It's All Too Much

Let's make these last few hours of March 22 the most tripped-out HarriSunday that ever there was by listening to a song that can only be described as being, like, TOO MUCH, man. Dig it.

Here you're listening to the long-ish version of "It's All Too Much" from the Yellow Submarine album. There is an even longer version available on bootlegs-- with an extra verse and a much longer, more protracted coda-- as well as a super-short version (which, weirdly, features the extra verse only elsewhere heard on bootlegs) that was actually played in the Yellow Submarine film. But they're all products of one crazy-long jam session. The song itself was inspired by acid and meditation, as George freely admitted. You don't say.

Actually, I love this song deeply-- the feedback at the beginning seems awesome and kind of un-Beatle-like, the Hammond organ is all sunshine and rainbows, Ringo on the drums is ABSOLUTELY AMAZING (which I truly realized for the first time listening just now), and even though there's a lot of psychedelic production here, the actual melody of the song is quite beautiful, and it's a nice love song in its way. Don't you think? Oh, and we've got another patented Harrison drone here-- once again, George clearly dug the drone common in classical Indian music, and used it to great effect in the rock medium.

That's all I've got tonight, but it's a song better not talked about anyway. It's a song better to just, like, live. YES. Let's listen again, this time to the movie version, just because Jeremy dancing with the Chief Blue Meanie is so cute.

"It's All Too Much," released in the U.K. side A track 5 of Yellow Submarine, released January 17, 1969; in the U.S., January 13, 1969.

I am indebted for all discography information to the tremendous Beatles-Discography.com.