Song Of The week - Its All too Much

[nimrod]

On May 25th, 1967, The Beatles retreated to yet another London recording studio, De Lane Lea Music Recording Studios, undoubtedly because EMI Studios were already booked. This was a basement studio of an office building directly across the street from the Holborn London Underground station. George Martin was not present during this session, which began at 7 pm, the staff engineers Dave Siddle and Mike Weighell manning the controls while The Beatles themselves called the shots on this day.

"I was losing interest in being 'fab' at that point." This George Harrison quote from the book "Beatles Anthology" sums up where his head was during the year 1967.

Personally, Ive never been very keen on this George song, for me it lacks the depth required to be a great song.
But hey, its The Beatles so I love it  ha2ha

Always some debate about what (John) was saying at the beginning.
Also debate who played the guitar solo, but instrumentation that day was;

Instrumentation (most likely):

George Harrison - Lead and Backing Vocals, Organ (Hammond C-3), handclaps
John Lennon - Guitar (1961 Sonic Blue Fender Stratocaster), backing vocals, handclaps, woodblock
Paul McCartney - Bass Guitar (1964 Rickenbacker 4001S), backing vocals, handclaps, cowbell
Ringo Starr - Drums (1964 Ludwig Super Classic Black Oyster Pearl), handclaps, tambourine
Paul Harvey - bass clarinet, contra bass clarinet
David Mason - trumpet

Its definitely Paul on Bass, its a very Paulesque Bass line, so it mustve been John.

Anyway it rambles on a bit 6.5 minutes. With George playing that drone on the Hammond Organ.

One of the trumpeters was David Mason, who had become a regular for Beatles sessions like this (see "Penny Lane"), his diary indicating that the session went much overtime, ending at 2 am the following morning. "George Harrison was in charge of that session," Mason explains, adding, "I don't think he really knew what he wanted." It appears, therefore, that George Martin didn't have any score written for them beforehand, them having to be instructed as George Harrison came up with ideas. Among the ideas were a trumpet rendition of a section of "The Prince Of Denmark's March" which is heard in the long closing section of the song, undoubtedly an idea that was carried over into the "All You Need Is Love" sessions later that month, George Martin incorporating various standards into the orchestral performance of that song.

[zipp]

"I was losing interest in being 'fab' at that point." This George Harrison quote from the book "Beatles Anthology" sums up where his head was during the year 1967. He had just returned from an elightened visit to India and initially felt uninterested in continuing his contributions to western music within the framework of The Beatles.

Always some debate about what (John) was saying at the beginning "To Your Mother" ?

This is a great track and one of George's best.

Your quote about India is misleading. George went to India in September 1966 for six weeks. So he was back in the UK for at least November of that year. That's over six months before the recording of this song.

As for what John shouts at the beginning, of all the possibilities "to your mother" seems the least likely to me.

[tkitna]

Song is kind of meh to me.  Its redundant and too long. 

[Moogmodule]

I like this one. The instrumentation is pretty out there and the chorus is nice and catchy. It hits a nice groove. It does lack a little something to make it a really good Beatle song. A varied middle eight might have lifted it.

[nimrod]

This is a great track and one of George's best.

Your quote about India is misleading. George went to India in September 1966 for six weeks. So he was back in the UK for at least November of that year. That's over six months before the recording of this song.

As for what John shouts at the beginning, of all the possibilities "to your mother" seems the least likely to me.

Ive deleted the offending passages, hope it meets your approval now.

[nimrod]

Song is kind of meh to me.  Its redundant and too long.

Always felt the same Todd, but I don't know, it's kind of grown on me over the years.
I now like it, it's The Beatles.  ha2ha

[zipp]

Ive deleted the offending passages, hope it meets your approval now.

[Moogmodule]

As for what John shouts at the beginning, of all the possibilities "to your mother" seems the least likely to me.

I think we discussed this briefly on another thread. To me it sounds like where only hearing a snippet of what was said. The phrase seems to come in on a slightly "tsu" sound rather than "to", like an earlier part of the word was cut off. Then it's hard to hear the end of the word that is purported to be mother (could be just Mum). Doesn't mean it's not what he's saying but I suspect it will be hard to confirm. Unless Giles can find the original track.

[zipp]

Here's an interesting discussion on the song.

The comments to this video say many fans hear "Too your much" at the beginning which is just John playing around with the song title.

I tend to agree with that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rhS_G1K3cv8#

[nimrod]

I think we discussed this briefly on another thread. To me it sounds like where only hearing a snippet of what was said. The phrase seems to come in on a slightly "tsu" sound rather than "to", like an earlier part of the word was cut off. Then it's hard to hear the end of the word that is purported to be mother (could be just Mum). Doesn't mean it's not what he's saying but I suspect it will be hard to confirm. Unless Giles can find the original track.

It's a bit like the ahh's this one.
Although Giles says that's John.

Doesn't he Bazza.

[Hello Goodbye]

Well, Giles wasn't there, Kev.   

For It's All Too Much, I hear John saying "Paul is de.."

[nimrod]

Well, Giles wasn't there, Kev.   

No, but Geoff was  2ch

[Hello Goodbye]

No, but Geoff was  2ch

Geoff went out for a smoke when Paul sang the ahhs.  When he came back, he asked "Who sang that?"  Paul raised his hand and answered "I did!"

[nimrod]

Geoff went out for a smoke when Paul sang the ahhs.  When he came back, he asked "Who sang that?"  Paul raised his hand and answered "I did!"

But it sounds more like John. Its hard but I think its John.

Its a bit like the who played drums on Old Brown Shoe.

[Normandie]

Always felt the same Todd, but I don't know, it's kind of grown on me over the years.
I now like it, it's The Beatles.  ha2ha

That pretty much sums up my own feelings about this song.