What’s That Sound? The “horns” on The Beatles ‘Lovely Rita’
The Beatles were never afraid to indulge in some extra instrumentation. Although they resisted outside accompaniment for their initial rock and roll songs, once the Fab Four began to embrace the expansive possibilities of the recording studio, string and horn arrangements became a vital element of The Beatles’ ever-expanding bag of tricks.
By the band’s side was George Martin, who helped bring to life the wild ideas and atypical sounds that The Beatles were going for. Martin would help translate melody lines into musical notation, arranging the scores that would become legendary in their own right. This would often come from one of the band members singing out whatever melody they had in their heads, while it was up to Martin to pick out the proper notation.
While The Beatles were recording Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, one such occurrence was happening – the band wanted a horn line, and they were humming out the parts. But rather than knock out a horn arrangement and hire session musicians, a simpler idea came to the fore: why not just hum the part. Instead of shelling out for some brass, why not just use a kazoo.
It fit the loopy atmosphere of the song they were recording, ‘Lovely Rita’. The only problem was that there were no kazoos. Instead, a makeshift instrument that the band members had remembered from their childhood was used instead. By placing a piece of paper in between a comb, a kazoo-like sound could be produced by humming into the contraption. Four paper and combs were created, one for each band member to hum into.
The sessions for ‘Lovely Rita’ were notably loose – members of Pink Floyd, The Hollies, and The Byrds had all wandered in at different times during recording. A vocal overdub session led to some wild improvisations that were mixed onto the outro. The atmosphere was almost too laid-back: during the mixing of the song, John Lennon took LSD and began feeling negative effects. Martin took Lennon to the roof of EMI Studios for some air, but when his bandmates realised what kind of state Lennon was in, they rushed up to prevent a potential accident.
‘Lovely Rita’ fit right in with the psychedelic and whimsical tone of Sgt. Pepper’s, and the decision to use makeshift kazoos ultimately fit the song’s bouncy arrangement better than hard-hitting brass would have. Listen to ‘Lovely Rita’ and key into the comb and paper parts down below.
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