Old Brown Shoe

Old Brown Shoe is a song by The Beatles. It was written by George Harrison, and first released on the B-Side of "The Ballad of John and Yoko" on May 30, 1969.

Composition
According to George Harrison, "I started the chord sequences on the piano, which I don't really play, and then began writing ideas for the words from various opposites... Again, it's the duality of things – yes no, up down, left right, right wrong, etc." This idea can also be seen an earlier Beatles single, "Hello, Goodbye".

"Old Brown Shoe" is in the key of C major. The chorus goes to the subdominant chord (F) ("I'm stepping out this old brown shoe"), and cadences on the submediant (A minor) via its secondary dominant (E). Among musicologists' assessments of the composition, Walter Everett considers that this "C/Am" duality fits well "with the composer's main concern in the poetic text". Alan Pollack highlights the song's interesting flat VI (A♭) chord in the verse, the V-IV (G-F chord) alternation in the bridge, and the "bluesy" effect of the frequent flat 3rd and 7th notes alongside the I7 (C7) chords.

Music critic Tim Riley says the lyrics represent "a witty and oblique look at love, delivered with sardonic flair", as typified by the opening verse: "I want a love that's right / Right is only half of what's wrong / I want a short-haired girl / Who sometimes wears it twice as long". According to music journalist Graham Reid, the song reflects Harrison's growing confidence as a songwriter. He interprets the message as the guitarist "straining against the constraints of the Beatles ('the zoo'?)" during a period when, as the lyrics state, he himself was "changing faster than the weather".

Credits

 * George Harrison - lead vocal, guitars, bass guitar, organ
 * John Lennon - backing vocal
 * Paul McCartney - piano, backing vocal
 * Ringo Starr - drums