The Beatles' Abbey Road Medley: Extended Forms in Popular Music

Published by Scarecrow Press in 2007, this academic volume serves as a critical musicological examination of the second side of The Beatles' 1969 album, Abbey Road. Thomas MacFarlane, a music theorist and scholar, intended to bridge the gap between popular music studies and formal classical analysis by dissecting the complex structural techniques employed in the 'long medley' that occupies the album's conclusion. The work arose from a growing interest in the late 1990s and 2000s to treat rock music compositions with the same rigorous structural scrutiny historically reserved for Western art music.

The book explores how the band utilized non-traditional song structures, transitions, and thematic unity to elevate the medley form within the context of commercial pop. MacFarlane’s design and analytical approach were aimed at students and researchers of musicology, focusing on the sophisticated harmonic and rhythmic interplay that characterized the group's late-era collaboration. Upon its release, the text was received as a specialized contribution to the field of Beatles scholarship, praised for its technical depth and its success in formalizing the aesthetic accomplishments of the band’s final recorded sessions.