"One After 909" (sometimes titled "The One After 909" in early recordings) is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1970 album Let It Be. It was written by John Lennon, with input from Paul McCartney, and was credited to their joint partnership. The album version is the live performance from the rooftop concert which took place on 30 January 1969. This performance is also included in the Let It Be film. The song was written no later than spring 1960[2] and perhaps as early as 1957, and is one of the first Lennon–McCartney compositions. "One After 909" is perhaps more reminiscent of early American rock 'n' roll than any of the other songs from the rooftop show, and as a joke for the rooftop chatter, Lennon sings a variant on the opening line of "Danny Boy" after the song is finished.

“Mailing it in”? John and Paul wrote this when they were 15 years old.

They were mailing this stuff in by this point, but still a toe tapper.

Probably, first song of the Beatles I can't rate higher than 7...

yea yea yea!

Posted 18 years ago by Mari    [ Reply ]

54-40 wrote: It's a train time, dude.

Just much prefer the simplicity of the "Naked" album. In fact, in the sense that it shows them as a outstanding gigging band in action - possibly my fave Beatles album.

drover wrote: Well said, and you make a very important distinction. However, I disagree that "Dig it" and "Maggie Mae" were sound concepts that suffer from poor production. Neither one gets completed: the former is only an excerpt from the middle of a jam, the latter just trails off into abandonment. They succeed in giving the feel of the Beatles playing around (as they did on their Christmas records), and insofar as Let It Be was supposed to be a sort of candid peek at the Beatles' process, that's appropriate. But even compared to the three White Album tracks I mentioned, they feel like nothing more than passing fancies that nobody considered worth pursuing or refining -- and they were both dropped from the "Naked" album. I have no argument against the completed tracks on Let It Be -- I don't even have the same distaste for the original "Long and Winding Road" that so many other people have. "Two of Us" is one of my favorites in the canon, and you'll find "Let It Be" among my RP highest rated songs. (I do prefer the single release of "Across the Universe" to the album version, but the album version is still solid.) It's true that I don't like Spector's production aesthetic as much as Martin's, but my main complaint is about the outtakes and chatter.* oppositelock wrote: Me too. The rhythm is much more laid back, not so jumpy, in the 1963 take. And no knock intended against Billy Preston, but it sounds better without the organ too. *at the same time, I've come to love them as part of the whole. It's great to get to hear John's goofy sense of humor and free-association verse. I'd just rather have seen them leave that for fan compilations like Anthology and put on a game face for the final product.

Posted 18 years ago by Vogelfrei    [ Reply ]

I like the original that they could never get right so much better. Check it out on Anthology 1.

liebe wrote: I second that, I find no value in Rev #9

Awesome tune, still!

Vogelfrei wrote: Apples and oranges. You're talking about production as opposed to concept. A lot of the rough edges on Let It Be were the result of being live takes (including this track), and IMO those are pretty decent tracks because Spector basically left them alone. The tunes that were excessively Spectorized were, of course, close to insufferable. But that's not the Beatles' fault. The concepts on Let It Be were all pretty solid. It's the production that ruined many of them. For confirmation, simply listen to Let It Be... Naked which is a cleaned-up, de-Spectorized version of the album. (It also tidies up the live tracks quite a bit.) For the longest time I resolutely hated "The Long and Winding Road." After finally hearing the de-Spectorized version, I instantly changed my mind about the song.

What minute there. I love "Mr. Moonlight." John's intro is so gutsy. If we're gonna choose a weak Beatles tune, I'd submit Revolution #9. Nowradiojunkie wrote:

drover wrote: Very interesting. I definitely see what you mean, but I think Let It Be is a far worse offender in this respect. At least the cast-offs on the White Album ("Wild Honey Pie," "Yer Blues," "Why Don't We Do It in the Road?") still had George Martin making sure they didn't sound like noise. Let It Be, under Phil Spector's questionable watch, contains tracks that are no better than outtakes. And that's too bad, because it also has some great songs.

bbHappy wrote: I'm sorry! It's Pluto. All I had to do was read your name.

plutodazed wrote: And, exactly what planet are you from?

drH wrote: Yes, if only to go to all the cool concerts that year!! Jimi Hendrix Janis Joplin Grateful Dead Woodstock etc. I was born in 1969, so I didn't see too many shows that year, you know?

jlind wrote: Of course they could, and they sometimes were. In the final analysis, there are no good bands, only good (or bad) songs and good (or bad) performances of them.

jlind wrote: This may sound like blasphemy to other Beatles fans, but IMO there are a number of duds on the White Album. I call it the Ween Album, because it's the same basic premise as every Ween album: both the greatest and the stupidest concepts made it onto the album with little or no filtering process. So what you hear is not a polished, finished product but rather a rough draft containing the whole spectrum from brilliant hits to insipid detritus that never would have been released had the Beatles not previously secured substantial financial and critical success (i.e. "Revolution 9").

plutodazed wrote: Might be the first time I heard this too, not the best Beatles song, but could the Beatles possibly have ever been bad?

A good song I never heard until now.

drH wrote: at least you had a year like 1969...i got stuck in this piece of shit era.....rock on

drover wrote: You pretty much nailed it. We actually thought for a while there that the U.S. would disintegrate, that we would have massive race riots in every city, that the Soviets would take advantage of the chaos and nuke us. Now, all we have is the moonbats on the Loony Left spouting insane conspiracy theories, and no one much pays attention to them.

This was written when John was a youngster--one of his first songs. This was part of the set featured on the Beatles last public performance--the rooftop of Apple headquarters. And it was among the last songs they put onto vinyl. Another illustration that we are always trying to find our way home and end up coming full circle

It sounds like these guys are having fun on this one...!

Interesting transition from a cover to the creators.

johnsolo wrote: While I didn't personally experience 1969, and we've had better times than today, the historical record and the tales from the trenches suggest that the late 60s/early 70s were far more turbulent than what we're dealing with today. Any old-timers care to comment?

drover wrote: Unpopular republican president, a war with an idea, two weeks ago, two years ago, Iraq, now, now, soon? Sorry to bring politics in, but I think the parallels are funny =)

drH wrote: Nixon presidency, cold war, racial tensions/riots, student protests/riots, Vietnam, looming economic uncertainty, the onset of urban decay, extreme social upheaval that tested the very survival of our Republic and society... No thanks. Glad I didn't have to live through it.

One of my seldom-played Beatles faves. YAYUH!

southern_duality wrote: How do you know the 'one after 909' they're refering to is 910? What if they're counting by 3s, and the next one in the sequence would be 912?!?

Isn't this a lttle raucous for the radio :D

talk about a one-off! it works

Why did they write a song about 910?

It's so nice to hear a lesser-played Beatles song!

Shesdifferent wrote: You...you become naked... (sorry...I must be one of the only people in the world who thinks Revolution 9 is fun too...)

Posted 19 years ago by radiojunkie    [ Reply ]

I'm amazed that, given the opportunity to hear a rarely played, albeit not top of the crop Beatles song, all people can do is bitch that it isn't the one they would choose to listen to. Hey, at least it's not "Mr. Moonlight" or that crappy 1,2,3,4 thing from Yellow Submarine!

diane wrote:"Move over honey".....this is a great song and full of laughs! What's wrong with you? If you want to loose a Beatle song it would be Revolution No. 9-not this fun tune!

diane wrote: Right beneath "Revolution 9"

910?

diane wrote: I'm afraid it would be close to the top.

Damn Yoko!

Of all the wonderful Beatles songs, this is about the last one I would choose to play... Imagine you had to 'lose' one Beatles tune forever - wouldn't this one be at the top of your list or very near to it??

You cannot be in a bad mood with this song bouncing around in your head.

drH wrote: YES! (we are getting old Doc....)

Isn't one after 909 like, 910 or something?

I wouldn't even recognize this as a Beatles song. Guess if this one made the RP cut all my uploads should be golden, huh?

rulebritannia wrote: I laughed out loud reading your post ---> it reads as if your kids were born in 1969 and the year was going great until they came along!

drH wrote: 1969 was my favorite year until my kids were born, but this song really wasn't among the reasons. Not even a little bit.......

This is the "naked" version, right? It doesn't sound quite like the one I remember from Let It Be.

wouldn't it be nice to have 1969 back?

What energy! Love it.

What a Radio Paradise moment. I played this song in a very occasional cover band, but this is the first time I've ever heard the recording. Everyone else insisted it was required to be part of the repetoire, and it got excellent response, every time. I learned it via everyone else's coaching, including the twangy fills that they took turns singing to me like Jackie Gleason used to do when he made records... but that's another generation altogether.