The Medley section of Abbey Road was “a good way of getting rid” of leftover materials, according to John Lennon.
The Beatles‘ acclaimed B-side would feature the likes of Mean Mr. Mustard and She Came In Through the Bathroom Window. But it was a chance for the group to throw away some of their unfinished tracks, according to Lennon, who says the bulk of Abbey Road‘s second side comprised songs which were not quite finished. One song in particular, Sun King, was singled out by Lennon as something he “never finished” and didn’t have any intention of finishing. Lennon says he and fellow Beatles members Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, used the B-side as a chance to rid themselves of catchy snippets that they couldn’t form into fully-fledged songs.
Lennon said: “It was a good way of getting rid of bits of songs that we’d had for years. George and Ringo wrote bits of it literally in between breaks as we did it. Paul would say we’ve got twelve bars here, so let’s fill it in, so we’d fill it in on the spot.”
He added of Sun King: “It was just half a song I had that I never finished so it was just a way of getting rid of it without ever finishing it.” Lennon would pass comments on his ex-bandmates frequently in the years to follow The Beatles’ break-up, but was particularly fond of Starr.
While songs from Paul McCartney would fail to impress Lennon, it was Starr and George Harrison who stood out best of all on The Beatles‘ studio classic. Some may interpret Lennon’s comments as a compliment, but others may find him saying he is a “few years behind” a rather brutal jab at his ex-bandmate.
But Starr was favourably compared to Harrison, who would go on to be arguably the most successful of the Fab Four after their break-up. Lennon, breaking down Abbey Road, suggested Octopus’s Garden was a step behind what Lennon and McCartney were capable of doing.
He suggested: “It’ll be a few years before his production is going as fast as ours, it took George a few years. It’s a singalong singalong song.” Lennon’s comments on Starr’s production would lead to further praise from the Imagine hitmaker. The Beatles’ drummer received high praise from Lennon for a handful of his solo songs in a separate interview.
He shared: “I’m most happy for Ringo’s success because it always went round that Ringo was dumb but he ain’t dumb. He just didn’t have that much of a writing ability and he wasn’t known for writing his own material.
“There was a bit of a worry, although he can make movies and he does make movies and he’s good at it, but how was his recording career gonna be? And in general, it’s probably better than mine actually.”
