REVOLUTION (Room 405)
REVOLUTION (Room 405)
The original version of ‘Revolution’ was deemed to be too slow to be a single, so a new, faster, rockier version was recorded, which ultimately became the B side to ‘Hey Jude’ The original version had been over ten minutes long, although the final three quarters of it had degenerated into a chaotic jam. It was later decided to edit this down to two separate pieces; the first bit became” Revolution 1” ( which was the version of the song used on the White Album) and the rest was re-titled ‘Revolution 9’ which became the backdrop to something more sinister, that was also to find a home on the White Album.
Revolution #9 was quite extraordinary to say the least. It was influenced by two external factors, the student riots and unrest of 1968 and Yoko Ono! Before Yoko had exposed John to the avant -garde, he had simply regarded the genre as “French for bullshit.” He was quickly to change his attitude and became transfixed by Yoko and her new direction. John took the Beatles chaotic jam and began to dismantle it and rebuild it. He wanted to create an aural nightmare echoing the chaos of revolution. It was quite simply the most extraordinary piece the Beatles ever produced and at the same time, the most misunderstood and least popular. John and Yoko used a sinister violent collage of sounds, including tape loops, feedback, distortion, random noises, impromptu screams, and vocal overdubs which portrayed the sound of the disintegration of society. Throughout the piece the repetitive message “Number 9 - number 9” added a hypnotic feel. It was not a song in a conventional form but John called it “the music of the future” which everybody and anybody can create. What it did create was added tension to an already fraught set up. It was ironically The Beatles themselves who were beginning to disintegrate. Paul and George Martin protested at the inclusion of the piece as a Beatle album, but John was adamant. To him it was “the sound of art”. This marked their high water mark as experimentalists although John and Yoko would continue in similar vein on other projects. Revolution #9 has been since described as the most widely distributed piece of genuine avant-garde art in history.
Artwork painted and owned by ©SHANNON
REVOLUTION (Room 405)
The original version of ‘Revolution’ was deemed to be too slow to be a single, so a new, faster, rockier version was recorded, which ultimately became the B side to ‘Hey Jude’ The original version had been over ten minutes long, although the final three quarters of it had degenerated into a chaotic jam. It was later decided to edit this down to two separate pieces; the first bit became” Revolution 1” ( which was the version of the song used on the White Album) and the rest was re-titled ‘Revolution 9’ which became the backdrop to something more sinister, that was also to find a home on the White Album.
Revolution #9 was quite extraordinary to say the least. It was influenced by two external factors, the student riots and unrest of 1968 and Yoko Ono! Before Yoko had exposed John to the avant -garde, he had simply regarded the genre as “French for bullshit.” He was quickly to change his attitude and became transfixed by Yoko and her new direction. John took the Beatles chaotic jam and began to dismantle it and rebuild it. He wanted to create an aural nightmare echoing the chaos of revolution. It was quite simply the most extraordinary piece the Beatles ever produced and at the same time, the most misunderstood and least popular. John and Yoko used a sinister violent collage of sounds, including tape loops, feedback, distortion, random noises, impromptu screams, and vocal overdubs which portrayed the sound of the disintegration of society. Throughout the piece the repetitive message “Number 9 - number 9” added a hypnotic feel. It was not a song in a conventional form but John called it “the music of the future” which everybody and anybody can create. What it did create was added tension to an already fraught set up. It was ironically The Beatles themselves who were beginning to disintegrate. Paul and George Martin protested at the inclusion of the piece as a Beatle album, but John was adamant. To him it was “the sound of art”. This marked their high water mark as experimentalists although John and Yoko would continue in similar vein on other projects. Revolution #9 has been since described as the most widely distributed piece of genuine avant-garde art in history.
Artwork painted and owned by ©SHANNON
REVOLUTION (Room 405)
The original version of ‘Revolution’ was deemed to be too slow to be a single, so a new, faster, rockier version was recorded, which ultimately became the B side to ‘Hey Jude’ The original version had been over ten minutes long, although the final three quarters of it had degenerated into a chaotic jam. It was later decided to edit this down to two separate pieces; the first bit became” Revolution 1” ( which was the version of the song used on the White Album) and the rest was re-titled ‘Revolution 9’ which became the backdrop to something more sinister, that was also to find a home on the White Album.
Revolution #9 was quite extraordinary to say the least. It was influenced by two external factors, the student riots and unrest of 1968 and Yoko Ono! Before Yoko had exposed John to the avant -garde, he had simply regarded the genre as “French for bullshit.” He was quickly to change his attitude and became transfixed by Yoko and her new direction. John took the Beatles chaotic jam and began to dismantle it and rebuild it. He wanted to create an aural nightmare echoing the chaos of revolution. It was quite simply the most extraordinary piece the Beatles ever produced and at the same time, the most misunderstood and least popular. John and Yoko used a sinister violent collage of sounds, including tape loops, feedback, distortion, random noises, impromptu screams, and vocal overdubs which portrayed the sound of the disintegration of society. Throughout the piece the repetitive message “Number 9 - number 9” added a hypnotic feel. It was not a song in a conventional form but John called it “the music of the future” which everybody and anybody can create. What it did create was added tension to an already fraught set up. It was ironically The Beatles themselves who were beginning to disintegrate. Paul and George Martin protested at the inclusion of the piece as a Beatle album, but John was adamant. To him it was “the sound of art”. This marked their high water mark as experimentalists although John and Yoko would continue in similar vein on other projects. Revolution #9 has been since described as the most widely distributed piece of genuine avant-garde art in history.
Artwork painted and owned by ©SHANNON