BEATLES [Across the Universe] MONO 1-SIDED PROMO [World Wildlife Fund] '69:

$

41

1969 ONE-SIDED 45 for the WORLD WILDLIFE FUND [SQ3-MONO]
 PROMO ONLY
RARE

*

VINYL is EX very fine example
 COVER is generic

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"Across the Universe," one of the group's most delicate and cosmic ballads, was one of the highlights of the Let It Be album. Like several of the songs on that record, it had a convoluted recording history, appearing in two radically different versions during the Beatles' lifetime, and appearing in a substantially different third one on Anthology 3. The most familiar version by far, however, is the one on the Let It Be album, on which producer Phil Spector took the basic track the group had recorded back in early 1968, added some orchestration and choral vocals, and remixed the original rendition, slowing the tape of John Lennon's lead singing substantially. Whatever its form, "Across the Universe," written (though credited to Lennon-McCartney) and sung by John Lennon, was a charming song with introspective, slightly surreal images. These seemed inspired, in equal measures, by psychedelic culture and the Indian/religious study the Beatles were immersing themselves in during late 1967/early 1968 when the song was written. The pleasant cascade of free association words and pictures, indeed, is similar to that experienced during meditation, a practice that was integral to the Beatles' lives during their studies with the Maharishi. Of the several Lennon-dominated Beatles songs that feature psychedelic-style wordplay, "Across the Universe" is certainly the friendliest and most seductive, in contrast to other Lennon efforts in which the dark and disturbing sides of the psychedelic experience were highlighted. It is one of the folkiest of all Beatles performances (certainly in its original, unoverdubbed format), with a lilting chorus emphasizing Lennon's 1967 state of introspective withdrawal. The constant, raga-ish refrain refers to Guru Dev, the Maharishi's guru. "Across the Universe" was originally recorded in early 1968 as a candidate for a Beatles single, in a much simpler, more acoustic arrangement than the overdubbed one used for Let It Be contains, with high female vocal harmonies supplied by two teenaged female Beatles fans. It was this version that appeared, prior to Let It Be, on the late-1969 charity compilation album No One's Gonna Change Our World. It can be gathered that the Beatles weren't terribly satisfied with how the track had turned out; otherwise they wouldn't have thrown it away on a compilation album, they would have used it for one of their own releases. Lennon would eventually charge, in his Playboy interview, that McCartney did his best to "subconsciously try and destroy" "Across the Universe" because McCartney didn't work as hard on Lennon's songs as he did on his own. No one can know the absolute truth of that assertion, but based on what's known about the group, it does seem unfair, especially given that Lennon himself would sometimes barely or not participate in songs written by other members of the band in the late '60s. The most noted cover of "Across the Universe" occurred when David Bowie made it a surprising inclusion on his mid-'70s Young Americans album. It was surprising because by that point, with the exception of the Pin-Ups album, Bowie was writing virtually all of his material; it is less surprising when it's considered that Lennon himself played guitar on Bowie's version.

All Music Guide

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