Good Morning Good Morning
Written by: John Lennon (100%)(credited to Lennon-McCartney)
Recorded: February 8 and 16, March 13, 28, and 29, 1967 (Studio 2, Abbey Road Studios, London, England)
Mixed: March 29, April 19, 1967
Length: 2:35
Takes: 8
Musicians:
John Lennon: lead vocals (double-tracked), harmony vocals
Paul McCartney: backing vocals, lead guitar (1964 Fender Esquire), bass guitar (1964 Rickenbacker 400IS)
George Harrison: backing vocals, rhythm guitar (1965 Epiphone E230TD(V) Casino)
Ringo Starr: drums (Ludwig), tambourine
Barrie Cameron, David Glyde, Alan Holmes: saxophones
John Lee, Griff West: trombone
Tom ?: French horn
Available on: (CDs in bold)
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (UK: Parlophone PMC 7027, PCS 7027; Capitol (S)MAS 2653; Parlophone CDP 7 46442 2)
History:
- Written in late January of 1967 by John Lennon at his Kenwood home in Surrey, London, "Good Morning Good Morning" came about as John fiddled about on piano. In the next room, a TV commercial for Kellogg's Corn Flakes blared with the refrain "Good morning, good morning. The best to you each morning. Sunshine breakfast, Kellogg's Corn Flakes, crisp and full of fun." Lennon, not touring the world anymore and rather bored of the domestic life with wife Cynthia, immediately turned the phrase into a snide song about the ennui of suburban life.
- Though not considered one of his finest compositions, "Good Morning Good Morning" utilizes almost the exact same "conversational" singing style John had only recently developed for "Strawberry Fields Forever," with the result that the verses switch from 5/4 to 3/4 and then 4/4 meter -- strange even for a Beatles recording!
- John demoed the song in early February and a few days later began to record it with the band. On February 8, the basic track was laid down in eight takes, featuring George's rhythm guitar, John's scratch vocal, and Ringo on drums. On the 16th, Paul laid down bass as John recorded his lead vocal. On March 23rd, John played several ideas for a brass arrangement on his guitar; George Martin called in the horn section from Brian Epstein's "big band rock band," Sounds Incorporated, and taught it to them. (The identity of the French Horn player is lost to this day.) Those brass sounds, in a prelude to a later Beatles trademark, were ordered to be heavily compressed and flanged by John. Finally on March 28, Lennon laid down yet another pass at a lead vocal, McCartney provided the stinging guitar solo, the duo laid down backing vocals, and several animal noises (John's idea) were compiled from the Abbey Road vaults. During mixing these were added as an outro to the track.
- Those barnyard noises, taken from stock Abbey Road sound-effects tapes "Volume 35: Animals and Bees" and "Volume 57: Fox-hunt," have since become a part of history. John specifically instructed engineer Geoff Emerick to assemble them so that they represented a sort of chaos, with every animal being capable of frightening or devouring the one before it. This holds true at first, with the animal sequence being rooster, cat, dogs, horses, sheep, lions, and elephants snorting, seeming to come to a climax with the fox hunt itself. But a cow and chicken actually end the sequence, in part because the chicken sound just happened to fit perfectly with a guitar noise George just happened to make at the beginning of the next track, the "Sgt. Pepper" reprise.
Trivia:
- John himself was not taken with the song, complaining that he'd only rushed to finish it in order to get more songs on Pepper. in an infamous 1980 Playboy interview, Lennon declared it "It's a throwaway, a piece of garbage, I always thought."
- The line "It's time for tea and meet the wife," actually refers to a popular BBC sitcom of the day called Meet The Wife, starring Freddie Frinton and Thora Hird. Oddly enough, at the time the song was written, the show had just ended its final run.
- The original stereo mix of "Good Morning Good Morning" runs six seconds longer than the mono version. In addition, the guitar solo is mixed louder in stereo.
