Come Together

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Overview

Background

Pattern analysis

Recording

Mix variants & recording techniques

Documented mix variants

• 1969 UK stereo LP Abbey Road (26 September 1969, Apple [Parlophone] PCS 7088, stereo only) — Released master = remix stereo 1 of 7 August 1969, made in the Studio Two control room 2.30–6.00pm by P: George Martin, E: Geoff Emerick / Phil McDonald, 2E: John Kurlander. Ten stereo remixes were attempted from take 9; the FIRST was marked “best” (Lewisohn 1988, p. 185, quoted directly: “Stereo remixing of ‘Come Together’ in studio two (ten versions, the first being ‘best’)”). Abbey Road was issued stereo-only — the post-Pepper EMI stereo-mandate had hardened by 1969 and no dedicated mono LP master was prepared.
• 1969 UK single Apple [Parlophone] R 5814 (31 October 1969, double A-side Something / Come Together) — The same remix stereo 1 of 7 August 1969 was used; no dedicated single mix exists. The single release post-dates the LP by five weeks and was instigated by Allen Klein, Apple’s new business manager: “It was Allen Klein, the new business manager at Apple, who instigated the release of ‘Something’, to spur George’s career in giving him his first A-side, to bring in extra money and — Klein being an American — simply to do things the American way” (Lewisohn 1988, p. 193, quoted directly). Chart peak per Lewisohn p. 193: #3 UK / #1 US (the single sold over two million copies worldwide).
• 1969 US stereo LP Abbey Road (1 October 1969, Apple / Capitol SO 383) — Stereo only; US release pressed from the same 7 August stereo master forwarded to Capitol.
• Anthology 3 (28 October 1996, Apple) — Post-Lewisohn release. Anthology 3’s Come Together track is a separate take from the 1969 sessions, presented in the compilation’s liner notes; per §1 less-specific-when-uncertain (Lewisohn 1988 predates Anthology 3 by eight years), this entry flags the variant without making claims beyond what the compilation’s own documentation establishes.
• 2019 Abbey Road 50th-anniversary remix (27 September 2019, Apple) — Giles Martin and Sam Okell stereo remix from the multitracks. Post-Lewisohn; documented in album liner notes rather than in the primary-source canon; flagged here for completeness.

Recording techniques

• 21 July 1969 — first session, 8 takes basic track, Studer J-37 four-track — Studio Three, 2.30–9.30pm. P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick / Phil McDonald. 2E: John Kurlander. Recording: ‘Come Together’ (takes 1–8). Then Studio Two control room, 9.30–10.00pm: Tape copying: ‘Come Together’ (of take 6, called take 9) (Lewisohn 1988, p. 181). Per Kehew & Ryan 2006 (A Closer Look: 21 July 1969, printed p. 524), the backing track was recorded on “one of the older Studer J-37 four-track machines, the only other multi-track machine available at the studio” — the studio’s two 3M M23 eight-tracks were both already in use on other sessions. After the chosen take was committed, “the four-track tape was transferred to the 3M eight-track machine for more work” in the Studio Two control room (K/R p. 524, quoted directly).
• Source conflict per §1 — which take was the “best”? Lewisohn’s 21 July session log (p. 181) explicitly records the tape-copy as “of take 6, called take 9.” Kehew & Ryan p. 524 instead states: “After determining that Take 8 had been the best, the session moved to the Control Room of Studio Two, where the four-track tape was transferred to the 3M eight-track machine.” The two sources disagree on which J-37 take fed take 9. The page does not pick a side; both attributions are recorded. Lewisohn’s number is from his direct examination of the EMI session paperwork; K/R’s reading may reflect a different paperwork pass or a misreading of the session log.
• J-37 four-track basic-track layout (21 July) — Per K/R p. 524: Track 1 = Paul’s distinctive bass-line; Track 2 = George’s electric guitar (a single rhythm guitar at this stage); Track 3 = Ringo’s drums; Track 4 = John’s guide vocal, handclaps and sporadic tambourine. Lewisohn p. 181 corroborates: “There was only one guitar on the tape at this stage and that was George’s, Paul played bass and Ringo played drums. John tapped a tambourine part-way through, too” (quoted directly). Take 1, before any tape echo, “was a magnificent version, marked by a supreme Lennon vocal free of the massive tape echo which was applied later. Freed too from the restrictions of a guitar, John was able to sing while simultaneously clapping his hands (again, later applied with tape echo) immediately after each time he sang the line ‘Shoot me!’” (Lewisohn p. 181, quoted directly).
• The “Shoot me” / bass-drop arrangement — The audible “shoot” sits where the “me” falls, but Paul’s bass note hits on the same beat: “On the finished record you can really only hear the word ‘shoot’,” Emerick recalled, “the bass guitar note falls where the ‘me’ is” (Emerick via Lewisohn p. 181, quoted directly). K/R p. 524 adds the engineering corollary: “John requested that his voice be treated with repeat echo, and his handclaps at the intro of the song highlighted the effect quite nicely” (quoted directly). The repeat-echo treatment was added at mix; the take 1 dry vocal preserved on the multitrack is unprocessed.
• 22 July 1969 — lead vocal + electric piano + maracas + guitar SI — Studio Three, 2.30–9.30pm. P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick / Phil McDonald. 2E: John Kurlander. Recording: ‘Come Together’ (SI onto take 9). Lewisohn p. 181 records the SI as “a new lead vocal, electric piano, rhythm guitar and maraca onto ‘Come Together’.” K/R p. 524 adds: “John recorded a new lead vocal” on this day and Paul’s electric piano went onto Track 5: “Paul also recorded his electric piano performance to Track 5, recalling in 1984 that John was particularly pleased with it” (K/R p. 524, quoted directly). McCartney 1984 (via K/R): “Whenever [John] did praise any of us, it was great praise, indeed, because he didn’t dish it out much. If ever you got a speck of it, a crumb of it, you were quite grateful. With ‘Come Together’, for instance, he wanted a piano lick to be very swampy and smoky, and I played it that way and he liked that a lot. I was quite pleased with that” (quoted directly K/R p. 524). K/R locates the additional guitar and maracas on Track 6.
• 23 July 1969 — further guitar SI — Studio Three, 2.30–11.30pm (shared with the opening session for ‘The End’). P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick / Phil McDonald. 2E: John Kurlander. Recording: ‘Come Together’ (SI onto take 9) (Lewisohn 1988, p. 181). K/R p. 524: “The following day, Track 7 would receive yet more guitar” (quoted directly) — tracks were filling up quickly under the three-tape generation count.
• 25 July 1969 — vocal harmonies SI — Studio Two, 2.30pm–2.30am (shared with the Sun King / Mean Mr Mustard organ session and the first Polythene Pam takes). P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick / Phil McDonald. 2E: John Kurlander. Recording: ‘Come Together’ (SI onto take 9). Lewisohn p. 182 records the SI specifically as “vocal harmonies” (Lewisohn 1988, p. 182, quoted directly: “Also recorded during this session were overdubs for ‘Sun King’ / ‘Mean Mr Mustard’ (vocals, piano and organ) and for ‘Come Together’ (vocal harmonies)”). Per K/R p. 524, the harmony likely came from Paul: McCartney told the Evening Standard in 1970, “...on Abbey Road we don’t do harmonies like we used to... on ‘Come Together’, I would have liked to sing harmony with John and I think he would have liked me to, but I was too embarrassed to ask him and I don’t work to the best of my abilities in that situation!” (quoted directly K/R p. 524). K/R: “The backing vocal, though, does indeed sound very much like McCartney, and Paul was likely referring to the fact that he and John didn’t sing live harmonies like they used to, singing together around a single microphone. It is likely, therefore, that he overdubbed his backing vocal afterwards” (K/R p. 524, quoted directly).
• 29 July 1969 — middle-eight guitar SI — Studio Three, 2.30–10.45pm. P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick / Phil McDonald. 2E: John Kurlander. Recording: ‘Come Together’ (SI onto take 9). Lewisohn p. 182: “A guitar overdub for the middle part of ‘Come Together’” (quoted directly). K/R p. 524 adds that “Still more guitar work was recorded on 29 and 30 July” (quoted directly). Lewisohn p. 183 corroborates the 30 July overdub: Studio Three 3.30–10.30pm, “Recording: ‘Come Together’ (SI onto take 9)” alongside the medley overdubs, with the chapter text confirming “A session involving overdubbing of: guitars onto ‘Come Together’...” (Lewisohn 1988, p. 183, quoted directly). The 30 July session was the marathon stereo-mixing / editing pass for the first medley crossfade trial, but the further Come Together guitar work was logged inside the same booking.
• 7 August 1969 — stereo remix (the released master) — Studio Two control room, 2.30–6.00pm. P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick / Phil McDonald. 2E: John Kurlander. Stereo mixing: ‘Come Together’ (remixes 1–10, from take 9) (Lewisohn 1988, p. 185). The first remix attempt was marked “best” and became the released master: “Stereo remixing of ‘Come Together’ in studio two (ten versions, the first being ‘best’)” (Lewisohn p. 185, quoted directly). The single (R 5814, 31 October 1969) and the LP (PCS 7088, 26 September 1969) both carry this same RS1.
• Stereo only — no mono LP master — Abbey Road was issued stereo-only worldwide; the EMI stereo-mandate that had begun softly during Pepper was fully in force by Abbey Road. No dedicated mono mix of Come Together exists in the primary-source canon. Period mono airplay copies (radio promos, jukebox singles) are stereo-fold-down mixes, not separately created mono masters.
• Tape echo & the “swampy” sound — The released master’s defining sonic character — the close, blurred, slightly echoey ambience around Lennon’s vocal and Paul’s electric piano — comes from the repeat-echo applied to John’s lead vocal during the 22 July overdub and reinforced at the 7 August mix (K/R p. 524). Paul’s “swampy and smoky” piano lick (McCartney 1984 via K/R p. 524) is the harmonic anchor; the bass-and-vocal drop on each “shoot — [me]” is the rhythmic hook. Per §1, no specific outboard chain is attributed beyond what Lewisohn / K/R document — the “Leslie’d bass” lore that circulates in some secondary sources is not supported by either primary text and is not asserted here. K/R p. 524 notes: “It is not known how Paul’s bass was recorded, but subjective listening suggests a combination of direct and mic’d sound” (quoted directly).
• Microphone complement (21 July basic track) — Per K/R p. 524: Ringo’s Ludwig drums “mic’d in the same way they have been since Sgt. Pepper. D19c overhead, KM56 below the snare, D19c on hi-hat, D19c under each tom, and D20 on bass drum.” The Fender Twin Reverb amps were mic’d with Neumann U67 mics, “and the U48 is the preferred microphone for vocals” (K/R p. 524, quoted directly). Paul’s bass mic chain is not documented in either source. Tape operator John Kurlander recalled to K/R that “Yoko’s bed [was] still being in place in the corner of the room during this session” (K/R p. 524, quoted directly — Lennon had moved Yoko’s recovery bed into Studio Three during the 1 July car-accident convalescence).
• Three-tape generation count on the released master — The final stereo single carries: (1) the J-37 four-track basic from 21 July; (2) the M23 eight-track tape-copy as take 9, recorded same night in Studio Two control room; (3) the August stereo remix from take 9. Plus the intervening overdub generations on 22, 23, 25 and 29 July. Compared to the single-tape-throughout discipline of, e.g., I Am the Walrus (whose released master sits on take 17 throughout), Come Together’s released master is unusually multi-generational for a 1969 Beatles single.

Legacy & release history

Mono & stereo

• Stereo only on UK release — the band's last three LPs were mixed for stereo; no UK mono LPs were issued.

Documented alternate versions

• Anthology 3 (1996) — alternate take or demo
• 2009 Stereo Remasters — Allan Rouse / Guy Massey remaster
• Abbey Road 50th Anniversary (2019) — Giles Martin stereo remix

Released on

• Abbey Road — LP, 26 September 1969
• Something / Come Together — Single, 31 October 1969

Cross-references

Other songs sharing themes (timothy-leary-campaign, swamp-groove, opener, paul-electric-piano)

Other songs led by the same vocalist

Other songs from this era

timothy-leary-campaignswamp-grooveopenerpaul-electric-piano

Awards & recognition

Cultural appearances

Related songs