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"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!"
Song by The Beatles

from the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Released 1 June 1967
Recorded 17, 20 February, 28, 29, 31 March 1967
Genre Psychedelic rock, circus music
Length 2:37
Label Parlophone
Writer Lennon/McCartney
Producer George Martin
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band track listing

"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" is a song from the 1967 album by The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was composed primarily by John Lennon with input from Paul McCartney[1] and credited to Lennon/McCartney.

Contents

Inspiration

The poster upon which the song is based.

Lennon wrote the song taking inspiration from a nineteenth century circus poster for Pablo Fanque's circus which he purchased in an antique shop on 31 January 1967 while filming the promotional video for the song "Strawberry Fields Forever" in Kent.[2] Mr. Kite is believed to be William Kite, who worked for Pablo Fanque from 1843 to 1845.

Recording

One of the most musically complex songs on Sgt. Pepper, it was recorded on 17 February 1967 with overdubs on 20 February (organ sound effects), 28 March (harmonica, organ, guitar), 29 March (more organ sound effects), and 31 March. [3] Lennon wanted the track to have a "carnival atmosphere", and told producer George Martin that he wanted "to smell the sawdust on the floor." In the middle eight bars, multiple recordings of fairground organs and calliope music were spliced together to attempt to produce this request; after a great deal of unsuccessful experimentation, Martin instructed Geoff Emerick to chop the tape into pieces with scissors, throw them up in the air, and re-assemble them at random.[4]

On 17 February Lennon sings "For the benefit of Mr. Kite" in a joke accent, just before Emerick announces, "For the Benefit of Mr. Kite!, this is take 1." Lennon immediately responds, "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!", reinforcing his title preference, a phrase lifted intact from the original poster. The exchange is recorded in The Beatles Recording Sessions (slightly misquoted)[2] and audible on track 8 of disc 2 of Anthology 2. The original recording can also be heard during the loading screen for the song if it is downloaded in the video game The Beatles: Rock Band.

Although Lennon once said of the song that he "wasn't proud of that" and "I was just going through the motions,"[5 ] in 1980 he described it as "pure, like a painting, a pure watercolour."[6]

It was one of three songs from the Sgt. Pepper album that was banned from playing on the BBC, supposedly because the phrase "Henry the Horse" combined two words that were individually known as slang for heroin. Lennon denied that the song had anything to do with heroin.[6]

Personnel

Covers and influence

Notes

  1. ^ Miles 1997, pp. 318.
  2. ^ a b Lewisohn 1988, pp. 98.
  3. ^ Lewisohn 1988, pp. 98, 99, 105–106.
  4. ^ Lewisohn 1988, pp. 99.
  5. ^ The Beatles 2000, pp. 243.
  6. ^ a b Sheff 2000, pp. 183.

References

External links

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Simple English

"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!"
Song by The Beatles

from the album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Released 1 June 1967
Recorded 17, 20 February, 28, 29, 31 March 1967
Genre Psychedelic rock, Circus music, Experimental rock
Length 2:37
Label Parlophone
Writer Lennon/McCartney
Producer George Martin
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band track listing

"Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" is a song from the 1967 album by The Beatles, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was composed mainly by John Lennon with input from Paul McCartney[1] and credited to Lennon/McCartney.

Contents

Inspiration


Lennon wrote the song taking inspiration from a nineteenth century circus poster for Pablo Fanque's circus which he purchased in an antique shop on 31 January 1967 while filming the promotional video for the song "Strawberry Fields Forever" in Kent.[2] Lennon said that "Everything from the song is from that poster, except the horse wasn't called Henry."[3] (The poster idenitifies the horse as "Zanthus".) Mr. Kite is believed to be William Kite, who worked for Pablo Fanque from 1843 to 1845.

Personnel

Notes

  1. ↑ Miles 1997, pp. 318.
  2. ↑ Lewisohn 1988, pp. 98.
  3. ↑ Sheff 2000, p. 183.

Other websites

  • The Beatles (2000). The Beatles Anthology. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. ISBN 0-8118-2684-8. 
  • Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books. ISBN 0-517-57066-1. 
  • Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6. 
  • Sheff, David (2000). All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-25464-4. 
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