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 mining hills of Dakota", and McCartney's faux Western-American accent is more pronounced.
This caused him to laugh, exclaim "Sminking?!" and make up the remaining lines in the song. Starr's snare drum flam after the line "He drew first and shot" (mimicking the sound of a gun) is an example of prosody.ĭuring take 8 of the song (featured on Anthology 3), McCartney flubbed the line "stinking of gin", singing "sminking" instead (presumably confusing the words "smelling" and "stinking"). Stumbling back to his room, Rocky finds a Gideon Bible and takes it as a sign from God. A drunken doctor attends to Rocky, the latter insisting that the wound is only a minor one. He bursts into Dan's room, armed with a gun, but Dan out-draws and shoots him. Rocky vows revenge and takes a room at the saloon in the town where Dan and Nancy are staying. 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 Raccoon" is also the last Beatles song to feature John Lennon's harmonica playing.
According to Beatles historian Kenneth Womack, McCartney drew his inspiration for the song from Robert Service’s poem “The Shooting of Dan McGrew.” The Old West-style honky-tonk piano was played by producer George Martin. 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 song, a country 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".
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