It's All Too Much
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "It's All Too Much" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Song by The Beatles | ||
| From the album Yellow Submarine | ||
| Album released | January 13, 1969 (US) January 17, 1969 (UK) |
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| Recorded | May 25-May 26 and June 2 1967, | |
| Genre | Psychedelic Rock | |
| Song Length | 6 min 25 sec | |
| Record label | Apple Records | |
| Producer | George Martin | |
| Yellow Submarine Album Listing | ||
| Hey Bulldog (Track 4) | It's All Too Much (Track 5) |
All You Need is Love (Track 6) |
"It's All Too Much" is a song by The Beatles which first appeared on the 1969 Yellow Submarine film soundtrack album. It was written and sung by George Harrison. It was originally recorded in 1967, shortly before the release of the Beatles' legendary Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It had been slated to appear on the next album, Magical Mystery Tour, but it was pushed back again.
The song was recorded at De Lane Lea studios, making it one of only a very few Beatles tracks not recorded at Abbey Road Studios. Harrison and John Lennon played lead guitars on the song, and Harrison played organ. The track was edited from a twenty-five minute jam session originally put under the working title of "Too Much". This edit had had orchestral overdubs placed on it later. The full twenty-five minute version has not yet appeared on bootlegs.
Another edit, over eight minutes long and containing all of the lyrics plus a much longer ending than the eventual released versions, has never been released officially, but has been found on bootleg recordings.
The most well-known version of the song was further edited to over six minutes long and appears on the Yellow Submarine soundtrack album. The version of the song that appeared in the film itself is slightly different and contained a lyric that was cut from the album version: "Nice to have the time to take this opportunity/Time for me to look at you and you to look at me."
The song contains several lines taken from other works; the "With your long long hair and your eyes of blue" line was from The Merseys' "Sorrow", and the trumpets at many points emulate Jeremiah Clarke's "Prince of Denmark's March", also known as Trumpet Voluntary.
"It's All Too Much" has been covered by The Church, Steve Hillage, Senator Flux, Paul Gilbert, and in a heavily rewritten version by Journey.
[edit] References
- Lewisohn, Mark. The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Hamlyn, 1988. ISBN 0-681-03189-1.
