Studio Album · No. 5
Revolver Songwriting Credits by The Beatles
Produced by George Martin · Engineered by Geoff Emerick (recording), Ken Townsend (technical engineer)
Holds writing credit on 14 of 14 tracks
Authorship Breakdown 14 / 14 documented
Scored across the 14 tracks with documented writers, by whether The Beatles carries a lyricist or composer credit.
Share of the 14 tracks where a band member is credited, by role.
By the Numbers
Geoff Emerick's debut as recording engineer introduced nine new recording techniques including automatic double tracking (ADT), close-miked drums, and backwards guitar, fundamentally changing how pop records were made. George Harrison wrote three tracks, "Taxman," "Love You To," and "I Want to Tell You", his largest contribution to any Beatles album to that point. No covers appear: all 14 tracks are original material, with Lennon and McCartney each contributing approximately half the remaining originals. Ken Townsend invented ADT during the first session on April 6, 1966.
Revolver is the seventh studio album by The Beatles, released in August 1966 on Parlophone and produced by George Martin at Abbey Road Studios, consistently ranked among the greatest albums ever recorded in polls of critics and musicians. The album demonstrates the most significant single-album expansion of internal songwriting distribution in Beatles history: Harrison contributed three original compositions, 'Taxman,' 'Love You To,' and 'I Want to Tell You', his largest credit on any Beatles album, reflecting his growing confidence as a writer and Martin's willingness to support his Indian musical experiments. Lennon and McCartney continued developing in diverging directions: McCartney toward melodic sophistication on 'Here, There and Everywhere' and 'Eleanor Rigby,' Lennon toward surrealism and studio experimentation on 'I'm Only Sleeping,' 'She Said She Said,' and the groundbreaking 'Tomorrow Never Knows.' The recording sessions pushed Abbey Road's four-track technology to its limits, with backward tape loops, variable-speed recording, and ADT (Automatic Double Tracking) invented specifically for the project by engineer Ken Townsend. Revolver was the final studio album recorded during the Beatles' touring years and marked the definitive beginning of their purely studio-focused career.