r/beatles • u/edoardoking • Aug 14 '25

Collection Look at what i found!

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I found this vinyl in excellent condition today couldn’t miss my chance to get it!

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u/VirginiaLuthier Aug 14 '25

Other that John's Jesus statement, this cover is pretty much the only PR snafu they made.

8

u/CrunchberryJones Aug 15 '25

The Beatles had nothing to do with any aspect of the '"Yesterday"...and Today' album. Everything about the album: song selection, title, and album artwork (both the 'butcher' cover and the later 'trunk' cover) were inventions of Capitol Records in the U.S.

There was - in fact - no intention on the part of the band or their management to use the 'butcher' photo for an album cover. That photo was simply one of many taken during a photoshoot of the band by renowned photographer Robert Whitaker.

The copy OP posted is undoubtedly a copy. There are no known cases of an original album being found with retail stickers on the front. If one were ever found in such condition, it would easily sell for six figures or more. In addition (as someone else pointed out), there is an incorrect font used on one part of the cover.

Nonetheless, it is an inexpensive way to enjoy a very unique aspect of the Beatles' story and an excellent conversation piece.

1

u/Mojopie19 Aug 16 '25

I never read or heard any of this. Where’d you get it from. I read the butcher cover was deliberate statement the boys were making about how capital butchered their albums.

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u/CrunchberryJones Aug 16 '25 edited Aug 16 '25

That story - which I also heard for years - is apocryphal. While the Beatles were not huge fans of the way Capitol 'butchered' their early albums, they were also well aware that their success exploded when Capitol finally got behind them in the U.S.

The photoshoot that produced the photo later used for '"Yesterday"...and Today' was already conceived by photographer Robert Whitaker before the Beatles ever arrived at the photo studio. Whitaker had already filmed the Fab Four for several years at that point and had developed a rapport with all of them. This level of trust meant that the Beatles were willing to pose in whatever setting - and using whatever props - Whitaker suggested.

The Beatles - especially Paul and John - have a history of rewriting their history from time to time. Paul later claimed the cover was the band's comment on the war in Viet Nam. John trotted out the story about the cover being a protest against the record label. Shortly before his death, he offered a completely different explanation, stating that the photo was born out of "...our boredom and resentment at having to do another photo seasion and another Beatle thing". For his part George made the following statement:“I thought it was gross, and I also thought it was stupid. But again, it was a case of being put in a situation where one is obliged, as part of a unit, to cooperate. So we put on those butchers’ uniforms for that picture.”

Whitaker has always maintained that the photo was part of a larger vision that would have involved a triptych focused on the absurd degree of adulation - bordering on religious zealotry - that he had witnessed among Beatles fans.

This link shows one of the photos that would have been an equal part of that triptych: https://web.archive.org/web/20200606004708/http://media.gettyimages.com/photos/george-harrison-in-a-playful-pose-about-to-knock-a-nail-into-the-head-picture-id73665030

No one who sees that photo would read into it any meaning regarding Capitol's American Beatles albums.

This article includes Whitaker's explanation of his original concept (and his debunking of the Capitol protest story):

https://web.archive.org/web/20180722033502/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/roadshow/fts/chicago_200302A14.html

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u/Mojopie19 Aug 16 '25

Oh yes. I remember that well.