A recent video isolates the vocals of the Beatles on their closing Abbey Road (1969) album “medley.” The song cycle features “You Never Give Me Your Money,” “Sun King,” “Mean Mr. Mustard,” “Polythene Pam,” “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window,” “Golden Slumbers,” “Carry that Weight,” “The End,” and the epilogue “Her Majesty.”
I always enjoy hearing the Beatles in new ways. For great classic artists, we often get so used to hearing the songs in the same way, we lose the wonder we had for the first several times we heard the song. Hearing this medley without the music helps refresh our memory about why the Beatles were so great.
Update: The video with just vocals is no longer available, but the video below uses clips of the vocals-only recordings to analyze what the Beatles were doing in this song cycle. Check it out.
Other cool things about the isolated track include that you more clearly can hear what John Lennon says before the start of “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window” (around 8:25). Also, when the quiet parts come up, you may test yourself on whether you remember the musical breaks.
Abbey Road was the final album recorded by the Beatles, although the earlier recorded Let It Be(1970) would be their last released. In the book Tell Me Why: The Beatles: Album By Album, Song By Song, The Sixties And After
Now, you may return to listening to the song cycle with music.
What is your favorite part of the isolated vocal track? Leave your two cents in the comments.
(Some related Chimesfreedom posts.)
