September 16, 1968 through October 11, 1968

With Ringo back in the group and Hey Jude continuing its domination on the charts, The Beatles made one last push to wrap their ambitious double album project in time for a holiday release. A hallmark of the sessions was the diversity of song style, with the band recording tender ballads like I Will, raucous rockers like Birthday, haunting epics like Happiness Is A Warm Gun and Long Long Long, to borderline novelty tracks like Honey Pie and The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill. While this diversity reigned, the double album did find itself dominated by "stripped­-down" acoustic tracks that would be a shocking departure for fans who had grown accustomed to the lavish studio creations of 1967. The fall of 1968 also saw the publication of The Beatles authorized biography by Hunter Davies ­ perhaps the last vestige of influence by the band's late manager Brian Epstein. If Brian's influence was finally dissipating, the influence of John's new girlfriend Yoko Ono was expanding by the day, and by October the couple would proclaim themselves inseparable...

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