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One After 909

ONE AFTER 909
 
 
“One After 909”  (sometimes titled “The One After 909” in early recordings) is a song by the Beatles, written by John Lennon, with input from Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon–McCartney), and originally released in 1970 on the album Let It Be.  The album version is the live performance from the rooftop concert which took place on 30 January 1969.  This performance is also included in the Let It Be film.  The song was written no later than spring 1960 and perhaps as early as 1957, and is one of the first Lennon–McCartney compositions.  “One After 909” is perhaps more reminiscent of early American rock ’n’ roll than any of the other songs from the rooftop show, and as a joke for the rooftop chatter, Lennon sings a variant on the opening line of “Danny Boy” after the song is finished.  (More from Wikipedia)
 
 

 

 

Two of the earliest Lennon/McCartney songs are “One After 909” and “Hello Little Girl”, both written primarily by John Lennon; Wikipedia says that they date from 1957.  “One After 909” was included on the Beatles’ very last album, Let it Be and was also performed during the famous rooftop concert that is included in the film, Let it Be.  

 

“One After 909” definitely sounds like a song from that era.  As quoted in Wikipedia, Paul McCartney has fond memories of this song:  “It’s not a great song but it’s a great favorite of mine because it has great memories for me of John and I trying to write a bluesy freight-train song.  There were a lot of those songs at the time, like ‘Midnight Special’, ‘Freight Train’, ‘Rock Island Line’, so this was the ‘One After 909’; she didn’t get the 909, she got the one after it.” 

 

One of the highlights of Anthology 1 for me are some 1963 recordings of “One After 909”, when the Beatles tried unsuccessfully to put the song together for an early release.  Three takes are presented, each of which breaks down after a short time.  The compilers realized though that an entire performance of the song could be pieced together from these takes, and it is also given on the CD. 

 

(June 2015)