39 Years Ago Today…

The last album recorded by The Beatles , Abbey Road, entered the U.K. charts this week in 1969 at number 1. It is their best selling album, with fans buying over 11 million copies in the U.S. alone. The first side of the record was compiled in the traditional way, to keep John Lennon happy, while side two featured a mini rock-opera with song snippets combined into a long arrangement. The idea was developed by Paul McCartney and George Martin, who wanted the entire album done like that. “Her Majesty” was originally placed between “Sun King” and “Polythene Pam,” but upon playback, Sir Paul requested that it be removed. So engineer, John Kurlander, chopped out the appropriate piece and tacked it on at the end of the reel (engineers were instructed to never throw anything away). Before the next session a demo was made from the tape, with “Her Majesty” unknowingly stuck on the end, and when the group heard it, they decided to leave it there. “Her Majesty” became the first “hidden’’ track on an album. This practice is very popular on the CD format of today.