Abbey Road's Medley
The Medley on Side Two Is Examined
The medley is rightfully famous for its flawless segueways from song to song, but also contains multiple occurrences of self-reflection and farewell. Carry That Weight, for example, is a song about what it will be for each member of the band to live with the burden of being a Beatle; only four people in the whole history of the world know what it meant to be a Beatle, what it was like to live that life for a decade; boy, you’re gonna carry that weight a long time, indeed.
The Guitar Solo
Additionally, Carry That Weight includes what is in its way the most interesting guitar solo the Beatles would ever record. Only 18 bars in length, the solo somehow captures each of the personalities of each Beatle: Ringo plays solidly in the background, while each of the other three takes turns playing two bars each, twice: first Paul—all bends and bounce—then George—technical and melodic—and finally John—rhythmic and distorted.
The four are engaged in a conversation, with the effect of an even deeper appreciation for the “sum of the parts is greater than the whole” idea that is the very essence of the band’s remarkable appeal.
The End and Her Majesty
No other tracks, however, on Abbey Road or any other Beatles’ album, capture this sense of closure and farewell more than the last two: The End and Her Majesty. Together, they form a fascinating reverse image of the other.
The structure of the medley is such that it builds towards The End (pun intended?) so that, when interpreted in the way suggested by this article, it is impossible not to consider this penultimate track as the final final message of the Beatles; and what a message it is: “And in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make.” Simple, eloquent yet deep, this single sentence encompasses songs from She Loves You through All You Need Is Love.
However... the tricky part of the album is that The End is not, in fact, the end; that role lies with Her Majesty, the final final final message: a silly little song with a silly little lyric, simple production value, few instruments, a single voice... and, to top it all off, it ends on the wrong note.
The End Versus Her Majesty
Whereas The End seems to validate all the expectations of the Beatles-obsessed public—that they really were philosophers, speaking for a better world through love and music—Her Majesty represents the Beatles holding up a mirror to themselves and their adoring public and saying, “actually, in the end... we were just four lads from Liverpool who wanted to make some good blues music.” All the meaning and measure that had been attached to their careers were mere projections onto them, not inherent traits.
The song is a commentary on the throngs of screaming fans who made it impossible for the band to hear themselves play when they performed live; the uproar over John’s “more important to the kids than Jesus” comment; indeed, to the eventual attacks by crazed stalkers on both John and George. Neither track is presented as the truth to the others’ lie; both speak to deep, significant, but ultimately contradictory, truths about The Beatles.
Abbey Road Re-interpreted
Abbey Road, the final conceived and recorded album by the Beatles, is often misunderstood because it was not in fact their final release as a band. When re-evaluated as the last album conceived and recorded by them as a group, however, it takes on an entirely new significance: that of a final farewell message and an offering of closure, both for the band itself and its legions of fans. In this light, it moves from simply being a masterpiece of popular music into the category of historic relic.
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