Baby You're a Rich Man

Baby, You're a Rich Man" is a song by The Beatles recorded on 11 May 1967 at Olympic Sound Studios, the first song by the band recorded and mixed completely outside Abbey Road Studios.[1]

The song started out as two different, unfinished songs. The verses taken from "One of the Beautiful People" by John Lennon, were combined with Paul McCartney's previously unaccompanied "Baby, you're a rich man..." chorus. The two songs were combined in a similar fashion to "A Day in the Life".[2]

The song was recorded during sessions for the Magical Mystery Tour EP, but was not intended for release there (see below). The unusual oboe-like sound was created with an Clavioline.

Releases
The song was included as the b-side on the "All You Need is Love" single, and then on the US release of Magical Mystery Tour, in 1967. Initially intended for the Yellow Submarine animated film, "Baby You're a Rich Man" was used in the film, but did not appear on the original soundtrack album released in 1969.


The original single mix vs. German mix
When the song was first released in 1967, stereo was not commonplace on singles so for many years the song was only available in either mono or simulated stereo. Producer George Martin and recording engineer Geoff Emerick created a true stereo mix of the song in 1971 for the release of the Magical Mystery Tour album in Germany. However when the song was remixed, an effect that had been created in the mixing stage in 1967 was left out. On the 1967 mono mix, a delay effect, which was made to feedback, after the lines "far as the eye can see" and "Often enough to know" was included. This acted as a fill from the end of one line of the verse to the start of the next. Its omission from the stereo mix explains why there is an instrumental break after these lines. Subsequently when the song was remixed again in 1999 for the Yellow Submarine Songtrack the effect was again left off the song.

Lyrics:
How does it feel to be
One of the beautiful people
Now that you know who you are
What do you want to be
And have you traveled very far
far as the eye can see

How does it feel to be
One of the beautiful people
How often have you been there
Often enough to know
What did you see when you were there
Nothing that doesn't show

Baby you're a rich man
Baby you're a rich man
Baby you're a rich man, too
You keep all your money in a big brown bag
inside a zoo, what a thing to do
Baby you're a rich man
Baby you're a rich man
Baby you're a rich man, too

How does it feel to be
One of the beautiful people
Tuned to a natural E
happy to be that way
Now that you've found another key
What are you going to play

Baby you're a rich man
Baby you're a rich man
Baby you're a rich man, too
You keep all your money in a big brown bag
inside a zoo, what a thing to do
Baby you're a rich man
Baby you're a rich man
Baby you're a rich man, too