And in the end
The love you take
Is equal to the love you make.
Keep that one – mark it ‘fab’.
Abbey Road was released 40 years ago today. I remember on the evening of September 26, 1969, in the student flat we were living in at the time, we tuned into BBC2 on a litle mono TV set for the then unprecedented of having the whole second side of the album previewed on Late Night Line Up, with accompanying psychedelic images.
This was the Beatles last album in chronological terms: work on Abbey Road began in April 1969, making it the final album recorded by the band, though Let It Be was the last album released before the Beatles’ dissolution in 1970. I seem to remember that we were aware of this as we lay there watching the album preview.
The track that has always seemed to epiomise Abbey Road is ‘Here Comes The Sun’, written by George,
‘at a time when Apple was getting like school, where we had to go and be businessmen– all this signing accounts, and ‘sign this’ and ‘sign that.’ Anyway, it seems as if winter in England goes on forever; by the time spring comes you really deserve it. So one day I decided, ‘I’m going to sag-off Apple,’ and I went over to Eric Clapton’s house. I was walking in his garden. The relief of not having to go and see all those dopey accountants was wonderful. And I was walking around the garden with one of Eric’s acoustic guitars, and wrote ‘Here Comes The Sun’.’
Before the ‘hidden’ track, ‘Her Majesty’, the suite that makes up side 2 of the LP ends with ‘THe End’, a favourite Paul song:
‘We were looking for the end to an album, and ‘In the end the love you take is equal to the love you make’ just came into my head. I just recognized that would be a good end to an album. And it’s a good little thing to say– now and for all time, I think. I can’t think of anything much better as a philosophy, because all you need IS love. It still is what you need. There aint nothin’ better. So, you know, I’m very proud to be in the band that did that song, and that thought those thoughts, and encouraged other people to think them to help them get through little problems here and there. So uhh… We done good!!’
That's How The Light Gets In 