| "Her Majesty" | |
|---|---|
 Northern Music sheet music cover | |
| Song bythe Beatles | |
| from the albumAbbey Road | |
| Released | 26 September 1969 (UK) |
| Recorded | 2 July 1969 |
| Studio | EMI, London[1] |
| Genre | Music hall |
| Length | 0:23 |
| Label | Apple[2] |
| Songwriter | Lennon–McCartney |
| Producer | George Martin |
| Official audio | |
| "Her Majesty" onYouTube | |
"Her Majesty" is a song by the Englishrock bandthe Beatles, from their 1969 albumAbbey Road. Written and sung byPaul McCartney and credited toLennon–McCartney,[3] it is a humorous, somewhat ungracious ode toQueen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. McCartney said that he "wrote it as a joke" and that "[it's] almost like a love song to the Queen." The song consists of onelead vocal and anacoustic guitar melody. It appears at the end ofAbbey Road twenty seconds after "The End",[4][a] but the original album sleeve did not list it; in fact, some music critics consider it one of the firsthidden tracks. Lasting 23 seconds, "Her Majesty" is the shortest Beatles song.
"Her Majesty" was first performed during theGet Back sessions and subsequently recorded on 2 July 1969 in three takes. While intended to be included in theAbbey Road medley between "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam", McCartney later decided to have it removed. However, thesound engineer John Kurlander had been ordered never to scrap Beatles recordings, and so he slipped it into the end ofAbbey Road and attached twenty seconds ofleader tape before it. McCartney reportedly approved of it in this setting. Because its initial placement was altered, the raucous opening chord of "Her Majesty" is the final one of "Mean Mr. Mustard", and its final chord is to be found at the beginning of "Polythene Pam".
Paul McCartney wrote "Her Majesty" at hisScotland farm around October 1968, or later.[6] He describes its origins: "I was just writing this little tune. I can never tell, like, how tunes come out. I just wrote it as a joke."[5][b] The song debuted as a two-minute outtake on 24 January 1969 during theGet Back sessions,[8] where McCartney repeatedly sings the verse and performs theguitar melody featuring on the final cut on hisMartin D-28.[9] On 2 July, having arrived at the studio before his bandmates, he recorded it.[10] The Beatles historianMark Lewisohn writes, "[a] simpler recording could not be imagined: it took just three takes, only two of which were complete, before Paul had it right, singing live to his own acoustic guitar accompaniment".[11] "Her Majesty" was to be considered for theAbbey Road medley, between "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam"—[12][c] "almost as an afterthought," writes the authorHunter Davies.[14]
The band did not heed McCartney's recording,[15] and while theAbbey Road tracks were beingremixed, on 30 July, he deemed it unfit for the medley and told thesound engineer John Kurlander to scrap it.[16] However, Kurlander was under orders not to throw out any Beatles recording.[17] Therefore, he inserted it at the end ofAbbey Road after "The End" and stitched twenty seconds' worth ofleader tape between the two songs.[18] Kurlander recalls, "I'm only assuming this, but … [Paul] must haveliked hearing 'Her Majesty' tacked on the end. The Beatles always picked up on accidental things. It came as a nice surprise there at the end."[19][d] "Typical Beatles," McCartney said of the final product, "an accident."[21] The track was produced byGeorge Martin and engineered byPhil McDonald and Chris Blair.[22]
"Her Majesty" is the shortest Beatles song, at 23 seconds.[23] Featuring at the end ofAbbey Road as acoda,[24] it is ahidden track: one of the first in history, according to the journalistJude Rogers andKenneth Womack.[25][e] The musicologistWalter Everett descrbes McCartney's piece as a "brieftongue-in-cheekmusic hall ditty,"[15] and Womack calls it a "gentleacousticpaean" to Elizabeth;[21] McCartney, in fact, had copies ofAbbey Road sent to her residence atBuckingham Palace.[26] The musicologistAlan W. Pollack notes that it injects a tinge of humour in the album following the solemn, sentimental "The End",[8] or, in the criticTim Riley's words, "pulls the rug from beneath 'The End'."[27] Riley, however, praises this effect as he thinks that "The End"'s grand orchestral closing would have sounded too pompous were it to conclude the album.[28]
Just when you think the last recorded Beatles album is over, just as you're letting out a deep sigh in reaction to 'The End', you're startled by one crashingD-Major chord that's followed by this irreverent little fragment of a ditty. Its ending is as abrupt as its start is sudden. Before you've quite had a chance to react to it, it's already altogether come and gone.
— Allan W. Pollack[8]
"Her Majesty" is in thekey of D major and is in4
4time.[8] Comprising onelead vocal and an acoustic guitar melody, "[it] doesn't get any simpler than this on a Beatles recording," notes Pollack.[8] It spans eighteenbars, sixteen forming a four-squarequatrain and the final two being a shortreprise of the lastphrase. The song follows the commonchord progression I-ii-IV-V, althoughsecondary dominants and adiminished seventh provide some variety.Harmonically, the first phrase has a closed shape, the second is open to V, the third opens on vi and closes on IV, and the final is convergent on the home key. The rhythm remains flexible throughout, but the final phrase sees a rapid succession of chord changes.[8] According to Pollack, "Her Majesty" stylistically "sounds like a strange cross between 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer' and [Mary Hopkin's] 'Goodbye'."[8] Riley writes that the song "travels right to left across thestereo spectrum (a reverse image of the rainbow arc thesynthesizer played at the beginning of 'Here Comes the Sun')."[29]
The song opens with a "crashing" D majorchord.[30] This, in fact, is the final chord of "Mean Mr. Mustard", which had accidently been cut out from "Mustard" as John Kurlander's edit was only rough.[31] Similarly, "Her Majesty" abruptly ends with an unresolved note because its final chord is included in the opening of "Polythene Pam",[32][f] the song it was meant to precede onAbbey Road.[3] These errors were never fixed; when Kurlander tried doing so on 30 July, McCartney told him, "Never mind, it's only a rough mix, it doesn't matter."[33]
The song concerns a man who is infatuated withQueen Elizabeth II but, at the same time, has reservations about her: "Her Majesty is a pretty nice girl / But she doesn't have a lot to say / Her Majesty is a pretty nice girl / But she changes from day to day."[34] McCartney has said of the lyrics: "It was quite funny because it's basicallymonarchist, with a mildly disrespectful tone, but it's very tongue in cheek. It's almost like a love song to the Queen."[5]Rolling Stone Brasil questions whether they represent attacks on Elizabeth, but McCartney has recognized her as a force for unity inBritish society.[34] After meeting Elizabeth to receive hisMBE as a Beatle, he said, "She was just like a mum to us."[35] Later, McCartney admitted that he had a crush on her as a child.[35] The authorBarry Miles comments on the lyrics' significance to the eroding relationships within the band: a few months after McCartney wrote a song in honour of Elizabeth,John Lennon returned his MBE to protest the United Kingdom's support of theUnited States in the Vietnam War, among other reasons.[36][g]
"Her Majesty" was released as part ofAbbey Road on 26 September 1969 in the UK, and five days later in the US.[14] The original album cover does not mention its name.[15] Since then, the song has been released on the 2003Anthology DVD and the50th anniversary expanded edition ofAbbey Road, which includes an alternate mix of the medley with "Her Majesty" placed between "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam".[38]
In October 2009,MTV Networks released a version of the song for the video gameThe Beatles: Rock Band that allowed one to play the song's missing last chord. The change garnered controversy among some fans who preferred the original unresolved ending.[39]
On its own, it would have been judged as one of the group's least substantial tracks, though it had a throwaway charm. In its context, however, it was very effective and memorable. For "Her Majesty" was the track that ended theAbbey Road album, in a manner that ensured that people never forgot its existence.
Alan Smith, in his contemporary review ofAbbey Road for theNew Musical Express, acknowledges "Her Majesty" as a "split-second thing" sung by McCartney.[41] In lists of the Beatles songs ordered from worst to best, "Her Majesty" was ranked at number 177 byNME'sMark Beaumont, who deems it a "lightweightfolk frippery" and throwaway piece,[42] at number 158 by Bill Wyman ofVulture, who similarly describes it as a "McCartney throwaway,"[43] and at number 132 byUltimate Classic Rock, whose Michael Gallucci calls it a "23-second goof" that lightens the end ofAbbey Road.[44]
Matt Miller ofEsquire considers it an example of beauty in briefness; despite its jokey "nonsensicalnursery rhyme lyrics and a sloppy, out of place first note," he finds it fascinating. Miller also identified the track as an "accident" and a "moment of spontaneity, of playful musicianship stuck in time, of Paul McCartney not trying to do anything more than mess about."[45] Writing forAllMusic,Richie Unterberger highlights the song's startling opening chord, forceful enough "to wake up the dozing cat in the corner," and its ending, as abrupt as though a plug was pulled on the stereo equipment.[40]Billboard's Joe Lynch characterizes "Her Majesty" as "a goofy sketch of a song," comparing the guitar clank at the beginning to the finale of "A Day in the Life". He adds that, despite irking several fans and critics who believedAbbey Road should have ended with the "pristine climax" of "The End", this was part of its charm: "This half-song subverts the seriousness and formality of a proper finale — and ends the Beatles’ career with a reminder that despite everything, the Beatles always walked around with a knowing smirk."[46]
McCartney performed "Her Majesty" atBuckingham Palace in June 2002, as part of thecelebrations of Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee.[21]Pearl Jam paid homage to the Queen hours after the announcement ofher death by playing a cover of the song during a concert atScotiabank Arena.[47] "Her Majesty" is one of the least covered Beatles compositions, although such artists as Pearl Jam,Art Brut, andChumbawamba have recorded their version.[48]
PerIan MacDonald,Bill Harry, andHunter Davies:[49]
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