Taxman Lyrics



Harrison


Let me tell you how it will be
There's one for you, nineteen for me
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

Should five per cent appear too small
Be thankful I don't take it all
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah I'm the taxman

If you drive a car, I'll tax the street,
If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat.
If you get too cold I'll tax the heat,
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet.

Don't ask me what I want it for
If you don't want to pay some more
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman

Now my advice for those who die
Declare the pennies on your eyes
'Cause I'm the taxman, yeah, I'm the taxman
And you're working for no one but me.

 
Lead Singer: George

Recording: 4/20/66, 4/21/66, 4/22/66, 5/16/66
Mixing: 4/27/66, 5/16/66, 6/21/66
Length: 2:36
Take: 12

Anomalies

0:03
Left channel, " for you 19 for me 1-2-3-fooow". Right channel - various backward guitar notes (tape being wiped across tape head?), a little forward scale up the guitar, Centre "channel" - wunn twooo threee fourrr <cough> wunn twooo
Seems to be some confusion over the above anomaly, so I've split it into three channels. The left channel is the only one I consider to be "an anomaly" due to the background speech.
Dennis: "Well, if you listen carefully, you'll realise that the first sounds (that you consider to be "There's one for you ...") are really some guitar notes played backwards. Not only it makes more sense, but also on the Hal Leonard Revolver ... transcription they write down the exact notes ..."
If you listen to the left channel, not the right, you might actually pick out the correct sounds here :) Those guitar notes are on the right channel. Oopsey.
0:35-0:35,0:40-0:43
Right channel drops out, taking with it the tambourine.
0:47
Right channel, "Whoosh" before cowbell hit. "Must have been swinging that cowbell stick with a lot of enthusiasm" (Mike Borman)
1:29
Early entrance of guitar (one or two notes of solo from 1:33) - seems to fade in from 1:32 to 1:33, so maybe it started a bar earlier on tape!
1:38,1:45
"Ah ah Mr Wilson/Heath" dropped into lead guitar track (!) with audible clicks
2:24
The last "no-one but/me" sounds as if edited from another take
George Harrison wrote this. The music was inspired by the theme song for the popular 1960s TV series Batman. George loved the show. (thanks, Brett - Edmonton, Canada)
This was the first track on Revolver. It was the first song Harrison wrote that was given such prominent position, indicating that he was capable of writing songs as good as Lennon and McCartney's.
This is a bitter song about how much money The Beatles were paying in taxes. People with high earnings pay exorbitant taxes in England. Many successful entertainers leave the country so they can keep more of their money. As a result, The Beatles - as well as The Who and The Rolling Stones - spent a lot of time in America and other parts of Europe as "tax exiles."
Harrison: "Taxman was when I first realized that even though we had started earning money, we were actually giving most of it away in taxes."
"Mr. Wilson" and "Mr. Heath" are mentioned in the lyrics. They are British Prime Ministers Harold Wilson and Edward Heath, who were being scorned in the song for contributing to English tax laws.
Revolver is the only album on which Harrison has 3 songs. On all the others he only has 2 or less. On The White Album he had 4, but it was a double album so he was only allotted his usual one track per-side. (thanks, Adrian - Wilmington, DE)
The fade-out ending is a reprise of the guitar solo as all completed takes of the song ended with John and Paul singing "Taxman!" (thanks, Brad Wind - Miami, FL)
There's always been a lot of confusion over who played lead guitar on this, but Harrison set the record straight in his 1977 Crawdaddy interview: "I helped out such a lot in all the arrangements. There were a lot of tracks though where I played bass. Paul played lead guitar on 'Taxman,' and he played guitar-- a good part-- on 'Drive My Car." (thanks, Adrian - Wilmington, DE)
In 2002, H&R Block used this in commercials for their tax preparation service. The ads aired shortly after Harrison died.

 
Revolver Lyrics   

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