Revolution

This song touches on money, and on the motifs of politics and philosophy, which also turns up in 'A Hard Day's Night', 4 years earlier. The writing reaches for anaphora, and one to notice, the title runs to a single word, a habit that peaked in 1965. A small coincidence, but the line "Don't you know it's gonna" turns up in one other Beatles song, 'Don't Let Me Down'.

'Revolution' is a hard rock and rock and roll song in B major, around 121 BPM, and it owes something to blues. This is one of only 5 Beatles records in that key, the earliest of them 'Doctor Robert'. Listen to guitars mixed heavy. The harmony takes in a power chord chord, one that five of their records feature, and Lennon reached for it more than the others, on four of them. It features a guitar solo, and underneath it is a plain 12-bar blues, the shape behind 32 of their recordings, such as 'Money (That's What I Want)' and 'Roll Over Beethoven'. Worth a footnote, the harmony moves E7 → B7 → F♯7 → E7 → B → F♯, the same shape 'You Can't Do That' takes as C7 → G7 → D7♯9 → C7 → G7 → D7. Beyond that, 'Chains' plays B♭ → F9 → E♭9 → B♭ → F and 'You Can't Do That' plays G7 → D7♯9 → C7 → G7 → D7: the same progression in different keys, which this song also makes.

The song came out of EMI Studio 3, the defining fuzz tone came from plugging guitars directly into the mixing console and overloading two mic preamps to the point of distortion, which also turns up in 'Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)', a year earlier. The Hammond RT-3 was played by Paul McCartney. The equipment in the room included the Ludwig Super Classic drum kit and the Hohner Pianet. Only five Beatles recordings reach for direct injection, and this is one. This was their 159th record, and the 13th of the 37 they began recording in 1968.

The track is Lennon's, words and voice, and there is a role swap on it, Lennon on lead guitar. It has hired players on it, Nicky Hopkins on electric piano overdub.

The record reached the public as the B-side of Hey Jude in both UK and US, and it reached #12 on the US Billboard Hot 100 in its own right. It stands as one of the songs the Beatles made a promotional film for (filmed at Twickenham Film Studios, 4 September 1968) as well. America had it two years later, with 10 tracks collecting non-album singles from 1964-1969. This song was the 4th of the 34 records they released in 1968, and the 146th counting from the start.