Carry That Weight

AUTHORSHIP McCartney (1.00)
McCARTNEY: "I'm generally quite upbeat but at certain times things get to me so much that I just can't be upbeat any more and that was one of the times. We were taking so much acid and doing so much drugs and all this Klein shit was going on and getting crazier and crazier and crazier. Carry that weight a long time: like forever! That's what I meant. There was what my Aunty Jin would have called a bad atmosphere - 'Oh, I can feel the atmosphere in this house, love.' It wasn't difficult, she wouldn't have liked it there. It was 'heavy'. 'Heavy' was a very operative word at that time - 'Heavy, man' - but now it actually felt heavy. That's what 'Carry That Weight' was about: not the light, rather easy-going heaviness, albeit witty and sometimes cruel, but with an edge you could exist within and which always had a place for you to be. In this heaviness there was no place to be. It was serious, paranoid heaviness and it was just very uncomfortable." Paul McCartney: Many Years from Now


RECORDED
"Golden Slumbers" and "Carry That Weight" were recorded as one song July 2, 1969, at Abbey Road. Overdubbing was added July 3, 4, 30 and 31 and August 15

INSTRUMENTATION
McCARTNEY: piano, lead and chorus vocal
LENNON: bass, chorus vocal
HARRISON: lead guitar, chorus vocal
STARR: drums, chorus vocal
SESSION MUSICIANS: strings, brass

All four Beatles sing the "Carry that weight" chorus. All but Starr sing the "I never give you my pillow" verse. The Long and Winding Road: An Intimate Guide to the Beatles