Remembering When an Engineer Inadvertently Dictated Which Song Closed Out The Beatles’ Final Album in 1969

Ever hear of John Kurlander? Unless you’re a Beatles obsessive, chances are you haven’t. But you likely have heard his handiwork, because Kurlander is indirectly responsible for a famous sequence on the band’s last studio album.

We’re talking, of course, about Abbey Road. Kurlander’s diligence led to The Beatles changing course on how they envisioned that album ending.

A Final Message of Love

The Beatles didn’t know for certain that they were going to be shutting things down after the making of Abbey Road in 1969. There was still some hope that they could reconcile the differences that had been brewing for the past several years.

Still, a sense of finality seeped into many of the songs, especially those that were spearheaded by Paul McCartney. On the album’s second side, the Fab Four strung together a bunch of shorter songs into a long medley. McCartney got the last word on the medley with a brilliant trio of tracks

“Golden Slumbers” was a heartbreaking lullaby about lost opportunities. That led into “Carry The Weight”, a song about an unshakable burden. Which finally led to “The End”, with McCartney’s elegiac final statement: “And in the end/The love you take/Is equal to the love you make.” The perfect way to end the album, and, as it would turn out, the band, right? Well, as it turned out, not quite.

The Forgotten Track

The Beatles had originally intended another song for the huge medley, a song that they ultimately decided didn’t work. McCartney wrote the tongue-in-cheek acoustic number “Her Majesty”, intending to slot it in between the John Lennon-led tracks “Mean Mr. Mustard” and “Polythene Pam”. But he decided it didn’t work in there, choosing to shelve the track instead.

That’s where John Kurlander comes into play. He was the engineer for the session, and he was taking his orders from McCartney. When McCartney told him to leave out “Her Majesty” and instead segue right from “Mean Mr. Mustard” to “Polythene Pam”, he obliged.

But he had also learned that the biggest mistake an engineer could make was erasing a piece of tape that a band might have used for at some point. Rock stars could be fickle, after all. So he stuck “Her Majesty” at the end of the tape after about 20 seconds of silence following the completion of “The End”.

A Regal Surprise

When Paul McCartney heard what Kurlander had done, he decided he liked it. It certainly made for a jarring effect. The song begins with a blast of guitar. That’s actually the final chord of “Mean Mr. Mustard”, which wasn’t needed in the main mix since “Her Majesty” wasn’t there.

You’ll also note, when listening to Abbey Road, that “Her Majesty” ends in an unresolved fashion. The reason for that is that the song was supposed to move seamlessly into “Polythene Pam”. As a result, it didn’t need a final note.

Could Abbey Road have done just fine without Kurlander’s decision? Perhaps. But the happy accident made for an ending that punctured some of the grandeur of the moment, allowing The Fab Four to go out on a suitably irreverent note.

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