How would "Here Comes the Sun" have done as a single for The Beatles?*

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by Pizza, Sep 12, 2018.

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  1. beatleroadie

    beatleroadie Forum Resident

    Paul's studio recording of "Come and Get It" could have easily been a b-side. But I suspect if it was seriously considered for release as a Beatles track, then at least George and Paul would have gone back in and done some Beatley harmonies on it, and George probably would have added a few guitar bits.
     
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  2. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    Even if you mean a song without Lennon participating, that's not so. John is definitely on "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" — we know this because he complained about having to play it over and over again.

    If you mean the first Beatles single to not feature a song primarily or at least partially written by John, that's not true either:

    Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby (both primarily Paul songs)

    Lady Madonna/The Inner Light (Paul, George)


    Add in US single releases, and there are more.
     
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  3. fallbreaks

    fallbreaks Forum Resident

    Ah yes, you seem to be right. I thought the actual recording had taken place while John was out of the studio recovering from his car crash, and his complaints recalled Paul making them run through the song in the winter and spring. Looks like I was wrong, though - they started recording it for the album the very day John moved Yoko's bed into the studio. Hmmm perhaps a little passive aggressive? At any rate, John came back in time to record one of his least favorite Beatles songs, poor fella.
     
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  4. featheredfiend

    featheredfiend Forum Resident

    Location:
    Morris Plains, NJ
    When my daughter was born 19 years ago, I made sure that HCTS was queued up in my car CD player when we took her home from the hospital because I wanted to be sure it was the very first song she heard as she entered the world...that's how special that song is to me, and I'm sure it would've been an instant #1 hit single.
     
  5. MikeM

    MikeM Senior Member

    Location:
    Youngstown, Ohio
    As this is one of my least-favorite Beatles songs, I agree with "poor fella"!
     
  6. fallbreaks

    fallbreaks Forum Resident

    Me too and I'm a huge McCartney fan.
     
  7. DK Pete

    DK Pete Forum Resident

    Location:
    Levittown. NY
    ..actually then, we'd have a double A-side.
     
  8. Keith V

    Keith V Forum Resident

    Location:
    Secaucus, NJ
    I believe it would have been a #1.
    It’s one of the most beautiful songs in the catalog, and poppy.
     
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  9. DK Pete

    DK Pete Forum Resident

    Location:
    Levittown. NY
    ...actually, in looking back, I'm not so sure HCTS would have been a runaway number 1 single. It's easy nowadays to say that it would have been because the song has somehow grown immensely in stature over the years. But at the time Abbey Road was released, I don't recall it getting any kind of saturation airplay on AOR FM radio implying it would have been a huge hit single.
     
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  10. teag

    teag Forum Resident

    Location:
    Colorado
    Like many, many of their songs that were not released as singles, it would have done well.

    Edit: Since this looks like another "poor George" thread, let me add: If it wasn't for John and Paul, it would have been number 1!!!
     
    Keith V likes this.
  11. Siegmund

    Siegmund Vinyl Sceptic

    Location:
    Britain, Europe
    A better choice for a single than Something, because it's more upbeat and catchy. It would have been nice to have this as the British Christmas no.1 instead of Two Little Boys by Rolf Harris.
     
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  12. wino14

    wino14 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Edenton, NC
    Straight to the toppermost of the poppermost!
     
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  13. cublowell

    cublowell Forum Resident

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
    Klein would have put Her Majesty on the b-side & sat back & collected the cash. But he was too busy cheating all the bands he was "managing" at the time.
     
  14. ashiya

    ashiya Forum Resident

    Location:
    Australia
    In The UK around that time neither Something nor Let It Be (also Penny Lane/Strawberry Fields before these) made it to number one, so not a foregone conclusion really. Maybe the Beatles' album audience was getting bigger at the expense of singles?
     
  15. aoxomoxoa

    aoxomoxoa I'm an ear sitting in the sky

    Location:
    USA
    Wasn't it #1 for Badfinger? It's certainly a faithful reproduction of Paul's demo.
     
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  16. Chuckee

    Chuckee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Upstate, NY, USA
    #7 USA, #4 UK, only place listed on wikipedia as #1 is New Zealand.
     
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  17. idleracer

    idleracer Forum Resident

    Location:
    California
    :kilroy: John's contribution to "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" was pretty much the same as it was to "Eleanor Rigby" and "Good Day Sunshine." Just some harmony vocals (you can clearly make out his voice on the line "Maxwell Must Go Free"). Other than that, I don't know what else he could have added, as Paul is famously playing bass and piano, and George is playing the lone guitar and synthesizer.
     
  18. EdogawaRampo

    EdogawaRampo Senior Member

    And it would have been a killer single, no doubt.
     
  19. bataclan2002

    bataclan2002 All You Need Is Now.

    It wasn’t a single? :hide:
    Great song. Would have been huge. It already is.
     
  20. Pizza

    Pizza With extra pepperoni Thread Starter

    Location:
    USA
    New Zealand has good taste.
     
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  21. Price.pittsburgh

    Price.pittsburgh Forum Resident

    Location:
    Florida
    It would have been a bout as big as Something but George just wasn't gonna get 2 singles even if he clearly had the best 2 songs on the album.
    Even Something was a double A with Come Together.
     
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  22. beatleroadie

    beatleroadie Forum Resident

    Yeah the legend is that Paul's laughter on the Maxwell vocal is because John mooned him while Paul was singing, and Paul thought it was so funny he left that take in the final master. Not sure if that's true, but something certainly cracked him up in the studio, and yes John was around for Maxwell. IIRC what John missed from the AR sessions was "Here Comes the Sun," "You Never Give Me Your Money" and "Golden Slumbers". I think those were the ones the Threetles did in that week or week and a half while John and Yoko were delayed by their car accident.
     
  23. aoxomoxoa

    aoxomoxoa I'm an ear sitting in the sky

    Location:
    USA
     
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  24. Chuckee

    Chuckee Forum Resident

    Location:
    Upstate, NY, USA
    Come Together held it's own, on Cashbox they remained separate entries and it went to #1 for 3 weeks, Something hit #2.
     
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  25. 2141

    2141 Forum Resident

    Octopus' Garden for the B-side!
     
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