Revolution 9: Introduction

“Revolution 9” is the longest track that The Beatles ever released, at over eight minutes in length. Moreover, it is largely an instrumental track with a scattering of tape loops, sound effects, and speech. This track is on their self-titled “White Album.”

This information page refers to the sound collage by John Lennon. There are two other Beatles tracks that have “revolution” in the title. For the hard rock version (Revolution), click here, and for the softer bluesy version (Revolution 1), click here.

In Detail (Revolution 9)

Release Date: November 22, 1968 (UK), November 25, 1968 (US)
Recorded: May 30 & 6th, June 6, 10, 11, 20, & 21, 1968
Studio: EMI Studios, London
Genre: Sound collage experimental, avant-garde, musique concrète
Track Duration: 8:22
Record Label: Apple
Songwriters: Lennon-McCartney
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Geoff Emerick

Performers And Instruments

John Lennon: spoken vocals, tape loops, sound effects, piano, mellotron, cymbals, electric guitar, screaming, mumbling
George Harrison: spoken vocals, tape loops, sound effects, also the electric guitar
George Martin: spoken vocals

Other Performers

Yoko Ono: spoken vocals, tape loops, and some sound effects
Alistair Taylor: spoken vocals
Unidentified EMI engineer: spoken vocals

** Although the track was a John Lennon “work of art”, he did allow a small input by others at the studios. In fact, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr performed on the extended “Revolution” coda and some of their input appears intermittently.

Where To Find “Revolution 9”

Beatles (White Album) (1968)

Revolution 9: Background

In short, this track is a John Lennon creation with a little help from George Harrison, George Martin, Yoko Ono and a couple of others. The musical/sound collage is a masterpiece in itself, where John Lennon was trying to paint a picture of a revolution using only sounds.

John Lennon insisted that the unused, extended “Revolution 1” coda was not going to waste. So, on this, he overdubbed various sound effects, vocals, short tape loops of speech and other musical performances. Many of the sounds implanted on the coda were further manipulations themselves. For example, some sounds had an echo effect while others underwent distortion, stereo panning, fading, etc.

“The slow version of Revolution on the album went on and on and on and I took the fade-out part, which is what they sometimes do with disco records now, and just layered all this stuff over it. It was the basic rhythm of the original Revolution going on with some 20 loops we put on, things from the archives of EMI.”
John Lennon
All We Are Saying, David Sheff

Although it might seem that John Lennon’s Revolution 9 is a unique Beatles track, it isn’t. Indeed, over a year before, Paul McCartney’s “Carnival of Light” was also a musical collage. At the time of writing (2018), this 14-minute piece remains unreleased.

Recording Studio

While Paul McCartney was away from EMI Studios, John Lennon began putting together his “work of art.” However, this could not happen until Revolution 1 (recorded on May 30, 1968) became a conventional song first. This is because that song lasted for ten minutes, with the last six minutes being Lennon screaming “alright” and Yoko Ono talking gibberish together with pure musical chaos.

Once Revolution became a conventional Beatles’ song, Lennon was able to go to work on the coda part. So, on June 6, 1968, Lennon began his preparation by gathering together the necessary sound effects. He continued to work with the tapes on the 10th and 11th of June.

On June 20, Lennon, using tape machines from all three studios, began mixing the sound.

“We were cutting up classical music and making different-size loops, and then I got an engineer tape on which some test engineer was saying, ‘Number nine, number nine, number nine’. All those different bits of sound and noises are all compiled. There were about ten machines with people holding pencils on the loops—some only inches long and some a yard long. I fed them all in and mixed them live.”
John Lennon
All We Are Saying, David Sheff

Further overdubbing occurred on the 21st of June to finalise the track. But, around the 5:11 mark, listen out for the tape machine rewinding when the tape system fails. Obviously, that didn’t matter too much, as it was just another unique sound in the collage!

The Sounds

Without doubt, everyone hearing “Revolution 9” will recall the repetitive “Number 9” panning from left to right most. However, there is so much going on that individual people notice that some sounds are more pronounced than others. Indeed, there’s always someone who remembers something from the musical collage that other’s don’t!

You can also hear other random speech quotes, such as Yoko Ono’s “You become naked.” But other words become clear as well, like “Eldorado” (Harrison), “Industrial output, financial imbalance,” “The Watusi,” and “The Twist,” all from Lennon. Then there is the memorable “Take this brother, may it serve you well,” also from Lennon.

In the 1960s, there was a rumour that Paul McCartney had died. The repetitive “Number 9” poured more fuel on the fire because, when played backwards, it sounds like “turn me on, dead man.” Information about the “Paul is Dead” hoax is here.

Reception

Obviously, there was much debate when Revolution 9 found it’s way onto the Beatles “White Album.” While some band members disagreed with the track’s inclusion on the double album, John Lennon insisted that the track should be part of it.

Critics from both sides had a lot to say when they heard it, of course. After all, this was The Beatles, the best band on Earth, and here was a mishmash of sound that made no sense to most people. The Beatles Fan Club remains impartial and always leaves it up to the members to have their say. So, what do you think about this track?

Take A Listen To “Revolution 9.”

For those new to The Beatles, prepare yourself, because this is not a conventional song. Of course, there are many Beatles fans who skip this track because of that. However, take a listen, and regardless of whether you love or loath it, leave your comments below.