Everything about Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite totally explained
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"
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!" is a song from the 1967
Beatles album
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. It was composed primarily by
John Lennon with input from
Paul McCartney and credited to
Lennon/McCartney.
Lennon wrote the song taking inspiration from a nineteenth century
circus poster for
Pablo Fanque's circus which he purchased in an
antique shop in January or February of 1967, while filming the promotional video for the song "
Strawberry Fields Forever" in
Kent. Mr. Kite is believed to be
William Kite, who worked for Pablo Fanque from 1843 to 1845.
Recording
One of the most musically complex songs on
Sgt. Pepper, it was recorded on
17 February 1967 with overdubs on
20 February (organ sound effects),
28 March (harmonica, organ, guitar),
29 March (more organ sound effects), and
31 March. Lennon wanted the track to have a "carnival atmosphere", and told producer
George Martin that he wanted "to smell the sawdust on the floor." In the
middle eight bars, multiple recordings of
fairground organs and
calliope music were spliced together to attempt to produce this request; after a great deal of unsuccessful experimentation, George Martin instructed
Geoff Emerick to chop the tape into pieces with scissors, throw them up in the air, and re-assemble them at random.
On
17 February, Lennon sings "For the benefit of Mr. Kite" in a joke accent, just before Emerick announces, "For the Benefit of Mr. Kite!, take 1." Lennon immediately responds, "
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!", reinforcing his title preference, a phrase lifted intact from the original poster. The exchange is recorded in
The Beatles Recording Sessions (slightly misquoted) in 1980 he described it as "pure, like a painting, a pure watercolour."
It was one of three songs from the
Sgt. Pepper album that was banned from playing on the
BBC, supposedly because the phrase "Henry the Horse" combined two words that were individually known as slang for
heroin. Lennon denied that the song had anything to do with heroin.
Despite Lennon's denials, the version of the song recorded by British comedian
Eddie Izzard in the movie
Across the Universe still contains the phrase "turn on, tune in, drop out" by noted drug advocate
Timothy Leary.
Personnel
John Lennon: double-tracked lead vocals and harmony vocals; Hammond organ and piano; tape loops and harmonica.
Paul McCartney: lead acoustic guitar and bass.
George Harrison: harmonica and tambourine.
Ringo Starr: drums and harmonica.
George Martin: harmonium, Lowry organ, glockenspiel and tape loops.
Mal Evans: harmonica.
Neil Aspinall: harmonica.
Geoff Emerick: tape loops.
Covers and influence
The song is performed by The Bee Gees and George Burns in the 1978 film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Billy Connelly recorded a mostly spoken-word recording of the song for the George Martin compilation In My Life.
In 2004 Branimir Krstic (External Link
) released a classical guitar version of the song on the first full classical cover album of Sgt. Pepper.
In the film Across the Universe, Eddie Izzard appears in a cameo and does a cover of the song in a spoken form.
Avant-garde band The Residents performed a cover of the song at a 40th Anniversary celebration of Sgt. Pepper with the London Sinfonietta.
Swedish metal band Mister Kite take their name from the song title.Further Information
Get more info on 'Being For The Benefit Of Mr Kite'.
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