Бітлз тобының "Доктор Роберт" әні: құпия мағынасы мен жазба тарихы

In his book Beatles '66, author Steve Turner says that Lennon was possibly encouraged to write about a drug supplier after discussing "Mother's Little Helper" – a song from the Rolling Stones' just released Aftermath album – with Mick Jagger, when Jagger had attended a recent session for Revolver. Turner cites Donovan's 1965 track "Candy Man" as another song that might have served as an example for Lennon. According to his friend Pete Shotton, when Lennon played him the acetate of "Doctor Robert", "he seemed beside himself with glee over the prospect of millions of record buyers innocently singing along." Multiple theories have circulated about the identity of the real Dr Robert. Turner, who also identifies Dr Robert as Freymann, writes that "some in the Beatles' circle thought Dr Robert was a reference to Robert Fraser" – an art gallery owner, "reliable source of pot and cocaine for London's hip set", and friend of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. In a 1980 interview that Fontenot says "muddied the issue further", At a dinner party attended by Lennon and Harrison and their partners in March 1965, Riley had laced their coffee with LSD, providing the two Beatles with their first experience of the drug.

"Doctor Robert" uses the keys of A major and B major, and its melody is in the Mixolydian mode based on B. The musical arrangement has staggered layering, with backing vocals starting in the second verse, the lead guitar entering just before the bridge, and the bridge itself featuring added harmonium and extra vocals. Lennon's lead vocal is automatically double tracked with each of the two slightly out of phase tracks split onto separate stereo channels; creating a surrealistic effect supporting the lyric about drug use. to the key of B on the bridge via an F7 pivot chord (VI7 in the old key of A and V7 in the new key of B). The extended jam that lasts 43 seconds at the end was recorded, but it was removed and replaced with a fade out. In the US mono mix of the song, as released on Yesterday and Today, Lennon appears to say "OK, Herb" at the very end of the track.

The Beatles recorded "Doctor Robert" during the early part of the Revolver sessions. The session for the song took place on 17 April 1966 at EMI Studios (now Abbey Road Studios) in London. It was a relatively straightforward track to record, compared to the more experimental songs such as "Tomorrow Never Knows" and "Rain". The band achieved a satisfactory basic track after seven takes, with a line up comprising Lennon on rhythm guitar, McCartney on bass, Harrison on maracas, and Ringo Starr on drums. Harrison then overdubbed lead guitar, treated with automatic double tracking (ADT) and fed through a Leslie speaker to enhance the sound, and Lennon added harmonium over the two bridges. McCartney played a piano part, although it was not retained on the finished recording. Vocals were added to the track at the group's next session, on 19 April. These consisted of Lennon's lead vocal and McCartney's high harmony part, and Harrison supplying a third voice over the bridges. Lennon's vocal was also treated with ADT. The song was mixed in mono for its US release on 12 May and in stereo on 20 May. It was subsequently remixed in mono on 21 June.

"Doctor Robert" was one of the three songs from the Revolver sessions, all written by Lennon, that were given to Capitol Records in early May 1966 for inclusion on the US release Yesterday and Today. In other countries, it appeared on Revolver, where it was sequenced as the fourth track on side two of the LP, between "For No One" and "I Want to Tell You". The album was released on 5 August, shortly before the Beatles commenced their final concert tour, in Chicago. Author Shawn Levy describes Revolver as pop music's "first true drug album" rather than merely a "record with some druggy insinuations", and he attributes this especially to Lennon's contributions. In November, artist Alan Aldridge created a cartoon illustration of "Doctor Robert" and three other Revolver tracks to accompany a feature article on the Beatles in Woman's Mirror magazine. The illustration depicted Lennon dressed in a black cape that was partly drawn aside to reveal a set of shiny surgical instruments, although Aldridge's original design – which was overruled by the magazine's management for fear of offending potential advertisers – instead showed human limbs hanging inside the cape. Impressed with the artist's work, Lennon bought the original picture and proudly displayed it at his home. According to Aldridge, Lennon told him that he had "got it wrong, though" in depicting Dr Robert as a physician concerned with the human anatomy; instead, he was a "New York doctor who sold speed". In his review of Revolver, Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic calls "Doctor Robert" Lennon's "most straightforward number" on the album, when compared to his other Revolver compositions "And Your Bird Can Sing", "She Said She Said", "I'm Only Sleeping" and "Tomorrow Never Knows". Richie Unterberger, in his review of the song for AllMusic, complimented the song's guitar pattern, being a possible influence from bands such as the Who. Unterberger also praises the vocal performances, particularly McCartney's high harmonies during the verses. Writing in his book Revolution in the Head, Ian MacDonald says that although the song is only a "minor" Beatles track, it is among the band's "most incisive pieces". He highlights the combination of Lennon's "caustic vocal", McCartney's "huckstering harmony in fourths" and Harrison's "double tracked guitar, with its unique blend of sitar and country and western". Reviewing the album for Mojo in 2002, Charles Shaar Murray grouped "Doctor Robert" with "And Your Bird Can Sing", "She Said She Said" and "I Want to Tell You" as guitar based tracks that "glisten" with "glorious cascades of jangle". He identified this jangle quality as the Beatles' response to "what the Byrds had done with the Fabs' own proto folk rock sound on A Hard Day's Night". When Mojo released Revolver Reloaded in 2006, part of the magazine's series of CDs of Beatles albums covered track by track by modern artists, "Doctor Robert" was covered by Luke Temple.