Mixing, editing: Sun King, Mean Mr Mustard, Maxwell’s Silver Hammer, Polythene Pam, She Came In Through The Bathroom Window, You Never Give Me Your Money – 14 August 1969

Thursday 14 August 1969 | Abbey Road, Studio

A 12-hour session running from 2.30pm to 2.30am in the control room of Studio Two at EMI Studios, Abbey Road on 14 August 1969 was devoted to the mixing, editing and crossfading of six songs destined for the second side of Abbey Road. By the end of the night, approximately half of the famous Abbey Road medley had been assembled in its final form, with the remaining songs to be completed in the days that followed.

The session was engineered by Geoff Emerick and Phil McDonald, and produced by George Martin. Emerick, who had walked out of the fractious White Album sessions in 1968, had returned to work with The Beatles on what would prove to be their final studio album.

Sun King / Mean Mr Mustard

The session began with the creation of five stereo mixes of the linked pair ‘Sun King’/‘Mean Mr Mustard’, numbered remixes 20–24. These two songs were conceived by John Lennon as a continuous piece — ‘Mean Mr Mustard’ had originally been written in Rishikesh in early 1968 during The Beatles’ stay with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and was repurposed here as part of the medley structure that would define side two of Abbey Road.

‘Sun King’ itself was partly inspired by Fleetwood Mac’s 1969 instrumental ‘Albatross’, which Lennon had cited as an influence on the song’s dreamy, languid opening. The song’s closing section features mock-Italian and Spanish lyrics — a playful nonsense passage that Lennon, McCartney and Harrison improvised in the studio.

Maxwell’s Silver Hammer

The final verse of ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ was mixed in stereo, producing remix stereo 37. Later in the session this was edited together with the previous best mix, remix number 34, to create the composite version that would appear on the finished album. ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ had been one of the most contentious songs of the entire Abbey Road sessions: Paul McCartney’s insistence on perfecting the track had frustrated the other Beatles, with John Lennon later describing it as “drivel”. Despite this, the song’s cheerful, music-hall character made it one of the album’s most immediately accessible tracks.

The Beatles — officially licensed merch

The Beatles: Abbey Road Colours Crossing Unisex Long Sleeve T-Shirt (Black) — celebrating the album being assembled in this very session.

Abbey Road Colours Crossing T-Shirt →

Polythene Pam / She Came In Through The Bathroom Window

Thirteen stereo mixes of the linked pair ‘Polythene Pam’/‘She Came In Through The Bathroom Window’ were made during the session, numbered remixes 20–32. Like ‘Sun King’/‘Mean Mr Mustard’, these two songs were designed to flow seamlessly into one another as part of the medley.

‘Polythene Pam’ was written by Lennon and inspired by a real person — a fan he had met in the late 1950s. ‘She Came In Through The Bathroom Window’ was a McCartney composition inspired by a fan who had broken into his St John’s Wood home. Both songs had been recorded at the same session on 25 July 1969, with Lennon performing ‘Polythene Pam’ in a broad Yorkshire accent.

You Never Give Me Your Money crossfade

One of the most technically demanding tasks of the session was the creation of the crossfade from ‘You Never Give Me Your Money’ into ‘Sun King’/‘Mean Mr Mustard’. This transition used tape loops assembled by Paul McCartney on 5 August 1969 — a characteristic McCartney touch, drawing on the tape loop techniques the group had pioneered on Revolver and Sgt. Pepper’s.

The crossfade was attempted 11 times during the 14 August session, but none of the attempts was deemed satisfactory. The definitive version — stereo crossfade mix 12 — was achieved in a single attempt on 21 August 1969, demonstrating how much precision was required to make the medley’s transitions feel effortless.

John Lennon’s Kenny Everett interview

During the session, John Lennon gave an interview to BBC Radio 1’s Kenny Everett for the programme Everett Is Here. Everett was one of the most inventive and irreverent broadcasters of the era, and his relationship with The Beatles stretched back to the mid-1960s — he had been among the first DJs to champion their records. The interview was broadcast in two parts, on 20 September and 27 September 1969 — just days before and after the release of Abbey Road on 26 September.

The Abbey Road medley in context

The second side of Abbey Road contains one of the most celebrated sequences in rock history: a suite of linked songs running from ‘You Never Give Me Your Money’ through to ‘The End’, with only the brief coda ‘Her Majesty’ appended after a few seconds of silence. The medley was largely the concept of Paul McCartney, who had been developing the idea of linking song fragments together since the Sgt. Pepper’s era.

By the end of the 14 August session, the sequence from ‘Sun King’ through to ‘She Came In Through The Bathroom Window’ had been substantially assembled, with the crossfade from ‘You Never Give Me Your Money’ still requiring further work. The remaining songs — ‘Golden Slumbers’, ‘Carry That Weight’, ‘The End’ and ‘Her Majesty’ — were mixed and edited in the days that followed.

Abbey Road was released on 26 September 1969 and reached number one in both the UK and the US. It was the last album The Beatles recorded together, though Let It Be — recorded earlier in January 1969 — was released posthumously in May 1970.

The Beatles — officially licensed merch

The Beatles: Abbey Road Unisex Pullover Hoodie (Black).

Abbey Road Hoodie →

Key Facts

Frequently Asked Questions

→ Recording, mixing: Yer Blues, What’s The New Mary Jane – 14 August 1968
→ The Beatles live: Cleveland Stadium, Cleveland – 14 August 1966
→ August in Beatles History
→ The Beatles Knowledge Hub
→ On This Day in Beatles History

Shop Abbey Road merch: Abbey Road Colours Crossing T-Shirt | Abbey Road Hoodie | Abbey Road Umbrella