Why Don't We Do It in the Road?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Song by the Beatles | ||
| from the album The Beatles | ||
| Released | 22 November 1968 | |
| Recorded | 9 October-10 October 1968 | |
| Genre | Blues rock Rock |
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| Length | 1:42 | |
| Label | Apple Records | |
| Writer(s) | Lennon-McCartney | |
| Producer(s) | George Martin | |
| The Beatles track listing | ||
| Don't Pass Me By (14 of disc 1) |
"Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" (15 of disc 1) |
I Will (16 of disc 1) |
"Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" is a song by English rock band the Beatles released on their 1968 album The Beatles, commonly referred to as The White Album. It was written[1][2] and sung by Paul McCartney,[3][4] but credited, as usual, to Lennon-McCartney. "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" is short and simple; 1 minute 42 seconds of twelve-bar blues that begins with three different percussion elements (a hand banging on the back of an acoustic guitar, handclaps, and drums) and features McCartney's increasingly raucous vocal[5] repeating a simple lyric with only two different lines.[6]
Contents |
[edit] Inspiration
While on retreat in Rishikesh, India with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, McCartney saw two monkeys copulating in the street and marvelled in the simplicity of this natural scenario when compared to the emotional turmoil of human relationships. He later said:
| “ | A male [monkey] just hopped on the back of this female and gave her one, as they say in the vernacular. Within two or three seconds he hopped off again and looked around as if to say, ‘It wasn't me,’ and she looked around as if there'd been some mild disturbance ... And I thought ... that's how simple the act of procreation is ... We have horrendous problems with it, and yet animals don't.[1] | ” |
[edit] Recording
On 9 October 1968, while John Lennon and George Harrison were working on two other songs for the album, McCartney recorded five takes of the song in Studio One at Abbey Road Studios. Unlike its heavy blues result,[5] the song began as an acoustic guitar number with McCartney alternating by verse between gentle and strident vocal styles.[7] On this first night, McCartney played all the instruments himself.[8]
On 10 October, McCartney and Ringo Starr finished the song, Starr adding drums and handclaps, McCartney adding more vocals, bass guitar, and lead guitar.[8] Lennon and Harrison were again occupied, supervising string overdubs for "Piggies" and "Glass Onion."[8]
[edit] Lennon's reaction
Lennon was unhappy that McCartney recorded the song without him. In his 1980 interview with Playboy, he said:
- Playboy: "Why Don't We Do It In The Road?"
- Lennon: That's Paul. He even recorded it by himself in another room. That's how it was getting in those days. We came in and he'd made the whole record. Him drumming. Him playing the piano. Him singing. But he couldn't—he couldn't—maybe he couldn't make the break from the Beatles. I don't know what it was, you know. I enjoyed the track. Still, I can't speak for George, but I was always hurt when Paul would knock something off without involving us. But that's just the way it was then.
- Playboy: You never just knocked off a track by yourself?
- Lennon: No.
- Playboy: "Julia"?
- Lennon: That was mine.[2]
"Julia" was recorded four days after the first session for "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?," and is a solo performance by Lennon (double-tracked lead vocals and acoustic guitar).[9]
In a 1981 conversation with Hunter Davies, who wrote a biography of the Beatles in 1968, McCartney responded to a Yoko Ono interview where she said McCartney had hurt Lennon more than anyone else, by saying, "No on ever goes on about the times John hurt me ... Could I have hurt him more than the person who ran down his mother in his car?" He then brought up Lennon's comments about "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?": "There's only one incident I can think of that John has mentioned publicly. It was when I went off with Ringo and did 'Why Don't We Do It in the Road'. It wasn't a deliberate thing. John and George were tied up finishing something and me and Ringo were free, just hanging around, so I said to Ringo let's go and do this."[10]
McCartney also expressed some lingering resentment about a similar incident with "Revolution 9", recorded in June 1968, a few months before "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?": "Anyway, he did the same with 'Revolution 9'. He went off and made that without me. No one ever says that. John is the nice guy and I'm the bastard. It gets repeated all the time."[10]
[edit] Credits
- Paul McCartney — vocals, acoustic guitar, piano, lead guitar, bass guitar, handclaps
- Ringo Starr — drums, handclaps
- Credits per Ian MacDonald.[4]
[edit] Cover versions
- Phish performed the song live—along with the rest of the White Album—and released it on Live Phish Volume 13]].AMG Review of Live Phis Volume 13. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
- T-Unit covered the song on their first album, Mother of the Beast.
- Lydia Lunch released a version on her album Transmutation.[11]
- In 2005, A Capella band Toxic Audio covered the song on their album Word of Mouth.[11]
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 498-499. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6.
- ^ a b Sheff, David (2000). All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. New York: St. Martin's Press, 189. ISBN 0-312-25464-4.
- ^ Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books, 200. ISBN 0-517-57066-1.
- ^ a b MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties, Second Revised Edition, London: Pimlico (Rand), 325. ISBN 1-844-13828-3.
- ^ a b Pollack, Alan W. Notes on "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?". Notes on ... Series.
- ^ Aldridge, Alan (1990). The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics. Boston: Houghton Mifflin / Seymour Lawrence, 69. ISBN 0-395-59426-X.
- ^ Anthology 3, (1996), The Beatles, notes from: booklet. Apple Records, London: 34451.
- ^ a b c Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions, 160-161.
- ^ MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties, 326.
- ^ a b Davies, Hunter (2006). The Beatles: The Illustrated and Updated Edition. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 398-399. ISBN 0-393-32886-4.
- ^ a b Artists who performed "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?". All Music Guide. Retrieved on 2007-03-22.
