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| "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" | ||||
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| Song by The Beatles
from the album Abbey Road |
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| Released | 26 September 1969 | |||
| Recorded | 22 February – 11 August 1969 | |||
| Genre | Progressive rock, hard rock, blues-rock | |||
| Length | 7:47 | |||
| Label | Apple Records | |||
| Writer | Lennon/McCartney | |||
| Producer | George Martin | |||
| Abbey Road track listing | ||||
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| Music sample | ||||
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"I Want You (She's So Heavy)" is a song by The Beatles, from their album Abbey Road. It was written by John Lennon, with some creative input from Yoko Ono, although it is credited as a Lennon/McCartney collaboration.
The song is an unusual Beatles composition for a variety of reasons, namely its length (nearly eight minutes), its disproportionately small number of lyrics (only fourteen different words are sung), its three-minute descent through the same repeated guitar chords (a similar arpeggiated figure appears in another Lennon contribution to the album, "Because" as well as McCartney's "Oh! Darling"), its hard rock sound, and its instantaneous and unanticipated end. It is also one of the last songs that the Beatles mixed as a group, on 20 August 1969.
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Recording
The song was rehearsed several times during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions; the basic track and John's guide vocal (which is used in the master) were recorded at Trident Studios on 22 February 1969, shortly after filming for the film project ended. John and George overdubbed multi-tracked heavy guitar overdubs on 18 April 1969, and Billy Preston overdubbed keyboards, and conga drums were also added on 20 April 1969. "I Want You", then received the "she's so heavy" vocals on 11 August 1969 and thus, the title was changed into "I Want You (She's So Heavy)".
Three takes from 22 February were edited into a master (second generation), which was overdubbed, mixed down on 18 April (third generation), and overdubbed on 18 April, 20 April and 11 August. Different overdubs were made to the second generation tape on 8 August. The mix is the third generation for 4:37 (up to "she's so") and then the second generation tape, which has a white noise and additional drums added on 8 August. The overdub session for "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" was the last time all four of the Beatles worked in the studio together.
The final master lasted over eight minutes, but Lennon decided on a surprise ending. As he and engineer Geoff Emerick listened to the track, John waited until he decided on the right moment to have the tape cut. At the 7:44 mark, with the combination of guitars, drums, synthesiser and white noise seemingly climaxing to no end, Lennon signaled Emerick to cut the tape, ending the track (as well as Side 1 of the album) with sudden, complete silence.
Mark Lewisohn wrote in The Complete Beatles Chronicle that there was a version of the song with Paul McCartney on lead vocals instead of John Lennon. There is a McCartney version circulating around in bootlegs and it is subject to debate whether or not the bootlegged version is authentic. Many writers speculate that Lennon chose to record several takes with McCartney on lead vocals because of the general experimental nature of the song.
Personnel
- John Lennon: lead and harmony vocals; multi tracked rhythm guitar; Hammond organ, Moog synthesiser and white noise generator.
- Paul McCartney: bass and harmony vocal.
- George Harrison: multi tracked lead & rhythm guitar and harmony vocal
- Ringo Starr: drums and congas.
- Billy Preston: Hammond organ.
Covers
Numerous bands and solo artists have covered "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" in live performance. The following artists have released recordings of the song:
- Eddie Hazel on his solo-debut Game, Dames and Guitar Thangs.
- George Benson on his 1969 album The Other Side Of Abbey Road
- Coroner on their 1991 Mental Vortex album.
- Alvin Lee on his album 1994, accompanied by George Harrison on slide guitar.
- Type O Negative on the album World Coming Down as part of a medley with "Day Tripper" and "If I Needed Someone."
- Booker T. and the MGs on their album McLemore Avenue, the cover of which also mimicked the Abbey Road album cover.
- Noir Désir on the live album Dies Irae (Days of Wrath)
- Beatallica merged the song with Metallica's "The Call of Ktulu" to create "Ktulu (He's So Heavy)" on their album Sgt. Hetfield's Motorbreath Pub Band.
- Steel Train on the cover album 1969.
- A cover of the song performed by cast members Joe Anderson, Dana Fuchs, and T.V. Carpio is featured in the 2007 Julie Taymor film Across The Universe
- Groove Collective released a cover of the song as a single, which charted in the US in 1996.
- John Legend released a cover of this song on his "Live in Philadelphia" album (2008)
- George Lynch, recorded on his 2004 cover album Furious George
- Sarah Vaughan released a version of the song on her 1981 album Songs of the Beatles.
- The song is performed by The Bee Gees, Peter Frampton, Frankie Howerd, Dianne Steiberg and Stargard for the movie Sgt.Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band in 1978
- The Eric Gales Band also released a cover of this song in 1993.
External links
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