You Never Give Me Your Money

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2009)

"You Never Give Me Your Money" is a song by The Beatles that opens the climactic medley on side two of the album Abbey Road. It was mainly written by Paul McCartney (though attributed to Lennon/McCartney).

Structure

The song begins with two verses sung by McCartney in a large-sound, almost classical style. This is followed by a section played in a double time swing feel with McCartney switching to a more nasal vocal style, using a mock-baritone voice which contrasts the song's somewhat poignant lyrics. Next comes an instrumental interlude with George Harrison's aggressive blues rock-style and a concluding unison line between guitar and bass. The song fades out with a chant reminiscent of a nursery rhyme, set to a Harrison guitar riff similar to a previous album track, "Here Comes the Sun" (in turn based on a previous Harrison/Eric Clapton composition, "Badge"). The riff will return later in the medley's track "Carry That Weight". The song's production is notable for prominent use of leslie-amplified, arpeggiated guitar parts, which would become synonymous with the late-era Beatles sound.

It slowly and quietly segues into "Sun King".

Recording

The Beatles recorded 26 takes of "You Never Give Me Your Money" on 6 May 1969, with McCartney on piano and vocals, Lennon and Harrison on guitar and Starr on drums. At this early stage the song ended abruptly prior to the "One two three four five six seven" refrain.

On 1 July McCartney overdubbed lead vocals onto take 30, and added more vocals and chimes on 15 July.

"You Never Give Me Your Money" was originally to segue into "Sun King" with a long organ note. This was recorded along with more vocals on 30 July. They were scrapped the following day, when McCartney completed the song by adding bass guitar and piano. The "Sun King" crossfade was completed on 5 August with a series of tape loops containing the sounds of bells, birds, bubbles and insects.^[1]

Personnel

• John Lennon: fuzzed lead guitar and background vocals.
• Paul McCartney: lead and background vocals; piano and bass; wind chimes and tape loops.
• George Harrison: chiming lead guitar and background vocals.
• Ringo Starr: drums and tambourine.

Covers

In 1976, Will Malone & Lou Reizner covered the song for the transitory musical documentary All This and World War II.

Sufjan Stevens alludes to this song in "Dear Mr. Supercomputer" on his 2006 album The Avalanche. The original line is "One two three four five six seven / All good children go to heaven." Stevens' line is "One two three four five six seven / All computers go to heaven".

Tenacious D regularly includes this song in their live performances as a "Beatles Medley".

Glenn Tilbrook with Nine Below Zero cover the song on "Abbey Road Now!" the Mojo (magazine) October 2009 cover CD along with covers of all Abbey Road's songs.

Harvey Danger played the song at their final All Ages show at The Vera Project in Seattle, WA. Lead singer Sean Nelson cited it as being his favorite song by The Beatles in a Q&A session at the end of the show.

Notes