Don't Pass Me By

The lyric keeps measuring time ('Clock a'ticking on the mantel shelf'), and it deals in the motifs of relationship and love too. Formally it is confessional, and it is on more of the Beatles' 1964 records than any other year's. The writing reaches for anaphora ('Don't pass me by / Don't make me cry / Don't make me blue'). Curiously, the title is phrased as an instruction and also has a negative. Interestingly, the line "One two three four five six seven" turns up in one other Beatles song, 'You Never Give Me Your Money'.

'Don't Pass Me By' is a country rock piece, written in C major and taken at about 100 BPM. It features bowed strings, and it is on more of the Beatles' 1967 records than any other year's. You can hear singing over the instrumental break.

McCartney used the Rickenbacker 4001S here, his bass. Double tracked vocal and leslie speaker processing are audible on the finished record. Among the 37 songs they began recording in 1968 this was the 8th, and the 154th of the career.

Starr wrote and sang it. The record has McCartney on drums and Starr on tack piano and piano, a role swap. The violin part is a country-style fiddle obbligato, and it is on more of their 1967 records than any other year's.

The public first heard it when The Beatles (The White Album) appeared on November 22, 1968. This is their 160th record, and the 18th of the 34 they released in that year.