Beatles: Revolution

Revolution was written by John Lennon (published by Apple Records, all rights reserved) and was released as a single along with Hey Jude on August 26, 1968 in the United States and August 30, 1968 in the United Kingdom. This song was written and recorded on July 13, 1968 and can also be found in later albums such as the Hey Jude LP, The Beatles 1967-1970 album, and also Rock N' Roll Music album. It was also later recorded by Billy Bragg in 1992, Mike and the Mechanics in 1989, and the Thompson Twins in 1985.1 There are 3 different versions to the song. The original version, Revolution 1, was much slower and was added to the well known White Album. Revolution was known for its much faster pace as well as heavier distortion. John states "There were two different versions of that song, but the underground left only picked the up on the one that said 'count me out'. The original version which ended up on the LP said 'count me in' too; I put both on there because I wasn't sure. I didn't want to get killed."2 Revolution had one more version called Revolution 9, which was a very psychedelic version to the song. What Lennon was trying to do was paint a picture of how he felt Revolution should be portrayed, but he made a mistake. The mistake was that it was anti-revolution.3 Revolution 9 was basically a compilation of sounds and effect that produced a strange song. Many people didn't know how to react to it.

The Beatles, who originally started out with John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison and later joined by Ringo Starr, started their act in Liverpool, UK. They hit big in Britain in the late 50's and early 60's. It wasn't until their appearance on the Ed Sullivan show when they became highly noticed in America. Immediately teens went

1Craig Cross, http://www.beatles-discography.com

2Brian Roylance, Julian Quance, Oliver Craske, Roman Milisic, ed., The Beatles Anthology, (San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2000), 298

3Roylance, Quance, Craske, Milisic, 307

crazy over them.4 Song after song they kept growing and topping charts in the US and

UK. The one thing very noticeable about the songs they made are the fact that every song had a meaning behind it. Revolution was very much influenced with the time. Although George Harrison was not too fond of the sound the music projected, he understood the meaning behind the song.5 Lennon's purpose to the song was to create a message to the world to show his side of politics.

During that time frame there was much debate about violence and the War in Vietnam. Many people protested against the government's decision to join the fight in Vietnam and many times we heard about violence breaking out because of these protests. John Lennon felt it was time to speak out

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