The Beatles song Paul McCartney called “insane”
While The Beatles often tried to strive for pop perfection, they also revelled in letting their hair down and creating the wildest sounds imaginable. Despite being a group responsible for some of the most beautiful songs known to man, they also had a playful, experimental side to their artistry, which they let out on ‘You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)’.
Initially, the song was supposed to be a standard Beatles track, but the band could not finish their creation for some reason. After concluding ‘You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)’ was destined to be incomplete forever, the ‘Fab Four’ decided to play around with the effort and turn it into a piece of so-called comedy.
‘You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)’ isn’t a comedy song in the traditional sense and doesn’t parody anything in particular. Nor does it feature witty lyrics which will make the listener roll over in a fit of laughter, but the mayhem which exudes out of every second of the track is enough to allow it fall into the comedic category.
After attempting to record the song in 1967, it was left on the shelf for two years until The Beatles revisited ‘You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)’ and put it through a comedic filter. The Plastic Ono Band almost released the song until they had a change of heart before it was made the B-side to ‘Let It Be’.
Despite it being a rarity, inexplicably, it’s Paul McCartney’s favourite song by the band. “People are only just discovering the b-sides of Beatles singles. They’re only just discovering things like ‘You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)’ – probably my favourite Beatles track, just because it’s so insane. All the memories,” he once said of the track.
Hilariously, Brian Jones from The Rolling Stones contributed saxophone to the track, which wasn’t the plan when McCartney initiated the collaboration. Macca later recalled: “He arrived at Abbey Road in his big Afghan coat. He was always nervous, a little insecure, and he was really nervous that night because he’s walking in on a Beatles session. He was nervous to the point of shaking, lighting ciggy after ciggy. I used to like Brian a lot.
“I thought it would be a fun idea to have him, and I naturally thought he’d bring a guitar along to a Beatles session and maybe chug along and do some nice rhythm guitar or a little bit of electric twelve-string or something, 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.”
Throughout their career, The Beatles created many wild musical moments and took pride in delving into the absurd. While they crafted many songs in a slightly similar vein as ‘You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)’, no other track in their back catalogue is this bizarre.
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