Битлз тобының «Old Brown Shoe» әні

1969 single by the Beatles

"Old Brown Shoe" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles. Written by George Harrison, the group's lead guitarist, it was released on a non album single in May 1969, as the B side to "The Ballad of John and Yoko". The song was subsequently included on the band's compilation albums Hey Jude, 1967–1970 and Past Masters, Volume Two. Although "Old Brown Shoe" remains a relatively obscure song in the band's catalogue, several music critics view it as one of Harrison's best compositions from the Beatles era and especially admire his guitar solo on the track. The lyrics to "Old Brown Shoe" address the concept of duality while its rhythm is partly in the ska style. The Beatles rehearsed the song during the sessions for their Let It Be album in January 1969. Harrison subsequently taped a solo demo of the song, along with two other compositions that the band had overlooked: "Something" and "All Things Must Pass". The group formally recorded "Old Brown Shoe" in April, during the early sessions for Abbey Road. The 1969 demo was released on the Beatles' Anthology 3 compilation in 1996. A concert version by Harrison was included on his 1992 album Live in Japan. Gary Brooker performed the song at the Concert for George tribute in November 2002, held at London's Royal Albert Hall a year after Harrison's death.

George Harrison wrote "Old Brown Shoe" in January 1969 on a piano rather than guitar, his main instrument. The song's rhythm suggests the influence of ska. In his 1980 autobiography, I, Me, Mine, Harrison says that the lyrical content started as a study in opposites and addresses "the duality of things". This idea was also prevalent in the Beatles' 1967 single "Hello, Goodbye", which Paul McCartney had written as an exercise in word association. For Harrison, the concept of duality also appealed on a philosophical level, consistent with his interest in Eastern religion. refn|group=nb|According to Aspinall, Harrison told the Hells Angels: "Well, you know, there's yin–yang, in–out, up–down you're here – you go." Aspinall added: "And they said, 'Okay' – and went!" The verse employs blues inflected C7 and D7 chords (or I7 and II7 chords in Roman numeral analysis) before an increase in harmonic movement is marked by changes to F, A, F, E augmented and A minor.

The Beatles rehearsed "Old Brown Shoe" several times over three days, beginning on 27 January 1969, during the Let It Be sessions at Apple Studio in London. Harrison still played piano on the song and the lyrics were complete. The run throughs on 28 January included contributions from guest keyboardist Billy Preston, who supplied fills on Hammond organ. The tapes from that day show John Lennon struggling with the guitar part; in Everett's description, his playing suggests he was "stymied or disinterested". At this point, Starr had devised a drum pattern on the off beat. The band gave considerable time to the song but chose not to record it for the album. Harrison made a solo demo of the song at EMI Studios (subsequently Abbey Road Studios), featuring piano and vocal, and two overdubbed electric guitar parts. The session took place on 25 February, his 26th birthday, and also included solo recordings of "Something" and "All Things Must Pass", which were similarly overlooked for inclusion on Let It Be. Harrison played these versions of "Old Brown Shoe" and "Something" to Joe Cocker, who accepted Harrison's offer to record the latter song. Author Simon Leng describes "Old Brown Shoe" as "the most complete in conception" of the three demos, with an arrangement that contains several of the main elements present in the Beatles' subsequent recording. The demos were released on the band's 1996 outtakes compilation Anthology 3.

The Beatles revisited "Old Brown Shoe" when they were in need of a B side for their next single, "The Ballad of John and Yoko", Lennon's account of his and Yoko Ono's recent wedding and honeymoon. The song's recording took place on 16 and 18 April 1969, during the early sessions for the band's Abbey Road album. The 16 April session was the first at EMI Studios for the full group since October the previous year, when they completed recording for their self titled double album (also known as the "White Album"), and was given over entirely to songs written by Harrison. The line up on the basic track was Harrison on lead guitar, Lennon on rhythm guitar, McCartney on tack piano, and Starr on drums. Four takes were needed to achieve a satisfactory performance. Beatles historian Mark Lewisohn comments on the band's tight ensemble playing, evident from the studio tapes, and how focused each musician sounds in his contribution. refn|group=nb|Like Lewisohn, MacDonald and authors John Winn, Bruce Spizer, Andy Babiuk and Kenneth Womack each give a line up that includes Starr on drums and McCartney on piano. In the liner notes to the 2019 Abbey Road Super Deluxe Edition, however, Kevin Howlett states that Starr was away filming The Magic Christian for at least some of the 16 April takes, and that McCartney played drums in his absence. Harrison recorded his lead vocal in a corner of the studio, to capture a natural reverberation from the room. The backing vocals were sung by Lennon and McCartney. Also present during the vocal overdubs were the Aerovons, an American band who had based their sound and image on the Beatles, and had come to London to record at EMI. Tom Hartman, the Aerovons' singer and guitarist, recalled that the Beatles attempted the line "Who knows, baby, you may comfort me" countless times, trying to perfect their performance. According to author Elliot Huntley, after Lennon had made derogatory remarks about Harrison's songwriting in January, he now sounded "audibly excited" by "Old Brown Shoe" in his "enthusiastic and energetic backing vocals" on the song. The Beatles devoted the rest of the session to taping a basic track for "Something", although it was later discarded as the band chose to record a new version the following month. Harrison completed the "Old Brown Shoe" recording alone on 18 April. He first overdubbed a guitar solo that Everett describes as "stinging" and "highly Claptonesque", played on a Telecaster with the sound coloured through a Leslie speaker and given automatic double tracking (ADT) treatment and "sent wild to both channels". Harrison then added a Hammond organ part, replacing Lennon's rhythm guitar contribution from the previous session. Although Chris Thomas supervised the 18 April overdubbing session, George Martin was credited as the song's sole producer.

In a 1980 interview, Lennon said that he was responsible for the choice of "Old Brown Shoe" as the B side of "The Ballad of John and Yoko". The single was released in the United Kingdom (as Apple R 5786) on 30 May 1969 and in the United States (as Apple 2531) on 4 June. It marked the second time that a Harrison composition had been included on a Beatles single in the UK or the US, following "The Inner Light" in March 1968, although his song "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" had also been the B side of "Ob La Di, Ob La Da", a single culled from the White Album and issued in most countries other than the UK and the US. In the UK, the song increased the public's recognition of Harrison as a songwriter, after "Badge", which he co wrote with Eric Clapton, had been a hit single for Cream that spring and established him as a composer outside the Beatles. In the US, Apple Records issued the record in a picture sleeve featuring shots of the four Beatles and Ono in the garden of McCartney's London home. On the reverse side of the sleeve, the photo included a dark brown shoe placed in a bush in front of the five figures. In the opinion of author Bruce Spizer, this shot, taken by Linda McCartney, shows Harrison, McCartney and Starr in better humour than in the shot used on the front of the sleeve, where the three bandmates appear uncomfortable with having to pose behind Ono and Lennon. While the A side's chart performance in the US was hindered by a radio ban, due to the song's allegedly blasphemous lyrics, "Old Brown Shoe" failed to place on any of the three charts there. It was listed with "The Ballad of John and Yoko", as a double A side, when the single topped Australia's Go Set National Top 40. The song's first appearance on an album was in February 1970 when it was included on the North American release Hey Jude. It subsequently appeared on the 1973 compilation 1967–1970 and, following the standardisation of the Beatles' catalogue for compact disc in 1987, Past Masters, Volume Two.

Ian MacDonald admires "Old Brown Shoe" as one of its author's "most forceful pieces" and "an archetypal B side from an era when B sides were worth flipping a single for". Walter Everett says the voice leading and harmony on "Old Brown Shoe" are "far more subtle and interesting" than such qualities in "The Ballad of John and Yoko", and views its dualistic theme as "more interesting" than McCartney's lyrics in "Hello, Goodbye". Tim Riley deems the song "at least as good a rocker as 'Savoy Truffle'" and, like "The Inner Light", an example of the Beatles continuing their tradition of offering high quality and musically diverse B sides. He describes Harrison's guitar solo as "daring" and a performance that "rises and falls with astonishing fluidity and control". Despite its inclusion on some of their compilation albums, "Old Brown Shoe" has remained a comparative rarity in the band's catalogue. Conversely, Richie Unterberger of AllMusic deems it "one of the less memorable late '60s Beatles outings", citing its obscure lyrics and lack of a catchy riff in the usual Beatles style, although he finds this last quality partly redeemed in the bass playing and guitar solo. Joe Bosso of MusicRadar includes "Old Brown Shoe" among Harrison's "10 Greatest Beatles Songs", describing it as "An infectious, lively track that tumbles out of the gate (check out Ringo's raucous drumming) and gallops off." He also highlights Harrison's "blazing guitar solo" and says that, with his guitar, bass and organ contributions, the recording is "practically all George". The editors of Guitar World rank "Old Brown Shoe" at number 28 in their list of "The Beatles' 50 Greatest Guitar Moments". They describe the solo as "stinging" in the style of Clapton and rate the track among Harrison's best songs, yet one that was "dishonorably relegated" to the B side of "The Ballad of John and Yoko".

Harrison performed "Old Brown Shoe" throughout his 1991 Japanese tour with Eric Clapton, Harrison's only tour as a solo artist other than his 1974 North American tour. Typically of his approach during the Japanese concerts, the song's arrangement was little changed from the Beatles' recording. A live version was included on Harrison's 1992 album Live in Japan. He also played the song at his only full length concert in the UK – a benefit for the Natural Law Party held at the Royal Albert Hall in London on 6 April 1992. Gary Brooker performed "Old Brown Shoe" at the Concert for George, backed by a large band that included Clapton and Preston. The concert took place at the Royal Albert Hall in November 2002, a year after Harrison's death. Brooker, whose former band the Paramounts supported the Beatles on their December 1965 UK tour, recalled having difficulty mastering the vocal line. Despite being known as a powerful singer, Brooker said: "It's a very difficult song to sing; it's totally George Harrison, and you have to become a different person to be able to sing it. It took me a long, long time to learn it and I still couldn't sing it like George." At the George Fest tribute concert in 2014, the song was performed by Conan O'Brien.