1970
SINGLE
RELEASED
“Let It Be” / “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)”
Great Britain: March 6, 1970 / No. 2 on March 14, 1970, for 9 weeks
United States: March 6, 1970 / No. 1 on April 11, 1970, for 2 weeks
Lennon-McCartney / 4:19
1970
SONGWRITER
John
MUSICIANS
John: vocal, guitar, harmonica, hand claps, other sound effects
Paul: vocal, bass, piano, vibraphone (?), hand claps, other sound effects
George: guitar, vibraphone (?), hand claps, other sound effects
Ringo: drums, bongos, hand claps, other sound effects
Brian Jones: alto saxophone
Mal Evans: other sound effects
RECORDED
Abbey Road: May 17, 1967 (Studio Two) / June 7–8, 1967 (Studio Two) / April 30, 1969 (Studio Three)
NUMBER OF TAKES: 30
MIXING
Abbey Road: June 7 and 9, 1967 (Studio Two) / April 30, 1969 (Studio Three) / November 26, 1969 (Studio Two)
TECHNICAL TEAM
Producers: George Martin, Geoff Emerick, Chris Thomas
Sound Engineers: Geoff Emerick, Jeff Jarratt
Assistant Engineers: Richard Lush, Nick Webb
John got the idea from a line on the cover of the 1967 London phone book that he found on Paul’s piano: “You know the name, look up the number.” The two worked together on the song, but left it unfinished for nearly two years. John: “That was a piece of unfinished music that I turned into a comedy record with Paul. I was waiting for him in his house, and I saw the phone book was on the piano with ‘You know the name, look up the number.’ That was like a logo, and I just changed it. It was going to be a Four Tops kind of song—the chord changes are like that—but it never developed and we made a joke of it.”1 Paul told Mark Lewisohn that it was probably one of his favorite songs. Paul, “It’s so insane. All the memories … I mean, what would you do if a guy like John Lennon turned up at the studio and said, ‘I’ve got a new song.’ I said, ‘What’s the words?’ and he replied, ‘You know my name look up the number.’ I asked, ‘What’s the rest of it?’ ‘No, no other words, those are the words. And I want to do it like a mantra!”2
The Beatles worked on the song after Sgt. Pepper and finished it while working on Abbey Road in April 1969. It is in four different parts, constructed as a series of sketches. We hear Paul as a crooner, John chanting incomprehensible words, Mal Evans shaking a bag of gravel, and Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones playing an alto saxophone solo!
Because of dissension within the group in 1969, the song was set aside yet again until November 26. Then John decided to edit it with the intention of releasing it as a Plastic Ono Band single with “What’s the New Mary Jane,” a song rejected from the White Album, on the B-side. On November 28, 1969, Apple announced “You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)” as the next Plastic Ono Band single scheduled to be released on December 5. Apparently, John wanted to shatter the Beatles’ nice image. Finally, the project was abandoned for unknown reasons, and the song was released as the B-side of “Let It Be.”
FOR BEATLES FANATICS
“You Know My Name (Look Up the Number)” was initially destined for the soundtrack of Yellow Submarine, but was replaced by “It’s All Too Much.”
On May 17, 1967 five days after finishing recording “All Together Now” for the Yellow Submarine soundtrack, the group began the first session for “You Know My Name.” The tenth take was the best, with John and George on guitar, Paul on bass, Ringo on drums and bongos, and all four Beatles providing hand claps. The following session on June 7 was inconclusive, resulting only in a twenty-minute rhythm track marked Instrumental—Unidentified. The next day, the song took form with added piano, vibraphone, lead guitar, harmonica, bongos, and various other sound effects, including a whistle (birdsong). The highlight of the session was Brian Jones’s performance on alto saxophone. Paul: “He arrived at Abbey Road in his big Afghan coat.… I thought it would be a fun idea to have him, and I naturally thought he’d bring a guitar … but to our surprise he brought his saxophone. He opened up his sax case and started putting a reed in and warming up, playing a little bit. He was a really ropey sax player, so I thought, Ah-hah. We’ve got just the tune.”3 The first mixing and editing session took place on June 9. The duration of the song was 6:08 at this stage. John and Paul overdubbed their vocals on April 30, 1969, but neither Ringo nor George were present. The ever-faithful Mal Evans was charged with running a spade through a heap of gravel while John and Paul added vocal effects, strange noises, and hand claps. The song was mixed into a single mono version on the same day and was reduced to 4:19 on November 26.