From ROLLING STONE 28.05.2017
After recording 'Lovely Rita' instrumental backing track, the
Beatles reconvened the following day to tackle the vocals. As they worked, a
pair of pop stars dropped by to join them: Tony Hicks of the Hollies and
David Crosby of the Byrds. The Beatles had grown particularly
close to Crosby during an extended stay in Los Angeles as part of their 1965
U.S. tour, even dropping acid with him and fellow Byrd Jim McGuinn. The groups
would continue to a share a great affinity for one another – particularly George
Harrison and McGuinn, who emboldened one another to incorporate Indian modes
into Western pop with their jangling Rickenbacker 12-strings.
All of the Beatles valued Crosby's opinion, so when he stopped
by Abbey Road they were eager to play him some of their latest work. "I was, as
near as I know, the first human being besides them and George Martin and the
engineers to hear 'A Day in the Life,'" Crosby recalled in an interview
with Filter. "I was high as a kite – so high I was
hunting geese with a rake. They sat me down; they had huge speakers, like
coffins with wheels, that they rolled up on either side of the stool. By the
time it got to the end of that piano chord, man, my brains were on the
floor."
Also on hand that night was Leslie Bryce, the staff
photographer from The Beatles Book Monthly magazine, who took several photos of Lennon, McCartney,
Harrison and Crosby gathered around a microphone. The accompanying article
insinuates that Crosby added backup vocals on "Lovely Rita," but his
contribution, if it ever existed (Crosby never says it did), was not used.
However, at some point Paul said, 'We need backup vocals on this. This is what I
want you to sing.' So David Crosby went in there and sang backup vocals on
'Lovely Rita.'" .
The Beatles would revisit "Lovely Rita" on March 7th, when
they tackled a series of unconventional overdubs. In his 2006 memoir, Geoff
Emerick recalls the band "standing around a single microphone humming through a
comb and paper, each priceless Beatle comb carefully wrapped with a single layer
of the standard issue extra-scratchy EMI toilet paper that we were all
constantly complaining about." To achieve a kazoo effect, Mal Evans had been
dispatched to the studio bathrooms to collect several rolls
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