<P> Recording began on 23 July 1969, when the Beatles recorded a one - minute, thirty - second master take that was extended via overdubs to two minutes and five seconds . At this point, the song was called "Ending". The first vocals for the song were added on 5 August, additional vocals and guitar overdubs were added on 7 August, and bass and drums on 8 August, the day the Abbey Road cover picture was taken . Orchestral overdubs were added 15 August, and the closing piano and accompanying vocal on 18 August . </P> <P> All four Beatles have a solo in "The End", including a Ringo Starr drum solo . Starr disliked solos, preferring to cater drumwork to whoever sang in a particular performance . His solo on "The End" was recorded with twelve microphones around his drum kit; in his playing, he said he copied part of Ron Bushy's drumming on the Iron Butterfly track "In - A-Gadda - Da - Vida". The take in which Starr performed the solo originally had guitar and tambourine accompaniment, but other instruments were muted during mixing, giving the effect of a drum solo . The additional instruments were restored for a remix on the Anthology 3 compilation album . The drum solo was also later used at the beginning of "Get Back" on the 2006 album Love . </P> <P> McCartney, George Harrison and Lennon perform a rotating sequence of three, two - bar guitar solos . The idea for a guitar instrumental over this section was Harrison's, and Lennon suggested that the three of them each play a section . The solos begin approximately 53 seconds into the song . Geoff Emerick, the Beatles' recording engineer, later recalled: "John, Paul and George looked like they had gone back in time, like they were kids again, playing together for the sheer enjoyment of it . More than anything, they reminded me of gunslingers, with their guitars strapped on, looks of steely - eyed resolve, determined to outdo one another . Yet there was no animosity, no tension at all--you could tell they were simply having fun ." </P> <P> The first two bars are played by McCartney, the second two by Harrison, and the third two by Lennon, then the sequence repeats . Each has a distinctive style which McCartney felt reflected their personalities . Immediately after Lennon's third solo, the piano chords of the final line "And in the end ..." begin . Then the orchestration arrangement takes over with a humming chorus and Harrison playing a final guitar solo that ends the song . </P>

And in the end the love that you take