Courtesy of EMI Records
Courtesy of EMI Records
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Q: The Beatles numbered the song REVOLUTION as “1” and “9” along with the single version, so there are three versions, I assume. If there's a REVOLUTION 9, then where are the other six versions? Are there more?

A: No. There are plenty of takes of REVOLUTION, but nothing that can be called any other number. The single REVOLUTION was released as the flip side of HEY JUDE in August 1968, three months before the “White Album” was released, which included REVOLUTION 1 and REVOLUTION 9. Believe it or not, REVOLUTION 1 and REVOLUTION 9 were taken from the same take. While “1” is the slower version, “9” is the 8-minute collage of sound, featuring war sounds, gibberish, screams, football game sounds, etc. and added to the album against protests from producer George Martin. The original 'over-ten-minute' take starts out as REVOLUTION 1, and as the song basically ends, the Beatles kept going for roughly another 6 minutes, ad-libbing and jamming. Later, those last six minutes were separated - with John Lennon, George Harrison and Yoko Ono adding even more sound effects and gibberish into the mix, stretching it out to over 8 minutes. Is it an historical collage? A 'soundtrack' to John Lennon's bio? It has prompted different meanings from people around the world, so you'll have to draw your own conclusions of what it means.

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