George Martin, who passed today, was more “instrumental” to the Beatles than many know.
Here Martin plays the “*harpsichord” lead for In My Life. He laid the track while the Beatles were on a lunch break. When they heard it they knew it was a keeper.
The lead was a regular piano, recorded at half speed and sped up, giving it a “harpsichord-like” timbre.
Martin was a true genius himself who knew genius when he heard it. His gift to the world was spotting the raw talent of The Beatles when practically every other record company had passed on them. And, where a lesser talent would have tried to mold them into something else, Martin’s role was to completely unleash them to explore infinite possibilities and be there to capture it perfectly.
I honestly cannot imagine life without the catalog of music he produced.
I’d encourage anyone to seek out studio interviews of him on YouTube explaining and demonstrating his process. Absolutely fascinating.
Sad to hear this news, but, he lived to 90 and wow… what a life he lived.
That song is on my top 10 list of Beatle songs. Thanks for a pleasant diversion, Hat.
He had a good run, as they say. It’s funny, but I’d read that Lennon felt that George Martin held them back artistically, so he pushed for Phil Spector to produce “Let It Be” with his trademark wall of sound and other producers thereafter. I never liked that song then and to this day, I always considered it one of the few clunks L&McC put out.
George Martin in my mind always was the creative refiner in their success–he knew what a song needed to give it star power and wisely for the most part, they listened!
Boy you guys sure know a lot about the Beatles. I just listen to music never really think about how the song was made or who did what.
Pretty cool information.
From The Hollywood Reporter obit…
“He suggested strings be added to “Yesterday,” which would become one of the most covered songs of all time, and conducted the string section for “Eleanor Rigby.” He played piano on “In My Life” and composed its harpsichord section; was responsible for the breathtaking orchestral windup in “A Day in the Life;” and used backward tapes to help shape the psychedelic elements of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.”
They didn’t call him the 5th Beatle for nothing.
A man who pushed the limits of his time and defined popular music that still resonates today.
If they wanted the sound of a Harpsichord, why go thru all the minutia
of taping and editing. Why not get a Harpsicord.
R.I.P George Martin. Your influence will live on.
@Bill
They had harpsichords in other places. The great thing was they were constantly saying, “Hey, what if we did this? What if we tried that?”
Thanks for posting this, Fur. The Beatles were my first real introduction to music, and George Martin’s talent helped create it. RIP Mr. Martin. Well done.
So, Irony, was that Martin on the drums, too? Or did Starkey actually manage to pull that off ?
Ringo was on drums but they had hired John “Stumpy” Pepys to play bongos on that track. Unfortunately, “Stumpy” was killed right before the session in a “bizarre gardening accident.”
Actually, probably better off that way for the song.
They did Four track recording.
Four.
Genius
Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen.
Thank you Lord for encouraging your creations to share their talents with the world.
Even though John & Paul had classical music educations, Martin really encouraged them to fall back and rely on what they had learned in school when they started running out of ideas during the Help sessions.
Only they didn’t have session beers back then. They had other shit.
Martin was brilliant, and only facilitated their creativity. Among his many other achievements are the James Bond theme, producing America, and the classic Jeff Beck album, Wired. He also wrote all the incidental music for Help, Hard Days Night and Yellow Submarine.
As far as Lennon wanting Phil Spector, the recordings speak for themselves.
The duds, Let it Be, Rock & Roll, most Lennon’s early solo crap.
The diamonds, Instant Karma, My Sweet Lord
They needed a change, but went back to George Martin to make Abbey Road, their final album (Not Let It Be, which was recorded earlier, released after Abbey Road)