REVOLUTION NUMBER 9
PART 1
BY IAN HAMMOND

Mail

(c) Ian Hammond 1999
All rights reserved

This post deals with the first minute of the piece, section 1.1. Section 1.1 [0.00-1.00]

0.00 D1 "Claret" dialog

0:00 -- AT: "[I'd] have got you a bottle of claret if I'd realized George..."
-- GM: "Well do next time..."
-- AT: "I forgot all about it... will you forgive me?
-- GM: "Yes... you bitch"
Revolution 9 begins softly, with a camp (i.e. showbiz effeminate) conversation between Alistair Taylor and George Martin, regarding a forgotten bottle of wine. Its a very refined British conversation, marked by occasional footsteps. We know that the George is George Martin, making the piece self-referential, as are many White Album songs. Martin returns later Geoff, turn the red light on. The fragment is not repeated, just as the baby talk which marks the beginning of section two at 2.00 is not. I suspect both pieces are dubs, thus I have marked it D1, for Dub 1 in the title line. Both fragments serve to introduce a section, but also form part of the section.
The dialog is the first thing we hear, which gives it some importance. I think of it as a placeholder for the JohnAndGeorge babble that begins at 1.00 and which becomes one of the three major pieces of background seating for the piece. Put another way, the JohnAndGeorge babble comes as no surprise when it enters.

0.10 L1 Waltz

0.10 b: Waltz. A dreamy 3/4 piano piece in b minor.
Source: Unknown
Style: Modal minor rather than harmonic minor.
A very simple style. Possibly a Beatle.
|_ b g |f# g |f# f# |e g c#'| Tune
|b |b |b |e | Chord
|d f# b'|c# dc# |c# | | Tune
|b |f#5/c# |f#5/c# | | Chord
At 0.10 Lennon introduces two of the three main recurring themes: the piano waltz and Number nine. The third is the JohnAndGeorge babble. This first loop (L1 in the title above) is a simple B minor piano waltz. It provides a fey backdrop to much of the action. The origin is unknown. I try to define the style of unknown entries. Anyone who has a better idea of the source or style is invited to contribute. The piano piece prolongs the refined salon atmosphere created by the Claret dialog.

0.12 L2 "Number 9"

0.12 (B-Bb) "Number nine". 5/8.
Source: an EMI examination tape
A pre-echo of "Number nine" can be heard at 0.10.
|B BB_ Bb | Tune
With Number nine, Lennon chose a theme that Beethoven would have liked, with it's distinctive 5/8 rhythm (a syncopated double upbeat onto a longer held note) and simple melody (a repeated B, then a octave glissando up to sharpish Bb).
The term Number nine has been made famous by this piece of music: the "number nine" voice came off an examination tape. John thought that was a real hoot!
Richard Lush CBRS138
The impact it made was immediate:
For weeks afterwards [the recording] everybody was going around the building muttering number nine, number nine...
Brian Gibson CRBRS139
Lennon chose nine as his all-time number-one toppermost favorite number. He might even have reminded us that 1998 is a nines year (1+8=9). But whether it had this significance for him at the time he constructed Revolution 9 is doubtful. The salon atmosphere is enhanced by this perfectly enunciated nine (which is beautifully recorded).
Lennon lets the duet with the Waltz proceed for close to fifteen seconds. I don't think the matching key (B) or closeness of beat is entirely coincidental. The first occurrence of Number 9 in Section 2 is also synchronous with the background music.

0.25 L3 Stasis strings

0.25 Eb: Stasis strings. Slow. 4/4.
Source: Unknown. Probably from a symphony
Style: Sibelius
|Eb Eb :]
|C//G C//G :] Strings
Bb|Ab G Bb:] Tune
|F Eb :] Bass
XXX Tape speedup
(B-Bb) Nine: Number nine -- stops at 0.32

Lennon carefully lets the piano finish before introducing the first orchestral fragment. We know he was careful, because we can hear the piano overlap the string entry in an early mix made before editing. This restful stasis figure is used as a cadence theme in this section. Lennon uses a string plunge in the next section for the same purpose.

The E flat tonality of this fragment is distorted momentarily by a slight speed up at the join.
Again, the fragment is very western, and very refined. Like Number 9, it is beautifully recorded. The nature of the string tremelo reminds me of Sibelius (who contributed the analogous plunge figure in the next section). But I haven't been able to locate it.

0.31 L4 Backward piano

0.31 E:? Backward piano, 4/4.
Source: Unknown. Some cite Lennon.
Forward style: Rapid lyric. Late 19th century.
|1 2 3 4 |1 2 3 4 |1 2 3 4 |1
|e g# c# d#|e _d#c# _ |g# c# e f# |g#
|c# b |a# a |g# c# |e
|f#
Backward style: Dreamy meandering flute-like piece.
|g# f# e c# g#|_ c#d# e |d# c# g# e |
|e c# g#|a a# |b c# |
E c# A F# B c# Chord
0.32 "Number nine" voice stops

At 0.31 the meandering backward piano voice enters, overlaying the continuation of the stasis strings. Cast in E major, the join appears exactly at the point where the stasis string fragment speeds up. Thus the dissonance between the Eb: and E: sections is disguised. In any case, the stasis strings quickly disappear.
In its reverse form the piece makes a cadence on to B, rather than E (E c# A F# B). It appears, in its backwards form, to be a bar of 3/4 followed by a bar of 4/4. But, that's just how its been cut up. The example above shows the original forward 4/4 version (it took me an hour to work it out, and I'm still not completely sure). Some refer to this bit as the Backwards melletron (played by John) mentioned in Lewisohn, but it is certainly a backwards piano. I think of the backward piano as an "answer" to the waltz, and like the waltz, it has an other world quality. It is not Western as heard, although it certainly was in its original forward form.

0.38 L5 Agitated strings

0.38 Bb7: Agitated backward strings. Fast. 4/4.
"Forward" Eb:
4 c# bb a ab|3 g gb f e eb d
4 eb eb ab ab bb bb bb bb|4 eb eb ab ab bb bb|
"Backward" Bb7:
3 d eb e f f# g |4 g# a bb c#|
4 bb bb ab ab eb eb|4 bb bb bb bb ab ab eb eb|
Could this be the fragment Lewisohn mentions as coming from the A Day In The Life sessions?
A brief extract of the A Day In The Life orchestral overdub, repeated over and over.
Lewisohn CBRS138
This would explain the combination of chromatic strings and throbbing electric bass. The upward chromatic key would fit. But, it's in the wrong key, and the bass part is wrong for A Day In The Life. If you reverse the fragment, and drop it a fourth or a tritone, you can clearly hear electric bass and a standard Beatle drum track. But the strings sound a little odd. It's possible that Lennon combined two tapes, one of the strings and one of the bass/drums. But we're grasping at straws.
The agitated strings overlay the end of the backward piano stretch. An audible dissonance could be expected between the E major piano and Bb major string sections. However, little clash occurs. Why? The parts are in separate stereo channels. The strings begin quite softly. By the time they get louder, the piano part has faded. The piano part does not have a bass line to clash with that of the string section. The upper part of the string section is a chromatic scale which is equally at home, or not at home, in any key.
Again, its Western in sound, but a bit more 20th century. The function of this fragment is to liven things up. Lennon uses it in particular when he's punching in sounds percussively.

0.53 L6 Fanfare

0.53 (CF/Bb) Brass fanfare. Brass/cymbal/timpani/choir climax. 3/4.
Source: Unknown. Probably an opera.
Style: Bombastic. "Roman". |Bb---------| Choir
| c f | Brass
| g c | Brass

A brass fanfare fragment brings the first minute to a close. A typical Western climax to a dramatic work. It's probably one of the miscellaneous ... operas mentioned by Lewisohn. It may be from the same work that contributed the operatic material at 2.00.

Sub-Section 1.1 [0.00-1.00]

The first minute has an exceptionally clear layout, with a succession of entries and the barest of overlap. The sparse texture emphasizes the introductory nature of the section.
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55
+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+---+
0.00 - ######## "Claret"
0.10 b: ############ Waltz
(B-Bb) ################## "Number nine"
0.25 Eb: ###### Stasis strings
0.31 E: Backward piano ############
0.38 Bb7: Agitato strings ###########
0.53 Bb2 Fanfare ######
Lennon takes great care to showcase each entry, letting each start clearly at its beginning and finish neatly. New entries enter separately, or overlay a repetition of the previous voice. At most Lennon has two voices at any time. This is not chaos.
The material is predominantly Western: the mega-British voices, the salon piano music, the strings and brass. Only the backward piano hints at other worlds.
In fact, what Lennon has constructed corresponds closely to the forces of a symphony orchestra.
"Claret" dialog Voices
Piano waltz Seating
Number nine Theme/seating
Stasis strings Soft strings
Backward piano Woodwind
Agitato strings Loud strings, Bass
Fanfare Brass, Choir, Percussion
Lennon has introduced some basic architecture: soft strings followed by wind, then agitated strings, followed by brass to create a climax. This device, repeated at 1.20-2.00 and in later sections, corresponds to fairly common orchestral technique.
The tonal basis of the sub-section is B-Bb, the two notes of Number nine. More fully we might write: b: Eb: E: Bb:. Some will debate the validity of assigning a tonal structure to Revolution nine, but the fact that only these keys are represented in this sub-section is significant. We will return to this subject in later posts.

All in all, the sub-section is introductory, which is what we expect at the beginning. It tells us we have a symphonic work on our hands. Since the introduction has taken a minute, we can expect the remainder to take more than the usual two minutes left for a pop song. The dialog, the waltz, Number nine, the soft strings: I think of all these loops and dubs as voices that Lennon has at his disposal. The language of vocal music works well here: we can think of the opening dialog as a duet for example. Certainly, there is something immutable about the prerecorded voices that leads to a strictness in the work. Revolution 9 is a serious piece of music. Although the voices chosen for the piece are arbitrary to a degree, this sub-section itself has been put together with great care. It's very neat and tidy. Controlled chance in the selection of the voices with a tightly controlled structure.
With the introduction over we should expect some action to follow. That's what we'll find in the second minute, which is the subject of the next article.

Filling me up with your rules...

I have employed a number of conventions in these articles. You will need to use a fixed size font to read these posts sensibly. In the first column I indicate the time, in minutes and seconds, as it occurs on CD. I'm not always exact to the second when referring to the time in the main text. This is not physics.
1.50 (A) This is something that happened at 1 minute 50 seconds In the second column of titles I use "D" to indicate dubs (e.g. D1) and "L" to indicate loops.
In the second column of examples I indicate the notes, chords or key of a section, using the following conventions:
(A) the note A. (ABC) implies the notes A, B and C.
a the chord a minor
A the chord A major
a: the key a minor
A: the key A major
The third column may have quoted text, which is preceded by the initials of the speaker, if known. JL, GH, YO and GM are obvious. AT: is Alistair Taylor. The text is highly conjectural in places. In melodic examples, "'" and "_" are used to indicate non-intuitive jumps. "a' b" indicates the "a" is above the following "b". "b_ a" indicates that "b" is below the following "a".

~WE GET BY WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM OUR FRIENDS~ All donations go toward web site expenses and are greatly appreciated! You are visitor number