When The Beatles crossed the street: 50 years of Abbey Road

Regardless of someone’s degree of Beatles fandom, a look at the cover of their final recording reveals a deeper familiarity with the world culture overall. Abbey Road, 1969’s greatest contribution to music, is 50 years old! The second to last Beatles release was actually their last recording together, as Let It Be (1970) was recorded earlier and held onto until after their breakup.

After the strenuous recording sessions and as band members began recording solo work, the band decided to record one last album in their old reliable studio Abbey Road in London. Like a few of their other achievements, they were aware of how powerful this would be. After scrapping the working title, “Everest,” they had the idea to pay homage to the studio that had been the home of the band throughout their operation, and the cover art was shot right on the street outside. Simple, beautiful and yet so powerful. The music here is made in the spirit of cooperation, and there’s a levity to the music that makes everything more upbeat, more hopeful.

The opener, “Come Together,” was originally commissioned by Timothy Leary for his campaign slogan in the race for governor of California (against Ronald Reagan), but in the studio it became something a tad more universal. Ringo’s constant thumping during the verses and the tight connection between George’s guitar and Paul’s bass create a unique, tribal form of blues. George’s first song to be the A-side on a Beatles single, “Something,” is also here, and had been considered one of the greatest love songs of all time (Frank Sinatra said it was his favorite Lennon-McCartney recording).

The rest of the album’s A-side is both fresh and reminiscent: Paul gives us another old-time piano jam along with a roaring 50s-style ballad, George graces us with the heavenly “Here Comes the Sun,” John provides two very experimental songs with surprising eastern influences such as mantra and nature-based existentialism, and Ringo gives us a spiritual successor to “Yellow Submarine” with “Octopus’s Garden.”

Paul’s songs are solidly in his typical genre, but he is more political on some songs, like “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer,” a haunting prediction of the rise of domestic terrorism on the worldstage. “Oh! Darling,” though gentle and intimate at first, rocks as hard as Paul’s later arena rock piano jams, like “Maybe I’m Amazed.”

On the second half of the album you can hear the increasing divisions among the artists. However, at least on this album, it is tolerable, especially on John’s “Because,” which is lyrically influenced by Yoko Ono’s poetry and musically influenced by her backwards rendition of Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata.” On this album, unlike the recording sessions for George’s “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” which were so fraught with tension and indifference Eric Clapton had to come in to brighten the mood, everyone took each other’s ideas seriously, and that old respect for everyone’s say was reestablished.

While the A-side is really a Beatles album condensed, the B-side is a musical journey reminiscent of Sergeant Pepper (1967) or Magical Mystery Tour (1967). This is one of those legendary moments in music history, one changing the course of modern music in an unexpected but welcome direction. The musical idea of “You Never Give Me Your Money” fades into the mellow, multilingual “Sun King” and then into John’s story of Mr. Mustard and Polythene Pam, and back again. It’s referential to the past, almost arbitrary in subject matter and influence (from Louis XIV to college debt, influences ranging from Fleetwood Mac to traditional English music), reflective on the lost cause of the 60s, and encapsulating their message of peace and love.

Some of the songs date back to their 1968 pilgrimage to India that produced much of the content for The Beatles and Let It Be, and even though “Her Majesty” is out of order, it still works in that charming Beatles way you would come to expect. And then there’s “The End.” Ringo’s only drum solo with the Beatles is here. John, Paul, and George trade guitar solos and harmonies. Closing the album with their final lesson on love, they soar into the sunset on their shimmering swan-song.

Their concluding work is simply a gift from above. Even with a record of historic consistency, no album summarizes what made the Beatles so great in as nice a package and context as Abbey Road.

Article by Stanley Quiros