I Want You (She's So Heavy)

Composition

Lennon wrote the song about his love for Yoko Ono. It begins in time, with an arpeggio guitar theme in D minor, progressing through E7(9) and B7 before cadencing on an A augmented chord. In this chord sequence, the F note is a drone. The bass and lead guitar ascend and descend with a riff derived from the D minor scale. As the last chord fades, a verse begins in time, based on the A and D blues scales, with Lennon singing "I want you / I want you so bad ..." The two blues verses alternate, before the reappearance of the E7(9) chord, and McCartney playing an aggressive bass riff which functions as a transition to the main theme throughout the song. The main theme repeats with Lennon singing "She's so heavy", with a long sustain on the last word.

The second set of verses are rendered instrumentally, with lead guitar reprising the melody. Another repeat of the "She's So Heavy" theme (this time featuring harmonies) is followed by Lennon singing a livelier repeat of the "I Want You" verse. During the next E7(9) transition, Lennon screams "Yeah", until his voice breaks. The song's coda consists of a three-minute repetition of the "She's So Heavy" theme, with the arpeggios double-tracked, intensifying with white noise generated by a Moog synthesizer played by Lennon fading in as the theme continues with multi-tracked guitars from Lennon and George Harrison and drums and bass guitar from Ringo Starr and McCartney respectively. In the middle of the 15th repetition of the theme, the song abruptly ends.

Recording

The song, initially titled "I Want You", was rehearsed several times during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions, the first occasion being on 29 January 1969 at Apple Records. The basic track, and Lennon's guide vocal (which is used in the master), were recorded at Trident Studios on 22 February, shortly after shooting for the Let It Be film ended. Lennon played the lead guitar, as Harrison stated:

Lennon and Harrison overdubbed multi-tracked heavy guitars on 18 April 1969. Billy Preston's Hammond organ and Ringo Starr's congas were added on 20 April 1969. "I Want You" received the "She's So Heavy" vocals on 11 August, and thus the title became "I Want You (She's So Heavy)". "'She's So Heavy' was about Yoko," Lennon told Rolling Stone. "When you're drowning, you don't say, 'I would be incredibly pleased if someone would have the foresight to notice me drowning and come and help me.' You just scream."

Three takes from 22 February were edited into a master (second generation), which was overdubbed, mixed down on 18 April (third generation), and overdubbed on 18 April, 20 April, 8 August and 11 August. Different overdubs were made to the second generation tape on 8 August. The mix is the third generation for 4:37 and then the second generation tape, which has white noise produced by the Moog synthesiser played by Lennon, and additional drums added on 8 August. The final overdub session for "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", which included the final mixing and editing, was the last occasion when all four Beatles worked in the studio together.

The final master lasted 8:04, but Lennon decided on a surprise ending. During the final edit, with the guitars, drums and white noise climaxing, he told recording engineer Geoff Emerick, who had assumed that he "would be doing a fade out", to "cut it right there" at the 7:44 mark, bringing the song (and side one of Abbey Road) to an abrupt end.

On the Beatles' 2006 remix album Love, the three-minute guitar coda from "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" is attached to "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!", and snippets of that song and "Helter Skelter" are mixed in with the repeated guitar riff. The abrupt ending of the original is retained, but it cuts to wind-like white noise, not to silence as on the original. The mix also included the organ solo and the guitar solo from the Trident studio outtake.

Influence and legacy

Pitchforks Jillian Mapes describes "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" as a song in which Lennon "predates heavy-metal transcendence". In 2015, Josh Hart and Damian Fanelli, writing for Guitar World, placed it 34th in their list of the "50 Heaviest Songs Before Black Sabbath", and called the track a "bluesy rocker" that "might have inadvertently started doom metal".

Jo Kendall of Classic Rock magazine similarly states that "I Want You" predated "Black Sabbath's creation of doom rock by several months" and comments on its "Santana-like Latin blues section". James Manning of Time Out London recognises the song as the foundation for stoner rock.

The song is featured in the film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band during the scene where Big Deal Records president B.D. Hoffler (Donald Pleasence) negotiates the contract with the band over a sex-and-drug-induced dinner. It also features in the film Across the Universe, with a recruitment poster of Uncle Sam singing the opening lyrics.

The abrupt ending of Dream Theater's song "Pull Me Under" was inspired by the Beatles song.

The song's title was used for an episode of The Simpsons in 2019.

Personnel

Personnel per Ian MacDonald.

• John Lennonlead and harmony vocals, electric lead guitar, Moog synthesiser
• Paul McCartneyharmony vocals, bass guitar
• George Harrisonharmony vocals, electric rhythm guitar
• Ringo Starrdrums, congas, wind machine
• Billy PrestonHammond organ
• Unknownpiano, claves

References

Other sources

References

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6. "Alan W. Pollack's Notes on "I Want You (She's So Heavy)"".
7. "George Harrison interview with Ritchie Yorke, September, 1969". Ottawa Beatles Site.
8. Everett, Walter. (1992). "Voice Leading and Harmony as Expressive Devices in the Early Music of the Beatles: 'She Loves You'". College Music Symposium.
9. Deezen, Eddie. (20 May 2011). "The Final Days of The Beatles". Mental Floss.
10. ""I Want You (She's So Heavy)" song by The Beatles. The in-depth story behind the songs of The Beatles. Recording History. Songwriting History. Song Structure and Style.".
11. Willman, Chris. (26 December 2006). "peace".
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