What IS Abbey Road's medley?

So there I was with an hour to spare, and I thought I’d play Abbey Road from start to finish (my thing at the moment is whole-albums, not song-picking). I’m not a huge fan of AR, but it’s a good listen.

But, suddenly, near the end, it occurs to me: What exactly IS the medley? Is it

A. All of side 2? I don’t think so: Here Comes The Sun and Because feel apart from the “blend” to me.

B. The trip from You Never Give Me Your Money all the way to The End? This seems pretty coherent, especially as Carry That Weight reprises Money.

C. Just the portion from Mean Mr Mustard to The End? I personally don’t think this, but I could understand someone having this view.

D. Really two medleys – very controversial! But go and have a listen before you asnwer too quickly. Medley 1 is Money, Sun King, Mustard, Pam and Bathroom Window. Medley 2 is Slumbers, Weight and The End. To back this up, I think the two medleys have a quite different feel. Certainly #2 is about home, regret, endings, which I don’t see in #1. Hmm.

E. One of these, but does Her Majesty get included as part of the medley? It originally was, as we all know, sequenced between Mustard and Pam. Is it still to be thought of as part of the medely, stuck out on its own long after The End?

So: What exactly IS the famous Abbey Road Medley?

I'm not sure whether you want opinion, or fact.
Here's the facts;YOU NEVER GIVE ME YOUR MONEY Lennon/McCartney
John: Lead Guitar and Vocals
Paul: Bass Guitar, Piano, Tambourine, Chimes and Lead Vocal
George: Lead Guitar and Vocals
Ringo: Drums
You Never Give Me Your Money represents the start of the world famous Abbey Road medley of songs. Apparently the idea of the medley was in part George Martin's who suggested it to Paul. In fact even You Never Give Me Your Money is a medley of four separate songs. You Never Give Me Your Money opens the medley, with Paul on the piano. It was written regarding the Beatles financial problems at the time. in fact George said that all they got was a "funny paper" in which they told them how much they had earned. But getting the cash was almost impossible.
The other songs are That Magic Feeling, One Sweet Dream, and the fourth part comes in whern the song fades away (the "one, two, three, four, five, six seven, all good children go to heaven"). Early takes of the song did not have this ending, having a sudden stop (supposedly to be followed by another song in the medley). However, as the last part seems to fade out, the sound of crickets inmediately takes us to

Sun King
Lennon
Working Title: Here Comes The Sun - King John: Rythm Guitar, Organ and Lead Vocal
Paul: Bass Guitar, Piano and Vocals
George: Lead Guitar and Vocals
Ringo: Drums and Percussion
John said that Sun King had come to him in a dream. The lyrics, a mixture of Spanish, Italian and Portuguese mean nothing at all. However, it is true that at least it's one of the two songs The Beatles ever sung with lines in Spanish (Besame Mucho and Sun King) although we could add to this list Los Paranoias (which was not a working title of Sun King as some authors quote and we could all see in Anthology 3). I'm almost sure though, that Paul had much to do in the Spanish part of the lyrics, since some of the phrases come from almost complete ones, and Paul was the one knowing a little Spanish (as he has often showed). Here is the translation of most of the terms in the song:

Cuando - Quando (SP-I): When
Para (SP): For
Mucho (SP): Very
Mi amore de felice (I): My love of happy
Corazón (SP): Heart
(that even makes some sense "my love of hapy heart")

Mundo (SP): World
Paparazzi (I): Journalists
Mi amore (I): My Love
Chica (SP): Girl
Parasol (SP): Sunshade
(actually this line sounds very close to (SP) "Chica de mi corazón" -girl of my heart-)

Questo (I): This
Obrigado (P): Thankful
Tanto Mucho que (SP): So Much That
As you can see, pure nonsense, and yet beautiful and relaxing. And as the Sun King sets, we go into
Mean Mr. Mustard
Lennon
John: Rythm Guitar, Organ and Lead Vocal
Paul: Bass Guitar, Piano and Vocals
George: Lead Guitar and Vocals
Ringo: Drums and Percussion
Just as in the medley, Sun King and Mean Mr. Mustard were recorded at the same time, so there wasn't much editing to get those two together (none at all in fact). John wrote Mean Mr. Mustard while in India, and his inspiration came from a newspaper story in which a man tried by all means to retain all his money without spending a penny. Of course, Mr. Mustard had a sister, and although originally she was some Shirley Mustard, later she became Pam Mustard...
Polythene Pam
Lennon
John: 12 String Acoustic Guitar, Electric Piano and Lead Vocal
Paul: Bass Guitar, Piano and Vocals
George: Lead Guitar , Acoustic Guitar and Vocals
Ringo: Drums and Percussion
And this time the inspiration for Polythene Pam, according to Steve Turner in his book "A Hard Day's Write" came from two sources. The first one was a fan from The Cavern days called Pat Hodgett. She took up the habit of eating polythene, and finally got called "Polythen Pat". The other source for the inspiration concerned the dressing in jackboots and kilt and in polythene bags. One night Royston Ellis, his girlfriend Stephanie and John went to Ellis apartment where they all dressed in polythene bags and slept in the same bed. Supposedly, nothing very exciting happened, and yet 6 years later it served John to write this incredible song.
As short as Polythene Pam turns out to be for most of us, since we would like it to go for a couple more minutes, it's long enough to raise the overall beat of the medley (Sun King is quiet and slow, Mean Mr. Mustard speeds up a little, and Polythene Pam awakens the listener once more). The backing vocals are once again great by Paul and George, and the guitars right on the spot.... a perfect Lennon to lead into a perfect McCartney...

She Came In Through The Bathroom Window
McCartney
John: 12 String Acoustic Guitar, Electric Piano and Vocals
Paul: Bass Guitar, Piano and Lead Vocal
George: Lead Guitar, Acoustic Guitar and Vocals
Ringo: Drums and Percussion
And the truth is that they came in through the bathroom window. A group of Apple scruffs, that is, broke into Paul's house climbing a ladder into the bathroom window. Apple scrufs was the name by which the girls that used to wait for the Beatles both at their homes and the studio were known. George Harrison also wrote a song called "Apple scruffs" in his first solo album "All Things Must Pass". The fact is that one of the girls got in the house and opened the door for the rest. Of course, all they wanted was some memorabilia, and although they didn't take anything valuable, some of the pictures the girls chose to keep were quite precious to Paul. Eventually, he managed to get back some of them, although some other stuff made it to America.
The song was written by Paul in June 1968 during a trip to America. The song is a delight both instrumentally and vocally, with a catchy melody and great drumming by Ringo. Suddenly it comes to a stop, and we start dreaming...

Golden Slumbers
McCartney
Paul: Rythm Guitar, Piano and Lead Vocal
George: Bass Guitar and Lead Guitar
Ringo: Drums
Session Musicians: 30 piece orchestra
While at his father's house, Paul was playing the piano and came across a lullaby with lyrics by Thomas Decker (17th century). Unable to read the music of the song, he made up his own version (and what a wonderful one). The song wonderfully arranged for an orchestra inmediately leads us into
Carry That Weight
McCartney
Paul: Rythm Guitar, Piano and Lead Vocal
George: Bass Guitar, Lead Guitar and Vocals
Ringo: Drums Timpani and Vocals
Session Musicians: 30 piece orchestra
Recorded together with Golden Slumbers, Carry That Weight is really a reprise for You Never Give Me Your Money, achieved in a way only Paul McCartney aided by George Martin could have achieved. The additional vocals of this reprise by George and Ringo, specially George in the money bits, are a wonderful way to prepare us for the end...
The End
McCartney
John: Lead Guitar and Vocals
Paul: Bass Guitar, Lead Guitar, Piano and Lead Vocal
George: Lead Guitar and Vocals
Ringo: Drums
Session Musicians: 30 piece orchestra
It has always said that there wasn't a better way to finish the last recorded album in the Beatles career. The End features the first (and last) drums solo by Ringo in a Beatles song, and it synthesizes his whole career as a drummer, .... simple and yet SO effective. After Ringo's turn, the remaining three Beatles take their guitars and compete playing the solo lines (this can even be heard better in the Anthology 3). And all of this, to finally listen a piano backing the phrase that John defined as cosmic "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make". A great way to say goodbye.
Her Majesty
McCartney
Paul: Acoustic Guitar and Lead Vocal
Or not? It seems like Paul had stayed after everyone else had gone, after the studio lights had been turned off, and had picked up his guitar to sing to her majesty. The shortest and last recording in a Beatles album, could have proved to be a wonderful song, but lasting only 23 seconds, it seems like of Paul had also decided to leave the studio and consider The End as the truly last song of the best group of all time.

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©Copyright 1997-2000 Enrique Cabrera

Here's info on the site I referenced. Abbey Road

I don't know what to say, Johnna.

As simply as possible, I wanted to know people's opinions as to what songs constituted the famous Medley. I did not want a run down like you posted!

Why? Coz it suddenly struck me that it's not so obvious ...

Originally Posted By Edmund:
I don't know what to say, Johnna.

As simply as possible, I wanted to know people's opinions as to what songs constituted the famous Medley. I did not want a run down like you posted!

Why? Coz it suddenly struck me that it's not so obvious ...

<font size="2" face="Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif">I stated that I wasn't sure if you wanted fact or opinion!!!!!
I was unsure of how I felt til I read this. I guess I was a bit cautious with my response
because AR is my fav! I do hope you found something of use in the info!

Let's move on before we get distracted from the main point of this interesting topic.

Originally Posted By Edmund:
D. Really two medleys – very controversial! But go and have a listen before you asnwer too quickly. Medley 1 is Money, Sun King, Mustard, Pam and Bathroom Window. Medley 2 is Slumbers, Weight and The End. To back this up, I think the two medleys have a quite different feel. Certainly #2 is about home, regret, endings, which I don’t see in #1. Hmm.

<font size="2" face="Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif">I agree with this suggestion. The radio station I listen to plays two separate medleys from Abbey Road, though their Medley #1 is "Sun King" through "She Came In Through the Bathroom Window." (They play "You Never Give Me Your Money" as a stand-alone song, though it does lead in very smoothly to "Sun King.") Interesting that the second medley has its own theme while the first one seems lyrically disjointed. I know "Her Majesty" was originally meant to go into the first medley, but I'm so used to hearing it by itself that I don't consider it part of either medley.

yeah, i go with the controversial 2-medley camp. well, really i think it's either 1 big medley from money to her majesty or seperated at mr. mustard.

this is a really interesting topic. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

oh, and one more thing. i don't think how commercial classic rock radio decides to play the medley(s) is a good indication of what the beatles/george martin had intended. after all, commercial radio is controlled by, well, commercials. they can only play so many songs/hour and so long of songs.

[size="1"][ Jul 10, 2003, 10:53 AM: Message Edited By: onosideboards ][/size]

I'm amazed that the two-medleys idea has support. I've long thought this myself, as the feel of Slumbers-Weight-End is very unified and different to what goes before ... as I explained above. I thought that would be a definite minority opinion!

I hope more people respond to the question: especially folks who think all of side 2 is one long giant medley. Plus, of course, more support for the two-medleys theory!

I think it's 2 seperate medleys.

I always thought it was from You never Give me Your Money onward.....

There's two medleys. The first starts with "You Never Give Your Money" until "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window". Then, there's a small pause and "Golden Slumbers" begins...that's the beggining of the second medley, until "The End".

At least that's what I've always thought.

Originally Posted By Edmund:
I'm amazed that the two-medleys idea has support. I've long thought this myself, as the feel of Slumbers-Weight-End is very unified and different to what goes before ... as I explained above. I thought that would be a definite minority opinion!

<font size="2" face="Tahoma, Arial, sans-serif">I've always thought it was two separate medleys for the simple reason that there's a definite break and change of mood/tone after Bathroom Window and before Golden Slumbers--no question about it in my mind. I remember taping the songs from the LP onto a cassette tape ages ago when I was really young, and I figured a good place to flip the tape over was between those two medleys. Here Comes the Sun and Because don't count into the first medley--they're two separate songs.

I always felt it was one big medley with "You Never Give Me Your Money" onwards but the idea of it being two medleys makes sense. I know the radio station up here plays "Sun King" through "She Came Through..." and "Golden Slumbers" through "The End" separately.

I'm with the two-medley majority. [img]graemlins/smile1.gif[/img] I really don't think the end of "Bathroom Window" flows into "Golden Slumbers" at all.

Perhaps if "Her Majesty" had been kept in its original place, option B might make more sense, because I don't think "Mustard" flows into "Her Majesty" that well either. But the way it is now, I definitely hear "Golden Slumbers" as being obviously separate from the medley that precedes it.

Paul's genius took eight songs and linked them together, creating the Abbey Road medley.
You never give me your money
Sun King
Mustard
Pam
BR Window
Slumbers
Weight
THE END
[img]graemlins/eyepoke.gif[/img]
Stick that in your shmike and poke it

2 medleys for sure

I'm with the two medleys gang as well... It's always seemed like 2 medleys to me since I first heard it since there's a definite break between Bathroom Window and Golden Slumbers and it doesn't flow together the way other songs in the medley do.

There's definitely two medleys there. "You Never Give Me Your Money"/"Sun King"/"Mean Mr. Mustard"/"Her Majesty"/"Polythene Pam"/"She Came In Through The Bathroom Window" and "Golden Slumbers"/"Carry That Weight"/"The End".

This was in fact the original running order, conceived on July 30, 1969. The second medley freely flows together well, where as the first one is actually 5 different songs that were "blended" together. When "Hey Majesty" was removed, the final chord was not cut off. It became the first note for "Polythene Pam".

To be truthful, not all of these songs were recorded in medley form. On all documents from the recording sessions, these were actually the only songs recorded together:
"Sun King"/"Mean Mr. Mustard"
"Polythene Pam"/"She Came In Through The Bathroom Window"
"Golden Slumbers"/"Carry That Weight"

So it really doesn't matter if you consider Side 2 as one medley or more than one medley. The main fact is that it was a fitting way to end the recording career of the Beatles.

[size="1"][ Aug 31, 2003, 11:30 PM: Message Edited By: bearkat77 ][/size]

I would quite safely say that there are two medleys, one beginning with "You Never Give Me Yor Money" and ending with "She Came In Through The Bathroom Window", and other from "Golden Slumbers" to "The End". But the fact that there is a "You Never Give Me Your Money" reprise inside "Carry That Weight" is, to me, what puts the gel into these two sequences, blending them into just one. So I'm in the "just one medley" gang. [img]images/icons/wink.gif[/img]

just FYI: "carry that weight" and "you never give me your money" were glued together since the get back sessions.