Revolution (song)
From Free net encyclopedia
| "Revolution 1" | ||
|---|---|---|
| Image:Whitealbum.jpg | ||
| Song by The Beatles | ||
| From the album The Beatles | ||
| Album released | 22 November 1968 | |
| Recorded | 30 May 1968 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Song Length | 4:17 | |
| Record label | Apple Records | |
| Producer | George Martin | |
| The Beatles Album Listing | ||
| Long, Long, Long (Track 7 of Disc 2) | Revolution 1 (Track 8 of Disc 2) | Honey Pie (Track 9 of Disc 2) |
"Revolution" is a song by The Beatles, written primarily by John Lennon and attributed to Lennon-McCartney.
"Revolution" appeared in two distinctly different incarnations, a raucous electric version and a slowed-down acoustic version, "Revolution 1". A third connected piece, "Revolution 9", appeared alongside "Revolution 1" on the The White Album.
Contents |
Revolution
The first version of "Revolution" to be released comprised the B-side of the "Hey Jude" single, released in early September 1968.
A product of the recording sessions for The Beatles (aka The White Album), "Revolution" featured distorted guitars and an electric piano solo by session musician Nicky Hopkins. This track is one of the loudest and most aggressive Beatle songs; it begins abruptly with a loud, overdriven electric guitar chord and a wailing scream from McCartney. The musical form is a simple rock and roll chord progression, but the highly processed elements and hyperbolic approach distinguished the track from nearly anything that had come prior; the sound of "Revolution" is often cited as presaging heavy metal. There is also a very noticeable tape edit as John Lennon first sings "well, you know."
The lyrics of the song can be interpreted as a cautionary response to the most extreme elements of the counter-culture movement of the era, as Lennon's verses express sympathy for, yet outline several limits to his support of political and social revolutionary action, in the most famous case rejecting violence:
- We all want to change the world
- But when you talk about destruction
- Don't you know that you can count me out
"Revolution" later appeared on the 1970 Hey Jude compilation album and other compilations.
"Revolution" was the first Beatles recording, and indeed one of the first rock music recordings by any artist, to be licensed for use in a television commercial. (Ford Motor Company had used a cover version of "Help!" for a TV ad in 1985) Nike used the actual Beatles recording for a commercial in 1987, paying $250,000 for the rights to Capitol Records and Michael Jackson, who owned the publishing rights. This caused a huge backlash among Beatles fans, who felt John Lennon would have objected to this usage, especially in the face of controversy over Nike's use of sweatshops. In addition Paul McCartney protested by saying "Songs like Revolution don't mean a pair of sneakers they mean Revolution". Nike later released a television ad featuring the John Lennon song "Instant Karma," with the permission of Yoko Ono.
Revolution 1
"Revolution 1" is the same song as "Revolution", but is performed in a distinctly different style: slower, with little distortion and more emphasis on acoustic instruments (though electric guitar remains a primary component of the track's sound).
"Revolution 1" was actually recorded before "Revolution" but released nearly three months later. Lennon wanted this initial version of the song to be released as a single, but the other band members said it wasn't "single speed", so Lennon insisted they record the faster version, which wound up backing "Hey Jude". The original version, re-titled "Revolution 1" to distinguish it from the later version, was released on The Beatles' 'White Album', The Beatles in late November 1968.
"Revolution 1" contains a notable lyrical difference to the final "Revolution": Lennon's vocal for the track adds the emphatic word "in" following the line "When you talk about destruction/ don't you know that you can count me out". Beatles' folklore is that Lennon was undecided about how he wanted to end the line and tried both variations.
Because several versions of this song exist, it can be found on many bootleg albums including "From Kinfauns To Chaos" and "Revolution" which includes a twenty-three minute version of the song with Yoko Ono talking over The Beatles.
Revolution 9
Main article: Revolution 9
"Revolution 9" was a sound collage piece which appeared alongside "Revolution 1" on the The White Album. It shared no music or lyrics with "Revolution" or "Revolution 1". The collage originally began as a coda for "Revolution 1", but ended up a separate track.
External links
- Alan W. Pollack's Notes On Revolution and Revolution 1
- Beathoven: A long, detailed analysis about Revolution 9, among other things
| The Beatles |
|---|
| John Lennon | Paul McCartney | George Harrison | Ringo Starr Pete Best | Stuart Sutcliffe |
| Management |
| Brian Epstein | Allen Klein | Apple Records |
| Production |
| George Martin | Geoff Emerick | Norman Smith | Abbey Road Studios |
| Official Studio Albums |
| Please Please Me (1963) | With the Beatles (1963) | A Hard Day's Night (1964) | Beatles for Sale (1964) | Help! (1965) | Rubber Soul (1965) Revolver (1966) | Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967) | Magical Mystery Tour (1967) | The Beatles (1968) | Yellow Submarine (1969) | Abbey Road (1969) | Let It Be (1970) |
| Films |
| A Hard Day's Night (1964) | Help! (1965) | Magical Mystery Tour (1967) | Yellow Submarine (1968) | Let it Be (1970) |
| Related Articles |
| History | Discography | Bootlegs | Long-term influence | Beatlemania | Beatlesque | Fifth Beatle | Paul Is Dead | British Invasion | Yoko Ono | 1960s | Apple Corps |