{"id":38073,"date":"2025-04-21T10:28:09","date_gmt":"2025-04-21T10:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/38073\/"},"modified":"2025-04-21T10:28:09","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T10:28:09","slug":"paul-mccartney-said-one-beatles-song-was-completely-insane-music-entertainment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/38073\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul McCartney said one Beatles song was completely insane | Music | Entertainment"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Beatles are often remembered for their flawless songwriting, timeless melodies, and polished pop. From the haunting strings of \u2018Eleanor Rigby\u2019 to the euphoric echo of \u2018Hey Jude\u2019, their catalogue helped define generations.<\/p>\n

But behind the perfectionism and critical acclaim, the Fab Four also sometimes embraced chaos. And according to Paul McCartney<\/a>, no track captures that spirit like one of their lesser-known B-sides: \u2018You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)\u2019.<\/p>\n

Recorded over multiple sessions between 1967 and 1969, \u2018You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)\u2019 stands out against almost everything else the band produced. Described by McCartney as “insane”, the song is recognised for its surrealistic humour.<\/p>\n

The recording began during the band’s productive Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band period in May 1967. At the time, The Beatles were experimenting freely in the studio, having stopped touring and started treating the studio itself as a creative instrument. The track was then shelved for almost two years.<\/p>\n

When The Beatles<\/a> finally returned to the song in 1969, they decided to take it in a completely different direction. Rather than trying to craft a conventional pop tune, they tried a bit of absurdity, assembling unrelated musical fragments and spoken word interludes in a collage.<\/p>\n

Unusual even by late-Beatles standards, the track doesn\u2019t follow traditional song structure. Instead, it jumps between lounge jazz, ska, cabaret, and comedy voice-overs, with Lennon and McCartney adopting exaggerated personas throughout.<\/p>\n

McCartney has since reflected on the track with fondness. Speaking about it years later, he said: \u201cPeople are only just discovering the B-sides of Beatles singles. They\u2019re only just discovering things like \u2018You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)\u2019 – probably my favourite Beatles track, just because it\u2019s so insane. All the memories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adding to the song\u2019s unusual legacy is the fact that Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones contributed to the recording, not on guitar, but on saxophone.<\/p>\n

McCartney later recalled how unexpected the collaboration turned out to be. \u201cHe arrived at Abbey Road in his big Afghan coat,\u201d McCartney said. \u201cHe was always nervous, a little insecure, and he was really nervous that night because he\u2019s walking in on a Beatles session. He was nervous to the point of shaking, lighting ciggy after ciggy. I used to like Brian a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

McCartney assumed Jones would join them on guitar: \u201cI naturally thought he\u2019d bring a guitar along to a Beatles session and maybe chug along and do some nice rhythm guitar or a little bit of electric twelve-string or something, but to our surprise, he brought his saxophone. He opened up his sax case and started putting a reed in and warming up, playing a little bit. He was a really ropey sax player, so I thought, Ah-hah. We\u2019ve got just the tune.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jones\u2019s raw saxophone lines added yet another unpredictable layer to a track already chaotic in the best ways. \u2018You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)\u2019 was finally released as the B-side to \u2018Let It Be\u2019 in 1970.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Beatles are often remembered for their flawless songwriting, timeless melodies, and polished pop. From the haunting strings…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38074,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3936],"tags":[9940,77,269,16208,11693,4162,16,15,21786],"class_list":{"0":"post-38073","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-brian-jones","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-music-section","12":"tag-paul-mccartney","13":"tag-the-beatles","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-you-know-my-name-look-up-the-number"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114375485399098371","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}