The classic “Abbey Road” whose lyrics were “stolen” by McCartney from a Victorian song

I challenge you to find a top 10 greatest albums of all time that doesn’t have at least one by the Beatles — because there’s usually more than one. It is almost certain that “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” (1967) or “Abbey Road” (1969) will be among the highest placed.

And it’s no surprise: both are widely considered masterpieces, and not only have an immeasurable influence on everything that has emerged in popular music since then, but they are also among the best-selling songs of all time.

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In his podcast for iHeart, McCartney: A Life In Lyrics, as published by Music Radar, the former Beatle confessed to having “stolen” part of the lyrics from one of the most emblematic tracks on “Abbey Road”, “Golden Slumbers”.

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“I always look at the piano bench because people always leave sheet music there. They used to, at least. Nowadays they might even be empty, but I always look to see. That time, it was either the piano bench or the bookcase [que encontrei] that song ‘Golden Slumbers’.”

“‘Golden dreams fill your eyes / Smiles await you when you rise / Fall asleep, pretty baby, don’t cry / And I’ll sing you a lullaby.” This chorus I used [em ‘Golden Slumbers’] It was literally the words to an old Victorian song.”

When the interviewer compared it to what rappers do using samplers, McCartney was sincere and did not resort to euphemisms:

“Well, the name of it [que eu fiz] is stealing. But as I don’t know how to read music, I didn’t even know what melody accompanied it, so I added my own and just got the words. It ended up getting quite emotional. I think that’s what attracted me to the lyrics in the first place: they’re like calming a baby or reading a bedtime story to children. I think there’s something very profound about that. Very human and universal — that speaks to me.”

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The eighth track on “Abbey Road”, “Golden Slumbers” is part of the medley on side b, and serves as a verse to “Carry That Weight”, which enters as a cathartic chorus that is followed by the closing with “The End”.