Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey

"Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey" is a song by the English rock group the Beatles from their 1968 double album The Beatles (also known as "the White Album"). The song was written by John Lennon and credited to Lennon–McCartney.

"Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey"
Cover of the song's sheet music
Song by the Beatles
from the album The Beatles
PublishedNorthern Songs
Released22 November 1968
Recorded26, 27 June and 1, 23 July 1968
StudioEMI, London
GenreHard rock[1]
Length2:24
LabelApple
Songwriter(s)Lennon–McCartney
Producer(s)George Martin

Background

"Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey" was written about Lennon's future wife, Yoko Ono.[2][3] Lennon said of the song:

That was just a sort of nice line that I made into a song. It was about me and Yoko. Everybody seemed to be paranoid except for us two, who were in the glow of love. Everything is clear and open when you're in love. Everybody was sort of tense around us: you know, 'What is she doing here at the session? Why is she with him?' All this sort of madness is going on around us because we just happened to want to be together all the time.

— John Lennon, All We Are Saying[4][2][3]

Many listeners, including Paul McCartney, believed that the song was about heroin, as the term "monkey" is often associated with the drug.[3] Although Lennon and Ono used the drug, McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr did not, with McCartney later saying, "It was a harder terminology, which the rest of us weren't into."[3]

Recording

Lennon's working title for the composition was "Come on, Come on".[4] An Esher Demo of the song, recorded in George Harrison's Esher home in May 1968, features all-acoustic instrumentation, and a vocal sung in a more Bob Dylan-like spoken word style than the released version.

"Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey" evolved from a jam session and was originally untitled. The final mix was sped up by mixing the tape running at 43 hertz instead of the usual 50. According to Harrison, the title came from one of the Maharishi's sayings (with "and my monkey" added later).[5]

The released version of the song was recorded at EMI Studios on 27 June 1968, and an overdub session on 1 July. Final stereo mixing was completed on 12 October.[6]

Legacy

In 2018, the music staff of Time Out London ranked it at number 13 on their list of the best Beatles songs.[7]

However, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of its release, Jacob Stolworthy of The Independent listed "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey" at number 21 in his ranking of the White Album's 30 tracks. He wrote of the song: "With its jangly guitar riff, repetitive lyrics and frantic bass line, this song – borne from the growing unease with Yoko Ono's presence in the studio – grows more fun with each listen."[8]

Personnel
Personnel per Ian MacDonald[10] except as noted.

Cover versions

References
  1. Sound & Vision 2001, p. 103.
  2. "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey". The Beatles Bible.
  3. "100 Greatest Beatles Songs: No. 73 – 'Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except for Me and My Monkey'". Rolling Stone.
  4. Turner, Steve. A Hard Day's Write. New York: MJF Books.
  5. MacDonald 1997, p. 257.
  6. Lewisohn 1988, p. 139.
  7. Time Out London Music (24 May 2018). "The 50 Best Beatles songs". Time Out London. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  8. Stolworthy, Jacob (22 November 2018). "The Beatles' White Album tracks, ranked – from Blackbird to While My Guitar Gently Weeps". The Independent. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
  9. Emerick & Massey 2006, p. 387.
  10. MacDonald 2005, p. 293.
  11. "BBC — Radio 1 - Keeping It Peel - 14/05/1989 Soundgarden".
  12. "Live Phish, Vol. 13: 10/31/94, Glens Falls Civic Center, Glens Falls, NY - Phish". AllMusic. Retrieved 7 September 2017.
  13. "｢STEP BY STEP｣(CT/CD)". Chisato Moritaka Official Website. Up-Front Group. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  14. "The White Album Recovered 2 - Track Listing — Mojo Cover CDs — The Definitive List". Archived from the original on 2 February 2014.

Sources
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