(John Lennon, Paul McCartney)
[Bottle of Claret for you if I had realized...
Well, do it next time.
I forgot about it, George, I'm sorry.
Will you forgive me?
Yes.]
Number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9
Number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9
Number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9, number...
...then there's this Welsh Rarebit wearing some brown
underpants
...about the shortage of grain in hertfordshire
Everyone of them knew that as time went by they'd get a
little bit older and a litter slower but...
It's all the same thing, in this case manufactured by
someone who's always/umpteen ...
Your father's giving it diddly-i-dee/district was
leaving...
Intended to die ... Ottoman
...long gone through...
I've got to say, irritably and...
...floors, hard enough to put on ... per day's MD in our
district
There was not really enough light to get down
And ultimately ... slumped down
Suddenly...
They may stop the funding...
Place your bets
The original
Afraid she'll die ...
Great colours for the season
Number 9, number 9
Who's to know?
Who was to know?
Number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9
Number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9
Number 9, number 9
I sustained nothing worse than ...
Also, for example
Whatever you're doing
A business deal falls through
I informed him on the third night, when fortune gives...
People ride, people ride
Ride, ride, ride, ride, ride
Number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9
Ride! Ride!
Number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9
...I've missed all of that
It makes me a few days late
Compared with, like, wow!
And weird stuff like that...
...taking our sides sometimes
...floral bark
Rouge doctors have brought this specimen
I have nobody's short-cuts, aha...
9, number 9
...with the situation
They are standing still
The plan, the telegram...
Number 9, number...
A man without terrors from beard to false
As the headmaster reported to my son
He really can try, as they do, to find function...
Tell what he was saying, and his voice was low and his
hive high
And his eyes were low...
Alright!
It was on fire and his glasses were the same
This thing knows if it was tinted
But you know it isn't
To me it is...
Number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9
Number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9
Number 9
So the wife called me and we'd better go to see a
surgeon to price it ...
Yellow underclothes
So, any road, we went to see the dentist instead
Who gave her a pair of teeth which wasn't any good at
all
So I said I'd marry, join the f***ing navy and went to
sea
In my broken chair, my wings are broken and so is my
hair
I'm not in the mood for whirling
How? dogs for dogging, hands for clapping
Birds for birding and fish for fishing
Them for themming and when for whimming
...only to find the night-watchman unaware of his
presence in the building
Number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9, number 9
Number 9
Industry allows financial imbalance
Thrusting it between his shoulder blades
The Watusi, the twist
Eldorado
Take this, brother, may it serve you well
Maybe it's nothing
What? What? Oh...
Maybe, even then, impervious in London
...could be difficult thing...
It's quick like rush for peace is because it's so much
Like being naked
It's alright, it's alright
It's alright, it's alright
It's alright, it's alright
It's alright, it's alright
It's alright
If, you became naked
|
Lead Singer:
N/A
Recording:
6/10/68, 6/11/68, 6/20/68, 6/21/68
Mixing:
6/21/68, 6/25/68, 8/20/68, 8/26/68
Length: 8:11
Take:
Anomalies
Lewisohn, and other lyrics books
show the lyrics as "Brother can
you take me back ...". It sounds
more like "Robert, can you take
me ..." |
Also the mixer used to mix this
track has a "scratchy" pan
control. You can hear this 53 to
58 seconds after the first piano
note and at 1:27 to 1:46 after. |
3:33-3:49 * NEW *
Right, and then centre, the
rising tone and rapid gibbling
is the tape used to supply
artificial double tracking
running out, and being rewound.
This is not a sound effect tape,
or tape loop, but was left in
the mix. |
Just to settle the "What's the
chatter about a 'cheap bitch'
and a bottle of wine on Rev # 9"
question, here's the
transcription.
AT = Alistair Taylor, GM =
George Martin
AT ... bottle of claret for
you if I'd realised. I'd
forgotten all about it George,
I'm sorry.
GM Well, do next time.
AT Will you forgive me?
GM Mmm.. Yes ... [ with a smile
in his voice ]
AT Cheeky bitch! |
| *
NEW * Because so many questions
come to me about this, here's a
rendition of most of the audible
speech in Revolution Number 9.
This is my best guess, some of
it is subjective due to being
overlaid by other sounds. |
1:00
JL: "Mrs Welsh wearing a pair of
sun brown underpants" |
1:10
JL: "about the shortage of grain
in Hertfordshire. Everyone one
of them knew that as time went
by they'd get a little bit older
and a little bit slower ....
This was on the air force set
thing" |
1:20
JL: "manufacturing person who
was always umpteen types of 'umpty
dumpty ???? finders, yep ah
diddly ... Peak District was
leaving intending to pay for
..." |
1:59-2:06
GH: "Who's to know? Who's to
know?"
JL: "colours for the season.
Everybody who knew ..." |
2:16
JL: "Pakistan ... also spoken
for"
GH: "every day through the
business terms"
JL: "had informed him on the
third, and I, that unfortunately
he was" |
3:07
GH: "Every few days ..."
JL: "in a pair of brown under"
[edited away, clothes, pants?] |
3:26
GH: "local doctors that are ???
this may seem"
JL: "I have nobody's ..." |
3:46
GH: "on Eaton, with the
situation"
JL: "They are standing still"
GH: "upon a telegram from the" |
4:04
GH: "to us played it false as
the headmaster reported to"
JL: "who could tell what he was,
his voice was low and his eye
was high and his eyes were
glowing"
GH: " ... Sunday, He really ...
became a great deal ... " |
4:22
JL: "on fire, his glasses were
in t'safe, this was"
GH: "into, which enabled him to
move his" |
5:03
JL: "certain, so the wife told
him he'd better go to see a
surgeon .... or what with the
price .... yellow underclothes".
JL: "So, any road, he went to
see the dentist instead, who
gave him a pair of teeth, which
wasn't any good at all. So
instead of that he joined the
bloody navy and went to sea." |
5:37
JL: "in my broken chair, my
wings are broken and so is my
hair. I am not in the mood for
wearing" |
6:01
JL: "Dogs were dogging, cats
were catting. Birds were
birding, Fish were fishing.
Thence Pwllheli, went swimming"
[Pwllheli, pron. "per-thelly",
in Northern Wales. An odd little
poem!] |
6:18
GH: "only to find the night
watchman"
JL: "onion soup"
GH: "unaware of his presence in
the building"
[Note: JL interjects "onion
soup" at the point where GH says
"unaware". I think (speculation)
that this was some JL wordplay
on what GH was about to say. In
fact, I think you can hear GH
begin to smile, esp. through the
"presence" and "building"] |
6:34
JL: "Industrial output,
financial imbalance"
GH: "Thrusting it between his
shoulder blades"
JL: "The Watusi, The Twist"
GH: "Eldorado" |
6:54
JL: "Take this brother, may it
serve you well" |
7:04
YO: "Maybe, it's not that, it's
.... maybe, even then, expose
yourself ..." |
7:26
YO: "It's almost like being
naked" |
7:54
YO: "if ... you become naked" |
|
|
| John Lennon wrote this with contributions
from Yoko Ono. |
| This was made by layering tape loops over
the basic rhythm of "Revolution." Lennon was
trying to create an atmosphere of a revolution
in progress. |
| The tape loops came from EMI archives. The
"Number 9" voice heard over and over is an
engineer testing equipment. |
| Paul McCartney and Beatles producer George
Martin hated this and tried to keep it off the
album. |
| The longest Beatles song. It runs 8:15. It
also took longer to complete than any other
track on album. |
| The most controversial track on the album.
You have to have a very open mind to appreciate
it. |
| Lennon: "This is the music of the future." |
| This helped fuel the "Paul is dead" rumors.
If played backwards, you were supposed to hear
the car crash Paul died in, and a voice saying
"Turn me on, dead man." |
| Marilyn Manson released his own version of
this on the B-side of the single for "Get Your
Gunn." It was called "Revelation 9" and ran
12:57. (thanks, Brett - Edmonton, Canada) |
The White Album Lyrics
How many times this song has been viewed:
