George Harrison was tired. He’d spent years playing the role of the "quiet" one, sitting in the back of the room while John Lennon and Paul McCartney dictated the sonic landscape of the twentieth century. But by the summer of 1969, something shifted. Harrison walked into the studio with "Something" and "Here Comes the Sun," and suddenly, the internal hierarchy of the band evaporated. People often think the Abbey Road songs Beatles recorded were a victory lap. In reality, they were a desperate, beautiful attempt to fix a broken marriage before the papers were filed.
The vibe was heavy. Everyone knew the end was coming. The Get Back sessions (which eventually became the Let It Be album) had been a miserable, cold slog at Twickenham Studios. For Abbey Road, they went back to George Martin and basically said, "Let’s do it like we used to."
They didn't. They did something much better.
The Side Two Medley Was a Total Accident
Let’s be real: "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam" aren't exactly masterpieces on their own. They’re snippets. Scraps. Most of these tracks were bits and pieces Lennon and McCartney had lying around from the India trip in '68 or the White Album leftovers.
The Medley—or "The Long One" as it was called in the studio—was largely Paul’s brainchild. He wanted a continuous piece of music. John was skeptical. Lennon actually wanted his songs on one side and Paul's on the other. Can you imagine? It would have been a totally different record. Instead, we got that sixteen-minute suite that starts with "You Never Give Me Your Money" and ends with "The End."
It’s genius because it hides the fact that the band was literally falling apart. When you hear those seamless transitions, you’re hearing the work of George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick more than a unified band. They were often recording their parts separately.
📖 Related: Alfonso Cuarón: Why the Harry Potter 3 Director Changed the Wizarding World Forever
The drums on "The End" are the only drum solo Ringo Starr ever recorded with the group. He hated solos. Honestly, he had to be talked into it. But that solo, followed by the three-way guitar duel between Paul, George, and John, is the sound of four men briefly forgetting they hated each other.
Why Something Is Actually the Best Track
For decades, the Lennon-McCartney songwriting credit was the gold standard. Then comes George. Frank Sinatra famously called "Something" the greatest love song of the last fifty years. He also mistakenly attributed it to Lennon and McCartney during his live shows for years, which is kinda hilarious and sad.
Harrison’s growth as a songwriter on the Abbey Road songs Beatles sessions changed the power dynamic. "Something" wasn't just a hit; it was the first Harrison song to be a Beatles A-side. It’s got that descending bassline from Paul that is almost a lead instrument in itself.
- "Something" – The song that proved George was their equal.
- "Here Comes the Sun" – Written in Eric Clapton’s garden while George was "sagging off" (hooky) from a grueling day of business meetings at Apple Corps.
The Moog synthesizer makes its big debut here too. It was this massive, wardrobe-sized machine. You hear it on "Maxwell’s Silver Hammer" and "Because." It gave the album that "modern" 1970s sheen before the 1970s even started.
The Weirdness of Maxwell and I Want You
John Lennon hated "Maxwell’s Silver Hammer." He called it "more of Paul’s granny music." Paul, ever the perfectionist, made the band record it over and over. He wanted it to be a hit. It wasn't. It’s a polarizing song. Some people find it charmingly macabre; others find it incredibly annoying.
👉 See also: Why the Cast of Hold Your Breath 2024 Makes This Dust Bowl Horror Actually Work
Contrast that with "I Want You (She’s So Heavy)."
That track is basically the birth of Doom Metal. It’s nearly eight minutes long. It’s loud. It’s repetitive in a way that’s supposed to feel like an obsession. Lennon wanted the song to end abruptly, so he told Geoff Emerick to "cut it right there" at the 7:44 mark. That sudden silence at the end of Side One is one of the most jarring moments in rock history.
The Hidden History of Come Together
"Come Together" started as a campaign song for Timothy Leary, the LSD guru who was running for Governor of California against Ronald Reagan. Leary’s slogan was "Come together, join the party."
The campaign tanked when Leary got arrested for marijuana possession, so Lennon took the song back. He slowed it down. He added that "shoot me" whisper—though you can only really hear the "shoot" part because the bassline drowns out the rest.
There was a whole legal mess with this one, too. The opening line "Here come old flat-top" was lifted from a Chuck Berry song, "You Can't Catch Me." Morris Levy, who owned the rights, sued. Lennon eventually settled by agreeing to record some of Levy’s songs on a solo album.
✨ Don't miss: Is Steven Weber Leaving Chicago Med? What Really Happened With Dean Archer
The Recording Reality
People talk about the "Abbey Road" cover—the barefoot Paul, the conspiracy theories, the Volkswagen Beetle in the background. But the gear was just as important. This was the first Beatles album recorded entirely on an 8-track machine. Before this, they were bouncing tracks on 4-tracks, which caused a lot of "hiss" and loss of fidelity.
Because they had more tracks, the vocals on "Because" sound like a lush, otherworldly choir. It’s John, Paul, and George triple-tracked. That’s nine voices. It’s arguably the most complex vocal arrangement they ever did.
Moving Forward With The Legacy
If you're looking to really "hear" these songs for the first time again, stop listening to them on tinny phone speakers.
- Listen to the 2019 Anniversary Remix: Giles Martin (George’s son) went back to the original tapes. The bass is punchier, and you can actually hear the grit in Lennon’s voice on "Polythene Pam."
- Isolate the Bass: If you play "Something" and just focus on Paul’s bass, it’s a revelation. He’s playing a counter-melody that shouldn't work, but it does.
- Watch the Documentary Footage: Check out the Get Back series if you haven't. It shows the transition into the Abbey Road era and provides context for why the polished sound of this album was such a relief for them.
The Abbey Road songs Beatles fans obsess over aren't just tracks on a playlist. They represent a rare moment where a group of people who were done with each other decided to put the art first, one last time. They walked across that zebra crossing and into history, leaving us with a record that sounds like it was recorded yesterday, even though it's been over half a century.
To get the full experience, find a high-quality vinyl pressing or a lossless digital stream. Turn off the "shuffle" mode. This album was designed as a journey, especially the second half. It needs to be heard in order to understand the emotional payoff of that final line: "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make."