Talk:Polythene Pam

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A fact from Polythene Pam appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 3 February 2005. The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that the Beatles' song "Polythene Pam" was partly inspired by a Liverpool fan who ate polyethylene?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2005/February.

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Final Album?[edit]

Abbey Road may have been the last album recorded, but since it wasn't the last one released I would avoid using the term final album.Fireemblem555 (talk) 23:56, 1 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

External links modified[edit]

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Knockoff[edit]

"Kick in the Head" by New Riders of the Purple Sage, released in 1989, is a musical knockoff of this song.--Artaxerxes 15:57, 12 May 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Pinball Wizard[edit]

Ian MacDonald's Revolution In The Head provides the source for this passage from the article "Lennon borrowed the acoustic guitar style in The Who's "Pinball Wizard" for "Polythene Pam".[4] As noted in this article, Polythene Pam was written in India in 1968 and demoed that same year. The demo has been released and is quite similar to the final Abbey Road recording. Pinball Wizard, on the other hand, wasn't recorded until February 1969. Sure, it's possible it could've influenced the final recording of the song but I am wondering what MacDonald's source for saying this was. As far as I know Lennon never said anything about this so I worry it was MacDonald's own conjecture. Any thoughts?

Hi all, apologies for leaving my previous comment unsigned. I would love to know what anyone thinks of this, perhaps JG66? Humbledaisy (talk) 11:00, 8 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, Humbledaisy. MacDonald's definitely one for conjecture – great book but, as has often been said, he's so opinionated that what he presents as fact regarding Beatles history is inevitably based on his opinion. (Can't fault his grasp of 1960s cultural history, though, but that's mostly in the long introduction to his book.)

In his entry on the song, he acknowledges it was written in Rishikesh in early '68, so the comparison with "Pinball Wizard" is obviously a comment on the Beatles' 1969 arrangement, not the actual composition. He says the "massive" 12-string acoustic chords were "probably cribbed from The Who's contemporary hit 'Pinball Wizard'". I think the point needs to be clarified in the text, and probably moved down to the section discussing the actual recording.

I'll also redo the Personnel credits and cut the unsourced description under Placement on Abbey Road ("At 0:47, someone picks up a tambourine", etc). With the Personnel, MacDonald's right in a way, but he's also wrong: per Lewisohn, piano and electric piano were overdubbed during the second session; but per John Winn's That Magic Feeling, these keyboard parts were subsequently replaced in the final mix (Lewisohn just says they were recorded on 8 July, but nothing about them being retained on the final track). MacDonald also has a habit of crediting almost anything percussive to Starr – that's not always correct, and in some cases it would be impossible. I think Walter Everett's got the credits mostly right (eg, he makes no mention of the pianos), because he actually listens to and details the completed recording. I'll probably go with his version. JG66 (talk) 13:35, 8 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

That's excellent, thank you! Humbledaisy (talk) 15:26, 8 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]

Hey, no worries. JG66 (talk) 15:42, 8 August 2019 (UTC)[reply]