Reviewed by Ryan & Kehew, in Recording The Beatles:

"PAPERBACK WRITER" - WRITTEN PREDOMINANTLY by Paul - was the fourth track recorded during the Revolver sessions and became the A-side of the Beatles' only non-album single in 1966. With its atypical subject matter, stunning bass performance from Paul, and inimitable harmonised vocals, the track was one of the Beatles' more unique offerings and a superb pop song to boot. It was released nearly two months before the unveiling of Revolver, and - along with "Rain" - was the public's first glimpse of the group's new musical direction.

As impressive as its innovative bass recording and layered three-part harmonies may be, the track was actually recorded fairly quickly, begun at the end of one session and finished at the start of the next. Knowing that they would need space for the numerous vocal overdubs and Paul's bass part, the group worked very economically (they had not yet begun to take reduction mixes as a given, though this would quickly change).Track I was filled with nearly all of the song's instrumental content. Paul played the main guitar part of the song, accompanied by John, also on guitar. Ringo played drums and George contributed tambourine. Where the a cappella vocal sections would eventually be, Ringo kept time on his hi-hat and Paul strummed guitar chords. All of this was recorded to Track I with no scratch vocal. Paul's lead vocal and John and George's harmony vocals were then double-tracked on Tracks 3 and 4.

The group returned to the studio the next day to fill Track 2 of the tape. Obviously, it would have to hold Paul's bass part, but they were determined to maximise the available space by recording more contributions alongside Paul's bass. Determining exactly how this should be done consumed five hours of the session. Fortunately, this was one of the most well-documented of all the Beatles' sessions; not only was photographer Leslie Bryce in attendance, but so was Beatles Book Monthly, who printed a fairly detailed description of the session in an article later that year. Most revealing, however; were the notes made by Tape Op Phil McDonald, which documented the various attempts to fill Track 2. Each attempt was wiped by the one that followed:

1. ATTEMPT 1: Paul played bass while George Martin played the Challen "Jangle Box" piano through a Leslie speaker. McDonald notes that the bass was limited and compressed and that it was sent through a "bass cut filter in Mr. COOKS pad." The bass cut filter was likely the RS92 filter below the patchbay, and the mention of the filters in "Mr. Cook's Pad" was in fact a reference to Room 47, the office or "pad" of Gus Cook and the room which held the racks of RS106 band-pass filters used with the echo chambers. The filters could be patched into the Control Rooms for non-chamber use as well.
2. ATTEMPT 2: This attempt was a vocal-only overdub of John and George's newly introduced backing vocals, likely a test run. Though the "Frere Jacques" lyrics heard on the final recording hadn't yet evolved, Paul apparently had a high-register vocal part in mind from the start. The Beatles Book Monthly writer described this particular overdub:"[Paul] asked the engineer to play it back at half-speed so that John and George could do some vocal bits ... the recording light went on and the base sound track was played back through the 'cans' they each had clamped over their heads. They did several takes. John and George hit some very high notes, but their voices kept cracking. 'I don't think I can make it,' said Georg, 'unless I have a cup of tea.'" Of course, any vocals recorded at half speed would have sounded absolutely cartoonish when returned to normal speed. McDonald's notes, however, indicate that the overdub was done at 38 cycles/sec, a speed which still would have resulted in a change of almost five semitones. This varispeed idea was discarded.
3. ATTEMPT 3: "Paul suddenly got an inspiration", wrote Beatles Book Monthly. "He dived across to the piano and started playing bits of 'Frere Jacques'. He was obviously delighted at the thought of having it in the new single. 'OK let's try it,' said George Martin." With the machine returned to normal speed, John and George sang their new backing vocals, while Paul once again played bass and George Martin played the Leslie'd Jangle box. The results were then played back in the studio. "I think that the best thing we've added are the 'Frere Jacques' bits." remarked George Martin.
4. ATTEMPT 4: Still not satisfied, Paul moved to the Vox organ and, according to the fan magazine, "started to work out a sound which resembled that of Scottish bag pipes. John then came swooping across the studio and shouted out - 'You've got it. You've got it.' . . . George Martin appeared over John's shoulder and said, 'I see what you mean.'" John and George once more gathered around their vocal microphone, but this time, in addition to singing, George also added additional guitar work. Paul played his bass once again and George Martin played the organ. (As the magazine article also humorously related, following this take, Paul asked George and John if they were singing the part right: "George turned round, lowered his glasses to the tip of his nose and looked down at Paul in a typical school-masterish fashion and said, 'To the best of our ability Paul . . ."). Phil McDonald also noted of this take: "All having a good time".
5. ATTEMPT 5: This take was the one heard on the final recording. It was decided that neither piano nor organ was needed, and George Martin would not make an appearance on the final track. As they had in the previous pass, John and George added vocals while George played additional guitar at the end of each chorus. Paul played his superb bass part, and all four tracks of the tape were now full.

When it came time to mix, two things in particular had to be done, and McDonald also made notes regarding these. Firstly, during the a capella intro and chorus sections, Track 1 of the tape had to be turned all the way down. This was because it held Ringo's hi-hat and Paul's guitar, both of which had only ever been intended for time-keeping purposes at those points. Secondly, at the end of the chorus, it was determined that the word "writer" would have Repeat Echo applied and that the echo would itself be treated to ADT. This was to be taken one step further, though. McDonald's notes include the instruction to "Slow down tape echo ADT just on the die away of paperback writer". This subtle slowing down was, in fact, done on the mono mix, carried out the day after the song was recorded. But when the song was remixed for stereo six months later, this failed to be done. Once more, the focus on mono mixes was obvious.

One of the most striking elements of the final song was the presence of Paul's bass. Whereas in the past it had been audible (though somewhat subdued and restrained), with "Paperback Writer", it suddenly jumped very much to the fore. One of the reasons for this was the fact that the bass was now being recorded to its own track. During the mix, Geoff Emerick had the freedom to raise the bass in volume if he wished without also raising the drums. Another factor was the fact that the bass was recorded in a different way. Instead of a microphone, Ken Townsend had placed one of the studio's large White Elephant speakers in front of Paul's bass amp. The speaker was then used in reverse, acting as a very large microphone. This method provided a bass signal unlike any previously obtained through normal means. The other primary reason for the change was the fact that Geoff Emerick was being much more liberal with his application of compression and limiting than Norman Smith had been. In trying to match the level of bass heard on American recordings, Geoff had begun experimenting with more aggressive dynamic processing and filtering. Geoff had also just made the transition to engineering from disc cutting. He knew well how much volume and bass could really be packed onto a disc. After creating a particularly bass-heavy mix, he conspired with one of his former disc-cutting mates when it came time to have the master disc cut. "lt was one of the younger mastering guys, said Emerick, "Tony Clark, who was a pal of mine - so there was some rapport between us. Whereas before, it would have been, 'No." Clark used EMI's newly-acquired ATOC system to cut probably one of the loudest masters EMI had created up to that point. "[I] remember the buzz that quickly went around Abbey Road when it became apparent what we had achieved with the sound of a record. People were standing outside the door and listening ... It was so different; really it was like seeing the first screening of 2001"