Eight Days A Week: Slices Of Beatles Time

Monday 7 October, 1968

Picture this: It's Monday, October 7, 1968. The leaves are turning, the air is crisp, and somewhere in the bowels of EMI Studios, three lads from Liverpool are about to embark on a marathon session that would make even the most hardened night owl question their life choices. As the clock struck 2:30 pm, George Harrison, Paul McCartney, and Ringo Starr sauntered into Studio Two, blissfully unaware that they were about to spend the next 16 and a half hours trapped in a sonic labyrinth of their own making. One can only imagine the sheer quantity of tea and cigarettes consumed during this Herculean feat of endurance. The main course on this musical menu? A little ditty called "Long Long Long" - a title that would prove to be prophetic in more ways than one. Originally christened with the equally verbose "It's Been A Long Long Long Time", this Harrison composition was about to receive the full Beatles treatment, minus one mop-topped member.