Her Majesty (song)

"Her Majesty" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, from their 1969 album Abbey Road. Written and sung by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney,<ref name=":7">Template:Harvard citation no brackets</ref> it is a humorous, somewhat ungracious ode to Queen 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 one lead vocal and an acoustic guitar melody. It appears at the end of Abbey Road twenty seconds after "The End",<ref name=":9">Template:Harvard citation no brackets</ref>Template:Refn but the original album sleeve did not list it; in fact, some music critics consider it one of the first hidden tracks. Lasting 23 seconds, "Her Majesty" is the shortest Beatles song.

"Her Majesty" was first performed during the Get Back sessions and subsequently recorded on 2 July 1969 in three takes. While intended to be included in the Abbey Road medley between "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam", McCartney later decided to have it removed. However, the sound engineer John Kurlander had been ordered never to scrap Beatles recordings, and so he slipped it into the end of Abbey Road and attached twenty seconds of leader 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".

Background and recording

Paul McCartney wrote "Her Majesty" at his Scotland farm around October 1968, or later.<ref>Template:Harvard citation no brackets: location; Template:Harvard citation no brackets: date</ref> 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."<ref name=":11" />Template:Refn The song debuted as a two-minute outtake on 24 January 1969 during the Get Back sessions,<ref name=":2">Template:Harvard citation no brackets</ref> where McCartney repeatedly sings the verse and performs the guitar melody featuring on the final cut on his Martin D-28.<ref>Template:Harvard citation no brackets; Template:Harvard citation no brackets: Martin D-28</ref> On 2 July, having arrived at the studio before his bandmates, he recorded it.<ref name=":4">Template:Harvard citation no brackets; Template:Harvard citation no brackets</ref> The Beatles historian Mark 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".<ref>Template:Harvard citation no brackets</ref> "Her Majesty" was to be considered for the Abbey Road medley, between "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam"—<ref>Template:Harvard citation no brackets; Template:Harvard citation no brackets</ref>Template:Refn "almost as an afterthought," writes the author Hunter Davies.<ref name=":12">Template:Harvard citation no brackets</ref>

The band did not heed McCartney's recording,<ref name=":0">Template:Harvard citation no brackets</ref> and while the Abbey Road tracks were being remixed, on 30 July, he deemed it unfit for the medley and told the sound engineer John Kurlander to scrap it.<ref>Template:Harvard citation no brackets; Template:Harvard citation no brackets; Template:Harvard citation no brackets</ref> However, Kurlander was under orders not to throw out any Beatles recording.<ref>Template:Harvard citation no brackets; Template:Harvard citation no brackets</ref> Therefore, he inserted it at the end of Abbey Road after "The End" and stitched twenty seconds' worth of leader tape between the two songs.<ref>Template:Harvard citation no brackets</ref> Kurlander recalls, "I'm only assuming this, but … [Paul] must have liked 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."<ref name=":10">Template:Harvard citation no brackets</ref>Template:Refn "Typical Beatles," McCartney said of the final product, "an accident."<ref name=":5">Template:Harvard citation no brackets § "Her Majesty" (Lennon–McCartney)</ref> The track was produced by George Martin and engineered by Phil McDonald and Chris Blair.<ref>Template:Harvard citation no brackets; Template:Harvard citation no brackets: Blair</ref>

Composition

General appraisal

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"Her Majesty" is the shortest Beatles song, at 23 seconds.<ref>Template:Harvard citation no brackets; Template:Harvard citation no brackets; Template:Harvard citation no brackets § "Her Majesty" (Lennon–McCartney)</ref> Featuring at the end of Abbey Road as a coda,<ref>Template:Harvard citation no brackets § "Abbey Road Medley (Lennon–McCartney)"</ref> it is a hidden track: one of the first in history, according to the journalist Jude Rogers and Kenneth Womack.<ref name=":8">Template:Harvnb; Template:Harvard citation no brackets § "Her Majesty" (Lennon–McCartney)</ref>Template:Refn The musicologist Walter Everett descrbes McCartney's piece as a "brief tongue-in-cheek music hall ditty,"<ref name=":0" /> and Womack calls it a "gentle acoustic paean" to Elizabeth;<ref name=":5" /> McCartney, in fact, had copies of Abbey Road sent to her residence at Buckingham Palace.<ref name=":1">Template:Harvard citation no brackets</ref> The musicologist Alan W. Pollack notes that it injects a tinge of humour in the album following the solemn, sentimental "The End",<ref name=":2" /> or, in the critic Tim Riley's words, "pulls the rug from beneath 'The End'."<ref>Template:Harvard citation no brackets</ref> 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.<ref name=":6">Template:Harvard citation no brackets; see also Template:Harvard citation no brackets</ref>

Music

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 crashing D-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.{{#if:|

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"Her Majesty" is in the key of D major and is in Template:Music time.<ref name=":2" /> Comprising one lead vocal and an acoustic guitar melody, "[it] doesn't get any simpler than this on a Beatles recording," notes Pollack.<ref name=":2" /> It spans eighteen bars, sixteen forming a four-square quatrain and the final two being a short reprise of the last phrase. The song follows the common chord progression I-ii-IV-V, although secondary dominants and a diminished 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.<ref name=":2" /> According to Pollack, "Her Majesty" stylistically "sounds like a strange cross between 'Maxwell's Silver Hammer' and [Mary Hopkin's] 'Goodbye'."<ref name=":2" /> Riley writes that the song "travels right to left across the stereo spectrum (a reverse image of the rainbow arc the synthesizer played at the beginning of 'Here Comes the Sun')."<ref>Template:Harvard citation no brackets</ref>

The song opens with a "crashing" D major chord.<ref>Template:Harvard citation no brackets; Template:Harvard citation no brackets: D major</ref> 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.<ref>Template:Harvard citation no brackets; Template:Harvard citation no brackets; Template:Harvnb</ref> Similarly, "Her Majesty" abruptly ends with an unresolved note because its final chord is included in the opening of "Polythene Pam",<ref>Template:Harvard citation no brackets; Template:Harvnb; Template:Harvard citation no brackets: unresolved note</ref>Template:Refn the song it was meant to precede on Abbey Road.<ref name=":7" /> 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."<ref>Template:Harvard citation no brackets</ref>

Lyrics

The song concerns a man who is infatuated with Queen 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."<ref name=":13" /> McCartney has said of the lyrics: "It was quite funny because it's basically monarchist, with a mildly disrespectful tone, but it's very tongue in cheek. It's almost like a love song to the Queen."<ref name=":11">Template:Harvnb</ref> Rolling Stone Brasil questions whether they represent attacks on Elizabeth, but McCartney has recognized her as a force for unity in British society.<ref name=":13">Template:Harvnb</ref> After meeting Elizabeth to receive his MBE as a Beatle, he said, "She was just like a mum to us."<ref name=":3">Template:Harvnb</ref> Later, McCartney admitted that he had a crush on her as a child.<ref name=":3" /> The author Barry 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 the United States in the Vietnam War, among other reasons.<ref>Template:Harvard citation no brackets; Template:Harvard citation no brackets: reasons for Lennon's returning his MBE</ref>Template:Refn

Release

"Her Majesty" was released as part of Abbey Road on 26 September 1969 in the UK, and five days later in the US.<ref name=":12" /> The original album cover does not mention its name.<ref name=":0" /> Since then, the song has been released on the 2003 Anthology DVD and the 50th anniversary expanded edition of Abbey Road, which includes an alternate mix of the medley with "Her Majesty" placed between "Mean Mr. Mustard" and "Polythene Pam".<ref>Template:Harvard citation no brackets: Anthology; Template:Harvnb: Abbey Road</ref>

In October 2009, MTV Networks released a version of the song for the video game The 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.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>

Critical reception

Template:Quote box Alan Smith, in his contemporary review of Abbey Road for the New Musical Express, acknowledges "Her Majesty" as a "split-second thing" sung by McCartney.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> In lists of the Beatles songs ordered from worst to best, "Her Majesty" was ranked at number 177 by NMETemplate:'s Mark Beaumont, who deems it a "lightweight folk frippery" and throwaway piece,<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> at number 158 by Bill Wyman of Vulture, who similarly describes it as a "McCartney throwaway,"<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> and at number 132 by Ultimate Classic Rock, whose Michael Gallucci calls it a "23-second goof" that lightens the end of Abbey Road.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>

Matt Miller of Esquire considers it an example of beauty in briefness; despite its jokey "nonsensical nursery 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."<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> Writing for AllMusic, 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.<ref name="Unterberger" /> BillboardTemplate:'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 believed Abbey 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."<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>

Live performances and covers

McCartney performed "Her Majesty" at Buckingham Palace in June 2002, as part of the celebrations of Elizabeth II's Golden Jubilee.<ref name=":5" /> Pearl Jam paid homage to the Queen hours after the announcement of her death by playing a cover of the song during a concert at Scotiabank Arena.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref> "Her Majesty" is one of the least covered Beatles compositions, although such artists as Pearl Jam, Art Brut, and Chumbawamba have recorded their version.<ref>Template:Harvnb</ref>

Personnel

Per Ian MacDonald, Bill Harry, and Hunter Davies:<ref>Template:Harvard citation no brackets; Template:Harvard citation no brackets; Template:Harvard citation no brackets</ref>

• Paul McCartney – vocals, acoustic guitar

Bibliography

Books and academic sources

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External links

• "Her Majesty" outtake from the Get Back sessions
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• The Beatles Bible entry on "Her Majesty"