There are a handful of people who have, at times, been referred to as The Fifth Beatle — producer George Martin, road manager Neil Aspinall, original drummer Pete Best, organist Billy Preston, roadie Mal Evans and even New York City disc jockey Murray The K (though he famously bestowed the title on himself, so it doesn’t really count).
When it comes to the sum of their contributions, there’s little question Martin was The Fifth Beatle. Nobody else brought more to the table or would be more noticeable in their absence. But if you award the title of Fifth Beatle to the musician who appeared most often on their recordings, who would that be? Let’s examine.
Best can be heard drumming on 10 Beatles songs, but they weren’t released until Anthology 1 came out in 1995. Most of them were initially recorded as part of the band’s failed Decca audition on New Year’s Day 1962. The list: Ain’t She Sweet, Bésame Mucho, Cry For A Shadow, Hello Little Girl, Like Dreamers Do, Love Me Do, My Bonnie, Searchin’, The Sheik of Araby and Three Cool Cats.
I’m currently reading Living The Beatles Legend, the new(ish) book based on the late Evans’ diaries. Those familiar with the hulking, bespectacled Evans know he was far more than someone who transported, carried and set up the band’s gear — he was a trusted member of their inner circle who was a gofer, personal assistant, protector and even an occasional musical collaborator. I was actually surprised just how many times Mal made it onto a Beatles recording.
If you watched Peter Jackson’s 2021 Get Back documentary, you’ll have seen plenty of Evans. He’s on the Apple rooftop, delaying police from stopping The Beatles’ impromptu final concert, and banging an anvil during rehearsals of Maxwell’s Silver Hammer. (Ringo Starr got the anvil-playing honours on the final Abbey Road album cut, but Mal played during rehearsals because the hammer was quite heavy.) You can also see him in the original Let It Be film from 1970 (which, incidentally, has been restored and will start streaming on Disney+ on May 8). This is the Mal version of Maxwell:
Evans’ first appearance on a Beatles song was You Won’t See Me from 1965’s Rubber Soul. Mal was cued by Paul McCartney to play single organ notes. He also is part of the group singing the chorus of Yellow Submarine from 1966. (So too were Donovan, The Rolling Stones’ Brian Jones, George Harrison’s wife Pattie Boyd, Marianne Faithfull, Aspinall, engineer Geoff Emerick and driver Alf Bicknell).
Evans contributed tambourine to the 1967 single Strawberry Fields Forever. He can be heard counting the 24 bars in the orchestral cacophony sections of A Day In The Life from Sgt. Pepper. That’s also him setting off the alarm clock before McCartney sings, “Woke up, got out of bed.” At the end of A Day In The Life, the track culminates in a final, massive E chord. Evans was one of five people simultaneously playing the chord on three pianos (Mal, McCartney, John Lennon, Ringo and Martin on harmonium). Mal plays organ, harmonica and kazoo on Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!, also from Sgt. Pepper.
On The White Album, Evans can be heard playing tambourine on Dear Prudence, hand claps on Birthday and both he and Lennon trade sax solos on Helter Skelter, despite the fact neither could play the instrument. The song What’s The New Mary Jane was left off The White Album, but can be heard on Anthology 3. It features Lennon on vocals, sound effects and piano, Harrison on guitar, sound effects and vocals, Yoko Ono on vocals and effects, and Evans on handbell and sound effects.
The flipside of the Let It Be single is a whimsical track called You Know My Name (Look Up The Number). Evans contributes backing vocals and provides percussion using a bucket of gravel.
So that’s 11 songs. Is it enough to make him the official Fifth Beatle? Nope. Preston has him beat (no pun intended). The keyboardist plays on 13 tracks — Dig A Pony, Don’t Let Me Down, Get Back, I’ve Got A Feeling, The Long And Winding Road, One After 909, Blue Suede Shoes, Dig It, I Want You (She’s So Heavy), Let It Be, Rip It Up, Something and Shake, Rattle & Roll.
But even that isn’t enough to warrant the title of Fifth Beatle. The true Fifth Beatle is Martin. Aside from being the grand poobah of all their studio sessions except Let It Be, and scoring their film Yellow Submarine, Martin was an oft-used musician on their albums. He plays piano on Misery, Money, Slow Down, Rock And Roll Music, You Like Me Too Much, What You’re Doing, Not A Second Time, You Really Got A Hold On Me, A Hard Day’s Night, Long Tall Sally, No Reply, In My Life, Good Day Sunshine, Getting Better, Lovely Rita, All You Need Is Love and Rocky Raccoon.
Martin also supplies celesta on Baby It’s You, shaker on Dig It, vocals on Christmas Time Is Here Again and Yellow Submarine, harpsichord on Fixing A Hole and Because, harmonium on The Word, A Day In The Life and Cry Baby Cry and Hammond organ on Got To Get You Into My Life, With A Little Help From My Friends, Across The Universe and Maxwell’s Silver Hammer. He was especially busy on Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite! Aside from overseeing the cutting up and random reassembly of bit of tape to create the psychedelic circus sounds, Martin also handles piano, harmonium, organ and glockenspiel. That’s 31 songs.
To the playlist!
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Area Resident is an Ottawa-based journalist, recording artist, music collector and re-seller. Hear (and buy) his music on Bandcamp, email him HERE, follow him on Instagram and check him out on Discogs.
