Everybody Out

***Everybody Out*** is the sixteenth studio album released by the British-American rock band The Beatles. It was released on 1 September 1974 in the United Kingdom, and 5 September 1974 in the United States, reaching number one in both the United Kingdom and United States, breaking their album-a-year streak. The album would remain in the top 100 for over four years. It is the first album with John Lennon since his departure in 1969, and the first to feature the band with all six members. A remixed and expanded edition of the album was released in 2024.

## Background

After the critical and commercial success of 'Raymond', The Beatles' 13th studio record, the individual members of the band took a much-needed break throughout the year of 1973. McCartney, his wife, and Laine formed Wings, who, despite their short tenure, found moderate success in the U.S. as a live act. Harrison embarked on a journey across the Eastern world on foot, taking in many sights and emotions as he travelled. Starkey simply spent time with his family in France. It was this year that The Beatles broke their album-a-year streak (not counting The Concert For Bangladesh), however, and the public were certain that any hope for a future Beatles release was in vain. But as 1973 came and went, nobody could have guessed what happened next.

On the 28 March 1974, a chance encounter/jam session between John Lennon and Paul McCartney occurred at Burbank Studios, in Los Angeles. Lennon was in the middle of his 'Lost Weekend', in which he had split from his wife, Yoko Ono. This helped the tensions between the two ease a little, and for the first time in years, Lennon and McCartney performed once again. Lennon and McCartney each separately came to realize how much they had missed writing music together.

After multiple phone calls, and meetings with the other Beatles, John Lennon officially rejoined The Beatles in May 1974. The warmth and joy surrounding the subsequent sessions could not be overstated. For the first time in years, all four Beatles were back together, along with Laine and Eastman, effectively creating a six-piece band. The sessions for the album proved to be so fruitful, however, and the project soon grew from a single LP into two. Lennon provided songs written from his 'Lost Weekend', McCartney submitted his unfinished works from 'Wings', Harrison, still with an impressive back catalogue of material, provided songs dating all the way back to 1969, and Starkey had even come up with a new composition, 'Down and Out'. The album is notable for its transition from experimental sounds from their previous LP Raymond to more straightforward rock and jam-oriented music, achieved by the guitar works of Lennon, Harrison, McCartney, and Laine. The thicker harmonies on a few tracks were also achieved by utilizing the six members' vocal abilities.

## Songs

### Side one

#### The Band On The Run

In a 1974 interview with Paul Gambaccini, McCartney stated that the lyric "if we ever get out of here" was inspired by a remark made by George Harrison during one of the Beatles' many business meetings. McCartney recalled: "He was saying that we were all prisoners in some way [due to the ongoing problems with their company Apple] … I thought it would be a nice way to start an album." McCartney added, referring to his inspiration for "The Band on the Run": "It's a million things … all put together. Band on the run – escaping, freedom, criminals. You name it, it's there."

In a 1988 interview with *Musician* magazine, McCartney noted the drug busts experienced by musicians of the late 1960s and early 1970s as an inspiration for the "Band on the Run", also referencing the "desperado" image he attributed to bands like the Byrds and the Eagles as an influence. McCartney, who had been having legal trouble involving pot possession, said, "We were being outlawed for pot … And our argument on ['Band on the Run'] was 'Don't put us on the wrong side … We're not criminals, we don't want to be. So I just made up a story about people breaking out of prison.'"

The song comprises of a medley of three distinct musical passages that vary in style from folk rock to funk, "The Band on the Run" is one of McCartney's longest singles at 5:09. The song was partly inspired by a comment that George Harrison had made during a meeting of the Beatles' Apple record label.

#### Far East Man

The song originated during a period of romantic intrigue surrounding Harrison's marriage to Pattie Boyd, which culminated in Boyd leaving Harrison for his friend Eric Clapton. The recording took place at his Friar Park studio and features backing from Billy Preston. Opening with a spoken dedication to Frank Sinatra. Harrison biographer Simon Leng describes the chord sequence in "Far East Man" as "a grin-making exploration of major and minor sevenths that oozes smoochy soul". In the view of musicologist Thomas MacFarlane, the sequence "unfolds with such ease" as if in slow motion, and the song evokes an original style beyond its initial debt to soul artists such as Marvin Gaye and Al Green. He cites this as an example of Harrison's pan-cultural style, since the raw elements are Western yet the relaxed delivery conveys "an Eastern approach to worldly matters".

Leng identifies "Far East Man" as a "hopeful song", where, despite his confusion, Harrison's "answer is to follow his instinct, his heart". Leng sums up the conclusion that Harrison provides in the middle eight's final line ("Can only do what it tells me"): "He surveys the problems of love, social strife, and disconnection from spiritual values, but decides that taking his own advice is a good enough start." While echoing this interpretation, theologian Dale Allison also highlights Harrison's "humanitarian impulse, his regrets about the world's current state, [and] his faint utopian hope for something better" as being evident in the lyrics to "Far East Man". Allison likens the song to Harrison's compositions "Bangla Desh" and "The Day the World Gets 'Round", and suggests that in the choruses to "Far East Man", Harrison is stating "his determination to help impoverished and oppressed peoples half a world away".

As reproduced in his autobiography, Harrison's original lyrics for the final verse include lines that he changed after recording the song with Wood. Referring to the lyrics in Harrison's version, Allison describes his outlook as offering "a melioristic hope ... that people might be able to make the world a truly better place"

#### Over The Ocean

Over The Ocean’ was a love song written for Yoko Ono. it was one of Lennon’s most heartfelt, plaintive and poetic love songs. Its title was taken from an art exhibition he had held at the Robert Fraser Gallery in London in July 1968. The exhibition had been publicly dedicated to his then-girlfriend Yoko Ono: “To Yoko from John, with love”. In 1968 Harry Nilsson visited The Beatles while they were recording the White Album. He and Lennon bonded, and challenged each other to write a song with the same title.

Lennon suggested ‘You Are Here’, presumably as he was already considering using it for the exhibition. Nilsson returned to the USA and recorded a demo of his song, which was later uncovered during the making of the 2010 documentary *Who Is Harry Nilsson (And Why Is Everybody Talkin’ About Him).* The lyrics of Lennon’s song were concerned with the coming together of two cultures, two people, as one. They contained a reworking of Rudyard Kipling’s maxim that “East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet”. Lennon claimed that twains *shall* meet: “From distant lands, one woman one man/Let the four winds blow”. There were also echoes of the ancient teaching, “Wherever you go there you are”

Lennon’s vision of global harmony had first been expressed in song on ‘Imagine’, with its plea to “Imagine there’s no countries”. Here, however, the countries coming together were England and Japan – “From Liverpool to Tokyo” – reducing the universal to their specific relationship.

#### Let Me Roll It

The song's title was inspired by a quote from George Harrison's "I'd Have You Anytime," the opening track from his and Lennon's *Big Sky.* The riff from "Let Me Roll It" into the 1975 song "Jerky." The song marked the return of the Lennon-McCartney partnership for the first time in almost 5 years. DeRiso rated it as The Beatles' 15th greatest song.

Alternatively, *Rolling Stone*'s critic Jon Landau, saw the song as a pastiche of Lennon's sound, particularly the riff and the use of tape echo on the vocals. McCartney, however, didn't intend the song to be a pastiche of Lennon.

### Side Two

#### I Know

Lennon called the song "just a piece of nothing", though some have read the song as either a confession of troubles with his relationship with Yoko Ono or a message to former bandmate Paul McCartney.

#### No Words For My Love

The lyrics express the singer's desire for a woman who he fears may not be only interested in him. The refrain consists of the single line "No words for my love." Music author Vincent Benitex interprets the song's ending on a dominant key rather than the tonic as reflecting the singer's uncertain situation. Robert Rodriguez described "No Words For My Love" as being the only song on *Everybody Out* that came close to being the type of "silly love song" that predominated McCartney's albums of the time.

#### I Dig Love

"I Dig Love" originated from George Harrison's initial experimentation with slide-guitar playing, in open E tuning. His introduction to this technique occurred in December 1969, when he joined Eric Clapton. With regard to the inclusion of "I Dig Love" on *Everybody Out*, author Simon Leng describes it as an "unusually libidinous detour", similar to the "brief sensory interlude" offered by the track "No Words For My Love". The track is a paean to free love, it marks a departure from the more profound, spiritually oriented subject matter of much of Harrisons work at the time. Leng draws parallels between "I Dig Love" and the Beatles' more free-form compositions of the late 1960s. Among these, Paul McCartney's "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?".

#### Out the Blue

"Out the Blue" is one of several songs on *Everybody Out* devoted to Yoko Ono. It was recorded at a time when Lennon and Ono were separated, and reflects Lennon's resulting self-doubt. It states Lennon's gratitude for Ono appearing in his life "out the blue" and providing his "life's energy". According to authors Ken Bielen and Ben Urish, the theme of the song is "the awe of finding true love unexpectedly".

#### Six O'Clock

*Six O'Clock* was credited to Paul and Linda McCartney. The composition is a pop piano ballad in a style that. In a 2001 interview, Starr cited "Six O'Clock" as an example of how his bandmates always supplied him with material that suited his personality. The song's lyrics address a friend or lover whom the singer confesses to not showing enough attention towards. The repeated refrain "I don't treat you like I should" serves as an extended coda, anticipating a similar reprise in the Flaming Pie track "Beautiful Night". The original mix of "Six O'Clock" extended to 5:26 due to the inclusion of the reprise-like coda, yet this portion was subsequently cut, reducing the track length to 4:05. While the LP face label for the US commercial release mistakenly gave the pre-edit length, the extended version of the song appeared only on promotional copies of *Everybody Out* and on some pressings in the cassette and 8-track cartridge formats.

### Side three

#### Free the People

Free The People dates from late 1971, starting out as little more than a chorus, after Lennon acquired a National guitar. After working on the lyrics, the song went from a simple political slogan to a full-blown statement that hints at his earlier work, such as "Come Together". The song has been praised for Lennon's vocal performance and Harrison's guitar groove, saying that "this anti-Vietnam address also acts as a scathing rebuttal of self-seeking politics.".

#### Wah-Wah

Harrison wrote the song following his temporary departure from the Beatles in January 1969, during the troubled *Get Back* sessions. The lyrics reflect his frustration with the atmosphere in the group at that time – namely, Paul McCartney's over-assertiveness and criticism of his guitar playing, John Lennon's lack of engagement with the project and dismissal of Harrison as a songwriter, and Yoko Ono's constant involvement in the band's activities. Music critics and biographers recognise the song as Harrison's statement of personal and artistic freedom from the Beatles. The song was revisited shortly after Lennon's departure from the Beatles, but was shelved. The song was later revisited for Everybody Out with heavier production. Harrison

#### Down and Out

A song written by Ringo alone, "Down and Out" is a twelve-bar blues with what Starr biographer Alan Clayson describes as "perfunctory" lyrics. The recording includes solos from Harrison, on slide guitar. Carr and Tyler dismiss "Down and Out" with the description: "a very mundane throwaway tune only saved from extinction by the professional arrangement and by Harrison's distinctive slide-guitar solo".

#### Mrs. Vanderbilt

The opening lines of the song are taken from the catchphrase of English music hall performer Charlie Chester. Chester's catchphrase was "Down in the jungle living in a tent, better than a bungalow, no rent"; the lyrics subsequently changed to "Down in the jungle living in a tent, You don't use money you don't pay rent" The forced laughter that closed "Mrs. Vandebilt" was influenced by Charlie Chester's effects on his studio audience. McCartney recalled: "The laughing? We were doing sort of daft laughs at the end. When we were almost finished with [Everybody Out], we eventually overdubbed this crowd of people who were laughing. It was great listening to the tapes, trying to select the little bit of laughter that we would use. Most of it was us, but we need a little bit to cushion it up. It was great listening to a roomful of people laughing in stereo. They were getting into all these laughing bits, and we were on the floor."

## Packaging and cover artwork

The album cover was taken in a landfill north of the World Trade Center, New York City in May 1973.

## Track listing

**Side one**

1. "The Band on the Run" (Lennon-McCartney-L. McCartney) - 5:11
2. "Far East Man" (Harrison) - 6:44
3. "Over the Ocean" (Lennon) - 4:09
4. "Let Me Roll It" (Lennon-McCartney) - 5:02

**Side two**

1. "I Know" (Lennon-McCartney) - 4:16
2. "No Words For My Love" (McCartney-Laine) - 3:39
3. "I Dig Love" (Harrison-Lennon-P. McCartney-L. McCartney-Laine-Starkey) - 4:08
4. "I Would Only Smile" (Laine) - 3:23
5. "Out the Blue" (Lennon) - 3:23
6. "Six O'Clock" (Starkey-P. McCartney-L. McCartney) - 4:02

**Side three**

1. "Free the People" (Lennon-Harrison) - 5:08
2. "Wah-Wah" (Harrison) - 5:38
3. "Down and Out" (Starkey) - 3:04
4. "Mrs. Vanderbilt" (McCartney) - 4:34
5. "Wide Prairie/I Ain’t Going Back" (L. McCartney-P. McCartney) - 5:51

**Side four**

1. "Jet" (Lennon-P. McCartney-L. McCartney) - 4:44
2. "Shookdown, U.S.A." (Lennon-McCartney) - 2:53
3. "Hear Me Lord" (Harrison) - 6:24
4. "Las Brisas" (Starkey-Lennon) (hidden track) - 2:42

**Note:** Original North American releases also contains "Hell on Wheels" (running time 3:45) as track 13.

## Personnel

### **The Beatles**

* **John Lennon** - lead and backing vocals, rhythm guitar, acoustic guitar, clavinet, percussion
* **Paul McCartney** - lead and backing vocals; bass guitar, acoustic and electric guitars; piano, keyboards; drums, percussion
* **George Harrison** - lead and backing vocals; electric guitar, slide guitar, acoustic guitar, dobro, harmonica, Moog synthesizer, harmonium, bass guitar
* **Ringo Starr** - lead and backing vocals, drums, percussion
* **Linda McCartney** - lead and backing vocals; organ, keyboards; percussion; lead acoustic guitars on "Wide Prairie/I Ain't Going Back"
* **Denny Laine** - lead and backing vocals; co-lead vocals ("No Words For My Love"); acoustic and electric guitars; percussion

### **Additional musicians**

* **Klaus Voorman** - bass guitar
* **Jim Kelter** - drums
* **Nicky Hopkins** - piano
* **Gary Wright** - piano, organ, electric piano
* **Howie Casey** - saxophone
* **Billy Preston** - organ, piano

### **Production**

* **George Martin** -
* **Alan Parsons** – sound engineer