The Beatles She Said She Said Mystery

Inside The Beatles recording session mystery for "She Said She Said"

[stevelang]

Great analysis of this tune. The recent Get Back film was so fascinating, showing the creative dynamic in the group and the way the personalities interacted. It would be great to have similar footage at the Revolver sessions!

[craigwarner]

I think you're spot on mate. Quite sad as well that Paul couldn't let George take any kind of control or credit even on 1 song. My god Paul was a powerhouse of writing recording playing but my goodness he was a control freak. I love Paul but I do believe he was fearful of George taking his limelight and credit and more evidenced by the unreleased tape of them discussing their career and where they might go after abbey road and Paul blatantly says he doesn't think George's songs have been any good ask the way through until something and here comes the sun. I mean did he not recognise the giant that was While My Guitar Gently Weeps? P.S. I'm enjoying your latest round of videos, good to see you back with a vengeance

[roygoad]

I think more reasons Paul wasn’t involved in most of the recording sessions for the song was the fact he didn’t take acid in the five days August 23rd to 28th 1965, staying in Zsa Zsa Gabors house in Los Angeles, John and George became very close during this time, Ringo took acid too but not as much as John and George. So when came the opportunity to record the song Paul still felt left out as he didn’t take acid until December 1965. Also George had his own arrangements put onto She Said She Said as the song had to be completed that same day, plus Paul left earlier as they had to get ready to go to Germany. So I think there was a definite rift between the guys around this time because of Paul’s reluctance to take acid!

[pedromarques]

I have two possible explanations for the supposed rift between John and Paul: Paul may have been jealous of John and George's cooperation in writing the song and so he left; or else, the argument was due to the fact that Paul wanted to veto the song. From what I've read, he didn't liked She Said She Said very much.

[chrismcgovern]

Your theory makes complete sense! Makes much better sense than "We must've had a barney or something"

[BrianR]

Makes me wish I'd been a fly on the wall during the CRY FOR A SHADOW session. Maybe Paul never got over that.

[TheThaggs]

I share your fascination with this recording. Great job breaking it down.

[pkgannon]

Good work Brian. I've heard 99% of all of this and read the same things before. The one odd thing is in the movie, they must've edited that conversation with the mic in the flower pot.. because they don't mention "She Said She Said" in the sentence you are referencing but it is in the book. i.e. We know Paul was at the session and apparently having what appears to be a good time on the backing track. At some point he likely added his two cents to the arrangement or lyrics and John probably got pissed off about any change that was already worked out by him and George and likely had some back and forth exchanges about it and and Paul finally said "fine... f*** you, I've already played my bass part" and left. And John said, "fine we'll finish it". From the backing track that Paul is recorded on, the bass doesn't sound all that different than the final mix so I too believe he played on it. His recollection that he didn't play on it is likely clouded from the argument. It is very, very unlikely at that late stage of the recording (all in 1 night btw) that George is going to hop on a jazz bass and learn / play the song. Sure, if he had days to work on it but not on the same night. I'm sure they used what Paul already played.

[sebastianmaharg]

Paul said it was one of his favorite Beatles songs in a 1980 interview.

[daytripper]

I definitely think it's Harrison on bass. I also believe that it should have been credited to Lennon/ Harrison. Finally George spoke up and McCartney couldn't take it. Even back in the day I had always wondered why I didn't hear McCartney at the fade out of the song but definitely did hear George. You did a fantastic job gathering up all this information. I think now we can put this one to But I somehow doubt it 😉

[jpgr]

I think your basically right. Being the good friends that they were, I think PAUL was picked on by not doing LSD and George and John working on the song together equals PAUL getting pissed and leaving. Thanks for the video. 👍

[philharding]

Solid theory. I think Paul really didn't like the 'response' guitar licks George would insert mimicking the vocal line. He vetoed them in Hey Jude and George does them in She Said as well. If only we had some 'Get Back' style session footage!

[maccadamn]

I think a missing point that backs up your argument is Lennon's Playboy interview where he talks about how hurt he was that Paul when he was composing Eleanor Rigby openly asked everyone else for ideas for the song. John possibly thought he'd give Paul a taste of his own medicine.

[denniswood]

Yet another great presentation Brian! Why John actually wrote "She Said She Said" is also interesting as the recording of it. The Beatles were in LA with the Byrds and Peter Fonda. Peter kept saying "I know what it's like to be dead" as his heart stopped on the operating table for a while during surgery. John was getting freaked out and he replied, "you're making me feel like I've never been born."

[felixlusash]

How you can pluck a small moment like this and make it interesting is really great! I always learn a lot from your videos

[EricSchultz-zshz]

I like your commentaries. It probably was pretty much as you and the books you quoted from describe. I agree that it was no big deal that they occasionally fought. It wasn't until the "White Album" sessions that they truly got bitter toward each other. Interesting off-topic note: Part of the "Paul is dead" conspiracy theory is based on Paul leaving a session in anger. The main fault in that story is that the date of November 9 is usually given. After the final "Revolver" session in mid-June, 1966, the Beatles did not go into the studio again until late November (about the 24th), so that whole story is off and untrue.

[sharonevans]

You are right about the Get Back sessions, in the book that was sold separately that conversation is on page 104 of the book. They had been talking about the way Paul wanted to control the way some songs were arranged. John said my only chance was to let George take over. Very interesting topic and video. Thanks for sharing this info. Take care!

[alicmodder]

I heard somewhere the fight was actually during the mixing rather than the recording. Don't remember where, though. Good connecting the dots on what led to the squabble, either way.

[wilsonhenson]

I've been wondering about this for years and this makes the most sense... thanks for posting this!

[TigerRogers]

Great video!! I like your referencing of different articles on "She Said She Said". It's obvious that Paul was on a very early take of the song, as you can clearly here his voice in the chatter. However, i firmly believe that he left early in the session. I firmly believe that it is George playing bass on the released recording. It does not sound like Paul's bass work to me. And why would Paul say he didn't play bass - when he clearly does not normally give credit to someone else playing his parts (think Wings). One thing i think you're spot on about is George taking control of the session, when John was a bit lost with what he wanted. I think this song is clearly a 50/50 George & John composition - & should have been credited "Lennon/Harrison".