The Beatles are often remembered for their flawless songwriting, timeless melodies, and polished pop. From the haunting strings of ‘Eleanor Rigby’ to the euphoric echo of ‘Hey Jude’, their catalogue helped define generations.
But behind the perfectionism and critical acclaim, the Fab Four also sometimes embraced chaos. And according to Paul McCartney, no track captures that spirit like one of their lesser-known B-sides: ‘You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)’.
Recorded over multiple sessions between 1967 and 1969, ‘You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)’ stands out against almost everything else the band produced. Described by McCartney as “insane”, the song is recognised for its surrealistic humour.
The recording began during the band’s productive Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band period in May 1967. At the time, The Beatles were experimenting freely in the studio, having stopped touring and started treating the studio itself as a creative instrument. The track was then shelved for almost two years.
When The Beatles finally returned to the song in 1969, they decided to take it in a completely different direction. Rather than trying to craft a conventional pop tune, they tried a bit of absurdity, assembling unrelated musical fragments and spoken word interludes in a collage.
Unusual even by late-Beatles standards, the track doesn’t follow traditional song structure. Instead, it jumps between lounge jazz, ska, cabaret, and comedy voice-overs, with Lennon and McCartney adopting exaggerated personas throughout.
McCartney has since reflected on the track with fondness. Speaking about it years later, he said: “People are only just discovering the B-sides of Beatles singles. They’re only just discovering things like ‘You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)’ – probably my favourite Beatles track, just because it’s so insane. All the memories.”
Adding to the song’s unusual legacy is the fact that Brian Jones of The Rolling Stones contributed to the recording, not on guitar, but on saxophone.
McCartney later recalled how unexpected the collaboration turned out to be. “He arrived at Abbey Road in his big Afghan coat,” McCartney said. “He was always nervous, a little insecure, and he was really nervous that night because he’s walking in on a Beatles session. He was nervous to the point of shaking, lighting ciggy after ciggy. I used to like Brian a lot.”
McCartney assumed Jones would join them on guitar: “I naturally thought he’d bring a guitar along to a Beatles session and maybe chug along and do some nice rhythm guitar or a little bit of electric twelve-string or something, but to our surprise, he brought his saxophone. He opened up his sax case and started putting a reed in and warming up, playing a little bit. He was a really ropey sax player, so I thought, Ah-hah. We’ve got just the tune.”
Jones’s raw saxophone lines added yet another unpredictable layer to a track already chaotic in the best ways. ‘You Know My Name (Look Up The Number)’ was finally released as the B-side to ‘Let It Be’ in 1970.