You Never Give Me Your Money

The song was written by McCartney when he was staying with his wife Linda in New York in March 1969 shortly after their wedding.[1] This was a break following the Get Back/Let It Be sessions.[2] John Lennon and McCartney were at risk of losing overall control of Northern Songs, the company that published their songs, after ATV Music bought a majority share.[3] McCartney had been largely responsible for the group's direction and projects since the death of manager Brian Epstein in 1967, but he began to realise that the group dynamic of the Beatles was unraveling. He was particularly unhappy at the others, who wanted manager Allen Klein to help resolve financial matters.[4] McCartney later said that the song was written with Klein in mind, saying "it's basically a song about no faith in the person".[1] He added that the line "One sweet dream, pack up the bags, get in the limousine" was based on his trips in the country with Linda to get away from the tense atmosphere with the Beatles,[1] though author Walter Everett thought the line was also a nostalgic look at the Beatles' touring years, which had ended in 1966.[5]

Realising that Abbey Road could be the group's last album, McCartney and Martin decided to combine various portions of tracks into a medley, which would act as a climactic finale of the group's career.[4] McCartney later said that the idea of a song suite was inspired by Keith West's "Excerpt from A Teenage Opera". Some musical segments of "You Never Give Me Your Money" were reused for the "Golden Slumbers" / "Carry That Weight" portion of the medley, including the opening verses and later guitar arpeggios.[6]

Structurally, the music begins with a piano ballad and moves to several other styles, including boogie-woogie piano, arpeggiated guitars and nursery rhyme.[7][8] Beatles author Ian MacDonald speculates that the guitar arpeggios at the end of the track were influenced by "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" and the middle section of "Here Comes the Sun", and that the overall structure was inspired by Lennon's "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" from the previous year's album The Beatles, which also joined unrelated song fragments together.[7]

The basic backing track was recorded at Olympic Sound Studios in Barnes on 6 May 1969. Recording started at 3pm and went on until 4am the next morning.[8] McCartney sang lead and played piano, Lennon played an Epiphone Casino guitar, George Harrison played a Fender Telecaster guitar fed through a Leslie speaker, and Ringo Starr played drums.[9] The group recorded 36 takes, selecting take 30 as the best, which was made into a rough stereo mix.[8] The basic structure of the song as it appeared on Abbey Road had not been worked out at this stage, and the original recording ran onto a loose jam session, ending up as a fast rock-and-roll instrumental towards the end.[7]

The track was completed in EMI Studios. McCartney overdubbed a lead vocal onto the basic track on 1 July,[10] and further vocals and sound effects were added on 15 July.[11] On 30 July, a reduction mix was made of the original eight track tape, so further overdubs could be made, and a rough mix of the Abbey Road medley was put together. The cross-fade from "You Never Give Me Your Money" into the next track, "Sun King", proved to be problematic, and the group made several attempts before deciding to merge the songs via an organ note.[12] McCartney completed the instrumental overdubs the next day, on 31 July, by adding a bass guitar part and additional piano overdubs,[13] including some punched-in honky-tonk piano in place of the original.[14]

The final recording session occurred on 5 August, when McCartney made a number of tape loops at EMI Studios, including bells, birds, bubbles and chirping crickets.[15] Martin mixed the track into stereo on 13 August, and made 11 attempts at a final mix, combining the tape loops with the cross-fade into "Sun King", replacing the earlier organ note.[16] He made another attempt at a final mix on 21 August, and this was used for the finished master.[17]

According to Ian MacDonald:[2]

• Paul McCartney – lead and backing vocals, piano, bass, wind chimes, tape loops
• John Lennon – guitar, backing vocal
• George Harrison – guitar, backing vocal
• Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine

American guitarist George Benson covered the song in a medley with "Golden Slumbers" in his 1970 album The Other Side of Abbey Road.[18]

Comedy rock duo Tenacious D covered "You Never Give Me Your Money" in medley with "The End" as a single released on 2 July 2021. The proceeds benefit Doctors Without Borders.[19]

Citations

Sources

Wikiquote has quotations related to Abbey Road.

• Alan W. Pollack's "Notes On" series: Archived 17 December 2019 at the Wayback Machine