"The Palace of the King of the Birds", also known as "The Castle of the King of the Birds", is a name given to an instrumental by the English
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
band
the Beatles. It was written by
Paul McCartney and was originally recorded by the band during the ''
Let It Be
Let It Be most commonly refers to:
* ''Let It Be'' (Beatles album), the Beatles' final studio album, released in 1970
* "Let It Be" (Beatles song), the title song from the album
It may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''Let It Be'' (1970 ...
'' album sessions in three takes between 6 and 9 January, 1969, at
Twickenham Film Studios.
The recordings vary in length—the 6 January session is fourteen minutes one second long and turned into a loose
jam
Jam is a type of fruit preserve.
Jam or Jammed may also refer to:
Other common meanings
* A firearm malfunction
* Block signals
** Radio jamming
** Radar jamming and deception
** Mobile phone jammer
** Echolocation jamming
Arts and entertai ...
, and was recorded with the demo of "
Carry That Weight". The track was later forgotten, until McCartney recorded a still unreleased version, in his solo recordings, named "The Castle of the King of the Birds"; this version was recorded for the unreleased album ''
Rupert the Bear'', sometime in 1978, with
Wings with a duration of 1:42. The song was used as the end-credits music for the first episode of the
Disney+ documentary ''
The Beatles: Get Back'', in which it also makes a brief appearance earlier in the episode, where it was credited to Lennon/McCartney/Harrison/Starkey.
Personnel for the January 9 version
*
Paul McCartney –
organ
Organ may refer to:
Biology
* Organ (biology), a part of an organism
Musical instruments
* Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone
** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument
** Hammond ...
*
John Lennon –
guitar or
bass
Bass or Basses may refer to:
Fish
* Bass (fish), various saltwater and freshwater species
Music
* Bass (sound), describing low-frequency sound or one of several instruments in the bass range:
** Bass (instrument), including:
** Acoustic bass gui ...
*
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 ...
–
lead guitar, drums
*
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 ...
–
drums
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...
Reception
Music critic
Richie Unterberger noted McCartney's "particularly elegiac" organ, and the "flowing, bluesy guitar lines", saying it was about as close as the band ever came to
progressive rock jamming - "highly uncharacteristic territory for the group to be wandering into, but interesting precisely for that reason." Tom Taylor of ''
Far Out Magazine'' put it at #1 in his list of "The 10 Greatest Unreleased Beatles Songs," praising the "effervescing melody that you could listen to all day." ''
New York Magazines ''Vulture'' website called each musical element "beautifully considered," saying "it's all very
turn-off-your-mind-relax-and-float-downstream."
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palace Of The King Of The Birds, The
The Beatles songs
1969 songs
The Beatles bootleg recordings