Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey

The song reaches for motifs of relationship, philosophy and freedom. The lyric turns to wordplay (inside/outside, deeper/higher inversions), and 1968 is the year the Beatles reached for it most. The title carries the word get and also is long by any standard, something they started 5 years before and went on doing for 10 songs, and the language is built on a limited vocabulary. A small coincidence, but the line "Come on come on come on come on" turns up in one other Beatles song, 'Please Please Me'.

Written in E major and taken at about 120 BPM, 'Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey' is a hard rock and rock and roll piece. It features a defining riff. The harmony takes in a power chord chord, one that five of the Beatles' records feature, and Lennon reached for it more than the others, on four of them, moving between 3/4 and common time. Worth a footnote, its A → D → B → E → D chord sequence is one 'Back in the U.S.S.R.' plays too, there as A → D → B7 → E7 → D7.

The record was recorded at EMI Studio 2. Lennon adopted 'monkey' as a pet name for Ono after seeing a cartoon depicting her clinging to him. The band added handclaps and McCartney's second bass over the buildup before the fade. On this one Harrison played the Gibson SG, his guitar, in use since 1966 and heard on nine Beatles records in all, such as 'Rain' and 'Doctor Robert'. The band reached for VariSpeed, double tracked vocal and distortion on this one, and the record closes with a fade-out. Of the 37 songs they began recording in 1968, this was the 10th, and the 156th they ever made.

Lennon wrote this one and sang it. Past the usual instruments it also carries McCartney on chocalho and hand bell. It has everybody in their usual roles, with Lennon on rhythm guitar, McCartney on bass, Harrison on lead guitar and Starr on drums. Two bass parts overdubbed by McCartney, who plays handclaps on 37 Beatles records in all, such as 'And Your Bird Can Sing' and 'Lady Madonna'.

This track came out on November 22, 1968 as part of The Beatles (The White Album), and was not issued separately. This track was the 25th of 34 released in that year, and the 167th counting from the start.