"All Together Now
" is a song by The Beatles. The songwriting credit is Lennon/McCartney. Paul McCartney wrote the verses/refrain, John Lennon the middle-eight. The song was recorded during the band's Magical Mystery Tour period, but remained unreleased until the track was included on the Yellow Submarine
Soundtrack by Apple Records [1].
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ALL TOGETHER NOW TICKETS
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Origins
Lennon and McCartney had no qualms about writing children's songs, and "All Together Now" typifies the kind of song sung in the school playground by girls in games with a skipping rope. The lyrics of the song are very simple, and similar to "
Yellow Submarine" in that regard.
The song appears in an animated sequence in the film
Yellow Submarine
, and is also introduced by The Beatles themselves in a postscript to the film.
Recording
The song was performed in a
skiffle style with acoustic guitar with bass and a bass drum. Banjo, harmonica and finger cymbals were added to the instrumental mix. McCartney sang the lead vocal while Lennon and
George Harrison sang backing vocals and a chorus consisting of whoever appears in the studio. As with the song "Yellow Submarine", Harrison provides no guitar to the track, instead adding harmonica. Lennon, unusually, plays banjo. The song ends with an old fashioned hand-pumped car horn.
The track was recorded on
12 May 1967 at
Abbey Road Studios and mixed the same day, but was not released until
13 January 1969, when it appeared on the soundtrack album.
George Martin was absent from this session, leaving
Geoff Emerick in charge of the control room
[2].The song took less than six hours to record and was recorded in nine takes, with the ninth one being the "best"
.
Personnel
Paul McCartney: Lead Vocals,
Acoustic Guitar
John Lennon:
Ukulele,
Harmonica, Double-Tracked Lead Vocals, Chorus Vocals.
George Harrison:
Bass Guitar,
Harmonica, Chorus Vocals.
Ringo Starr:
Drums,
Percussion, Chorus Vocals.
Cultural legacy
Football fans in the
UK have sung the song during football matches.
Verizon Wireless used the song in commercials in 2002. While the band was in
India studying
Transcendental Meditation, they sang a different version of the song changing the words "E F G H I J I Love You" to "E F G H I, Jai Guru Dev" in honor of the
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi.
The title
All Together Now
was also used for a discography of Beatle-related records written by Harry Castleman and Walter Podrazik, and published by Pierian Press in 1975.
The song is the final track in the 1995
Muppet album,
Kermit Unpigged
, where
Kermit the Frog finally manages to get his friends together to sing the song.
The documentary DVD of the
Cirque du Soleil show
Love
is titled
All Together Now
.
A cover of the song is used in a recent Budweiser TV Commercial out of DDB London.
Cover versions
The following is an
incomplete
sortable list of recorded
cover versions of "All Together Now".
| Group or artist’s name
| Release date
| Album title
| Additional information
|
| The Beatles
| 1969-01-13
| Yellow Submarine [3]
|
|
| Kermit & Friends
| 1995
| Kermit Unpigged [4]
|
|
| Joy Unlimited
| 1970
| Joy Unlimited [5]
|
| Sugar Beats
| 1993
| 21 Really Cool Songs [6]
|
|
| Hit Crew
| 2003-07-08
| Drew's Famous Pick Your Own Halloween Hits [7]
| This version is also included on “Drew's Famous Kids Rock” (2004), DJ's Choice: More Kids Hits (2004), and Pop N Hits: Kids Sing the Hits/More Kids Hits (2006)
|
| Bingo Kids
| 2006-12-07
| The Bingo Kids Sing Beatles Hits for Kids, Vol. 2 [8]
|
|
| Various Artists
| 1999-08-31
| All You Need Is Love: Beatles Songs for Kids [9]
|
|
| Andy Karg
| 2003-02-25
| All Together Now: Teens Sing the Beatles [10]
|
|
| Various Artists
| 2006-11-07
| All Together Now: Beatles Stuff for Kids of All Ages [11]
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References
- John Lennon: The Life
- The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions
- http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:hifwxql5ldae
- http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:jifrxqqhldde
- http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:hvfuxqq5ldke
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