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Come Together
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"Come Together" is a song by the rock band The Beatles written primarily by John Lennon and credited to Lennon/McCartney. The song is the lead-off track on The Beatles' September 1969 album Abbey Road. One month later it also appeared as one of the sides of the group's twenty-first single (it was a double A-side, the other side being George Harrison's "Something") in the United Kingdom, their twenty-sixth in the United States.
Contents
- 1 Origin
- 2 Covers
- 2.1 Aerosmith version
- 2.2 Other Notable Covers
- 3 External links
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Origin
The song's history began with Lennon writing a song for
Timothy Leary's failed gubernatorial campaign in California against
Ronald Reagan, one which promptly ended when Leary was sent to prison for possession of marijuana. It was transformed by Lennon into a track with digs at McCartney and Harrison interspersed alongside tales of his
Bagism movement with wife
Yoko Ono. It was the subject of a lawsuit brought against Lennon by
Chuck Berry's music publisher,
Morris Levy, due to the fact that one line in "Come Together" closely resembled a line of Berry's
You Can't Catch Me: (i.e.
The Beatles' "Here come ol' flattop, he come groovin' up slowly" vs.
Berry's "Here come up flattop, he was groovin' up with me"). After settling out of court, Lennon promised to record other songs owned by Levy, all of which were released on Lennon's
1975 album
Rock 'n' Roll.
Lennon played rhythm guitar in addition to singing the vocal. Each exclamation of 'shoot' one hears during the opening bass line is actually 'shoot me', although 'shoot' is immediately followed by a handclap which drowns out the word 'me'. Also, at approximately 2:17 in the song, Lennon can be heard shouting something indiscernible, though it is very faint. (It sounds like "come!") McCartney played bass and the electric piano (estimated as "southern" by John), Harrison lead guitar, and Ringo Starr drums and maracas. It was produced by George Martin and recorded at the end of July 1969 at Abbey Road Studios.
Rolling Stone ranked "Come Together" at #202 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
The famous Beatles Walrus from "I Am the Walrus" returns, in the line "He got walrus gumboot". He also appeared in Glass Onion.
On the
compilation album Love,
Come Together is the 19th track, with
guitars and
drums from the songs
Dear Prudence and
Cry Baby Cry in background. in the end of the track the guitar from
Baby You're a Rich Man can be heard clearly.
Covers
Aerosmith version
American hard rock band Aerosmith did one of the first and most successful cover versions of "Come Together". It was recorded in 1978 and appeared in the movie and on the soundtrack to the film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, which the band also appeared in. The single was an immediate success, reaching #23 on the Billboard Hot 100, following on the heels of a string of Top 40 hits for the band in the mid-1970s. However it would be the last Top 40 hit for the band for nearly a decade.
A rare live demo of the song was also released months later on Aerosmith's live album Live! Bootleg. The song was also featured on Aerosmith's Greatest Hits, the band's single-disc compilation released in 1980. The song has also surfaced on a number of Aerosmith compilations and live albums since then, as well as on the soundtrack for the film Armageddon.
The Aerosmith version is still frequently heard on mainstream and album rock radio stations. Aerosmith still occasionally performs "Come Together" in concert.
Other Notable Covers
The song has since become one of the most covered songs of all time:
- Marilyn Manson Also covered the song while touring, never released.
- Tina Turner covered the song for the 1976 ephemeral musical documentary All This and World War II.Prior to that,her cover was featured and her and then husband's Ike's album of the same name.
- Do As Infinity performed a live cover of a metal version of the song in Japan during a Beatles celebration event.
- Michael Jackson also covered "Come Together" for the concert film Michael Jackson: Moonwalker. The song is featured on his album HIStory.
- Axl Rose and Bruce Springsteen later played "Come Together" before his induction into the rock n' roll hall of fame in 1994.
- Soundgarden covered the song on the "Hands All Over" single, giving it a very grunge sound.
- Michael Ruff covered "Come Together" in a very funky way on the album Michael Ruff Band in 1992.
- Robin Williams and Bobby McFerrin recorded a unique cover version in which McFerrin performs the characteristic bass and guitar intro with his voice alone and Williams sings.
- Noel Gallagher and Paul Weller played with Paul McCartney on a version of the song for the 1995 HELP charity record.
- The Lynne Arriale Trio recorded a jazz version of the song, which was the title track of their album Come Together
- Sugababes covered the song as a B-Side for their single, "Ugly".
- There is also an instrumental version by Marcus Miller on his album Tales.
- The Korean hip-hop group Roo-Ra performed a breakbeat cover of the song.
- Elton John covered the song as a tribute to Lennon during his One Night Only: The Greatest Hits concert.
- Victoria Beckham and Damon Dash sampled the song as an intro to one of Dash's mixtapes.
- Enrique Bunbury made a cover of the song and published it in his 1997 single "Planeta Sur".
- Craig David, performed a live version on Top of The Pops 2 in 2003.
- Chairmen of the Board covered the song and is on one of their first LPs.
- Spiralmouth, a rock a cappella act, recorded an all-vocal cover on their eponymous album.
- Toxic Audio covered the song on their album Captive Audience.
- Diana Ross covered the song on her 1970 album Everything Is Everything.
- Tom Jones released a live version of "Come Together" on his album Reload, albeit with a new, faster arrangement.
- The Brothers Johnson released a cover of the song on their 1976 album Look Out For #1, altering the bass-line in their mid-tempo funk rendition that also includes a harmonica/guitar solo.
- Hip hop group The Roots sampled this song on their 2006 Best of The Roots mixtape produced by J. Period. The chorus of the song is repeated clips of Lennon singing "one thing I can tell you is you've got to be free," and "come together, over me."
- The band Gotthard recorded "Come Together' on their 1994 album Dial Hard.
- The jazz-funk band Defunkt covered "Come Together" on the 1992 album Downtown Does the Beatles Live at the Knitting Factory.
- Zakk Wylde covered this song on the album "Pride & Glory".
