Beatles – Polythene Pam

This song is on the B side of Abbey Road in the medley right after Mean Mr. Mustard.The song was brought up and recorded on a demo for the White Album. John then brought it up for inclusion on Let It Be. After that he made the statement that he would give it to a “Liverpool Folk Singer.”

John contributed  Sun King, Mean Mr. Mustard, and Polythene Pam to the medley.

The song was about two people… Pat Hodgett, who was a regular attendee at the Cavern Club when The Beatles played in the early 60’s. It was readily known that Pat was in the habit of eating polythene… The Beatles affectionately referred to her as “Polythene Pat”

John remembering the second girl: So this poet took me to his place, and I had a girl and he had one he wanted me to meet. He said she dressed up in polythene, which she did. In polythene bags. She didn’t wear jackboots and kilts – I just sort of elaborated – and no, she didn’t really look like a man. There was nothing much to it. It was kind of perverted sex in a polythene bag. But it provided something to write a song about.”

The poet’s name was Royston Ellis… The girl in the polythene bag could have been Royston’s girlfriend at the time…remembered as Stephanie.

Paul McCartney: “John, being Royston’s friend, went out to dinner with him and got pissed (drunk) and stuff and they ended up back at his apartment with a girl who dressed herself in polythene for John’s amusement, so it was a little kinky scene…She was a real character.”

From Songfacts

Polythene is a British term for polyethylene, a plastic polymer used in containers, insulation, and packaging. Written by John Lennon, this song has a rather strange background, and fortunately, our Beatles expert Pattie Noah has sorted it out.

Lennon sang this in a thick Liverpool accent. Like the other Beatles, his regular singing voice sounded very American because he grew up listening to US artists.

In the line, “She’s the kind of a girl that makes the News Of The World,” The News Of The World is a tabloid newspaper that specializes in risqué news reporting. Pam must have been a wild girl. 

The Beatles recorded this as one song with “She Came In Through the Bathroom Window.”

Originally intended for The White Album, this was used in a suite of songs at the end of Abbey Road.

Polythene Pam

Well, you should see Polythene Pam
She’s so good-looking but she looks like a man
Well, you should see her in drag dressed in her polythene bag
Yes, you should see Polythene Pam
Yeah, yeah, yeah

Get a dose of her in jackboots and kilt
She’s killer-diller when she’s dressed to the hilt
She’s the kind of a girl that makes the “News of the World”
Yes, you could say she was attractively built
Yeah, yeah, yeah

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

16 thoughts on “Beatles – Polythene Pam”

    1. Yea it’s part of the big medley…I probably should have just did the whole medley but 8 songs hooked together it would have been too much.

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      1. All will be revealed! But right at the end of the day I played a guitar I shouldn’t have and now I have to decide whether to pony up the cash. It’s like twice the price of a nice gretsch 6119 I was about to buy and that wasn’t exactly cheap either lol

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      2. Man if you can…get what you want or you will always wonder what if…Of course…you could be going home alone if you do…. lol.

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      4. Ah yes… I never knew which was worse…comment or days of no comment. Either one gets the point across. Good luck dude…I’m looking forward to finding out which one you picked.

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  5. The trilogy of Polythene Pam, Mean Mr. Mustard and Bathroom Window was the first standout part of the Abbey Road medley for me. Over the years, other things have grown. But I still love the trilogy, especially the guitar intro.

    These guys really could make good music, eh?

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  6. Your blog has successfully gotten me to go back and listen to old familiars again, like this. I must say that after all these years I am still blown away by the guitar and bass work on this. The guitar work is superlative from the beginning call to attention, followed by the response from the bass. The guitar work is fascinating.

    Ringo is all over this. I mean ALL OVER. Never on top but always pushing, pulling, keeping it moving.

    Uhm, the lyrics are very much in question for me. What is listed as “polythene bag” is not what I am hearing at all, although that whole line is a mystery to me. You should seal her in plasters in her polythene package. (Did I mention I consider myself a member of the Scuse Me While I Kiss This Guy gang?) And the line before it, “She’s so good looking when she looks like a man”. All in all, WHAT F$%^& difference does it make?

    Somehow I have individual songs. Which leads me to stay in the WHO REALLY CARES? category and ask whether the “Come on now… Oh, Look Out” is part of Pam or Bathroom?

    Like I said, who really cares.

    But listen to the way they plow through the three songs. It all hangs together, all driven by the guitar and aided by Ringo.

    After how many years? Still great.

    Thanks for reminding me, Max.

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