Length 2:29 | Writer(s) Lennon–McCartney | |
Released 27 November 1967 (United States) (LP)
8 December 1967 (UK) (EP)
19 November 1976 (United Kingdom) (LP) Recorded 22 August 1967
23 August 1967
16 September 1967
29 September 1967 Genre Pop, music hall, vaudeville-rock psychedelic pop Label Parlophone, Capitol, EMI | ||
"Your Mother Should Know" is a song by the Beatles from their 1967 record Magical Mystery Tour, released in the US as an LP on 27 November 1967 and in the UK as a double-EP on 8 December 1967. It was written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon–McCartney) based on a line from the screenplay for A Taste of Honey.
Contents
In the Magical Mystery Tour film
McCartney said he wrote it as a production number for the movie Magical Mystery Tour, supporting an old-fashioned dance segment that starts with the Beatles coming down a grand staircase in white tuxedoes. After they descend, Boy Scouts, RAF cadets, and other groups march through. John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr are wearing red carnations, while McCartney's is black. The carnation difference contributed to the "Paul is dead" urban legend.
The sequence was spoofed by "Weird Al" Yankovic as a part of his video for UHF.
Recording
The song was recorded in four sessions on 22 and 23 August, and on 16 and 29 September 1967. The remake from 16 September was left unused, and overdubs layered on the best take from 22 August. 22 and 23 August sessions took place overnight at Chappell Recording Studios because EMI Studios was unavailable, but all the remaining sessions were at Abbey Road. Mixing took place on 29 & 30 September, and 7 November 1967. It was during the latter Chappell Studio session that the group's manager Brian Epstein made his last visit to a Beatles recording session before his death on 27 August 1967.
Personnel
Live performances
Paul McCartney performed the song live for the first time by any Beatle on 4 May 2013 at the Estádio Mineirão, Belo Horizonte, Brazil and during the Spring and Summer parts of his 2013 Out There! Tour, up to, and including, the show on 14 August 2013 at Mosaic Stadium, Regina, Canada, and dropped it from the set list afterwards.