It was released before “Let It Be”, but in reality, the extraordinary “Abbey Road” was the last recording of the Beatles, masterfully concluding the trajectory of this fundamental group.
“Her Majesty” is only 23 seconds long. Unsurprisingly, it’s the shortest track in the Beatles catalog. Originally, it wouldn’t even be released.
Although about twenty seconds after the final chord of “The End” dies down, “Her Majesty” begins, a miniature for guitar and vocals that McCartney had proposed for the Medley and later scrapped, and that assistant engineer John Kurlander, who he had received instructions not to throw anything away, he hid it at the end. The group listened to it the next day, they liked the result and decided to leave it there, even though it broke with the solemnity that “The End” had left in the air. By the way, that’s what the sequence sounded like in its original order.
For the attentive listener, “Her majesty” begins on a thunderous note. That was rightly an accident. Originally, the subject was going to be located between “Mean Mr. Mustard” and “Polythene Pam”, however, Paul did not like it and asked for it to be edited. The commission fell to the assistant engineer, a young John Kurlander (the same after the award-winning soundtrack to The Lord of the Rings) and this is what happened, told by Geoff Emerick.
When the Beatles decided to leave it on the album, it became one of the great achievements in the history of rock music, the first hidden track.