Thursday 17 June 1965 | Recording | Studio Two, EMI Studios, Abbey Road, London, England
Producer: George Martin | Engineer: Norman Smith
On Thursday 17 June 1965, The Beatles spent the day at Studio Two, Abbey Road, completing three songs across three separate sessions. Yesterday was finished in the afternoon with the addition of a string quartet and a new lead vocal by Paul McCartney. Act Naturally — Ringo Starr's vocal showcase for the Help! album — was recorded between 4pm and 5.30pm. And Wait, intended for Help! but ultimately held over for Rubber Soul, was begun between 7pm and 9.30pm. It was, by any measure, one of the most productive single days in The Beatles' recording career.
Yesterday: The String Quartet Session (2pm–4pm)
The session began at 2pm and lasted two hours. Working from take two recorded on 14 June 1965 — McCartney alone with an acoustic guitar — the group added the two elements that would transform the song from a beautiful sketch into one of the most recorded songs in history: a string quartet and a new lead vocal by McCartney.
The string quartet players were:
- Tony Gilbert — first violin
- Sidney Sax — violin
- Kenneth Essex — viola
- Francisco Gabarro — cello
The arrangement was a collaboration between McCartney and George Martin, and the story of how it came about is one of the most revealing accounts of their creative partnership. Martin recalled it in detail in Mark Lewisohn's The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions:
We agreed that it needed something more than an acoustic guitar, but that drums would make it too heavy. The only thing I could think of was strings but Paul was unsure. He hated syrup or anything that was even a suggestion of MOR. So I suggested a classical string quartet. That appealed to him but he insisted ‘No vibrato, I don’t want any vibrato!’ If you’re a good violin player it’s very difficult to play without vibrato. Paul told the musicians he wanted it pure. But although they did cut down the vibrato they couldn’t do it pure because they would have sounded like schoolboys. I think Paul realised in later years that what he got was right.
Paul worked with me on the score, putting the cello here and the violin there. There is one particular bit which is very much his – and I wish I’d thought of it! – where the cello groans onto the seventh the second time around. He also liked the idea of holding the very high note on the first violin in the last section. To be honest, I thought that was a bit boring, but I acceded to his request. The rest of the arrangement was pretty much mine.
— George Martin, The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Mark Lewisohn
Martin's account illuminates several things simultaneously. It shows McCartney's instinctive resistance to sentimentality — the insistence on “no vibrato” is the sound of a 22-year-old songwriter who knew exactly what he didn't want, even if he couldn't always articulate what he did. It shows the genuine collaborative nature of the arrangement — the cello's “groan onto the seventh”, which is one of the most emotionally effective moments in the finished recording, was McCartney's idea, not Martin's. And it shows Martin's own honesty about the process: he thought the held high note on the first violin was “a bit boring”, but he deferred to McCartney's instinct, and McCartney's instinct was right.
After the string quartet and lead vocal were recorded, the song was mixed for mono — the standard final step in the Abbey Road process at this point, when mono was still the primary listening format for most of the audience.
Yesterday: The Song and Its Significance
Yesterday is, by most measures, the most covered song ever written. The BBC has estimated that it has been recorded by more than 2,200 artists; other estimates put the figure considerably higher. It has been played on radio more than any other song in history. It is the song that, more than any other, established Paul McCartney's reputation as a melodist of the first rank — a composer whose gift for a tune was not merely pop craft but something closer to the classical tradition.
McCartney has said that the melody came to him in a dream — that he woke one morning with it fully formed in his head, went to the piano, and played it through, convinced that he must have heard it somewhere before. He spent weeks asking musicians and friends whether they recognised it. Nobody did. It was his.
The song was recorded without the other Beatles — the only Beatle on the track is McCartney, on acoustic guitar and lead vocal. John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr played no part in the recording. This made it, at the time, an unusual release: a Beatles single (in the United States, where it was released as a single in September 1965) that was, in effect, a solo McCartney record. In the UK it appeared on the Help! album without being released as a single — a decision that, in retrospect, seems almost incomprehensible, given what the song became.
Act Naturally (4pm–5.30pm): Ringo's Country Showcase
Between 4pm and 5.30pm, The Beatles recorded Act Naturally — a country and western song originally recorded by Buck Owens in 1963, which had reached number one on the US country charts. It was chosen as Ringo Starr's vocal showcase on the Help! album, continuing the tradition — established with Boys on Please Please Me and I Wanna Be Your Man on With The Beatles — of giving Ringo at least one lead vocal per album.
The rhythm track was completed in 13 takes, after which Starr overdubbed his lead vocal. McCartney added harmony vocals — a detail that gives the finished recording its particular warmth, the two voices sitting together with the easy familiarity of musicians who had been singing together for years.
Act Naturally is a song about a man who is going to be in a movie — playing a sad and lonely man, which he can do because he is one. It is a piece of country self-deprecation that suited Ringo's deadpan delivery perfectly. The song's premise — that the best acting is just being yourself — was, in Ringo's hands, both funny and oddly touching.
The song was released as the B-side of Help! in the UK in July 1965, and as the B-side of Yesterday in the United States in September 1965 — meaning that both songs recorded on 17 June 1965 appeared on the same single in America, on opposite sides.
Wait (7pm–9.30pm): From Help! to Rubber Soul
Between 7pm and 9.30pm, The Beatles recorded Wait — a Lennon-McCartney composition intended for the Help! album. On this day they recorded the basic track: guitars, bass, drums, and lead vocals by both Lennon and McCartney.
In the end, Wait was not included on Help!. It was held over and returned to in November 1965, when additional instruments and vocals were overdubbed, and it was released on Rubber Soul in December 1965. The song thus spans two albums and two distinct periods of The Beatles' development — its basic track recorded in the Help! sessions of June 1965, its final form completed in the Rubber Soul sessions of November 1965.
Wait is not among the most celebrated songs in the Beatles catalogue — it is a solid, energetic track rather than a landmark — but its recording history makes it an interesting document of how the group managed their material. Songs were not always completed and released in sequence; they were sometimes held back, returned to, and finished when the time was right. Wait waited.
Norman Smith: The Engineer
Norman Smith had been The Beatles' recording engineer at Abbey Road since their first session with George Martin in June 1962. By June 1965, he had engineered every Beatles album from Please Please Me through to Help! — a body of work that represents one of the most remarkable runs in recording history.
Smith would go on to produce Pink Floyd's debut album The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967) and to have a brief recording career of his own under the name Hurricane Smith, scoring a UK number two with Oh, Babe, What Would You Say? in 1972. But his primary legacy is the sound of The Beatles at Abbey Road — the clean, precise, warm recordings that defined the group's sound from 1962 to 1965.
The 17 June 1965 session was among the last major sessions Smith would engineer for The Beatles. Geoff Emerick took over as chief engineer for the Revolver sessions in 1966, bringing a more experimental approach that suited the direction the group was moving in. Smith's contribution to the earlier recordings — including the completion of Yesterday on this day — is immeasurable.
Key Facts: 17 June 1965
- Date: Thursday 17 June 1965
- Location: Studio Two, EMI Studios, Abbey Road, London
- Producer: George Martin
- Engineer: Norman Smith
Yesterday (2pm–4pm):
- Based on take 2 from 14 June 1965
- String quartet: Tony Gilbert (first violin), Sidney Sax (violin), Kenneth Essex (viola), Francisco Gabarro (cello)
- McCartney re-recorded lead vocal
- Arrangement by McCartney and George Martin
- Mixed for mono after recording
- Released on Help! (UK, August 1965); as a single (US, September 1965)
Act Naturally (4pm–5.30pm):
- Country and western song originally by Buck Owens (US country #1, 1963)
- Rhythm track: 13 takes
- Lead vocal: Ringo Starr; harmony: Paul McCartney
- Released on Help! album; B-side of Yesterday single (US)
Wait (7pm–9.30pm):
- Lennon-McCartney composition, originally intended for Help!
- Basic track: guitars, bass, drums, Lennon and McCartney lead vocals
- Held over; additional overdubs November 1965
- Released on Rubber Soul (December 1965)
Studio Two at EMI Studios, Abbey Road — the room where Yesterday was completed, Act Naturally was recorded, and Wait was begun on 17 June 1965.
The Beatles: Abbey Road Era
Three songs in one day. Yesterday completed. The greatest recording studio in the world at its peak.
Frequently Asked Questions
When was Yesterday recorded?
Yesterday was recorded across two sessions at Abbey Road Studio Two. The basic track — Paul McCartney alone on acoustic guitar — was recorded on 14 June 1965. The string quartet and new lead vocal were added on 17 June 1965, completing the song. Producer: George Martin. Engineer: Norman Smith.
Who played on the Yesterday string quartet?
The string quartet on Yesterday comprised Tony Gilbert (first violin), Sidney Sax (violin), Kenneth Essex (viola), and Francisco Gabarro (cello). The arrangement was written by Paul McCartney and George Martin.
Did Paul McCartney write the Yesterday string arrangement?
The arrangement was a collaboration between McCartney and George Martin. McCartney contributed specific ideas — including the cello's movement onto the seventh the second time around, and the held high note on the first violin in the final section. Martin wrote the rest of the arrangement and recalled that McCartney insisted on no vibrato from the string players.
What is Act Naturally and who sang it?
Act Naturally is a country and western song originally recorded by Buck Owens in 1963, reaching number one on the US country charts. The Beatles recorded it on 17 June 1965 as Ringo Starr's vocal showcase on the Help! album, with harmony vocals by Paul McCartney. It was also released as the B-side of the Yesterday single in the United States.
Why was Wait not included on Help!?
Wait was recorded on 17 June 1965 with the intention of including it on Help!, but was ultimately left off the album. It was returned to in November 1965, when additional overdubs were added, and released on Rubber Soul in December 1965.
Who engineered the 17 June 1965 Abbey Road session?
Norman Smith, who had been The Beatles' recording engineer at Abbey Road since their first session with George Martin in June 1962. Smith engineered every Beatles album from Please Please Me through to Help!. He later produced Pink Floyd's debut album and had a solo recording career as Hurricane Smith.
→ June in Beatles History
→ The Beatles Knowledge Hub
→ John Lennon | Paul McCartney | George Harrison | Ringo Starr
Shop Beatles Merch: Beatles T-shirts | Beatles merch by era | Wall art & posters
0 comments