1One of the original titles of the album was "A Doll's House", taken from Norwegian writer Henrik Ibsen's play because of the similar themes on the record.
2One of the songs originally mooted for inclusion on the White Album was Paul McCartney's Junk, which ended up instead on his debut solo album, McCartney, in 1970.
3In the context of the album's most controversial track, Revolution, John Lennon subsequently confessed that he dabbled in politics during the late 1960s primarily out of guilt.
4The BBC banned the broadcasting of Happiness is a Warm Gun, due to its sexual overtones, while the "Mother Superior" that Lennon sang about was one of his pet names for Yoko Ono.
5McCartney's short song fragment, Wild Honey Pie, was initially offloaded to a bits'n'pieces tape reel, but was included on the album because George's wife, Patti Boyd, liked it.
6The song Ob-La-Di Ob-La-Da was inspired by a Nigerian catchphrase meaning "life goes on". It was said to McCartney by African jazzman Jimmy Scott, who some years later settled a legal bill with McCartney in return for dropping all royalty claims on the song.
7McCartney says his love song I Will (written for Linda Eastman whom he first met in 1967) contains one of his all-time best melodies.
8Rocky Raccoon is widely perceived as being a parody of Bob Dylan, particularly his album John Wesley Harding.
9The White Album featured Ringo Starr's first solo composition, Don't Pass Me By, a song that irrefutably confirms his sense of being surplus to requirements.
10Sexy Sadie was written during the latter stages of Lennon's stay in India, and was initially titled "Maharishi" (Maharishi Mahesh Yogi). Its explicitly insulting original lyrics had to be rewritten in order to avoid a court case.