017 Tomorrow Never Knows

017 Tomorrow Never Knows

From Producing The Beatles by Jason Kruppa

November 10, 2025 · 42 min · Season 2 · Episode 1

About this episode

The episode explores the revolutionary recording of 'Tomorrow Never Knows' by the Beatles, featuring insights from composer Joel Friedman and author Elizabeth Alker.

We kick off Season 2 with one of the Beatles’ most revolutionary recordings, “Tomorrow Never Knows,” the closing track on Revolver but the first song recorded for the album. It would be both a creative and technical breakthrough, but getting the final master on tape was quite an involved process. To help explore the mysteries of a song that still sounds unstuck in time, I’m joined by composer and music professor Joel Friedman and author Elizabeth Alker, who spoke to Paul McCartney about this recording for her new book, Everything We Do Is Music: How 20th Century Classical Music Shaped Pop .

People in this episode

Host: Jason Kruppa

Guests: Joel Friedman, Elizabeth Alker

Topics covered

  • Beatles
  • music production
  • song analysis
  • creative breakthroughs
  • technical breakthroughs

Keywords

  • Tomorrow Never Knows
  • Beatles
  • Revolver
  • music production
  • Paul McCartney

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Tomorrow Never Knows, Revolver, Everything We Do Is Music: How 20th Century Classical Music Shaped Pop

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