Editing The Beatles (section)

==== Controversies, ''Revolver'' and final tour ====
Capitol Records, from December 1963 when it began issuing Beatles recordings for the US market, exercised complete control over format,{{sfn|Lewisohn|1992|p=350}} compiling distinct US albums from the band's recordings and issuing songs of their choosing as singles.{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=295–296}}{{refn|group=nb|It was not until ''[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band]]'' in 1967 that a Beatles album was released with identical track listings in both the UK and the US.{{sfn|Southall|Perry|2006|p=59}}}} In June 1966, the Capitol LP ''[[Yesterday and Today]]'' caused an uproar with its cover, which portrayed the grinning Beatles dressed in butcher's overalls, accompanied by raw meat and mutilated plastic baby dolls. According to Beatles biographer [[Bill Harry]], it has been incorrectly suggested that this was meant as a satirical response to the way Capitol had "butchered" the US versions of the band's albums.{{sfn|Harry|2000a|p=1187}} Thousands of copies of the LP had a new cover pasted over the original; an unpeeled "first-state" copy fetched $10,500 at a December 2005 auction.<ref>{{cite web |last=Gaffney |first=Dennis |title=The Beatles' "Butcher" Cover |work=[[Antiques Roadshow]] Online |publisher=[[Public Broadcasting Service]] |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/fts/chicago_200302A14.html |date=5 January 2004 |access-date=15 September 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170428010433/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/fts/chicago_200302A14.html |archive-date=28 April 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> In England, meanwhile, Harrison met sitar maestro [[Ravi Shankar]], who agreed to train him on the instrument.{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|p=176}}

During a tour of the Philippines the month after the ''Yesterday and Today'' furore, the Beatles unintentionally snubbed the nation's first lady, [[Imelda Marcos]], who had expected them to attend a breakfast reception at the [[Malacañang Palace|Presidential Palace]].{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=619}} When presented with the invitation, Epstein politely declined on the band members' behalf, as it had never been his policy to accept such official invitations.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=620}} They soon found that the [[History of the Philippines (1965–1986)|Marcos regime]] was unaccustomed to taking no for an answer. The resulting riots endangered the group and they escaped the country with difficulty.{{sfn|Spitz|2005|p=623}} Immediately afterwards, the band members visited India for the first time.{{sfn|Lavezzoli|2006|p=177}}

{{quote box|width=25em|quote=We're [[more popular than Jesus]] now; I don't know which will go first – rock 'n' roll or Christianity.|source=– John Lennon, 1966{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=309}}}}

Almost as soon as they returned home, the Beatles faced a fierce backlash from US religious and social conservatives (as well as the [[Ku Klux Klan]]) over a comment Lennon had made in a March interview with British reporter [[Maureen Cleave]].{{sfn|Lewisohn|1992|pp=212–213}} "Christianity will go", Lennon had said. "It will vanish and shrink. I needn't argue about that; I'm right and I will be proved right&nbsp;... [[Jesus]] was alright but his [[Disciples (Christianity)|disciples]] were thick and ordinary. It's them twisting it that ruins it for me."{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=307–309}} His comments went virtually unnoticed in England, but when US teenage fan magazine ''Datebook'' printed them five months later, it sparked a controversy with Christians in America's conservative [[Bible Belt]] region.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1992|pp=212–213}} The [[Holy See|Vatican]] issued a protest, and bans on Beatles records were imposed by Spanish and Dutch stations and South Africa's [[South African Broadcasting Corporation|national broadcasting service]].{{sfn|Norman|2008|p=449}} Epstein accused ''Datebook'' of having taken Lennon's words out of context. At a press conference, Lennon pointed out, "If I'd said television was more popular than Jesus, I might have got away with it."{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=346}} He claimed that he was referring to how other people viewed their success, but at the prompting of reporters, he concluded: "If you want me to apologise, if that will make you happy, then okay, I'm sorry."{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=346}}

{{listen
|type=music
|filename=Beatles eleanor rigby.ogg
|title="Eleanor Rigby"
|description=Sample of "[[Eleanor Rigby]]" from ''Revolver'' (1966). The album involves innovative compositional approaches, arrangements and recording techniques. This song, primarily written by McCartney, prominently features classical strings in a novel fusion of musical styles.
}}
Released in August 1966, a week before the Beatles' final tour, ''[[Revolver (Beatles album)|Revolver]]'' marked another artistic step forward for the group.{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=348}} The album featured sophisticated songwriting, studio experimentation and a greatly expanded repertoire of musical styles, ranging from innovative classical string arrangements to [[psychedelic music|psychedelia]].{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=348}} Abandoning the customary group photograph, its [[Aubrey Beardsley]]-inspired cover – designed by [[Klaus Voormann]], a friend of the band since their Hamburg days – was a monochrome collage and line drawing caricature of the group.{{sfn|Gould|2007|p=348}} The album was preceded by the single "[[Paperback Writer]]", backed by "[[Rain (Beatles song)|Rain]]".{{sfn|Lewisohn|1992|pp=350–351}} Short promotional films were made for both songs; described by cultural historian Saul Austerlitz as "among the first true music videos",{{sfn|Austerlitz|2007|p=18}} they aired on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' and ''[[Top of the Pops]]'' in June.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1992|pp=221–222}}

Among the experimental songs on ''Revolver'' was "[[Tomorrow Never Knows]]", the lyrics for which Lennon drew from [[Timothy Leary]]'s ''[[The Psychedelic Experience: A Manual Based on the Tibetan Book of the Dead]]''. Its creation involved eight tape decks distributed about the EMI building, each staffed by an engineer or band member, who randomly varied the movement of a [[tape loop]] while Martin created a composite recording by sampling the incoming data.{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=364–366}} McCartney's "[[Eleanor Rigby]]" made prominent use of a [[octet (music)|string octet]]; Gould describes it as "a true hybrid, conforming to no recognisable style or genre of song".{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=350, 402}} Harrison's emergence as a songwriter was reflected in three of his compositions appearing on the record.{{sfn|Schaffner|1978|p=63}} Among these, "[[Taxman]]", which opened the album, marked the first example of the Beatles making a political statement through their music.{{sfn|Turner|2016|p=162}}

[[File:Candlestick Postcard - 01.JPG|thumb|upright=1.2|right|alt=San Francisco's Candlestick Park in the 1960s|San Francisco's [[Candlestick Park]] (pictured in the early 1960s) was the venue for the Beatles' final concert before a paying audience.]]

As preparations were made for a tour of the US, the Beatles knew that their music would hardly be heard. Having originally used [[Vox AC30]] amplifiers, they later acquired more powerful 100-watt amplifiers, specially designed for them by [[Vox (musical equipment)|Vox]], as they moved into larger venues in 1964; however, these were still inadequate. Struggling to compete with the volume of sound generated by screaming fans, the band had grown increasingly bored with the routine of performing live.{{sfn|Harry|2000a|p=1093}} Recognising that their shows were no longer about the music, they decided to make the August tour their last.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1992|pp=210, 230}}

The band performed none of their new songs on the tour.{{sfn|Lewisohn|1992|pp=361–365}} In Chris Ingham's description, they were very much "studio creations&nbsp;... and there was no way a four-piece rock 'n' roll group could do them justice, particularly through the desensitising wall of the fans' screams. 'Live Beatles' and 'Studio Beatles' had become entirely different beasts."{{sfn|Ingham|2006|p=44}} The band's concert at San Francisco's [[Candlestick Park]] on 29 August was their last commercial concert.{{sfn|Miles|1997|pp=293–295}} It marked the end of four&nbsp;years dominated by almost non-stop touring that included over 1,400 concert appearances internationally.{{sfn|Gould|2007|pp=5–6, 249, 281, 347}}