‘Revolution’: The Beatles song John Lennon thought the band resented
The singles market has always been about not losing momentum. As much as an artist can claim to put up major numbers every time they release a new record, their ability to put their songs on the charts is what differentiates the cult fanbases from the global masses half the time. Although The Beatles held the distinction of being able to have their cake and eat it too as an album and singles act, John Lennon felt miffed by the fact that ‘Revolution’ was initially rejected as a single.
Because looking at the singles that the Fab Four had put out before, they were already moving into different territory. Tunes like ‘Day Tripper’ and ‘Paperback Writer’ had already signalled that they were moving towards something bigger than just a typical love song, but Sgt Peppers and its accompanying single ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ saw them stretching out much further than anyone anticipated.
And yet, Lennon couldn’t help but feel a bit shafted whenever they released a song to radio. ‘Strawberry Fields’ had earned its spot as a masterpiece from the group, but Lennon couldn’t help but think that people gravitated towards McCartney’s song on the A-side, ‘Penny Lane’. It’s not like he was that far off the mark, either, since the dramatic epic ‘I Am the Walrus’ got thrown on the B-side of Macca’s saccharine ‘Hello Goodbye’.
For the first time, ‘Revolution’ was about something more than abstract lyrical fluff. The group had spent years trying to consciously avoid discussing political affairs, but in just one song, Lennon attacked every world leader about the concept of revolution and its use in the modern age.
While Lennon did take a few liberties by saying both ‘out’ and ‘in’ on the line ‘Don’t you know that you can count me out’, it still got its point across all the same. This was someone wanting to look at the big picture and see where the world would be going under government supervision, but that was much heavier than the rest of the Beatles were willing to go.
Despite having the demo of the song that would become ‘Revolution 1’ on The White Album, Lennon remembered both McCartney and George Harrison pushing back on it, saying, “The first take of ‘Revolution’ – well, George and Paul were resentful and said it wasn’t fast enough. Now, if you go into the details of what a hit record is and isn’t, maybe. But The Beatles could have afforded to put out the slow, understandable version of ‘Revolution’ as a single, whether it was a gold record or a wooden record.”
Although the heavier version that ended up on the B-side is still fantastic, it’s hard to believe that they had any reservations with the tune compared to ‘Hey Jude’. Let’s think about this from a marketing perspective. The song that deals with political issues doesn’t have what it takes to be a mainstream single, and yet the tune that goes on for seven minutes with a massively long outro does?
Even with its checkered history, neither version of the tune can be taken away from it. Whether we get the folk-rock approach or the borderline metal guitar tone on the single version, Lennon was always going to say what was on his mind.
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