Mother Nature's Son

For other uses, see Mother Nature's Son (disambiguation).

"Mother Nature's Son"
Song by The Beatles from the album The Beatles
Released	22 November 1968
Recorded	9 August 1968
Genre	Folk[1]
Length	2:48
Label	Apple Records
Writer	Lennon–McCartney
Producer	George Martin
The Beatles track listing
30 tracks Side one "Back in the U.S.S.R." "Dear Prudence" "Glass Onion" "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" "Wild Honey Pie" "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill" "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" "Happiness Is a Warm Gun" Side two "Martha My Dear" "I'm So Tired" "Blackbird" "Piggies" "Rocky Raccoon" "Don't Pass Me By" "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?" "I Will" "Julia" Side three "Birthday" "Yer Blues" "Mother Nature's Son" "Everybody's Got Something to Hide Except Me and My Monkey" "Sexy Sadie" "Helter Skelter" "Long, Long, Long" Side four "Revolution 1" "Honey Pie" "Savoy Truffle" "Cry Baby Cry" "Revolution 9" "Good Night"
Music sample "Mother Nature's Son"

"Mother Nature's Son" is a Lennon–McCartney song, written primarily by Paul McCartney and released by The Beatles on The Beatles (The White Album). It was inspired by a lecture given by the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi while the Beatles were in India.^[2][3] The same lecture inspired Lennon's unreleased song "Child of Nature", the tune of which he later re-used for "Jealous Guy".^[2][3] The song was later covered by Harry Nilsson.

Recording

McCartney recorded it on 9 August 1968. He recorded 25 takes singing and playing acoustic guitar simultaneously. Take 24 was perceived to be the best (take 2 later appeared on Anthology 3). McCartney recorded overdubs of timpani, another guitar, and drums the next day.^[4] The drums sound more like bongos and this was achieved by putting the drums halfway down an uncarpeted corridor with the mics at a far end which resulted in a staccato sound.^[5] Lennon did not play on the recording, but McCartney said he contributed some words to the song in India.

Personnel

• Paul McCartney – double-tracked vocal, acoustic guitars, timpani, bass drum
• George Martin – brass arrangement

Personnel per Ian MacDonald^[6]

Covers and mashups

• Jack White covered the song at the White House when McCartney was being given the Gershwin Prize on 2 June 2010.
• Ramsey Lewis covered the song and used it as the title of his 1968 album Mother Nature's Son. The album includes other songs from The Beatles.
• Harry Nilsson covered the song in 1969 for his album Harry.
• John Denver covered the song and after his death it became the title of a biography of Denver by John Collis.
• Gryphon covered the song in 1974 on the album Raindance.
• Sheryl Crow covered it for the movie I Am Sam.
• Danger Mouse included a sample of the song in his "mashup" version of the Jay-Z song "December 4th" for his The Grey Album.
• DJ Reset used it along with Slick Rick's "La-Di-Da-Di" for the "mashup" song "Mother Nature's Rick".
• Glay covered the song on their 2007 single "Ashes".
• Brad Mehldau covered the song in a medley on his album Largo and also on the album Don't Explain together with tenor saxophonist Joel Frahm.

Notes

1. ^ Carlin 2009, p. 172.
2. ^ ^{a b} Miles 1997, pp. 423, 490.
3. ^ ^{a b} Sheff 2000, p. 200.
4. ^ The Beatles Bible 2009.
5. ^ Morin 1998.
6. ^ MacDonald 2005, p. 305.

References

• "Mother Nature's Son". The Beatles Bible. 2009. http://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/mother-natures-son/. Retrieved 14 April 2009. 
• Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt & Company. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6. 
• Morin, Cari (1998). The Evolution of Beatles' Recording Technology. 
• Sheff, David (2000). All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-25464-4. 
• Carlin, Peter (2009). Paul McCartney: A Life. ISBN 1416562095.