Baby, You're a Rich Man
| "Baby, You're a Rich Man" | |
|---|---|
| Song | |
| A-side | "All You Need Is Love" |
"Baby, You're a Rich Man" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and recorded in 1967 by the Beatles. It was released on the B-side of the Beatles' 1967 single "All You Need Is Love".[3] New mixes of the song were made available on the compilation albums Magical Mystery Tour and Yellow Submarine Songtrack.
Composition
Two song fragments were combined to create "Baby, You're a Rich Man". The verses from "One of the Beautiful People" by John Lennon were combined with Paul McCartney's previously unaccompanied "Baby, you're a rich man …" chorus. Two songs were combined in a similar fashion to make "A Day in the Life", and "I've Got a Feeling".[4] Walter Everett writes that the song "asks an unnamed Brian Epstein what it's like to be one of the 'beautiful people.'"[5]
Musical characteristics
The song opens in what appears to be the key of G in Mixolydian mode, a G chord moving to ♭VII/I (Fadd9/G) on "now that you know who you are", all over an G pedal (sustained harmonic tone).[5][6] Soon, however, the song moves to the key of C major and becomes reminiscent of "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)" with its use of non-Western sounding gamak melodies on the clavioline.[5] Pollack considers a notable feature in the refrain ("Baby you're a rich man") to be the bass move from C to G via a ♭III (B♭).[7]
Recording
The song was mixed (in mono) on 11 May 1967 at Olympic Sound Studios. The music featured an unusual oboe-like sound which was created with a clavioline (an early forerunner of the synthesiser being a 3 octave monophonic keyboard)[3] and a spin-echo (feed back delay) effect which was used to fill from the end of one line of the verse to the start of the next.[8]
Personnel
Per Lewisohn [3] & MacDonald:[9]
- John Lennon – double-tracked lead vocal, clavioline, piano
- Paul McCartney – backing vocals, bass, piano
- George Harrison – backing vocals, guitar, handclaps
- Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine, maracas
- Eddie Kramer – vibraphone
- Mick Jagger – backing vocals
- Brian Jones – oboe
- George Martin – producer
- Keith Grant – engineer
+ Mick Jagger was also present and his name appears on a session tape box, possibly indicating that he provided backing vocals near the end of the song.[3][4][9]
Releases
Original releases
"Baby, You're a Rich Man" was released as the B-side of the single "All You Need Is Love" on 7 July 1967 in the United Kingdom and on 17 July 1967 in the United States. Later that year, against the Beatles' wishes, it was included on the US album Magical Mystery Tour[10] (made available in both mono and ‘mock stereo’).
Per its original intended use, the song featured in the 1968 film Yellow Submarine (but was not included on the original accompanying soundtrack album).[3]
Further releases
For a 1971 German release of the Magical Mystery Tour album, George Martin and recording engineer Geoff Emerick created the first true stereo mix of the song; unable to recreate the spin-echo effect that had been included at the mixing stage of the original recording, they simply omitted it.[8]
When standardising the Beatles' catalogue for world-wide Compact Disc release in 1987, the (1971 stereo) Magical Mystery Tour album was included with the otherwise British album line-up.[11]
"Baby, You're a Rich Man" was mixed in stereo for a second time for the 1999 DVD release of the Yellow Submarine film and the accompanying Yellow Submarine Songtrack album.[12]
In 2009, remastered stereo (per 1971) and mono (per 1967) Magical Mystery Tour album CDs were released.[13]
The song was used in the film The Social Network during the closing credits; however, it doesn't appear on the released soundtrack.
Cover versions
The Fat Boys perform the song in the film Disorderlies. Their version of the song is also the first track on the Disorderlies soundtrack album.
Australian group Company of Strangers recorded a cover version of the song on their 1992 album Company of Strangers.
Notes
- ^ Borack, p. 3.
- ^ Jim DeRogatis. Turn on Your Mind: Four Decades of Great Psychedelic Rock. p. 48.
- ^ a b c d e Lewisohn 1988, p. 111.
- ^ a b Miles 1997, pp. 370–371.
- ^ a b c Everett, Walter (1999). The Beatles as Musicians: Revolver Through the Anthology, p.126. Oxford Uni Press, Oxford. ISBN 0-19-509553-7, ISBN 0-19-512941-5.
- ^ Pedler, Dominic (2003). The Songwriting Secrets of the Beatles, pp. 260–261. Omnibus Press. London.
- ^ Pollack, Alan. "Notes on Baby You're a Rich Man", RecMusicBeatles.com. Accessed 24 February 2012.
- ^ a b Russell 1982, p. 246.
- ^ a b MacDonald 2005, p. 257.
- ^ Lewisohn 1988, p. 131.
- ^ Magical Mystery Tour
- ^ "Yellow Submarine Songtrack". Norwegianwood.org. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "REVIEW: The Beatles remastered 1967–70". Musicradar.com. Retrieved 20 August 2011.
References
- Borack, John. Shake some action: the ultimate power pop guide. p. 3. ISBN 0-9797714-0-4.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (Second Revised ed.). London: Pimlico (Rand). ISBN 1-84413-828-3.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Russell, Jeff (1982). The Beatles Album File and Complete Discography. London: Blandford Press. ISBN 0-7137-2065-4.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help)
