"Mean Mr. Mustard" is a song by English rock band

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

, released on their 1969 studio album ''

Abbey Road ''Abbey Road'' is the eleventh studio album by the English rock band the Beatles, released on 26 September 1969, by Apple Records. It is the last album the group recorded, although '' Let It Be'' (1970) was the last album completed before th ...

''. Written by

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

and credited to

Lennon–McCartney Lennon–McCartney is the songwriting partnership between the English musicians John Lennon (1940–1980) and Paul McCartney (born 1942) of the Beatles. It is widely considered one of the greatest, best known and most successful musical collabo ...

, it is the third track of the album's medley. It was recorded with " Sun King" in one continuous piece.

Composition

The song was written during the Beatles' stay in India; Lennon said that it was inspired by a newspaper story about a

miser A miser is a person who is reluctant to spend money, sometimes to the point of forgoing even basic comforts and some necessities, in order to hoard money or other possessions. Although the word is sometimes used loosely to characterise anyone ...

who concealed his cash wherever he could in order to prevent people from forcing him to spend it. On reflection, Lennon did not think highly of the composition, dismissing it in ''

Anthology In book publishing, an anthology is a collection of literary works chosen by the compiler; it may be a collection of plays, poems, short stories, songs, or related fiction/non-fiction excerpts by different authors. There are also thematic and g ...

'' as "a bit of crap I wrote in India." A demo version of the song was recorded in May 1968 at Kinfauns,

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

's home in

Esher Esher ( ) is a town in the borough of Borough of Elmbridge, Elmbridge in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole, Surrey, River Mole. Esher is an outlying suburb of London, close to the London–Surrey border; with Esher Commons at its ...

. It appears on ''

Anthology 3 ''Anthology 3'' is a compilation album by the Beatles, released on 28 October 1996 by Apple Records as part of '' The Beatles Anthology'' series. The album includes rarities and alternative tracks from the final two years of the band's c ...

'' and the 2018 Deluxe Edition of ''

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

''. In this version, Mustard's sister is named Shirley. Lennon changed it to Pam when he saw the opportunity to ease the segue into the song " Polythene Pam", which follows "Mean Mr. Mustard" on the album. According to Lennon, "In 'Mean Mr. Mustard', I said 'his sister Pam'—originally it was 'his sister Shirley' in the lyric. I changed it to Pam to make it sound like it had something to do with it." As eventually recorded, "Mustard" originally was to end in the chord of D major—this would have led into the next track in the climactic medley, " Her Majesty". However, since the latter song was moved to the end of the album, "Mustard" instead hard-edits into " Polythene Pam", and thus the final note of "Mustard" would open "Her Majesty" as a stand-alone track at the album's conclusion. The complete version of "Mustard" (with its original clean ending) can be heard on '' The Beatles: Rock Band'' video game, as well as ''Abbey Road''s 2019 Super Deluxe Edition.

Origin

A newspaper article from the 7 June 1967 '' Daily Record'' with the headline "A Mean Husband Shaved in the Dark" features a man called John Mustard, who lived in Enfield, Middlesex. In 1980, Lennon said: "I’d read somewhere in the paper about this mean guy who was hiding £5 notes, not up his nose but somewhere else, and so I wrote about him."

Personnel

– lead and harmony vocals, rhythm guitar, piano *

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

– harmony vocals,

fuzz bass Fuzz bass is a style of playing the electric bass or modifying its signal that produces a buzzy, distorted, overdriven sound. Overdriving a bass signal significantly changes the timbre, adds higher overtones (harmonics), increases the susta ...

– lead guitar *

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

– drums,

tambourine The tambourine is a musical instrument in the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zills". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead, thoug ...

maracas A maraca ( , , ), sometimes called shaker or chac-chac, is a rattle which appears in many genres of Caribbean and Latin music. It is shaken by a handle and usually played as part of a pair. Maracas, also known as tamaracas, were rattles of d ...

Cover versions

* Booker T. & the MGs on their 1970 album '' McLemore Avenue''.

Notes

References

* * * *

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mean Mister Mustard Songs about fictional male characters The Beatles songs 1969 songs Song recordings produced by George Martin Songs written by Lennon–McCartney Songs published by Northern Songs