Blue Jay Way

November 27, 1967

Blue Jay Way is a song by the Beatles from 1967, which appeared on the album and double EP Magical Mystery Tour. Text and music were provided by George Harrison, who also sings the piece.

Formation

Harrison composed the piece early August 1967, when he spent with his then-wife Pattie, friend and tour manager Neil Aspinall and Alex Mardas, the head of Apple Electronics a few days in California. They had rented a villa in the " Blue Jay Way " in the Hollywood Hills in Los Angeles. Freshly arrived from England and tired from the long flight, they were waiting for the arrival of the former press secretary of the Beatles, Derek Taylor and his wife. Taylor called and said that they would be late. Harrison explained the Directions to the villa that would be somewhat difficult to find. Taylor replied that he would win through and could if necessary even a police officer to ask for directions. To pass the time until the arrival of Taylor, Harrison embarked on a Hammond organ to play, standing in the music room of the villa. He developed a melody and a text which addressed be waiting for Taylor in Blue Jay Way. Upon arrival, the Taylors, the piece was almost finished.

"BLUE JAY WAY what at a time When I'd rented a house in Los Angeles on - Blue Jay Way, and I arrived there from England. I was waiting around for Derek and Joan Taylor who were then living in LA. I was very tired after the flight and the time change and I started writing, playing a little electric organ did what in the house. [ ... ] The mood is so slightly Indian. "

Recording

Beginning September 1967 Blue Jay Way was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London. To hear it is a character played by George Harrison organ, provided with a filter effects drums by Ringo Starr, arranged by George Martin strings, a monotonous bass by Paul McCartney and very distant and alien -sounding backing vocals by McCartney and John Lennon. Mark Lewisohn compared the studio effort, which was applied for the recording of Blue Jay Way, with the for Strawberry Fields Forever or I Am the Walrus, as was resorted to almost all technical tricks, the Beatles, the - and their sound engineers - until now for their had developed photographs.

The result is a psychedelic " sound adventure" that can be considered characteristic of the creative process phase of the Beatles in 1966 and 1967, and a typical example of the technical and artistic experiments is to dare the Beatles at that time.

"Blue Jay Way makes fascinating listening for anyone interested in what Could be Achieved in a recording studio in 1967. "

Magical Mystery Tour

The piece can also be heard in the Beatles movie Magical Mystery Tour, which was filmed in the fall of 1967 and was first broadcast on 26 December of the same year on British television.