Long, Long, Long, written by George Harrison is track on the White Album.
For me it’s an interesting example to think about. I think (and my feelings have probably changed a bit since I did the initial ranking) that it is a beautiful song and a very good but flawed record; the distinction between the song, the arrangement and the specific recording and even mastering become quite important raising distinctions that I haven’t always needed to consider up until this point.
The Beatles BibleThe spiritual heart of the White Album, ‘Long, Long, Long’ provided a moment of calm between the raucous ‘Helter Skelter’ and the politically-charged ‘Revolution 1’.
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WikipediaAs the Beatles Bible article explains, quoting Harrison’s autobiography:
The ‘you’ in ‘Long, Long, Long’ is God.
Viewed in that light, the simple lyrics take on a new significance, and are very well judged. If you are dealing with the almighty or the infinite, fancy or clever words could just be godsplaining to the omniscient. With Long, long, long, there’s a straightforward sincerity and humility that cuts through compared to Love You To, Old Brown Shoe or even Within You Without You, and because the words could be applied to a human relationship, the sentiment seem authentic and accessible.
So although they are not long or complex, I think these maybe among George’s strongest lyrics on a spiritual theme, certainly as a Beatle. There’s some similarity to the more explicit My Sweet Lord which was written not long after Long, Long Long.
The music is also beautiful without being excessively complex, spiritual without being completely otherworldly.
The basic arrangement is really well thought through with a initially quiet organ and subtle bass, and gentle acoustic guitar part leading into a crescendo of thundering drums and ending with the intensity and destructive force of a neutron star collapsing into a black hole.
But, for me, somehow the recording, the mix, the mastering has not quite brought out the full potential of the ideas. If you love the song as it is, you may not want to read the next part, as it points out some issues that are hard to unhear once you spot them.
Some technical issues which slightly mar the sound of Long, Long, Long
I remember the first time I heard it (which must have been on vinyl) this song was initially so quiet, I genuinely thought the record-player had broken. I think this also continued with some more recent digital versions (perhaps CDs or ripped from CDs). The tone was also very dark and muffled, to the point where it sounded strange next to other tracks on the album. These are really issues with mastering – which is all about making different tracks have the necessary loudness and tone to sit alongside other music in a particular format. In this case, I suspect that the decisions were very deliberate, but just – in my view – rather too extreme. With more recent versions I imagine the loudness and tone have been evened out a bit, but it is hard to be sure as streaming services intervene to correct loudness (which also affects our perception of tone). Come to think of it, I may have been listening to the album more quietly than the Beatles intended; engineers tend to mix and master for higher listening levels, but day-to-day I’ve always listened at comfortable mid-level.
There are a couple of other technical points that undermine my enjoyment a bit. The vocal is double-tracked (which may not have been best for this particular very personal song) but the match between the tracks is not as precise here as it is on many Beatles records and it’s a bit of a distraction. I also noticed that the lovely pure organ sound used in the first verse is less pure later in the song – it sounds as if the Leslie speaker has been engaged; it can sound nice when it brings additional intensity to churchy or gospel music (or in rock), but here it just sounds like mild fluttery distortion and again it’s a bit of a distraction.
Overall, I think this may be another example of a song that is a bit too far down in my ranking. It’s a very special song which is certainly one of the better ones on the White Album, although to me aspects of the mixing and mastering mean that it is not the best recording. Almost everything you hear was doubtless done deliberately. For instance, at one point they intentionally re-recorded the sound of a wine bottle, on top of a Leslie speaker, vibrating in sympathy with a deep organ note – this forms part of the crashing destruction at the end of the song. Three of the Beatles (Harrison, Starr and McCartney) spent many hours recording dozens of takes, while Lennon was not involved. I suspect the Beatles were telling the engineers to mix and master the song in the extreme way, intentionally maximizing the contrast between loud and quiet. Perhaps they pushed too far. This was a phase where – partly because multiple sessions were running in parallel, George Martin had become less hands-on, and that may have made a difference to the outcome.
For whatever reason, though Long, Long, Long is potentially a truly sublime song, as a recording on the White Album it is not quite at the level of quality seen consistently on Sgt Pepper or Abbey Road. And that’s a shame, because it deserves it.