''Everyday Chemistry'' is a remix album that was made available as a free digital download on 9 September 2009. The album was released along with a story of anonymous authorship. It mashes up various songs from

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

' individual solo careers, including tracks from 27 albums. The album portrays itself as being taken from an alternate universe in which the Beatles had not broken up.

Context

On 9 September 2009, a website with the URL thebeatlesneverbrokeup.com was created. This date was very notable, as an official Beatles anniversary campaign was going on at this time, which included the 2009 remasters box set, an

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

-shaped USB drive containing the remasters, and The Beatles: Rock Band. The website includes a download link to the entire album on MP3. The website was accompanied by a short story written by an anonymous person under the pen name "James Richards" (a pseudonym drawn from the legal first names of

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

and

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

, the two surviving Beatles, who were born James Paul McCartney and Richard Starkey respectively) In the story, Richards describes driving through the Del Puerto Canyon road in

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, when he had to pull over to let his dog use the restroom. The dog begins to chase a rabbit, leading to Richards knocking himself unconscious after tripping into a rabbit hole. He wakes up in a room with a bandage on his head. The home he was in was owned by a man named Jonas, and after telling him he found him 20 feet away (despite the location being bare beforehand), Richards finds out that he had woken up in a parallel universe. In this universe, ketchup was purple, cassette tapes would become the more common format than the

compact disc The compact disc (CD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format that was co-developed by Philips and Sony to store and play digital audio recordings. In August 1982, the first compact disc was manufactured. It was then rele ...

, and that the Beatles had never broken up. Jonas shows Richards his tape collection, with most of them being ones he recorded. Some of them were Beatles tapes with Richards describing there being only four he recognized, with one of them being ''Everyday Chemistry''. Jonas and Richards both discussed their enjoyment of the Beatles, and just before leaving the parallel universe and traveling back to his own, Richards stole a

cassette tape The Compact Cassette or Musicassette (MC), also commonly called the tape cassette, cassette tape, audio cassette, or simply tape or cassette, is an analog magnetic tape recording format for audio recording and playback. Invented by Lou Ottens ...

containing one of The Beatles' albums from that timeline, despite being told by Jonas to never take anything from another dimension. The authenticity of Richards' story has been questioned, with many not believing the idea of a parallel universe. Richards has since denied that the album was composed of mashups, reasoning that "even though in the alternate universe the Beatles hadn't broken up, that didn't mean their future music ideas disappeared". The website would also include photographs of the cassette tape, the case of the tape, and the location in which Richards had went unconscious.

Album artwork

''Everyday Chemistry'' was not given official artwork. Instead, photographs of the cassette tape were used for the cover. The first photograph (which appears on the main page of the website) includes the cassette's case, with the album title & track list being written on

ruled paper Ruled paper (or lined paper) is writing paper printed with lines as a guide for handwriting. The lines often are printed with fine width and in light colour and such paper is sometimes called ''feint-ruled paper''. Additional vertical lines may ...

. The other photograph (which has been used on the MP3 download of the album) is the tape itself, which is a

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable energ ...

60-minute cassette tape. This photograph is unique as it doesn't match with the photographs that appear on the website. Because of the lack of an official album artwork, fans would take it upon themselves to create their own. The most popular interpretation would include an art piece created in circa 1968 by an unknown artist of what the Beatles would look like at the age of 64, an art piece inspired from the song "

When I'm Sixty Four "When I'm Sixty-Four" is a song by the English rock band The Beatles, written by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon–McCartney) and released on their 1967 album '' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band''. McCartney wrote the song when he was a ...

Critical reception

The album was received well by listeners. On

Rate Your Music Rate Your Music (often abbreviated to RYM) is an online collaborative database of music releases and films. Users can catalog items from their personal collection, review them, and assign ratings in a five-star rating system. The site also fea ...

, which assigns a rating out of 5 to reviews from users, the album received a score of 3.35, based on 195 reviews. Despite the criticism of Richards' story, ''Everyday Chemistry'' has been met with praise for its mixing, production, and mashup choices.

Track listing

Samples

"Four Guys" * " I'm Moving On" (

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

) * "

Band on the Run ''Band on the Run'' is the third studio album by the British–American rock band Paul McCartney and Wings, released in December 1973. It was McCartney's fifth album after leaving the Beatles in April 1970. Although sales were modest initially ...

" (

) * "

When We Was Fab "When We Was Fab" is a song by English musician George Harrison, which he released on his 1987 album '' Cloud Nine''. It was also issued as the second single from the album, in January 1988. The lyrics serve as a nostalgic reflection by Harrison ...

" (

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

) * "

Vertical Man ''Vertical Man'' is the 11th studio album by Ringo Starr, issued in 1998. The album served as Starr's attempt at a commercial comeback following the success of ''The Beatles Anthology'' project. Starr enlisted the help of many of his musician fr ...

" (

) * "Beatlemania In Action" (

The Beatles' Story ''The Beatles' Story'' is the sixth album by the English rock band the Beatles in the United States, issued on 23 November 1964 by Capitol Records. It is a documentary double album featuring interviews, press conferences, and snippets of origina ...

) * " We were four guys ... that's all (Interview Anthology 1)" (

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

) "Talking to Myself" * " I'm Losing You" (John Lennon) * " Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey" (Paul McCartney) * " Stuck Inside a Cloud" (George Harrison) * "

Early 1970 "Early 1970" is a song by English rock musician Ringo Starr that was released as the B-side of his April 1971 single "It Don't Come Easy". A rare example of Starr's songwriting at the time, it was inspired by the break-up of the Beatles and do ...

" (Ringo Starr) "Anybody Else" * " One Day (At a Time)" (John Lennon) * " Somedays" (Paul McCartney) * "

Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll) "Ballad of Sir Frankie Crisp (Let It Roll)" is a song by English rock musician George Harrison from his 1970 triple album ''All Things Must Pass''. Harrison wrote the song as a tribute to Frank Crisp, a nineteenth-century lawyer and the origina ...

" (George Harrison) * " Monkey See – Monkey Do" (Ringo Starr) "Sick to Death" * " Gimme Some Truth" (John Lennon) * ' No More Lonely Nights (playout version)" (Paul McCartney) * " Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea" (George Harrison) * " All By Myself" (Ringo Starr) "Jenn" * " God Save Oz" (John Lennon) * "

Jet Jet, Jets, or The Jet(s) may refer to: Aerospace * Jet aircraft, an aircraft propelled by jet engines ** Jet airliner ** Jet engine ** Jet fuel * Jet Airways, an Indian airline * Wind Jet (ICAO: JET), an Italian airline * Journey to Enceladus a ...

" (Paul McCartney) * " Teardrops" (Harrison) * " Hard Times" (Ringo Starr) "I'm Just Sitting Here" * "

Watching the Wheels "Watching the Wheels" is a single by John Lennon released posthumously in 1981, after his murder. The B-side features Yoko Ono's "Yes, I'm Your Angel." It was the third and final single released from Lennon and Ono's album ''Double Fantasy'', and ...

" (John Lennon) * " Call Me Back Again " (Paul McCartney) * "

Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth) "Give Me Love (Give Me Peace on Earth)" is a song by English musician George Harrison, released as the opening track of his 1973 album ''Living in the Material World''. It was also issued as the album's lead single, in May that year, and beca ...

" (George Harrison) * "

Loser's Lounge The Loser's Lounge is an ongoing tribute project in New York City which performs music by songwriters and bands like Queen, Neil Diamond, Paul Williams, Elvis Costello, Serge Gainsbourg, The Beach Boys, Lee Hazlewood, Paul McCartney, XTC, and David ...

" (Ringo Starr) "Soldier Boy" * " Isolation" (John Lennon) * " Phil and John 1" (John Lennon) * "

Listen to What the Man Said "Listen to What the Man Said" is a hit single from Wings' 1975 album '' Venus and Mars''. The song featured new member Joe English on drums, with guest musicians Dave Mason on guitar and Tom Scott on soprano saxophone. It was a number 1 single ...

" (Paul McCartney) * " Woman Don't You Cry For Me" (George Harrison) * "

I Don't Believe You "I Don't Believe You" is a song by American recording artist Pink. It was released as the sixth single from her fifth studio album, ''Funhouse''. Music and lyrics "I Don't Believe You" is set in common time and played in the key of A-flat majo ...

" (Ringo Starr) *"John Lennon Becomes A DJ For A Day At KHJ Radio 27 September 1974" (and now back to your local station) (John Lennon) "Over the Ocean" * " You Are Here" (John Lennon) * " Heather" (Paul McCartney) * "

I Dig Love "I Dig Love" is a song by English rock musician George Harrison from his 1970 triple album ''All Things Must Pass''. A paean to free love, it marks a departure from the more profound, spiritually oriented subject matter of much of that album. Mus ...

" (George Harrison) * " Marwa Blues" (George Harrison) * "

Back Off Boogaloo "Back Off Boogaloo" is a song by English rock musician Ringo Starr that was released as a non-album single in March 1972. Starr's former Beatles bandmate George Harrison produced the recording and helped Starr write the song, although he rem ...

" (Ringo Starr) "Days Like These" * "

Nobody Told Me "Nobody Told Me" is a song by John Lennon. The A-side and B-side, B-side features Yoko Ono's "O' Sanity"; both are on the ''Milk and Honey (album), Milk and Honey'' album. The promo video for the single was made up of clips of footage from Lenn ...

" (John Lennon) *"

Write Away ''Write Away'' is a book written by Elizabeth George Susan Elizabeth George (born February 26, 1949) is an American writer of mystery novels set in Great Britain. She is best known for a series of novels featuring Inspector Thomas Lynley. ...

" (Paul McCartney) * " Soft-Hearted Hana" (George Harrison) *"

Christmas Eve Christmas Eve is the evening or entire day before Christmas Day, the festival commemorating the birth of Jesus. Christmas Day is observed around the world, and Christmas Eve is widely observed as a full or partial holiday in anticipation ...

" (Ringo Starr) "Saturday Night" * " Cold Turkey" (John Lennon) * " Night Out" (Paul McCartney) * " P2 Vatican Blues (Last Saturday Night)" (George Harrison) *"

Runaways Runaway, Runaways or Run Away may refer to: Engineering * Runaway reaction, a chemical reaction releasing more heat than what can be removed and becoming uncontrollable * Thermal runaway, self-increase of the reaction rate of an exothermic proce ...

" (Ringo Starr) "Mr. Gator's Swamp Jamboree" *" Sunday Bloody Sunday" (John Lennon) * " Momma Miss America" (Paul McCartney) *" Tired of Midnight Blue" (George Harrison) * " $15 Draw" (Ringo Starr)

References

{{Authority control 2009 remix albums Mashup albums Self-released albums The Beatles bootleg recordings The Beatles remix albums Unofficial remix albums Alternate history fandom Works of unknown authorship Musical hoaxes

Context

Album artwork

Critical reception

Track listing

Samples

See also

References