Deconstructing Come Together - The Beatles (Isolated Tracks)

Come Together dates back to John and Yoko's "bed-in" for peace when Timothy Leary visited. John was asked to write a campaign song for Leary whose slogan was "come together". The song was then brought into the studio on July 21st, 1969 in a unfinished state with the opening line "here come old flat-top" being borrowed from Chuck Berry's “You Can't Catch Me”. John also brought in the "shoot me" from "Watching Rainbows" which was worked on during the Get Back sessions. Lyric ideas were shot around the room with George saying in a 1987 interview that, "I wrote two lines to 'Come Together". When first brought in Paul pointed out that the song was very similar to the aforementioned “You Can't Catch Me”, so he suggested that they slow it down which brought a "swampy" sound to it. Although in the end John was sued by Chuck Berry's publisher Big Seven Music, and the end result was that John was obligated to record three of their songs "Ya Ya", "Angel Baby", and “You Can't Catch Me”. The basic lineup was Paul on bass, George on Guitar, Ringo on drums, and John clapping and singing. Eight takes of the song were recorded with take six being the best. So the next day they gathered to record additional overdubs. John re-recorded his lead vocal along with the hand claps. Tape delay was added to this recording causing the sound heard in the final record. Additionally John and George recorded more guitar with Ringo recording maracas. John also recorded a electric piano part which he had apparently learned from Paul. Take it with a grain of salt but according to Geoff Emerick, "Finally, in some frustration, (Paul) blurted out, 'What do you want me to do on this track, John?' John's reply was a diffident 'Don't worry, I'll do the overdubs on this.” This could be a classic Emerick misremembering as Paul probably just played it. On July 23rd, 1969 John attempted another go at his lead vocal although I'm not sure if it was used in the end. Then on July 25th, 1969 the vocal harmonies were recorded. Because of Geoff Emrick it is commonly believed that John recorded all the backing vocals, however it's clear that this narrative is completely wrong as Paul is heard clearly doing them in this isolation. Finally on July 29th and 30th George recorded some more guitar. The song was chosen as a double A-sided single along with "Something". It reached number 1 in the states but only peaked at number 4 in the UK. Overall not a very complicated song, but a classic non the less. With Ringo going on record saying it was his favorite Beatles tune, John stating in 1980, "It's a funky record. It's one of my favorite Beatle tracks, or one of my favorite Lennon tracks.." Paul saying, "It's one of the nicest sounds we've got, actually," and George commenting, "Nice drumming from Ringo. And it's sort of up-tempo. I suppose you'd call it a rocker. Rocker-beat-a-boogie." Consider supporting me on Patreon and get access to Beatle stems:   / isolatedstems   Subscribe for more! ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Drums (0:00) Shaker (4:15) Bass (5:09) Lead Vocal (9:22) Shoot Me/Claps/Huffing (12:49) Paul's Backing/John's Double Tracked Vocal (13:53) George's Guitar (16:09) Overdubbed Guitar Parts (20:22) Electric Piano (22:01) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ John Lennon - Lead Vocals, Guitar (1965 Epiphone ES-230TD Casino), Electric Piano (1968 Fender Rhodes Seventy-Three Sparkle Top)?, Handclaps Paul McCartney - Bass (1964 Rickenbacker 4001 S ), Backing Vocals, Most Likely Electric Piano (1968 Fender Rhodes Seventy-Three Sparkle Top) George Harrison - Lead Guitar (1957 Gibson Les Paul Standard) Ringo Starr - Drums (1968 Ludwig Hollywood Maple), Shaker #cometogether #beatles #paulmccartney #thebeatles #johnlennon #ringostarr #georgeharrison