Beatles Songs You Haven’t Heard: You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)
The Beatles are arguably the most popular band of all time. Their music is heard everywhere and known by almost everyone. 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”, these songs are certainly less talked about than the hits or fan favorites. So let’s take a moment to talk about the lesser-known Beatles songs and find out why they’re so obscure.
You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)
Released: As the B-side to Let it Be, 1970
Writer: John Lennon
When Paul McCartney was interviewed by Mark Lewisohn in 1988, he named an obscure B-side as his favorite Beatles song, saying:
People are only just discovering the b-sides of Beatles singles. They’re only just discovering things like ‘You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)’ — probably my favourite Beatles track, just because it’s so insane. All the memories….
-Paul McCartney, The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Mark Lewisohn
It may seem a little bit surprising that Paul would name an odd little novelty track as this favorite, but there’s more to the story of You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) than what appears on the surface. It’s a song that ties together the history of the Beatles from their most experimental period to their eventual breakup.
In my article about another obscure Beatles song, Old Brown Shoe, I talked about how the B-sides of Beatles singles tend to be some of their most obscure songs, and that rule holds true for You Know My Name (Look Up The Number). Even as the B-side to Let It Be, it doesn’t seem to have the same level of popularity or infamy as other strange Beatles songs like I Am the Walrus or Revolution 9. Perhaps the Let It Be single isn’t as well known because the A-side was included on an album, or perhaps listeners just didn’t know what to make of You Know My Name, which is less of a “song” and more of a musical comedy skit. But regardless of why it is so often overlooked, the real oddity of it being released as a B-side in 1970 is the fact that it was originally recorded back in 1967, three years before it’s eventual release.
In May of 1967, not long after the completion of “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band”, the Beatles recorded the first version of You Know My Name (Look Up The Number). John Lennon took the title of the song from a slogan in a phone book. He said in an interview “it was going to be a Four Tops kind of song — the chord changes are like that — but it never developed and we made a joke of it.” He explained the song to Paul as a mantra, showing how concepts from Indian culture were shaping their songwriting. The experimental and comical sound of You Know My Name is very much in line with the songs on the upcoming White Album, where it would not have felt out of place, but instead of being finished and published it was left in a half-completed state for nearly two years until John and Paul returned to it to record the lead vocals in April of 1969, while “Abbey Road” was being recorded. The Beatles were busy with many other projects during those years, and despite possibly being considered for the soundtrack of the “Yellow Submarine” movie, the song was left unfinished, with the only mention of its existence being a 1969 interview where John Lennon talked about it and admitted “But I never finished it, and I must.” By the time he got around to finishing it, the Beatles were on the verge of breaking up.
John and Paul weren’t always getting on that well at this time, but for that song they went onto the studio floor and sang together around one microphone. Even at that time I was thinking, ‘What are they doing with this old four-track tape, recording these funny bits onto this quaint song?’ But it was a fun track to do.
-Nick Webb-engineer, The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Mark Lewisohn
This quote seems to answer the question of why Paul McCartney named You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) as one of his favorite Beatles songs. To us it’s just a silly song, but to him it’s tied to the memories of joking around with his friends, in the time before the messy breakup of the band. Unfortunately the growing conflict within the band caused You Know My Name to be overlooked and set aside yet again, until November of 1969 when John Lennon decided it should be released, but not as a Beatles song.
The Plastic Ono Band, a musical project featuring John Lennon and Yoko Ono as the only consistent members, had already released one single while John was still in the Beatles. By late 1969, John had privately left the Beatles, but decided that You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) should be the Plastic Ono Band’s next single, backed by the similarity obscure and abandoned Beatles song What’s the New Mary Jane as the B-side. Plans were made for the official release of You Know My Name as a Plastic Ono Band single in December of 1969, with a Apple press release describing the backing music on the song as being done by “many of the greatest show business names of today”, a thinly-veiled allusion to the Beatles. However the Plastic Ono release was quietly cancelled for unknown reasons, though it’s easy to speculate that objections from the other Beatles had something to do with it.
Finally, after almost four years and the dissolve of the band that had created it, You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) was unceremoniously released as the B-Side to the “Let It Be” single, the last UK single released by the Beatles before the world became aware that they had split up.
For a random comedy record that is mostly overlooked today, You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) works as a surprisingly good through line for the history of the Beatles from 1967 till their eventual breakup, highlighting both the sense of comradery that inspired them to make such a silly and abstract song and the growing tensions that lead to the song being delayed for so long. It’s strange to imagine a world where You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) was included in “Yellow Submarine”, or released as a Plastic Ono Band single. Perhaps then it would be more well-known today. As it is, this song is easy to overlook in the Beatles catalog, despite how utterly bizarre it is.
Personnel
You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) was first recorded in 1967 with the classic Beatles lineup, with one interesting addition. Featuring Paul McCartney on piano, John Lennon on harmonica, Ringo Starr on bongos and either George Harrison or McCartney again on vibraphone, they all contributed their usual instruments as well as handclaps, extra percussion and backing vocals, using many overdubs. For the last session of 1967, Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones was invited to record with them, and brought something unexpected.
I thought it would be a fun idea to have him, and I naturally thought he’d bring a guitar along to a Beatles session and maybe chung along and do some nice rhythm guitar or a little bit of electric twelve-string or something, but to our surprise he brought his saxophone…He was a really ropey sax player, so I thought, Ah-hah. We’ve got just the tune.
-Paul McCartney, Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
Jones’ alto saxophone solo is a minimal yet welcome part of the track, fitting in well with the jazzy sound of the last section. Both Paul McCartney and John Lennon mentioned it when interviewed about the song, and it puts You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) on the small list of Beatles songs featuring members of the Rolling Stones. Sadly, Brian Jones would not live to see the release of You Know My Name (Look Up The Number); he died in 1969, before it was even considered for a Plastic Ono Band single.
When Paul and John returned to finish the track years later, another non-Beatles contributed something to the recording; their roadie and assistant Mal Evans, who was asked to run a spade through some gravel, one of the wackier sound effects on the song.
Sound
You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) is less like a cohesive song and more like several smaller songs strung together, all unified by the same lyric, with five sections in total. In this respect it resembles other style-switching Beatles works like A Day in the Life, Happiness is a Warm Gun or the “Abbey Road” medley, but it actually predates the latter two. It feels like the Beatles were testing the concept of a song that switches styles in this one, jokily trying out a formula they would later perfect.
The first section is by far the most serious and straightforward. With its central, slightly melancholy piano riff, it captures a hint of the wistful energy that songs like Let It Be or Lennon’s Imagine have. Then the vocals come in, with the kind of urgent yell-singing they would later use on Don’t Let Me Down. There’s something about the way they harsh vocals the gentile piano mesh that makes this section feel somehow meaningful, despite it’s nonsensical lyrics. We know John originally intended the song to sound like the Four Tops before turning it into more of a joke, and I think this section is the clearest example of what the song was originally going to sound like before it was taken in such a strange direction
The song then launches into the second section, a bouncy ska segment that keeps the basic structure of the first part. It feels like a cover of the first segment, a bit of self-parody that hints at how wacky the song will become. If there was ever any doubt about the Beatles being influenced by ska, it’s laid to rest here. Their attempt at the genre is spot-on, even if the segment feels a little bit sparse compared to some of the other parts of the song. Perhaps that is why John Lennon cut out this segment when editing the song down for a Plastic Ono Band single, a change that was carried over to the official release. The ska segment remained unheard until the release of “Anthology 2” in 1996, which featured a more complete version of You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) then what was released on the single.
The third section of the song, or rather the second section if you’re going by the single version, is where it really starts turning into a comedy record. “Good evening and welcome to Schlagers” announces John and suddenly we are transported to a bustling nightclub. The music takes on a vaguely latin lounge-act sound, while layers of ambient chatter and applause make it sound as if it was recorded live. Paul McCartney takes over lead vocals as “Dennis O’Bell”, not unlike how Ringo Starr played “Billy Shears”, and his performance is hilariously smarmy. John Lennon yells out lines and gritos as if he’s drunkenly singing along. The result is hilarious and a bit meta; if you think of the first section as a normal Beatles song, this segment feels like the inevitable cheap and sloppy cover, performed at some seedy nightclub for a crowd that’s only half paying attention.
With the goofy tone firmly in place, the next section gets really wacky, with cuckoo clock sounds and bongos overshadowing the piano. John and Paul put on silly voices and do a bunch of goofy ad-libs, finally breaking from the pure repetition of the lyrics. The inspiration for the funny voices seems to come from The Goon Show, a comedic radio show from the 1950s that the Beatles, especially John Lennon, were fans of. If it sounds more like Monty Python to you, that’s because all the members of Monty Python also named the Goon Show as a huge influence.
The final part of the song returns to a more conventional sound, with some pleasant jazz once again centered on the piano. The vocals, however, just get even stranger as John and Paul mutter and groan unintelligibly, barely bothering to fit with the backing track beneath them. Finally Brian Jones’ sax swoops in, backed up by the vibraphone, to give the song an oddly beautiful ending despite the weird noises. The single version makes the odd choice to not cut out at this point but instead give us several more seconds of strange noises.
All together, You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) feels less like a song and more like an experience, taking us on a journey through things that influenced the Beatles. It’s not exactly the kind of song one can listen to on repeat, but it has a certain cozy charm to it that some of the other weird Beatles songs lack. It really feels like some friends just messing around, and there’s something really nice about that.
Lyrics
There’s really not much to say about the lyrics of You Know My Name (Look Up The Number). It’s not all just the title being repeated, there are also strange riffs and ad-libs on it, but only one stands out. During the “nightclub” section Paul McCartney is introduced under the name “Dennis O’Bell”. This name is very similar to that of Dennis O’Dell, the film producer of “A Hard Day’s Night”, “Magical Mystery Tour”, and other films members of the Beatles where in. When the song was finally released in 1970, O’Dell received a series of strange phone calls from overzealous Beatles fans, which he didn’t understand the meaning of until Ringo Starr played the song for him.
You Know My Name (Look Up The Number) is a strange song, both because of it’s wacky sound and it’s storied history. It’s a song that ties together their last three years as a band, their connection with the Rolling Stones, and some of their least-discussed influences. And yet despite all that, it remains obscure. Maybe it was simply too wacky, even for the Beatles. Still, there’s something about this song, and the tone it creates, that fascinates me. In a strange way, it works as the B-side to Let It Be, another song of epic proportions, but this time dedicated to absurdity and nonsense.
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 Like Dreamers Do. Previous articles in this series: Old Brown Shoe, I’ll Be On My Way.
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
- The Internet Beatles Album-Singles Timeline
- The Beatles Wiki
- Wikipedia
