It's All Too Much
January 13, 1969
It's All Too Much ( dt, 'It's all too much ') is a song by British rock band The Beatles, released on the LP Yellow Submarine in 1969 and was written by George Harrison. The pictures were taken in 1967, shortly after the release of Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and should actually appear on the next album Magical Mystery Tour, which was rejected.
Recording
The song was recorded at De Lane Lea Studios, 129 Kingsway, London on 25 and 31 May and on 2 June 1967 and is one of the few songs of the Beatles, which were not recorded at Abbey Road Studios. Harrison took over the lead vocals of the recording in which he was accompanied by Lennon and McCartney. At the beginning of the title appear snatches of Harrison, who together also played with John Lennon, the distorted guitar intro. After that, the character played by George Harrison Hammond organ uses, while the three other musicians in the band for the constant monotonous rhythm worry; they struck with drum sticks on different toms, drum and cymbals, supported by Mal Evans on tambourine. In the following days, several overdubs were recorded. For the wind passages five studio musicians were hired; a clarinetist and five trumpeters, including David Mason, who had played the piccolo trumpet solo on the recording of Penny Lane.
Composition and lyrics
The piece usually remains in G major, with harmonic twists as it used in other Harrison Beatles songs like Long, Long, Long, and The Inner Light. It is a musical constant in music and text:
" It's all too much for me to see, a love that's shining all around here. The more I am, the less I know, and what I do is all too much. "
The song is inspired by elements of other songs; the line " With your long blonde hair and your eyes of blue " was the song Sorrow taken from the earlier The Merseybeats members Tony Crane and Billy Kinsley had recorded as The Mersey, and the trumpets process Jeremiah Clarke's Prince of Denmark 's March.
Cover versions
From Harrison's song emerged in the following years several cover versions, including Steve Hillage, Grateful Dead and Journey.