With countless hits, the Beatles remain an iconic music figure today. Yet, every year as tax season rolls around, one particular hit is refreshed in the minds of many: “Taxman.”
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The song, driven out of astonishment and hatred of Britain’s super-tax, is well known for its musical artistry and the Beatles’ experimentation with sound. But the song’s history is also unique.
Here are five facts you might not know about “Taxman.”
It was George Harrison’s only song that ever opened an album.
The song written by the “Quiet Beatle” opened up the coveted spot of any record – Side One, Track One for the Beatles’ album Revolver.
Counterpunch.org writer David Yearsley terms it Harrison’s “first songwriting triumphs.”
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It was the first Beatles song to directly name living people.
John Lennon suggested calling out both the prime minister Harold Wilson, and opposition leader Edward Heath,
according to Beatles Bible.
It equally attacked both political parties.
As the lyrics go “Ha-ha Mister Wilson,” and “Ha-ha Mister Heath,” it is important to note that these two attacked political figures were from opposite parties. Yearsley equates this to naming both Obama and Boehner in a song today.
At the time the wealthiest could be taxed up to 98 percent.
In the mid-1960s wealthy British citizens were taxed at 83 percent, but the wealthiest also paid a 15 percent additional “super-tax.” The Beatles have said they paid close to 89 percent, being left with one-ninth of a pound,
Rolling Stone reported.
In one event, Harrison racked up one-million dollars due in taxes.
After the Beatles split, Harrison organized the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh at Madison Square Garden. The final bill was tallied, and with fifteen million in revenue, the U.S. taxed the event for one million, Yearsley said. Harrison paid the entire tax.
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