Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey: Introduction
“Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey” is a Beatles’ song from their 1968 “White Album.”
In Detail
- Publisher: Northern Songs
- Release Date: November 22, 1968
- Recorded: June 26 & 27 and July 1 & 23, 1968
- Genre: Hard rock
- Track Duration: 2:24
- Record Label: Apple
- Songwriters: Lennon-McCartney
- Producer: George Martin
- Engineers: Geoff Emerick, Ken Scott
Performers And Instruments
- John Lennon: lead vocals, rhythm guitar, percussion, handclaps
- Paul McCartney: backing vocals, bass guitar, bell, percussion, handclaps
- George Harrison: backing vocals, lead guitar, percussion, handclaps
- Ringo Starr: drums, percussion, handclaps
Where To Find “Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey”
It is still possible to buy this song on the following album:
Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey: Background
Written by John Lennon but credited to the Lennon-McCartney partnership, this is The Beatles’ longest individual song title. Although the title of the song seems strange, it was about the new love of his life. Indeed, Lennon tries to explain it:
“That was just a sort of nice line that I made into a song. It was about me and Yoko. Everybody seemed to be paranoid except for us two, who were in the glow of love. Everything is clear and open when you’re in love.
Everybody was sort of tense around us: You know, ‘What is she doing here at the session? Why is she with him?’ All this sort of madness is going on around us because we just happened to want to be together all the time.”
John Lennon
All We Are Saying, David Sheff
Drug Connection?
Without doubt, many songs in the 1960s made references to drugs. Some were blatantly obvious, while others were more subtle. There was a suggestion that this song was also about drugs. For example, the title itself is rather cryptic, with “monkey” having a connection to heroin in those days. Then there was the lyric, “The deeper you go, the higher you fly.”
Although John Lennon and Yoko did use heroin, Lennon himself would not admit to a link. Neither would the rest of the band members, with McCartney saying, “It was a harder terminology, which the rest of us weren’t into.” So, we may never know if there was a connection to drugs in this song.
Recording Studio
The Beatles began rehearsing the song on June 26, 1968, in Studio Two at the EMI Studios in London, but the tapes were still recording. They started to record the song properly the next day in the same studio, during the 5:00 p.m.–3:45 a.m. session. They recorded 6 takes, with the last of those being suitable as the master track.
With various tweaks and overdubs on the 1st and 23rd of July, the song was complete. This hard-rock song graces the “White Album” after the quiet “Mother Nature’s Son” and before “Sexy Sadie.”
Take A Listen
So, what do you think about this song?