So I'm listening to Abbey Road the other day, and at the end of the
song "You Never Give Me Your Money" you can hear the Beatles singing
in the background:

One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
all good children go to Heaven

After listening to it awhile, though, I could swear that at some point
they start singing:

One, two, three, four, five, six, sell,
all good children go to Hell

I'm aware of how people thought John sang "I buried Paul" at the end
of Strawberry Fields Forever, when he in fact sang "cranberry sauce".
So:

Is this an example of me reading too much into their lyrics, as usual,
or am I onto something, and is there a website somewhere that will
substantiate this?

Hi there Markabe!

I'm just like you. . .I often think I can hear other things written
into the lyrics. . so you're not alone!

However, I visited several sites (listed below) that all provide a
copy of the lyrics and not one verifies "One, two, three, four, five,
six, sell, all good children go to Hell"

I also listened to the MP3 of it myself in search of the words you
mentioned above.  I thought it might be best to go to the source
itself.  As far as my ears could tell they repeated the phrase about
heaven several times then faded out.

Here is a complete list of the lyrics:

You Never Give Me Your Money
(John Lennon, Paul McCartney)
Lead Vocal: Paul McCartney

You never give me your money
You only give me your funny paper
And in the middle of negotiations
You break down

I never give you my number
I only give you my situation
And in the middle of investigation
I break down

Out of college, money spent
See no future, pay no rent
All the money's gone, nowhere to go
Any jobber got the sack
Monday morning, turning back
Yellow lorry slow, nowhere to go
But oh, that magic feeling, nowhere to go
Oh, that magic feeling, nowhere to go
Nowhere to go

Aaaaahhhhhhhhhh...
Aaaaahhhhhhhhhh...
Aaaaahhhhhhhhhh...

One sweet dream
Pick up the bags and get in the limousine
Soon we'll be away from here
Step on the gas and wipe that tear away
One sweet dream came true today
Came true today
Came true today (Yes it did)

One two three four five six seven
All good children go to Heaven
One two three four five six seven
All good children go to Heaven
One two three four five six seven
All good children go to Heaven
One two three four five six seven
All good children go to Heaven
One two three four five six seven
All good children go to Heaven
One two three four five six seven
All good children go to Heaven
One two three four five six seven
All good children go to Heaven
One two three four five six seven
All good children go to Heaven (fade out)

Here are the list of several web sites featuring these specific
lyrics:

(http://thomasfly.com/songs/Beatles/You_Never_Give_Me_Your_Money.htm)

(http://www.lyrics.pl/teksty/zagraniczne/thebeatles/younevergivemeyourmoney.htm)

(http://www.ckdhr.com/hrose/songs/you-never-give-me-your-money.html)

(http://wsp3.wspice.com/~dpannell/beatles/yngmym.htm)

(http://www.stevesbeatles.com/songs/you_never_give_me_your_money.asp)

(http://bands.freepage.de/beatles/lyrics/l83.txt)

I hope these lyric links are of some help to you and by the way. . .I
love the Beatles too!

Let me know if there is anything else I can do for you and happy
listening!

pudina

Search terms used:  beatles you never give me your money lyrics

---

Request for Answer Clarification by markabe-ga on 04 Aug 2002 22:50 PDT

Google Answers - Abbey Road

OK, I had another close listen, with headphones, and to me it’s clear
as day.

On track 9 (You Never Give Me Your Money), between 3:24 and 3:44, I
can hear it four times. The clearest instance is between 3:34 and
3:39.

One two three four five six sell
All good children go to hell

So far I’ve got one for and one against. There’s got to be someone out
there who can settle this.

---

Clarification of Answer by pudina-ga on 19 Sep 2002 08:01 PDT

The only reason your answer was not clarified earlier is that I
resigned from being a Google's Researcher before clarification was
requested.

Otherwise I cannot imagine a more thorough response than was given.

I'm sorry that you were dissatified.

pudina7

Well, I liked insideinfo-ga's comments, probably because he agreed
with me. Otherwise, a very poor answer considering my request for
clarification was ignored.

Markabe - I have heard those exact lyrics in that song also. I heard
exactly what you heard last word "sell" then next line "hell". This
happens often in songs, the singer(s) gets bored, mischievous, or just
forgets the words exactly and changes them during the performance or
recording.

The Beatles do this quite often if you listen carefully. I can think
of a few instances. One is a derogatory comment about their manager
that rhymes with "rich man too". Abbey Road is a great album but
definitely catches them in their mischievous and ironic high that was
the late 60's for them.

Bands often make songs more edgy or even perverse during performances
to amuse themselves or the audience. The new words usually don’t get
put in album liners as the "correct" lyrics and most people just quote
the official ones forever.

If you want to know more about misheard lyrics, I recommend
"http://www.kissthisguy.com/", an archive of misheard lyrics (and a
very entertaining site). They don't have this song (and you can add
it).

(Why its called "kiss this guy"? From "Purple Haze" by Jimmy Hendrix -
"'Scuse me while I kiss the sky", misheard as "'Scuse me, while I kiss
this guy.").

They are just saying "heav'n" kind of fast.  Definitely not saying
"hell."  I have the actual CD so teh quality is better than a MP3, and
I am sure they are saying "heav'n."

> I'm aware of how people thought John sang "I buried Paul" at the end
of Strawberry Fields Forever, when he in fact sang "cranberry sauce".

Nope. I don't know whether it's John or somebody else, but he says
"I'm very old..." which is consistent with the very downer ambiance of
SFF (which was meant to contrast with the upbeat "Penny Lane").