Abbey Road song was inspired by Yoko Ono ‘playing Beethoven backwards’

A song featured on Abbey Road has Yoko Ono “playing Beethoven backwards” according to John Lennon.

The Beatles‘ critically acclaimed album has more than a few surprises on it, and one such surprise appeared to be a song featuring Ono. Lennon’s partner was present during The Beatles’ recording sessions for both Let It Be and Abbey Road, much to the annoyance of other band members. Not only was Ono present in the studio but she reportedly played piano on one song, according to Lennon. The song Because, featuring prominent vocal work from Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison, apparently featured Ono also. It’s a song Lennon would praise during an interview breaking down the song, which he suggested was built around Ono playing the piano.

He said: “Yoko plays classical piano and she was playing one day and I don’t know what she was playing, I think it was Beethoven or something so I said give me those chords backwards.” Because precedes the Medley section of Abbey Road, which Lennon suggested was simply a chance for the band to piece together their leftover tracks.

While Because may be a firm favourite of Lennon’s, not every song featured on Abbey Road was well-liked by the Imagine hitmaker. Other songs on the album, including A-side closer I Want You (She’s So Heavy) was praised by Lennon.

Lennon hailed the song as one of the best pieces on the album, and says the “pretty heavy” feeling on there is thanks to the Moog synthesiser. He said: “It’s pretty heavy, y’know, the ending, because we used the Moog synthesiser on it.

“The range from the sound is, y’know, from minus whatever to way over, well, you know you can’t hear it. That machine, the Moog synthesiser, can do all sound, all ranges of sound, so we did that on the end and if you’re a dog you’ll hear a lot more.”

Come Together was also singled out by Lennon, while Something was noted as “the best track on the album”. He said: “I think it’s [Come Together] pretty funky, y’know I’m biased because it’s my song, but I dig it. It just happened and there’s a nice funky sound on it.”

Paul McCartney didn’t get off as nicely, with Lennon suggesting the Wings frontman’s voice would ruin one of the more interersting pieces of work. While he would call Maxwell’s Silver Hammer a “typical” song by McCartney, Lennon reserved his harshest words for Oh! Darling.

Speaking of the song in an interview given in 1980, Lennon would suggest the problem with Oh! Darling is not the instrumental work, but McCartney’s voice. He said: “Oh! Darling’ was a great one of Paul’s that he didn’t sing too well. I always thought I could have done it better – it was more my style than his. He wrote it, so what the hell, he’s going to sing it.”