The Beatles song that saw three guitarists duel
The 1960s was a period of great change, although few people exerted as much influence as The Beatles. Emerging in the earlier half of the decade, the Liverpool foursome quickly took the world by storm, spawning Beatlemania, a phenomenon akin to religious worship. They transformed modern popular music with their innovative approach, pioneering various recording techniques and bringing non-Western instruments to the mainstream.
The band released twelve albums before disbanding, ending with 1970’s Let It Be. However, the quartet actually recorded 1969’s Abbey Road last, given that Let It Be had been in the works since 1968. On Abbey Road, the band included multiple tracks that became their most well-known, including ‘Here Comes The Sun’, ‘Something’, ‘Come Together’ and ‘I Want You (She’s So Heavy)’.
The second half of the album is well-known for its medley, often dubbed ‘The Long One’, consisting of several short songs that the band struggled to form into fully fleshed-out tracks. The medley contains the aptly-titled ‘The End’, which was the last song that all four members of the band recorded together before they split.
Sandwiched between ‘Carry That Weight’ and ‘Her Majesty’, the song is rather unique for several reasons. It contains John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison, all playing guitar solos in quick succession. According to recording engineer Geoff Emerick, “John, Paul and George looked like they had gone back in time, like they were kids again, playing together for the sheer enjoyment of it”.
He added: “More than anything, they reminded me of gunslingers, with their guitars strapped on, looks of steely-eyed resolve, determined to outdo one another. Yet there was no animosity, no tension at all – you could tell they were simply having fun.”
However, the guitar players weren’t the only ones to perform solos – ‘The End’ is also the only Beatles track to feature a drum solo by Ringo Starr. The band were not fans of drum solos, finding them too overindulgent. McCartney once revealed, “Ringo hated drummers who did lengthy drum solos. We all did.” Yet during the composition of ‘The End’, a drum solo appeared to fit quite nicely, so Starr gave in.
Thus, ‘The End’ marked a rather unusual close for the band, although it was simply a testament to their unending penchant for innovation and creativity, even at the end of their career. The song gave us one of the band’s most memorable lines, “And in the end, the love you take, is equal to the love you make,” penned by McCartney.
Revisit the song below.
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