Rocky Raccoon
| "Rocky Raccoon" | |
|---|---|
| Song by The Beatles from the album The Beatles | |
| Released | 22 November 1968 |
| Recorded | 15 August 1968 |
| Genre | Country, folk rock |
| Length | 3:33 |
| Label | Apple Records |
| Writer(s) | Lennon–McCartney |
| Producer(s) | George Martin |
"Rocky Raccoon" is a song by the Beatles from the double album The Beatles (also known as the "White Album"). The song was primarily written by Paul McCartney, who was inspired while playing acoustic guitar with John Lennon and Donovan in India (where the Beatles had gone on a retreat).
The song, a folk rock ballad, is titled from the character's name, which was originally "Rocky Sassoon", but McCartney changed it to "Rocky Raccoon" because he thought "it sounded more like a cowboy". Former 13th Floor Elevators' drummer Danny Thomas claims the name "Rocky" was inspired by Roky Erickson, the American rock band's then vocalist and guitarist. The Old West-style honky-tonk piano was played by producer George Martin, and the song is notable as the last Beatles song to feature John Lennon's harmonica playing.
The lyrics describe a conflict over a love triangle, in which Rocky's girlfriend Lil Magill (known to the public as Nancy) leaves him for a man named Dan, who punches Rocky in the eye. Rocky vows revenge and takes a room at the saloon in the town where Dan and Nancy are staying. He bursts into Dan's room, armed with a gun, but Dan out-draws and shoots him. A drunken doctor attends to Rocky, who insists that the wound is only a minor one. Stumbling back to his room, Rocky finds a Gideon Bible and takes it as a sign that he is meant to revive.
During take 8 of the song (featured on Anthology 3), McCartney flubbed the line "stinking of gin", singing "sminking" instead. This caused him to laugh, exclaim "Sminking?!" and make up the remaining lines in the song. This take also has a noticeably different spoken-word introduction, with Rocky coming from "a little town in Minnesota", rather than the album version's "somewhere in the black mountain hills of Dakota", and McCartney's faux-Western accent is more pronounced.
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