"Piggies" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1968 album The Beatles (also known as the "White Album"). Written by George Harrison as a social commentary, the song serves as an Orwellian satire on greed and consumerism. Among several elements it incorporates from classical music, the track features harpsichord and orchestral strings in the baroque pop style, which are contrasted by Harrison's acerbic lyrics and the sound of grunting pigs. Although credited to George Martin, the recording was largely produced by Chris Thomas, who also contributed the harpsichord part.
In the context of the turbulent political climate of 1968, "Piggies" was adopted by the counterculture as an anti-establishment theme song. It was also among the tracks on The Beatles that cult leader Charles Manson used as the foundation for his Helter Skelter theory of an American race-related countercultural revolution. Inspired especially by the line "What they need's a damn good whacking", Manson's followers left clues relating to the lyrics at the scenes of the Tate–LaBianca murders in August 1969.
"Piggies" has received widely varying responses from music critics, and its reputation suffered due to the association with Manson following the latter's trial in 1971. While some reviewers admire its musical qualities and recognise sardonic humour in the lyrics, others consider the song to be mean-spirited and lacking in subtlety. Harrison's demo of the song, recorded at his home in Surrey, was included on the Beatles' 1996 compilation Anthology 3. A live version by Harrison, reinstating a verse that was omitted from the studio recording, appears on his 1992 album Live in Japan. Folk singer and activist Theo Bikel and anarcho-punk musician Danbert Nobacon are among the artists who have covered "Piggies".
Background and inspiration
George Harrison began writing "Piggies" in early 1966, around the time that the Beatles were recording their album Revolver. Harrison biographer Simon Leng recognises the composition as essentially a folk song, however, that was then given a "satirical, drawing-room [musical] arrangement" on the official recording by the prominence of harpsichord and orchestral strings.
The song's musical key is A. Its structure comprises two verses, a middle eight (or bridge) section, an instrumental passage (over the verse melody), followed by a final verse that leads into a coda (or outro) and a formal ending. In his commentary on "Piggies", musicologist Alan Pollack remarks on its abundance of classical music traits. These include the use of "arpeggio fragments" in Harrison's opening guitar motif and the repetition of this four-bar passage before each verse and the bridge – a device typical of Schubert's various lieder and the works of other nineteenth-century composers. – the use of harpsichord on the official recording came about through happenstance. and McCartney previewed his composition "Let It Be".
The group taped eleven takes of "Piggies" before achieving the requisite performance. The line-up was Harrison on acoustic guitar, Thomas on harpsichord, McCartney on bass and Ringo Starr on tambourine. Lennon was present at the session but, with only 4-track recording facilities available in Studio 1 (and the available tracks taken up by the other four musicians), he did not play on the basic track. Having attended London's Royal Academy of Music as a child, Thomas performed the harpsichord solo in an authentic classical style, according to Pollack, who highlights how "the melody played by the last three fingers [of the right hand] alternates with a repeated note played by the thumb". In addition, Harrison's guitar is more prominent in the mono mix. The animal-themed sequencing was a deliberate decision on the part of Lennon and McCartney, who prepared the running order of the album's 30 tracks, with Martin, after Harrison had left for Los Angeles to work with Apple signing Jackie Lomax.
According to author Mark Hertsgaard, "Piggies" "[kept] the Beatles' countercultural flame alive", as the song was embraced as an anti-authoritarian anthem by the counterculture, following a year of protests and civil unrest in many Western countries. Among many such events in the United States, police officers clashed violently with anti-Vietnam War demonstrators at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August 1968. David A. Noebel, an American arch-conservative, paired the song with "Back in the U.S.S.R." when he accused the Beatles of being pro-Communist and leading a move towards revolutionary socialism with the White Album. Along with McCartney's "Rocky Raccoon", however, "Piggies" was also criticised by the radical New Left as an example of the Beatles resorting to whimsical parody instead of directly addressing contemporary issues.
Among the more conservative elements of the British establishment and the public, the release of The Beatles coincided with a less tolerant attitude towards the band. On 19 October, two days after the 24-hour session to sequence the album, Lennon, along with Yoko Ono, was arrested for possession of cannabis; Lennon described the bust as a "set-up" by the London Drug Squad. During a radio interview shortly afterwards, in Los Angeles, Harrison questioned the local police department's motto "To serve and protect" when asked about the criminality of smoking marijuana. In mid November, he represented the Beatles on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, which was in conflict at the time with the CBS television network over its political satire and regularly subjected to censorship.
Writing in the International Times, Barry Miles found "Piggies" "unsubtle" and likely to appeal to "those involved with Chicago's pig-police". William Mann of The Times noted the recurring nature theme throughout the album, from brief mentions of monkeys, lizards, elephants and tigers, to song titles such as "Blackbird" and "Piggies", and asked of Harrison's characters: "are they Chicago police or just company directors?" Melody Makers Alan Walsh admired the instrumentation on the recording and deemed "Piggies" to be "The Beatles' satire track ... a kick at upper-class reactionaries or journalists (or both)". In his unfavourable review of the White Album, in The New York Times, Mike Jahn considered that many of the tracks were "either so corny or sung in such a way that it is hard to tell whether [the Beatles] are being serious", among which the words of Harrison's song served as "an act of lyrical overstatement".
Record Mirror remarked that the birdsong effects of "Blackbird" were replaced by "snorts and grunts" on "Piggies", which the reviewer described as "a society beef (or pork if you like)" in the style of folk singer Roy Harper. Writing in Rolling Stone, Jann Wenner considered the song to be "an amazing choice to follow 'Blackbird'", given the contrast between the two pieces – "'Blackbird' so encouraging, 'Piggies' so smug (though accurate: 'what they need's a damn good whacking'). Ha!" Wenner paired it with Starr's "Don't Pass Me By", as lesser tracks beside the "superb numbers" found elsewhere on the album, but added that "on their own, they're totally groovy." Alan Smith of the NME praised the melody and the use of classical instrumentation, and described the song as "a telling piece about modern life" and "a fascinating piece of humorous cynicism".
According to author Doyle Greene, writing in his 2016 book on the 1960s counterculture, the Beatles and Manson are "permanently connected in pop-culture consciousness" as a result of Manson having founded his theory of race war on McCartney's "Helter Skelter", "Piggies" and other tracks from the 1968 double album. In his book Revolution: The Making of the Beatles' White Album, David Quantick recognises the song's musical qualities – describing it as "a powerful song, full of angry climaxes" with "a fine [vocal] performance ... [and] a charming baroque feel" – yet he bemoans its "arrogant" and misanthropic message. Quantick concludes: "Although the Beatles preached peace and love and meant it, large parts of the White Album indicate that they could be a bit selective about it." Ian Inglis considers that the intentions behind Harrison's send-up of capitalist consumerism were reasonable, and acknowledges the sinister connotations that the song gained through Manson. He says that the track fails, however, melodically and lyrically, and lacks cohesion in its musical arrangement as well as "any subtlety or charm".
Reviewing Harrison's career in a 2002 issue of Goldmine magazine, Dave Thompson termed "Piggies" "whimsically foreboding" and grouped it with late-period Beatles songs such as "Something" and "Long, Long, Long" that anticipated Harrison's successes as a solo artist after the group's break-up in 1970. Tim Riley describes the song's narrative as "smug anti-elitism outdone only by the dourness of John's 'Glass Onion' and 'Sexy Sadie'". With regard to George Martin's contention that The Beatles should have been edited down to a single disc, however, he views "Piggies" as one of the White Album "essentials" contributed by Harrison, along with "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" and "Savoy Truffle".
Among reviewers of the 2009 remastered album, Sean Highkin of Beats Per Minute cites the track as evidence that, despite the disharmonious atmosphere within the group during 1968, "All four Beatles were working at their highest levels", with Harrison "at his most acerbic on 'Piggies'". Mark Richardson of Pitchfork highlights the song as one of The Beatles "iffy jokes" that nevertheless succeed, due to the high standard of the band's songwriting and the effective sequencing of the double album. Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of its release, Jacob Stolworthy of The Independent listed "Piggies" at number 14 in his ranking of the White Album's 30 tracks. He admired the harpsichord passage as a "highlight" of the album and wrote: "On first listen, 'Piggies' is too strange to enjoy. Once its Orwellian nature is embraced, however, it becomes a joyous two fingers in the face of establishment told by Harrison in baroque pop form." AllMusic writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine, commenting on The Beatles as a whole, described "Piggies" as a "silly" song that nonetheless demonstrates Harrison's development as a songwriter, along with his other contributions to the album.
Other versions
Theo Bikel, an actor, folk singer and activist who was a delegate at the 1968 Democratic convention in Chicago, covered "Piggies" on his 1969 album A New Day. Reviewing the opening night of Bikel's residency at the Troubadour in Los Angeles, in June 1970, Billboard magazine described the song as one of "the more meaningful titles" that the singer had adopted from the work of popular acts such as the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Donovan. The 1976 television adaptation of Vincent Bugliosi's book, also titled Helter Skelter, features several Beatles songs, including "Piggies" and Harrison's White Album track "Long, Long, Long", both performed by the group Silverspoon. The song was also covered by Danbert Nobacon, Titled "Piggies in Revolution 9", Nobacon's version appeared on the 1989 album Fuck EMI, a multi-artist compilation protesting EMI's business practices, particularly the company's involvement in cruise missile production.
Having become available on bootleg albums from 1991 onwards, Harrison's 1968 demo was released on the Beatles' Anthology 3 compilation in October 1996. Recorded on an Ampex four-track recorder, the demo features Harrison playing two acoustic guitar parts, and a double-tracked lead vocal. Harrison performed "Piggies" throughout his 1991 Japanese tour with Eric Clapton and at his Natural Law Party concert in London in April 1992. With synthesizers replicating the classical arrangement, a version recorded at the Tokyo Dome on 15 December 1991 appears on Harrison's Live in Japan double album.
Phish included "Piggies" in their performance of The Beatles on Halloween 1994, which was released in 2002 as Live Phish Volume 13. The harpsichord from the original Beatles recording was mashed with Jay-Z's "Change Clothes" for a track on Danger Mouse's The Grey Album in 2004. For the Beatles' 2006 remix album Love, compiled by Martin and his son Giles, the harpsichord and cello parts were mixed into the ending of "Strawberry Fields Forever".
The song was covered by Pumajaw for The White Album Recovered, a CD distributed with the September 2008 issue of Mojo magazine. That same year, former Cars keyboardist Greg Hawkes issued a ukulele rendition on his album The Beatles Uke.
Personnel
According to Ian MacDonald, except where noted:
The Beatles
- George Harrison – lead and harmony vocals, acoustic guitar, backing vocals, vocalised grunting
- John Lennon – tape effects, vocalised grunting, backing vocals
- Paul McCartney – bass, backing vocals
- Ringo Starr – tambourine, bass drum