Format 7" Length 3:16 | Genre Blues rock | |
A-side "The Ballad of John and Yoko" Released 30 May 1969 (UK)
4 June 1969 (US) Recorded 16, 18 April 1969,
EMI Studios, London | ||
"Old Brown Shoe" is a song written by George Harrison that was first released by the Beatles as a B-side to "The Ballad of John and Yoko". It is also available on the Beatles' compilation albums Hey Jude, 1967–1970 and Past Masters, Volume Two.
Contents
Composition and musical structure
Harrison commented about this song: "I started the chord sequences on the piano, which I don't really play, and then began writing ideas for the words from various opposites … Again, it's the duality of things – yes no, up down, left right, right wrong, etc." This idea was also prevalent in the Beatles' earlier single "Hello, Goodbye".
The song is in the key of C major. The chorus goes to the subdominant chord (F) ("I'm stepping out this old brown shoe"), and cadences on the submediant (Am) via its secondary dominant (E). Everett considers that this "C/Am" duality fits well "with the composer's main concern in the poetic text" ("I want a love that's right but right is only half of what's wrong"). Pollack also emphasises the song's interesting flat VI (Ab) chord in the verse, the V-IV (G-F chord) alternation in the bridge and the "bluesy" effect of the frequent flat 3rd and 7th notes alongside the I7 (C7) chords. Everett considers that the voice leading and harmony on "Old Brown Shoe" are "far more subtle and interesting" than such qualities in the song ("The Ballad of John and Yoko") on the A-side of the single. Pedler terms the song "highly underrated" and featuring "some typically inspired Harrison-esque sleight-of-hand, courtesy again of the augmented chord". MacDonald calls it "an archetypal B-side from an era when B-sides were worth flipping a single for."
Recording
The Beatles' recording of this song features lead vocals from Harrison, and backing vocals from John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The unusual bass sound was achieved by tracking the bass with the lead guitar. There is some controversy over whether Harrison played bass. Everett states that it was McCartney's Jazz Bass doubled in the bridge with Harrison's Telecaster playing chromatically moving arpeggiations in a similar manner to the bridge guitars in "And Your Bird Can Sing". In a two-part Creem interview (published in December 1987 and January 1988), however, Harrison appears to confirm he played bass for the piece. Extract from the interview:
Everett states that Harrison's "stinging highly Claptonesque solo" was played on a Telecaster coloured through a Leslie speaker given Automatic double tracking (ADT) treatment and "sent wild to both channels". Although Lennon recorded a guitar part for the track, his instrumentation was removed and replaced by the organ sound.
The song was recorded during the sessions for the Abbey Road album. The group had previously performed the song a number of times over three days during the Let It Be sessions at Apple Studios in January 1969, which have been widely bootlegged. Harrison made a solo demo (featuring only piano and electric guitar) at EMI Studios on 25 February 1969 (along with "Something" and "All Things Must Pass"), which was released on Anthology 3 in 1996.
In 1980 Lennon claimed that he was responsible for the choice of "Old Brown Shoe" as the B-side of "The Ballad of John and Yoko" single.