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Come Together
(John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
John Lennon:
Vocals, rythm guitar, lead guitar, handclaps
Paul McCartney: Vocals, bass guitar, electric piano
George Harrison: Guitar
Ringo Starr: Drums, maracas
Recorded
July 21, 22, 23, 25, 29, 30 1969.
Available on:
Abbey
Road
The Beatles 1967-1970(The Blue Album)
Anthology 3
The Beatles 1
Lennon's Come Together was originally a campaign song given
to Timothy Leary (see also Tomorrow
Never Knows), who in 1969 had decided to run as governor
of California against Ronald Reagan, the future US president.
Leary's
slogan was "come together, join the party." The
line "come together" was partly taken from
I Ching, the Chinese book of changes (see also While
My Guitar Gently Weeps.)
Lennon
made a demo tape of the song, which he gave to Leary. The
song was based on the phrase:
"Come
together right now, don't come tomorrow, don't come alone."
This campaign
song was played on alternative radio stations throughout
California, until Leary's political campaign came to an
end after he was arrested and imprisoned for posessing marijuana.
After
having made further developments to the song, Lennon decided
to turn it into a Beatles track. He played it to the others
on an acoustic guitar, in a much faster tempo than it was
eventually recorded. It was Paul McCartney who suggsted
to slow it down, to give the song a "swampy" kind
of sound. McCartney also contributed with piano licks, and
played an astonishing bass line. He was not asked to contribute
with harmony vocals, however, something that's been said
to have hurt him (See Geoff Emerick's Here
There and Everywhere.)
The lyrics
to Come Together can best be described as semi-nonsense.
Lennon even borrowed a line from Chuck Berry's You Can't
Catch Me - "old flat top" - and was later sued
for plagiarism by Berry's publishers. The court case was
settled after Lennon agreed to record three Chuck Berry
songs and include them on his solo records.
The lyrics
seemingly have references to hippie culture ("hair
down to his knees,") hence, perhaps, Lennon's encouagment
to break "free" and to "come together"
(He also whispers "shoot me" over the first beats
of the song.)
Ian MacDonald
suggests in his book Revolution
In The Head that "spinal craker" may refer
to the traditional practice of Japanese women of walking
on their prone husband's backs to loosen muscular tension
and keep the spine supple.
Some have
also speculated if the line "come together over me"
is a symbolic call for the Beatles to re-unite as a group,
with John as the leader. At is stage, it was Paul who acted
as the band's leader, altough it was clear that the four
members were gowing further and further apart.
Come Together
was released as a double A-sided single with Something
in October 1969. The single topped the US charts for one
week, but only made it to number four in the UK.
Come Together
(John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
Here come
old flat top
He come groovin' up slowly
He got jew jew eyeballs
He want holy rollers
He got hair down to his knees
Got to be a joker
He just do what he please
He wear
no shoeshine
He got toe jam football
He got monkey finger
He shoot Coca Cola
He say I know you, you know me
One thing I can tell you is
You got to be free
Come together, right now
Over me
He bag
production
He got walrus gumboot
He got Ono sideboard
He one spinal cracker
He got feet down below his knees
Hold you in his armchair
You can feel his disease
Come together, right now
Over me
He roller
coaster
He got early warning
He got muddy water
He one Mojo filter
He say one and one and one is three
Got to be good looking
'cause he's so hard to see
Come together right now
Over me
Come together,
yeah
Come together, yeah
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