You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)

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You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)
The Beatles
publication March 1970
length 4 min 21 s
Genre (s) Comedy - rock , novelty song , jazz , variety
Author (s) Lennon / McCartney
album Past Masters

You Know My Name (Look Up the Number) ( english You know my name (Look for number) ) is a song by The Beatles that of John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote and on 6 March 1970 on the B-side of the single Let It Be was released. Although the song appeared on the Beatles' penultimate single, recording for the song began three years earlier in May 1967. The lyrics of the song consist solely of the repetitive line “You know my name, look up the number”.

composition

The song sounds like a variety show and is considered one of the strangest songs by the Beatles. It was John Lennon's idea to write a song with just a single, repeating line. He told the story of how it came about as follows:

“I was waiting for him in his house, and I saw the phone book was on the piano with 'You know the name, look up the number.' That was like a logo, and I just changed it. "

“I was waiting for him [Paul McCartney] in his house and I saw the phone book on the piano with 'You know the name, look up the number' on it. It was like a logo and I just converted it. "

- John Lennon, 1980

McCartney told Beatles biographer Mark Lewisohn :

You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) is probably my favorite Beatles song. It's so nonsensical. All these memories [...] I mean, what would you say if a guy like John Lennon shows up in the studio and says, 'I have a new song.' I said, 'What's the text?' And he replied, 'You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)'. I asked, 'What about the rest?' 'Nothing, no other text, this is the text. And I want to play it like a mantra ! '"

- Paul McCartney, 1988

The song consists of several sections that appear as musical statements of reference to some of the Beatles' companions, including Mick Jagger and Trini Lopez . In the section relating to Trini Lopez, John Lennon announces Paul McCartney as "Dennis O'Bell". What is meant is the production manager in the Beatles film A Hard Day's Night - but who is actually called Denis O'Dell. O'Dell also acted as the unit manager in the film How I Won the War , in which Lennon starred.

admission

All four Beatles recorded the various sections of the song over four days from May 17 to June 9, 1967. They invited Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones to a recording session for the song on June 8, 1967 . The Beatles expected the Rolling Stones guitarist to bring a guitar, but instead appeared with a saxophone and recorded a solo on it.

There was initially no further work on the song for two years and it remained unpublished. On April 30, 1969, Lennon, McCartney and the Beatles' roadie Mal Evans recorded various vocal tracks and effects for the song. George Harrison and Ringo Starr did not attend this session.

Although the song was now complete, it remained unpublished for another year.

publication

John Lennon intended to release the song on the A-side of a single under the name of his own band Plastic Ono Band in late 1969, not under the name of the Beatles . On the B-side the title What's the New Mary Jane , recorded in 1968 and also unpublished, should appear. On November 26, 1969, he cut the six-minute and eight-second version of You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) into a shorter version that was just under four and a half minutes long. The release of the single was announced for December 5, 1969 by the record company Apple Records . The rest of the Beatles Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr knew nothing of the fact that Lennon two songs, which were actually recorded by the Beatles, should now appear under the name of the Plastic Ono Band and successfully prevented the release of the single.

Three months later, on March 3, 1970, You Know My Name (Look Up the Number) appeared in the shortened version by Lennon as the B-side of the single Let It Be . The catalog number of the record originally intended for the Plastic Ono Band could even be seen on the first British pressings.

Until 1996 You Know My Name (Look Up the Number) was only available in mono . In 1996 a stereo version was produced for the first time for the Anthology series, which also contained a large part of the sections removed by Lennon. However, short passages that can only be heard in the mono version are missing now. An unabridged stereo version was never released.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sheff, David (2000). All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono . New York: St. Martin's Press. Pp. 204-205. ISBN 0-312-25464-4
  2. ^ Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions . New York: Harmony Books. P. 15. ISBN 0-517-57066-1 .
  3. ^ Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions . P. 116.
  4. ^ Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions . P. 194.