At today’s session brass parts — specifically sax, trombone, and French horn — were recorded for “Good Morning, Good Morning.” But upon listening to the playback, John decided they sounded “too straight,” says studio engineer Richard Lush. “We ended up flanging, limiting and compressing it, anything to make it sound unlike brass playing. It was typical John Lennon — he just wanted it to sound weird.”
Speaking of which, after finishing yesterday’s post I began to wonder if there was any chance John might have been influenced by the Velvet Underground when he began to write louder, harder-edged stuff like “Yer Blues,” “I’m So Tired,” and “Everybody’s Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey.” But I’ve been unable to establish any direct link; certainly it’s possible to imagine him listening to The Velvet Underground & Nico and envying its sinister cool and street cred, but that remains pure speculation.
In the course of researching this I ran across an article called “The Beatles, The Velvet Underground, and the Rock & Roll Renaissance” by one Mike Segretto. This is a thoughtful comparison of Sgt. Pepper and The Velvet Underground & Nico and well worth a read. I’ll leave you to it.