The End (The Beatles song)

"The End" is the penultimate song to appear on the album Abbey Road by The Beatles. Composed by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney), it was the last song recorded collectively by all four Beatles, and is the final song of the medley that dominates side 2 of the LP version of the album.

Contents

  • 1Composition
  • 2Recording
  • 3Critical reaction
  • 4Trivia
  • 5Personnel
  • 6Notes

Composition

McCartney said, "I wanted [the medley] to end with a little meaningful couplet, so I followed the Bard and wrote a couplet."[1] In his 1980 interview with Playboy, John Lennon acknowledged McCartney's authorship by saying, "That's Paul again ... He had a line in it, 'And in the end, the love you get is equal to the love you make,' which is a very cosmic, philosophical line. Which again proves that if he wants to, he can think."[2] Lennon misquoted the line slightly; the actual words are, "And, in the end, the love you take/ Is equal to the love you make."[3]

Recording

Recording began on 23 July1969 when the Beatles recorded a 1 minute 20 second master take that was extended via overdubs to 2 minutes 5 seconds. At this point, the song was called "Ending."[4] The first vocals for the song were added on 5 August, additional vocals and guitar overdubs were added on 7 August, and bass and drums on 8 August, the day the Abbey Road cover picture was taken.[5] Orchestral overdubs were added 15 August, and the closing piano and accompanying vocal on 18 August.[6]

All four Beatles have a solo in "The End", including Ringo Starr's only drum solo for the Beatles.[4] Starr hated solos and had to be persuaded to do it.[7] The take in which he performed the solo originally had guitar and tambourine accompaniment,[4] but other instruments were muted during mixing giving the effect of a drum solo. The additional instruments were restored for a remix on the Anthology 3 CD. The drum solo was used at the beginning of "Get Back" on the album Love.

McCartney, Harrison, and Lennon perform a rotating sequence of three, two-bar guitar solos.[7][8] The solos begin approximately 53 seconds into the song and end just before the final piano part. Lennon described it in his 1970 interview with Rolling Stone: "There's a nice little bit I played on Abbey Road. Paul gave us each a piece, a little break where Paul plays, George plays and I play."[9]

"The End" was initially intended to be the final track on Abbey Road, but it is followed by "Her Majesty". In the first practice mix of the medley, constructed on 30 July, "Her Majesty" followed "Mean Mr. Mustard" (on the released version of the album, "Her Majesty" begins with the excised final chord of "Mean Mr Mustard"). According to sound engineer John Kurlander, McCartney said, "I don't like 'Her Majesty,' throw it away." Kurlander cut it out, but said, "I'd been told never to throw anything away, so after he left I picked it up off the floor, put about 20 seconds of red leader tape before it, and stuck it onto the end of the edit tape." When McCartney heard "Her Majesty" in its new position he liked it and decided that it should remain on the album.[4]

An alternate version of "The End" appears on the Beatles Anthology 3 CD.[10]

Critical reaction

Richie Unterberger of All Music Guide considered "The End" to be "the group's take on the improvised jamming common to heavy rock of the late '60s, though as usual the Beatles did it with far more economic precision than anyone else."[11] John Mendelsohn of Rolling Stone said it was "a perfect epitaph for our visit to the world of Beatle daydreams: "The love you take is equal to the love you make ..."[12]

Trivia

Ringo's drum solo is re-created by Rick Moranis (playing Ringo) in an episode of SCTV.

The Beastie Boys sampled a portion of "The End" for their rap "The Sounds of Science" from "Paul's Boutique."

In the end of the movie "Happy Feet" the quote "And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make" is said.

Personnel

  • Paul McCartney: lead and backing vocals; bass, piano and lead guitar.
  • John Lennon: lead guitar, backing vocal and maracas.
  • George Harrison: lead and rhythm guitars; backing vocals.
  • Ringo Starr: drums and tambourine.

Credits above per Ian MacDonald[8]

  • George Martin: orchestration[6]