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| "Piggies" | ||
|---|---|---|
| Song by The Beatles
from the album The Beatles |
||
| Released | 22 November 1968 | |
| Recorded | 19 September 1968 | |
| Genre | Baroque pop | |
| Length | 2:04 | |
| Label | Apple Records | |
| Writer | George Harrison | |
| Producer | George Martin | |
| The Beatles track listing | ||
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"Piggies" is a Beatles song from double-disc album The Beatles (also known as The White Album). It was written by George Harrison as social commentary on class and corporate greed.
Contents |
Production
Instrumentation
"Piggies" features a Baroque-style harpsichord and string quartet — which take an unexpected turn at one point playing a blues riff.
Chris Thomas (producing in George Martin's absence on some of the White Album sessions) played the harpsichord part.
Lyrical input
Harrison's mother provided the line "What they need's a damn good whacking,"[1] and Lennon contributed with the line "clutching forks and knives to eat their bacon."[1]
Alternative lyrics
There was an additional verse written for the song in 1968 but omitted during the actual recording. It involved the "piggies" playing "piggy pranks" in order to achieve its rhyming couplet of "piggy banks." Harrison reinstated this verse in all live performances of the song in the 1990s. A version can be heard on his double album Live in Japan.
- Yeah, everywhere there's lots of piggies
- Playing piggy pranks
- And you can see them on their trotters
- Down at the piggy banks
- Paying piggy thanks
- To thee pig brother
The original lyrics read "to cut their pork chops" (as heard on the Anthology 3 album). Lennon created the tape loop for the pig noises that were sampled for this song.
Track placement
"Piggies" is sandwiched between two other songs with animals in their titles ("Blackbird" and "Rocky Raccoon"). This was a deliberate decision on the part of Lennon and McCartney while preparing the sequencing of the songs for the album.[citation needed]
Mono version
The mono version (originally released on an LP mono incarnation of The Beatles) has the pig sounds positioned differently from that of the stereo recording. The Beatles in Mono box set contains a version of The Beatles featuring this mono mix.
Interpretations
Though Harrison intended the song as social commentary, it was often misinterpreted as an anti-police anthem, due to the commonly used term "pig" which is used as slang for policeman.[citation needed]
Charles Manson family
Charles Manson, the infamous American serial killer derived personal meaning from many songs of The White Album (see Helter Skelter (Manson scenario)). "Piggies" was used in particular to justify attacks on the White establishment, with the lyrics "what they need's a damn good whacking" reflecting the attacks on Blacks in what Manson envisioned would be an apocalyptic race war. During the murders of Sharon Tate, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, Gary Hinman and others, the words 'political piggy', 'pig' and 'death to pigs' were written with the victims' blood on the walls. In the case of the LaBianca murders, knives and forks were actually inserted into the victims in reference to the lyric "Clutching forks and knives to eat their bacon"[2].
Critical reception
Ian MacDonald in the book Revolution In The Head describes "Piggies" as a "bludgeoning satire on straight society", dismissing the song as "dreadful" and "an embarrassing blot on (Harrison's) discography."[3]
Credits
- George Harrison - Acoustic Guitar, Vocals and Arrangements
- Paul McCartney - Bass and Backing Vocals
- Ringo Starr - Tambourine
- John Lennon - Backing Vocal, Tape Effects and Arrangements
- Chris Thomas - Harpsichord
- George Martin - Arrangements
Notes
- ^ Here Comes the Sun: The Spiritual and Musical Journey of George Harrison; Joshua M. Greene; Bantam Books; 2006
- ^ Bugliosi, Vincent with Curt Gentry. Helter Skelter: The True Story of the Manson Murders.
- ^ MacDonald, Ian (2003). Revolution in the Head:The Beatles' Records and the Sixties. Pimlico. pp. 317–18. ISBN 1-8441-3828-3.
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