Revolution 9

The Beatles have personally cited many influences that have contributed to individual songs they have written. Smokey Robinson is high on their list (inspiring "All I've Got To Do "), while nods have also been given to Bob Dylan ("You've Got To Hide Your Love Away "), The Byrds, ("If I Needed Someone "), Elvis Presley ("Run For Your Life "), Little Richard ("I'm Down ") and Chuck Berry ("Back In The U.S.S.R .") as well as many, many others. It appears that The Beatles could draw from any and every musical inspiration that might come their way. But how about avant-garde musical inspirations? Karlheinz Stockhausen was a German avant-garde composer who did much in spearheading the use of scores and recordings utilizing aleatory (controlled chance) sound-events, described by many as “musique concrete.” Paul, and then John, became enamoured with his work, which began to fuel their hunger for being as creative in the recording studio as possible. This led to Stockhausen's face being among the crowd on the front cover of their “Sgt. Pepper ” album as well as the McCartney instigated “Carnival Of Light” recording The Beatles made on January 5th, 1967 (which is yet to be released). Even George delved into this type of music, creating the experimental track "Dream Scape" for his "Wonderwall Music" soundtrack. In mid-1968, having just began his romantic / spiritual / artistic relationship with avant-garde artist Yoko Ono just two weeks prior (and undoubtedly wanting to impress), Lennon decided to up the ante and create what he considered the ultimate experiment in random electronic sound, namely “Revolution 9.” From this quote it can easily be surmised that “Revolution 9” was written, you might say, in the recording studio by compiling tapes to use for tape loops as well as recording additional pieces to be mixed along with the last six minutes of the previously recorded “Revolution 1 .” Therefore, the true history of the song's writing will be contained in the subheading “Recording History.” However, John had indicated in interviews that he previously did have the intention to assemble a montage such as “Revolution 9” and that it wasn't just an afterthought once “Revolution 1 ” was recorded. “It was somewhat under her influence, I suppose,” Lennon stated in reference to Yoko Ono. “Once I heard her stuff – not just the screeching and the howling but her sort of word pieces and talking and breathing and all this strange stuff, I thought, 'My God.' I got intrigued, so I wanted to do one.” Yoko had performed various times with composer and artist John Cage , who was known for his unconventional experimentation with musical sounds. Yoko was also part of the New York group Fluxus, who played a large part in the development of this type of music from the early 60's onward. So her influence, along with the works of Karlheinz Stockhausen (his composition “Hymnen” is cited by some as a direct influence although no recording of this was made until 1969), appears to have been the inspiration for “Revolution 9.” However, John's idea for creating such a montage may have come from yet another source, although he never admitted it publicly. “'Revolution 9' was quite similar to some stuff I'd been doing myself for fun,” relates Paul in the book “Beatles Anthology,” adding: “I didn't think that mine was suitable for release, but John always encouraged me.” Paul had become intrigued with the works of Stockhausen, as well as others of the experimental genre, as far back as 1965, this leading him to create home-made recordings put together with various tape loops. These “little symphonies” (as they are referred to in McCartney's book “ Many Years From Now ”) were the primary catalyst for Paul's studio ideas used on “Tomorrow Never Knows ” from The Beatles' “Revolver ” album, which was the first time The Beatles used tape loops on a recording. “People tend to credit John with the backwards recordings, the loops and the weird sound effects, but the tape l