Released 26 September 1969 Length 4:02 Writer(s) Lennon–McCartney | Genre Rock Label Apple Records | |
Recorded 6 May 1969
Olympic Sound Studios, Barnes, London
1, 15, 30, 31 July, 5 August 1969
Abbey Road Studios studios 2 and 3, London | ||
"You Never Give Me Your Money" is a song by the Beatles, appearing on their 1969 album Abbey Road. It was written by Paul McCartney (though credited to Lennon–McCartney) and documented the financial and personal difficulties facing the band. The track is the first track of the medley on side two of Abbey Road and was recorded in stages between May and August 1969.
Contents
The song was the first one to be recorded for the medley, which was conceived by McCartney and producer George Martin as a finale for the Beatles' career. The backing track was recorded at Olympic Sound Studios in Barnes, London, but the remainder of overdubs occurred at Abbey Road Studios. Musically, the song is made up of a suite of various segments, ranging from a piano ballad at the beginning through to guitar arpeggios at the end.
Background
The song was written by McCartney when he was staying with new wife Linda in New York in March 1969, shortly after the Get Back sessions that ultimately resulted in Let It Be. John Lennon and McCartney were at risk of losing overall control of Northern Songs, the company that published their songs, after ATV Music bought a majority share. McCartney had been largely responsible for the group's direction and projects since the death of manager Brian Epstein in 1967, but began to realise that the group dynamic of the Beatles was coming to an end. He was particularly unhappy at the others wanting to draft in manager Allen Klein to help sort out their finances. McCartney later said that the song was written with Klein in mind, saying "it's basically a song about no faith in the person". He added that the line "One sweet dream, pack up the bags, get in the limousine" was based on his trips in the country with Linda to get away from the tense atmosphere with the Beatles, though author Walter Everett thought the line was also a nostalgic look at the Beatles' touring years, which had ended in 1966.
The musical structure came from several song fragments, beginning with a piano ballad and moving to a number of different styles, including boogie-woogie piano, arpeggiated guitars and nursery rhyme. Beatles author Ian MacDonald speculated that the guitar arpeggios at the end of the track were influenced by "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and the middle section of "Here Comes the Sun", and the overall structure was inspired by Lennon's "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" from the previous year's The Beatles, which also joined unrelated song fragments together.
Realising that Abbey Road could be the group's last album, McCartney and Martin decided to combine various portions of tracks into a medley, which would act as a climactic finale of the group's career. McCartney later said that the idea of a song suite was inspired by Keith West's "Excerpt from A Teenage Opera". Some musical segments of "You Never Give Me Your Money" were reused for the "Golden Slumbers" / "Carry That Weight" portion of the medley, including the opening verses and later guitar arpeggios.
Recording
The basic backing track was recorded at Olympic Sound Studios in Barnes on 6 May 1969. Recording started at 3pm and went on until 4am the next morning. McCartney sang lead and played piano, Lennon played an Epiphone Casino guitar, George Harrison played a Fender Telecaster guitar fed through a Leslie speaker, and Ringo Starr played drums. The group recorded 36 takes, selecting take 30 as the best, which was made into a rough stereo mix. The basic structure of the song as it appeared on Abbey Road had not been worked out at this stage, and the original recording ran onto a loose jam session, ending up as a fast rock-and-roll instrumental towards the end.
The track was completed in Abbey Road Studios. McCartney overdubbed a lead vocal onto the basic track on 1 July, and further vocals and sound effects were added on 15 July. On 30 July, a reduction mix was made of the original eight track tape, so further overdubs could be made, and a rough mix of the Abbey Road medley was put together. The cross-fade from "You Never Give Me Your Money" into the next track, "Sun King", proved to be problematic, and the group made several attempts before deciding to merge the songs via an organ note. McCartney completed the instrumental overdubs the next day, on 31 July, by adding a bass guitar part and additional piano overdubs, including some punched-in honky-tonk piano in place of the original.
The final recording session occurred on 5 August, when McCartney made a number of tape loops at Abbey Road, including bells, birds, bubbles and chirping crickets. Martin mixed the track into stereo on 13 August, and made 11 attempts at a final mix, combining the tape loops with the cross-fade into "Sun King", replacing the earlier organ note. He made another attempt at a final mix on 21 August, and this was used for the finished master.
Personnel
According to Ian MacDonald:
Covers
The track has been used on some albums featuring Beatles' songs covered by other artists. In 2009, Nine Below Zero with Glenn Tilbrook covered the song on Abbey Road Now!, a CD of Abbey Road covers accompanying the October 2009 issue of Mojo magazine.