Beatles Songs You Haven’t Heard: Old Brown Shoe
The Beatles are arguably the most popular band of all time. Their music is heard everywhere and is extremely well known. A huge number of their songs became number one hits, all over the world. And yet, for all that fame and infamy, there are a handful of Beatles songs that the average person has never even heard of. These songs were released in strange places, or never even released until long after the band had broken up, and as a result only hardcore Beatles fans know about them. As crazy as it sounds to call any song by the most famous band of all time “obscure”, that’s what these songs are when compared to other Beatles songs. So let’s take a moment to talk about the lesser-known Beatles songs and find out why they’re so seldom heard.
Old Brown Shoe
Released: As the B-side to The Ballad of John and Yoko, 1969
Writer: George Harrison
The most obscure Beatles songs tend to be the B-sides of singles. The Beatles treated singles differently than most other bands. While singles are usually used to promote an album, they had a policy of often not including singles on albums. The idea was that fans who already bought the single deserved a whole album’s worth of fresh songs, instead of the same singles now crammed onto an album.
The end result is that a handful of Beatles songs don’t appear on any of their canonical albums. Since this is the Beatles we’re talking about, most of these orphaned singles are still incredibly well known and successful, such as I Want to Hold Your Hand and Hey Jude. And since the singles were popular, they’re often included on compilation albums and greatest hits collections, ensuring that they remain in the public consciousness as some of the greatest Beatles songs. But for every single that wasn’t included on an album, there’s a B side that wasn’t included as well. Since A sides tend to soak up all the glory, the B sides are less likely to be included on compilations. A handful of Beatles B sides are only found on the kind of obscure compilation albums that only extreme Beatlemaniacs listen to. So while these B sides probably got some play when the singles first released, they’ve sunk into obscurity, becoming some of the least-known Beatles songs of all time. This is the fate that has befallen Old Brown Shoe.
Not only is it a non-album B side, it’s the B Side to The Ballad of John and Yoko. The Ballad of John and Yoko is already on the lesser-known side of the Beatles catalog because it’s a rockabilly throwback where John Lennon compares himself to Jesus, instead of a big heartwarming ballad like most of the other Beatles hits at the time. Old Brown Shoe is even more niche than that. I only hear hardcore Beatles fans mention this song, and even then it’s usually only the ones who really love George Harrison. George Harrison is already arguably the most obscure Beatle out of the four, so Old Brown Shoe is barely talked about. And it’s a shame because the song is pretty great.
Old Brown Shoe is one of the few Beatles songs that uses a ska-like rhythm. Ska is one of the genres that the Beatles sometimes dabbled in but never fully embraced, with songs like Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da and I Call Your Name hinting at ska influences. Old Brown Shoe, which features piano on the offbeats, is arguably the closest the Beatles ever got to actual ska. The fast ska-ish rhythm gives the whole song a sense of forward momentum. Besides the rhythm, the rest of the song could be described as blues influenced, not unlike a lot of the songs off Let It Be. It all comes together nicely with some excellent guitar and bass riffs, creating something that sounds iconically Beatles and yet at the same time unique in their catalog. The extremely fast bass on the bridge and the Clapton-esque guitar solo are standout moments. George’s vocals are alright, but they’re intentionally muffled. Apparently he recorded them facing a wall in the corner of the studio to achieve an echo-y effect. It certainly sounds echo-y and distant, but that’s one of my least favorite things about the song.
It’s hard to pin down exactly who played what on Old Brown Shoe. George definitely did the lead vocals and guitar. John did a rhythm guitar part that might have been edited out later. Paul may have played the jangle piano, though many sources say John did it. Paul also likely played the drums as Ringo was reportedly off working on a film at the time of the recording. Paul could have played the bass too, but George once said he played the bass on this song. This type of nebulous lineup is typical of the Beatles. When you get a lot of multi-instrumentalists in a room together, and then they later go on to not speak to each other very much, confusion over who played what is bound to arise.
Now let’s talk about the lyrics.
I started the chord sequences on the piano, which I don’t really play, and then began writing ideas for the words from various opposites… Again, it’s the duality of things — yes no, up down, left right, right wrong, etcetera.
-George Harrison, I Me Mine, 1980 (via The Beatles Bible)
The basis of the lyrics is a series of opposites, not unlike McCartney’s Hello, Goodbye. But while Hello, Goodbye used the opposites to tell the story of two people who don’t see eye to eye, Old Brown Shoe is a love song. The duality theme is mostly used to contrast the love interest with others who aren’t as nice to the narrator. The line “You know you pick me up/ From where some try to drag me down” is the best example of this. The narrator is surrounded by unnamed critics while trying to win someone’s affection. Themes of being constantly under criticism are common in George Harrison songs, and at this point in time they’re easy to read as a reflection of his growing frustration with being in the Beatles and having his songs overlooked by John and Paul.
Despite this, the song is still very upbeat. The first bridge includes a cute reference to Ringo Starr and his habit of wearing many rings (That’s how he got his nickname “Ringo” in the first place). The song’s title itself might be a refecene Blue Suede Shoes by Carl Perkins. George was a fan of Perkins and covered his song Everybody’s Trying to Be My Baby on Beatles for Sale. In fact, the Beatles recorded a version of Blue Suede Shoes during the Let It Be sessions that included the line “brown suede boots”, seemingly foreshadowing Old Brown Shoe, which they recorded the very next day. These lighthearted references keep the tone of the song playful, despite the undercurrent of tension within the band.
Old Brown Shoe is a classic Beatles song that seems to only be obscure because it wasn’t included on a normal Beatles album, and was only featured on three of the lesser-known compilations. Perhaps George’s muffled vocals also caused it to be viewed as “unfinished-sounding”, though that’s just speculation on my part. Personally I love the song and it’s one of my favorite Beatles songs written by George Harrison. I honestly think Old Brown Shoe should have been the A side: while The Ballad of John and Yoko is fun, it’s basically just a normal rockabilly song with provocative lyrics. Old Brown Shoe is a bit more unique than that while still being extremely catchy.
Thank you for reading this article! Feel free to point out any errors and I’ll try to fix them if possible. Also feel free to suggest any Beatles songs you think I should cover here. Next month I’m thinking about covering either “I’ll Be On My Way” or “You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)”.
Sources
- All The Songs: The Story Behind Every Beatles Release by by Jean-Michel Guesdon and Philippe Margotin (Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers, 2013)
- The Beatles Bible
- Wikipedia
