Tomorrow Always Knows - Revolver's Last Track Quiz

Answer: Four

All four Beatles participated in the recording and creation of the song. John sang the lead vocals and played the Hammond organ; Paul provided the backwards guitar solo and bass guitar; George played the sitar and tambura; and Ringo laid the groundwork of the song with the droning beats of the drums. All four also provided the tape loops that feature frequently on the track.

Answer: True

The first recording sessions for "Tomorrow Never Knows" occurred before any other song that ended up on "Revolver".

Answer: April 6, 7, and 22, 1966

The first sessions for the song even occurred before the release of "Paperback Writer" and "Rain", the two singles released before "Revolver".

Answer: Listen to the color of your dreams

The lyrics of "Tomorrow Never Knows" are absolutely soaked in what is obviously inspiration from psychedelic drugs... because you obviously can't listen to your dreams, and they don't really have color, either.

John asks for you to "imagine I'm in love with you," from the single "I'll Get You", released in 1964 as the B-side to "She Loves You".

Even after "Revolver", Lennon asks for you to "picture yourself on a train in a station," in the famous track off of "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds".

Last but not least, the raga-rock masterpiece "Within You Without You" from Sgt. Pepper has George telling you to "realize it's all within yourself; no one else can make you change."

Answer: John sang the lyrics into a speaker intended for use for Hammond organs

John wanted to sound as if, according to Martin, he were "a hundred chanting Tibetan monks". To do this, he even proposed tying himself to a rope hanging from the ceiling of the recording studio, and then swinging around the microphone to produce such an effect. For obvious reasons this was put to rest; but eventually the engineer Geoff Emerick proposed the idea of speaking into a Hammond organ Leslie speaking cabinet, which produced just the effect that John wanted.

Though the Beatles did not utilize their famed harmonies in the song, they did reverse and speed up the sound of a man laughing, which sounds like a seagull.

George Martin, despite the opinions of one music critic ("I can imagine they had George Martin tied to a totem pole when they did this"), very much liked the idea of the song, and believes it to be one of the best tracks on "Revolver", calling it "a great innovation".

The "Paul is dead" hoax found much of its initial strength in the utterance of the words "cranberry sauce" in the single "Strawberry Fields Forever", released six months after "Revolver". Some heard the words as "I buried Paul".

Answer: False

Though this did happen to John, it did not occur with "Tomorrow Never Knows". Rather, after completing a demo for the single "Rain", John, influenced heavily by marijuana (what else is new?), accidentally put it into his tape recorder backwards, and it very nearly blew his mind.

The next day, he told the other three Beatles and George Martin to listen to the track in reverse, and they added the reversed lyrics and guitar riffs, which later featured prominently in the "Revolver" sessions.

Answer: Within You Without You

The song starts off with the droning lyrics of John, which then quickly rushes into the infamous drumming and tape loops of the song, backing up George's lead vocals and sitar.

"Love You To" was the third song on "Revolver" and George's second track on the album. Though prominently featuring the sitar, tambura, and other Indian musical influences, it differed significantly from "Tomorrow Never Knows".

"It's All Too Much" is one of George's pieces from the 1969 album "Yellow Submarine", and at over 6 minutes long, it is a wonderfully organized cacophony of sounds and riffs, and is my favorite song from the album. Seriously, go listen to it.

"The Inner Light" was the B-side of 1968's "Lady Madonna", and it featured words taken from the Daoist texts of the "Dao De Jing".

Answer: The Tibetan Book of the Dead

John had read "The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead", which was a translation of the "Tibetan Book of the Dead", often while dropping acid.

The Egyptian Book of the Dead was a collection of spells and formulas collected before the death of a noted person in Ancient Egypt, and they were often read during the burial of that person to assist them in their transition to the afterlife.

The Hindu Vedas are sacred Hindu scriptures, and are considered a core part of the Hindu faith. They are purported to have been created and delivered to Man by Brahma, the Hindu god of Creation.

The Kama Sutra is an ancient Indian text [in]famous for its sections detailing the "proper" way to make love and have sex. Of course, who knows, maybe John was inspired by this as well.

Answer: Ringo

Richard Starkey, famously known as Ringo Starr, was known within the Beatles for his "Ringoisms", of which include "It's been a hard day's night." Ringo said it in an interview in 1964, and John explained that he used it "... because I was a bit self-conscious about the lyrics ... and so I took one of Ringo's malapropisms, which was like 'A Hard Day's Night', to take the edge off the heavy, philosophical lyrics."

Answer: It only has one chord

The song is centered around a C chord. The inventive lyrics, despite being reflective and highly acid-inspired, do not deviate and repeat the same pitch each verse.