The Beatles, “Baby You’re a Rich Man” from Magical Mystery Tour (1967): Deep Beatles
The B-side to “All You Need Is Love,” “Baby You’re a Rich Man” stands as one of the Beatles’ most innovative, funky, and underrated tracks. Originally intended to accompany a segment of Yellow Submarine, the song instead surfaced on the 1967 Magical Mystery Tour soundtrack (although it never appears in the film). Its place on the former film soundtrack was restored in 1999, when a remastered version was included on the Yellow Submarine Songtrack collection. In addition to being one of the group’s more unusual tracks, “Baby You’re a Rich Man” also holds the distinction of being one of the fastest songs the Beatle ever recorded.
When the Beatles entered Olympic Sound Studios on May 11, 1967, they intended to record “Baby You’re a Rich Man” for the upcoming Yellow Submarine project. According to Kenneth Womack’s The Beatles Encyclopedia, the track resembles “A Day in the Life” in that it combines two previously separate song fragments: John Lennon’s verses with a Paul McCartney-composed chorus.
As Lennon told Rolling Stone, his words poked fun at the upper class. “The point was, stop moaning — you’re a rich man, and we’re all rich men, heh heh, baby!” he said. In a 1980 interview, Lennon further expanded on the song’s creation: “That’s a combination of two separate pieces, Paul’s and mine, put together and forced into one song. One-half was all mine. (sings) ‘How does it feel to be one of the beautiful people / Now that you know who you are …’ Then Paul comes in with, (sings) ‘Baby you’re a rich man,’ which was a lick he had around.”
By: Kit O'Toole
Source: Something Else Reviews
