Only a Northern Song

"Only a Northern Song"
Song by the Beatles from the album Yellow Submarine
Published Northern Songs
Released 13 January 1969 (US)
17 January 1969 (UK)
Recorded 13–14 February, 20 April 1967,
EMI Studios, London
Genre Psychedelic rock, electronic music
Length 3:27
Label Apple
Writer George Harrison
Producer George Martin

"Only a Northern Song" is a song by the English rock group the Beatles from their 1969 album Yellow Submarine. Written by George Harrison, it was recorded in 1967 during the sessions for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band but was rejected for inclusion on that album. Instead, it was one of four new songs that the band provided for the 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine, to meet their contractual obligations to United Artists.

Harrison wrote the song out of dissatisfaction at the financial arrangement within the Beatles' Northern Songs publishing company, whereby John Lennon and Paul McCartney profited more from his compositions than he did. Author Brian Southall describes "Only a Northern Song" as Harrison's "personal denunciation of the Beatles' music publishing business".[1] The recording features Hammond organ, played by Harrison, and an overdubbed montage of assorted sounds including trumpet blasts and spoken voice, anticipating Lennon's 1968 sound collage "Revolution 9". Due to the difficulty in assembling the completed track from two tape sources, "Only a Northern Song" remained a rare post-1963 Beatles song to be unavailable in true stereo until 1999, when it was remixed for inclusion on the album Yellow Submarine Songtrack.

The song has received a varied response from reviewers; while Ian MacDonald dismisses the track as a "self-indulgent dirge",[2] the website Ultimate Classic Rock identifies it as one of the Beatles' best works in the psychedelic rock genre. A version of the song with a different vocal part, and omitting the sound collage overdubs, was issued on the Beatles' 1996 outtakes compilation Anthology 2. "Only a Northern Song" has been covered by Gravenhurst and Yonder Mountain String Band.

Background and inspiration

["Only a Northern Song"] was a joke relating to Liverpool, the Holy City in the North of England. In addition, the song was copyrighted Northern Songs Ltd., which I don't own, so: It doesn't really matter what chords I play … as it's only a Northern Song.[3]

– George Harrison, 1979

George Harrison said that the subject matter for "Only a Northern Song" related to both his city of birth, Liverpool, in Merseyside, and the fact that the composition was published by Northern Songs Ltd.[3][4] Northern Songs was a music publishing company formed in 1963 primarily to exploit Lennon–McCartney compositions. The company had subsequently been floated in 1965, but while John Lennon and Paul McCartney each owned 15 per cent of the public company's shares, Harrison owned only 0.8 per cent.[5] Harrison was contracted by Northern Songs as a songwriter only, and because the company retained the copyright of its published songs, according to author Brian Southall, "Lennon and McCartney, as major shareholders, would earn more from [Harrison's] songs than him."[6]

When discussing the song in two late 1990s interviews with Billboard editor-in-chief Timothy White, Harrison commented that the main target of his complaints was the company's chief shareholder, Dick James,[7] who had signed the then twenty-year-old in 1963 without explaining the consequences.[8] Harrison added: "I was starting to get a bit of an idea that ... you'd only written half a song and he [James] would be trying to assign it."[6] In author Ian MacDonald's estimation, "Only a Northern Song" suggests that Harrison "had yet to recover his enthusiasm for being a Beatle", after he had threatened to leave the group following their final live concert, in August 1966.[9] Harrison admitted that he was "losing interest in being 'fab'"[10] and, following a six-week visit to India, he struggled when the Beatles regrouped in London to begin recording their album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band[11][12] in November 1966.[13] MacDonald suggests that Harrison's link with Northern England in "Only a Northern Song" was influenced by the concept under consideration at the start of the album sessions,[14] when the Beatles were working on songs relating to their Liverpool childhoods.[15]

Composition and musical structure

Harrison wrote "Only a Northern Song" on a Hammond organ, which had become his preferred instrument for songwriting by 1967.[16] Reflecting the inequality of the business arrangement with Northern Songs, according to MacDonald, the melody employs "mild dissonance" and "nasally sarcastic" key-changes that complement the "suppressed bitterness" of Harrison's words.[17] Musicologist Walter Everett writes that the use of seemingly "wrong mode" chords was a device common to several Beatles compositions from the 1965–67 period, including Harrison's "Think for Yourself", and contributes to the song's "harmonic expressivity".[18]

The song starts ("If you're listening") with an A melody note in the key of A. This moves in what appears to be a simple diatonic (I-ii) progression (on "chords are going wrong") to a Bm7 except this becomes a "slash" polychord owing to the dissonant bass note E (11th) that is not in the normal root.[19] With the verse beginning "It doesn't really matter" a B melody note anchors a kaleidoscope of shifting and borrowed chords as follows: on "doesn't really" (harmonising as a 5th with a V (E) chord); on "matter" (harmonising as the root of a (ii7) Bm7 chord); on "chords" (harmonising as a 3rd in a ♭VII (G) chord); on "play" (harmonising as a ♭7th in a III7 (C#7) chord) and on "words I say" (harmonising as a 4th on a VI7 (F#7) chord.[20]

The result is a nonchalant, seemingly uninspired melody expressing Harrison's dissatisfaction with contractual requirements. According to musicologist Dominic Pedler, the real action happens "under the table", where seemingly haphazard harmony cleverly pulls the strings.[21]

Production

Recording

The Beatles taped the basic track for "Only a Northern Song" at EMI's Abbey Road Studios on 13 February 1967,[22] during the sessions for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.[17] Typically for a Harrison composition, the song had yet to be titled and was instead referred to as "Not Known".[23][24] With a line-up comprising Harrison on organ, Lennon on tambourine, McCartney on bass and Ringo Starr on drums,[25] the band recorded nine takes before selecting take 3 for further work.[23][26] The following day, after the studio engineers had carried out a reduction mix, Harrison added two tracks of lead vocals.[25]

"Only a Northern Song" was rejected for inclusion on the album[27][28] and became the first of the four songs the Beatles provided for United Artists' animated film Yellow Submarine.[29][30] Described by Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn as a "myth",[23] a story circulated that Harrison had written the composition specifically for United Artists, in response to Al Brodax, the film's producer, approaching the band in early 1968 for a new song.[31]

The group returned to "Only a Northern Song" on 20 April 1967, immediately after completing final mixing on Sgt. Pepper.[32] Overdubs carried out that day included the addition of trumpet and piano, played by McCartney and Lennon, respectively, together with glockenspiel and percussion.[25] In his description of the song, Tom Maginnis of AllMusic writes that the recording is "heavily steeped in the psychedelic sounds of the period, using liberal amounts of loose instrumentation", particularly the "chaotic bursts of trumpet".[33][nb 1] Author Ian Inglis has cited the sound collage on the recording as a precedent for Lennon's 1968 avant-garde track "Revolution 9"[35] and an early example of the electronic music genre.[36]

Mixing

The combined overdubbing and reduction process was completed on 21 April and required the use of two 4-track tape machines.[32] Problems arose with getting the 4-track machines to begin playback at exactly the same time, as a result of which, only a mono mix was attempted.[37] In October 1968, while preparing the Yellow Submarine soundtrack album for release, EMI's engineers created a "fake stereo" (duophonic) mix from the mono mix, instead of returning to the master tapes.[38]

In 1999, "Only a Northern Song" remained one of only two post-1963 Beatles songs to be unavailable in stereo.[25] That year, a true stereo version became available when "Only a Northern Song" was remixed for inclusion on the album Yellow Submarine Songtrack.[39]

Appearance in Yellow Submarine film and album release

In the Yellow Submarine film, the song appears during a scene when the submarine carrying the Beatles travels through the Sea of Science,[39] one of the seven seas around Pepperland.[40] Referring to the psychedelic imagery in the animation, author Stephen Glynn considers that this segment "only 'makes sense' when read as attempting an audio-visual recreation of the hallucinogenic state".[41] Jeremiah Massengale, an academic in the field of visual communication, highlights the sequence as one of many technical innovations introduced by the 1968 film, saying: "accompanying multi-colored, square portrait paintings of the Beatles during 'Only a Northern Song', there's a creative use of an oscillator picking out the sound waves of the track."[42] The sequence was the only clip shown in a television feature about the film on the BBC1 show How It Is, broadcast on 19 July 1968.[43]

In January 1969, six months after the film's world premiere in London,[44] "Only a Northern Song" was issued as the second track on side one of the Yellow Submarine LP,[45] with George Martin's orchestral score for the film occupying the whole of side two.[46] In a contemporary review of the album, Beat Instrumental lamented that it offered little new material by the band, but described "Only a Northern Song" and the Harrison-written "It's All Too Much" as "superb pieces" that "redeem" side one.[47] Recalling the release in his 1977 book The Beatles Forever, Nicholas Schaffner dismissed the song as one of the "trifling baubles" the Beatles provided for a film project they had little interest in originally.[44]

Retrospective assessment and legacy

Among more recent reviews of the Yellow Submarine album, David Gassman of PopMatters admires the song for its "mordant humor" and interprets the lyrics as a possible "dig" at Lennon and McCartney. Gassman adds, with reference to the superior "It's All Too Much": "as long as songs like this were being relegated to throwaway projects, George could be excused for sniping at John and Paul in 'Only a Northern Song'."[48] Discussing the same two Harrison compositions, Pitchfork Media's Mark Richardson writes that they offer little of interest aside from their "swirling" psychedelic effects, although he considers that "Only a Northern Song" "at least has a good joke going for it, simultaneously alluding to the North of England and the Beatles' Lennon-McCartney-dominated publishing company".[49]

As with most of the Beatles' post-Sgt. Pepper 1967 recordings, their contributions to the Yellow Submarine album have traditionally been held in low regard by the band's biographers.[50] Mark Lewisohn writes that the group's work from April 1967 onwards "display[s] a startling lack of cohesion and enthusiasm",[51] while Mark Hertsgaard considers that "Only a Northern Song" was "understandably … rejected as not good enough for Sgt Pepper".[27] Ian MacDonald dismisses the track as "dismal" and a "self-indulgent dirge".[17]

More impressed, Alex Young of Consequence of Sound identifies the song as "lyrically the quintessential track, as it perfectly defines Yellow Submarine in two verses alone, while coming out sonically like a Pink Floyd b-side from the Obscured By Clouds sessions".[52] In a 2003 review, in Mojo, Peter Doggett said that Harrison's two contributions "did much to rescue the album from oblivion", and he described "Only a Northern Song" as "gloriously ironic".[53] Writing for Ultimate Classic Rock in 2013, Dave Swanson ranked the track at number 3 on his list of the "Top 10 Beatles Psychedelic Songs" (following "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "I Am the Walrus") and concluded: "Would 'Sgt. Pepper' have been even greater had this mind-melter been included in favor of, say, 'When I'm Sixty Four?' All signs point to a positive affirmation."[54] In 2006, "Only a Northern Song" was ranked 75th in Mojo's list "The 101 Greatest Beatles Songs", where Glenn Tilbrook described it as "a wonderfully unexpected tune" and suggested that Harrison's "lovely and sardonic lyric … could be the inspiration for a thousand Rutles songs".[55]

Only A Northern Song was George Harrison realising that that the music business is not a lot of fun. That's probably why we got on so well![56]

– Neil Innes of the Rutles, 2003

While noting Yellow Submarine's status as the Beatles' only "inessential" album, Richie Unterberger of AllMusic describes "Only a Northern Song" as "an odd piece of psychedelic ersatz, mixing trippiness and some personal comments". Referring to the revelations offered in the song, Unterberger adds: "they present Harrison's vision of how music and recording sounded, from the inside-out and the outside-in, during the psychedelic era – the song thus provided a rare glimpse inside the doors of perception of being a Beatle (or, at least, one aspect of being this particular Beatle) circa 1967."[57] Writing for Billboard in 2001, Bill Holland recognised "Only a Northern Song", along with the Byrds' "So You Want to Be a Rock 'n' Roll Star" and early-1970s releases by the Kinks and Joni Mitchell, as constituting the first wave of musical statements in which artists "accuse or indict their industry's business policies".[58] Ian Inglis views "Only a Northern Song" as the Beatles' "first 'postmodern' song", due to the "deliberate ironic intent" evident in the subject matter and in the use of tape effects and scattered conversation.[35]

Other versions

An alternative edit of the song appeared on the Beatles' Anthology 2 out-takes compilation in 1996.[59] Slightly sped up, and mixed in stereo, this version comprises the song's basic track without most of the April 1967 overdubs, and with a vocal take that contains some changes to the lyrics.[60]

Coinciding with the popularity of "It's All Too Much" among acid-rock bands of the early 1990s,[61] Sun Dial included a cover of "Only a Northern Song" on their 1991 EP Overspill.[62][63] Greg Davis and jazz singer-songwriter[64] Chris Weisman named their psychedelic folk partnership, Northern Songs, after the Beatles track.[65] Their similarly titled album, issued in 2010, included a recording of "It's All Too Much".[66]

When Mojo released the CD Yellow Submarine Resurfaces in July 2012,[67] "Only a Northern Song" was covered by Gravenhurst.[68] Yonder Mountain String Band have included the song in their live performances.[69][70][71]

Personnel

According to Ian MacDonald:[17][nb 2]

Notes

  1. ↑ Acknowledging his lack of ability on the instrument, McCartney later recalled: "The film producers were wandering around the studio and they had to sort of go along with this – I saw some very sad faces while I'm playing the trumpet."[34]
  2. ↑ MacDonald is unsure about the trumpet and glockenspiel parts for McCartney and Lennon, respectively.[2]

References

  1. ↑ Southall 2007, p. 216.
  2. 1 2 MacDonald 2005, p. 236.
  3. 1 2 Harrison 2002, p. 100.
  4. ↑ The Beatles 2000, p. 292.
  5. ↑ Southall 2007, p. 38.
  6. 1 2 Southall 2007, p. 46.
  7. ↑ White, Timothy (9 March 1996). "Magical History Tour: Harrison Previews 'Anthology 2'". Billboard. p. 89. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  8. ↑ White, Timothy (19 June 1999). "A New 'Yellow Submarine Songtrack' Due in September". Billboard. p. 77. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  9. ↑ MacDonald 2005, pp. 213, 236–37.
  10. ↑ Clerk, Carol (February 2002). "George Harrison 1943–2001". Uncut. p. 46. Available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required).
  11. ↑ The Beatles 2000, p. 242.
  12. ↑ Greene 2006, pp. 74–76.
  13. ↑ Miles 2001, p. 247.
  14. ↑ MacDonald 2005, pp. 215–17, 237fn.
  15. ↑ Irvin, Jim (March 2007). "The Big Bang!". Mojo. p. 78.
  16. ↑ Leng 2006, p. 32.
  17. 1 2 3 4 MacDonald 2005, pp. 236–37.
  18. ↑ Everett 1999, p. 146.
  19. ↑ Pedler 2003, p. 458.
  20. ↑ Pedler 2003, p. 591.
  21. ↑ Pedler 2003, p. 592.
  22. ↑ Miles 2001, p. 256.
  23. 1 2 3 Lewisohn 2005, p. 97.
  24. ↑ MacDonald 2005, p. 237fn.
  25. 1 2 3 4 Everett 1999, p. 127.
  26. ↑ Winn 2009, p. 102.
  27. 1 2 Hertsgaard 1996, p. 228.
  28. ↑ Williamson, Nigel (February 2002). "Only a Northern Song: The songs George Harrison wrote for The Beatles". Uncut. p. 60.
  29. ↑ Doggett 2003, p. 76.
  30. ↑ Everett 1999, pp. 127, 160.
  31. ↑ Harry 2003, p. 290.
  32. 1 2 Lewisohn 2005, p. 109.
  33. ↑ Maginnis, Tom. "The Beatles 'Only a Northern Song'". AllMusic. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  34. ↑ Collis, Clark (October 1999). "Fantastic Voyage". Mojo. p. 55.
  35. 1 2 Inglis 2010, p. 10.
  36. ↑ Inglis 2009, p. 114.
  37. ↑ Lewisohn 2005, pp. 109, 163.
  38. ↑ Lewisohn 2005, p. 163.
  39. 1 2 Fontenot, Robert. "The Beatles Songs: 'Only a Northern Song' – The history of this classic Beatles song". oldies.about.com. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  40. ↑ Womack 2014, p. 590.
  41. ↑ Glynn 2013, pp. 136–37.
  42. ↑ Massengale, Jeremiah (2 July 2012). "Animation Never Said It Wanted a Revolution, but It Got One With the Beatles 'Yellow Submarine'". PopMatters. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  43. ↑ Winn 2009, p. 189.
  44. 1 2 Schaffner 1978, p. 99.
  45. ↑ Lewisohn 2005, pp. 164, 200.
  46. ↑ Everett 1999, pp. 160–61.
  47. ↑ Doggett 2003, p. 78.
  48. ↑ Gassman, David (11 November 2009). "The Records, Day Four: 1968–1969". PopMatters. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  49. ↑ Richardson, Mark (10 September 2009). "The Beatles: Yellow Submarine". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  50. ↑ Harris, John (March 2007). "The Day the World Turned Day-Glo!". Mojo. p. 89.
  51. ↑ Lewisohn 2005, p. 114.
  52. ↑ Young, Alex (25 September 2009). "The Beatles – Yellow Submarine [Remastered]". Consequence of Sound. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  53. ↑ Doggett 2003, pp. 78–79.
  54. ↑ Swanson, Dave (30 March 2013). "Top 10 Beatles Psychedelic Songs". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  55. ↑ Alexander, Phil; et al. (July 2006). "The 101 Greatest Beatles Songs". Mojo. p. 66.
  56. ↑ Cushley, Joe (2003). "On the 'Toon". Mojo: The Beatles' Final Years Special Edition. London: Emap. p. 79.
  57. ↑ Unterberger, Richie. "The Beatles Yellow Submarine". AllMusic. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  58. ↑ Holland, Bill (29 September 2001). "Protest Songs Fill The Raspberry Chart". Billboard. p. 71. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  59. ↑ Everett 1999, p. 337.
  60. ↑ Lewisohn, Mark (1996). Anthology 2 (CD booklet liner notes). The Beatles. Apple Records. pp. 34–35.
  61. ↑ Miles 2001, p. 330.
  62. ↑ "Only a Northern Song by Sun Dial". SecondHandSongs. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  63. ↑ "Sun Dial – Overspill". Discogs. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  64. ↑ Bushlow, Matt (May 2011). "Chris Weisman: Interview". Tiny Mix Tapes. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  65. ↑ Jarnow, Jesse (10 June 2009). "Greg Davis & Chris Weisman". The Village Voice. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  66. ↑ Jarnow, Jesse. "Greg Davis / Chris Weisman Northern Songs". AllMusic. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  67. ↑ "MOJO Issue 224 / July 2012". mojo4music.com. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  68. ↑ "Yellow Submarine Resurfaces – Mojo Presents a Tribute to The Beatles Classic 1968 Soundtrack by various artists". SecondHandSongs. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  69. ↑ Thomson, Rex (15 March 2013). "Review and Photos: Yonder Mountain String Band in St. Louis". Glide Magazine. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  70. ↑ Horgan, Candace (24 August 2015). "Yonder Mountain String Band brings late night jam grass to Red Rocks (photos, review)". Hey Reverb. Retrieved 10 February 2016.
  71. ↑ Admin (31 December 2015). "Watch Yonder Mountain String Band Play 'For What It's Worth' And 'White Rabbit' With Sam Bush". Live For Live Music. Retrieved 10 February 2016.

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