Over these days there was a lot of work on Side 2 of Abbey Road, with mixes and transitions created for “You Never Give Me Your Money,” “Sun King,” “Mean Mr. Mustard,” “Polythene Pam,” and “She Came in Through the Bathroom Window.” The most problematic was the crossfade from “Money” to “Sun King,” which had been unsuccessfully tried before and, after eleven more unsatisfactory attempts, would not be finalized until August 21.
Paul was probably there both days in his role as de facto associate producer. And John came in on the 14th to sit down for an interview with radio host Kenny Everett, which for some reason was conducted at Abbey Road and recorded using studio tape.
Although Everett was not given copies of The Beatles’ new songs to play on his show, he was allowed to hear them, and then created his own versions of “Sun King,” “Maxwell’s Silver Hammer,” and “Mean Mr. Mustard.” He then used these recordings as radio promos and as background to the Lennon interview, leading some fans to believe they were hearing new Beatles music — and probably to wonder what on Earth had gone wrong with the Fab Four.
The result was quite bizarre, and the versions of this interview in circulation are annoyingly low-fi, considering it took place in a recording studio. This seven-minute excerpt is probably more than enough:
These were chaotic times in Pepperland. Outside the frame of the album itself, where focused creativity and competent supervision led to a polished finished product, all was madness. “Reflecting these times,” I hear the voice of Danny the Dealer adding.