Your Mother Should Know
"Your Mother Should Know" | |
---|---|
Song by the Beatles | |
from the EP and album Magical Mystery Tour | |
Released |
|
Recorded | 22–23 August and 29 September 1967 |
Studio | Chappell and EMI, London |
Genre | Music hall,[1] vaudeville-rock[2] |
Length | 2:29 |
Label | Parlophone (UK), Capitol (US) |
Songwriter(s) | Lennon–McCartney |
Producer(s) | George Martin |
"Your Mother Should Know" is a song by the English rock band
"Your Mother Should Know" is written in the
Background and inspiration
Paul McCartney began writing "Your Mother Should Know" on a harmonium at his house in St John's Wood, London, in the company of his Aunty Jin and Uncle Harry,[5] and drew on his father's love of music hall.[6] The conversation he had with his family members that day inspired the subject matter of the song.[7] Its lyrical premise centres on the history of hit songs across generations.[8] McCartney took the title from a line in the 1961 film A Taste of Honey,[6] which tells of a white teenage girl who falls pregnant with a black man's child and withholds news of the pregnancy from her domineering mother.[9][nb 1]
Discussing "Your Mother Should Know" in his 1997 authorised biography,
McCartney said he envisaged the song as a "production number" while planning
Composition
On the Beatles' recording, "Your Mother Should Know" is performed in the
According to music historian Joe Harrington, the song is an example of rock music's embrace of vaudeville in the late 1960s, which was part of the genre's development away from its rock 'n' roll roots in favour of eclecticism and a more artistic aesthetic.[22][nb 2] The song's music hall aspect recalls McCartney's "When I'm Sixty-Four" from the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album.[5] Its lyrical theme repeats the sympathetic portrayal of a parent offered in "She's Leaving Home" from the same album.[23] In author Doyle Greene's view, whereas "She's Leaving Home" conveys sympathy for a teenage runaway and her parents, the generational understanding espoused in "Your Mother Should Know" is more one-sided and suggests "maternal authority and youth compliance".[16]
Recording
The Beatles began recording "Your Mother Should Know" on 22 August 1967, their first session in close to two months.[24][25] The recording took place at Chappell Recording Studios in central London because EMI Studios was unavailable at short notice.[26] Although the Beatles had never worked at Chappell before, McCartney had participated in the session there for "Catcall" the previous month.[26]
Recording continued at Chappell on 23 August.[27] The overdubs included backing vocals by Lennon, McCartney and Harrison,[28] which, according to music critic Tim Riley, give the performance a "parodic irreverence".[21] That session was the last time that Brian Epstein, the group's manager, visited them in a recording studio.[29][30] Following Epstein's death on 27 August, the Beatles committed to making Magical Mystery Tour[31] because as McCartney insisted the band needed to focus on a new creative project.[32]
The Beatles devoted a 16 September session at EMI Studios to remaking "Your Mother Should Know"[33] because McCartney was dissatisfied with the earlier version.[34] The remake was discarded, however, because he and Lennon completed overdubs on the Chappell recording on 29 September.[35] McCartney added bass guitar while Lennon overdubbed Hammond organ, the latter filling out the song's vocal-less bridge sections.[8][36] Mixing was completed on 7 November,[28] with panning variation applied to the vocals in the stereo mix.[37]
Sequence in Magical Mystery Tour
In the Magical Mystery Tour film, the song supports an old-fashioned dance segment that McCartney called "the Busby Berkeley ending".[38] It was filmed on 24 September, at the end of a six-day shoot at RAF West Malling, a Royal Air Force base in Kent.[39] McCartney had intended to shoot the scene at Shepperton Studios, outside London,[40] but the Beatles failed to appreciate that film studios needed to be booked in advance.[41] Tony Bramwell, the film's production manager, recalled having a staircase for the sequence assembled on scaffolding inside a disused aircraft hangar,[42] which was the most elaborate set piece in the film.[43] Around 160 dancers from Peggy Spencer's formation dancing team, and 24 female RAF cadets, were hired as extras.[44] The formation dancers were regulars on the TV show Come Dancing, and were brought in by bus from Birmingham, Cardiff and Newcastle for the shoot.[45] According to Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees, McCartney got the idea for the Beatles' costumes from seeing him perform in concert with the Bee Gees, dressed all in white.[42] The band rehearsed their dance routine for most of the day[42] but the generators failed just as filming got underway.[43] Gavrik Losey, a production assistant on the film,[43] said that, while the generators were repaired, the dancers were "bribed" into staying late with Beatles autographs.[45]
The sequence starts with the Beatles coming down a grand staircase in white evening tails.
According to film studies academic Bob Neaverson, the sequence is a pastiche of 1930s
Release
"Your Mother Should Know", and the five other songs from the film, were compiled for release on the Magical Mystery Tour double EP, except in the United States.[54] There, Capitol Records chose to create an LP by augmenting those songs with the Beatles' non-album single tracks from 1967.[55][56] The Capitol release took place on 27 November 1967, while Parlophone issued the EP on 8 December.[57][58] Already familiar to fans before the film's debut,[59] the soundtrack record was a commercial success.[60]
The
According to author
Reception
Bob Dawbarn of Melody Maker described the Magical Mystery Tour EP as "six tracks which no other pop group in the world could begin to approach for originality combined with the popular touch".[71] He said that "Your Mother Should Know" was "one of the two most instantly attractive songs", the other being "The Fool on the Hill", with "a tune that sticks in the memory first time round".[72] In Record Mirror, Norman Jopling wrote: "'Your Mother Should Know' is [a] medium tempo ballad with a corny sort of tune – but the atmosphere developed is fantastic. It's a hazy, stoned kind of sensation which reminds you of hearing old tunes, in smoky rooms ..."[73]
Among reviews of the American LP,
In Tim Riley's view, the Magical Mystery Tour songs were largely uninspired recreations of Sgt. Pepper, and he described "Your Mother Should Know" as "'When I'm Sixty-Four' in knickers".[77] He said that although the harmonic ideas are "bright and clever", the instrumental bridges interrupt rather than complement the verses, and the inclusion of the "da-da-da" singalong "make[s] it sound like a demo with dummy lyrics".[20] Jonathan Gould also saw the soundtrack as a lesser version of Sgt. Pepper and described "Your Mother Should Know" as a "halfhearted attempt at satiric nostalgia in the style of 'When I'm Sixty-Four'". He said the song appeared unfinished and, while it served its purpose in the film, and showed Starr to be "the leading vaudeville drummer in rock", the track was "lackluster" on record.[78] Ian MacDonald considered the stereo panning to be innovative but also a ruse "to conceal the fact that its author hadn't managed to think up a middle eight". He viewed that as indicative of the effects of McCartney's LSD intake in the months following Sgt. Pepper, notwithstanding his efforts to arrest the Beatles' apathy when they regrouped after their summer break to record the track.[37]
Other versions
The song has been covered by artists such as Kenny Ball and His Jazzmen, Phyllis Newman, Bud Shank, Travis Shook and Mike Batt.[9] In 1989, "Weird Al" Yankovic parodied the Magical Mystery Tour dance sequence in his music video for the title track of his album UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff.[46]
The Beatles' discarded remake of the song was included on their 1996 outtakes compilation
Personnel
According to Ian MacDonald:[6]
- Paul McCartney – lead and backing vocals, piano, bass guitar
- John Lennon – backing vocals, Hammond organ
- George Harrison – backing vocals, lead guitar
- Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine
Notes
- ^ The Beatles recorded the film's theme song, "A Taste of Honey", in 1963 for their debut album, Please Please Me.[10] Author Ian MacDonald describes "A Taste of Honey" as one of McCartney's "mainstream fancies of the period" and comments that "the film's wry vision of sentimental self-sufficiency appealed strongly" to him.[11]
- D.W. Washburn".[22]
- ^ Lennon later objected to McCartney delegating him scenes to write to work with his outline for the film,[50] and said, "George and I were sort of grumbling, you know, 'Fuckin' movie, oh well, we better do it.'"[51] Harrison recalled that he was "in another world" during Magical Mystery Tour and that it was mainly McCartney pushing his ideas, but he enjoyed filming "Your Mother Should Know" nevertheless.[52]
- ^ In McCartney's description, it was "traditionally music hall and Bruce Forsyth and Jimmy Tarbuck time".[62]
- ^ Brown also said he had advocated for cancelling the film and writing off the £40,000 production costs (equivalent to £772,390 in 2021), but McCartney was convinced that it would be warmly received.[70]
References
- ^ Shaar Murray 2002, pp. 129–30.
- ^ Harrington 2002, p. 191.
- ^ a b c Miles 1997, p. 355.
- ^ Sheff 2000, p. 198.
- ^ a b Guesdon & Margotin 2013, p. 426.
- ^ a b c d MacDonald 1998, p. 231.
- ^ a b O'Toole, Kit (16 April 2018). "The Beatles, 'Your Mother Should Know' from Magical Mystery Tour (1967): Deep Beatles". Something Else!. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
- ^ a b Gould 2007, p. 454.
- ^ oldies.about.com. Archived from the originalon 17 January 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
- ^ Lewisohn 2005, p. 24.
- ^ MacDonald 1998, p. 61.
- ^ MacDonald 1998, pp. 222, 223–24.
- ^ Black 2002, p. 133.
- ^ Hertsgaard 1996, p. 224.
- ^ MacDonald 1998, p. 455.
- ^ a b c d e Greene 2016, p. 40.
- ^ MacDonald 1998, p. 237fn.
- ^ Everett 1999, pp. 129, 141.
- ^ Pollack, Alan W. (1997). "Notes on 'Your Mother Should Know'". Soundscapes. Retrieved 6 March 2020.
- ^ a b Riley 2002, pp. 237–38.
- ^ a b Riley 2002, p. 238.
- ^ a b Harrington 2002, pp. 191–92.
- ^ a b Greene 2016, pp. 39–40.
- ^ Winn 2009, p. 117.
- ^ Unterberger 2006, p. 179.
- ^ a b Lewisohn 2005, p. 122.
- ^ Miles 2001, p. 275.
- ^ a b Everett 1999, p. 141.
- ^ Womack 2014, p. 1052.
- ^ Guesdon & Margotin 2013, p. 427.
- ^ Hertsgaard 1996, p. 230.
- ^ Gould 2007, p. 439.
- ^ Unterberger 2006, pp. 180–81.
- ^ a b Winn 2009, p. 125.
- ^ Winn 2009, pp. 128–29.
- ^ Lewisohn 2005, pp. 126, 128.
- ^ a b MacDonald 1998, pp. 231–32.
- ^ Miles 1997, pp. 355–56.
- ^ Winn 2009, p. 79.
- ^ Brown & Gaines 2002, p. 254.
- ^ Miles 2001, p. 279.
- ^ a b c Black 2002, p. 137.
- ^ a b c Neaverson 1997, p. 53.
- ^ Miles 2001, p. 280.
- ^ a b c Harris, John (26 September 2012). "Fab Furore: Is it time to re-evaluate the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour?". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 March 2020.
- ^ a b Womack 2014, p. 1053.
- ^ Gould 2007, p. 456.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 356.
- ^ Womack 2014, pp. 597–98, 1053.
- ^ Everett 1999, p. 131.
- ^ Miles 2001, pp. 263, 278, 285.
- ^ The Beatles 2000, pp. 272, 273.
- ^ Neaverson 1997, p. 60.
- ^ Lewisohn 2005, p. 131.
- ^ Greene 2016, pp. 41–42.
- ^ Neaverson 1997, p. 54.
- ^ Miles 2001, pp. 284, 285.
- ^ Winn 2009, p. 80.
- ^ a b Gould 2007, p. 455.
- ^ Frontani 2007, p. 161.
- ^ a b Miles 2001, p. 285.
- ^ The Beatles 2000, p. 273.
- ^ Greene 2016, pp. 38–39.
- ^ Hertsgaard 1996, p. 229.
- ^ Neaverson 1997, p. 71.
- ^ Frontani 2007, pp. 161–62.
- ^ Everett 1999, p. 132.
- ^ Greene 2016, p. 39.
- ^ Brown & Gaines 2002, pp. 253–55.
- ^ Brown & Gaines 2002, pp. 254–55.
- ^ Shaar Murray 2002, p. 130.
- ^ Dawbarn, Bob (25 November 1967). "Magical Beatles – in Stereo". Melody Maker. p. 17.
- ^ Jopling, Norman (1 December 1967). "Magical Mystery Beatles". Record Mirror. p. 1.
- ^ Goldstein, Richard (31 December 1967). "Are the Beatles Waning?". The New York Times. p. 62.
- ^ Christgau, Robert (May 1968). "Columns: Dylan-Beatles-Stones-Donovan-Who, Dionne Warwick and Dusty Springfield, John Fred, California". robertchristgau.com. Archived from the original on 29 June 2015. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
- HiFi/Stereo Review. p. 117. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
- ^ Riley 2002, p. 236.
- ^ Gould 2007, pp. 453, 454.
- ^ Unterberger 2006, p. 181.
- ^ Brandle, Lars (7 May 2013). "Paul McCartney Plays Unexpected Beatles Songs on World Tour Opener". Billboard. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
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