Here, There and Everywhere

(Lennon/McCartney)

Quick Facts

Composer	Paul
Lead Vocal	Paul
Recorded	Jun 1966
Length	2:25
Key	G
Noted Takes	14
Producer	George Martin
Engineer	Geoff Emerick

Originally released on

Revolver

Parlophone — PMC 7009

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“Here, There and Everywhere” is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1966 album Revolver. A love ballad, it was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. McCartney includes it among his personal favourites of the songs he has written.

Here, There and Everywhere is a song by The Beatles, written by McCartney and led on vocal by Paul McCartney. Inspired by ‘God Only Knows’; Paul’s own favourite of his Beatles songs. Paul McCartney’s sophisticated ballad ‘Here, There and Everywhere’ demonstrated his facility with harmonic complexity and emotional restraint within a romantic song framework. The composition’s key modulation, precise vocal phrasing, and intricate vocal arrangement established McCartney’s command of pop ballad tradition. The song captured the essence of Revolver’s exploration of diverse compositional approaches and recording techniques.

The session work falls within the band’s Revolver / Studio Awakening (1966) period, recorded 14 Jun 1966 at EMI Studios, Abbey Road. George Martin produced; Geoff Emerick engineered. Recorded on 14 June and the session emphasised vocal layering with McCartney performing lead and multiple harmony parts over an instrumental arrangement featuring drums, bass, guitars, and orchestration. George Martin’s production balanced the competing vocal lines and instrumental elements with precision. Four-track multitrack recording enabled the complex vocal arrangement.

What’s distinctive

One of 65 songs led primarily by Paul. Recorded approximately 15 of 16 into the Revolver / Studio Awakening (1966) sessions. Carries the unique tag ‘beach-boys-influence’ — no other song shares it. Take count: 14 — thirteen rhythm-track takes across two sessions (14 and 16 June 1966), reduced into take 14 for all subsequent overdubs.¹

Recording

Here, There and Everywhere was perfected across three recording sessions on 14, 16 and 17 June 1966, all in Studio Two at EMI Studios, Abbey Road, with mixing sessions following on 17, 21 and 22 June. The song occupied approximately twenty-three hours of studio time — seven hours on the 14th, eight-and-a-half on the 16th, and six-and-a-half on the 17th (shared with Got to Get You into My Life overdubs). The three-day spread was characteristic of the Revolver sessions’ pace, where the group increasingly invested time in layered vocal arrangements and varispeed techniques rather than capturing live performances in minimal takes.¹
The vocal harmonies are the song’s defining studio feature. Paul, John and George shared the backing-vocal duties across two separate sets of overdubs (the first on 14 June onto takes 1–4, the second on 16 June onto take 13/14), producing the “highly melodic ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’” that carry the arrangement. George Martin’s contribution was to shape these harmonies, an area in which Geoff Emerick recognised Martin’s “real expertise”: “[Martin’s] real expertise was and still is in vocal harmony work, there’s no doubt about that. That is his forte, grooming and working out those great harmonies.” Martin himself described the parts modestly: “The harmonies on that are very simple, just basic triads which the boys hummed behind and found very easy to do. There’s nothing very clever, no counterpoint, just moving block harmonies. Very simple to do … but very effective.”¹
Paul’s lead vocal was recorded with varispeed — the tape machine was slowed down during recording so that the vocal sounded “speeded up on playback.” This treatment was applied on 16 June after the reduction of take 13 into take 14 freed a track for the lead vocal. The early takes (1–4, 14 June) had also been “faster than the version released on disc, with the vocals speeded up to match” — indicating the group experimented with tempo/pitch relationships from the song’s first session. Paul also manually double-tracked his lead vocal rather than using ADT — one of only three McCartney lead vocals in the 1966 sessions to receive real double-tracking instead of the electronic substitute.^1,2
Here, There and Everywhere is one of only four Revolver tracks with appreciable echo-chamber treatment (alongside Yellow Submarine, Good Day Sunshine and For No One). The broader Revolver approach followed the extremely dry aesthetic that Emerick inherited from Norman Smith on Rubber Soul and took further by screening guitar amplifiers and minimising chamber use. The chamber application on Here, There and Everywhere gave the vocal stack a warmth and spatial dimension absent from the album’s other tracks.²
The stereo panning on Here, There and Everywhere followed the approach that Emerick (possibly prompted by Martin) began experimenting with on roughly half the Revolver tracks: pulling the music toward the centre and leaving the vocals hard-panned to the sides. This was distinct from the “standard music-Left-and-Right/vocals-Centre approach that Norman Smith had been so fond of” which was used on She Said She Said, Good Day Sunshine, For No One and Got to Get You into My Life among others.²

Equipment Section status: Outdated

Studio	EMI Studios, Abbey Road — Studio Two (all recording sessions, 14–17 June 1966); Studio Three control room (mixing, 21 June 1966)
Tape machine	Studer J37 four-track (with varispeed)²
Console	REDD.51²
Microphones	Neumann U47/U48 (vocals, guitar, piano), AKG D19c (drum overhead), AKG D20 (bass drum, bass amp), Neumann KM-56 (under snare)
Outboard / effects	EMI RS124 compressor, Fairchild 660 limiter, EMT 140 plate reverb, echo chamber (one of four Revolver tracks with appreciable use)
Guitars	Epiphone Casino, acoustic guitar (unspecified), Rickenbacker 4001S bass
Amplifiers	Vox 7120, Fender Showman, Fender Bassman

Recording Timeline

14 June 1966 (Tue) — rhythm track takes 1–4, first vocal overdubs, Studio Two — EMI Studios, Studio Two, 7.00pm–2.00am. P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick. 2E: Phil McDonald. Recording: Here, There And Everywhere (takes 1–4). Four takes were recorded; only take 4 was complete, using just two of the four available tracks. Despite occupying only two tracks, the take already featured vocal work: a drop-in and at least one overdub in which Paul was joined by John and George for a take of the “charming backing vocals, the highly melodic ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’.” These early takes were “faster than the version released on disc, with the vocals speeded up to match.”¹
16 June 1966 (Thu) — takes 5–13, reduction into take 14, bass + vocal overdubs, Studio Two — EMI Studios, Studio Two, 7.00pm–3.30am. P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick. 2E: Phil McDonald. Recording: Here, There And Everywhere (takes 5–13, tape reduction take 13 into take 14, SI onto take 14). “The best part of a further nine hours on ‘Here, There And Everywhere’, with nine more takes and overdubs onto the best rhythm track, take 13.” The superimpositions included a second set of “lovely backing vocal harmonies by John, Paul and George plus Paul’s bass guitar, again occupying a separate track on the tape. When added to the existing acoustic guitar, finger clicks, drums and delicate brushed-cymbals work by Ringo, all four tracks of the tape were full.” A reduction mix (take 13 → take 14) freed a track, and “Paul’s lead vocal, slowed down on the tape to sound speeded up on playback, was overdubbed onto the vacant track.”¹
17 June 1966 (Fri) — final vocal superimposition + first mono remix, Studio Two — EMI Studios, Studio Two, 7.00pm–1.30am. P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick. 2E: Phil McDonald. Recording: Here, There And Everywhere (SI onto take 14). Mono mixing: Here, There And Everywhere (remix 1, from take 14). “Two final superimpositions. ‘Here, There And Everywhere’ received an additional Paul McCartney vocal overdub, backing his own lead.” The same session produced the song’s first mono remix, “later to be improved upon for record release.”¹
21 June 1966 (Tue) — stereo + mono remixes, Studio Three control room — EMI Studios, Studio Three (control room only), 10.00am–1.00pm. Stereo mixing: Here, There And Everywhere (remixes 1 and 2, from take 14). Mono mixing: Here, There And Everywhere (remixes 2 and 3, from take 14). Part of a marathon mixing day that also produced stereo and mono remixes for Love You To and I Want to Tell You.¹
22 June 1966 (Wed) — final stereo remix for the LP, Studio Three control room — EMI Studios, Studio Three (control room only), 7.00pm–1.30am. Final mono and stereo remixing for the LP, alongside Eleanor Rigby, She Said She Said, Good Day Sunshine, Yellow Submarine, Tomorrow Never Knows and Got to Get You into My Life. P: George Martin. E: Geoff Emerick. 2E: Jerry Boys.¹
21 June 1966 — both mixes, two vocal differences — Stereo and mono were both made on 21 June 1966.³ The mono carries a backing voice singing “I will” that the stereo does not, and drops the vocal backing on the final chord.³

Paul McCartney had already shown himself extremely adept at writing beautiful ballads, but they don’t come any better than this gorgeous piece of music, ‘Here, There And Everywhere’. It has long been Paul’s own favourite.— Mark Lewisohn¹

Studio Notes

Varispeed on Paul’s lead vocal — The lead vocal, recorded on 16 June after the reduction of take 13 into take 14, was “slowed down on the tape to sound speeded up on playback.” This mild pitch-raising treatment gave the vocal its slightly ethereal quality on the released master. The early takes on 14 June had also been “faster than the version released on disc, with the vocals speeded up to match” — suggesting the group arrived at the final tempo partly through varispeed experimentation rather than simply settling on a playing speed. This places Here, There and Everywhere alongside I’m Only Sleeping and Rain in the cluster of 1966 tracks where the Beatles “zealously embraced the varispeed effect and began applying it to everything.”^1,2
Manual double-tracking rather than ADT — Paul manually double-tracked his lead vocal on Here, There and Everywhere. “Paul manually double-tracked ‘Here, There and Everywhere’, ‘Got To Get You Into My Life’, and ‘Paperback Writer’. Most of his other lead vocals, however, were left single-tracked and were not treated with ADT.” The choice of manual double-tracking over the newly available ADT (invented by Ken Townsend during the Revolver sessions) gave the vocal a subtly different character — the natural imperfections of two real performances rather than the electronically delayed copy that ADT produced.²
Echo chamber — one of four Revolver tracks with appreciable use — “Only a few tracks (‘Here, There and Everywhere’, ‘Yellow Submarine’, ‘Good Day Sunshine’, ‘For No One’) had any appreciable chamber” applied during the Revolver sessions. Emerick continued the dry aesthetic that Norman Smith had established on Rubber Soul, and in fact took it further by using screens around the guitar amps. On Here, There and Everywhere, the chamber treatment gave the vocal harmonies a spatial warmth that set the track apart from the album’s predominantly dry sound.²
Vocal harmony arrangement — “basic triads” + George Martin’s shaping — The vocal harmonies were shared by Paul, John and George across two separate sets of overdubs. Martin’s role in “grooming and working out those great harmonies” was recognised by Emerick as the producer’s particular strength. Martin’s own description — “just basic triads which the boys hummed behind and found very easy to do… just moving block harmonies” — modestly understates the effect: the combination of simple triadic movement with the echo-chamber treatment and the varispeed-raised lead vocal produced the released master’s distinctive warmth.¹
Instrumentation on the released master — The 16 June session log describes the full four-track content after the superimpositions: acoustic guitar, finger clicks, drums and “delicate brushed-cymbals work by Ringo” on the rhythm tracks, a second set of backing vocals plus Paul’s bass guitar on a separate track, and Paul’s varispeed lead vocal on the track freed by the reduction mix. The released master is therefore built from take 14 — a reduction of take 13 — with three layers of vocal overdub (two harmony passes plus the lead).¹
Stereo panning — music-centre / vocals-to-sides approach — The 1966 stereo mix of Here, There and Everywhere followed the newer panning method that Emerick began using on roughly half of the Revolver tracks, pulling the instrumental tracks toward the centre and placing the vocals hard-panned to the sides. This contrasted with the Norman Smith–derived “music-Left-and-Right/vocals-Centre” layout used on other Revolver songs including Taxman, She Said She Said and Good Day Sunshine.²

Releases

The mono has a backing vocal line the stereo does not, and loses one the stereo keeps.

1966 UK stereo LP — Revolver (Parlophone PCS 7009) — Mixed 21 June 1966. The backing harmonies are present through to the final chord.
1966 UK mono LP — Revolver (Parlophone PMC 7009) — Mixed the same day, and it differs twice: a backing voice is audibly singing “I will” where the stereo does not carry it, and the vocal backing is missing altogether on the last chord. Two small changes on a song that is almost entirely voices.
1966 US LP — Revolver (Capitol T 2576 mono / ST 2576 stereo) — The 1966 UK masters through Capitol’s cutting chain. Note that the US Revolver is three tracks shorter than the UK album, so the running order differs.
2009 remaster — Revolver (Parlophone 99458 2, 9 September 2009) — Flat transfers of the 1966 masters, stereo and mono. No mixing decisions revisited.
2022 new stereo and Dolby Atmos — Revolver Special Edition (28 October 2022, Giles Martin and Sam Okell) — Remixed from the four-track master using the machine-learning de-mixing developed at WingNut Films, which separates instruments that shared a track in 1966. The three-part harmony stack separates, which on this song is the whole point — you can finally hear the voicing rather than the blend.

Sources

Mark Lewisohn, The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions (New York: Harmony Books, 1988), 83–84.
Kevin Ryan and Brian Kehew, Recording the Beatles: The Studio Equipment and Techniques Used to Create Their Classic Albums (Houston: Curvebender Publishing, 2006), 425, 427–31.
Joseph Brennan, Usenet Guide to Beatles Recording Variations (rev. edn.), song entries.

Frequently asked

Who wrote Here, There and Everywhere?

“Here, There and Everywhere” is credited to Paul McCartney (Lennon–McCartney).

Who sings lead on Here, There and Everywhere?

The lead vocal on “Here, There and Everywhere” is by Paul McCartney.

When was Here, There and Everywhere recorded?

“Here, There and Everywhere” was recorded 14–17 June 1966 at EMI Studios (Studio Two), Abbey Road; stereo and mono remixes were completed on 21–22 June 1966.¹

How many takes did Here, There and Everywhere require?

Fourteen — Lewisohn’s session log documents takes 1–4 (14 June), takes 5–13 (16 June), and a tape reduction of take 13 into take 14, onto which all subsequent overdubs were recorded.¹

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What’s distinctive

Recording

Equipment Section status: Outdated

Recording Timeline

Studio Notes

Releases

Sources

Frequently asked