Side two
McCartney got the title from his Old English Sheepdog, but the lyrics are otherwise unrelated. The entire track is played by him backed with session musicians, and features no other Beatles. Martin composed a brass band arrangement for the track.
was written in India when Lennon was having difficulty sleeping. It was recorded at the same session as "The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill". The lyrics make reference to Walter Raleigh, calling him a "stupid get" for introducing tobacco to Europe; while the track ends with Lennon mumbling "Monsieur, monsieur, how about another one?" This became part of the Paul is Dead conspiracy theory, when fans claimed that when the track was reversed, they could hear "Paul is dead man, miss him, miss him, miss him".
features McCartney solo, accompanying himself on acoustic guitar. According to Lewisohn, the ticking in the background is a metronome, but Emerick recalls capturing the sound via a microphone placed beside McCartney's shoes. The birdsong on the track was taken from the Abbey Road sound effects collection, and was recorded on one of the first EMI portable tape recorders.
"Piggies"
an attack on greed and materialism in modern society. His mother and Lennon helped him complete the lyrics. Thomas played harpsichord on the track, while Lennon supplied a tape loop of pigs grunting.
evolved from a jam session with McCartney, Lennon and Donovan in Rishikesh. The song was taped in a single session, and was one of the tracks that Martin felt was "filler" and put on only because the album was a double.
was Starr's first solo composition for the band; he had been toying with the idea of writing a self-reflective song for some time, possibly as far back as 1963. It went by the working titles of "Ringo's Tune" and "This Is Some Friendly". The basic track consisted of Starr drumming while McCartney played piano. Martin composed an orchestral introduction to the song but it was rejected as "too bizarre" and left off the album. Instead, Jack Fallon played a bluegrass fiddle part.
"Why Don't We Do It in the Road?"
McCartney wrote in India after he saw two monkeys copulating in the street and wondered why humans were too civilised to do the same. He played all the instruments except drums, which were contributed by Starr. The simple lyric was very much in Lennon's style, and Lennon was annoyed not to be asked to play on it. McCartney suggested it was "tit for tat" as he had not contributed to "Revolution 9".
"I Will",
McCartney wrote and sang with Lennon and Starr accompanying on percussion. In between numerous takes, the three Beatles broke off to busk some other songs. A snippet of a track known as "Can You Take Me Back?" was put between "Cry Baby Cry" and "Revolution 9", while recordings of Cilla Black's hit "Step Inside Love" and a joke number, "Los Paranoias", were released on Anthology 3.
"Julia"
was the last track to be recorded for the album and features Lennon on solo acoustic guitar, which he played in a style similar to McCartney's on "Blackbird". This is the only Beatles song on which Lennon performs alone. It is a tribute to his mother, Julia Lennon, who was killed in 1958 in a road accident when Lennon was 17, and the lyrics deal with the loss of his mother and his relationship with Ono, the "ocean child" in the lyrics.[60] Ono helped with the lyrics, but the song was still credited to Lennon-McCartney as expected.
