Long, Long, Long

The lyric keeps measuring time (refrain emphasizes 'long, long, long time'), and it deals in the motifs of self reflection and spirituality too, a habit that peaked in 1964. The writing draws on Bob Dylan, and interestingly, the line "It's been a long" turns up in 3 Beatles songs, among them 'Here Comes the Sun' and 'Wait'.

'Long, Long, Long' is a folk rock and ballad piece that moves at about 105 BPM, in F major. The performance shows a descending bass and prominent drum fills. It is built without verses and choruses, which is unusual for them, and it is in 3/4 throughout. As it happens, the harmony moves Gm → B♭ → Gm → F, the same shape 'Hey Bulldog' takes as F♯m → A → F♯m → E. In the same vein, 'Ask Me Why' plays A → G♯m7 → F♯m7 → E and 'Blackbird' plays Fadd9 → Em → Dm → C, the same progression in different keys, which this song also makes.

The session was at EMI Studio 2, recorded by the Beatles minus Lennon over 67 rhythm-track takes, with Chris Thomas, the producer, overdubbing piano and a chance Blue Nun bottle resonance immortalized in the coda. The Leslie speaker carried organ routed through, bottle resonance, which also turns up in 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds', a year earlier. The band reached for double tracked vocal on this one, as on 139 of their records. The Beatles began recording 37 songs in 1968, and this was the 33rd of them, the 179th record of their career.

Harrison wrote and sang it. Chris Thomas produces and plays, unusual for a Beatles record, and the organ is Hammond, vibrates wine bottle on Leslie. You can hear a wine bottle vibrating on Leslie cabinet, coda on it.

The track came out with The Beatles (The White Album) on November 22, 1968. This song was the 28th of the 34 records they released in that year, and the 170th counting from the start.