The Beatles: Michelle (Drum Cover)

Long time viewers on this channel may remember when I had my drums positioned at this angle. I was looking through my files the other day and I had found my original project file for Michelle that I had recorded back in January of 2023. I had intended to upload the video but was never able to get it to sound the way I wanted it to. But, after messing around with different plugins, I came up with something that I was satisfied with. Paul McCartney was the main writer of Michelle with a middle eight co-written by John. The song was released as the final song on side one of Rubber Soul in 1965 and was a number one hit single in Belgium, France, Norway, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. The song won the Grammy Award for Song of Year in 1967 and has become one of the Beatles’ most recorded songs. The song came about after Paul had written a piece of music in a Chet Atkins finger-picking style with a bass line similar to Atkins’ song “Trambone”. The words for “Michelle” originate from Paul’s Liverpool days where the Left Bank Parisian culture was quite popular. The Left Bank refers to the Southern bank of the river Seine in Paris. The group recorded the song on November 3, 1965 in their usual EMI Studios. Following their usual lineup, two takes of the song were recorded with the second take being used for overdubs. The song features a melodic guitar solo from George Harrison that was composed by producer George Martin on the piano. While the solos were being overdubbed, Martin accompanied George on piano while not being picked up by the microphone. This solo is one of my favorite George solos. Regarding the drum part, nothing too extreme. Ringo plays the similar groove throughout the entire song. There are no fills. It’s a groove he must have liked during this period because it can be heard on multiple songs such as “Girl”, “Run For Your Life” at a faster tempo, the outtake “12 Bar Original” and even later on songs like “Yellow Submarine”, “Getting Better” and “Fixing A Hole.” He is also playing cross stick on the snare, a technique that he didn’t use all that often but can be heard on several songs. Not the most technical, but it sure is fun to play! Thank you for watching and I hope you enjoy!