Tell Me What You See

(Lennon/McCartney)

Quick Facts

Composer	Paul
Lead Vocal	Paul (with John)
Recorded	Feb 1965
Length	2:38
Key	G
Noted Takes	4
Producer	George Martin
Engineer	Norman Smith

Originally released on

Help!

Parlophone — PMC 1255

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Story

“Tell Me What You See” is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that first appeared in 1965 on their album Help! in the United Kingdom and on Beatles VI in the United States. The song is credited to Lennon–McCartney but mainly written by Paul McCartney. [Wikipedia]

Tell Me What You See is a song by The Beatles, written by Lennon–McCartney and led on vocal by Paul McCartney with John Lennon harmonising. Electric piano (Paul) and güiro (Ringo) drive the gentle shuffle. A McCartney composition recorded on 18 February 1965, ‘Tell Me What You See’ was offered for the Help! film soundtrack but not selected. The song emerged in the context of the Help! album’s second recording wave, when the band had accumulated significant film-scene requirements and adapted their songwriting accordingly.

The session work falls within the band’s Folk-Rock & Maturity (1965) period, recorded 18 Feb 1965 at EMI Studios, Abbey Road. George Martin produced; Norman Smith engineered. Recorded in takes 1–4 on 18 February 1965 during the evening session, alongside ‘If You’ve Got Trouble’ (Ringo’s lead-vocal candidate for the album, which was discarded). The arrangement featured Paul’s electric piano and a lighter rhythm setup relative to harder rock material, reflecting its role as a tender romantic composition among the Help! sessions’ output.

What’s distinctive

A McCartney composition with Paul singing lead, John harmonising. Carries the unique tag ‘güiro’ — no other Beatles song features the instrument. Paul played Hohner Pianet (electric piano), one of the earliest electric keyboard appearances in the Beatles catalogue.¹ Take count: 4 — takes 1–4, take 4 selected as best.¹

Recording

Tell Me What You See was the final song recorded on a packed 18 February 1965 session day that also included mono mixing of six songs from the previous days, the afternoon recording of You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away (takes 1–9), two further mono mixes, and then the evening recording of ‘If You’ve Got Trouble’ (take 1, ultimately unreleased) before Tell Me What You See (takes 1–4). The session ran 6.00–10.30pm in Studio Two, with George Martin producing, Norman Smith engineering and Ken Scott as second engineer.¹
The song was “another offered for the film soundtrack but not selected” — one of several Help! album tracks that were candidates for use in the film but ultimately did not appear in it. The rejected film-track candidates from this week of sessions included ‘If You’ve Got Trouble’ (never released) and ‘That Means A Lot’ (given to P. J. Proby).¹
“Again, there was an interesting array of musical instruments on show. Paul played electric piano and among the instruments described on the tape box as ‘Latin American percussion’ was a güiro.” The electric piano was a Hohner Pianet, confirmed by the four-track contents table which lists Track 2 as ‘Pianet’. The güiro appears on Track 1 alongside drums, bass and electric guitar — part of the basic live backing track rather than an overdub.^1,2
Four-track contents (from George Martin’s session notes): Track 1: Drums, Bass, Electric Guitar, Güiro. Track 2: Pianet. Track 3: Vocals. Track 4: Vocals, Tambourine, Claves. The separation of Pianet onto its own track (Track 2) gave the mix engineer independent level control over the electric piano — an unusual luxury on four-track, suggesting Martin considered it a distinctive colour worth isolating.²
The recording predates the installation of the Studer J37 four-track in Studio Two’s control room, which did not arrive until April 1965. February 1965 sessions used the older Telefunken four-track machines housed in the machine rooms adjacent to Studio Two, operated remotely via the REDD.51 console in the control room. The J37’s April arrival was significant: “Virtually all four-track recording carried out for the remainder of the Beatles’ career would take place on the J-37.”²

Equipment

Studio	EMI Studios, Abbey Road — Studio Two
Tape machine	Telefunken four-track (machine room; Studer J37 not installed until April 1965)²
Console	REDD.51²
Microphones	AKG D19c (drums overhead), AKG D20 (bass drum; bass rig), Neumann U47 (guitar amp rigs), Neumann U48 figure-of-eight (vocals)²
Keyboards	Hohner Pianet (Paul)^1,2
Percussion	Güiro, tambourine, claves^1,2

Recording Timeline

18 February 1965 (Thu) — recording, Studio Two, 6.00–10.30pm — EMI Studios, Abbey Road. P: George Martin. E: Norman Smith. 2E: Ken Scott. Recording: If You’ve Got Trouble (take 1); Tell Me What You See (takes 1–4). The evening session followed a full afternoon of recording (You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away, 3.30–5.15pm) and mono mixing. Take 4 was selected as best. Paul played electric piano (Pianet) and among the ‘Latin American percussion’ listed on the tape box was a güiro. The song was offered for the Help! film soundtrack but not selected.¹
20 February 1965 (Sat) — mono mixing, Studio Two control room, 11.00am–12.00 noon — EMI Studios. P: George Martin. E: Norman Smith. 2E: Ken Scott. Mono mixing: If You’ve Got Trouble (from take 1); Tell Me What You See (from take 4); You’re Going to Lose That Girl (from take 3). The mono remix of Tell Me What You See completed the set of mono mixes for a copy tape that travelled with the Beatles to the Bahamas on 22 February for film shooting.¹
23 February 1965 (Tue) — stereo mixing, Studio Two control room, 10.00am–1.00pm — EMI Studios. P: n/a. E: Norman Smith. 2E: Malcolm Davies. Stereo mixing: all 11 songs from the 15–20 February sessions, including Tell Me What You See (from take 4). Made under Norman Smith’s supervision without George Martin. The Beatles were absent, having departed for the Bahamas the previous day.¹

The final song of the day, ‘Tell Me What You See’, was another offered for the film soundtrack but not selected. Again, there was an interesting array of musical instruments on show. Paul played electric piano and among the instruments described on the tape box as ‘Latin American percussion’ was a güiro.— Mark Lewisohn¹

Studio Notes

Pianet isolation on Track 2 — The four-track contents table shows the Hohner Pianet occupying Track 2 alone, with the full rhythm section (drums, bass, electric guitar, güiro) on Track 1. Giving the Pianet its own track was unusual for the four-track era, when track space was at a premium and instruments were routinely grouped. The isolation allowed the mix engineer to adjust the electric piano’s level and EQ independently — audible in the released mix, where the Pianet sits distinctly above the rhythm section rather than blending into it.²
Pre-J37 four-track recording — The February 1965 Help! sessions were among the last major Beatles recordings made on the Telefunken four-track machines in the Studio Two machine rooms. The REDD.51 console in the control room connected to the machine rooms via cable runs, with the tape operator physically separated from the balance engineer. The Studer J37, installed in the control room itself in April 1965, eliminated this separation and gave the engineer direct visual and physical contact with the tape machine for the first time — a significant workflow improvement that began with the Help! title track session on 13 April 1965.²
Microphone setup for the 15–20 February sessions — The documented mic configuration for this week of Studio Two sessions placed an AKG D19c as Ringo’s overhead and an AKG D20 on his bass drum, with the D20 also used on Paul’s bass rig. John and George’s Vox AC100 amplifier rigs were mic’d with Neumann U47s, and vocals were captured on a Neumann U48 set to figure-of-eight pattern. These choices remained unchanged throughout the February 1965 sessions.²
Session context — the ‘embarrassment of riches’ week — Tell Me What You See was recorded during the extraordinarily productive 15–20 February 1965 block in which the Beatles taped eleven songs in six days (five recording sessions plus mixing). The week encompassed compositions ranging from Harrison’s pioneering volume-pedal work on I Need You to Lennon’s Dylan-influenced You’ve Got to Hide Your Love Away (featuring the first outside musician on a Beatles session since Andy White in 1962). The full set of mono mixes was completed by 20 February and dispatched with the group to the Bahamas for filming on 22 February.¹

Releases

1965 US LP Beatles VI (14 June 1965, Capitol ST 2358 / T 2358, side B track 5) — First official release of Tell Me What You See, appearing on the US-only Capitol compilation two months before the UK Help! LP. Capitol’s US release schedule drew tracks from the UK Help! sessions before the album’s UK release, placing Tell Me What You See alongside other UK-unreleased-on-LP tracks.
1965 UK LP Help! (6 August 1965, Parlophone PMC 1255 mono / PCS 3071 stereo, side B track 4) — Canonical album release. The mono mix (from take 4, remixed 20 February 1965) is the primary master; the stereo mix (from take 4, remixed 23 February 1965 by Norman Smith without George Martin, Beatles absent) is the secondary master. Both derive from the same take 4 performance.¹
2009 Stereo Remasters — Help! (9 September 2009, Apple/EMI 0946 3 82414 2 4) — Allan Rouse / Guy Massey / Steve Rooke 24-bit flat transfer of the 1965 stereo master.

Sources

Mark Lewisohn, The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions (New York: Harmony Books, 1988), 55–56.
Kevin Ryan and Brian Kehew, Recording the Beatles: The Studio Equipment and Techniques Used to Create Their Classic Albums (Houston: Curvebender Publishing, 2006), 388, 395–96, 407.

Frequently asked

Who wrote Tell Me What You See?

“Tell Me What You See” is credited to Paul McCartney (Lennon–McCartney).

Who sings lead on Tell Me What You See?

The lead vocal on “Tell Me What You See” is by Paul McCartney, with John Lennon harmonising.

When was Tell Me What You See recorded?

“Tell Me What You See” was recorded 18 February 1965 at EMI Studios, Abbey Road, Studio Two.¹

How many takes did Tell Me What You See require?

Four — Lewisohn’s session log documents takes 1–4, with take 4 selected as best.¹

On this page

Story

What’s distinctive

Recording

Equipment

Recording Timeline

Studio Notes

Releases

Sources

Frequently asked