Dear Prudence is a track from the White Album, written by John Lennon during the Beatles stay in Rishikesh, India where they were learning mediation at the ashram of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The song is famously about Prudence Farrow (later known by her married name Bruns), the sister of movie star and celebrity Mia Farrow…

Happiness Is A Warm Gun is a track from the White Album written by John Lennon. The song has an unusual structure with several substantial and distinct fragments welded together, each promising in its own right, none of them repeating. The Frankenstein construction is arty, intentionally strange and strangely compelling. The performance is a great…

I Will is a track from the White Album, written by Paul McCartney. Although John Lennon and Ringo Starr appear on the recording playing percussion, George Harrison did not participate. When you listen to Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band or Abbey Road, there’s a pleasing variation in the different sounds and…

Revolution 1 is the original “unplugged” version of the song, written by John Lennon, which appears on the White Album. A faster, rockier version of Revolution was released as a single, the B-side of Hey Jude. The single version was released before, but recorded after the album version. This was the Beatles most overtly political…

Birthday is a lightweight but inoffensive and fairly rocky track from the White Album. It was composed mainly by McCartney in an abbreviated studio jam session, scheduled to allow the band to watch The Girl Can’t Help It which was being shown on TV that evening. The story of the song is well explained (with…

Martha My Dear is a track from the White Album written wholly by Paul McCartney and largely performed by McCartney with the addition of brass and strings scored by George Martin. Along with others recorded the in the first week of October 1968, the song was recorded at Trident Studios in Soho, rather than the…

Good Night is the final track on the Beatles’ double album known as the White Album. It was written by John Lennon but sung by Ringo Starr. Lennon later explained that it was a lullaby written for his then five-year-old son, Julian. It is a rather beautiful, tender and comforting song, at odds with most…

Sexy Sadie is a song from the White Album written by John Lennon. It is one of those Beatles songs with a well known story behind it. The song is about the Maharishi, the Beatles one-time guru, and Lennon’s feelings of disillusion over what he perceived as some kind of betrayal. He began writing it…

Cry Baby Cry is a track from the White Album. Written by Lennon it was inspired by the wording of an advert, but draws on imagery from a nursery rhyme (sing-a-song of sixpence) and, if I am not mistaken, Alice In Wonderland. Lewis Carroll’s Alice novels were a longstanding enthusiasm for Lennon and had already…