It was the last Beatles album to be recorded and at that point the players involved had evolved enormously in the studio. But they had most significantly evolved as musicians, as human beings and as songwriters. The album is Abbey Road, and the song is John Lennon’s “Come Together”. The opening track for an album that was ushering a new era in rock music, with a sound and style that makes it hard to believe that it’s as old as it is. 

     When the boys asked George Martin to produce the album —after his disengagement on the previous two albums— he agreed on the condition that this time they would make a glossy, well produced, top-of-the-line album. And they had what it took. Because at this point the Beatles had reached the top of their musical maturity that had been in constant evolution since the days of “Love me Do”, the song with which they greeted audiences on a big scale for the first time. The result was a masterpiece that, although it’s debatable as to whether it is the best Beatles album, showed the four musicians —and their producer— on top of their game.

But I want to talk about one of my very favorite tunes in all Beatles repertoire. “Come Together” is a tour de force, an almost perfect rock/pop masterpiece. The bass riff, the syncopated drums, the split guitars, the voice, the lyrics, and that slick, jazzy presence of the organ, by none other than John himself. 

     It was born out of a political idea, after LSD guru Timothy Leary asked John to make a song for him that would serve as the musical accompaniment to the slogan Come Together – Join the Party!, in his run for Governor of California. And I read somewhere that they had a disagreement, because Leary didn’t like the song, as it deviated from the original idea. But there’s also the fact that he couldn’t have used it, anyhow, because he ended up serving prison time over a marijuana possession bust that happened in 1968. Before that, in 1966, Leary had already been busted and was sentenced to 30 years in prison, a sentence that eventually got overturned.

     “Come Together” is a piece that is interesting from different angles: the inspiration, the legal battles John had to fight over it, the people involved, and the personal views on the song of the Beatles themselves. This is what John says about the song and the record, in his 1980 interview with David Sheff, for Playboy: “It’s one of my favorite Beatle tracks, or, one of my favorite Lennon tracks, let’s say that. It’s funky, it’s bluesy, and I’m singing it pretty well. I like the sound of the record. You can dance to it. I’d buy it!” 

     “[Come Together] Is one of the nicest things we’ve done musically. Ringo’s drumming is great,” said George to Rolling Stone magazine. In an interview he gave on October 18, 1969, with the song freshly released as a double A-side single along with George’s “Something”.

     And, indeed, “Come Together” is a funky tune, with some funky lyrics. John Lennon had a way with words. He had a way with language and the musicality of it; and the phrasing on his songs are the best proof of that. But there are instances where the playfulness is taken to a level of art-pop mastery, in songs like “Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds”, “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite!”, “I Am the Walrus”; and, well, “Come Together”.

He wear no shoeshine, he got toe-jam football
He got monkey finger, he shoot Coca-Cola
He say, “I know you, you know me”
One thing I can tell you is you got to be free

     Doesn’t make a lot of sense, right? Well, who said it has to make sense. The same way that T.S. Elliot or Federico Garcia Lorca don’t make sense sometimes. In fact, it’s not about making sense, but about the musicality and inventiveness of poetic language. In “Come Together”, John Lennon is making music with his voice, with words, and with sound. “John’s X-rated gobbledegook is delivered to a bumpin’-and-grindin’ accompaniment,” said Nicholas Schaffner in his excellent book The Beatles Forever, one of the best biographical works on the band.  

     Even at its early stage, at a point that the song is not fully developed, “Come Together” is better than a diamond in the rough. Take 1 of the Beatles Anthology is the best proof of that, which also attests to the musical maturity that the Beatles had reached at that point. In only seven years of a professional recording career.

     “Come Together” is a very well-crafted piece, with a real edge. And several artists of notoriety have covered it, keeping its essence. Among the best renditions of it are the ones by Tina Turner, Aerosmith and Michael Jackson. And all of them have killer versions of the song. But the best version is the live interpretation by John Lennon himself, at the two Madison Square Garden shows that he did in 1972. A precious moment when he sings, toward the end of the song, “Come together, right now. Stop the War!”, alluding to Vietnam. 

     It was the last album to be recorded by the Beatles, the coda. And, as the opening track, “Come Together” had to live up to it, because it would set the tone for the general vibe on their last musical statement. There couldn’t have been a better choice, because when we listen to “Come Together”, we want to hear the whole album. 

By Rodolfo Elías.