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Getting Better
(John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
Paul McCartney:
Vocals, bass guitar
John Lennon: Electric guitar, vocals
George Harrison: Electric guitar, tamboura, vocals
Ringo Starr: Drums, congas
All: Handclaps
George Martin: Piano, pianette
Recorded
March 9, 10, 23 1967.
Available
on:
Sgt.
Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
When Ringo
Star was sent to hospital to be treated for tonsillitis
in June 1964, the Beatles needed a replacement drummer for
concerts in Australia and Scandinavia. The choice fell on
24-year-old Jimmy Nichol from Liverpool.
Nichol
was an experienced drummer who had worked with the Spotnicks
and George Fame's band the Blue Fames. However, replacing
Ringo overnight in 1964, the hey-days of beatlemania, and
to perform in front of hysterical audiences, was another
matter.
After
the shows, John, Paul, George and Ringo used to ask Nichol
how he was getting on, to which he always answered; "it's
getting better."
Nichol
used the phrase "it's getting better" so much
that it eventually became a joke among the Beatles.
Hunter
Davies, who wrote a biography about the Beatles during the
recording of Sgt. Pepper, remembers that she went for a
walk with Paul and his dog Martha around Primerose Hill.
It was the first spring day of 1967 and the weather was
bright and sunny. Thinking about the weather, Paul said;
"It's getting better."
"He
was meaning that spring was here but he started laughing
and, when I asked him why, he told me that it reminded him
of something," Davies recalls.
The same
evening John came around Paul's house in St John's Wood,
and Paul suggested that they should write a song called
"It's Getting Better."
Getting
Better is yet another example of how well Lennon and McCartney
contemplated each other as songwriters. "It's getting
better," Paul sings optimistically, to which Lennon
replies, "It can't get no worse."
The lyrics
to Getting Better did in fact reveal quite a lot about Lennon
as a person in his early days. The song suggested that he
had a problem with authorities, that he was rebellious,
aggressive and even violent.
When asked
about the song years later, Lennon admitted:
"I
sincerely believe in love and peace. I am a violent man
who has learned not to be violent and regrets his violence."
The Beatles
were initially going to record the vocals for Getting Better
on the March 21 1967.
But this
never happened due to one incident.
On that
evening, John Lennon had complained to producer George Martin
a number of times that he was not feeling well. The reason
why Lennon felt unwell was because he had taken the drug
LSD, and he was experiencing a so-called 'bad trip'. However,
Martin didn't know any of this, so he took Lennon to the
rooftop of Abbey Road's studio two so that he could get
some fresh air. Martin then returned to the studio and left
John to himself.
The roof
of studio two has no rails or barriers, and it's potentially
very dangerous for a person who is hallucinating, which
was the case with Lennon.
After
a while, Paul and George asked Martin were John was. When
Martin said he was on the roof because he felt ill, they
were quick to fetch him down to the studio again.
It's 30
feet from the roof of studio two the ground below, and something
could have gone awfully wrong that evening.
March
21 1967 was also the first time the members of the Beatles
and Pink Floyd were introduced to each other. Beatles engineer
Norman Smith was producing Pink Floyd's debut album The
Piper At The Gates Of Dawn next door, and brought his young
group to meet the Beatles at around 11pm. Beatles Biographer
Hunter Davies described the meeting as an exchange of "half-hearted
hellos."
Getting Better
(John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
It's getting better all the time
I used to get mad at my school
The teachers that taught me weren't cool
You're holding me down
Burning me round
filling me up with the rules
I've got
to admit it's getting better
a little better all the time
I have to admit it's getting better
it's getting better since you've been mine
Me used
to be angry young man
Me hiding me head in the sand
You gave m the word
I finally heard
I'm doing the best that I can
I've got
to admit it's getting better
a little better all the time
I have to admit it's getting better
it's getting better since you've been mine
getting so much better all the time
It's getting
better all the time
better, better, better
It's getting better all the time
better, better, better
I used
to be cruel to my woman I beat her
and kept her apart from the things that she loved
Man, I was mean but I'm changing my scene
and I'm doing the best that I can
I've got
to admit it's getting better
a little better all the time
Yes, admit it's getting better
it's getting better since you've been mine
getting so much better all the time
It's getting
better all the time
better, better, better
It's getting better all the time
better, better, better
Getting so much better all the time
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