Scarafaggi: Lady Madonna Recording Sessions Reconstructed

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The Beatles

Lady Madonna Recording Sessions Reconstructed

Outtakes and Outfakes

Jan 12th 1968 – EMI Studio Bombay

Soundboard

1. The Inner Light – Take 5

The backing track was recorded in stereo with Indian musicians in Bombay.

Feb 3rd 1968 – Studio Three, 2:30-6:00pm

2. Lady Madonna – Take 1 or 2

The Anthology 2 version uses a different take for the backing; subtle differences in the piano and drum parts can be heard. 

3. Lady Madonna – Take 3

Paul and Ringo have another go; this is the take they used on the released version.

Feb 3rd 1968 – Studio Three, 7:00pm-1:30am

4. Lady Madonna – SI onto take 3

Paul overdubs bass, Ringo adds more drums, and John and George play the guitar riff together through the same amp.

5. Lady Madonna – SI onto take 3

Paul records his lead vocal.

6. Across the Universe – Take 2

The basic take derived from the Anthology 2 version.

7. Across the Universe – SI onto take 2

Overdub of lead vocal and another guitar.

8. Across the Universe – SI onto take 2

Table harp overdub.

Feb 4th 1968 – Studio Three, 2:30-5:30pm

9. Across the Universe – Take 7

A basic version of the released take; John may have recorded his vocal live which would explain the extra bars in the first two verses.

Feb 4th 1968 – Studio Three, 8:00pm-2:00am

10. Across the Universe – SI onto take 7

Paul “sabotages” John’s song by recruiting two of the Apple Scruffs to sing background vocals. This “performance” was followed by a reduction to take 8.

11. Across the Universe – SI onto take 8

The table harp was recorded again, this time to be heard backwards on playback; extracted from the following mix and reversed to hear it as it was played. This was replaced by further overdubs on the 8th. 

12. Across the Universe – Hums Wild stereo

Another of the effects to be played back backwards was a chorus of humming, also replaced later on, but preserved on the “Hums Wild” rough mix. This stereo mix syncs up the Hums Wild mono mix with track 9 above to isolate the backwards effects in the left channel.

Feb 6th 1968 – Studio One, 2:30-8:00pm

13. The Inner Light – SI onto take 6 (tape copy of stereo take 5)

George double tracks his lead vocals to the stereo backing recorded in Bombay.

Feb 6th 1968 – Studio One, 9:00pm-2:00am

14. Lady Madonna – SI onto take 4

After a reduction from take 3, backing vocals as well as tambourine, handclaps and mellotron were overdubbed to the freed-up track, along with a lot of fooling around captured on a monitor mix; most of this was faded down on the subsequent reduction. “Brass vocals” and handclaps were doubled by punching in on the lead vocal track. 

15. Lady Madonna – SI onto take 5

Following another reduction and the recording of “real” brass, the backing vocal sections were punched in on the same track.

Feb 8th 1968 – Studio Two, 2:30-9:00pm

16. The Inner Light – SI onto take 6

John and Paul add backing vocals to the last line.

17. The Inner Light – Mono mix RM4

18. Across the Universe – SI onto take 8

The two tracks that had been overdubbed on the 4th were replaced with new overdubs of guitar by John, maracas by George, and piano by Paul on one of the tracks, and backing vocals by the trio on the other.

Feb 8th 1968 – Studio Two (Control Room Only), 10:00pm-12:15am

19. Across the Universe – Mono mix RM2

Feb 11th 1968 – Studio Three, 4:00pm-2:00am

20. Hey Bulldog – Take 10

The basic take had John on piano, George on guitar, Ringo on drums and Paul on tambourine. Since the mixing was done at 51 cycles, all extractions from those mixes have been slowed down by 1/3rd of a semitone to match the original pitch and speed at which the recording was done.

21. Hey Bulldog – SI onto take 10

Paul plays bass, George doubles his guitar part, and Ringo adds snare. None of the sources provided a good isolation of this track; all of them were full of artifacting and vocal leakage; this composite has the most salvagable parts of three or four of them.

22. Hey Bulldog – SI onto take 10

John and Paul add lead vocals.

23. Hey Bulldog – SI onto take 10

John doubles his vocal in the choruses and outro. 

24. Hey Bulldog – SI onto take 10

The lead guitar solo was double-tracked and either punched in on the two vocal tracks or recorded simultaneously with one or both vocals. This excerpt features the solo performances back to back for comparison purposes. 

25. Hey Bulldog – Mono mix RM2

Feb 15th 1968 – Studio Three (Control Room Only), 4:30-6:00pm

26. Lady Madonna – Mono mix RM10

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