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[nimrod]

"Mother Nature's Son"

Born a poor young country boy, Mother Nature's son
All day long I'm sitting singing songs for everyone

Sit beside a mountain stream, see her waters rise
Listen to the pretty sound of music as she flies

Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo

Find me in my field of grass, Mother Nature's son
Swaying daises sing a lazy song beneath the sun

Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
Doo doo doo doo doo doo
Yeah yeah yeah

Mm mm mm mm mm mm mm
Mm mm mm, ooh ooh ooh
Mm mm mm mm mm mm mm
Mm mm mm mm, wah wah wah

Wah, Mother Nature's son




"Mother Nature's Son" is a Lennon–McCartney song, written primarily by Paul McCartney and released by the Beatles on The Beatles (The White Album). It was inspired by a lecture given by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi while the Beatles were in India. The same lecture inspired Lennon's unreleased song "Child of Nature", the tune of which he later re-used for "Jealous Guy".
The song was later covered by Harry Nilsson.

McCartney recorded it on 9 August 1968. He recorded 25 takes singing and playing acoustic guitar simultaneously. Take 24 was perceived to be the best (take 2 later appeared on Anthology 3). McCartney recorded overdubs of timpani, another guitar, and drums on 20 August when George Martin's orchestral contributions were also added. The drums sound more like bongos and this was achieved by putting the drums halfway down an uncarpeted corridor with the mics at a far end which resulted in a staccato sound.
 
Lennon did not play on the recording, but McCartney said he contributed some words to the song in India. When Lennon — who hated it whenever McCartney recorded without the rest of the band — walked into the studio with Ringo Starr after McCartney had finished, "you could have cut the atmosphere with a knife," recalled engineer Ken Scott.

Personnel
Paul McCartney – double-tracked vocal, acoustic guitars, timpani, bass drum
George Martin – brass arrangement

[Klang]

Very nice melody, lyrics, overall ambiance. Flows well with the rest of the album. Beyond that, it's not like I ever crave hearing it.

 

[Normandie]

I love this song; it's so simple and beautiful. One of my favorites on the White Album.

[Klang]

I love this song; it's so simple and beautiful. One of my favorites on the White Album.

Since you mention it, it is one of the better ones.

 

[oldbrownshoe]

One of the most under-rated songs in the Fabs' back catalogue, as are the likes of 'Cry Baby Cry', 'Long, Long, Long' and 'I Will' from the same source.
Not going to check right now, but didn't Paul (a) do about a hundred takes of it, and (b) finish it on the night the Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia?

[Moogmodule]

This is a nice one. Simple and gentle. It doesn't seem like it would be out of place on one of his early solo albums.

[Hello Goodbye]

Pecisely, oldbrownshoe.  The USSR invaded Czechoslovakia on August 20th.

I've always like Mother Nature's Son too.  Without any sources of information in late 1968, I pretty much figured the song was a solo effort by Paul.  It suited the Wite Album well and would have been perfectly at home on the McCartney album as well.

Here's Take 2...

The Beatles - Mother Nature's Son (Take 2)

Every bit as beautiful as the final version on The Beatles.
 

[Hello Goodbye]

This is a nice one. Simple and gentle. It doesn't seem like it would be out of place on one of his early solo albums.

You and I were posting at the same time, Moog, and we felt the same about this song.

[Hello Goodbye]

I have to check to see if what Paul was leading into at the end of Take 2, Londonderry Air, exists somewhere.  That would have been pretty in his fingerpicking style, either with him singing or as a pure instrumental.

In the meantime, here's Chet Atkins...

Chet Atkins, France 1991, playing "Danny Boy".

[Moogmodule]

One of the most under-rated songs in the Fabs' back catalogue, as are the likes of 'Cry Baby Cry', 'Long, Long, Long' and 'I Will' from the same source.
Not going to check right now, but didn't Paul (a) do about a hundred takes of it, and (b) finish it on the night the Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia?

My sources say 26 takes. Which is a fair few for a simple one like this. It was basically a solo effort. Paul played all the instruments.

[Moogmodule]

My sources say 26 takes. Which is a fair few for a simple one like this. It was basically a solo effort. Paul played all the instruments.

Except for the horns...

[Hello Goodbye]

Rehearsal...

The Beatles - Mother Nature's Son (Rehearsal)

[Hello Goodbye]

Paul McCartney - Mother Nature Son Live

2002

[nimrod]

My sources say 26 takes. Which is a fair few for a simple one like this. It was basically a solo effort. Paul played all the instruments.

which constantly led to friction !

Its a lovely song, not a ballbreaker of a song like Hey Jude/Maybe Im Amazed, but one of those 'B" rated songs like on McCartney. Ive always liked it.

[tkitna]

I like it. Its a pretty enjoyable tune that's fairly melodic. Nothing earth shattering, but its one of those songs that sits in the middle of their catalog for me. Nice to hear every now and then.

[Moogmodule]

which constantly led to friction !

Its a lovely song, not a ballbreaker of a song like Hey Jude/Maybe Im Amazed, but one of those 'B" rated songs like on McCartney. Ive always liked it.

It's sort of funny to hear some of the post-Beatle whinging about things Paul did or John did or George did that irritated their band mates. You wonder if they were all a bunch of passive aggressives who stewed over things rather than just telling each other off. Maybe they would have lasted longer if John had just said occasionally "Paul. Stop being a dick."

[nimrod]

It's sort of funny to hear some of the post-Beatle whinging about things Paul did or John did or George did that irritated their band mates. You wonder if they were all a bunch of passive aggressives who stewed over things rather than just telling each other off. Maybe they would have lasted longer if John had just said occasionally "Paul. Stop being a dick."

 

Or why didnt Ringo ask him "why didnt you ask me to play drums Paul, Im the bloody drummer"

[Kaleidoscope_Eyes]

A beautiful song. Very calming and soothing. Not much to it but just a nice afternoon tune, you know?

[oldbrownshoe]

I wonder which song it was on the White Album on which Paul laboured for weeks on?
Wasn't it 'Mother Nature's Son'?
If anyone's got Lewisohn's 'Complete Recording Sessions' to hand.....

About ten years ago I was on the top deck of a London bus and in the seats up front was a mother and her son, who I took to have learning difficulties in some way (I'm trying to be sensitive but the term would once have been handicapped) and, whad'yer know, he suddenly started singing the whole of 'Mother Nature's Son'......word perfect!

Not 'She Loves You', not a current song, but 'Mother Nature's Son', a track almost buried on a 35 year old double album!
 
Two things occurred to me:

1. On the bus, and probably within quite a large radius of the bus, we were probably the only two people who could have done this, and,

2. What a testament to the song-writing of McCartney. Often described as simplistic, songs like this are worth a thousand 'deep' songs, all of which this boy would probably not have connected with.

[Moogmodule]

I wonder which song it was on the White Album on which Paul laboured for weeks on?
Wasn't it 'Mother Nature's Son'?
If anyone's got Lewisohn's 'Complete Recording Sessions' to hand.....

I don't have Lewisohn's book so my source mightn't be as definitive. He apparently did 68 takes of I Will. But that seems to have been done on the one day and overdubbed the next.  So he doesn't seem to have laboured over it too much.

Obladi oblada didn't have that many takes but it does seem like it was a bit of a trial. John complained about spending so long on it. It seems like it was attempted over several weeks on and off.

Nothing else sticks out as being particularly laborious for Paul.