Flying: Introduction
“Flying” is a Beatles’ instrumental piece that is on their “Magical Mystery Tour” album from 1967. Obviously, in the UK, this was originally on their double EP release. However, the album version became standard after the CD release in the 1980s.
In Detail
- Release Date: November 27, 1967
- Recorded: September 8 and 28, 1967
- Studio: EMI Studios, London
- Genre: Instrumental rock, space rock
- Track Duration: 2:17
- Record Label: Parlophone
- Songwriters: Harrison/Lennon-McCartney/Starkey
- Producer: George Martin
- Engineers: Geoff Emerick, Ken Scott
Performers And Instruments
- John Lennon: wordless vocals, mellotron, Hammond organ, sound effects
- Paul McCartney: wordless vocals, bass, guitar
- George Harrison: wordless vocals, guitar
- Ringo Starr: wordless vocals, drums, maracas, sound effects
Where To Find “Flying”
You can still buy this song on the following album:
Flying: Background
The last time that The Beatles recorded an instrumental track was in November 1965, with “12-Bar Original.” Then, all four band members took credit for that track. And, just like that instrumental, Harrison/Lennon-McCartney/Starkey also take credit for “Flying.” In fact, they based this track on the classic twelve-bar blues chord progression too.
Although the track is an instrumental, it does feature “non-lexical vocables” or “wordless vocals.” Non-lexical vocables come in the form of utterances, for example, “la la la,” “na na na” or “da da da.” In this case, the “wordless vocals” appear in the middle of the track. They recorded the piece as incidental music for the 1967 film “Magical Mystery Tour.”
“Flying was an instrumental that we needed for Magical Mystery Tour so in the studio one night I suggested to the guys that we made something up. I said, ‘We can keep it very very simple, we can make it a twelve-bar blues. We need a little bit of a theme and a little bit of a backing.’ I wrote the melody.
The only thing to warrant it as a song is basically the melody, otherwise, it’s just a nice twelve-bar backing thing. It’s played on the mellotron, on a trombone setting, [and] it’s credited to all four, which is how you would credit a non-song.”
Paul McCartney
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
Recording Studio
The Beatles began recording the track “Flying” on September 8, 1967, in Studio Three of the EMI Studios, London, during the 7.00 p.m.–2.45 a.m. session. There were 6 takes, and the last of those became the master track, over which the band members overdubbed their “wordless vocals” as well as other instrumentation.
On September 28, there were more additions to the master track, for example, John Lennon’s Mellotron piece and Harrison’s guitar piece. As well as adding more of Ringo Starr’s percussion instruments, they added tape loops, sound effects, and backward recordings.
Due to the tape loops, the track became 9 minutes and 38 seconds long. So, with ruthless editing, the track eventually became 2 minutes and 17 seconds long. There’s also a different version of this instrumental on the bootleg album, “Back-track 1.”
Take A Listen
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