Mean Mr. Mustard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| “Mean Mr. Mustard” | ||
|---|---|---|
| Song by The Beatles | ||
| Album | Abbey Road | |
| Released | 26 September 1969 | |
| Recorded | Abbey Road: 24 July-29 July 1969 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 1:06 | |
| Label | Apple Records | |
| Writer | Lennon/McCartney | |
| Producer | George Martin | |
| Abbey Road track listing | ||
|
||
"Mean Mr. Mustard" is the name of a song written by John Lennon[1] (credited to Lennon-McCartney) and performed by The Beatles on their album, Abbey Road. Written in India, John said that the song was inspired by a newspaper story about a miser who concealed his cash wherever he could in order to prevent people from forcing him to spend it. He obviously didn't think highly of the composition, as he described it in Anthology as "a bit of crap I wrote in India." [2]
Tony Bramwell offers a secondary interpretation: "There was an old 'bag lady' who used to hang around the Knightsbridge end of Hyde Park, London, close to the army barracks. She had all her possessions in plastic bags and slept in the park. I'm sure that she had something to do with the song."[2]
A demo version of the song was recorded in May 1968 at Kinfauns, George Harrison's home in Esher, and appears on Anthology 3.[3] In that version, Mustard's sister is named Shirley.[4] Lennon changed it to Pam when he saw the opportunity to ease the segue into the song "Polythene Pam", which follows "Mean Mr. Mustard" on the album. According to Lennon, "In 'Mean Mr. Mustard', I said 'his sister Pam' - originally it was 'his sister Shirley' in the lyric. I changed it to Pam to make it sound like it had something to do with it."[4] Additionally, the original version of the song was a quieter acoustic rendition.
The Abbey Road version was recorded with "Sun King" in one continuous piece.[1]
The version in the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band film was performed by Mean Mr. Mustard (played by Frankie Howerd) and his evil robot companions named the Computerettes. As with the performance of "She's Leaving Home" also in the film, the computerized singing of the Computerettes was performed by the Bee Gees. It is reported that Steven Tyler also performed in this version.
[edit] Personnel
- John Lennon: lead and harmony vocals, piano and maracas.
- Paul McCartney: harmony vocals and fuzz bass.
- George Harrison: lead guitar.
- Ringo Starr: drums and tambourine.
[edit] Notes
- ^ a b Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books, 182. ISBN 0-517-57066-1.
- ^ a b Turner, Steve. A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song. New York: Harper Paperbacks, 195. ISBN 0-06-084409-4.
- ^ (1996) Album notes for Anthology 3 by The Beatles, 7 [booklet]. London: Apple Records (34451).
- ^ a b The Beatles (2000). The Beatles Anthology. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 337. ISBN 0-8118-2684-8.
