| "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 | 8:13 | ||||
| Label | Apple Records | ||||
| Writer | Lennon/McCartney | ||||
| Producer | George Martin | ||||
| The Beatles track listing | |||||
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| Music sample | |||||
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"Revolution 9" or sometimes "Revolution #9" is an experimental recording which appeared on The Beatles' 1968 self-titled LP release (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 was 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 |
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 realized. 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.
"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.
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.' 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').
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 centered around a traditional verse-chorus song, with John on piano and vocals, and George on acoustic guitar.
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.
See also
External links
- A minute-by-minute summary of the piece
- A detailed analysis of Revolution 9
- A recording of Revolution 9 played backwards
- Alan W. Pollack's song notes
- Manson and The Beatles
