Because (The Beatles song)
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- This article is about the song by The Beatles. For the song by Perry Como, see Because (Perry Como song).
| "Because" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Song by The Beatles | ||
| from the album Abbey Road | ||
| Released | 26 September 1969 | |
| Recorded | 1 August-5 August 1969 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 2:45 | |
| Label | Apple Records | |
| Writer(s) | Lennon/McCartney | |
| Producer(s) | George Martin | |
| Abbey Road track listing | ||
|
||
| Love track listing | ||
| "Because" (1) |
"Get Back" (2) |
|
"Because" is a ballad written by John Lennon[1] (credited to Lennon-McCartney) and performed by The Beatles. It features a 3-part harmony vocal peformance between Lennon, McCartney and George Harrison, overdubbed three times to make nine voices in all.[2] It appeared on the 1969 album Abbey Road, and is the song that precedes the extended medley that formed side two of the original LP record.
The story has been told that this song is actually "Moonlight Sonata" by Ludwig van Beethoven played backwards. While this is not precisely true, "Moonlight Sonata" certainly served as an inspiration for the song. "Yoko was playing Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata' on the piano ... I said, 'Can you play those chords backwards?', and wrote 'Because' around them. The lyrics speak for themselves ... No imagery, no obscure references."[1]
The main recording session for "Because" was on 1 August 1969, with vocal overdubs on 4 August, and a Moog syntheizer overdub by George Harrison on 5 August.[3] As a result, this was the last song on the album to be committed to tape, although there were still overdubs for other incomplete songs.
The song begins with electric harpsichord played by George Martin and then joined by John's guitar played through a Leslie speaker. The song was one of the few Beatles songs to include an analog synthesizer arrangement (although analog keyboards such as the Mellotron had been used often by The Beatles, few songs featured the use of a traditional analog synthesizer with voltage-controlled oscillators). The Beatles at the time of Abbey Road were among the first contemporary rock bands to experiment with the Moog synthesizer. A vocals-only version of the song can be found on Anthology 3 and Love and is an example of three part harmony from Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison.
[edit] Cover versions
The song has been covered by:
- Lynsey De Paul covered the song for the evanescent musical documentary All This and World War II in 1976.
- Alice Cooper, who sang it in the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band movie in 1978.
- Elliott Smith, whose version was used in the closing credits of the film American Beauty.
- Negativland also edited samples of the song's backing vocals on their No Business album for the cuts "Old Is New" and "New Is Old," in which they are made to repeatedly intone the tracks' titles, seemingly indicating the band's stance on sampling.
- Alejandro Dolina, whose version appears in his album Tangos del Bar del Infierno and is used as the opening theme for his radio show La Venganza Será Terrible.
- The Nylons, on their album of the same name, released in 1994.
- Vanessa Mae, performing the song on a solo violin with a background choir singing the lyrics for George Martin's In My Life.
- In 2006, an a cappella from "Because" resembling the version found in Anthology 3 was included in the album Love.[4]
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b David Sheff (2000). All We Are Saying. New York: St. Martin's Press, 191. ISBN 0-312-25464-4.
- ^ Barry Miles (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 555. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6.
- ^ Mark Lewisohn (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books, 184-185. ISBN 0-517-57066-1.
- ^ It's hard not to LOVE the new Beatles album. Miami Herald (2006-11-21). Retrieved on 2006-11-23.
