Revolution 9

GARCIAPerformance creates the music

DEAD CENTERNeither wins

LENNONComposition creates the music

0

25

50

75

100

Revolution 9 · 51

Hollow marks: the other 49 scored songs · Hatched band: the Crossover Zone

The case

The strongest honest argument for each side, then the ruling.

The Garcia argument

There is no composition. The piece began as the end of a jam and was made by a live mix on 20 June 1968, with loops running on machines in three studios and people holding the tape taut with pencils while Lennon worked the faders. Where each sound falls was decided in the moment and never written down.

The Lennon argument

It exists only as a recording and cannot be performed, by anyone, ever. The sounds were selected beforehand and the result was edited afterwards. No Beatles track is more completely a studio object.

The verdict: GLI 51

The dimensions split as far as they can: nothing predetermined, everything bound to tape. Dark Star and Eleanor Rigby each have their information in one place. This piece has it in neither score nor stage. It averages to Dead Center, and the confidence figure says how little that average means.

What is fixed

The finished tape
The chosen loops

What is open

Where each loop entered, on the day

Evidence dimensions

Each runs from 0, Garcia, to 100, Lennon. Their weighted composite is 50. The published GLI is 51, 1 higher after comparison with neighbouring songs. The allowed margin is 6.

Structural FixityHow much of sequence, form and duration is settled beforehand?

35

Elastic

Fixed

No form was specified. The shape came out of the mix.

Performance ConsistencyHow far can two performances differ and still be the same work?

70

Transformative

Reproducible

There can be no second performance, which is its own kind of consistency.

PredeterminationHow much of what matters exists before the performance begins?

25

Emergent

Predetermined

Nothing was composed. The loops were chosen and then mixed by hand.

Development MethodHow does the music move forward?

40

Exploratory

Composed

A live mix with people holding tape loops on pencils.

Recording SpecificityDoes the recording document an occurrence, or define the object?

100

Documents event

Defines work

The maximum. The work is the tape and nothing else.

Transformational tolerance

None. There is nothing to perform.

Confidence: 72%

The assembly is documented, but the piece strains the scale: its dimensions point in opposite directions.

Keep arguing

Every placement is relative. These are the songs this one was measured against.

The record

It began as the last six minutes of a long take of Revolution 1.Source ↗
The main assembly, on 20 June 1968, was a live mix made while tape loops ran on machines in all three EMI studios, with staff holding the loops taut with pencils.Source ↗
Lennon performed the live mix himself, using about 30 loops.Source ↗
The "number nine" voice is a loop from an engineer's test tape.Source ↗
The Beatles never performed it live.Source ↗

Where the sources disagree

Running time: 8:22 or about 8:13.
Accounts differ on who besides Lennon assembled it.

Catalog facts

Catalog no.: GLI·TB·018
Artist: The Beatles
Writers: Lennon–McCartney
Release: The Beatles (White Album) (1968)
Released: 22 November 1968
Duration: 8:22

Sources

Classified 5 October 2026