From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article or section is missing citations or needs footnotes. Using inline citations helps guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies.

"I Want You (She's So Heavy)"
Song by The Beatles
Album	Abbey Road
Released	26 September 1969
Recorded	22 February – 20 August 1969
Genre	Hard rock, blues-rock, progressive rock
Length	7:47
Label	Apple Records
Writer	Lennon/McCartney
Producer	George Martin
Abbey Road track listing
Side one "Come Together" "Something" "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" "Oh! Darling" "Octopus's Garden" "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" Side two "Here Comes the Sun" "Because" "You Never Give Me Your Money" "Sun King" "Mean Mr. Mustard" "Polythene Pam" "She Came in Through the Bathroom Window" "Golden Slumbers" "Carry That Weight" "The End" "Her Majesty"

"I Want You (She's So Heavy)" is a song by The Beatles, from their album Abbey Road. It was written by John Lennon, although it is credited as a Lennon/McCartney collaboration.

The song is an unusual Beatles composition for a variety of reasons, namely its length (nearly eight minutes), its disproportionately small number of lyrics (there are only fourteen different words in the song), its three-minute descension through the same repeated guitar chords (a similar arpeggiated figure appears in another of Lennon's contributions to the album, "Because"), its hard rock sound, and for its instantaneous and unanticipated end. It is also one of the last songs that the Beatles mixed as a group, on August 20, 1969.

David Gates writes of the song, "The hypnotically repeated guitar figure in 'I Want You (She's So Heavy)' is suddenly, arbitrarily cut off, jolting us into embarrassed awareness that we've let a mere recording carry us away."

The sudden end of the song was intentional and orchestrated by Lennon. In the spirit of the band, it was pushing the boundaries of what was 'allowed' on a record; full volume slashes were certainly not the norm.

The song was rehearsed several times during the Get Back/Let It Be sessions; the basic track was recorded at Trident Studios on 22 February 1969, shortly after filming for the film project ended. Billy Preston remained from these sessions to play keyboards on "I Want You", which was reworked with the heavy guitar overdubs in August and changed "I Want You (She's So Heavy)".

Three takes from February 22 were edited into a master (2nd generation), which was overdubbed, mixed down on April 18 (3rd generation), and overdubbed on April 18 and 20 and August 11. Different overdubs were made to the 2nd generation tape August 8. The mix is the 3rd generation for 4:37 (up to "she's so") and then the 2nd generation tape, which has a white noise added August 8.

Numerous bands and solo artists have covered "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" in live performance. The following artists have released recordings of the song:

• Soda Stereo in the 9 de Julio avenue, Argentina, in 1990.

• Eddie Hazel on his solo-debut Game, Dames and Guitar Thangs.

• George Benson on his 1969 album The Other Side Of Abbey Road

• Coroner on their 1991 Mental Vortex album.

• Alvin Lee (formerly of Ten Years After) on his album 1994, accompanied by George Harrison on slide guitar.

• Type O Negative on the album World Coming Down as part of a medley with "Day Tripper" and "If I Needed Someone."

• Booker T. and the MGs on their album McLemore Avenue, the cover of which also mimicked the Abbey Road album cover.

• Noir Désir on the album Dies Irae (Days of Wrath).

• Beatallica merged the song with Metallica's "The Call of Ktulu" to create "Ktulu (He's So Heavy)" on their album Sgt. Hetfield's Motorbreath Pub Band.

• Jette-Ives on the electronica Beatles' tribute-album Beatles Regrooved.

• Steel Train on the cover album 1969.

• R&B artist John Legend has included the song in his set on his "Show Me" tour.

• British group Kaiser Chiefs used segments of the song on "Born to Be a Dancer" from their album Employment.

• The repeated guitar riff is copied almost note for note on Mötley Crüe's "Slice Of Your Pie".

• A cover of the song performed by cast members Joe Anderson, Dana Fuchs, and T.V. Carpio is featured in the 2007 Julie Taymor film Across The Universe

• Groove Collective released a cover of the song as a single, which charted in the US in 1996.

• Umphrey's Mcgee have covered the song numerous times, including a performance at the Orpheum Theatre in Madison, Wisconsin September, 13 2007.

During a tribute to 40th Anniversary celebration of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band," which also included a medley of hits, Cheap Trick was joined by Al Jourgensen and Sin Quirin of Ministry for a cover of the song on August 10-11, 2007 at the Hollywood Bowl.

The song was mixed on the "Love" album with "Helter Skelter" and "Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite"

• Lyrics