The Beatles’ producer George Martin was born on this day 99 years ago
Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney, George Harrison with producer George Martin during recording of a new Beatles song “Free As A Bird’ in 1995(Image: Handout/PA Wire)
No matter how talented musicians are, occasionally they need their producer to keep them in check. Overseeing a recording is no mean feat and it often falls to the producer to ensure that the finished product comes together as planned so that it will resonate with audiences and become a success.
Fortunately The Beatles had a very good producer – Sir George Martin. George was born in Highbury, London on January 3 1926 and his interest in music was sparked by a piano his family bought when he was six.
Having served in the Navy, George then attended the Guildhall School of music before working for the BBC in its classical music department. He joined EMI’s Parlophone label in 1950 and became head of the label in 1955 at just 29 years old.
It was in this role that George struck up a working relationship with The Beatles’ manager Brian Epstein, which led him to signing the band in 1962, following their failed audition with rival label Decca. George became known as ‘the fifth Beatle’ and was integral to their success as they scored hit after hit in the first half of the 1960s.
George also oversaw the band’s shift in sound in the second half of the ’60s and his ground-breaking production helped them change the face of popular music. He pioneered the use of reversed tapes, he would splice together two tapes recorded in different tempos and encouraged the use of string quartets and orchestral interludes heard in songs like ‘Yesterday’ and ‘A Day in the Life’.
However there was one experimental track that George could not get his head around. John Lennon wrote the acid-fuelled song ‘I Am the Walrus’ in 1967, which was inspired by Lewis Carroll’s work and featured on the album ‘Magical Mystery Tour’.
About the song, John said in a 1980 interview with Playboy: “The first line was written on one acid trip one weekend. The second line was written on the next acid trip the next weekend, and it was filled in after I met Yoko”.
He continued: “I’d seen Allen Ginsberg and some other people who liked Dylan and Jesus going on about Hare Krishna. It was Ginsberg, in particular, I was referring to. The words ‘Element’ry penguin’ meant that it’s naïve to just go around chanting Hare Krishna or putting all your faith in one idol.
“In those days I was writing obscurely, à la Dylan. It never dawned on me that Lewis Carroll was commenting on the capitalist system.
“I never went into that bit about what he really meant, like people are doing with The Beatles’ work. Later, I went back and looked at it and realized that the walrus was the bad guy in the story and the carpenter was the good guy. I thought, Oh, s**t, I picked the wrong guy.
“I should have said, ‘I am the carpenter.’ But that wouldn’t have been the same, would it?”
However, upon hearing the song for the first time, George was less than impressed. In his book ‘Here, There, and Everywhere’, producer Geoff Emerick wrote: “There was a song to be recorded, too. It was one of John’s, and, somewhat fittingly, it might well have been his strangest one yet. Lennon sang in a dull monotone, strumming his acoustic guitar as we all gathered around him in the dim studio light.
He added: “Everyone seemed bewildered. The melody consisted largely of just two notes, and the lyrics were pretty much just nonsense. There was a moment of silence when he finished, then Lennon looked up at George Martin expectantly. ‘That one was called “I Am the Walrus”, John said. “So, what do you think?'”.
Geoff continued: “George looked flummoxed. For once, he was at a loss for words. ‘Well, John, to be honest, I have only one question. What the hell do you expect me to do with that?’ There was a round of nervous laughter in the room, which partially dissipated the tension, but Lennon was clearly not amused.”
He added: “He (George) flat-out didn’t like the song. As John sang provocative lines about a pornographic priestess and letting her knickers down, George turned to me and whispered, ‘What did he just say?’ He couldn’t believe his ears, and after the experience the Beatles had gone through with ‘Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds’ and ‘A Day in the Life’, I guess he was worried about more censorship problems from the BBC.”
‘I Am the Walrus’ was the first song The Beatles recorded after the death of Brian Epstein. It was well received by critics, cited as a fine example of music experimentation.
About the song, critic Nick Logan said: “Into the world of Alice in Wonderland now and you can almost visualise John crouching on a deserted shore singing ‘I am the walrus’ to some beautiful strings from far away on the horizon and a whole bagful of Beatle sounds, like a ringing doorbell and someone sawing a plank of wood. A fantastic track which you will need to live with for a while to fully appreciate.”
Derek Johnson said: “John growls the nonsense (and sometimes suggestive) lyric, backed by a complex scoring incorporating violins and cellos. You need to hear it a few times before you can absorb it.”
George continued to work with the band on their solo work following the break up of The Beatles. He worked with plenty of stars from the world of music, including Elton John, Celine Dion and Kenny Rogers.
He died at the age of 90 on March 8, 2016. His son Giles Martin has also had a successful career in music and won an Emmy in 2022 for his work on documentary ‘The Beatles: Get Back’.