SHE CAME IN THROUGH THE BATHROOM WINDOW

With the basic band set-up throttling back from the self-consciously coarse stridency of Polythene Pam to the comparatively measured restraint of She Came In Through The Bathroom Window, McCartney took up the medley-within-amedley’s double-tracked lead vocal to unfold his everyday tale of an obsession-based home invasion. A hard-core of latter-day Beatle fans, known as the Apple Scruffs, stood constant vigil outside Abbey Road, Apple Corps and the band members’ individual homes. Most daily interactions between fans and Fabs were fine – pleasantries were exchanged, autographs signed, boundaries respected. But on one particular occasion a ladder was acquired from McCartney’s garden, and a particularly resourceful Scruff called Diane Ashley quite literally came in through the bathroom window. Once inside she opened the front door and there ensued an orgy of souvenir scavenging. McCartney, reacting with surprisingly good grace, negotiated with the bare-faced burglars to ensure the return of precious family snaps, and later chronicled the incident in song.

Characterised by its author’s ever-inventive walking bass and complementary lead guitar interactions with Harrison (not to mention Starr spicing up his percussion with enthusiastically applied whip-cracks), She Came In Through The Bathroom Window was one of the Long Medley’s more satisfying highlights.