"Come Together" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The song is the opening track on the band's 1969 album Abbey Road and was also released as a double A-side single with "Something". The song reached the top of the charts in the United States and Australia but peaked at No. 4 in the United Kingdom.
In early 1969, John Lennon and his wife, Yoko Ono, held nonviolent protests against the Vietnam War, dubbed the Bed-ins for Peace. In May, during the Montreal portion of the bed-in, counterculture figures from across North America visited Lennon. Among the visitors was the American psychologist Timothy Leary, an early advocate of LSD whom Lennon admired.[4] Leary intended to run for Governor of California in the following year's election, and he asked Lennon to write him a campaign song based on the campaign's slogan, "Come Together – Join the Party!"[5] The resulting chant was only a line long: "Come together and join the party".[4] Lennon promised to finish and record the song,[4] and Leary later recalled Lennon giving him a tape of the piece, but the two did not interact again.[6]
In July 1969, during sessions for the Beatles' album Abbey Road, Lennon used the phrase "come together" from the Leary campaign song to compose a new song for the album.[7] Based on the 1956 single "You Can't Catch Me" by the American guitarist Chuck Berry,[8] Lennon's composition began as an up-tempo blues number,[9] only slightly altering Berry's original lyric of "Here come a flattop / He was movin' up with me" to "Here come ol' flattop / He come groovin' up slowly".[10][11] Lennon further incorporated the phrase "shoot me" from his unfinished and unreleased January 1969 song "Watching Rainbows".[8] The lyrics of Lennon's new song were inspired by his relationship with Ono, and he delivered them quickly, similar in style to Berry's song. The author Peter Doggett wrote that "each phrase [passes] too quickly to be understood at first hearing, the sound as important as the meaning".[11]
When Lennon presented the composition to his bandmates, his songwriting partner Paul McCartney noticed its similarity to "You Can't Catch Me" and recommended they slow it in tempo to reduce the resemblance.[9] The band biographer Jonathan Gould suggested that the song has only a single "pariah-like protagonist" and Lennon was "painting another sardonic self-portrait".[12] In a December 1987 interview by Selina Scott on the television show West 57th Street, George Harrison stated that he wrote two lines of the song.[13]
The Beatles taped the basic track for "Come Together" at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) in Studio Three on 21 July 1969, during the sessions for Abbey Road. George Martin produced the session, assisted by the balance engineersGeoff Emerick and Phil McDonald.[14] At McCartney's request, the session marked Emerick's first with the group since July 1968; Emerick had quit working with the group during sessions for their 1968 album, The Beatles (also known as "the White Album"), due to what he found a tense and negative atmosphere.[15][note 1] The song was Lennon's first new composition for the band in three months, after he and McCartney recorded "The Ballad of John and Yoko" on 14 April.[14][note 2]
The group taped eight takes of "Come Together", with take six marked "best".[14][17] The line-up consisted of Lennon singing lead vocal, McCartney on bass, George Harrison on rhythm guitar and Ringo Starr on drums.[14][18] Starr placed tea towels over his tom drums to further dampen their sound.[17] Without needing to use his hands to play guitar, Lennon added handclaps each time he sang "Shoot me!",[14] also adding tambourine over both the solo and coda.[18] Taped on 4-track recording equipment,[18] at the end of the session, take six was copied over to 8-track tape in Studio Two,[14] allowing for both overdubbing and the easy manipulation of EQ.[19]
AFender Rhodes electric piano, similar to the one McCartney plays on the recording
Overdubbing for "Come Together" took place in the week following the recording of the basic track.[20] On 22 July, Lennon sang a new lead vocal and again added handclaps, both being treated to a tape delay,[17] with automatic double tracking added during the choruses.[21] At Lennon's request, McCartney played a Fender Rhodeselectric piano,[22] with McCartney later recalling that Lennon "wanted a piano lick to be very swampy and smokey, and I played it that way and he liked that a lot".[8][note 3] Harrison added a heavily distorted guitar during the refrains,[24] while Starr added a maraca.[25] Work on the track continued the next day,[14] with more vocals added.[21] On 25 July, McCartney contributed a harmony vocal sung below Lennon's part,[26] and on 29 July, Lennon overdubbed a guitar during the song's middle climax.[27] Work on the song finished the next day,[28] with Harrison playing a lead guitar solo with a Gibson Les Paul during the song's coda.[29]
Mixing on "Come Together" was completed on 7 August in Studio Two.[21][30] Done on EMI's new solid statemixing console, the EMI TG12345, Emerick later suggested that the console's "softer and rounder" sonic texture influenced the band's performances, with "the rhythm tracks... coming back off tape a little less forcefully", the overdubs were subsequently "performed with less attitude".[31] He also suggests that, because McCartney's bass hits on the "me" of Lennon's line "Shoot me!", only "Shoot" is easily audible on the finished recording.[14] Ten stereo mixes were made during the process, with the first attempt marked "best".[30] Like the rest of Abbey Road, the song was never mixed for mono.[32]
Apple Records, the Beatles' EMI-distributed record label, released Abbey Road on 26September 1969,[33] with "Come Together" sequenced as the opening track.[34] The song was issued as a double A-side single (as Apple 2654) with Harrison's "Something" on 6October in America.[34][35] Commercially, the single was a massive success, staying on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart for 16 weeks, and reaching No. 1.[36] It was released on 31 October 1969 in the UK (as Apple R5814) and reached No. 4.
The first take of the song, recorded on 21July 1969, with slightly different lyrics, was released in 1996 on the outtake compilation Anthology 3,[18] and take five of the song was released on the Abbey Road 50th Anniversary release.
"Come Together" has frequently appeared on numerous publications' lists of the Beatles' best songs. In 2006, Mojo magazine placed it at No. 13 in their list of the Beatles' 101 best songs.[38] Four years later, Rolling Stone ranked it No. 9 on their list of the band's 100 greatest songs.[39][40] Meanwhile, Entertainment Weekly and Ultimate Classic Rock ranked it at No. 44 and No. 20, respectively.[41][42] In 2015, NME[citation needed] and Paste placed it at No. 20 and No. 23 in their respective lists of the band's best songs.[43]
In late 1969, "Come Together" was the subject of a copyright infringement claim brought against Lennon by Big Seven Music, the publisher of Chuck Berry's "You Can't Catch Me".[46]Morris Levy, the owner of Big Seven Music, contended that it sounded similar musically to Berry's original and shared some lyrics (Lennon sang: "Here come ol' flattop, he come groovin' up slowly", and Berry's had sung: "Here come a flattop, he was movin' up with me"). Before recording, Lennon and McCartney deliberately slowed the song down and added a heavy bass riff in order to make the song more original.[47] The case was settled out of court in 1973, with Levy's lawyers agreeing that Lennon would compensate by recording three Big Seven songs for his next album.[48] A brief version of "Ya Ya" with Lennon and his son Julian was released on the album Walls and Bridges in 1974. "You Can't Catch Me" and another version of "Ya Ya" were released on Lennon's 1975 album Rock 'n' Roll, but the third, "Angel Baby", remained unreleased until after Lennon's death. Levy again sued Lennon for breach of contract, and was eventually awarded $6,795.00. Lennon countersued after Levy released an album of Lennon material using tapes that were in his possession and was eventually awarded $84,912.96. The album was called Roots: John Lennon Sings the Great Rock & Roll Hits.[49]
A month after the original version by the Beatles was released, Ike & Tina Turner began performing their rendition of "Come Together," most notably at Madison Square Garden in November 1969.[84] Due to the public response to their live performances, Minit Records rushed the release of a studio version.[85] The single, also credited to the Ikettes, was released in December 1969.[86] It reached number 57 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 21 on the Billboard R&B Singles chart.[87][88] The B-side features another soul-infused rock cover, "Honky Tonk Women" by the Rolling Stones.[89]
"Come Together" was the only Beatles song Lennon sang during his 1972 Madison Square Garden concerts. It was Lennon's only full-length concert performance after leaving the Beatles.[91] He was backed by the band Elephant's Memory.[92] This version of the song appears on the concert album Live in New York City,[93] recorded on 30 August 1972 and released in 1986.
American hard rock band Aerosmith recorded one of the most successful cover versions of "Come Together" in 1978. The band performed the song in the 1978 film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band; their recording appeared on its accompanying soundtrack album.[94] Released as a single in July 1978, Aerosmith's version was an immediate success, reaching number 23 on the Billboard Hot 100,[95] following on the heels of a string of Top 40 hits for the band in the mid-1970s. However, it would be the last Top 40 hit for the band for nearly a decade.
Another recording of the song was released several months later on Aerosmith's live album Live! Bootleg. The song also featured on Aerosmith's Greatest Hits, the band's first singles compilation released in 1980. Their live performance from the 33rd Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was released in a Grammy compilation CD. The song has also surfaced on a number of Aerosmith compilations and live albums since then, as well as on the soundtrack for the film Armageddon.[96]
Godsmack released Come Together in 2012 on the Live & Inspired album. An official music video was released and the single entered the Hard Rock Charts at number 11, then in 2017 resurfaced to land at position No. 1 on Billboard's Hard Rock Digital Song Sales chart.
American musician Gary Clark Jr. and Dutch composer Junkie XL released a cover version of "Come Together" as the first single from the soundtrack of the 2017 superhero film Justice League on 8 September.[97][98] A music video featuring Gary Clark Jr. on guitar and vocals interspersed with cuts of footage from the film was released on 27 October.[99] The single reached No. 27 on the BillboardDigital Songs Sales and No. 7 on the BillboardHot Rock & Alternative Songs.[100][101]
McCartney recorded an updated version of "Come Together" with Noel Gallagher and Paul Weller for the 1995 charity album Help, under the name the Smokin' Mojo Filters (derived from a line in the song).[108] Weller performed the lead vocal duties, with McCartney and Gallagher providing backing vocals, harmonies and bass and guitar. Their rendition reached No. 19 on the UK Singles Chart in December 1995.[109]
Michael Jackson also covered the song in 1986. The song was recorded for Bad (1987), but was scrapped and instead put on HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995). It was also included as a B-side on Jackson's "Remember the Time" CD single. It was featured at the end of the 1988 film Moonwalker and also had an official video. Notably, it was the only Beatles song covered by Jackson on an official release. Jackson had purchased the publishing rights to the Beatles' catalogue in 1985 and thus owned the rights to "Come Together" at the time he covered the song.
Foo Fighters, Liam Gallagher and Aerosmith's Joe Perry covered "Come Together" at the CalJam Festival in San Bernardino, California in 2017. Gallagher forgot the words during the performance, later explaining that he thought they were performing "I Am the Walrus".[112][113]
^McCartney recalled being happy at Lennon's praise, further stating: "Whenever [John] did praise any of us, it was great praise, indeed, because he didn't dish it out much. If ever you got a speck of it, a crumb of it, you were quite grateful".[23]
^Considine, J.D.; Coleman, Mark; Evans, Paul; McGee, David (1992). "The Beatles". In DeCurtis, Anthony; Henke, James; George-Warren, Holly (eds.). Rolling Stone Album Guide. New York: Random House. pp. 23–25.
^"Turner Revue Stages Soul Show That Grabs Audience". Billboard. 6 December 1969. p. 22 – via worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/60s/1969/Billboard%201969-12-06.pdf World Radio History].
^"Best Selling Soul Singles". Billboard. 14 March 1970. p. 36 – via worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/70s/1970/Billboard%201970-03-14.pdf World Radio History].
^"Best Selling Soul LP's". Billboard. 4 July 1970. p. 52 – via worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/70s/1970/Billboard%201970-07-04.pdf World Radio History].
