Running just 23 seconds long, “Her Majesty” is the shortest song in the Beatles official catalog. It was originally to be placed between “Mean Mr. Mustard” and “Polythene Pam” on their Abbey Road album. Paul McCartney decided that the sequence didn’t work and the song was edited out of the medley by studio tape operator John Kurlander. Kurlander placed the edited out song after fourteen seconds of lead out tape at the end of the Abbey Road master tape. The original intention was to not have “Her Majesty” appear on the album, but they liked the “accident” and decided to keep it.
Click the Play button (arrow) to hear the song in its entirety:
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March 14th, 2010 at 2:12 pm
This is wrong. they have another song called I dont like you. Its on youtube but its shorter than this. By one second its shorter than that song
March 14th, 2010 at 8:22 pm
@CAthryn – No, this is NOT wrong. This is about the shortest song in the Beatles OFFICIAL catalog.
May 3rd, 2010 at 6:56 am
You’ll probably already know this, but one interesting fact about this song is the the final chord is missing from the end of the album version, as it remained the starting chord for Polythene Pam when it was cut out of the mix. It also meant that both sides of the Abbey Road Vinyl ended abruptly, the other side ending with She’s So Heavy.
The first time I heard this song was on the Beatles:Rock Band, where the final chord is reinstated and playable.
May 3rd, 2010 at 6:45 pm
Yeah, it’s interesting that both sides of the Abbey Road LP end abruptly.
I don’t know if I’ll ever hear the Beatles:Rock Band version, not being a gamer and all.