Beatles – I Me Mine

George’s contribution to Let It Be included For You Blue and today’s song I Me Mine. The song was very significant in Beatles history as you read on. It was the last song they recorded, minus John, until the 90s.

George Harrison wrote this song and sang lead. He said it is “About the ego, the eternal problem.” The version we hear on Let It Be didn’t have John Lennon who was away at the time.

In the Hindu holy book Bhagavad Gita, the following verse is found: “They are forever free who renounce all selfish desires and break away from the ego-cage of I-me-mine, to be united with the Lord. This is the supreme state; attain to this and pass from death to immortality.” 

This uses a 3/4 time signature like a waltz, rather than the standard 4/4. With a rather mournful sound, Harrison called it a “heavy waltz.” The first version The Beatles recorded ran just 1:34, and had only one chorus. The album’s producer, Phil Specter, copied and pasted parts of that recording to make the song 2:25.

The song wasn’t going to be in the film but when Allen Klein, made a deal with United Artists to release the project it was included. When Let It Be Naked came out in 2003 this was one of the few songs McCartney decided to leave as it was. I will have to say though that I do like that release that took away Spector’s production…or overproduction of some of the numbers.

When I first watched Let It Be in the 80s I remember this well because Lennon and Ono waltzed around the huge studio to this song. You always think of The Beatles ending in the sixties but on January 3, 1970, Paul, George, and Ringo got together to work on some of the songs. It would be the last time those three recorded together until the 90s with The Beatles anthology. Sixteen takes were laid down of “I Me Mine,” featuring Harrison on acoustic and lead vocal, McCartney on bass, and Starr on drums. Backing vocals, Hammond Organ and electric piano from McCartney, and a lead guitar by Harrison were added toward the end of the session.

Supposedly after the 12th take, Harrison led the group through an impromptu run-through of Buddy Holly’s 1959 hit “Peggy Sue Got Married,” which if it’s true…has not been released. This short version of I Me Mine was included in the Beatles Anthology.

Harrison’s 1980 autobiography is also titled “I Me Mine.”

George Harrison: “It was the TV, you see, that science fiction thing (referring to an episode of “Out Of The Unknown: Immortality Inc.”), but then it suddenly turned into that crap about medals and things. That’s what gave me the idea. Suddenly it was the bit where they were all coming into the ball. I think it was Austria, and they all had their medals. And there was some music that was just playing…like a 3/4 thing. Some things like that happen where you just hear something, and it registers in your head as something else. And so I just had it my head, just the waltz thing, and it was fitting…It’s like one of those things where they’re all swaying!”

*** Unfortunately, I was going to try to see that episode but The BBC in their infinite wisdom wiped this episode. No known copy is known to exist. *** When he said “it turned into that crap about medals” he was talking about a show called Europa: The Titled and the Unentitled that must have followed “Out of the Unknown.”

I Me Mine

All through’ the day
I me mine, I me mine, I me mine
All through’ the night
I me mine, I me mine, I me mine
Now they’re frightened of leaving it
Ev’ryone’s weaving it
Coming on strong all the time
All through’ the day I me mine

I-I-me-me mine, I-I-me-me mine
I-I-me-me mine, I-I-me-me mine

All I can hear
I me mine, I me mine, I me mine
Even those tears
I me mine, I me mine, I me mine
No-one’s frightened of playing it
Ev’ryone’s saying it
Flowing more freely than wine
All through’ the day I me mine

I-I-me-me mine, I-I-me-me mine
I-I-me-me mine, I-I-me-me mine

All I can hear
I me mine, I me mine, I me mine
Even those tears
I me mine, I me mine, I me mine
No-one’s frightened of playing it
Ev’ryone’s saying it
Flowing more freely than wine
All through’ your life I me mine

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, 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.

24 thoughts on “Beatles – I Me Mine”

  3. Great pick, Max, I love that tune! Also great background – I didn’t know/remember this was the last tune Paul, George and Ringo recorded together.

    Also, while Phil Spector oftentimes gets beaten up over his heavy production of “Let It Be,” obviously, these were the mixes we all first heard and many of us came to love. Without Spector this music possibly wouldn’t have been released, at least not at the time. Can you imagine that?

    That said, I also enjoy listening to “Let It Be…Naked”. To me, “Let It Be”, while not as compelling as “Sgt Pepper”, “Abbey Road” and “Revolver”, still is a masterpiece!

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  6. Good background info on it. I knew it was about ego but didn’t know it kept showing up in yoga texts. Interesting they kept it as-is on the Naked album. Whenever I hear it, I keep expecting to hear that perfect segue into Across the Universe all stripped down. It’s a great experience of contrast and whomever decided to put them in that order was a genius. You know I’m always happy to learn more about my hero, Geo.

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  8. A song that’s grown on me through the years. There’s no second-guessing George Martin & his work with them, but I do think Spector did quite a good job for them at this time too.

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    1. It grew on me also…I didn’t love it when first heard it but yea I really like it now. It’s a clever song. I didn’t hate everything he did but some I did….he went way over the top on The Long and Winding Road….but why oh why did he not include Don’t Let Me Down on the album?

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      2. No it was his…McCartney made the Let It Be Naked album JUST to release the non Spector version of The Long and Winding Road.

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    1. Yes it is…I always liked it a little more than For You Blue although I like John’s slide on whatever he is playing.
      My biggest problem with the original album…and we have talked about this…why did they not have Don’t Let Me Down on the album?

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      1. I heard John as playing a lap steel on “For You Blue.” He really rocked it. As George said, “Elmore James got nothin’ on this, baby.”

        “Don’t Let Me Down” was left off “Let It Be” by Phil Spector, but it was on the “Let It Be… Naked” album (where Paul undid all the damage Spector did to “Let It Be”). It was released as the B side to “Get Back.”

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      2. Yea I loved Let It Be Naked…I bought it the same day it went on sale. That is how it should have sounded. I guess Phil substituted I Me Mine for Don’t Let Me Down. I like Don’t Let Me Down more than Get Back…but that is just me.

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