“Your Mother Should Know” is a Beatles’ song from 1967, of course. Indeed, this song is on their “Magical Mystery Tour” album. This release was an album in the United States but came in the form of 2 EP’s in the United Kingdom. The song also features in the Magical Mystery Tour film as well. This is the dance segment while they are wearing their white tuxedoes after descending the grand staircase.
As we understand it, this song could easily have been in the “Our World” satellite broadcast of 25th June, 1967. However, to better please a worldwide audience, The Beatles chose “All You Need Is Love“, and the rest is history in that respect.
For those who like alternative versions of Beatles’ songs, ‘take 27’ appears on their “Anthology 2” album.
In Detail
Albums
Recorded: 22nd, 23rd August, also the 16th and 29th September, 1967
Studio/Location: Chappell Recording Studios, London
Genre: Pop, music hall, vaudeville-rock
Track Duration: 2:29
Record Label: Parlophone, Capitol, EMI
Songwriters: Lennon-McCartney
Producer: George Martin
Engineers: John Timperley, Geoff Emerick, Ken Scott
Performers
Paul McCartney: lead and backing vocals, bass guitar, also the piano
John Lennon: backing vocals, Hammond organ, as well as the cymbals
George Harrison: backing vocals, also the guitar
Ringo Starr: drums, as well as the tambourine
Track Sources
Magical Mystery Tour Album (1967)
Anthology 2 Album (1996)
Your Mother Should Know
Writing this track while at his London home, Paul McCartney gave it the title from the screenplay, ‘”A Taste Of Honey”.
“I wrote it in Cavendish Avenue on the harmonium I have in the dining room there. My Aunty Jin and Uncle Harry and a couple of relatives were staying and they were in the living room just across the hall, so I just went to the dining room and spent a few hours with the door open with them listening. And I suppose because of the family atmosphere Your Mother Should Know came in. It’s a very music-hall kind of thing, probably influenced by the fact that my Aunty Jin was in the house.”
Paul McCartney quote.
Many Years From Now, by Barry Miles
Paul demanded something grand from the video production, here’s what he says:
“The big prop was that great big staircase that we danced down, that was where all the money went: in that particular shot on that big staircase. I said, ‘Sod it, you’ve got to have the Busby Berkeley ending,’ and it is a good sequence. Just the fact of John dancing, which he did readily. You can see by the fun expression on his face that he wasn’t forced into anything.”
Recording Studio
The Abbey Road Studios were unavailable to The Beatles when they first started to record this track due to the fact that other bands were using them all. So, on the 22nd August 1967, they decided to record in the Chappell Recording Studios in Maddox Street, London.
On the 23rd of August 1967, Brian Epstein came along to the studios, but this was to be his last visit to a Beatles recording session. Epstein died on the 27th August, 1967.
After attempting further sessions on the 16th September, 1967, the band decided that the original Chappel recording tapes were best. So, after a little adjustment with the bass and organ etc., on the original tapes, we finally got another beautiful Beatles’ sound.
So, what are your thoughts about this song?
