"The End" by The Beatles (1969)
Dad's Song of the Day #96, Dec. 3, 2025
One of the very last songs they’d work on together, “The End” is The Beatles going out with a bang, and not a whimper.
It’s the culmination of the famous, perfect medley on Side 2 of the Abbey Road album, and, up to this point, we’ve been showered with a series of magnificent song-ettes:
You Never Give Me Your Money
Sun King
Mean Mr. Mustard
Polythene Pam
She Came In Through the Bathroom Window
Golden Slumbers
Carry That Weight
This all rolls into “The End.” It starts with Paul, shout-singing like it was 1963 again, “Oh yeah, all right. Are you gonna be in my dreams tonight? …then Ringo’s only drum solo on any album…followed by rotating guitar solos (Paul to George to John).
…And then, maybe the finest line in music:
And in the end
The love you take
Is equal to the love you make
Yep.
Spotify:
YouTube:
This series is for my two 19-year-olds, who moved off to school with the misguided belief they’d escaped their dad’s relentless nostalgia and monopolization of the car stereo. I’m very happy for anyone else to come along for the ride.
The Spotify playlist for Dad’s Song of the Day is located here:
“Her Majesty” by The Beatles
Bonus Dad’s Song of the Day, Dec. 3, 2025
As long as you didn’t lift the needle or eject your CD, you’d get this little surprise 14 seconds after “The End.”
“Her Majesty” is like the working definition of the word “ditty” and sounds like something Paul must’ve tossed off in an hour.
It was the first time that an artist would offer up an unlisted extra song as an Easter egg at the end of a record, and it would become extremely popular in the decades to follow.
I think the most famous example is at the end of Nirvana’s “Nevermind" CD. A full 10 minutes(!) after the final song, “Something in the Way,” you got a hidden track called “Endless, Nameless.” Unlike “Her Majesty”, this one is jarring..an explosion of noise out of the quiet.
Great combo, Bruce! I could listen to those rotating guitar solos forever. How many bands could pull something like that off?
Trivia: “Her Majesty” was not supposed to be at the end of Abbey Road. It was originally placed between “Mean Mr. Mustard” and “Polythene Pam” in the long medley. It makes perfect sense when you consider that crash off the top of that Easter egg. (You can find the original play on YouTube, but it just doesn’t sound right.)
I see what you did there