This 8-Minute Beatles Song Was Named Their ‘Scariest' Recording

While the beloved British band the Beatlesare known for feel-good, jaunty tunes, the group, consisting of Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, the lateJohn Lennon, and the late George Harrison, had some darker numbers throughout their decade together.

For instance, the publication Collider released a list of the "10 scariest Beatles songs, ranked." The list, published in December 2025, included Beatles tunes like 1968's "Helter Skelter," "I Am the Walrus" from 1967, and "Run for Your Life," which came out in 1965. According to Collider, the Beatles' song "Revolution 9," off their 1968 album, is the scariest song released by the band. The publication reported that the song is almost upsetting because of its jarring static consisting of manic laughter, unexpected crashes, excited clapping, and sparse, incomprehensible conversations.

Lennon, who died in 1980 at the age of 40, discussed making "Revolution 9" in a 1974 interview. Lennon described the song, which lasts 8 minutes and 22 seconds, as "the weird one" and "like an action painting." He also explained that the song was recorded with the help of tape loops.

"I had a lot of tape, loops which is just a circle of tape, if people don't understand it, that repeats itself over," said Lennon during the 1974 interview. "And I had about 10 of them on different mono machines all spinning at once with pencils and things holding them. I had a basic track, which was the end of the 'Revolution' song where we'd gone on and on and on and on. And I just played it sort of live into another tape and just brought them in on faders, like you do as a DJ and brought them in like that."

Lennon also shared the significance behind the repetition of the "number nine" throughout the song. He explained that the sound originated from "an engineer's voice" who said, "This is number nine" while recording a test tape.

"And I just like the way he said, 'Number nine,' so I just made a loop of him saying 'Number nine,' and brought that in whenever I felt like it," said Lennon.

In addition, Lennon said he had a preference for the number nine, as he was born on October 9, 1940.

"The ninth of October, I'll be 105," quipped the musician. "And nine seems to be my number. And it's the highest number in the universe. After that you go back to one number."

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This story was originally published July 10, 2026 at 8:23 PM.