How The Beatles Made "Taxman" | The Revolver Sessions

Everything you need to know about The Beatles' "Taxman." |

Capitalizing on the disillusioned impatience of his recent songs, George stops beating around the bush and attacks the 19-shillings-and-sixpence-in-the-pound top rate of income tax under Harold Wilson's Labour government. At this stage, George was more business-minded than his colleagues and had just realized how much of the group's income was being drained off by the Treasury. In the 60s, the Beatles were in the 90% tax bracket. Hence, the dig at Wilson in this Beatle protest lyric, part-written by John, is balanced by a conscience-saving snipe at Conservative opposition leader Edward Heath.

Even though George is credited as the sole songwriter of "Taxman," this wasn’t entirely true. In a 1980 interview, John recalled, "I remember when George asked for help with ‘Taxman,’ one of his first songs. I added a few lines because he asked me to. He came to me because he couldn’t go to Paul, who wouldn’t have helped him then. I didn’t want to do it since I was busy with my own and Paul’s songs. But because I loved him, I agreed. It had been John and Paul for so long, and George was left out because he hadn’t been a songwriter until then."

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