the avant garde during the White Album sessions with "What's The New Mary Jane", recorded in August 1968 and legally unreleased until its inclusion in Anthology 3 in 1996. The song is full of more abstract (as opposed to sound collage) sounds than "Revolution 9," but is centred around a traditional verse-chorus song, with John on piano and vocals and George on acoustic guitar.
[edit] Credits
- John Lennon: Tape Loops, Spoken Vocals, Effects, Snippets and Samplings
- George Harrison: Spoken Vocals, Tape Sampling
- Ringo Starr: Effects and Spoken Vocals
- Yoko Ono: Tape Loops, Spoken Vocals, effects, Snippets and Samplings
Some spoken parts from George Martin are present, along with selected piano outtakes that sound as if they were lifted from either Honey Pie or Martha My Dear, both written and played by Paul McCartney.
[edit] Cover versions
During a concert on October 31, 1994, Phish played all the songs from The Beatles (except "Good Night") as one of the band's "Halloween musical costume" extravaganzas. The show has been released in its entirety as Live Phish Volume 13. Phish's version was more into parody and humor.
In 1996, Australian dance rock band DEF FX led by celebrity witch Fiona Horne recorded a version of Revolution 9 for their album Majick. It is done in a techno dance style with a whole different mish-mash of sound effects and sampled vocals from Fiona and keyboard player Sean Lowry.
In 2002 Estonian avant rock band NE! performed the song at a minor festival in Tartu called "Lennon's Birthday Party". In NE! version "vocals" are sang quite closely to original but the band added their own tape loops and instrumental (guitars, drums) pieces. The performance was filmed and is uploaded to YouTube.
In 2006 The Durham Ox Singers recorded an a capella vocal rendition of Revolution 9.
2007 US Beatles tribute band The Beatles US made a jokey mersey beat styled "cover" as "Revolution #9 (Paul's original 1963 demo)".
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- A minute-by-minute piece summary
- Revolution 9 detailed analysis
- A recording of Revolution 9 played backwards
- Alan W. Pollack's song notes
- Manson and The Beatles
- Is Paul Dead? Turn me on dead man! The Original Radio Show
