Doctor Robert

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Doctor Robert
The Beatles
publication June 20, 1966
length 2 min 14 s
Genre (s) Pop rock
Author (s) Lennon / McCartney
album revolver

Doctor Robert is a Beatles song from 1966. It appeared on their album Revolver . The song was composed by John Lennon and Paul McCartney under the copyright Lennon / McCartney . It is considered to be the first Beatles song with direct references to drug use .

admission

The recordings took place on April 17th and 19th, 1966 in Studio 2 of Abbey Road Studios . The group only needed seven takes on day one to complete the backing track . The vocal recordings were added on the second day. In addition to the usual instruments - electric guitar (John Lennon and George Harrison ), electric bass (Paul McCartney) and drums ( Ringo Starr ) - a harmonium was used in the bridge . On May 12 and 20, 1966, producer George Martin prepared a mono and stereo mix of the track at the request of Capitol Records , as the US record company needed three more tracks for their planned album Yesterday and Today (two more Revolver tracks were also used for: I'm Only Sleeping and And Your Bird Can Sing ). Instead of using the real stereo version, Capitol created a pseudo stereo version from the mono version. Since new mixings were made for the album Revolver on June 21 and 22, 1966, there are small differences between the British and US versions of Doctor Robert .

Theories on the identity of Doctor Robert

It was quickly assumed that the song was a reference to an existing person. In a 1967 interview, Paul McCartney said:

'Doctor Robert' is like a joke. There's some fellow in New York , and in the States we'd hear people say: 'You can get everything off him - any pills you want.' It was a big racket, but a joke too about this fellow who cured everyone of everything with all these pills and tranquilizers, injections for this and that; he just kept New York high. That's what 'Doctor Robert' is all about, just a pill doctor who sees you all right.

“'Doctor Robert' is a joke. It was that guy in New York, and in the States we heard people say, 'You can get anything you want from him - any pills you want.' It was a huge fuss, there was also jokes made about this guy who cured everyone of every disease, with all sorts of pills and sedatives and injections for this or that. He made New York high. And that's what Doctor Robert is all about, a pill doctor who makes sure that you are fine. "

- Paul McCartney

The description largely fits Dr. Robert Freymann, a New York doctor known for providing rich patients with injections of vitamin B-12 fortified with amphetamines .

In 1980, in an interview for Playboy , John Lennon commented on the play:

“Mainly about drugs and pills. It was about myself. I was the one that carried all the pills on tour. "

“It's mostly about drugs and pills. It was about myself. I was the one who carried all the pills around with me on tour. "

- John Lennon

publication

In the United States, the song was released on June 20, 1966 on the album Yesterday and Today ; in Great Britain the song appeared on August 5, 1966 on the album Revolver .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Mark Lewisohn : The Complete Beatles Chronicle . London, 2006. ISBN 0-600-61001-2 , p. 218.
  2. ^ Mark Lewisohn: The Complete Beatles Chronicle . London, 2006. ISBN 0-600-61001-2 , p. 222.
  3. Robert Rodriguez: Revolver. How the Beatles Reimagined Rock 'n' Roll . Milwaukee, 2012. ISBN 978-1-61713-009-0 , p. 123.
  4. ^ The Beatles: The Beatles Anthology . ISBN 3-550-07132-9 , p. 209.
  5. David Sheff: The Ballad of John and Yoko - The Last Great Interview . Hannibal, 2002, p. 220.
  6. Beatlesbible. Retrieved April 25, 2017 .