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Notes on… Series
In 1989 the American musicologist Alan W. Pollack started to analyze the songs of the
Beatles. He published his first results on internet. In 1991 — after he had finished the work on 28
songs — he bravely decided to do the whole lot of them. About ten years later, in 2000 he
completed the analysis of the official Beatles' canon, consisting of 187 songs and 25 covers.
All contents are Copyright © 1989 Alan W. Pollack All Rights Reserved. This article may be reproduced,
retransmitted, redistributed and otherwise propagated at will, provided that this notice remains intact and
in place.
In case you want to quote these pages, please refer to the original sources. So for Pollack's remarks on
"Free As A Bird" refer to: Pollack, Alan W. (1995), Notes on "Free As A Bird". Notes on ... Series no. 194,
1995. The 'Official' rec.music.beatles Home Page (http://www.recmusicbeatles.com).
Page 1 of 962
The First 28 Songs
Pollack started his series with choosing 28 songs more or less arbitrarily from the songbook
of the Beatles. These articles are especially interesting because Pollack spices his analyses with
some lucid explanations of his musicological insights and knowledge.
Page 2 of 962
We Can Work It Out
Key: D Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Verse | Verse | Bridge |
| Verse | Bridge |
| Verse | Outro (with complete ending)
CD: "Past Masters", Volume 2, Track 2 (Parlophone CDP 90044-2)
Recorded: 20th, 29th October 1965, Abbey Road 2
UK-release: 3rd December 1965 (Double A Single / "Day Tripper")
US-release: 6th December 1965 (Double A Single / "Day Tripper")
General Points Of Interest
Style and Form
We begin our studies of the Beatles' songs with an example chosen on purpose roughly from
the middle of the catalog; it's having been released as one side of a double A single together with
“Day Tripper” on the same day as the "Rubber Soul" album.
We'll discover that "We Can Work It Out" is a deceptively simple example of just how
innovative the Boys could be within the framework of what on the surface is just a 2:10 pop
single from what we would later knowingly look back on as a prime nodal point of their
songwriting career.
The form is one of the small number of standard pop song models. Let's call it the "double
bridge with single verse intervening." Over the long run it's one that the Beatles would use often,
though I suspect the lack of an intro and inclusion of a complete ending are somewhat unusual
variations on the model; at least in terms of pop music in general, if not the Beatles themselves
A close cousin of this form is the variation where two verses intervene between the bridges,
the second of which is often an instrumental solo. In both cases, the doubling up of the verses
before the first bridge and the single verse trailing the second bridge works very well. If you omit
the repeat at the beginning you feel rushed into the bridge. If you double up at the end, the whole
thing starts to drag.
Unique lyrics are provided here for the first three of the four verses; the fourth is an identical
repeat of the third. Even so, two of the three variations cleverly use a common framework of
"Try to see / while you see" for their first and third lines.
Melody and Harmony
The melody of the song is “appoggiatura” intensive; (i.e. this is a technical term defined as
follows: "a 'leaning note', normally one step above the main note. It usually creates a dissonance
in the harmony and resolves by step on to the main note on the following weak beat." — Grove
Dictionary, quoted without permission). Combined with rhythmic syncopation and a tendency to
Page 3 of 962
hammer away on the same note for several syllables at a time, these leaning tones give the song a
persuasively insistent edge.
A couple of highlighted lyric fragments to show where these babies are:
Think of what I'm SAY-ING
WE CAN work it out.
WE CAN work it OU-UT.
... and there's no ti-i-i-i--ime for
fussing and FIGHT-ING my friend
The choice of keys and chord progressions here is straightforward compared to many another
Beatles song; no tricky chromatic progressions (e.g. “Help” intro) nor remote modulations (e.g.
“You’re Going To Lose That Girl” mid-section). The verses are in D major and the bridge is in b
minor, the "relative minor" of D; pretty standard.
The opening phrase relies on the modal flat-VII chord (C-Major) in order to establish the
home key instead of the "V" (A-Major) chord. The latter doesn't make an appearance until the
very end of the verse section.
The verse and refrain have different harmonic shapes. The verse is open ended in that it
proceeds from the tonic eventually to the dominant chord which ultimately wants resolution: I -»
flat-VII -» I -» IV -» V. When it flows into the refrain, it's with a "deceptive cadence" (technical
term used to describe the situation where you get a different chord than you expected) to the bminor (vi). It's this hanging dominant chord which requires the brief outro to tie things up neatly.
The bridge has an harmonic shape completely closed off but in its contrasting key. This
closed-ness is part of why the return to the original key seems somewhat abrupt; of course the
rhythm (see below) plays a part in that too.
Arrangement
The basic backing consists of acoustic rhythm guitar, bass guitar, drums and tambourine,
onto which are superimposed a part for harmonium and the vocals.
The appoggiatura motif is followed through on the backing track. On the incomplete nonvocal take 1 you can hear a lot of leaning tones in the top line of the rhythm guitar. It even carries
through to the final melodic riff of the outro.
Perhaps the best example (and also one of the highlights of the entire song) is in the bridge
where the harmonium sustains the note B-natural through a change of chord from b-minor, to GMajor (where it belongs) and continues to hold it through the shift down to F#-Major before
letting it fall finally to A#. Again, the take 2 we're privileged to have with the forward-mixed
harmonium really underscores it.
For the verses Paul sings a double (triple?) tracked solo lead. In the bridges he's joined in
parallel thirds by John.
Page 4 of 962
Section By Section Walk Through
Verse
Here's where things really get interesting! Compared to other songs (e.g. “Can’t Buy Me
Love”) where the phrases are all four-measures long and come in sixteen-measure sections of
four-times-four, this song does some fancy things.
The verses are indeed sixteen measures long but are divided into three phrases in a 6+6+4
AAB pattern. This lends them a bit of a free-verse quality in spite of the underlying steady 4/4
rhythm.
|——————————————————————————— 2 times —————————————————————————————|
D:
D
- 9 -» 8 - 9
C 3 -» 2 D
|——————————|——————————|——————————|——————————|——————————|——————————|
I
flat-VII
I
G - 9 -» 8 D
G - 9 -» 8
A
|————————————|————————————|————————————|————————————|
IV
I
IV
V
[Figure 1.1]
The melodic leaning tones add several harmonic dissonances I've notated above. The most
interesting one is the way the appoggiatura ninth (E) in measure 4 is not allowed to resolve until
the next measure where its resolution note (D) has now become a dissonance over the new chord
change.
A precious Beatles “detail” moment: in the lone middle verse, they throw in a syncopated
dotted rhythm into the final measure of the second iteration of the first phrase above. It's the only
place in the song where it happens. In consequence, you wind up feeling as if they're winking at
you when, in the same measure of the final verse, they blithely play even quarter notes with a
casual vengeance.
Bridge
The bridge indeed contains only four-measure phrases but these are organized into a twelvemeasure section of three-times-four which is repeated to make the overall bridge length twentyfour measures:
D:
b:
b
|————————————|————————————|————————————|————————————|
iv
i
G
- 6 -» 5
F# 4 -»
- 3
|————————————|————————————|————————————|————————————|
VI
V
Page 5 of 962
D:
b
4 -» 3 |————————————|————————————|————————————|————————————|
i
vi
[Figure 1.2]
The asymmetry of the this three line bridge is effectively underscored by the shift to the "3/4
oom-pah-pah" rhythm in the third phrase. This rhythmic shift is interesting in that it is done
without changing the tempo. The length of a measure remains the same except it is suddenly
filled for one phrase with three beats instead of four; a sort of time warp. When the verse returns
after this it sounds faster but isn't really! Another characteristic detail: the way in which the slow
triplets are articulated by tambourine and harmonium only; no drums, because the latter would
be overkill.
This type of slow triplet is something we'll discover to be a favorite of John's over the long
run. They tend to connote a kind of rhetorical emphasis not at all dissimilar from Macca's
hammered leaning tones. A good precedent setting example of slow triplets that the Beatles
surely would have been familiar with is the in final refrain of Buddy Holly’s “That’ll Be The
Day”.
Again there is harmonic dissonance created by melodic leaning tones which I've notated.
Outro
The outro is a four-measure extension of the final verse:
D:
D
G 6/4
D 5/3
|————————————|————————————|————————————|————————————|
I
(IV?)
I
[Figure 1.3]
The cadence sounds plagal, with the G chord in the second measure sounding like G-Major
in the second ("6/4") inversion. You'll get used to me asking you to think of that G chord as
neighbor tone motion in the upper voices, rather than a true root chord change.
This brief little outro makes for an ingeniously unifying effect. The tune, chords, and backing
texture feel on the one hand as though derived from the verse, but the slow triplets are clearly an
allusion to the bridge.
The finished track does a neat fade down on the final chord. The unprocessed, rough take 2
mix betrays a long-sustained and ultimately frayed end.
Some Final Thoughts
A-a-a-nyway, there's still more one could say but I think I've overdone it here plenty for one
day; is there anyone I haven't alienated?
“They tried to fob you off on this musical charlatan, but *I* gave him the test.”022700#2.2 Page 6 of 962
Eight Days A Week
Key: D Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Verse | Bridge |
| Verse | Bridge |
CD: "Beatles For Sale", Track 8 (Parlophone CDP7 46438-2)
UK-release: 4th December 1964 (LP "Beatles For Sale")
US-release: 15th February (A Single / "I Don't Want To Spoil The Party”)
Style and Form
I'm going to ease my way into this series gradually. At some point I'll bite the bullet and start
covering the songs more or less in chronological order from the beginning, but for now, I'm
content to browse the catalog more randomly, picking out favorite songs that illustrate
particularly well one or another of the technical or stylistic hallmarks and mannerisms which
characterize the Beatles sound over the long run.
Last time, with “We Can Work It Out”, we pulled apart an apparently unassuming mid-career
single to discover uneven phrasing, and a shift of meter at its core. This time, we'll step back
even a bit earlier in the catalog to look most closely at chord progressions and the details of an
arrangement.
In particular, we'll discover how the harmony of “Eight Days A Week” is built out of a
wonderfully teasing exploitation of the special effect called a “false (or “cross”) relation”. This
harmonic idiom is used quite a bit throughout the Beatles' output and I think that “Eight Days A
Week” provides an object lesson worth exploring.
In terms of form, we have another double bridge with single intervening verse. The lyrics are
on the light side in terms of content in spite of the characteristic cleverness of the title phrase.
The four verses all end with the hook phrase, and verse pairs 1/3 and 2/4 respectively contain the
same opening couplet.
The one complete outtake and couple of fragments of “Eight Days A Week” on Anthology 1
reveal the following:
•
•
Using the opening verse chord progression for the intro/outro was already in place, but
the scoring lacks the driving triplets.
Similarly, the "pedal point" for the intro/outro was originally planned for the vocals rather
than the bass line. The chords are played in root position in the outtakes but the top vocal
line sustains F# through all four chords creating the interesting free dissonance of E9 and
G#7 in the process.
Page 7 of 962
•
•
•
When Paul is not harmonizing with John's lead vocal he's singing it with him in unison.
The specific content of the backing vocals and their exact placement is different from the
official version.
The title phrase at the end of each verse is given an outrageous falsetto flip, an idea
abandoned, alas.
There's a small snippet of characteristic studio banter, with Paul dissing John in a “funny
voice” that if something in the next take doesn't come out just right it'll be just “too bad.”
False Relation, Defined
A false-relation is nothing more than a chromatic contradiction between two notes in a single
chord or in different parts of adjacent chords. Within the confines of academic tonal theory this is
considered a "syntax error" but it has been used throughout the ages by composers for expressive
effect; a sort of a musical poetic license.
As my one sentence definition above implies, false-relations come in two flavors; both are
well loved by the Beatles and I'll cite examples of each though only the second flavor is of
concern in “Eight Days A Week”:
1. contradiction between two notes in one chord — the manifestation of this seen most
frequently is the simultaneous use of the major and minor third in a chord; this is one of
the factors which makes the blues sound, well, bluesy. A Beatle example off the top of the
head is “The Night Before”; the accompaniment is clearly in D major (which uses F#)
while the melody repeatedly incorporates the F-natural of the minor mode.
2. contradiction between adjacent chords — this is the more subtle of the two flavors
because the ear picks it up only by following the succession of two chords over time,
whereas the first flavor above involves an outright, instantaneous clash. As we'll see, the
pervasive application of this effect provides a unifying influence on “Eight Days A
Week”.
False-relations appear in both the verse and refrain of “Eight Days A Week”. The song is in D
Major and the false-relation in each case involves G-natural and G#; note that the G-natural has a
melodic tendency to fall to F# and the G# has the tendency toward A-natural.
Melody and Harmony
The tune throughout stays within a relatively tight range of a sixth; from B up through G. The
individual phrases manage some reasonably interesting melodic contour, but the restricted range
is hard to avoid noticing; indeed, does it perhaps have the side effect of nudging you to pay more
attention to the chord changes?
A medium-large group of six chords are used in the song: I, ii, IV, V, vi, and V-of-V.
Page 8 of 962
Arrangement
“Eight Days A Week” provides a fine object lesson in the Beatles art and science of
production values; demonstrating an amazing attention to detail in general, and the use of texture
changes to help articulate form.
The backing track contains electric, acoustic, and bass guitars, plus drum kit and hand
clapping.
John double tracks the lead vocal and gets strategically placed flashes of backing from Paul.
2
Verse
The four-measure intro turns out to be none other than what you'll quickly find out is the "A"
phrase of the verse, performed here over a pedal point of D; a technique reminiscent of many a
prelude-style movement of one JS Bach.
The intro is faded in, scored without snare drums and sizzling cymbals in the drum kit, and
with the bass line pedal pounded out in seemingly impossible-to-sustain rapid triplets. Other than
the outro which is essentially a verbatim repeat of this section, that triplet figure appears nowhere
else on the entire track.
The combined effect is one of building momentum that is allowed to crest on the downbeat
of the first verse, at which point (you should not think it a random event) the drum kit does enter
together with the lead vocal.
Verse
The verse is a four-square (4 * 4) sixteen measures long, with a musical phrasing pattern of
AABA':
|—————————————————————— 2 times ————————————————————————|
(uses G#)
D:
(uses G natural)
D
E
G
D
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
V-of-V
IV
I
(uses G natural)
b
e
b
E
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
vi
ii6/3
vi
V-of-V
D:
D
E
G
D
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
V-of-V
IV
I
[Figure 2.1]
Page 9 of 962
The A phrases are harmonically closed; the B phrase is a classic harmonically transitional
shape, both starting and ending away from the home key. The harmonic rhythm is brisk yet evenpaced.
Every phrase of this section contains a cross-relation. The one in the A phrase is particularly
subtle because the G# in the second chord appears in a middle voice while the G-natural in the
following chord is in the outer voices.
In the B phrase the false-relation does not happen between immediately adjacent chords. But
I still think you pick up on the G#/G-natural contrast created by the alternation of the e-minor
and E-Major chords. I would argue that the false-relation is especially emphasized in this phrase
by the fact that the e-minor chord appears in its first inversion with the G-natural in the bass line!
Watch the arrangement:
•
•
•
•
•
Hand claps appear on beats 2 and 4 of the measure in all three A phrases along with drum
kit thrashing of a particularly sizzling nature, typical of the early Beatles sound.
For the B phrase the hand claps adopt a snapping dotted rhythm, and the drum kit
completely drops out.
John sings the lead vocal throughout and is always joined in harmony on the title phrase
when it appears at the end of the verse.
Paul also harmonizes on the B phrase of only the second and fourth verse. There's no way
you'll convince me that kind of detail was ever left to chance by them.
On the other hand, I'm willing to imagine that John's election to melismatically moan in
only the third verse may have originated more spontaneously.
Bridge
In spite of its starting off with a clear declamation of the title phrase, I call the middle section
here a "bridge" rather than a "refrain" because its harmonic shape is so open ended.
The bridge makes a double-edged contrast to the verses; with the phrase lengths shortened in
half while the harmonic rhythm is lengthened.
The bridge is eight measures long, built out of four short phrases that make an ABA'C
pattern:
D:
A
b
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
V
vi
(uses G#)
(uses G natural)
E
G
A7
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
V-of-V
IV
V
D:
D
E
G
D
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
V-of-V
IV
I
[Figure 2.2]
Page 10 of 962
The bridge again contains a cross-relation, but our interest in this section should be more on
the V chord. "Eight Days A Week" makes very spare use of the dominant chord ("V"), and even
when it does appear it doesn't always behave as you might expect.
The V chord's first appearance is delayed all the way until the downbeat of the bridge. It
doesn't make any appearance in the verse, which is a particular tease in that the E-Major chord
("V-of-V") would seem to prompt for it.
The first appearance of the V chord at the beginning of the refrain resolves "deceptively" to
the vi chord instead of the tonic (I). The V-of-V in the second part of the refrain finally moves to
the V itself but by way of the false-relation-inducing IV chord.
The return of the verse following the refrain, then, is the only place in the song that we have
a garden variety V -» I ("full") cadence. In other words, the verses by themselves rely on the IV
-» I (so-called Plagal cadence) to establish the key.
Again, watch the arrangement:
•
•
Drum kit (as well as most of the backing track) conspicuously drops out for measures 3
and 4 of the bridge but plays for the rest of it.
Hand claps are "supposed" to sit the entire bridge out, but you'll notice an
uncharacteristically sloppy couple of claps mistakenly performed in the first couple of
measures of the first bridge.
Paul's harmonizing all the way through the bridge is particularly stunning, and the latter's a
word I try not to over-use. I hope I've got the following properly transcribed by ear:
The vocal harmonization of the first half of the bridge is in parallel fifths for the title phrase
followed by parallel fourths for the remainder, on the unusual melisma (the only one of its kind
in the song).
Page 11 of 962
Most clever of all is how the second half shifts to less shocking parallel sixths and thirds for
the most part, but still exposes that same open fourth (E/B) we heard in the second half of the
first line in a couple places in the second half of the second line. Note how the context differs in
the second case: the top note of the fourth (E) resolves downward, appoggiatura-style over the B
that is sustained beneath it. Thus, in the second case, instead of parallel fifths we get a
momentary flash of the Beatles much beloved added-sixth chord (on G).
Outro
The outro evolves out of the final verse, with "three times you're out" reprise of the final
phrase. The latter is a well-established, venerable pop music cliche of which we'll see no small
amount of in the rest of the Beatles' songbook. I'm not sure yet whether this is a matter of
laziness, true fondness for the gambit per se, or merely a side-effect of their manifest preference
for complete endings over fade-outs.
The final part of the outro is musically identical to the intro but the decision to neither repeat
the fade-in, or even worse to change it into a truly symmetrical fade-out, is a good example of
avoiding foolish consistency.
Some Final Thoughts
Lest any of you think I'm some desiccated pedant who derives no joy from actually listening
to the music let me share with you: I was in 11th grade when this song first came out. In those
days I was a regular little Schroder-from-the-Peanuts-cartoon who was heavy into classical
music and eschewed virtually all popular music.
To make a long story short, I can still remember (and experience) the hair on the back of my
neck standing up when I hear(d) those parallel fifths/fourths in the bridge for the first time.
So there :-).
By the way, I assume a certain basic knowledge of musical notation and theory in these
articles.
“They tried to fob you off on this musical charlatan, but *I* gave him the test.”022700#2.2
Page 12 of 962
And I Love Her
Key: E Major/c# minor – F Major/d minor
Meter: 4/4
| Verse | Verse (instrumental) |
CD: "A Hard Day's Night", Track 5 (Parlophone CDP7 46437-2)
Recorded: 25th - 27th February 1964, Abbey Road 2
UK-release: 10th July 1964 (LP "A Hard Day's Night")
US-release: 6th December 1965 (Double A Single / "Day Tripper")
Style and Form
With “And I Love Her” we move still earlier in the songbook to the first of Macca's
unabashed original love songs to be released, and an equally early example of a kind of Major/
minor key harmonic twist that emerges as a much favored stylistic technique of their's over the
long run. Indeed, the plaintive bittersweetness of “And I Love Her” derives in large measure
from it's tonal ambiguity; is it in a Major or minor key?
The song continually flip-flops back and forth between a minor key (c#-minor) and its
relative Major (E Major). Another major point of interest (and source of ambiguity) in this song
is that it makes a delicious modulation up one-half step at the beginning of the guitar break, but
more on that later.
The form is unusual: one bridge, only, with 2 verses preceding and 3 verses following; and
the middle verse of the final three scored for guitar solo. The first three of the four verses set to
words feature different lyrics in a verbal pattern of “I”, “She”, “the stars.” The final verse repeats
the “stars” lyric.
The alternate version released on Anthology 1 features the following major differences:
• The form does not contain the familiar intro, outro, or bridge.
• The string of 3 verses precedes the guitar solo.
• The backing track is the more standard electric guitar trio plus full drum set, making the
whole thing feel much less gentle even though the tempo is very close to that of the official
version.
• The introductory hook for lead guitar is not in evidence.
Major/minor Relatives, Modulations, and Pivot Chords Defined
Technical Background Mode ON
Page 13 of 962
Major and minor keys are said to be mutual “relatives” then they share the same key
signature. (e.g., C major/a minor, F major/d minor etc.). Implicit in the sharing of a key signature
is the fact that they share the same chords, although each chord has a different harmonic/
grammatical meaning (i.e., crudely put, a different Roman numeral) depending on which mode
you're in. For example, in the pair of keys C major/a minor, the d minor triad is common to both
but it's the II chord of C and the IV chord of A.
The ample selection of common chords in this situation makes it very easy to modulate
between the two keys. Such chords are called “pivot” chords when they're used to effect a
smooth modulation from one key to another. In terms of aural perception, one experiences such a
chord initially in the old key, but within the following two chords, one retrospectively hears it as
part of the new key; a kind of harmonic pun.
Technical Background Mode OFF
Melody and Harmony
The verse tune is shot through with McCartneyesque appoggiaturas and has the melodic
contour of a sophisticated sine curve; the first three phrases reiterate an upward trajectory from
mid range, with the final two phrases picking up at the top, traveling all the way down to a low
point roughly symmetrical to the earlier peak, finally tying things up right back around the mid
point. The bridge tune, by contrast, features a triadic pattern in fixed range. The six chords
common between E Major and c# minor are the primary harmonic vocabulary: E, f#, g#, A, B,
and c#.
Arrangement
The conspicuously sparse backing track contains acoustic lead and rhythm guitars, electric
bass, and in the percussion department nothing more than the gentle tapping of claves (small
cylindrical wood blocks).
Paul's lead vocal is double tracked throughout. There are no backing voices.
Resting “on one” becomes a subtle motif for the song; both the opening guitar hook as well
as every single one of the vocal phrases begins with a rest on the first or third beat of the
measure.
Other details in the arrangement:
• The intro/outro guitar hook appears only in verses 1 and 3.
• The delicate arpeggio figure that appears throughout verse 2 is delayed a couple measures
from entering in verses 3 and 5.
• The bridge features prominent, slow strumming of rhythm guitar chords on the downbeat.
The same gesture reappears for the final chord.
Page 14 of 962
Section By Section Walkthrough
Intro
The four-measure intro repeats the following progression of two chords. I think one hears it
as a “weak” (i.e. non-dominant, not even Plagal) cadence toward the Major:
|—————————————————-—————Two times ——————————————————————|
E:
f#
E
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
ii
I
[Figure 3.1]
I won't dwell on it, but starting on a non-I chord in this context is itself ambiguous. Think
about it: if you stop the song after the first chord, what key would you think you were in? The
guitar lands with the note C# on the downbeat of each chord change. In the case of f# minor, that
note is part of the chord, but in the case of E Major, that C# turns the chord into an added 6th;
strange shades of “She Loves You.”
Verse
The verse is an unusual 10 measures long and is built out of 5 short phrases in a pattern of
AA’ABC:
D:
c#:
f#
c#
f#
c#
f#
c#
A
B
|——————|——————|——————|——————|——————|——————|——————|——————|
ii
IV
V
iv
i
iv
i
iv
i
VI
E:
E
|——————————|——————————|
I
[Figure 3.2]
Coming off of the intro we think we're in the key of E major, but as soon as the verse begins
we find that the f#- minor chord moves to the c#-minor chord in a IV -> I (Plagal) cadence; this
is repeated three times and I think one gets the definite sensation of being grounded in the
relative minor. And yet, in the last line of the verse we move from the c# minor chord to a
straightforward IV -> V -> I cadence right back into E major again. All this goes down quite
smoothly because of the pivots which are schematically shown above.
Page 15 of 962
Bridge
The bridge is a four-square 8 measures long with a phrasing pattern of ABBC:
E:
c#
B
c#
g#
c#
g#
B
|——————|——————|——————|——————|——————|——————|——————|——————|
vi
V
vi
iii
vi
iii
V
[Figure 3.3]
Both verse and bridge have similar patterns of harmonic rhythm; steady throughout but with
the final chord sustained for two measures. The contour of the chord progression in this bridge
closely echoes that of the verse; down a step, back up, down a fourth, etc. I don't believe that the
composer actually sits there and conceptualizes this, but I also don't believe it's a random
coincidence, and it does provide a source of subliminal unity. The harmonic shape converges on
the V chord of the Major key, but the direction is unsettled up until that point; with the c# chord
of the relative minor filling three of the eight measures, and the music threatening even to
modulate to the unusual key of g#.
The transition from this bridge to the verse that follows provides yet another harmonic tease
with the V chord denied an immediate resolution to E Major, with the next verse leading off, as
usual, with its Plagal cadence in the key of the relative minor.
Guitar Solo
Instead of a repeat of the bridge, we get a verse-worth's of guitar solo. But not so fast—in the
instant in which the guitar solo commences, the music neatly modulates up one half step; if the
original key pair was E/c#, we're now in F/d; from the world of 4 sharps to one of one flat.
While such upshifts for later verses have been a staple of the 2-minute love song since the
fifties, this one is unusual because the first chord in the new key is its IV chord. It's a real
attention grabber because it contains no notes in common with the previous key. In this specific
case, we're talking about a g minor chord (g-b flat-d) plunked down in a neighborhood of 4
sharps! A sort of triple cross relation.
Once we get a few bars further and the new tonal plane is established it's no big deal in
retrospect; you'd have to listen to the song several times in a loop to necessarily notice that
you've ended up higher. Nonetheless, the moment of impact of that g triad is special. If I got
away with calling the “We Can Work It Out” refrain a time warp, then this one is the harmonic
equivalent.
Page 16 of 962
Outro
There is one final verse following the solo in which everything is as before except that the
music is transposed a half tone higher, followed by an outro very similar to the introduction with
one critical difference:
F:
d:
g
F
g
D-Major
|——————|——————|——————|——————|——————|——————|—————————|——————|
ii
I
ii
iv
I#3
[Figure 3.4]
The song ends ironically on the Major flavor of the relative minor; I would half expect the
sheet music to contain a smiley emoticon at the end. This gambit has been around since the
Baroque period in which it was considered dissonant to end on a minor chord so many pieces in
minor keys ended in those days in this manner—the fancy term for this is the Piccardy Third (no
kidding.)
Some Final Thoughts
So… What's the answer? Which relative key is the song in; Major or minor? Consider the
evidence:
• The intro is in the Major.
• The verse is in the minor for more than half its length yet always shifts to the Major at the
end.
• The bridge equivocates at first, then comes around to the Major, only to go right into
another verse with its predominant minor opening.
• There is only one bridge section, but there are 5 verses including the guitar solo.
• The upshift modulation is irrelevant to the Major/Minor question and was added in to
relieve what otherwise would have been a tedium of too many verses in a row without
break.
• The outro, while ending on the root of the Minor, is nonetheless a Major chord.
• On the one hand, if you tally the total number of measures appearing in minor versusMajor keys, then minor wins out. On the other hand, the Major key is clearly established
repeatedly by the strong IV-V-I cadences, whereas the V chord of the minor key appears
nowhere at all.
If you insist on my making a binary decision, I'd hesitantly give it to the minor key “on
points” (like a boxing match), but it's kind of moot; I myself was recently willing to actually
reverse this standing opinion of more than 10 years in order to give it to the Major key
Don't be fooled or confused. It's the ambiguity per se here that is germane.
Page 17 of 962
Uncannily, the opening song of Robert Schumann's (1810 - 1856) Dichterliebe (Poet's Love)
has a very similar tonal design to “And I Love Her”. Schumann's song is called “Im
Wunderschoenen Monat Mai” (In the wonderfully-beautiful month of May).
Schumann's song also creates an overall feeling of being in the relative minor key, even
though there is no full cadence ever made to the minor key (its V is always left hanging), and his
verse section immediately moves to a full cadence in the relative Major. Instead of a Piccardy
3rd ending, Schumann ends the song on V7 of the relative minor; a ballsey move for mid-19th
century.
Anyway, if it's good enough for Robert Schumann …
“They tried to fob you off on this musical charlatan, but I gave him the test.” 030800#3.3
Page 18 of 962
Day Tripper
Key:
Meter:
Form:
CD:
Recorded:
UK-release:
US-release:
E Major
4/4
Intro | Verse | Verse | Bridge | Verse | Outro (fade-out)
"Past Masters", Volume 2, Track 1 (Parlophone CDP 90044-2)
16th October 1965, Abbey Road 2
3rd December 1965 (Double A Single / "We Can Work It Out")
6th December 1965 (Double A Single / "We Can Work It Out")
Style and Form
“Day Tripper”, by virtue of its handling of harmonic rhythm, ostinato guitar riff, and subtle
textures in scoring, is remarkably instrumental, even orchestral in gesture for a “pop song.”
There are also several noteworthy examples here of one of a composer's trade secrets; i.e., avoid
rote (read: foolish) consistency even when conveying homogeneity. Yeah, I know that Len and
Mac were quoted in a 1966 interview that this was a “forced” bit of a pot-boiler, crafted under
pressure of looming deadlines. You'd never guess it from the finished product.
The song has a somewhat compact form by virtue of its single bridge. It is more typical of
songs of this period to repeat the bridge/verse one more time but, as we'll see later on, the nature
of the bridge here argues strongly against that.
The bridge has no “words” per se, but all three verses feature new material. Note the
avoidance of foolish consistency in the switch to “Sunday driver” for the final verse.
This is the first time in this series that we come upon a Beatles song that bears the signature
of an unforgettable guitar riff used to both open and unify the whole production. Like most other
musical devices we’ll come upon in our studies, this kind of branding-by-riff may not be
something the Beatles necessarily “invented,”
but there's no denying that it is one of several techniques by which they would be known.
Some terms defined
• “Harmonic rhythm” is the rhythm articulated by the chord changes in a piece of music. It
affects one’s perception of the speed at which the music moves forward more so than the
actual tempo. For example, a piece with a fast beat and many sixteenth notes in the
foreground will still feel lumbering if the chords change infrequently. The same is true in
reverse. Furthermore, harmonic rhythm can be manipulated to lend a passage a feeling of
acceleration and climax, or conversely, a feeling of relaxation. “Day Tripper”
conspicuously manipulates harmonic rhythm to dramatic effect.
• “Ostinato” is the term applied to the repetition of a musical pattern several times in
succession. While such a pattern is often part of a bass line, it may also appear as part of an
Page 19 of 962
upper melodic line; it may even manifest itself as a chord progression or rhythmic pattern.
“Day Tripper’s" ostinato riff is among the most memorable of the entire Beatles catalogue.
Melody and Harmony
The melodic material is less tuneful than it is rap-like and jagged in terms of both contour
and rhythmic syncopation. Most of the phrases, outside of the bridge, make an overall downward
gesture. The familiar I-IV-V trio of blues chords is supplemented by an equal number of altered
chords, not indigenous to the home key: V-of-V (F#), V-of-vi (G#), and Major VI in a Major key
(C#); the latter being the parallel Major version of the home key's relative minor. Think of the
chords from another perspective: there's not a minor chord in the bunch. Rather you have here
the Major chords built on the first six scales degrees of the home key's scale.
Arrangement
The raw backing track is for bass, lead, and rhythm guitars, plus drums. Tambourine was
added during the overdubbing phase. Paul would appear to have the honor of singing double
tracked lead vocal, with John harmonizing with him much of the way.
Intro
The song starts off with an unusually long intro consisting of no less than five repetitions of
the ostinato riff, during which the instrumental texture is continually thickened; first with just
double-tracked guitar, second with bass guitar added, third with rhythm guitar and tambourine
added, nothing changed in the fourth repeat, and finally those terrific drums and cymbals coming
in on the fifth repeat. The lack of change in the fourth repeat is the second example here of an
avoidance of foolish consistency.
An obsessive detail to look for in the arrangement: the tambourine in its accompaniment of
the riff is double tracked only for its first two ostinato frames; with a the more familiar offbeat (2
and 4) shots backed there by a unique piece of eighth-note shaking.
Taking a cue from Paul's count-in (as can be heard on the unreleased session tapes), note that
the tempo in one sense is quite fast, but the static harmony and the outspread arch of the ostinato
itself (each repeat fills two complete 4/4 measures) are in stark contrast to the underlying beat.
To sum up, we have ten full measures which consist harmonically of nothing more than a
prolongation of the E (I) chord. The effect is far from boring. The thickening texture builds
anticipation, plus, the verse commences unexpectedly following an odd (actually prime) number
of repetitions, catching us by surprise. In comparison, four repeats would be simply too foursquare, and six or more would make it all too long; think the song through in your head with
these variations and notice the difference.
Page 20 of 962
The melodic shape of the ostinato and its syncopated rhythm are worthy of their own
discussion, as is the manner in which the syncopations of the sung lyrics contrast with it:
Paradoxically, the riff has both the overall shape of a non-symmetrical rising arch whose
descent does not completely balance out its ascent, yet it makes an impression of upward bound
saw tooth angularity; note particularly the way it drops a full octave in the space of a single
eighth note whenever it repeats. Harmonically it outlines a bluesy I9 chord (with the flat 7th!).
Rhythmically, it places hard syncopations on the eighth note preceding both the first and third
beat of the second measure, while its final three eighth notes provide momentum that effectively
leads into the repeat.
Verse
The verse is a standard 16 measures, but the harmonic rhythm and the progression of the
chords are unusual:
E:
E
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
E:
A
E
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
IV
I
E:
F#
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
V-of-V
E:
c#:
A
G#
C#
B
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
VI
V
VI
V
I#3
VII
E:
E
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
[Figure 4.2]
Page 21 of 962
The harmonic rhythm effectively mirrors the deferred gratification described by the lyrics;
after a ten measure introduction consisting of one chord, the verse still has trouble getting
harmonically off the dime. The long sustained chord of the first four bars is followed by only one
change during the second four. The third phrase hangs back again on a single chord. Finally, in
the fourth four we get a change of chord in each measure providing long awaited kinetic relief.
The chord progression in the last eight measures also underscores the lyrics' description of
being teased and strung along. The choice of chord for the third four is the V-of-V, a chord which
badly wants resolution to the V. Not only is this V-of-V prolonged per se, but it is not allowed to
resolve properly until all the way at the end of the following four measures; and before doing so,
we have an intervening flirtation toward the key of the relative minor (appearing in Major mode,
no less, which makes it sound even more remote than it really is). Incidentally, when the ostinato
on E returns following the verse, it provides a pungent, albeit indirect, cross relation with the E#
of the C# chord two measures earlier.
The first eight measures of this verse are quite bluesy, to the extent that they repeat the same
lyrics over eight measures worth of I - IV - I.
Again, I don't want to digress here but some points worthy of further study in this verse:
• The ostinato appears in only the first eight measures of the verse, but the arpeggio quality
of the ostinato continues in the bass line even when the ostinato itself isn't present; another
example of homogeneity without foolish consistency.
• The ostinato which is flowing and arch-shaped stands in sharp contrast to the voice parts
which are jagged and downward in gesture. The melody of the voice parts is very difficult
to sing, particularly without the underlying chords to keep you oriented; have you tried
singing this song in the shower lately? I believe that this is one of two major factors which
create the overall instrumental flavor to the song.
• The different though complementary pinpoints of syncopation between the bass and the
voice parts are also noteworthy. An interesting exercise would be to write out the
composite rhythm of the two lines; if you are unequipped to do so, try this – concentrate
hard in listening and try to hear that composite rhythm:
Got a
Tak-ing
Got a
Tak-ing
|1
&
|E
-
good
the
good
the
2
-
reason
easy
way out
reason
easy
way out
&
3
&
4
& |1
Fx G# B
E
D
(Fx = f-double-sharp)
For
yeah
&
2
B
For
&
F#
3
-
&
B
4
D
&
E
|
[Figure 4.3]
Measure 1:
• Ostinato puts the accent on 4&
• Vocal puts accents on 2& and 3& (the two syllables of “reason”) and 4& (“out”)
• I.e. they coincide only on 4& and in alternate lines
Page 22 of 962
Measure 2:
• Ostinato puts accents on 2& and 3& - Vocal puts the accent on 1& (“yeah”) and 4& (“For”) I.e. no point of coincidence!
• I'd argue that the two repetitions of the ostinato (four measures worth) which separate the two
verses were intentionally put there, like a petit reprise of the intro, to rebuild suspense and slow
the pace of the game because of whatever momentum is picked up in those last four measures
of the first verse. Imagine the
• song without them and see how the second verse feels like the music is starting to hurtle.
• More obsessive arrangement details:
• Tambourine plays on beats 2 and 4 in first eight measures, then switches to all 4 beats for the
rest of it.
• Ringo throws in a very subtle little sixteenth note figure on the downbeats of only measures
13 and 14; but he does this in all 3 verses.
Tambourine plays a fast roll in the first two measures of the intro reprise, switching back to
the offbeats for the second half of it.
Bridge
Right off, let's note that this “middle 8” is actually a size 12. Furthermore, it's built on a
prolongation of a single chord (B, the V chord); very reminsicent of the transition from end-ofdevelopment-to-recapitulation found in many classical and romantic symphonies. Melodically,
we're treated to the familiar ostinato followed by wordless harmonization in the vocal parts. All
this is very strange for the genre and the time period. I believe it is this bridge which is the
second major factor behind the instrumental feel of the overall song.
The prolongation of a single chord serves a very different purpose here from that of the
introduction. No subtly rising expectations this time; instead we have a powerful, total climax
leading back to the final verse. Rather than continue to slavishly reflect the lyrics, the music
takes us well beyond “half way there.” (Sorry for the sophomoric vulgarity, but you've got to
remember that in its time, the lyrics of this song were quite properly snickered over by many
adolescents. Oy!) Given all of this, it's fairly obvious that a second repeat of this bridge within
the same song would create an absurd anti-climax.
If you have any doubt about the climactic intention of the bridge, look at one specific detail:
the breathing/phrasing of the voices in the second six of the bridge. These six measures are sung
in three phrases of 3, 2, and 1 measures respectively; the breathing literally gets heavier.
Schematically:
Voices: |
Instruments: |ost.
|
Measure #s: |1
2
|ost.
3
|ost
4
5
6
|Ah---------|Ah-----|Ah--|
|lead guitar solo -------|
|
|
|7
8
9
10 11 12 |
[Figure 4.4]
Page 23 of 962
Two other examples of “rising” in the arrangement:
• One of the guitars executes a twelve note scale over the course of this section, starting on B
in the baritone range and ending up on F# and octave and a half higher. Listen for it on the
2nd beat of each measure.
• The top vocal part similarly sings a six note scale over the course of its six measures,
starting on D# and ending on high B.
Outro
The petit reprise of the intro is repeated between the end of the bridge and start of the last
verse. After all, you’ve got to catch your breath at some point, don't you, in order to be able to go
on. The final verse is virtually identical to the first two and architecturally provides ballast and
balance to the song overall. As seems to be a common Beatle practice, the material for the coda
is recycled from the intro. We have the same five repeats of the ostinato with the same plan for
thickening the texture. The voices join in with a repeated pattern which carries us through the
fadeout.
Two last examples of foolish consistency avoided:
• the falsetto variation in the fourth phrase of the verse
• in the coda, the voices start in on the fifth repeat of the ostinato, not after it.
Some Final Thoughts
The official recording contains a mysterious, awkward “gap” of an edit during the final verse,
which bootlegs of the raw session tape reveal to be an attempt to retouch a stray bit of
mechanical/instrumental noise. But we also have an example here of an outright performance
mistake the engineers tried unsuccessfully to turn into a (second) gap: There are two or more
singers in the coda. The pattern in the lyrics is supposed to be “Day tripper, day tripper yeah!”
but in the first statement of this pattern one of the singers accidentally blurts out “yeah” after the
first “day tripper,” and you can hear a small gap on the track just after the goof up.
Oh well, “it took me so long to find out.”
“They tried to fob you off on this musical charlatan, but I gave him the test."
Page 24 of 962
She Loves You
Key: G Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Verse | Refrain |
| Verse | Verse (instrumental) |
| Verse | Refrain | Outro (with complete ending)
Recorded: 1st July 1963, Abbey Road 2
UK-release: 23rd August 1963 (A Single / "I'll Get You")
US-release: 16th September 1963 (A Single / "I'll Get You")
Style and Form
“She Loves You” is one of the very first Beatles songs most of us Americans ever heard.
Over time, it has achieved an iconic status with respect to time and place that ironically
transcends the Beatles, per se, even while it so aptly characterizes them in their early career.
Against the backdrop of the first few articles in this series, in which I've chosen to pull apart
individual Beatles songs that demonstrate a conspicuous willingness to deal adventurously with
compositional parameters such as form, harmony, phrasing and the like, there are a number of
significant ways in which “She Loves You” is not particularly daring; shades of Norm's warning
to the group, “let's not pull any strokes or do anything I'll be sorry for.” In particular:
• The phrasing throughout is totally four-square; the verse is is four times four, and the
refrain is a true middle eight.
• The harmonic rhythm is fairly regular throughout with no extremes. The chords generally
change every two measures. The few places where this pattern is broken by chord changes
every measure would seem to be carefully staged, however subconsciously.
• The harmonic scheme, in spite of a few localized touches of color, is rather static; the song
is firmly in G throughout.
• And yet, the song contains a musical vocabulary and arrangement that is shot through with
quirky details and nuances that were soon to develop into trademarks of the group; their
special "sound" is already apparent.
• The first notable thing about “She Loves You”'s form is the use of a refrain (a.k.a. chorus)
for the contrasting sections rather than a bridge. Refer to my sidebar on the hook/verse/
refrain question in Note’s on “All My Loving.” For now, just note that “She Loves You” is
the first time in this series we've run into the refrain.
• Even more notable is the one-track-mind ubiquity of this refrain. The intro and outro turn
out to be variations of it. The second half of the verse could be said to, content-wise,
overlap with it.
Page 25 of 962
• Finally, the fact that no final verse intervenes between the second refrain and the outro is an
unusual detail.
Each of the three verses feature some unique lyrics. While the plot line here of a 3rd party
go-between who advises his friend on how to make up to her is one of a small group of archtypal
Top 40 themes that hardly originates with the Beatles, I think the focus here on extreme, raw
feelings in the choice of words and imagery is a fresh twist; “she almost lost her mind,” and
“pride can hurt you too.”
Melody and Harmony
The tune covers the range of a full octave. Upward motion in the form of the verse's opening
scale and the title phrase's jumping motif is nicely balanced out, especially by the downward
“yeah, yeah, yeah” motif. Also enjoy the way in which that opening verse scale outlines a
awkwardly pungent Major 7th; from the word "think" up to “saw.” It's the musical equivalent of
getting your arm lock/twisted in a funny position.
Five out of seven diatonically available chords in the Major home key appear in the song: I,
iii, IV, V, and vi. They are joined by two altered chords: the already familiar V-of-V and, making
its first but by no means only appearance in this series, the minor iv chord; borrowed, as it were,
from the home key's parallel minor mode.
The Added-Sixth Chord
On a theoretical basis, that added sixth is called a “free” (in the sense of gratuitous, or nonfunctional) dissonance. In most tonal music until the twentieth century, any note appearing in a
chord that was not part of the chord's root triad was considered a dissonance. As such, it was
expected to be well behaved by “resolving”, typically stepwise downward, either to a note that is
part of the current or following chord. The most classic example of this is the way in which the
"7" of the V7 chord resolves to the "3" of the I chord:
C:
F
D
B
G
V
-»
-»
-»
-»
E
C
G
C
I
[Figure 5.1]
Textbook dissonance treatment would demand one of the following options of our addedsixth chord of G, B, D, E:
• Resolve the 6th down to D as the 5th of the current chord.
• Resolve the 6th down to D as a member of a chord that follows.
Page 26 of 962
• Let what is now the 6th (E) be repeated or sustained in the next chord of which it should be
a member. In this case you rationalize added-sixth dissonance as an “anticipation” of the
second chord.
By the end of the 19th century, this strict treatment of dissonance broke down even within the
so-called classical domain though not without many raised eyebrows; the free 9 and 11 chords of
Debussy for example were quite the talk of music theory classes 100 years ago. And if you want
to hear a particularly early and lush usage of the added sixth, then check out th ending of
Mahler's “Das Lied von der Erde” (1908.) Here, it is the repetitious insistence of the yeah-yeahyeah motif (melodically descending G -> F# -> E) enables the G6 chord to sound flawlessly
logical. In the refrain section, that motif always repeats three times in a row, each time over
different chords: e minor, A Major, and then C -> G Major. The note 'E' is a perfectly legitimate
member of the first two chords. By that point, the melodic pattern is sufficiently well established
for you to accept it over the G chord even though it doesn't belong there, strictly speaking.
In the final result, that E sitting on top of the G triad serves no structural musical purpose
other than to give sensuous delight. Think of it as a spice as opposed to a nutrient. You might
also want to think of it fancifully as if it were the I and vi chords superimposed upon each other;
i.e. the Major home key melded with its relative minor.
Arrangement
The backing track sounds like the standard Beatles live combo of bass, lead, rhythm guitars,
plus drums. Paul and John provide a two-part lead vocal which vacillates between unison and
flashes of their characteristically funky counterpoint. George assists in the refrains.
As mastered on CD, the track is maddeningly thick, opaque, and unclear sounding. Alas, it
sounds no better on the vinyl so-called "stereo" pressings from Capitol. I'm frankly of divided
opinion whether to think it either scandalous or ironically appropriate that the nominally
authoritative version available to us in the year 2000 of such an important classic sounds no
better than it did at the time of its original release as heard over a cheap transistor AM radio.
You can find a number of interesting details here in spite of the wall of sound first
impression:
• Ringo uses sizzling cymbals only in the verse section; the intro, refrains, and outro omit them.
• Each verse is introduced by a growling, fanfare-like guitar lick that contains a number of minor
key inflections.
• Each refrain is introduced by a short burst of signature falsetto singing on the phoneme,
“whooo.”
• Paul's bass part uses a rhythmic pattern of dotted quarter followed by an eighth note and half
(the boom pah'boom pattern heard years later in “All Together Now”) just about everywhere in
the song except on that syncopation in the third line of the verse.
• Ringo tries for a wrenching syncopation in parts of all the non-verse sections, placing his
accents on the eighth notes preceding beats 3 and 4.
Page 27 of 962
Quite apart from its from harmonic implications already discussed, the added-sixth chord is a
factor in the arrangement; being a surprisingly early example of what, over the long run, would
emerge as a Beatles penchant for mixing stylistic elements that seem to be mutually antagonistic
and/or individually anachronistic in ways that create surprising, Nouvelle cuisine-like effects.
George Martin himself is reported as having tried to talk them out of using the added sixth here,
saying it sounded too much like a throw back to the Andrews Sisters, what you might call a kind
of girl group from the Big Band era of the 1940s. Fans of old Abbott and Costello flicks may
recall them as having provided the musical respite in the 1941 features, Hold That Ghost and
Buck Privates; speaking of Million Dollar Movie.
Intro
To borrow a phrase from ancient Greek drama, the song begins “in medias res.” We get a
little drum roll and the intro starts off as though the song were already in progress. The fact that
the intro is actually nothing other than a variation on (an anticipation of?) the refrain is what
creates this effect. The feeling of having started in the midst of the action is heightened by the
opening chord progression. We're not "in" G as much as we are heading toward it. The intro is
eight measure long and its phrasing pattern is 2 + 2 +4, AA’A":
G:
e
|—————————————|—————————————|
vi
A7
|—————————————|—————————————|
V-of-V
C
G
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
IIV
I
[Figure 5.2]
The use of the V-of-V moving to the IV (with the inevitable cross relation) is an early
example of what we saw in “Eight Days A Week”. The opening chord progression which doesn't
start on I and takes four somewhat disorienting chords to finally get there shows up again in,
among other place, “Help!”
Verse
The verse is 16 measures long with four equal phrases that make a pattern of AABB'. The
harmonic shape of this section, in contrast to the intro, is “open,” by virtue of starting on I and
ending on V:
Page 28 of 962
G
e7
b
D
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
vi
iii
V
G6
e
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
V
vi
c
D
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
iv
V
[Figure 5.3]
Harmonic rhythm is increased temporarily to a chord change every measure for just the first
two lines of the verse. You don't quite realize this has happened until it already shifts back to
changing every other measure.
There's another striking free dissonance near the beginning of the verse: the e7 chord formed
by the D in the voice part (i.e., it's at the top of the rising scale on the word “love”). In a more
straight-laced context, that D would want to get resolved to a C on the next chord. This e7 here is
not such a big deal per se, except in consideration of the period and genre in which it appears.
There's a heavy syncopation that just about pulls us out of our seats at the beginning of the
third line of the verse. It comes right after “She said she loves you” and it occurs on the off beat
between the 2nd and 3th beat of the measure; try this – tap straight 4 with one hand and sneak in
a hard whack between 2 and 3 with your other – you'll see what I mean about falling out of your
seat. The fact that this sort of syncopation is used so sparingly within this song makes this
instance the more powerful. Indeed, there are two additional reasons for the powerful effect here
yet again teaching us how “less is more”:
• the same syncopation is not repeated in the next phrase where (rote) symmetry would have
argued for it; play it out in your head – it's very reasonably symmetrical but overall, it
vitiates the power of the first one.
• the chord for our syncopation is G but the choice for the low note in the bass is B, putting
the chord in it’s first inversion which carries less weight than the root position. Again, play
it out in your head—the note G in the bass makes for a harder blow, but it's almost too hard
and a little difficult to bounce off of; like stamping hard into mud.
In the second half of the phrase which contains the syncopation we have the lead guitar fill in
a space with a quote of the “yeah, yeah, yeah” motive of the intro and refrain. It's always been
there so you take it for granted but step back and think of the song as a whole; what a unifying
impact the use of this motive has on it!
Then of course there's that c-minor chord which begins the fourth phrase and seems to get
people in quite a stir. It's actually not that far out a chord; none other than the iv chord borrowed
from the parallel minor of G Major. Huh?
Page 29 of 962
Not to be confused with the concept of relative major/minor keys, parallel Major/minor
(“Please Please Me”) keys are simply the Major and minor modes of the same tonic root; e.g., G
Major and g minor. “Please Please Me”’s poses a paradoxical quality – they have different key
signatures (and hence a slightly different set of chords) yet they don't really sound at all like
remote keys from each other because of the common tonic (I). Going way back into the classical
period, composers frequently have borrowed chords from the parallel minor when in a major key
for effect. The particular favorites choices in this regard are the iv and vi which contain the
flattened 6th degree of the scale; that flat 6th has a very strong melodic pull downward toward
the 5th degree of the scale.
In spite of all of the scholarly verbiage used here, the minor iv chord is quite a garden variety
effect. Think of the line in “Home on the Range” which goes “where seldom is heard a
discouraging word”; a typical harmonization of this line puts the Major IV under the word
“discouraging” and then changes it to a minor iv for the word "word." If you're in the key of G,
you're moving in this example from C Major to c minor and you can hear that E slide down to E
flat in the inner voice; you can even hear the E flat slide down to D in the next line of the song.
This sort of barbershop harmony is quite sentimental in effect. In “She Loves You”, the effect is
more exotic than sentimental mainly because the iv chord is jumped into (from e minor, which
forces yet another cross relation: e natural versus e flat) instead of being set up as it more usually
is by the Major IV. But it's nothing to get hung about.
Refrain
The verse ends on nice fat V chord which resolves “deceptively” to the vi which starts the
refrain. This provides some relief from what otherwise (with the exception of the minor iv) is a
very straight harmonic scheme. The end of the refrain is the only place in the song where we ever
hear a complete V -> I cadence.
The refrain is 8 measures long and bears comparison with the intro. Both converge
harmonically on the home key, both have 2 + 2 + 4 phrasing. But the specific chord progression
is different, as well as the phrasing pattern; here it is AA’B:
e
|—————————————|—————————————|
vi
A7
|—————————————|—————————————|
V-of-V
c
D
G
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
iv
V
I
[Figure 5.4]
Page 30 of 962
The minor iv makes a second appearance in the refrain. This one sounds even more exotic
than the earlier one because of it's juxtaposition to the A7 (V-of-V) chord; i.e. it forces a double
cross-relation of C/C# as well as E/Eb. Harmonic rhythm here is increased to a chord change
every measure just for the first three measures of the second phrase.
Outro
The outro grows out of the final refrain with yet another example of the familiar three-timesyou're-out gambit. Interestingly, the third petit reprise is truncated by two measures, yet it also
momentarily steps out of tempo:
e
A7
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
vi
V-of-V
c
D
G
e
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
iv
V
I
vi
c
D
G
e
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
iv
V
I
vi
c
D
|—————————————|—————————————|
iv
V
[Figure 5.5]
The latter is followed by the outro, proper; yet another variation on the eight/bar intro/refrain.
Note, in particular, the unique use of the cliche rock chord progression this time, only:
G
e
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
vi
C
G6
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
IV
I
[Figure 5.6]
The first iteration of the yeah-yeah-yeah motive in the outro is purely instrumental, with the
voices singing only the final two repeats. Their pride in the sound of that final chord, with their
three voices singing B, D, E, close together, is manifest in the way they sustain it a brief instant
after the instrumental sound has died away. The sensuous experience of single three notes like
that with two of your friends is worth having at least once in a lifetime; something about what
acoustcians call the rapid “beats” that result from small intervals that are not perfect consonants.
Again, observe the subtle throttling of harmonic rhythm through this entire section.
Page 31 of 962
Some Final Thoughts
Have you ever noticed the peculiar property of the voices of John and Paul heard in close
harmony? Sometimes they sound like a third voice which resembles neither of their own, and
sometimes they quite simply make vocal “sparks”. For some reason, the sparking variety seems
to particularly show when they sing open fifths or fourths. It's a wonder that they ever stumbled
onto this. Open fifths in most Western music sounds like an archaic allusion to Medieval times;
thirds and sixths being the typical means of harmonization.
Nonetheless, they somehow went out of their way to sing open fifths and though it's an
incidental detail, it is also a tell tale signature of their early sound. In “She Loves You”, there's a
pair of sparkling open fifths in every verse; in the second measure (as on the word “love)” and in
the tenth measure (on the word “bad.”) There's not much more your learned astronomer (shades
of Walt Whitman) can say about this effect; the theoretician stands in awe of a natural,
miraculous phenomenon.
“Sie denkt, ja, nur an dich, und du sollte zu ihr gehen.” 031200#5.1
Page 32 of 962
Help!
Key: A Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Refrain |
| Verse | Refrain |
| Verse | Refrain | Outro
CD: "Help!", Track 1 (Parlophone CDP7 46439-2)
Recorded: 13th April 1965, Abbey Road 2
UK-release: 23rd July 1965 (A Single / "I'm Down")
US-release: 19th July 1965 (A Single / "I'm Down")
Style and Form
Even while you're totally riveted by “Help's” hard driving beat and desperately anxious
lyrics, its flat ballad form and prominent part for acoustic rhythm guitar are at work, adding a
folksy stylistic cross current.
The folk ballad form, with its repetitious alternation of verse with refrain, is no stranger in
the Beatles song book, but it appears much less frequently than the more familiar one or twobridge pop song forms. In absence of the continuing story line upon which the typical folksong
relies in order to sustain interest, “Help!” makes a couple of formal adjustments to avoid rote
monotony:
• The lyrics of the three verses create an A-B-A pattern.
• The texture of the instrumental arrangement is dramatically lightened up for the first half of
the last verse by thinning out the drum part and eliminating the backing vocal part.
But I'd argue that this relatively small amount of relief is frankly not enough to dispel an
overall closed, static feeling in the song created by the following factors, independent of, or in
addition to, the flat form:
• The harmonic rhythm is fairly slow and unvarying throughout. In the verse, except for the
phrase “help in any way” where the chords change twice within a measure, the rest of the
chords last two whole measures each. In the refrain, the chords last four measures each!
• The 16 measure verse is built out of a musically identical repetition of the same 8 measures.
• The harmony from an architectural viewpoint is unrelievedly in one key (A) throughout. In
spite of the nice effect with the G chord, the refrain provides no relief in terms of excursion
to, or flirtation with a different key. (By contrast, think about the space opened up by the
middle eight of a song like “From Me To You.”)
Page 33 of 962
• All this is not to say that “Help!” is ineffective or unsuccessful; common sense and
experience tells us you don't need to be versed in music theory to recognize a great song
when you hear it; right!?
If anything, I find myself pondering that perhaps, this unusual unrelieved closedness is
intentional and actually part of what makes the impact of the song so strong. The music
underscores the urgent single-mindedness of the message contained within the lyrics; shades of
“got no time for trivialities” from a slightly earlier song of the same composer.
Melody and Harmony
With the exception of the extraordinary upward leap of a sixth to a high C# sung in
screaming falsetto (on the word “please” the climax of each refrain) the tune is centered within a
small range of just a fifth, from A up to E. The narrowness of the range is further emphasized by
the predominance in the tune of motifs that are either triadic or in short downward scale
fragments or 3 or 4 notes; the latter all serving to greatly accent the exceptional impact of the big
leap.
An unusually large number of chords are used: 6 out of the 7 diatonically available to the
home key, plus the modal flat-VII (G Major). The flat-VII chord was obviously not “invented”
by the Beatles, but they were to use it quite a bit starting from around the time of the A Hard
Day's Night album, and I dare say that they are at least partly responsible for the chord's
becoming somewhat of a cliche in late 60s/ early 70s pop music. Flat-VII appears repeatedly in
this song, alternately serving two very different purposes; sort of like a character actor filling two
different roles in the same play. In the verse it is used to make what Wilifred Meller's was talking
about when he used the much ridiculed but very apt label, “Aeolian cadence.” The Aeolian mode
is the white note scale on A, and is one of the modes in which the flat-VII chord naturally occurs,
and is used in place of V to make a complete cadence with I. By contrast, in the intro and
refrains, the flat-VII chord appears in the midst of an unusual chromatic chord progression.
Arrangement
Lewisohn points out how it was in the sessions for the Help! album that the Beatles first
really locked on in a big way to the procedure of recording backing tracks before laying down
vocals and other finishing touches as successive overdubs. This is amply borne out by the rough
early takes of “Help!” fortunately available in unofficial release.
The basic track includes acoustic rhythm guitar, lead guitar, bass, and drums. Initial attempts
to capture the signature rapid arpeggios in the lead guitar at this point are abandoned after
George complains it's too hard to perform the rapid eighth notes evenly in tempo. In addition to
all vocals, also missing at this point is the tambourine and the heavily doubly downward bass
line of the refrain. There is much to admire in the detailed arrangement:
• Ringo uses a short, one-beat roll to pickup the first verse and round off each refrain, but to
lead into the refrains he opts for the insistent pattern of 7 even eighth notes starting on the
Page 34 of 962
half beat after 1. In the first half of the final verse he plays only on the downbeats where
the chords change.
• Paul uses the dotted rhythmic pattern we noted back in “She Loves You” for just the verses.
• The lead guitar has no part in the verses. In the refrain, it plays percussive chords on the
offbeats (where it is doubled by the tambourine), and it doubles the descending bass line
during the big build up. At the section's climax it overdubs that funky series of
chromatically descending arpeggios.
• John, of course, provides the double-tracked lead vocal with a complex backing part for
Paul and George.
The backers fascinatingly alternate between adding points of bold font-like emphasis to the
lead part with chordal doubling, and providing a form of melodic counterpoint in which both the
words and notes they sing subtly intertwine and overlap with the lead. If you listen carefully, the
two sets of words are almost but not quite exactly matching, nor does either of the parts
consistently lead or follow. Is this a Greek chorus of friendly observers commenting on the
protagonist, or is it more likely the protagonist's inner dialog?
The most precious vocal detail is found at the end of the first line of the verse:
Note how near the end of the line the backers sing the identical pattern of five notes as the
lead, but they trail by a few beats, by which time they not only have to “jump over” the lead (in
terms of range), but best of all, they sing the figure with very different points of rhythmic
emphasis; John puts the main emphasis on the syncopated second C# (on the second syllable of
“today”) of the figure, but the backers put the accent on the E at its apex (on the first syllable of
“never”), which in their part falls smack on the 3rd beat of the measure.
Intro
The intro is an eight-measure long compressed version of what will turn out to be the refrain
section:
Page 35 of 962
A:
b
G
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
ii
flat-VII
E
A
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
V
I
[Figure 6.2]
The chord progression of the intro is a classic harmonic example of starting a piece out in left
field; “classic” in the sense that early Romantic song writers like Schubert and Schumann loved
this gambit. At what point in “Help!” do you know for sure what key we're in? Below are some
of the ways in which I believe the opening chords can be heard; I think that several of the
possibilities below are quickly rejected in retrospect by the ear but I list them all to underscore
the ambiguity.
Is it
or
or
b:
g:
D:
b
i
iii
vi
Actually
it's
A:
ii
-»
G
VI
I
IV
-»
E
-»
A
V-of-flat-VII, huh ???
V-of-ii, huh ???
V-of-V
V, maybe ???
flat-VII
V
I
[Figure 6.3]
This is more than just mental gymnastics on paper. Try and put yourself in a frame of mind as
though you’re hearing this for the first time (try!), and play it out “Name That Tune” style,
dealing out one chord at a time. Ask yourself at each step, “what key am I in”, “where am I
heading?” I think you'll get the picture.
I think one isn't certain of the key being A until the verse actually begins; the possibility of
the A at the end of the intro actually being a V which will go the D as the I chord is very real to
the ear. Once you get used to this progression I believe you hear the overall motion as being from
the ii->V->I; a nice subdominant->dominant->tonic cadence. But what of the G chord ? I put a
flat-VII under it but I don't hear it that way at all in this context; flat-VII is a surrogate dominant
(V-like) function. What I hear in this context is more of a hard to pigeon-hole "filler" chord
between the ii and the V. In the final analysis (ugh!) I'm not even sure what Roman numeral to
give it, or whether to give it one at all. What makes it work is the contrapuntal movement in the
outer voices:
Top:
Bottom:
A:
F#
B
ii
-» G
-» A
-» G
??
-» G#
-» F#
-» E
V
[Figure 6.4]
Page 36 of 962
Scale-wise motion, particularly in a bass line or particularly when any line moves
chromatically as the top line does here, can make the ear follow and “accept” some of the
craziest chord progressions. In music of the late nineteenth century (for examples see Chopin or
Wagner) this technique could be extended through very long passages creating a rather floating
tonal experience.
Our example from "Help!" is a very tiny example of this technique – it extends over only
three chords, the outer two of which are clear tonal anchors like the towers of a suspension
bridge. If you'll allow me to quickly change metaphors yet again, I like to think of that G chord
here making a harmonic "pleat" between it's two neighboring chords. It's a very pleasing effect;
given that the harmonic rhythm is rather slow throughout, this unusual chord progression which
is repeated four times in the course of the song is a conspicuous touch which adds a much needed
feeling of forward and outward movement.
On a visceral level you might say that what otherwise is a cock-sured sense of kinetic motion
in this progression is subtly belied by an uncertainty over its exact direction; kind of like the lateadolescent tale told by the lyrics.
The four-fold repeat of the title in this outro appears to violate some rhetorical rule of three,
but more than makes up for it in the way the final one is literally screamed out; “Ouch!” indeed.
Verse
The verse is sixteen measures long; built out of a repetition of the following eight-measure
phrase which, itself, breaks down into a 4+4 AA' pattern:
A
c#
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
iii
f#
D
G
A
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
vi
IV flat-VIII I
[Figure 6.5]
Refrain
The refrain based on the same musical design as the outro, but here is stretched out to double
the length (16 measures) by multiplying the harmonic rhythm by a factor of two. This latter
change reveals a hidden element of “slow build up” not at all apparent in the faster/shorter intro
version:
A:
b
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
ii
G
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
flat-VII
Page 37 of 962
E
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
V
A
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
[Figure 6.6]
Outro
I always hear the final phrase of the refrain as follows with a V chord on the word “help”
which, though not on the rhythm track, is strongly implied by the voices:
Please
|A
I
please help
|(E)
(V)
me
|A
I
|-
|
This pattern is changed in the final refrain and made into a beautiful example of a deceptive
cadence, in pure Bach style; i.e., the word “me” in the final refrain is given an f# (vi) chord. As
in all such cadences, thing are quickly put right in the following and final phrase. The final chord
of this song is another added sixth chord.
In contrast to the splat-like attack on this chord at the end of "She Loves You", the boys use it
in “Help!” with great subtlety; the plain A chord is given on the down beat, and the sixth is added
as a melodic neighboring tone, off the beat, in falsetto voice on the phoneme “Ooh”; but you
already knew that.
Some Final Thoughts
The public relations hype said that we were all affected especially hard by John's more
confessional songs because they revealed a surprising vulnerability we'd never have expected
was lurking beneath his tough, cool, and zany public persona. The fact that such songs can be
found from one end of the songbook (e.g. “Misery”) to the other (e.g. “I Want You/She's So
Heavy”) should have mitigated anything in the way of "surprise" but that’s PR for you. Even in
this context, though, the song “Help!” would appear to have pushed the envelope, given its
chronological place within the cannon, just shy of mid-career, and its rather “psychiatric” choice
of words. Check your lyrical concordance; it's the only Beatles song where you'll find the words
“independence,” “self-assured,” or “insecure.” But don't be fooled into thinking that we're
dealing with a kind of perverse impulse to recklessly cast John “against type,” running the risk,
big time, of blowing such a carefully cultivated image. Rather it's precisely because of the cross
casting here that the overall production works as well as it does! Consider the alternatives. Tough
guy singing tough songs is okay but predictable. Nebbish singing nebbishy songs is, yech,
pathetic. Nebbish singing tough songs not fully believable. But take the one who always jokes
and laughs like a clown and have him admit to his private indulgence in copious tears that fall
Page 38 of 962
like rain from the sky—and now you've really got something. Maybe those PR folks really knew
what they were doing.
A final footnote on lyrical concordances: the only other Beatles song in which I could find
the phrase :you like I've never done before” other than in this song is in the Quarrymen's
parodistic “You'll Be Mine;” just change the opening verb from “need” to :love.” Is this merely a
coincidence or does it suggest the phrase having been on John's tongue “for years” just waiting
for the right moment to be free?
“...I know for a fact within four weeks he'll be suffering from a violent inferiority complex and loss of status...”
033000#6.1
Page 39 of 962
You're Going To Lose That Girl
Key: E Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Verse' | Bridge |
| Verse' | Bridge |
| Verse' | Outro (with complete ending)
Recorded: 19th February 1965, Abbey Road 2
UK-release: 6th August 1965 (LP "Help!")
US-release: 13th August 1965 (LP "Help!")
Style and Form
“You're Going To Lose That Girl” and "Help!" make for an interesting pair of compositional
siblings to the extent to that both songs similarly exploit (not just utilize) the flat-VII chord, and
share a similar approach to their backing vocals. But “You're Going To Lose That Girl” also does
some funky formalistic things of its own which belie our seemingly straightforward
categorization of it as being in the standard “double bridge” model with single verse (that
happens to incorporate a guitar solo) intervening. To wit:
• The same title-based hook phrase is used to both open the song as well as end each verse
with a kind of mini-refrain.
• The bridge is foreshortened by a single measure shy of what would have been a more
expectable length of eight measures.
• The transition into the bridge involves both an extension of the verse's length and an
harmonic sleight of hand. The transition back from the bridge involves both a different
harmonic sleight of hand and that foreshortening of the bridge's length.
More on all of these techniques below. Keep in mind, for now, that details such are these are
among the tangible, substantive musical elements that “define” the Beatles style and sound. It
matters not that such tricks are neither unique to this song nor were necessarily invented by the
Beatles themselves. Rather it is the freedom and liberality with which such tricks are deployed
throughout the Beatles songbook that stands out dramatically against the backdrop of standard/
average (read: ordinary/mediocre) pop music of the period from which the Beatles emerged.
The lyrics all three verses are based on the computer programmer's conditional “if/then”
clause, with the third verse being a literal repeat of the first. The two bridges feature identical
lyrics that are contrastingly couched in a consequentially assertive tone of voice.
Page 40 of 962
Melody and Harmony
The introductory hook phrase is notable for its pentatonic flavor and broad arch shape
marked by long jumps. The rest of the melodic material is less sharply characterized and placed
in a generally lower range. The tune of the intro begins with a “pickup” that precedes the first
downbeat of the song. The verse and bridge, by contrast, begin after the downbeat of their
respective sections. Compare this with the other songs we've looked at thus far in this series, and
be prepared to track this parameter as we move forward in the series:
• “We Can Work It Out” has a verse that starts after the downbeat, but both its hook phrase
and bridge start on the downbeat.
• “And I Love Her” is a song in which the verse and bridge are after; the hook phrase
actually precedes (aka is a pickup to) the downbeat.
• “Day Tripper” has a verse and bridge that is on the downbeat and a hook phrase that
precedes.
• “She Loves You” conspicuously precedes the downbeat in every section, in many cases just
with a single syllable.
• “Help!” is a bit harder to parse because of the countrapuntal vocal arrangement. Strictly
following the lead line gives us an Intro and Verse that follow the downbeat and a refrain
that is emphatically right on it.
A relatively large number of chords are used, along with a change of key for the bridge
section that's a real test of our skills for dealing with so-called pivot modulations. The harmonic
rhythm is fast throughout, with a chord change on almost every measure except, interestingly, in
the bridge.
For the verse the standard, indigenous choices of I, ii, V, and vi are supplemented by V-of-vi
(in place of iii) and flat-VII. The bridge supplements its use of I and IV with its own flat-VII.
The home key of the song is E Major but its bridge is clearly in the remote key of G Major.
There's no flirtation or fake pass here; it's a full-blown interlude in that second key. I call it
“remote” because there is no G chord (either Major or minor) that's native to the key of E;
remember, there are four sharps in the key signature, the third of which is G#. In fact, there are
no indigenous chords common between the two keys. The only “rationalizable” relationship
between E Major and G Major is to say that G is the relative Major of our parallel minor key.
Think it over; it may sound convoluted but it's not double talk!
Given the lack of naturally occurring common chords, the pivot modulation is cleverly made
by exploiting the flat-VII chord, treating it, double entendre style as the V of the key of flat III;
this is grammatically legitimate though still a surprise. When we looked at “Help!” last time, we
saw there a different, but equally creative and unusual application of the flat VII chord. It's
tempting to suggest that the fact that “Help!” and “You're Going To Lose That Girl” were
composed in close proximity to each other implies more than mere coincidence.
The modulation to flat III which we have here is the more audacious because there is an
easier/textbook alternate way to make this key change – i.e., switch from Major to parallel minor
(e.g., “I'll Be Back”), and then it's a short hop to the relative Major (e.g., “And I Love Her”). Off
Page 41 of 962
the top of my head I can't think of a song that combines both these techniques but it's not unheard
of; trust me!
Going to a remote key is one thing, but getting back to the original one can be even more
challenging; like rescuing a cat from a treetop. In this case, the Beatles use a pivot chord we
haven't seen yet; treating the F Major chord as both the flat-VII of G and the flat-II of the
original home key. Flat-II is sometimes called the “Neapolitan chord”. It's actually not all that
exotic a chord, at least not in the classical world; a lot of Baroque music employs this chord in
final cadences such as flat II->V-I with the flat II in its first inversion. Usage of the flat II chord
in “You're Going To Lose That Girl” is unusual in that appears in root position and without a V
chord between it and the I. This is not the first time the Beatles used this device; it is used with
similarly audacious effect in “Things We Said Today” to slide back to the home key from the
bridge.
Arrangement
The backing track is relatively homogeneous with the standard combo backed up by a
bottom-heavy piano part, and of course, those bongos. They're unessential but delightful; a sort
of squiggly pencil border drawn around a colorful drawing. For a really good time (just when
you think you've had your fill of this song) give it a listen, preferably with earphones, and try and
hear the bongo part in the foreground with the rest of the music as accompaniment. Who said
Ringo couldn't do anything intricate?
John sings lead, heavily echoed and double-tracked throughout, with repeated recourse to
falsetto for the notes from high G# and upward that occur at the end of each verses. The Greek
Chorus backing vocals of Paul and John bear some contrast with the ones in "Help!" despite their
similarities. Since the backers in this song consistently trail the lead, their overall melodic impact
is more in the way of antiphonal obligato, in spite of their frequent overlap with the lead part. In
this connection I'm reminded of a Playboy cartoon of the same period in which a FAB look alike
is haranguing his girl friend, in bed with someone else, while his mates standing right behind
him, periphrastically reinforce his message. Don't ask me how I snuck that issue of the magazine
into the house.
Intro
The intro is four measures long and has an open harmonic shape, moving from I to V, and
nicely motivating the verse which follows. Label this Phrase "A" for now and make note of it:
E:
E
c#
f#9
B
|————————————|————————————|————————————|————————————|
I
vi
ii
V
[Figure 7.1]
Page 42 of 962
We have another “in medias res” opening: no intro, not even a single chord from which the
singers can find their opening notes—a miracle of the recording studio.
Verse
The verse is 12 measures in length, built out of three even phrases in a 3 * 4, "BBA" pattern.
The final phrase is the one we've already heard for the intro. The overall section's like a 12-bar
blues frame with very different harmony; here all three phrases open out from I to V:
Phrase “B”
|———————————————————— 2 times ——————————————————————|
E:
E
G#
f#
B
|————————————|————————————|————————————|————————————|
I
V-of-vi
ii
V
E:
E
c#
f#9
B
|————————————|————————————|————————————|————————————|
I
iv
ii
V
[Figure 7.2]
Label the repeating first phrase of the verse as “Phrase B” and observe how the phrasing
pattern running from the start of the song through the second verse is a symmetrical pallindrome
of A-BB-A-BB-A. For all its symmetry, though, this passage keeps us a great deal more off
balance than the more typical four-=square design for a couple of reasons beyond the obvious
uneven nature of a grouping of seven:
• There is an almost hypnotic effect created by the fact that both phrases A and B end with a
ii->V chord progression. If it wasn't for the delightful "9" chord in phrase A (with the
falsetto G# in the voices) we’d have a potential problem with monotony.
• From a casual listen, we're not sure how the seven phrases are meant to be parsed; is it two
verses of ABB-ABB with a concluding repeat of A or is it two verses of BB surrounded on
each side with a refrain of A? But my question is a bit of a straw man.
In the final result, I think it's the delayed entrance of the drums until the first B phrase that
help's clarify the situation, with its hint that the opening A phrase was probably an introduction,
from which point the rest of the analysis falls in place with relative ease. The reappearance of the
BBA pattern after each bridge really nails it.
Verse
All verses that are not immediately followed by another verse (which means all the verses in
the song except the first one) are extended to an unusual 14 measure length by the following half
phrase which effects the modulation to G in the bridge by pivoting on the D Major chord:
Page 43 of 962
E:
f#
D
|————————————|————————————|
ii-flat-VII flat VII
G:
V
[Figure 7.3]
The middle verse features a lead guitar solo for the two "BB" phrases, with the backing
vocals still hanging on, and the complete vocal chorus (including lead) resuming in the final "A"
phrase.
Bridge
The bridge cruises along nicely in G and then, just as deftly as it shifted there from E, it shifts
back as follows to E for the next verse:
G:
E:
G
C
G
|————————————|————————————|————————————|————————————|
I
IV
I
G
C
F
E
|————————————|————————————|————————————|————————————|
I
IV
flat-VII
E: V-of-flat-II flat-II
I
[Figure 7.4]
The section is an uneven 7 measures long, and built out of two parallel but unequal phrases in
a 4 + 3, AA’ pattern. The foreshortening of the second phrase subtly draws your attention all the
more closely to the harmonic gambit played at its end. As an experiment, repeat the F chord for
an additional measure before dropping to E and you'll see that it's more satisfactorily four-square
in one respect but less, for lack of a better word, “fun.”
Outro
The outro develops out of the final verse at just the point where it sounds like an impossible
third bridge might be forthcoming. Instead, that flat-VII, D Major chord is used as the start of a
surprise concluding “double Plagal” cadence, the only place in the entire song where the
harmonic rhythm exceeds one chord per measure:
f#
D
A
E
|————————————|————————————|————————————|————————————|
E:
ii
flat-VII
IV
I
-VII
(IV-of-IV?)
[Figure 7.5]
Page 44 of 962
It's ironic that a song with so much harmonic movement from I to V should choose to end
with this heavily Plagal formula.
Some Final Thoughts
In the Help! film the Beatles appear as though performing this song live in the studio. The
scene, for all its absurd, staged surreality—Paul alternately playing bass guitar and sitting a
grand piano, and Ringo alternately behind the drum kit or sitting on the floor with the bongos —
it provides a delightful fantasy of what the real recording sessions might have been like. The
tobacco companies must have also liked this scene. Ringo is shown drumming with a cigarette
precariously clenched in his teeth. And we get a long close-up of Paul and George facing each
other, hunched on opposite sides of a single microphone in order tightly execute the backing
vocals. The scene is filmed with back lighting such that you can see the rhythmic thrust of their
sung syllables punctuate like skywriting the generally smoky haze that builds up as the scene
progresses. It's the kind of thing that looks cool enough to persuade a person of a certain mindset
to want to start smoking as soon as possible, even if the thought has never before occurred to that
person. So much for not particularly subliminal persuasion.
“Well look after him. I don't want to find you've lost him.” 051900#7.1
Page 45 of 962
No Reply
Key:
Meter:
Form:
CD:
Recorded:
UK-release:
US-release:
C Major
4/4
Verse | Verse | Bridge | Verse | Outro
"Beatles For Sale", Track 1 (Parlophone CDP7 46438-2)
30th September 1964, Abbey Road 2
4th December 1964 (LP "Beatles For Sale")
15th December 1964 (LP "Beatles '65")
Style and Form
The intense and complex emotionality of “No Reply” comes as much from its construction as
it does from the screaming, double-tracked lead vocal. We'll do an end-to-end run-through but be
forewarned to keep your eye on the third phrase of the verse in particular.
The overall form is compact. There is only one bridge which is followed by only one verse.
The bridge is noteworthy in that is the same length as the verses; a full sixteen measures. The
form is curiously similar to that of “Day Tripper” but for different reasons. In “Day Tripper”, we
saw a bridge so climactic that a repeat would have been an anti-climax. In “No Reply”, the
bridge provides relief from the intensity and dramatic shape of the verses.
The issue here is not so much that the bridge can't be repeated as much as it is that we
couldn't handle more than three verses without feeling burnt out. Play out the two-bridge
variations in your head in which either one or even two more verses intervene between them and
you'll see what I mean.
The lyrics for the three verses form an ABB pattern. I suspect the reason for not repeating the
first verse at the end (i.e. ABA) in this case is because the title phrase, first heard in verse A
reappears the bridge. The use of a rhyme scheme that crosses stanza boundaries (i.e. “your face”
and “my place”) was on their minds from early on based on the horsing around with the word
"face" on the Anthology outtakes of the song, and curiously reminds me of Dylan in a way.
All phrasing of all sections here is with pickups that precede the downbeat. As a side of effect
of this, many of the phrases have rests of a full measure or longer at their ends. The latter creates
an undercurrent in which the listener feels as if the singer is dramatically pausing to let his
individual points sink in before proceeding in each case. Note how “She Loves You”, the other
song in this category we've looked at so far fills in what would otherwise be these dead spots
with its yeah-yeah-yeahs, which function as much as an obbligato to the tune as
they are part of the tune per se.
The placement of such an unhappy love song in the all-important slot of album opener,
followed no less by two more downbeat originals in the form of “I'm A Loser” and “Baby's In
Black,” was unprecedented for the Beatles, and would, in the long run, turn out to be unique. By
contrast, With the Beatles opens with an upbeat trio of “It Won't Be Long,” “All I've Got To Do,”
Page 46 of 962
and “All My Loving;” providing rather an object lesson in the relative benefits of maintaining
Positive Mental Attitude.
Melody and Harmony
The tune is far from being purely pentatonic but several pentatonic licks are conspicuous in
the foreground. Keep your eye out for fragments taken from the descending pitch set of E-D-CA-G; for starters, you have the opening figure (“This happened once before”) and the title phrase
at the end of the same line (“no reply-y-y”).
The verse has an overall melodic contour of an arch, though all its phrases, except for the
climactic 3rd one, make descending gestures. The bridge is a lopsided arch, the majority of
whose melodic action is on the ascent. Six of the seven indigenous chords of the home key, C
Major, are used along with two secondary dominants, V-of-vi (E Major) and V-of-ii (A Major).
We run into a new chord for the first time in this song. We've already seen a couple of
functionally sub-dominant chords in the other songs we've looked at: IV, ii, and V-of-V. In NR
we encounter a new variant, the "ii6/5" chord, which is nothing other than the ii7 chord in its first
inversion. (For you guitar players we're talking about a d minor 7th chord with the f-natural in
the bass.)
The ii6/5 chord is an especially cute sub-dominant because of its “added sixth” sonority; as
though ii and IV were super-imposed on each other. Its usage here is all the more appropriate
because our ears make an alliterative association between it and the C chord with an added sixth
which is used heavily throughout; analogous to the way that people sometimes say that the blue
flecks in your necktie pick up the color of your eyes.
The harmonic rhythm in every phrase of the song other than the 3rd phrase of the verse
changes chords on each of the first three measures, and sustains the 3rd chord through the 4th
measure. That infamous phrase 3 of the verses changes chord in every measure.
Arrangement
The basic combo on the backing track makes prominent use of acoustic guitar and is
supplemented in spots by piano and handclaps. It's difficult to clearly savor the arrangement
from the grungy mono mix available officially to us on CD. The Anthology outtakes, while
cleaner, do not feature the final arrangement; rats. For this reason, the exact nature of the vocal
arrangement and the manner in which the ensemble sound is intensified for the third verse phrase
and bridge are particular mysteries. For now I'm willing to suggest the following; alternatives
and corrections, as always, will be appreciated:
• Vocals: John is double-tracked as lead for all verse phrases except for the 3rd one. In the latter
as well as in the bridges, Paul sings in harmony above him. But I find myself wondering if
instead of John double-tracked we have John and Paul singing in unison, a la "Misery."
Page 47 of 962
• Backing track: We have quiet scoring for acoustic guitar, bass, and drums without cymbals in
all verse phrases except for the 3rd one. In the latter, as well as the bridges, add cymbals to the
drumming, piano and maybe electric guitar. For the bridge also add handclaps.
Verse
We start off, yet again, in the midst of the action; the Boys seem to have liked doing that.
Both the rhythmic pickup of the vocal part as well as the chord progression contribute to this
effect. The first downbeat in the song is actually on the syllable “fore” in “This happened once
before.” The first chord of the song is the ii-6/5 which moves quickly to V -> I.
From a formal perspective, we have a straightforward 4-by-4, 16 measure verse but the
dramatic AA’BA'' shape created by the four phrases is worthy of note:
|————————————————————— 2 times —————————————————————|
C:
d
G
C
|————————————|————————————|————————————|————————————|
ii6
V
I (added sixth)
5
a
e
F7
e
|————————————|————————————|————————————|————————————|
vi
iii
IV
iii
d
G
C
|————————————|————————————|————————————|————————————|
ii6
V
I (added sixth)
5
[Figure 8.1]
The A phrases are musically straightforward. We have a full cadence with a two-measure
prolongation of the tonic. Note how the tune turns all the C Major chords into added-sixth
sonorities.
The contrasting B phrase ("I saw the light/I nearly died") is the focal point of dramatic
tension for the entire song; it's no accident that this material is recycled in the coda. The
syncopations here are quite violent, with the chords changing in each of the four measures on the
eighth note just preceding the downbeat. Now let's zero in on the harmony.
In my personal experience of this phrase I definitely expect something other than a return to e
minor for the last chord, maybe the I chord. The first pair of chords is fine; vi -> iii is a rather
logical progression because it lies along the circle of fifths. Then the tension increases to a peak
in the third chord where we move to F with the tremendous dissonance of e sustained from the
previous chord; the note, e, is actually sustained through the entire phrase. I believe that we
Page 48 of 962
expect to go forward from this F chord, not slide impotently backwards to where we came from,
and yet, this turn of events is surprisingly effective because it provides an uncanny foil to the
lyrics. The words are self-assertive and confrontational while the harmony vacillates. This
contrast lends a degree of subtle complexity to feeling projected by the song; it's not clear if our
hero is as ready for his moment of reckoning as he states.
In terms of implied dissonance, the melodic note, A, is left hanging (on the word “light” or
“died”) after the a minor and F Major chords shift back to the e minor chord. You have to resort
to the accompaniment to get a sense of that note resolving somehow downward to E or G.
The repeat of the A phrase at the end of the verse nicely makes for a dramatic “arch” shape;
further pulling back from the emotional peak of the previous phrase. Harmonically, the
juxtaposition of this last phrase to the end of the B phrase provides us with an e-to-F chord
progression which finally does move up to G. Focus your ears on the bass line in phrases three
and four of the verse if you want to experience the vacillation and eventual movement more
keenly. After the descent to E, the repeated vacillation between E and F before finally moving up
to G reminds me of the “two-steps forward-one-step backward” physical sensation of pushing a
heavy object up an incline. Here's the bass line of the third and fourth phrase run together.
**
(** In the first verse of the song, if you listen very carefully, you might argue that the second F in the
above bass line is actually a D. However, the other two verses definitely show F, and though you may
throw me my own line about avoiding foolish consistency, I'm going to say that in this case, the D in the
first verse was a sloppy "mistake". Actually, the D instead of the F also makes for a nice melodic bass line
too but I still wish they were consistent in this case. This would certainly be an instance where an
alternate take of the song might help settle the point,) but the Anthology outtakes are just as maddeningly
indefinite on this point as the official version. In the final result I could argue phrase is equally effective
with D in the bass line.)
Bridge
The bridge is 16 measures long. It repeats the following eight measure phrase to create an AA
form:
C
E
A
|————————————|————————————|————————————|————————————|
I
V-of-vi
V-of-ii
d
F
C
|————————————|————————————|————————————|————————————|
ii
IV
I
[Figure 8.3]
Page 49 of 962
The delivery intensifies yet again for this section, but without the hard syncopations, there is
little of the earlier tension. The bridge sounds at first like it's going to stray much further away
from home harmonically that it eventually does. This sort of harmonic wilting of resolve
provides still more of a foil to the decisive lyrics. The E and A chords create a momentary
intimation of modulation which is quickly dispelled. The E chord "might" be a V-of-vi, and the
appearance of A Major instead of a minor is a further surprise. In the instant before we realize
that it's only V-of-ii we think we “might” be actually switching keys to A! But alas, it's really
turns out to be "only" V-of-ii and we're right back in the key of C.
A notable example of Lennon wordplay is found here in the way that the lyrics blithely
change point of view twice in the first phrase. “I” appears three times there, referring to the hero
himself in instance 1 and 3, but switching to refer to the antagonist for instance 2.
Outro
The verse is repeated once more following the bridge and then we're treated to a fourmeasure coda which is a variant on the B phrase of the verse:
a
e
F7
C
|————————————|————————————|————————————|————————————|
vi
iii
IV
I9
6
[Figure 8.4]
In the measure just before this coda Ringo very casually throws in a hard syncopation just
before the downbeat, with the rest of the ensemble conspicuously not joining him. This bears a
direct comparison with the way in which the group casually drops a certain dotted rhythm in
favor of even notes in the last verse of “We Can Work It Out”.
The final chord is special; a sonorous, freely dissonant added sixth plus added ninth (notes A
and D sounding on top of a C chord). It's interesting to note that while the ninth in the final chord
is “free”, it's not without reasonable motivation. If you look back at the first two chords in the
phrase (a -> e), there is an inner voice that moves downward from C in the first chord to B in the
second chord. The same thing happens in phrase B above when the F7 chord slides down to E. At
any rate, in our final chord progression, the added-ninth comes into play when an inner voice
moves from E (in the F7 chord) to D (on top of the C chord.) You think I'm pushing it? I say
listen carefully and savor the way they let that final chord ring out!
Some Final Thoughts
The two outtakes of “No Reply” released on Anthology 1, a “take 1/demo” from early June
'64 and a “take 2” from the late September session at which recording of the song was
completed, make for fascinating comparison with the official version as well as with each other.
Page 50 of 962
Demo
• Form: The most critical and glaring difference is in how the third phrase of the verse is
only partially developed at this point; just two measures long, with one chord change to a
minor, and not much syncopation. Yes, the Beatles were known for using just such halfphrases, but this one sounds uncomfortably forced. At least for we who are so familiar
with how it eventually turned out, it's hard to accept it as it is in this outtake. At this stage
the song ends with just half of a verse following the bridge.
• Vocals: Paul backs John the whole way through, most of the time in harmony rather than
unison. Paul frankly sounds like he's trying to upstage John on his own song with
continual horsing around and hammy vocalizing. A small but telling detail: in the bridge,
Paul harmonizes consistently at a 3rd above John. In one particular spot (when John jumps
down from E to C# on the words “that I,” Paul winds up singing G# to E which sounds
terrible. In both the later outtake and the final version, Paul breaks the parallel 3rd rule to
move up from his G# to A; much better.
• Arrangement: None of the quiet-versus-loud contrast manifest in the final product is yet
in evidence. No part yet for piano. And the rhythm guitar part is electric rather than
acoustic.
• Lyrics: The verse lyrics are deployed in the ABA pattern. And watch out for “forget”
instead of “forgive” in the bridge.
Take 2
• Form: The familiar, complete version of the 3rd verse phrase is now in place. The final
coda is appears in part, but breaks down midstream with a comment from John that
suggests that it had only recently been figured out, and by implication, was not yet fluently
under their fingers.
• Vocals: The familiar pattern of verse harmonization is in place, though Paul still sings all
the way through with John, doubling him when there's no harmony.
• Arrangement: The familiar quiet-versus-loud pattern is almost there, but sloppily and
inconsistently executed. The first verse is correctly quiet for the first two phrases and loud
for the third, but the loudness is incorrectly sustained through the fourth phrase. The second
verse is "loud" throughout with no quiet contrast. The bridge accidentally starts out quiet
instead of loud. The piano shows up intermittently in this take elsewhere in the verses than
just the 3rd phrase.
• Lyrics: The “forgive/forget” change has now been made, but the verse lyrics are still
deployed here in the ABA pattern. The decision to go with ABB apparently must have been
late breaking.
“Any one at home?” 052900#8.1
Page 51 of 962
You Won't See Me
Key: A Major
Meter: 4/4
| Verse | Bridge |
| Verse | Outro (fade-out)
CD: "Rubber Soul", Track 3 (Parlophone CDP7 46440-2)
Recorded: 11th November 1965, Abbey Road 2
UK-release: 3rd December 1965 (LP "Rubber Soul")
US-release: 6th December 1965 (LP "Rubber Soul")
Style and Form
Tucked away within the harmonic inner voice leading of “You Won't See Me” harmonic
structure are descending chromatic scale fragments whose recurrence in all sections help unify
the song with subliminal efficiency. I said “voices,” George, not “lights”!
The form is the familiar two-bridge model with single verse intervening and no solo
instrumental section. The moderate tempo drives the track's running time to 3:22, clearly
discouraging any thought of doubling the verse between the bridges.
The verse lyrics are in a form of ABCC; i.e. unique lyrics for the first three sections, with the
final verse repeating those of the third section.
The verses begin with a pickup, but the bridge (and even the title phrase, arguably) place
their stress right on the downbeat, lending sense of grim pronouncement each time.
Melody and Harmony
The verse tune is roughly arch-shaped. The bridge is less clearly so, though it does end with
an upsweep that provides the song with its melodic high point. All the indigenous chords of our
A Major home key are used except for iii and vi, and we have a chromatic assist from V-of-V.
The harmonic rhythm is predominantly one chord per measure, causing the few places where it is
either faster (end of the verse) or slower (throughout the bridge) to dramatically stand out. But
what does "chromatic scale fragments" mean? A chromatic scale is simply a scale which consists
of all semi-tones; e.g., c-c#-d-d#-e-f etc. In our standard major/minor scales you never find even
two such semi-tones in a row. However, the use of chromatically altered chords in a progression
(the secondary dominant, "V-of-V", is an archetypal example) allows us to easily knit fragments
of chromatic scales into a tonal harmonic fabric. It tends to connote a certain kind of
sentimentality and can easily become a cliche. You've got to use it carefully.
Page 52 of 962
Arrangement
The standard backing combo is conspicuously augmented by piano and tambourine. Paul
provides an extremely active and melodic bass part, and Ringo provides unusually detailed
patterning to the drumming. Against the backing track's rock-solid backbeat Paul's doubletracked lead vocal is pervaded almost completely by syncopations that anticipate the downbeat.
The only place in the entire song where Paul does sing on the downbeat is (no coincidence) the
one place in the song where the backing track, itself, provides syncopation on the eighth note
before "3." It's that singular break from the anticipatory syncopation that makes the title phrase
sound as though it starts right on the downbeat, even though, literally, that's not true.
Variation of the vocal accompaniment each time the verse is repeated is another major point
of interest in “You Won't See Me”:
• Verse 1 - Double-track Macca solo, no backing voices.
• Verse 2 - Add single part, though double tracked, George singing “ooh la la-la”.
• Verse 3 - Add two/three part harmony to "ooh la la-la" including a constant pedal tone of Anatural in the top part.
• Verse 4 - Same as Verse 3 but mixed further forward to sound “fuller,” or perhaps that's just an
illusion.
The overall effect is one of the musical texture increasing in density and complexity over the
course of the song; this is somewhat curious in light of the fact that the instrumental texture
(piano, bass, drums, and punctuating chords on the off beat in the electric guitar) is unchanged
throughout. In other words, this perceived increase in thickness is entirely due to the vocals.
If you step back from it all and try and grasp the song “in the big picture” as a totality, I
believe that this steady increase in complexity of the four verses stands in beautiful contrast to
the otherwise balanced alternation of verses and middle-eights in the piece, providing a sort of
formalistic counterpoint. Some choice details in the arrangement:
• Ringo's high hat fills: in the verses he does two sixteenth notes as a pickup to 4; in the bridge
he does four sixteenth notes as a pickup to 4. All this is suddenly dropped during the outro.
• Starting with the intro, the tambourine is hit twice at the end of every verse coinciding with the
syncopated appearance of the words “see me” in the title phrase, and like the high hat fills, also
terminating on the fourth beat; in every verse, that is, except the first appearance of this phrase
in the final verse, where it's obviously flubbed.
• At the end of only the second bridge Paul opts for jumping down an octave in the bass part to
“lowest” E.
Page 53 of 962
Intro
The intro is just two measures long, and though it seems relatively inconsequential when you
hear it at the beginning, you later realize that this is an anticipation of the title phrase in the
verse, minus the vocals. It’s uncanny how this characterizing shot of syncopation is first dealt to
you right off the bat.
Verse
The verse is an unusual 18 measures long, though it breaks down as a typical 4-times-4
measures (in a pattern of AABA') followed by a petit reprise of the last two measures of the
fourth phrase. All four phrases are harmonically closed, both starting and ending on the I chord.
When we look closely at the harmony, we discover that every phrase has a downward, fournote chromatic scale fragment buried in an inner voice of the accompaniment; the piano part at
first, and later, the backing “oooh la la-la” vocals:
Inner voice:
Chords:
Harmonic analysis:
--------------------- 2X ---------------------|E
|D#
|D-natural
|C#
|
|A
|B
|D
|A
|
I
V-of-V
IV
I
Inner voice:
Chords:
Harmonic analysis:
|G
|A7
V-of-IV
Inner voice:
Chords:
Harmonic analysis:
|E
|A
I
|F#
|D
IV
|F-natural
|d
iv
|E
|A
I
|
|
|D#
|B
V-of-V
---------- 2X --------1& 2 & 3 4 1 2 3 4
|D
C#
|C# D D# E |
|D
A
||
IV
I
[Figure 9.1]
Note the use above of the iv borrowed from the parallel minor, a chord we first discussed when
looking at “She Loves You.” This is the same chord progression, by the way, that opens “Eight
Days a Week” though the cross-relation between the second and third chords is greatly softened
in this instance by the fact that the D# is followed by the D natural in the same voice.
The third phrase (“We have lost the time”) is built on a different chord progression, but we
still have a hidden chromatic scale, transposed this time to fit the new chords.
Although I said that the fourth phrase (“And I will lose my mind”) is essentially the same as
phrases 1 and 2, there is actually a significant variation in the harmonic rhythm worth noting.
Instead of the last two chords each filling a measure each as they do in phrases 1 and 2, the last
chord makes an early, syncopated appearance in between beat 2 and 3 of the measure before the
one in which it would seem more squarely to belong.
Page 54 of 962
If you have any doubt regarding the intentional use of the chromatic scale as a unifying factor
in this song, I direct you to these two syncopated measures (“if you won't see me” “you won't see
me”) in which the accompanying voices sing the same four-note scale fragment, this time in the
mirror image, upward direction! They even repeat it in measures 17 - 18 for emphasis. Check out
George's “Something” for a surprisingly similar example of this.
You know there's a rehearsal of “Two of Us” in which Paul tells George that “I'll give you a
wink when she goes four in the bar.” I can't help feeling that the end of this verse in “You Won't
See Me” is metaphorically the same gesture.
Bridge
The bridge is a true “middle eight” that is harmonically open at both ends, thank goodness,
after all the close-to-claustrophobic harmonically closed verses:
F#
F-natural
E
b
G# dim.7
D
A
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
ii
vii 4/3
I
D#
D-natural
B
E
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
V-of-V
V7
4
3
[Figure 9.2]
In this section we find a downward chromatic scale of six notes, running from F# down
through C#, actually ending on the downbeat of the following verse. Not only is the harmonic
rhythm conspicuously slower here than in the verses, but we also find a very subtle ultra-slow
syncopation in the way that the chord changes in the first phrase appear in measures 1, 2 and 4,
rather than 1, 3 and 4. Note how much more obvious and equally less interesting is the latter
alternative.
I'm labeling the middle chord in the first phrase as a G# diminished 7th chord in its 4/3
inversion (i.e. D in the bass), even though the G# itself doesn't appear until the tune supplies it in
the following measure. The V chord that ends the bridge decorated in a manner reminiscent of
classical music by both a 4-3 suspension in the arrangement, and a slow turn around the chord's
7th in the backing vocals.
Outro
The outro consists of the verse section performed without lead vocal. The fadeout is rapid,
reaching complete silence by what would otherwise be the sixth measure of this section.
Page 55 of 962
Some Final Thoughts
Faithful readers of this series will be familiar with my ironic postulate that John and Paul
never appear so sharply characterized as individuals as when they adopt a common theme. This
time it's “You Won't See Me” versus “No Reply.”
The two songs present protagonists who either predict they will shortly lose their mind or
have already nearly died because the object of their respective affections repeatedly avoids
seeing them. As if that weren’t enough of a correspondence, we find a prominent place given in
each tableau to the telephone as a circumstantial prop. But look at how they diverge:
What is the girl doing to upset him?
• Paul: Evading contact (line's engaged, want to hide)
• John: Lies and betrayal, with bonus points because unnamed others are complicit in the crime
(they said you were not home, with another man in my place). Additional bonus points because
he knows that she knows he's caught her (I know that you saw me)
How long has this been going for?
• Paul: Repeatedly, though unspecified (time after time)
• John: He can fluently enumerate the specific occasions (this happened once before, saw you
walk in your door)
What type of relationship has this been even on the best of days?
• Paul: Not necessarily requited (if I knew what I was missing)
• John: He's been thrown over (again, another man in my place)
Any hope for a better future?
• Paul: Mixed emotions: acknowledging both total loss (since I lost you) yet trying to coax
another chance by making her feel guiltily responsible for his suffering (I will lose my mind if
you won't see me)
• John: As grim as the situation seems, and in spite of his acute distress, the hope of
reconciliation is expressed in the wishful subjunctive voice (if I were you I'd realize)
It's difficult to draw out such comparisons without appearing to making a value judgment. So
I urge you, keep an open mind. Both approaches here are equally valid regardless of what you
personally prefer. But they sure are different.
“I'd be quite prepared for that eventuality.” 060600#9.1
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It Won't Be Long
Key: E Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Bridge | Verse |
| Bridge | Verse | Outro (with complete ending)
CD: "With The Beatles", Track 1 (Parlophone CDP7 46436-2)
Recorded: 30th July 1963, Abbey Road 2
UK-release: 22nd November 1963 (LP "With The Beatles")
US-release: 20th January 1964 (LP "Meet The Beatles")
Style and Form
“It Won't Be Long” is a raving album opener, rich in detail and elliptical in form. On face
value, the song is built out of three distinct, two-line phrases, each of which reappears at least
once:
• “X” is the couplet that begins with the song's title phrase.
• “Y” is the couplet that presents different words each time.
• “Z” is the couplet that starts off with “Since you left me ...”
What's particularly interesting is how the normal, easy-to-recognize distinction between
verse/bridge/refrain is rather blurred here by the repeat pattern as well as the particular content of
each phrase. In my original look at this song, way back, I fretted at some length over how to
parse the following mosaic:
X
Y
X
Z
Y
X
Z
Y
X
[Figure 10.1]
I think you can eventually reduce the form to the double-bridge model with a single
intervening verse but in order to do so you need to parse the second half of the verse section as
mini-refrain that also happens to be used as the song's intro; compare this with “You're Going To
Lose That Girl.” Even then, you'll notice that the song curiously does not double up the verse
section first time around, and that the verse itself is one measure short of a balanced eight
measures.
The mini-refrain and bridge open with a pickup. By contrast, the verse tune comes in after
the downbeat. The difficulty comes in trying to cluster these phrases into the sort of verse/bridge/
refrain divisions you come to expect in this genre. Some of the following questions and options
come to mind:
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• is Z a bridge? Or perhaps, (ignoring the first, Y-only verse) is it joined to Y as the first half
of a compound (ZY) verse unit ? Under this last option, X does indeed fit the role of
refrain.
• is X a refrain? Or perhaps, (ignoring its first appearance as an intro) is it joined to Y as the
second half of a compound (YX) verse unit ? Under this last option, Z does indeed fit the
role of bridge.
Or perhaps, there are no compound verse units, and the structure is meant to be parsed by us
at the level already diagrammed above. Under this last option, Y (with it's ever changing lyrics)
is the natural choice for verse, and I’d feel compelled to say that the rest of the form is a highly
unusual hybrid in that we have both a refrain (X) and a bridge (Z).
Melody and Harmony
The tune covers more than an octave in range, is generally jumpy, and has a lot of downward
gestures that eventually get balanced out by the upward flourish and high point with which the
bridge comes to an end.
The opening lick is strangely reminiscent of Beethoven's 5th in its hammering insistence, and
ends unusually with the downward leap of a perfect 4th; sing it aloud and notice what doing so
physically pulls out of you. You find another example of this, by the way, in the
contemporaneous “I Want To Hold Your Hand,” (both the hammering and the downward leap) on
the phrase “... me be your man.” Granted, in our case the leap is made from scale degree 2 down
to 6, while in the other case it's made from 3 to 7. Still, I insist, the parallel is
extraordinary. The rhythmic pattern, minus the melodic pattern, is again found in the abandoned
contemporaneous version of “One After 9”
The harmonic diet is on the rich side, with familiar choices such as I, IV, V, and vi
supplemented by a couple secondary dominants, the flat-VI, and another couple touches of
purely chromatic harmony.
Melody challengingly intersects with harmony every time the I chord (E) in the verse
changes to flat-VI (C), forcing the tune into a bit of a "C# - B - C natural" kink; e.g. as on the
words “... night the tears.” Try singing that figure without the aid of the underlying chords!
Arrangement
The backing track is for the standard combo, though the lead guitar notably delivers its
signature riff in the baritone range. Ringo helps articulate form with his chewy drum fills on
most of the section boundaries, and his muting of the cymbal sizzle factor at the start of each
bridge. John double tracks the lead vocal, starting off unaccompanied at the start of song with a
delivery whose visceral impact just about knocks you out of your seat. The backing vocals are a
combination of antiphonal and chordal in the verse/refrain, but provide a descending chromatic
line against the lead during the bridge.
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Intro
The intro presents the refrain-like second half of the verse section. It's eight measures long
with a phrasing pattern of 2 + 2 + 4 (AA'A''), and an harmonic shape that converges on I, starting
away from it on vi:
E:
c#
E
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
vi
I
c#
A
Fx
E
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
vi
IV #ii-dim.7 I
4
3
[Figure 10.2]
The use of the vi chord as a pseudo dominant is almost a signature device of the The Beatles
in this period; look at the very the next song on this album (“All I've Got to Do”) and note how
they use the same chord progression, not to mention the same key!
The special chord in the second half of measure six needs no Roman numeral since it's the
result of chromatic voice leading between the IV and I chord on either side of it. The chord
sounds liked a diminished 7th chord of the "sharpened II" (in this case, that's a dim. 7 build on
the unlikely note "F double sharp) placed on top of the static bass line note of A:
S:
A:
T:
B:
C#
A
E
A
-»
-»
-»
-»
A#
Fx
-
-»
-»
-»
-»
B
B
G#
E
[Figure 10.3]
Note how the outer two voices sustain their pitches going into the novel chord, while the
inner two voices elect for chromatic movement through the progression. The overall effect is
similar to the physical feeling of having your already-twisted arm tightened yet another half,
painful turn. The intensification effect is enhanced by the fact that this chord marks the solitary
moment in this phrase where the harmonic rhythm quickens.
One last "#ii diminished" related factoid. The same chord shows up in the following list of
conspicuously unrelated, much later songs: “When I'm Sixty-four,” “Blue Jay Way,” “The End”
and “Her Majesty.”
The “Day Tripper”-like guitar riff used in measures seven and eight reappears in what will
turn out to be the first half of the verse section, and helps unify the song overall. Savor that bent
F double sharp -> G#, but also contemplate the skill of the player in getting it consistent in each
Page 59 of 962
repeat; unless of course, it was recorded once as an “edit piece” and then overdubbed like a
macro each time; yeah, as if!
The antiphonal “yeah – yeah” vocals are really something; difficult to perform but fun to
listen to even in mono. They are given a not-so-gentle syncopated feeling by the fact that John's
voice, which is mixed forward from the others, sings his “yeahs” on the off beat. Kids: do try this
with your friends at home to see what I mean.
Verse
The full verse length, including the mini-refrain, is fifteen measures because its first nonrefrain half is an unusual seven measures long. Its phrasing pattern is actually "AA" but there's a
funky elision effect where what should be the last measure of the first phrase overlaps with the
first measure of the repeat. The closest John-like other example of the same trick I can think of is
in “Any Time At All.”
The section has an harmonically closed shape but relies on the flat-VI chord as a surrogate
dominant:
E:
E
C
E
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
flat-VI
I
E
C
E
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
flat-VI
I
[Figure 10.4]
It's called the "flat VI" since its root is a half-tone lower than what it would be for the vi
chord that naturally appears in the Major key. Think of it as the VI chord borrowed from the
parallel minor key. I myself am tempted to dub it "the Buddy Holly chord" because of the iconic
familiarity of its appearance in the bridge of “Peggy Sue.” John himself reuses the chord in the
bridge of his roughly contemporaneous “I Call Your Name.”
Bridge
This section reverts to a square, eight-bar length and is harmonically wide open at its end,
contrasting nicely the close harmonic shape of the Verse and mini-refrain.
Chords: |E
Middle voice: G#
Bass line: E
Analysis: I
Chords: |A
Middle voice: E
Analysis: IV
|B-aug.
G-natural
D#
|B
D#
V
|b
F#
D-natural
|C#7
F-natural
C#
V-of-II
|
|F#
|B
|
V-of-V
V
[Figure 10.5]
Page 60 of 962
The harmonically open effect is amplified by the use of V-of-V, presented as a ninth-chord,
no less.
The descending, chromatic bass line is another device used by the Boys all over the map;
“It's Only Love” and “Dear Prudence” are two widely spaced examples that come to mind. Try to
hear the middle voice which descends in parallel with bass at the interval of a third as well as the
upper voice which focuses on the same note, B, throughout the phrase. This winds up creating an
unusual augmented chord in measure two and a minor chord in measure three to which I
wouldn't assign Roman numerals. As with the special chord in the mini-refrain, I'd describe the
harmony here as being essentially a move from E (I) to C# (V-of-II) in which the two intervening
chords are incidental structures created by the melodic motion which connects the first and last
chords. Check out “Real Love,” of all songs, for a similar usage of the augmented triad.
In the raving context of the rest of the song, the subdued, falsetto vocal backing combined
with the change in drumming texture in this section provides an effective, contrasting oasis-like
moment of relief.
Outro
The brief outro is setup by the final verse which cranks the already intense mood up another
notch with a late breaking vocal variation during the refrain (John flips over the F# sharp of the
title riff and the backers wildly mimic his gesture), combined with a cliche “grand pause” of the
sort John would eventually parody in “... Warm Gun.”
In this single instance, the A Major chord does not morph to the funky diminished chord, and
the final cadence continues in a much subdued tempo, elaborated by a Barbershop Harmony
cliche stream of chromatically descending dominant 7th chords (that need no Roman numerals):
c#
A
E G7 F#7 F-nat7
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————————|—————————————|
vi
IV
I
[Figure 10.6]
The final chord, itself is freely dissonant, including “the works,” in a manner similar to the
ending of “No Reply.”
Some Final Thoughts
Refer to the “Kissing Cousins” finale in “All My Loving” for consideration of yet another
pair of songs that reveals the paradox emergent when you compare or contrast Lennon and
McCartney with each other at any detailed level.
“I knew I could rely on you.”070400#10.1
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Good Day Sunshine
Key: A Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Refrain |
| Verse | Refrain |
| Verse / Break | Refrain |
| Verse | Refrain | Refrain | Outro (fade-out)
CD: "Revolver", Track 8 (Parlophone CDP7 46441-2)
Recorded: 8th, 9th June 1966, Abbey Road 2
UK-release: 5th August 1966 (LP "Revolver")
US-release: 8th August 1966 (LP "Revolver")
Style and Form
We're going to sneak a bit further ahead in the chronology this time from where we've been
mostly hanging out to look at the song that opens what quaintly used to be called the “B side” of
the Revolver Long Playing (LP) record album.
Granted, “Good Day Sunshine” contains no exotic instruments, tape loops, or drug
references, but nonetheless, this song in its own quiet, feel-good, nostalgic and folksy way amply
demonstrates the sort of willingness to experiment, both with musical syntax, combinations of
styles, and recording techniques, which is often glibly said to characterize the so-called Late
Middle Period.
I was rather surprised to discover here that what I'd been thinking of for years as a fancy
change of meter in the refrain section actually isn't there for the most part! With the exception of
the outro, the meter is a solid 4/4 throughout, and what feels like a change of meter is actually a
s-l-o-w syncopation. “Oh ?”, you say. Check it out below.
The form is essentially that of a folk ballad, with strictly alternating refrains and verses. The
intro, outro, and semi-instrumental middle verse lend an explicitly “pop” cross current. The
ballad format encourages the different lyrics we find in each verse. The refrain commences right
on the downbeat. The verse starts with a pickup.
The fact that at the very time this song was being recorded at Abbey Road in June 1966 a
comparably sun-drenched song titled “Daydream” by the Loving Spoonful was topping the
charts in America strikes me as a remarkable coincidence, perhaps, worthy of enquiry.
Melody and Harmony
The melodic material fills slightly more than an octave's space, but is aligned below the scale
of the home key; i.e. topping out perilously on step 7 (G#), and bottoming out on step 6 (F#) nine
notes below.The verse's initial couple steps upward are more than amply balanced out by
Page 62 of 962
downward gestures that follow as the consequence of upward jumps. The refrain's downward
jabs are counterbalanced by the upward pressure (F# -> G#) of its overall contour. Only four
chords are used throughout, B/E/A/D, but they carry considerable spice because they are all
Major chords positioned around the “pure” cycle of 5ths. In other words, two of the four are
“altered” chords that don’t occur naturally within the home key. You might say this harmonic
pattern is a major source of the nostalgic effect of the song.
Arrangement
The backing track prominently features piano, drums, and even hand claps but there is little
in the way of guitars. Paul single tracks the lead vocal in the verses, and is harmonized with by
John and George for the refrains. Among the various overdubs are relatively well developed
whole second tracks for both drums and piano. This is an excellent example of where you can get
a clear sense of how the Beatles would layer an arrangement by comparing the separated stereo
tracks.
Intro
The intro consists of four full measures of a plain E chord (actually just an open fifth instead
of the complete chord). This intro, tapped out in a mechanical four-to-the-bar, provides contrast
with what follows, but also seems like a hint from the composer not to be lulled into metrical
complacency. If you're interested in trying to count through the syncopated refrain, you'll find
that the intro is quite helpful in getting yourself firmly in the 4/4 groove before the turbulence
starts. Literally get up and march around the room, counting out loud, if it helps!
The track starts off entirely without percussion, but we quickly have the staggered entrance
of drums, followed a few beats later by a cymbal roll, mixed in respectively from left to right.
Refrain
The refrain is six measures in length with a phrasing pattern of AAA' and an harmonic shape
unusually opened at both ends, though still convergent upon the home key. The six measure
length is deceptively simple once you get it parsed out in "straight" 4/4. The first two measures
like so:
Beats: |1
2
3
Accents: »
Words: Good
Day
Chords: B
A: V-of-V
4
|1
2
»
Sun
shine
F#
V-of-(V-of-V)
3
»
4
|
(daa-de-da-de)
[Figure 11.1]
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The next two measures are a repeat of the above followed by this:
Beats: |1
Accents: »
Words: Good
Chords: E7
V
2
3
Day
4
»
Sun
|1
2
shine
3
»
4
|
I take a...
[Figure 11.2]
We essentially have eight beats in each phrase divided into a pattern of 3 + 3 + 2. This is a
type of syncopation you're actually rather familiar with, but you've probably seen it in much
faster tempos. For example, a lot of jazz riffs played in even eighth- or sixteenth-notes are
accented in this 3/3/2 manner. Closer to home, you have “Here Comes the Sun” and the intro to
“Because.”
The meter isn't the only thing that almost eludes our grasp in this refrain; the key is also
equivocal at this point, and is not settled until the verse begins. Until proven otherwise, we
would assume from the opening, that the key of the song is going to be B rather than A as it later
turns out. The chord progression from V-of-V back to its own V rather than forward to the V of
the home key is musical kind of “approach avoidance.”
Verse
In contrast to the refrain, the verse is comparatively straightforward. Note both the contrast
provided by the return to an unequivocal 4/4 beat and the clear establishment of the home key of
A major, as well as the beautiful economy provided by a recycling of all (and with the exception
of the A chord, no more than) the chords used in the intro/refrain.
The verse is a fully squared off eight measures long, with a phrasing pattern of AA, and a
closed harmonic shape:
|——————————————————————Two Times————————————————————————|
A:
A
F#7
B7
E7
A
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
V-of- V-of-V
V
I
(V-of-V)
[Figure 11.3]
The first verse is followed by another six measure refrain. The consistent use of the "rat-ta-tatat" triplet figure in the snare drum to punctuate the last two beats of measures 2 and 4 of each
refrain starting only from here to the end of the song is a choice detail; note again the use of
overdubbed “stereo drumming.” This sort of repeat of a background figure starting only in the
second verse or refrain is a Beatles trademark going all the way back to those “Do Dah Doos” in
“Do You Want to Know A Secret.”
Page 64 of 962
Verse/Break
Moving on, we get next a second eight measure verse. In an unusual move, the second four
measures of this verse are in the key of D and are presented as a solo for piano. In other songs we
certainly have seen guitar solos in this same architectural position, but in this case, having both
the modulation and the brief, half-length solo in the same place are out of the ordinary.
The key switch to D is done as a classic pivot. The A chord in measure four is first heard as I
in A major, but retrospectively is understood as a punning V of D Major. Similarly, the shift back
to A Major makes a pun on the D Major chord:
A:
A:
D:
A
F#7
B7
E7
A
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
V-of- V-of-V
V
I
(V-of-V)
D:
V
D
B7
E7
A7
D
B
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
IV
V-of-V
I
V-of- V-of-V
V
I
(V-of-V)
[Figure 11.4]
The cross-relation briefly exposed here (the only place in the entire song) by the sequence of
D Major and B Major chords demonstrates the less-is-more wisdom of restraint.
This section is followed by another refrain and a third eight-measure verse, musically
identical to the first with the exception of hand claps now added to the mix on beats 2 and 4 of
each measure; fussy and fastidious.
Outro
The third verse is followed by a final pair of refrains and an outro, making for a longer than
usual coda. In these two immediate repetitions of the refrain we actually do get a break in the 4/4
meter for the first time; a tremendous illustration of the secret art of knowing when to avoid a
foolish consistency. The break in the meter occurs in measure six (refer back above); i.e., the
second measure of the sustained E chord is only three beats!
But the real frosting on the cake is what the outro, proper. Instead of something more obvious
like a third repeat of the refrain going into the fade-out, we are treated to the harmony taking an
enigmatic half-step upward (to an F7 chord), and the vocal arrangement suddenly being refracted
into a series of cascading echoes.
Oldies aficionados will recognize this effect of modulating up a step at the end as a fairly
widely used cliche of golden aged rock and roll. The Beatles however make limited use of it, all
three examples in the canon interestingly provided by Macca; in addition to “Good Day
Sunshine”, we also have “And I Love Her” and “Penny Lane.”
Page 65 of 962
Some Final Thoughts
I'd be hard pressed to account for every item in the Lennon & McCartney songbook as being
one side of a yin/yang parallel effort of John and Paul to solve similar compositional challenges.
By the same token, for the third time in a row, we’ve got a pair of songs intriguingly worthy of
comparison and contrast.
Check out the finale to the next note, on “She Said She Said.” One additional point of
contrast with “Good Day Sunshine” is the way Paul's song turns out to fit the 4/4 meter as a point
of technicality. John’s approach to metrical disruption operates under no such scruple.
“You two have never had a quarrel in your life.” 073000#11.1
Page 66 of 962
She Said She Said
Key: B-flat (Mixolydian Major)
Meter: 4/4 but disrupted in the Bridge
| Verse | Bridge | Verse | Outro (fade-out)
Recorded: 21th June 1966, Abbey Road 2
US-release: 8th August 1966 (LP “Revolver")
Style and Form
Although the most conspicuous feature of “She Said She Said” is the metrical high jinks of
the bridge, this song also provides us with object lessons about two other general compositional
topics: how to experiment without things falling apart, and the special characteristics of modal
harmony.
Experimentation! Among other things, this song teaches us yet another of the composer's
trade secrets: whenever you are pushing one parameter of your musical grammar to the max,
hold at least some if not all of the other parameters steady lest your meaning become obscured
by sensory overload, or your composition come apart as though from centrifugal force. This
principle potentially operates on many different levels to the extent that the “parameters”
involved may include as diverse elements as form, rhythm, texture, harmony, even lyrics.
In our current song, I believe this principle is illustrated on the high level by the choice of
form, and on a more detailed level in the way the arrangement pits rhythm and meter against
each other. The issue of rhythm and meter will be covered as we go through the music itself, but
I want to discuss the formal issue here.
In spite of the fact that “She Said She Said” flaunts inscrutably psychedelic lyrics, heavy
limiting applied to virtually every instrument as well as the voice track, and of course, that
wobbly meter, it also sports a positively buttoned down, classic form; i.e. the two-bridge model
with a single verse intervening.
While this may seem obvious, it's a point worthy of emphasis: no matter how experimental
they were in other aspects of composition, The Beatles with very rare exception, clung to such
classic forms in their songs; it is as though they needed these forms as a bedrock on which to
anchor their experiments lest they fall apart.
The usage of asymmetric, acyclic (albeit clearly articulated) forms are rare enough in their
output that their identification and examination as a group would itself make an interesting study.
Start with “Happiness is a Warm Gun” and “You Never Give Me Your Money” and see how
many more you can find!
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Going even further, I'm tempted to argue that it is no coincidence that the even fewer cases
where they abandoned articulated form entirely, (e.g., “Revolution 9”, “What's the New Mary
Jane”) have turned out to be among their least popular work over the long run.
All this is not intended as a criticism; I mention it to acknowledge that for all their glibly
touted breaking of barriers, the Boys were really neo-classicists at heart.
The lyrics create the relatively common form of ABCC; i.e. new lyrics for the first three
verses, with the third's set of lyrics repeated the fourth and final time around.
All the sections begin with the tune right on the downbeat.
Melody and Harmony
The tune is hypnotically anchored within the tight range of a fifth, from B-flat up to F. The
only relief from this constriction is in the downward direction for the culmination of the verse
section. The hard melodic ceiling, far from inducing boredom, uncannily suggests the not
entirely unpleasant sensation you derive from repetitiously stoned conversation at a noisy party
where you can barely hear the sound of your own voice.
Modal Harmony! The harmonic vocabulary of “She Said She Said” is purely from the
Mixolydian mode; this mode being the scale with the Major bottom half, and a whole step
instead of a half-step at the very top -- think of it as the white note scale starting on G.
The key of the song is ostensibly B-flat but the key signature features an A-flat instead of an
A-natural. This means that the key signature, scale, and chord selection of Mixolydian B-flat is
identical to that of E-flat Major. It's worth noting that this phenomenon is somewhat analogous to
the relative Major/Minor relationship. However, in this particular case, the scalar coincidence
leads in turn to several distinctive harmonic characteristics:
• The naturally occurring "v" chord in the Mixolydian mode is minor and does not make for an
effective V-I cadence. As a result ...
• The burden for establishing the key in this mode falls on the sub-dominant IV chord and the
pseudo dominant flat-VII chord; in our modal B-flat key, these are the E-flat and A-flat chords
respectively. Although these chords can be used individually in apposition to the tonic I chord,
they are often used together, as in the ubiquitous “Hey Jude” progression:
B-flat:
B-flat
I
A-flat
flat-VII
E-flat
IV
B-flat
I
[Figure 12.1]
By the way, I've been often tempted to label that A-flat chord a "IV-of-IV" when used in this
context. I was gratified to recently learn that Beatles musicologist Walt Everett coined the term
“double plagal” to refer to this.
• The common pitch content between the tonic and the key of the IV chord makes it very easy in
Mixolydian mode to effect a pivot modulation to that key. In fact, this key of the IV is actually
capable of being established more firmly than the tonic (I) itself because of the following
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paradox: the I chord makes a stronger V-of-IV cadence with IV than does the naturally
occurring minor v chord with the I.
• Finally, I would re-emphasize the “modal purity” of our current song. There are many other
Beatles songs with a strong Mixolydian flavor to them which nonetheless contain a fair amount
of the regular Major mode added to the mixture; for examples take a look a “A Hard Day's
Night” where the "pure" Mixolydian spell is first broken in the fourth line of the verse (“I find
the things that you do ...”) by the appearance of a V chord. Here in “She Said She Said” the
only detail that comes even close to breaking out of the modal mold is the bent blue 3rd in the
vocal and lead guitar riff that ends each verse.
Leaving modality aside, the harmony of this song is also distinguished by its frugality. There
are only four different chords used throughout, one of which doesn't even make an appearance
until the climax of the bridge (on the word “boy”) but I'm getting ahead of myself.
Arrangement
The backing track arrangement is relatively homogenized for the Beatles, with a kind of
heavy limiting applied to everything including the drums that makes the track sound as if
recorded surrealistically too close up. Almost subliminally far in the background of this soupy
mix you find the organ, barely noticeable but for that fleeting tickling sensation you get on the
high end of your ears.
The vocal arrangement is for John, alone, double tracked throughout; often in parallel thirds
for interior phrases, but generally in unison for the opening and closing phrases of each section.
Intro
The intro is only three measures played out on the B-flat "I" chord of the home key. It
introduces with elegant efficiency both the mocking-bird lead guitar riffing and the fancyfootwork drumming that so heavily contribute to the overall flavor of the song.
Verse
The verse section is 10 measures long, built out of an 8 measure verse plus a petit
instrumental reprise of the last 2 measures. The phrases are all short and make a pattern of
ABB'C. The harmonic shape is closed at both ends:
Page 69 of 962
|——————————————————Three times——————————————————|
B-flat:
B-flat
A-flat
E-flat
|———————————————————————|———————————————————————|
I
flat-VII
IV
|———————————————————Two times———————————————————|
B-flat
A-flat
E-flat
B-flat
|———————————————————————|———————————————————————|
I
flat-VII
IV
I
[Figure 12.2]
Measures 7 and 8 (on the words “making me feel like my trousers are torn” as they are found
a rough and rare home demo of the song ) feature strong syncopation, and are given an
immediate instrumental reprise. The syncopation is all the stronger for coming after three
identical repeats of an un-syncopated, almost stodgy harmonic rhythm. Notice, in fact, how the
fancy drum work in the second half of the measures containing only the E-flat chord helps
counteract this stodginess and effectively pushes the music forward; a Ringo signature going all
the way back to “I Saw Her Standing There.” The bass line, on a more subtle level, is also used
to push things along here.
Other tasty details:
• An additional source of rhythmic turbulence is to be found in measures 3 and 5 where we
have slow triplets (3 notes against two beats) in the voice part; the same trick as in the
bridge of “We Can Work it Out.”
• The drum part in the two measure reprise following the verse neatly reinforces the
syncopations without fancy figuration; a good example of avoiding foolish consistency.
• The lead guitar part antiphonally imitates the voice part in measures 3, 5, and the two
measure reprise.
Bridge
If the gory details are too daunting at first sight, here's a high-level view of this bridge:
• The f minor chord is introduced for the first time in the song at what is possibly the
moment of climax, and is used to help make a pivot modulation to E-flat, the key of the IV.
• The meter may be erratic but it's not without its own pattern. This little chart indicates the
succession of measures and the number of beats in each:
She said "you don't understand what I said".
"No, no, no, you're wrong. When I was a boy,
Everything was right.
Everything was right."
I said
[
[ 3 +
[
[
4
3
6
6
+
+
+
+
4
3
3
3
]
]
]
]
Page 70 of 962
[Figure 12.3]
Our great illustration of the principle of keeping some musical parameters steady when
maxing out on others is two-fold: rather than “fight” the changing meter (at risk of obscuring it),
both the harmonic rhythm and the drumming are slavishly at the meter's service. The chords
change on every measure boundary, and the drumming (and the bass as well) forgo fancy
syncopation for strictly even eighth-note marking of the beat.
One detail you might quibble with me on are the measures shown as being six beats instead
of two measures, each with three beats. I've chosen to go with six beats because of where the
chord changes are, and because I hear the those six beats accented by the voice part as though
they are broken into 4+2, not 3+3; i.e., I hear the words accented as “everyTHING”, not
“EVERYthing.”
Without further ado, here are those gory details! Without music paper, this will be a bit
awkward to map out, but let's go for it. This is the notational convention used below:
· Each group of lines enclosed within dashed lines below represents one measure of music.
· The number in the left margin indicates the number of beats in the measure.
· The beats in the measure are marked out in the top line of the group.
· The lyrics are laid out across the measure in the second line of the group.
· The chords are labeled in the third line of the group.
· The “Roman Number” for the chords are labeled in the bottom line of the group.
-------------------------------------------------------1
2
3
4
4
She
said
"you don't underB-flat
A-flat
B-flat: I
flat-VII
-------------------------------------------------------1
2
3
4
4
stand what I said."
I
said
B-flat
B-flat: I
-------------------------------------------------------1
2
3
3
"No,
no,
no
you're
A-flat
B-flat: flat-VII
--------------------------------------------------------1
2
3
3
wrong.
When
I
was
a
B-flat
B-flat: I
--------------------------------------------------------1
2
3
3
Boy
f
B-flat: v
E-flat: ii ** point of pivot
Page 71 of 962
-------------------------------------------------------1
2
3
4
5
6
6
everything
was
B-flat
E-flat: V
-------------------------------------------------------1
2
3
3
right.
E-flat
E-flat: I
-------------------------------------------------------1
2
3
4
5
6
6
everything
was
B-flat
E-flat: V
-------------------------------------------------------1
2
3
3
right.
E-flat
E-flat: I
B-flat: IV ** point of pivot back
-------------------------------------------------------[Figure 12.4]
Outro
Two details worthy of attention in the outro:
• The canonic imitation in the split voice parts is a novel development of the idea originally
presented by the lead guitar in the verse.
• The sudden release of all syncopation is a final, rhythmic coup de grace, coming as it does
at the end of two full minutes during which we're constantly bombarded by either
syncopation, or a fickle meter. The tempo remains the same, but those evenly-pounded-out
eighth notes in the fade out give me a strong feeling of acceleration; as though driving into
a free skid on ice.
Some Final Thoughts
Anyone else out there struck by the underlying, albeit unlikely, similarities between “She
Said She Said” and “Good Day Sunshine?” Consider it: each has metric changes, an unusually
restricted harmonic vocabulary, and cascading vocals in the coda. With all that we read about the
“friendly” competition between John and Paul, it makes me wonder if they would possibly set
themselves an abstract musical problem statement or recipe, then go off and develop their own
personalized solutions to it. Granted, this might be a totally fantastical notion, but nonetheless,
the two songs compared in this instance are about as quintessentially typical of each songwriter
as any you could find!
“Oh do I? You're the first one who ever said it.” 080600#12.1 Page 72 of 962
You Never Give Me Your Money
Key:
Meter:
Form:
CD:
Recorded:
a minor / C Major / A Major
4/4
Part X | Part Y | Part Z (fade-out)
"Abbey Road", Track 9 (Parlophone CDP7 46446-2)
6th May, Olympic Sound Studios; 1st July, Abbey Road 2;
15th July, Abbey Road 3; 30th, 31st July, Abbey Road 2;
5th August 1969, Abbey Road 3
UK-release: 26th September 1969 ("Abbey Road")
US-release: 1st October 1969 ("Abbey Road")
Style and Form
Taking a cue from the emphasis in my last note (re: “She Said She Said”) on the undeniable
primacy of classic song forms within the Beatles songbook, let's look this time at “You Never
Give Me Your Money” at the other end of the formal spectrum; along with “Happiness Is A
Warm Gun” being one of the extremely rare examples in the canon where the Beatles opt for
"teleological medley" in place of any more traditional periodic/cyclical form.
“You Never Give Me Your Money” is built from three different sections that are nominally
compatible, but virtually unrelated to each other. As with all but the final section of “Happiness
Is A Warm Gun”, you find that while each of the sections here suggests the potential for
complete development into a song that can stand on its own, each is presented for now in a
fragmentary manner where they rely heavily on the immediate repetition of a single idea to
establish any sense of formal autonomy.
On the one hand that makes it easy for the listener to grasp the articulation of the larger form,
but it begs the question of how any feeling of unity is brought to bear on such independent
diversity. We'll examine each section in turn and come back later to this question.
Each of the three parts has its own rhyme scheme, though none of them is quite large enough,
formally, to get into literal repeats of whole sections of words. By the same token, the latter
halves of parts Y and Z both feature immediate, multiple repetition of the same line.
All three parts lyrically start off after the downbeat, providing a foil for the children's
counting rhyme of the song's outro which very much starts right on it.
Melody and Harmony
The relative autonomy of what we'll respectively call the X, Y, and Z sections of the song is
reflected in both the melodic and harmonic raw materials and design.
Melodically:
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• Part X clearly has an A minor triad for its backbone, underlying what on the surface look
like two downward gestures, the second of which is balanced by a final upward jump.
• The first half of Part Y almost mechanically follows a sequence of “third-down and stepup” units down a full octave. The second half commences with less mechanical, but still
more downward, motion that is balanced out at the end by the high placed appoggiatura
implied in the choral vocals.
• Part Z is clearly the jumpiest of the three sections in the melody department.
Harmonically, each section is distinguished by a different home key (a minor, C Major, and A
Major, respectively), plus the following unique characteristics:
• Part X runs through the diatonic circle of 5ths.
• The first half of Part Y is rich in secondary dominants. The second half iterates on the
double plagal cadence.
• Part Z conspicuously uses a larger amount of chromatic harmony than either X or Y,
including a flourishing fanfare of diminished seventh chords, as well as the multiple crossrelation inducing progression of V-of-V to flat III.
Arrangement
The arrangement also underscores the XYZ high-level design both in terms of a different
ensemble sound for each section, as well as a pronounced tendency to selectively retouch and
remix at the detailed level; the latter being a signature of the Beatles work in all of the later
albums:
• Part X opens with solo piano and lead guitar judiciously applied for emphasis; note the
unusually sloppy way in which resonance of the guitar is allowed to hang over the
continuation of the piano part. The first verse has Paul doing single track lead vocal, adding
an overdub at the unison in the same location as the guitar points of emphasis. The second
verse adds bass and light drum work with Paul now singing in 2 or 3 part harmony with
himself, and a bit of extra fuzzy reverb applied to the very end of the vocal.
• The different ensemble for the first half of Part Y, dominated by heavy drumming, boogiewoogie tack piano, and Paul's lead vocal single tracked is already evident in the pickup
measure to this section. The second half of Part Y features (synthesized?) chimes, lighter
drum work, and choral vocals for what sounds like the group of Paul, John, and George.
• Part Z restores heaviness to all parts including piano, rhythm guitar, bass, piano, drums and
a double-tracked lead guitar, and double-tracked lead vocal. The final section provides
another opportunity for 3-part harmonizing vocals, with Moog-synthesized sounds-ofnature effects that commence in the outro and are allowed to bridge the gap to the
following track, "Sun King.”
Page 74 of 962
Part X: You Never Give Me Your Money
This section is built out of three repetitions of the same eight measure phrase; first an
unusually long instrumental introduction (it's unusual to give away the entire verse section like
this in an instrumental intro), followed by two verses of song. The harmony of this eight-measure
phrase is a full, albeit diatonic, circle of fifths:
a:
a7
d9 -» 8
G7
C4
-» 3
|———————————————|———————————————|———————————————|———————————————|
i
iv
VII
III
F
b-dim
E
a
|———————————————|———————————————|———————————————|———————————————|
VI
ii
V
i
[Figure 13.1]
This progression creates an ambivalent impression of being at once both placid and forward
moving. The placidity comes from the slow and (except for measure 6) even harmonic rhythm.
The movement derives from the the "transitive verb"-like quality of chord progressions that
move in fifths. The dynamic quality is heightened on the one hand by the appearance of every
chord in root position, but softened at the same time by the fact that the chords all appear au
naturel. In other words, the effect could be either further softened by use of some chords in
inversions, or further heightened by turning some of the chords into "V-of" chords; try out the
alternative of using a D Major chord in measure 2 and a C dominant seventh chord in measure 4.
This phrase also contains a liberal measure of functional dissonance which also helps push it
forward; many of the chords contain 7ths or other appoggiaturas on the down beats.
Rhythmically, this phrase makes early use of the syncopated accent on eighth note that falls
between the second and third beat of the measure. This is a sufficiently garden-variety device for
music of this period and genre, but it's worth singling out here because, as will see, its recurrent
appearance in several otherwise unrelated sections of this song becomes a subtle source of
alliterative unity. In part X, this syncopation appears in the melody in measures 2 and 8, and it
also shows up in the harmonic rhythm in measure 6.
The twenty-four measures of section X ends with a simple pivot modulation to the key of C,
leading directly into section Y. This is done by moving to a G Major chord in the final measure
of the section.
Part Y: Out of College Money Spent
This new section is cleanly set-off from the preceding by a new texture as well as a change of
key. The tempo is the same as before, but the quickening of the harmonic rhythm to two chords
per measure, plus the boogie-woogie background beat make it all seem faster. Also note how this
Page 75 of 962
section also has the distinction of itself dividing into two contrasting subsections similar to what
you have in "Hey Jude."
The first subsection (call it 'YA' - "Out of college money spent ...") is built out of two repeats
of this four bar phrase:
C:
C
E
a
C7
F
G
C
|———————————————|———————————————|———————————————|———————————————|
I
V-of-vi
vi
V-of-IV
IV
V
I
[Figure 13.2]
There's no full circle of fifths this time, but it's still heavy on the verb-like root progressions
of a fifth. If anything, the harmony is harder driving in this phrase because of the frequent use of
secondary dominants.
The second subsection (call it 'YB' – “But oh that magic feeling ...”) brings a return of the
“twixt 2 & 3” syncopation and a harmonic switch from C Major to C Mixolydian. The section is
built out of an unusual five repeats of a three measure phrase, the harmony of which is none
other than our old friend, the modal double plagal cadence (speaking of “Hey Jude.”)
C:
B-flat
F
C
|———————————————|———————————————|———————————————————|
flat-VII
IV
I
(IV-of-IV?)
[Figure 13.3]
The sudden return to a harmonic rhythm of one chord change per measure creates a strong
initial sensation of putting on the brakes. However this feeling is modified to one of gradually
rising expectations by the prime number of repeats of a phrase whose length is also
asymmetrical.
As an aside, I actually hear an alliterative connection between this phrase and the
reappearance of the same chord progression in, of all places, “Polythene Pam.” Total
coincidence? At any rate, this segues right into section Z.
Part Z: One Sweet Dream
Like section X, this section begins with an extended instrumental introduction that is partially
built out of the material that will appear in the upcoming verse. Like section Y, this section also
subdivides into two contrasting subsections.
The first subsection (call it 'ZA') contains an eight measure introduction followed by an
unusual seven and a half measure verse.
The introduction is one of the most interesting phrases in the entire song. The first four
measures are in a chromatically inflected C major; the use of the D Major and E-flat chords
being slightly unusual and uncannily foreshadowing the same chords being used again at the end
of “The End”:
Page 76 of 962
C:
C
D
E-flat
G
|———————————————|———————————————|———————————————————|
I
V-of-V
flat-III
V
[Figure 13.4]
But it's measures four through eight in which the harmonic stops are pulled way out. The
architectural function of this phrase is simple enough: to modulate back to A. However, the
gambit employed to do this is a truly extraordinary choice for the genre. These four measures are
built on a cycle of minor thirds in which both the bass line and the upper melody outline a
sequence of diminished seventh chords. This device is something that you’ll find all over the
place in a piece like “Rhapsody in Blue”, though Gershwin himself could be said to be ripping it
off from the likes of Liszt. I believe its use here is unique in the work of The Beatles; what
prompted Macca to think of it is beyond me.
Diminished seventh chords have several interesting properties, discussion of which is way
outside the scope of these articles. For now, the most salient thing to note is how they
symmetrically divide an octave on the one hand, yet do this by hitting notes which are not part of
the scale of the octave being subdivided. This creates two perceptible harmonic effects:
1. a clangorous series of chromatic cross relations, and
2. a temporary, free-fall sense of not quite being in any specific key.
Check it out!
At any rate, the above passage leads right into a short verse of seven and a half measures
which subdivides into one phrase of six measures, (the first four of which are a direct
transposition of the introduction), followed by a fragmentary repeat which breaks down after
only one and a half measures, and leads directly into the next section:
A:
A
B
|———————————————|———————————————|
I
V-of-V
C
E
A
|———————————————|———————————————|
flat-III
V
I
Page 77 of 962
d
|———————————————|———————————————|
iv
A
B**
|| C
|———————————————|———————————————||———————————————|
I
V-of-V
flat-III
[Figure 13.6]
[** = half measure]
Note how the sustaining of the minor iv chord in measures 5 and 6 suddenly puts the breaks
on just when momentum is gathering; the 2&3 syncopation also makes a dramatic re-appearance
in these two measures. To be more accurate, from the point of view of the lyrics, this phrase
actually continues into the first two measures of the next section creating a nice formalistic
elision.
The final subsection (call it 'ZB') is musically built out of the following two-measure phrase,
repeated 14 times into the fade out. Macca rules vocally in the first 4 iterations, with a children's
counting rhyme introduced, seemingly non-sequitur like, for the rest of them:
Chords:
Bassline:
A:
|C
C
flat-III
G
B
flat-VII
|A
A
I
|
[Figure 13.7]
The first four repeats of this phrase accompany the final lyrics of the verse started in the
previous section. The remaining ten repeats first accompany the enigmatic “One two three four
five six seven” chorus, and finally fade out with the implication of a jam session that might go on
forever; if you've heard the early-mix outtake of this referenced below you'll know what I mean
about forever.
The by-now-familiar syncopated rhythm shows up in both measures of this phrase, though in
yet another classic illustration of “avoidance of foolish consistency”, the harmonic rhythm
underscores the syncopation only in the first measure. And then, we have “down with the lights,
up with the synthesized crickets, and bring on the ‘Sun King.’”
It's worth your tracking down an unedited, early mix of this song missing all of the vocal
overdubs (other than Paul's single track lead) and some of the instrumental retouching, as well as
documenting what really happened in the studio during and after the fadeout of the official
version. This un-cropped outtake shows the initial 4 iterations of section ZB followed by an
instrumental jam session of 20(!) iterations of it, further followed by an apparently spontaneous
launch into “At the Hop” which goes on for close to another minute stopping eventually with a
complete ending.
Additionally, there is the rough mix of this song from the July 30, 1969 first piecing together
of the complete medley. The unofficial releases available of this have terrible sound quality, but
it's worth hearing to discover an ending of the song in which the counting rhyme starts off during
Page 78 of 962
the last of Macca's first four iterations of ZB, with a fadeout that is complete by the end of the
eighth next iteration, and a solitary sustained organ note in place of the sound effects.
Some Final Thoughts
So how does all of this hang together? Granted, there is the monetary leitmotif running
through the lyrics of all three sections, though I've always interpreted the "money" of the X
section more metaphorically, as descriptive on a relationship in which neither side is ever
genuine when the chips are down. On strictly musical grounds, in the context of a genre in which
you expect to see some patterned alternation of verses and breaks, the form of this
song is a seeming jumble, a medley at best:
X
Y
|—————————————————————|—————————————————————|
X-intro -» X1 -» X2 YA1 -» YA2/YB1 to 5
Z
|—————————————————————————————————|
ZA-intro -» ZA1/ZB1 to 4,5 to 14
[Figure 13.8]
But obviously, we're dealing with more than a mish-mosh. The form may not be "standard"
but there are at least two unifying elements at work (in addition to the recurrent syncopation
discussed earlier):
1. The harmonic plan for the three sections is a straightforward arch. In fact, in this light, the
chord progression of section ZB appears to be a summing up of the harmonic plan in a
nutshell:
X
a minor
Y
C Major
Z
A Major
[Figure 13.9]
2. The song presents its own alternative notion of repetition in place of a more standard
form. Even though none of the sections of this song make a “return” performance once the
music has moved on to another section, there are several sections that consist of a short
phrase repeated immediately several times. It's unusual but I believe it works.
On a higher level, I'd argue that the this lack of an internal “reprise” within this song itself is
what makes the reprise of section 'X' inside of “Carry That Weight” so satisfying, along with the
more subtle inter-song resonance with “Polythene Pam” and “The End.”
“Lord John McCartney, he's the millionaire Irish peer, filthy rich of course.” 082300#13.1
Page 79 of 962
Hey Jude
Key:
Meter:
Form:
CD:
Recorded:
F Major
4/4
Part X | Part Y | Part Z (fade-out)
"Past Masters", Volume 2, Track 7 (Parlophone CDP 90044-2)
29th, 30th July 1968, Abbey Road 2;
31st July, 1st August 1968, Trident Studios
UK-release: 30th August 1968 (A Single / "Revolution")
US-release: 26th August 1968 (A Single / "Revolution")
Style and Form
“Hey Jude” is such a monumental favorite, I'm almost dissuaded from touching it because of
the pressure to say something profound. I'll go for it nonetheless, even if I do get everything
wrong, because it's such a good illustration of two compositional lessons – how to fill a large
canvas with simple means, and how to use diverse elements such as harmony, bass line, and
orchestration to articulate form and contrast. There's also the subtle matter of the way that time in
this song is divided into classically proportional durations, but more on all of this to come.
The Long Form
Much has been made of the unusual length of this song (7:07), particularly for a single, but
it's the means by which this length is sustained (not the length per se) that's of interest.
There are many other songs by contemporaneous artists which break the 3-to-4 minute length
barrier, though the examples which come immediately to mind use a variety of techniques, none
of which is used in “Hey Jude”: an extended improvisational break in the middle (“Light My
Fire”), the stringing together of several shorter songs, medley-style (“MacArthur Park”), or
simply a long series of verse/refrain couples (“Sad Eyed Lady of the
Lowlands”).
The Beatles opt here instead for an unusual binary form that combines a fully developed,
hymn-like song together with an extended, mantra-like jam on a simple chord progression. It will
become clear from a detailed examination of “Hey Jude” just how neatly the two halves
complement each other, and from what simple musical materials they are constructed.
The song-like half of the track is cast in the standard two-bridge model with one verse
intervening, albeit without an intro. The lyrics of each section are different, even for the two
bridges; most unusual! Even the final verse, which comes close to reiterating the words of the
first section significantly substitutes “under your skin” for “into your heart.” The melody of all
sections here begins with a pickup before the down beat. In the case of the bridges that pickup
anticipates the downbeat by close to a full measure.
Page 80 of 962
The jam-like half of the song presents no less than nineteen repetitions of the same phrase,
slowly fading out to eventual silence in the middle of the final repeat. The main “lyrics” are scat
sung to the syllable “na-na” and start right on the downbeat of the phrase. Superimposed against
that background we get half-sung/half-screamed interjectory phrases from Paul.
The Classical Style
A number of factors lend a four-square, almost classical flavor to the song half:
• The harmony is purely diatonic F Major; the only chromatic exception being the relatively
tame use of the F7 chord (V-of-IV) to shift into the bridge section.
• In the verse, all the chords are presented in root position, and the harmonic rhythm is a
stodgy single chord change per measure; the only exception being the repeat of the C chord
(V) in measures 2 and 3, thereby creating a very slow, almost subliminal syncopation.
• The melody pervasively makes use of appoggiaturas and “escape” notes.
• The bridge features a Bach-like walking bass line which, by the way, is a key source of the
perceived contrast between the bridge section and its surrounding verses; the bass line of
the verse, after all, simply follows the roots of the chord changes.
• The piano part's right hand features an oscillating chordal style.
We'll discover below that both verse and bridge sections both subtle means with which to
counter what would be an otherwise unrelieved squared-off feeling.
The Alternative Versions
The Anthology included one early take of the song from July 29, 1969, choosing to fade it out
in mid-jam. A couple other outtakes from the following day's sessions, that were filmed for
partial inclusion in a TV show, have been unofficially available as well.
The technical common denominator of all these alternates is the lack of orchestra in the jam
session, and an extremely diminished (in some cases, non-existent) role for George.
Interpretively, all of these alternates present the song with much less “solemnity,” and with quite
a bit more hard-rocking edge and horsing-around sense of humor than the official version.
Melody and Harmony
The verse tune has nice multiple arches, and very casually-yet-artfully includes both unique
high and low points. The bridge tune is more simply downward in gesture. The jam session tune
is a nicely lopsided arch, skewed toward its upper end.
The song-like half uses the garden variety chords of I, ii, IV, and V. The jam-like half opts for
the so-called double plagal cadence.
Page 81 of 962
Arrangement
When we turn to the arrangement, we find not so much a source of contrast, as we do one of
formal articulation.
In the song-like half, in particular, we have an excellent, fairly late example of the
progressive layering technique that appears as a Beatles trademark almost from the beginning. A
simple, section-by-section narrative reveals both how the texture is increasingly thickened over
the first three sections, and how the final two verses continue to present deft touches of variation
on what has come before:
• Verse 1 - Piano solo with Macca vocal, single tracked.
• Verse 2 - Add acoustic rhythm guitar, and tambourine on the offbeat. Also add backing
vocals singing “Ahhhh" in the second half of the verse.
• Bridge 1 - Add drums and tapping cymbals. Also add bass, in conspicuous walking style,
no less.
• Verse 3 - Second half has backing vocals in parallel thirds with lead. Note the stray backing
vocal with the terrific anticipation of the phrase "so let it out and let it in" from the next
bridge.
• Bridge 2 - As in Bridge 1. Neither adding to or varying the arrangement of the second
bridge sets a good example of "avoidance of foolish consistency". I think it also
underscores the relationship of the two bridges to each other, as well as their contrasting
role with respect to the verses.
• Verse 4 - Note Macca's melodic ornamentation of the initial "Hey Jude" phrase, and how
the parallel thirds of the backing vocal follows all the way through this verse. There's also
the final vocal flourish (“better, better, ...”) which leads to the jam section; it actually
sounds triple tracked—two Maccas singing the flourish itself, and a third singing “make it,
Jude.”
Macca's performance of that flourish, by the way, is quite a tour de force. It's an
appoggiatura'd arpeggio covering just over two octaves from E below middle C all the way up to
high F, eleven notes above middle C—real soprano territory—and he does it without having to
fully over blow his voice into falsetto. Though he was sufficiently insecure about his
performance to have double tracked it here, you can get a more pristine, single tracked audition
of this feat on the Take 9 rehearsal version, found on a variety of popular under the counter
rarities.
The urban legend about an "undeleted expletive" on the finished recording at time stamp 2:59
has been documented by no less than Lewisohn, though I've seen the veracity of it debated.
Whatever is really been said there, it's a strange bit of accidentally-on-purpose sloppiness left in
the transcript of a recording in which everything else seems so carefully controlled.
The arrangement and the recording of the jam section also contain some interesting strategic
details. Most notably, in addition to all the instruments used in the first half (with the exception
of the bass guitar, according to Lewisohn), the repeated ground bass line of the jam is
underscored by sustained doubling of a small orchestra of 36 players; the session documentation
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lists a full variety of strings, woodwinds, and brass, but what you hear mostly on the finished
recording are bowed strings and trumpets. In general, this technique lends an overall feel of
weightiness and measured motion to the music, curiously in contrast to the otherwise bustling,
rocking foreground texture of the piano, drums, and screaming Macca.
Contrary to popular belief, the ad-lib choral singing of “na-na-na” was done by the same
session musicians who played the orchestral overdub. Unlike “All You Need Is Love” (with
which it is perhaps sometimes confused), the chorus here is not made up of the Beatles “closest
hundred friends.”
The doubling of the bass line is progressively layered over the course of several repetitions of
the mantra like phrase:
• Repeat 1 - Bass fiddles in unison with the ground bass.
• Repeat 4 - Add mid-range strings (cellos/violas ?) and trumpets two octaves above the
ground bass.
• Repeat 8 - Add violins at 4 octaves above ground bass, though they sound like they sustain
a simple F natural rather than following the melody of the bass line.
The curious thing about the recording of this jam is the extremely long fade-out that begins
as early as the tenth repetition of the mantra-like phrase, at a point where there are still a full two
minutes of music left to come.
This gambit, combined with the sensation created by the sustained-note doubling of the bass
line, creates an astonishingly transcendental effect. I stumble for metaphors to describe it, but the
sorts of things which come to mind are "the music of the spheres", "the long caravan which
passes slowly by", or perhaps, a painting in which the perspective is so deep that the vanishing
point of singularity seems to approach the infinite. (Get this guy out of here, would ya', please!)
Verse
The verse is a standard eight measures long, and is built out of four phrases that are throughcomposed; i.e. they add up to one long mega-phrase that contains no internal repeat structure.
The verses sections that are followed by a bridge have one measure rhetorically added:
F:
F
C
F
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
V
I
Bb
F
C
F
-7
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
IV
I
V
I
(V-of-IV)
[Figure 14.1]
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The harmonic shape is closed, though the final chord is subtly turned into a V-of-IV which
leads us directly into the bridge.
Bridge
The bridge is an unusual 11 and a half measures long, in spite of what appears on the surface
to be its AA parallel phrasing:
Bass line: |Bb
Chords: |Bb
IV
A
|G
|g
ii
F
|E
|C
V
|Bb
IV
|g
ii
|C
V
|C7
V
|-
|
C
|F
|F
I
|
|-7
(V-of-IV)
|F
I
|-7
|
|
|
[Figure 14.2]
The first phrase is rhetorically extended to five measures so that its connection to the second
phrase mimics the lead-in from the verse to the start of the bridge.
The second phrase starts off in parallel to the first one, but it shortens the measure with the
F7 chord in it by half, and tacks on a short, two-measure “na-na” phrase that leads back around
to the following verse, and provides
a foreshadowing, associative link with the jam section.
The harmonic shape of this section is open at both ends. Some pedants would insist of
spelling the Eb on top of the F7 chord in measure 9 as D# because of its melodic resolution
upward to E natural in the C chord.
The Jamming Phrase
The second half of the song is built on no less than eighteen and a half repetitions of the
following four measure phrase whose harmonic shape is closed:
F
E-flat
B-flat
F
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
flat-VII
IV
I
[Figure 14.3]
Not only does the repetitive nature of this section create an obvious contrast with the
symmetrical form of the first half, but there are two other, more subtle sources of contrast.
• The use of the flat-VII chord here gives the jam session a decidedly modal, Mixolydian
flavor which contrasts with the almost simplistically “straight”, diatonic Major mode of the
first half.
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• The “na-na-na” vocal melody of this jam, with its emphasis on the F-natural at its apogee,
creates a freely dissonant 9th against the E flat chord; it's a small effect, yet so pungent that
I dare say it's one of the signature characteristics of this track. If you look back at the first
half of the song, you'll note that in contrast, all of the plentiful melodic dissonance to be
found there is carefully, consistently resolved.
Some Final Thoughts
The Time
If you chart out the durations of the major sections of “Hey Jude”, you find that, as a rule,
they divide up the time into not quite symmetrical, golden-mean proportions, with the jam
turning out to be the longer of the two major sections:
Minutes: 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
|--------- song --------|--------- jam section ---------|
|-- fade out ---|
I would dare to suggest that on top of everything else we've discussed, this proportional
division of time is yet another source of the satisfaction, relaxation, and feeling of having
encountered something somehow “classic” or “epic” one experiences in this song.
So, What's It All About ?
I've never been quite sure, myself. The fact that the song was written by Paul to Julian
Lennon during the breakup of John and Julian's mom, Cynthia, adds a new dimension to your
appreciation of it but, as I've observed with respect to the fact of John's having written “Julia” in
honor of his own mother, the affect that each song has upon you would be hardly diminished if
for some reason you were to remain oblivious to the biographical background of either. So my
question stands.
The jam section taken alone would seem to point in the thematic direction of “spiritual
enlightenment”, obviously something of a preoccupation of some of the Beatles during the era in
which this song was composed.
But the older I get, the more convinced I am that the main message here is to be found in the
first half —the “imperative” to now pursue one's destined love the minute either you have found
her, or she has found you. Yes, I do believe that once you internalize that much, the transcendent,
blissful joy of the second half falls right into place.
“Control yourself or you'll spurt.” 082700#14.1
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I Should Have Known Better
Key: G Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Verse' | Bridge |
| Verse | Verse (Guitar Solo) |
| Verse' | Bridge | Outro (fade-out)
Recorded: 225th - 26th February 1964, Abbey Road 2
US-release: 26th June 1964 (LP "A Hard Day's Night")
Style and Form
You would think that “I Should Have Known Better” is a relatively straightforward Beatles
song, especially in comparison with either of the two we most recently looked at together, “...
Jude” and “You Never Give Me Your Money.” If you look closely enough at this one, though,
you find a number of ways in which The Boys simply refuse to just play it
straight.
For starters, the form is an unusual, even strange, variation on the more standard two-bridge
model, the novel features being the appearance of three verse sections in a row between the
bridges (the middle one of which is an instrumental), and the segue of the second bridge directly
into the outro without a verse section intervening.
In addition, we run into, for the first time in this series, a situation where the two verses that
precede a bridge section are subtly modified in order to effect a smoother formal transition.
While this procedure is definitely not the default of the genre, neither is it all exceptional.
Browsing through the Beatles canon, we find the following other examples, and the list here
excludes cases in which a verse variant is used for purposes other than smoothing the bridge
transition (such as only to smooth the transition to the outro, or simply for the heck of it):
-
There's A Place
Not A Second Time
You're Going To Lose That Girl
Within You Without You
Good Morning Good Morning
A Day In The Life
I Am The Walrus
The list is clearly dominated by John, and in spite of a couple relatively early examples, the
big crush appears around the SP album. Four of the verses have lyrics with an overall repeat
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scheme of ABCB. In other words, the verses before each bridge share the same lyrics. The text of
this song pervasively incorporates trademark Beatles wordplay on phonemes (“hey-hey-hey,”
“woah-woah,” “So-oh,” and “tooooh -ooh-ooh-ooh, oh”) and immediate repeating of short trite
phrases (“and I do,” “can't you see,” and “give me more.”)
Melody and Harmony
The Verse melody covers the narrow range of a 6th, mostly noodling on the top 4 notes, but
still asserts an ascending gesture overall. The most distinctive thing about this melody is the
manner in which the unusually long sustained note at the beginning on the open vowel, “I,” is
immediately followed up by a rhythmically active, syllabic setting for the rest of the way. In two
out of the three verses, the long vowel sound is exploited toward the end of the section, as in
“and I do” and “can't you see.” I wonder if the exception to this, “give me more,” is merely
random or an intentional avoidance of foolish consistency.
The Bridge's melodic line over the course of its four phrases creates a lovely arch shape, with
the obvious climax on that upward falsetto flip in the third phrase. The fairly large amount of
melodic ground covered by this (a 10th!) bridge is in contrast to the more restricted pitch range
of the verses. This bridge melody is quite distinctive in its own right from the way in which each
of its four lines end with an open vowel, most of which are set melismatically (i.e. with the
vowel sung over a succession of pitches).
The chords used are relatively small in number are all garden variety. The key scheme
features a short-lived modulation to the relative minor for the bridges.
Arrangement
The backing arrangement, dominated by acoustic guitar, electric lead, light drumming, a
melodic, almost hyperactive bass which is mixed relatively far back, and, of course that bluesy
harmonica, is rather homogenized throughout. John gets the lead vocal honors, double tracked
most of the way through except for an exceptional break in the second bridge.
Intro
A number of musical elements which ultimate characterize the entire song are immediately
presented in the short and simple four-measure introduction:
|——————————Four times———————|
G
D
|—————————————|—————————————|
I
V
[Figure 15.1]
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The alternating I-V chord pattern is to continues beyond the intro through no less than five
measures of the verse and comes back again for another two measures at the end of that section.
The bluesy harmonica is right there on the downbeat with an 'E-F-E' melodic pattern that
creates a series of piquant dissonances against the recurring D chord in the accompaniment; the
'E' on the downbeat making a nice 9th, and the F-natural neighbor tone making a class-A crossrelation against the F-sharp of the chord beneath.
It's also interesting to follow the intermittent use of this harmonica throughout the song. You
walk away from a casual listen thinking it's always there but, do trace it carefully and note how,
with the exception of the guitar solo section, it is actually used rather sparingly, its primary
function being to introduce each verse in turn; illustrating yet another basic compositional
principle: in matters of sharp spice, a little goes a long way.
Verse
A most unusual feature of “I Should Have Known Better”is that the verses come in two
variants; those that are followed directly by another verse (as are the first, third, and fourth) are
characterized by a ten-measure length and a "closed" harmonic shape; i.e., entirely in G Major,
both beginning and ending essentially on the I chord:
G:
G
D
G
D
G
D
G
D
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
V
I
V
I
V
I
V
G
D
e
|—————————————|—————————————|
I
V
vi6
vi
3
C
D
G
D
G
D
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
IV
V
I
V
I
V
[Figure 15.2]
From the phrasing of the words, as well as the melodic structure, you see that the ten
measures are meant to be parsed as 6 (actually 4 + 2) + 4. Those seemingly extra middle two
measures (“that I would love everything that you do”) with their repeat of the melody from the
preceding two measures create a rhetorical, free verse feeling.
The slowing of the harmonic rhythm in measures seven and eight adds nice ballast, just as
the return of the IV oscillating harmony in measures nine and ten adds symmetry.
The closed harmonic shape is reinforced by the melody, which hovers around a relatively
restricted choice of pitches.
Coloristically, the melodic emphasis on the note 'e' not only extends the presence of the D9
sonority already heard in the intro, but also creates a pervasive added-sixth chord on G.
Measure six features the rare occurrence in this genre of a chord in non-root position; the e
chord is sustained through the entire measure, with a bass line which descends from G down to
E, placing the chord at the beginning of the measure in the so-called “first” or “6-3” inversion.
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And, of course, there's no harmonica here, except in measures nine and ten, where it introduces
the next verse.
The guitar solo is also built on this primary verse form. The solo, by the way, being a
repetition of the original melody with just the slightest hint of embellishment, is a good example
of what has become a dying breed.
The solo ends with a surprise touch: the melodic leading tone of f# near the end of the solo,
instead of being resolved up to g, is followed by an added-sixth G chord with an e on the top.
Note how this solo section is the only one in which the harmonica continues its ostinato
pattern all the way through a verse, creating some strikingly dissonant tone clusters against the
melody of the guitar; in particular, against that added-sixth chord at the end.
Verse’
A Verse’ variant is used for those verses (i.e. the second and the fifth) which lead directly into
a bridge section, and is characterized by an eight measure length and an open harmonic shape;
i.e., starting in G major but leading to the key (actually ending on the V chord) of the relative
minor key of e:
G
D
G
D
G
D
G
D
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
V
I
V
I
V
I
V
G
D
e
|—————————————|—————————————|
I
V
vi6
vi
3
G
D
e
C
B
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
V
vi6
vi
IV
3
e: VI
V
[Figure 15.3]
This variation is notably identical to the primary verse right up through measure 7.
Bridge
The bridge is an unusually long and well-developed sixteen-measure section of four different
phrases, starting in the key of e minor and eventually modulating back to the home key of G
Major via a pivot on the C chord in the ninth measure:
e:
e
C
G
B
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
i
VI
III
V
e
G
G7
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
i
VI
III
V-of-VI
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e:
G:
C
D
G
e
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
VI
IV
V
I
vi
G:
C
D
G
D
G
D
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
IV
V
I
V
I
V
[Figure 15.4]
The arrangement introduces the electric guitar in the bridge for the purpose of underscoring
the first beat of every measure with a single strummed chord. Note that this effect actually begins
on the last measure of the previous verse, somewhat smoothing over the “seam” between the
second verse and the bridge.
The harmony subtly teases you when it dips down to the e chord in measure twelve, just
when you think you've fully turned the corner back toward G.
The harmonica, true to form, returns in measures fifteen and sixteen to herald the arrival of
the next verse.
The only difference between the two bridges is the sudden shift in the second one, for the
first and only time in the entire song, to a single track recording of John's voice. As an example
of the sort of attention paid to fine detail, note how the double tracking is restored just for an
instant in order to reinforce the falsetto flip.
This section is perhaps the high point of the song because of the single tracking; it still has
the power to stop you in your tracks. Based on rough outtakes of other Lennon songs from this
period (e.g. “A Hard Day's Night” or “I'm A Loser”), I'm tempted to argue that John was more
usually double tracked, not because he didn't sound secure enough without it, but, quite the
opposite, because in single track mode, he almost sounds too intense.
If you doubt the capability of this sound to awaken little spikes of whatnot in its listeners, I
recommend you take a peek at the performance of “I Should Have Known Better” in the baggage
car scene of the A Hard Day's Night film. Keep a lookout for exactly where in the song that Patti
Whatsername covers her eyes of blue with her long blonde hair because it (John's single track
singing) is all too much.
Outro
The second bridge is followed by an outro which fades out with the same musical pattern and
arrangement of the intro, this time, with the voice added.
Some Final Thoughts
Underlying all the other structural and harmonic details discussed above, there is a pervasive
use in this song of syncopated accents on the last eighth note of the measure; if you count along
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very quickly in tempo, you'll find this accent on the offbeat of "four-AND." This subtle element
not only helps unify the song, but also underlies the extent to which you might say that this song
"swings" or conveys a passionate subtext.
I don't want to spoil the party for those who like to go digging for such details on their own,
but I promise you that this syncopation is to be found all over the song, and it is always nicely
foiled by the steady un-syncopated rhythm of the backing track.
Just a few examples to get you jazzed for further study: the harmonica part starting in the
second measure of the intro, the first entrance of the voice part on the word “I”, the end of each
phrase of the verse (e.g. on the words “you” and “do” in verse one), and of course my favorite,
the very top of the falsetto flip.
Oh well, I went into this one expecting to find something close to a standard formula, and
boy, was I surprised. But then again, I suppose I should have known better. (Ooops, time for me
to cover my eyes of blue.)
“Funny ... 'cos they usually reckon dogs more than people in England, don't they? – You'd expect something a little
more palatial.” 092400#15.1
Page 91 of 962
Thank You Girl
Key: D Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse / Refrain |
| Verse / Refrain | Bridge / Refrain |
Intro | Verse / Refrain | Outro (with complete ending)
Recorded: 5th, 13th March 1963, Abbey Road 2
UK-release: 11th April 1963 (B Single / "From Me To You")
US-release: 27th May 1963 (B Single / "From Me To You")
Style and Form
“Thank You Girl” is yet another deceptively simple song of the early period. It's a quick one
(2:05) and a lowly single B-side no less, but one that reveals a variety of surprising twists applied
to the old formulas. Beyond the formal and harmonic sorts of details we usually explore, the
arrangement here is also something to be savored; in particular, I trust our peek at the vocal parts
will, alone, be worth the price of admission.
At first blush, it appears like we're dealing with one of the very standard forms: two verses, a
bridge, and a final verse, the whole thing enclosed by both intro and full-ending outro. But note
the following intriguing peculiarities:
• The intro is repeated before the final verse.
• The four-bar phrase "And all I've got to etc." is repeated throughout the song as a refrain; it
follows the bridge as well as providing the final phrase of each verse.
• The outro is a neatly crafted extension of material from the intro, and features that threetime repetition of the same phrase which is so much a trademark of the Beatles.
The lyrics of the three verses create an ABA pattern.
The intro, verse, and bridge all start off right on the downbeat. The mini-refrain portion of the
verse has the smallest of pickups before the bar. Aside from the title phrase per se, the song has
notably very little syncopation.
Melody and Harmony
The melodic shape off all three sections (verse, refrain, and bridge) is predominantly
downward, though they each contain at least some amount of counterbalancing upward motion.
There is a lot of mileage gotten here out of only three chords. The song is in D major, and more
than 90% of the music is built on the I-IV-V chords of D, G, and A. Only two other chords are
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used, and these make their first and only appearance in the bridge; i.e., the vi and ii chords of b
and e.
Arrangement
The backing features harmonica, an unadorned root-note bass line and simple rhythm
guitar(s) parts. The drumming is mostly in even eighth notes, though Ringo's at least given a
chance to break loose in the outro.
With the exception of the outro, and those harmonica parts, which were recorded separately,
the arrangement is sufficiently straightforward to be played and sung entirely in real time without
overdubs, giving us a rare chance to hear in a studio context what they must have sounded like
live.
John and Paul collaborate on the vocals though, strictly speaking, you might say John leads.
The Capitol release of this recording on the Second Album features additional harmonica
dubs and a shamelessly excessive amount of reverb not found on the Past Masters CD release,
whose unvarnished sound quality comes across in contrast more like chamber music than a wall
of sound, and is to be strongly recommended to those not familiar with it; almost hard to believe
it's the same take which underlies the Capitol version.
Intro
The intro is only four measures long but is quite rich in detail. Schematically it looks like
this:
Harmonica —————————————
D:
|Voices
—————————————
|Verse
A
G
A
G
D
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
V
IV
V
IV
I
[Figure 16.1]
First off, there's a slight ambiguity as to what key we're in at the outset. By the time you
reach measure 5, the music finally lets you know that “this is 'D,'” but until then, there is the
suspenseful possibility that we just might
be in the key of A, and that the opening chords are I and flat VII. To put all this another way, this
phrase has a convergent shape, moving homewards having started in the outfield.
Turning to the arrangement, we find that by the time the verse begins, there have already
been three changes of texture in very short order. The first two measures feature harmonica plus
heavy tom-tom drumming which stresses every beat in the measure. The next two measures
introduce John and Paul's voices in Everly Brothers’ style parallel thirds while the drumming
shifts over to the lighter snare and cymbals-tapping work which is used throughout most of the
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rest of the song. Thirdly, the start of the verse provides contrast with the entire intro in that the
chords of the verse are presented in an unembellished oom-pah style, whereas the chords in the
intro are all embellished by neighboring tones on the offbeats like so:
E-EC#
A
F#-F-
E-EC#
A
F#-F-|
E-EE-E|D-DD-D|B
|G
[Figure 16.2]
Two other details:
• The successive harmonica and vocals parts in this intro fit together into a single descending
scale of E-DC#- B-A.
• There is a vivid kiss-like sensation embedded in the introductory vocal parts; not how the
simple phonemes “oh-mmm-you” are elided to sensual effect; try it yourself and see what it
does to you.
Verse
The verse is eight measures long and built out of a virtual repetition of the following four
measure phrase:
D:
D
G
D
G
D
A
D
G
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
IV
I
IV
I
V
I
IV
[Figure 16.3]
Note that in the second phrase, the D chord of the fourth bar is sustained for the entire
measure instead of moving to G in the second half of the measure. If you listen carefully, you'll
note that this slight detail was enough to trip up the rhythm guitarist on the first verse. Paul plays
the notes D and A on beats 1 and 3 respectively while John (?) plays a G chord on the rhythm
guitar. This mistake is not repeated in either of the other verses, though why they didn't stop for
this in the first instance remains a riddle considering, as we learn from the outtakes readily
available to us these days, that they generally did stop for errors of a similar nature.
The overall harmonic shape of the verse is rather closed, almost statically bound to the tonic;
in fact, that G chord in the second half of measure four is quite necessary to leave the first phrase
just sufficiently open to allow for a repeat of the phrase in measures five through eight.
Compared to the intro, the verse seems a tad faster and more driving; in large measure, this is
due to the up shift of the harmonic rhythm here to two chords per measure from the one-permeasure of the intro. At any rate, do let's move on to the vocal parts.
When you look at the vocal arrangements of the early period you find the Boys favoring the
device of peppering a song that is sung primarily in unison with either occasional notes here and
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there which suddenly shift into two part harmony (e.g. “Misery”) or even whole phrases of twopart counterpoint. “Thank You Girl” has ample examples of both methods of contrast.
After those vocal parallel thirds of the intro, the first half of the verse is given to us in unison;
ever notice how when John and Paul sing together like this, the result is a sort of third voice that
sounds like unlike either of them? Even better though is the quintessentially Beatles-esque
harmonization of the second phrase; no, it's definitely not something out of the Everly Brothers!
Instead of bonehead parallel thirds what we get here is an almost seemingly arbitrary and yet
delightfully pungent, dissonant jumble of fourths and fifths mixed among the few, more
consonant sixths. But you know, my dear reader, that this strange counterpoint is not at all
without motivation—listen carefully and note how the lower line sung by John is none other than
the self-same melody sung by him and Paul in the first phrase; check 'em out:
[Figure 16.4]
Refrain
This is another short section of only four measures whose harmonic shape is wide open with
an emphatic focus on a dominant V chord which goes begging for resolution:
D:
G
A
G
A
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
IV
V
IV
V
[Figure 16.5]
I also tend to subliminally associate this section with the intro; we not only have the slowing
of the harmonic rhythm back to one chord per measure, but there is also the oscillation between
the IV and V chords; granted they're in reverse order this time.
In spite of the slowed harmonic rhythm in this phrase, there is a subtle feeling of propulsion
created by the gentle syncopation of those “Thank you”s in the vocal part.
The vocal part is quite “Misery”-like: all in unison except for that open sixth which blossoms
forth for an instant on the word “do”; not accidentally at the melodic apogee of the phrase.
Interestingly, there is more two part harmony added at the end of all the other repeats of this
refrain. Now this added bit of harmony not only has on first hearing, that same twangy and
dissonant flavor we discussed above in connection to the verse, but on closer examination, is
similarly motivated as above; i.e., the new upper part sung by Paul in all refrains except the first
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one is pitted against John's singing of the identical part they both sung in unison this first time
around:
[Figure 16.7]
Bridge
This is an eight-measure section built out of two phrases:
D:
b
D
A
e
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
vi
I
V
ii
A
D
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
V
I
[Figure 16.7]
Harmonically, we are given some well needed, albeit short-lived relief from our strict diet of
only three chords. Melodically, the use of scalar material in the melody provides a unifying
association with the refrain. Although this bridge section makes a half-hearted attempt at
harmonic excursion away from the tonic by starting off on the vi chord, the shape of this section
overall is unusually closed for a bridge. As a result, the repeat of the open-ended refrain at this
juncture works quite well in the way it sets up the rest of the song.
As in the refrain, the vocal parts are primarily in unison except for the brief, punctuated
repeat of the phrase “way that you do” in parallel thirds.
Outro
The outro consists of three similar phrases, the first of which is six measures long, while the
remaining two are four measures each.
The first phrase repeats the music of the intro virtually verbatim and then tacks on two
measure which are harmonically identical to the beginning of the verse section, though in place
of the voices we now are given fancy flourishes on the drums. The second phrase repeats what
were the last four measures of the previous phrase. The third and final phrase begins as though
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going for yet another verbatim repeat of what preceded but the last two measures now neatly
provide the full ending with the same sort of neighbor tone embellishment of the harmony as
seen in the opening measures of the intro.
From the outtakes of this song it not only seems possible that a fade-out ending was
originally considered, but that in the several stand-alone takes of the coda, we see the Boys
fiddling with the details of the bass line, the voicing of the rhythm guitar chords, and making
sure that Ringo's elaborate fills stay within the framework of the backbeat right down to the wire.
The abrupt editing in of this outro goes down smoothly on casual listening, but once you
know that it's there, you're hard pressed to ignore its sudden increase of reverb and even a very
slight speeding up of the tempo.
Some Final Thoughts
Independent of the technical music theory details, I'd suggest that one of the most forwardpointing details in this song is to be found in a fragment of the lyrics; the lines about how
“you've been good to me, you made me glad when I was blue.”
Against the backdrop of the other songs of theirs from this early period, in which romantic
effusion is more than likely to be prompted by the physical attractions of youthful beauty and
technical prowess on the dance floor or in the loving department, here the “girl” is singled out for
her having provided emotional support.
In that sense the song looks ahead to the likes of “Help!” and beyond.
“Boys, you don't know what this means to me.” 101700#16.2
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Any Time At All
Key: D Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Refrain | Verse | Refrain | Verse | Refrain |
Bridge | Refrain | Outro (with complete ending)
CD: A Hard Day's Night", Track 8 (Parlophone CDP7 46437-2)
Recorded: 2nd June 1964, Abbey Road 2
US-release: 20th July 1964 (LP "Something New")
Style and Form
“Any Time At All” is yet another one of those Beatles songs that tends to get eclipsed by the
more popular hits of its period, that is still quite a pleasure to discover at whatever stage of your
interest in the group's music you eventually encounter it. It's also a fine example of a song whose
form and content on the surface seems so straightforward and familiar, yet once you get past the
surface glitz, and the simpler pleasures, you find a wealth of more adventurous options to be
explored.
I embarked on this series of articles fully expecting in short order to stumble occasionally (if
not quite repeatedly) into examples of formulaic Beatles songwriting. But thus far, every one I've
chosen reveals its own variations, once we look at it carefully enough. I am beginning to suspect
that by the time we get through the entire repertoire, we'll still not have come across too many
songs in total can be said to be playing it strictly by the so-called rules.
In “Any Time At All” the form is conspicuously not a variation of the more familiar one- or
two-bridge models we've seen over and over again, and is noteworthy on three counts:
• A frequently recurring refrain section dominates the song. This folk ballad-like design,
while a common enough device in other pop and folk music and, is not often found in the
early work of the Boys.
• The song contains only two verses. I assume that the doubled-up length of the verses
themselves, the number of repeats of the refrain, and the peculiar placement of the bridge
so close to the end of the track all argue against inclusion of a late-breaking third verse.
• The bridge itself introduces new, unique material (though the melodic material does link
back to the appoggiatura stuff earlier), rather than recycling material from the refrain or the
verse as is more common.
The two verses contain no lyrics that are repeated. Their rhyme scheme using the 3rd and 6th
line of each verse is novel.
In context of the refrain's starting with a long pickup and the verse's starting after the
downbeat I think it's an effective (and not entirely coincidental) twist that the instrumental
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section starts right on the downbeat. Note how much flatter the whole song sounds if the break
section simply opts for the same rhythmic gesture of either the verse or refrain.
It's a heavily syncopated little number. John sets the tone with his downbeat melissma on the
word “all” at the start of the refrain. This answered in spades by the backing arrangement at the
downbeat of the following measure. Here we find the more gut wrenching of the two flavors of
syncopation that can occur on "4-AND;" i.e. the one that's not followed by an explicit
demarcation of the downbeat that follows. Compare this with the similar “When I Get Home.”
And contrast it to our recently studied “I Should Have Known Better” and “You Can't Do That”
for examples where the downbeat following syncopation on four-AND is marked out.
Melody and Harmony
The tune is somewhat pentatonic and arch-shaped. It is even more conspicuously shot
through with appoggiaturas, enough so to bear comparison with “We Can Work It Out.” The
harmony uses a small number of chords and hangs closely around the home key. Beatles
trademarks show up here in the prominence given to both the vi -> I cadence (check out “All I've
Got to Do” among others), and the chromatically descending bass line cliche.
Arrangement
The backing track is for a combo of guitars, drums, and piano. The is relatively thin,
homogenized, and the recording (at least insofar as we are currently stuck with nothing better
than the mono version on CD) is unfortunately noisy.
John's double-tracked lead vocal rules unassisted except for Paul's hocket-like provision of
the second line of the refrain in place of John. The latter creates a novel textural effect and at the
same time spares John from having to reach for a high 'A' that is out of his vocal comfort range.
Refrain
The track begins with a startling drum thwack on the second beat of the measure, though
where this thwack fits into the meter isn't quite clear to the senses until you hear at least the next
repeat of this refrain in context.
The refrain is a standard eight measure length and has a closed harmonic shape. While the
choice of chords is nothing unusual, take note of the unusually varied harmonic rhythm, the
several hard syncopations, and the use of the vi-I progression at the outset; the latter an extreme
favorite of Lennon/McCartney.
D:
b
D
A
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
vi
I
V
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D:
b
G
A
D
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
vi
IV
V
I
[Figure 17.1]
The tune is quite full of appoggiaturas; such juicy leaning tones may be heard on each
occurrence of the word “all” in this refrain, as well as on the word “any” in measure 4, and the
occurrence of “call” and “I'll”. The use of several bluesy f-naturals in the tune, which make for
cross relations with the f-sharps of the underlying chords, only serves to enhance the
effectiveness of the appoggiaturas. The tune is constructed out of several short interjectory
phrases with enough room between each of them for a series of antiphonal, commentary-like
obbligato figures in the guitar and bass parts. These phrases themselves are noteworthy.
The first one is a sort of mirror image of the first phrase of the tune. The second one does a 4>3 leaning-tone turn around the note C# over the A chord in measure 4. The last one, (G-F#-ED--F#) at the very end of the refrain, is not only also leaning tone oriented, but is also a melodic
motif which reappears both at the end of the verse (still shyly in the background), and later has
the privilege of reappearing at the climax of the bridge.
Ringo appears to break the syncopation pattern in the second refrain by marking the
downbeat instead of avoiding it. My gut tells me this was inattention to detail, not intentional
avoidance of foolish consistency.
Verse
The verse is an unusual fourteen measures long and, in spite of its apparently lopsided 6 + 8
phrasing pattern, is built out of two repetitions of the same phrase:
Chords: |D
Bass line: D
D: I
|f#
C#
iii
|b
B
vi
|g
Bb
iv
|D
A
I
|A
C#
V
|
|D
D
I
|f#
C#
iii
|b
B
vi
|g
Bb
iv
|D
A
I
|A
C#
V
|D
D
I
|-
|
[Figure 17.2]
We have here an almost entirely chromatic walking bass line, which adds a not unpleasant
undertow to the chord progression. Note especially how our example here of “the minor iv chord
in a major key” is nicely motivated by the movement of the bass.
When the above phrase is repeated, the first measure of the second iteration is elided to the
last measure of the first one. Hmmm, the last time we saw this special effect in these articles was
in the verse section of “It Won't Be Long”, which now that I think of it also has a chromatic
walking bass line; no coincidence that the same composer might be involved, eh?
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Bridge
The bridge is an unusual ten measures long:
————————————
Top line: |G
F#
Chord: |A
b
Bass line: |E
F#
V4/3 vi4/3
2X —————————————
|E
|
|A
|
|G
|
V4/2
|G
IV
|A
V
|G
IV
|
|A
V
|D
I
|-
|
[Figure 17.3]
Though we eventually find an effective release at the end of the bridge, there is a high level
of harmonic tension which accrues over most of its duration, due to the repeated approachavoidance maneuvering with the V chord.
The build toward a climax is ably abetted by the use of those slow triplets in the lead part, so
clearly a John Lennon trademark in so many songs. And as mentioned earlier, the familiar little
phrase from the accompaniment to the verse, reveals another side to its character, so to speak, in
the passionate context in which it now reappears.
The harmonic construction of the first two-measure phrase is based on the contrary motion of
the outer voices, which factor place the otherwise garden variety 7th chords of that phrase appear
in unusual inversions.
Outro
The outro is a petit reprise of the last part of the final refrain with a finishing flourish of
guitar chords that sounds strangely “flown in” from elsewhere in terms of its tone quality.
Some Final Thoughts
I suppose you might say that this is a very typical “John song” of the period. Aside from
whatever there is in the phatic subtext of both the words or music that would lead you to make
such a statement, there is also the sheer number of compositional devices and tricks used in this
song, which could rightly be, described as some of his songwriting trademarks.
What truly raises the repeated use of such techniques over the course of a career from mere
mannerisms to the level of true elements of personal style, is the historical context of continual
maturation and evolution in the music of the Beatles. For example, the walking tenor-line in
“Dear Prudence” is, technically speaking, the same old trick as it is here, but look at the
difference between the two songs! The same goes for the slow triplets in “We Can Work it Out”
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or “Don't Let Me Down”. But let's not get started on this sort of list right here – it's the sort of
topic worthy of a sidebar article or more in its own write.
In terms of verbal theme “Any Time At All” turns out provide an uncanny mirror image of
what we saw in “Thank You Girl”. In both songs, there is someone who offers him or herself up
completely and unconditionally to support another should such help be wanted or needed. The
only real difference between them is in the singer’s point of view; here he is the offerer, and there
he's the receiver.
The common denominator of the two songs rather casually provides food for thought about
just how it is that mutual love sometimes begins. John seems to imply that when you offer
emotional support to another who may have never explicitly solicited it from you that this may
yet turn out to be a prime movement.
Read the lyrics of both songs carefully: in neither case is it necessarily true that the two
people involved are aware of any mutual interest prior to the offer of support. This raises the
profound question of whether love may indeed ignite based on this kind of sympathetic interest
of a 3rd party in absence of any pre-existing acquaintance or attraction.
Mind you, I stood up for you. I mean I wouldn't have it.” 103000#17.1
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You've Got To Hide Your Love Away
Key: G (Mixolydian) Major
Meter: 3/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Verse' | Refrain |
| Verse | Verse' | Refrain |
| Verse / Solo (with complete ending)
Style and Form
From the upbeat self confidence of “Thank You Girl” and “Any Time At All” we move this
time to the other end of the emotional spectrum with “You've Got To Hide Your Love Away,” a
song that further exemplifies some of John's signature style traits as much as it breaks some new
ground for its time.
The form is a cross between the two-bridge pop song and the verse/refrain alternating folk
ballad, with a central unit of two verses plus a refrain repeated twice, preceded by a scanty intro
and followed, quite unusually, by an instrumental verse that wraps the whole thing up. The verse
pairs are internally differentiated between a primary version and a slightly modified variant that
leads more smoothly into the refrain.
I find it intriguing that many people hear the influence of Dylan in this song. Beyond John's
vocal style and the lyrics, I wonder if part of this reaction is based on the use of this form; think
of how many of Zimmy's own ballads save the harmonica solo for after the final verse!
And this is our first encounter with a ternary time signature. I'm parsing this as an up tempo
3/4 both for simplicity and because John himself counts it out that way on the outtake of the song
included on Anthology 2. But one could just as easily transcribe it as a moderate 6/8 with two of
my 3/4 measures to one of the 6/8 measures.
Perhaps the following will come as no surprise to those resident teenagers out there who
make a religion out of knowing such details, but a search through the Beatles songbook reveals
John to be the most partial of the four toward songs written with at least an entire section in a
ternary meter. Of course, songs in such time signatures comprise only a small fraction of the total
canon, but I thought it was interesting to note to whom the lion's share of these belonged:
John
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
This Boy
Baby's in Black
Yes It Is
You've Got To Hide Your Love Away (our song du jour!)
Norwegian Wood
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6. Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds (verse)
7. Being For the Benefit of Mister Kite (instrumental break)
8. Happiness is a Warm Gun (Parts 2 and 3)
9. Yer Blues
10. I Want You (She's so heavy)
11. Dig a Pony
Paul
1. She's Leaving Home
2. Oh! Darling
George
1. Long, Long, Long
2. I Me Mine
Given George's small “market share” of the official canon, it's significant that in this
category, he comes in tied with Paul.
The four sung verses all contain different lyrics which adds to the ballad (versus pop) side of
the equation.
All the sections rhythmically start right on the downbeat, a gesture that resonates with the
depressed affect of the song's mood, in the sense that it somehow takes more energy to come in
before or after the beat.
The refrain and final phrase of the primary verse section both feature unusual phrase lengths
of six measures.
Melody and Harmony
The broad melodic range and large leaps of the refrain contrast dramatically with what might
be called the claustrophobic narrowness of the verse. The refrain opens with the jump of an
octave downward and covers an overall range of 11 notes. The primary verse contains no larger
interval than a minor 3rd and covers a range of only 5 notes; the secondary verse, a range of 7
notes.
The short downbeat melismas, as found for example on the word “on” in the phrase “can't go
on,” are a veritable Lennon/Beatles trademark. Compare this example with “Any Time At All”
and “Eight Days A Week”.
It's tempting to attribute what I describe as John's penchant for harmonic frugality as more a
reflection of a limited vocabulary than a conscious element of style. But while the latter may be a
slight exaggeration, the former would be grossly unfair; granted, much of his output (both early
and late) is heavily blues based or influenced, but at the very least, during the Sgt. Pepper and
White Album period, we have several examples, such as “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “I Am
the Walrus” which are quite imaginative in chord choices and progression.
But at any rate, with our current selection, we have yet another song built exclusively out of
four chords; in order of appearance, you have G, D, C, and F. The key is G major, so
grammatically, in addition to the standard I, V, and IV, we also have the modal sounding "flat
VII" chord.
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The use of such a limited harmonic palette contributes to the extremely closed tonal shape of
the song. There are no excursions or modulations away from the home key. Luckily, as a matter
of avoiding a stultifying sense of stasis, each of the two phrases of the verse section respectively
opens up to either the IV or V chord which at least help motivate the refrain, and similarly, the
two phrases in the refrain section each end on V that neatly leads back
around into the next verse.
In contrast to the modal purity of “She Said She Said,” I describe the harmonic style of
“You've Got To Hide Your Love Away” as "almost modal" because of the use here of the Major
V chord together with the flat VII. In “She Said She Said,” we saw how the modal spell is kept
unbroken by using the minor v chord.
One spicy by-product of this almost purely modal style is the repeated cross-relation exposed
by the juxtaposition of the F sharps in the D chord with the F naturals in the F chord. This could
have been easily avoided by substituting the C Major IV chord for flat-VII in every place it is
preceded by V, but try it out as an alternative and note how very much more ordinary (albeit
bluesy) it sounds compared to what John decides to go with.
The Rise of the flat-VII Chord
The flat-VII chord turns out to be a Beatles favorite over the long run, and though you can find a
small but constant scattering of examples of it in the earlier albums, it seems to get a major boost
in popularity on the Help! album.
Look back, you'll be amazed to note that flat-VII appears for the first time on the Please
Please Me album in “P.S. I Love You” and the cover, “Taste of Honey.” With The Beatles has
“Don't Bother Me” (hey, George!) and “All My Loving.” A Hard Day’s Night has the title track,
“When I Get Home,” and “I'll Be Back.”
On the Help! album, you find that in addition to the title track, the next four Len/Mac songs
on side one all contain this special chord; i.e. “The Night Before”, our current song, “Another
Girl”, and “You're Going to Lose that Etc.” Does this perhaps give you the feeling that the
composer(s) were having a field day playing with a new harmonic “toy” so to speak ?
An exhaustive exploration of where the Beatles got the flat-VII chord from and the different
ways in which they used it would require searching through one or both of the following:
• Any song covered by the Beatles that has the chord.
• Any song from the pre-Beatle era pop song repertoire correlated with music the Beatles
would have been familiar with even if they didn't include it in their repertoire.
This is way more than I can deal with at the moment but I'll leave it here as another good
sample thesis topic. Any takers?
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Arrangement
The arrangement of this song is notable on two grounds: the almost exclusive use of acoustic
instruments (sorry, Mark L., but this boy-o hears an electric Hoffner), and the first(!) use of a
hired studio musician to supply a part played on “exotic” instruments; i.e. alto and tenor flutes.
At risk of belaboring the obvious, this latter tactic became a major clue to the new direction of
the boys for many albums to come.
The backing track is predominated by acoustic rhythm guitars, bass guitar, soft brush work
on drums plus additional sparse percussion, and John's single tracked vocal. By the same token
there are the typical orchestrated details:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Verse 1 No additional percussion.
Verse' 1 Add tambourine on the downbeat of even-numbered measures.
Refrain 1 Continue with the tambourine and adds maracas playing three-in-the-bar.
Verse 2 Keep the tambourine this time.
Verse' 2 Same as before.
Refrain 2 Ditto.
Verse 3 Keep all percussion and add pair of flutes doubling each other at the octave.
The outtake on Anthology 2 is enjoyable but reveals little more about the composition and
recording. To be sure, you get to hear an alternate vocal with slightly different scanning of the
lyrics, plus the final verse minus the flute overdubs. But I'll wager these are overshadowed for
most listeners by the characteristic snippet of “Paul broke a glass” teasing studio chatter that
precedes the music.
Intro
The intro is just two measures of the I chord, which establish the home key, meter, and
backing texture.
Verse
The primary verse is an unusual 18 measures long. It has a phrasing pattern of
ABAB' (4+4+4+6) in which B' is a rhetorically extended version of the original B phrase:
G:
G
D
F
G
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
V
flat-VII
I
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C
F
C
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
IV
flat-VII
IV
G
D
F
G
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
V
flat-VII
I
C
F
C
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
IV
flat-VII
IV
D
|—————————————|—————————————|
V
[Figure 18.1]
The harmonic shape of each couplet is open, first to IV and then to V. The harmonic rhythm
is one chord change per measure except for the final phrase where it creates a slow/fast/slowagain pattern.
Verse
The only difference between the secondary verse form and its primary counterpart is the
addition of two measures at the end to further extend the final V chord, this time over a
descending line in the bass. The latter adds a sense of both closure to the verse pair and one of
inevitability with respect to the upcoming bridge. Verse' then weighs in at 20 measures long with
its ABAB' pattern stretched out to 4+4+4+8. The latter more closely matches my experience of
this section than parsing it as though it were five phrases of four measures each.
Refrain
The refrain is 12 measures long with a phrasing pattern of AA (6+6):
|———————————————————————Two times———————————————————————————|
G
C
D
|—————————|—————————|—————————|—————————|—————————|—————————|
I
IV
V
4 -» 3 -» 2 -» 3
[Figure 18.2]
Again, the harmonic shape is completely open. And the slower harmonic rhythm creates a
free-verse leisurely feeling that nicely resonates with the final phrase of the verses. That turn
around the F# of the D chord in the final two measures is a relatively garden-variety harmonic
effect that for some reason you do not find often in the Beatles songbook.
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Final Verse (Outro)
The final verse is an instrumental based on the primary verse with the last measures modified
to provide an harmonically closed ending; one created by a double plagal cadence, no less:
C
F
C
G
|—————————|—————————|—————————|—————————|—————————|—————————|
IV
flat-VII IV
I
[Figure 18.3]
Even the usage of a plain old transverse flute would have seemed unusual at this stage of
their career. The usage of the over-sized alto and tenor flutes, the likes of which are considered
pretty exotic even within the realm of the concert or studio ensemble, is rather extraordinary.
Those lower-pitched flutes have actually been around since at least the turn of the 20th century.
The alto flute, for example, makes a conspicuous appearances in Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring”
and works by Debussy and Ravel. In our own times, it is popular on TV and movie soundtracks
(e.g. the “Mission Impossible” theme) but still remains a specialty item used for the purpose of
creating special atmosphere.
The solo itself is an improvisation closely modeled on the tune, though the way it's ended off
on the 5th degree of the scale is distinctively unusual.
Some Final Thoughts
Though you know I generally don't get too involved with the words, being pretty much a
meat-and-potato chords-and- form sort of fellow, I can't quite ignore what seem to me to be the
strange aspects of this song's lyrics.
We tend to take for granted our biographical knowledge about how that young rebel who was
suspended by Headmaster Pobjoy for throwing a blackboard out of a classroom window actually
was someone with an insecure, and vulnerable soft core. For every song like “You Can't Do
That”, there is also one like “Misery.” Whenever you find him talking about striking back, if you
just wait a minute, you'll also hear him focused only on the heartache that motivates it.
But I do believe that “You've Got To Hide Your Love Away” is unique even in this context.
Here we find our hero immobilized to the point where vengeance is the least thing on his mind
because it hurts so badly that he can't even stand to be around other people; an even greater
emotional crash than “I'll Cry Instead,” for example. In spite of this, we are privy to his state -as though we could read his mind or his private journal—and it is from this unusual sense of
intimacy that I believe the song derives much of its impact. It's interesting to note how such a
similar song in tone as “Yes It Is” was recorded in the same week!
But there is a delightful, almost Dylanesque ellipticality to these lyrics as well. The phrase “if
she's gone” is intriguingly ambiguous. What does the “if” mean here? Is the hero merely
rehearsing in advance his fear of the possibility of her leaving in the future, or does it more likely
convey the real-time immediacy of his just now being hit with the news of her leaving, and he's
and talking out loud trying to digest what it means.
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Similarly, the line “how could she say to me love will find a way” is very difficult; it's the
sort of comment you expect someone to make when s/he's trying to keep a relationship going no
matter what, against all odds and obstacles, not when one is ramping down or breaking off. But
then again, maybe our hero is himself perplexed and hurt by this very difficulty. For when love
somehow cannot find a way, when such a thing is just not possible, is there ever any middle
ground left to which such a relationship can move?
“You'd have wound up a Senior Citizen of Boston. As it is, you took the wrong turn and what happened, you're a
lonely old man from Liverpool.” 112300#18.1
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I'll Be Back
Key: A Major/minor
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Bridge-1 | Verse | Bridge-2 |
| Verse | Bridge-1 | Verse | Outro (fade-out)
Recorded: 1st June 1964, Abbey Road 2
US-release: 15th December 1964 (LP "Beatles '65")
Style and Form
The poignant bitter sweetness of “I'll Be Back” stems in large part from its obvious yet
equally effective gambit of shifting constantly back and forth between the Major and minor
modes of 'A.' There'll be more to say about this before the end but as usual, you find much more
than just this one gambit in a detailed walkthrough of the song.
The form is deceptively familiar but, as we've often seen with other songs, it reveals an
uncommon design upon closer look. Most unusual here is the total of three bridge sections, the
middle one of which is musically different from the outer two, even though it bears some
resemblance to the them.
The intro, at first blush, would seem almost negligible in its scant two-measure length, but is
crucial for the way its being in A Major sets the surprise-trap for the verse, which follows
beginning in a minor. I find it rather sublime to contemplate how what you come to later
recognize as the central personality trait of this song is presented so neatly encapsulated right off
at the start.
The outro, of course, recapitulates this same notion. For a change, the standard device of a
looped figure repeating into a fadeout actually is of “programmatic” significance to the extent
that it helps us visualize our hero heading off into the metaphorical sunset with the most
exquisitely ambivalent feelings in his heart.
We also have here yet another one of our examples of an avoidance of foolish consistency –
the final verse is truncated to half of its normal length. It's a good example of formalistic finetuning. While it wouldn't be the end of the world to leave this last verse just like the others, when
you consider the cumulative duration of the song caused by the preceding three verses plus three
bridges, it's probably a good thing the Boys decided to not keep us. Play it out in your head with
a full final verse and see for yourself if you start getting a tad antsy or not.
The lyrics of the four verses make a pattern of ABBA', with the middle two identical, and the
final one being an abridged variation of the first one.
Rhythmically, the largest number of phrases begin with a pickup before the downbeat. The
erudite musical term for one of these is an 'anacrusis' - drop that one casually at your next
party.To wit:
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Verse:
“you know”
"”cause I”
“this time”
Bridge:
“I love you so-o”
“I want to go”
The few exceptions to this rule where a phrase begins right on the downbeat stick out all the
more so in contrast:
Verse:
“You could find”
“You, if”
Bridge:
“I thought”
The way the almost strict alternation of “You” and “I” at the beginning of each section is yet
another one of the simpler pleasures one eventually uncovers in this song as a result of obsessive
listening. At any rate, I would suggest that all these lyrical pickups within the song bear some
associative relationship to the guitar pickup in the intro.
Melody and Harmony
The melody sticks throughout within a surprisingly restricted range but is also marked by
frequent appoggiaturas.
The verses feature the c-natural/c-sharp switch over. The bridges feature dramatically
sustained long notes alternating with patches that are more rapidly syllabic. The verses
harmonically feature a downward chord stream based on the natural minor scale. All of the
bridge sections exploit the contrasting choices available from the parallel Major scale.
Arrangement
The arrangement is dominated by the percussive sound of acoustic rhythm guitars, lightly
accompanied by maraca-like drumming.
The primary source of textural relief is found in the vocals. Parallel thirds in the verses
alternate with solo, albeit doubletracked, John in the bridges.
The acoustic strumming is predominantly foursquare yet you find a small snippet of their
much-beloved slow triplets in the majority of the verse sections in the measure that has the F
Major chord.
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Anthology Outtakes
Takes 2 and 3 of “I’ll Be Back” are one of the highlights of Anthology 1.
Take 2 is surprisingly arranged in a 3/4 waltz tempo, features at least one electric rhythm
guitar plus a lot of cymbals on the backing track, has not intro, and breaks down in the middle of
the second bridge (“too hard to sing”).
Take 3 is in 4/4 and the arrangement sounds closer to the finished product though they hadn't
yet lost the electric rhythm guitar. This is a relatively complete take though there is still no outro,
and in place of what eventually be the final verse, they loop the ending of the third bridge into a
fadeout.
You can hear John's solo, single tracked voice, always so thrilling, in the bridge sections of
both takes.
Lewisohn remarks on the speed with which they appear in this session to quickly abandon
the original plan to do this song in 3/4 and work it up alternatively in 4/4. I wonder though if
maybe the song was planned to be in 4/4 from the beginning and that take 2 was a last minute
alternate tryout in 3/4. Only the complete session tape will tell for sure. My hunch here is
prompted by the fact that the 4/4 version of take 3 sounds suspiciously too polished up compared
to the previous 3/4 take. Keep in mind that the length of the entire 6/1/64 recording session for
this song was only 3 hours and encompassed 16 takes. If they didn't already have the 4/4
arrangement well in the bag at the start of the session I'm skeptical how they could have worked
it up on the spot and still have had time for all the rest of the takes in less than 3 hours.
Intro
The intro is two measures long with a two-beat pickup from the guitar hook and it
immediately exposes the Major/minor gambit with the start of the first verse:
3 & 4 & |
|A
A:
I
|-
a ...
i
[Figure 19.1]
That little four-note hook (f#-b-e-c#) is used in happy repetition throughout, and its melodic
content and rhythmic syncopation become a mantra-like leitmotiv for the song.
In its first appearance here at the start, the hook provides us with an example of the more gutwrenching variety of syncopation on "4-AND;" i.e. the one where the following downbeat is
specifically NOT clearly marked. Interestingly, the downbeat IS marked everywhere else the
hook appears.
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Verse
The verses consist of two repetitions of the same six-measure phrase. More precisely it is a
four-measure phrase with two trailing measures of “space":
Soprano:
Alto:
Bass:
Chords:
a:
|C
|A
|A
|a
i
Soprano:
Alto:
Bass:
Chords:
|C
|A
|F
|F
flat-VI
Soprano:
Alto:
Bass:
Chords:
|(C#)
|(A)
|A
|A
I
C
A
D
B
C
A
|E
E
|C
C
|G
|G
flat-VII
6
--»
4
--»
D
B
|C
|A
|E
|E
V
6 -»
4 -»
B
G#
A
F#
B C# |
G# A |
|
|
5 -»
3 -»
4 -»
2 -»
5
3
||||-
B
G
|
|
|
|
5
3
|
|
|
|
[Figure 19.2]
In spite of the strong pull of the descending bass line, the harmonic shape of the verse is
decidedly closed, beginning and ending squarely in A. Curiously, the alternation between minor
and Major has no effect on one’s perception of this closed-off feeling. The virtually unchanging
harmonic rhythm of one chord per-measure only reinforces this further, in spite of the
syncopation in the voice parts.
The tune creates a short chain of 6->5 and 4->3 suspensions against the bass line. It is in this
spirit that I notate only a single chord in measures 2 and 4 rather than an actual root chord
change. Yes, I understand how the suspension creates what is, de-facto, a C Major chord (in
second inversion) in the first half of measure 2, but the sustaining of the baseline through the
measure robs you of any sense of root movement between the two halves of the measure.
The "4-AND" syncopation of the guitar hook is carried through to the vocals in measure 4,
where they anticipate the music's shift to the Major mode an eighth note ahead of the downbeat
of measure.
The vocal arrangement of the verses uses rather simple parallel thirds sung by John and Paul
throughout (the liner notes to the album imply that George is in there as well, but I don't hear
him) yet there are some characteristic details worthy of note. First off, there is a timbral paradox
in that overall, one hears John's voice predominating in the melody, yet when you listen
carefully, you note that John is on the bottom part, and that it’s actually Paul on top; this
phenomenon is to be found all over the place throughout their repertoire. The other
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savory detail is the repeated use of that sensuous little trill (pedantically speaking, a “mordent”)
in the third measure of each phrase; also a longstanding trademark of theirs.
Bridge-1 – “I love you so .../I want to go ...”
This bridge opens up the harmonic architecture of the song by suggesting an excursion,
however short lived, to the key of f# minor (which happens to be the relative minor of A). Of
course, we never actually settle down firmly within the new key, heading immediately back to
the V chord of A.
The varied harmonic rhythm of this bridge is another source of contrast with the surrounding
verses; we even find a syncopation in the chord changes of the last two measures.
The most unusual thing about this bridge is that measure 5 is only a half-measure and this
really adds a unique kick to the way one feels the phrasing of this section; by analogy, think of
taking some poetry in strict meter and purposely making one of the lines two syllables short. In a
pop song universe where phrases are typically 4, 6 or 8 measures in length, this one of 6.5
measures really grabs your attention:
*half-measure
f#
b
E
D
E
D
E
|—————————|—————————|—————————|—————————|——————|—————————|—————————|
f#:
i
iv
A: vi
V
IV V
IV E
[Figure 19.3]
The tune here features three appoggiaturas in close order all using the same two notes, C#
and B, but in each case, the harmonic context is different; in measure 3 (9->8) in the halfmeasure 5 (6->5), measure 6 (7->6->5).
Bridge-2 - "I thought that you would realize ..."
The second bridge starts off somewhat differently from the first one, but the two sections are
ultimately first cousins in that the 2.5 measure ending of the first bridge is repeated here
verbatim.
The harmonic shape of this bridge is even more open at first than the other bridge section.
Though we never settle in any key away from A, I feel the first five or six measures of this
section as being on the prowl as far as key is concerned:
A:
b
c#
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
ii
iii
f#
B
b6
E …etc.
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
vi
V-of-V
ii
V
*D in bass
[Figure 19.4]
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Running from the downbeat of measure 1 through the downbeat of measure 3, we have a real
Lennonesque descending chromatic line in an inner voice (b->b-flat->a->g#); clearly the man
really liked this device.
There's also an exotically tangy cross relation of the d# in the B Major chord (measure 6)
with the d-natural of the b minor 6/5 chord in the following measure.
We find still more juicy appoggiaturas. The E->D, 4->3 example at the beginning of the
section is one of the most climactic moments in the entire song. Similarly, we have another C#>B, 9->8 example in measure 6.
Outro
The final verse is extended a seventh measure with the A Major chord sustained, after which
the outro, proper, commences.
The outro features the Major/minor gambit in a short loop of two measures for each mode.
The complete fade out sets in sooner than you realize, though with the strong implication that the
alternation itself may go on indefinitely.
Some Final Thoughts
Subtext surges externally. After a dozen or more concentrated listenings to this song, I
honestly couldn't help making the free association to a song by Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828),
which uses the same minor/Major gambit albeit in a more limited fashion than “I’ll Be Back”;
it's the first number from his song cycle “Winterreise”, entitled in curious anticipation of the final
track on the White Album, “Gute Nacht.” I offer you some excerpts from the lyrics of this song
(translated from the German) and wonder if you'll gasp the way I did to discover what
bittersweet topic was on Schubert's mind:
“Why should I remain longer, until I am driven out?
...
I will not disturb you in your dreams, 'twere pity to spoil your rest.
You shall not hear my footsteps, softly, softly I close the door.
As I go out I will write ‘Goodnight’ to you on the gate
so that you may see my thoughts were of you.”
If you like this one, I can't hold back from sharing with you an even more unlikely lyrical
correspondence between another Len/Mac song and some older music. This time, we're dealing
with an oft-quoted line from “I’m a Loser” (“Although I laugh and I act like a clown ...”) and the
title of a “virelai” (a distant forerunner of the 2- minute pop song) written by Johannes
Ockeghem (you won't see his name in Billboard) of the 15th century: “Ma bouche rit et ma
pensee pleure.”
Now, just hold on a second (“you promised”), I'm not suggesting that anyone has plagiarized
a bloody thing here; I wouldn't even dare to suggest that either of these pieces of music were
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songs of our Own Sweet Boys’ acquaintance. All I am trying to suggest is the extent to which
certain themes of heartache appear to perpetually fascinate, not to mention inevitably become
relevant to composers of music as well as us plain folk. To put it another way, you might say that
great minds run in the same direction.
“We've got only half an hour till the final runthrough. He can't walk out on us.” 121000#19.1
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Birthday
Key: A Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | long connector |
| Bridge | Verse (instrumental) | short connector |
CD: "White Album", Disc 2, Track 1 (Parlophone CDS7 46443-8)
Recorded: 18th September 1968, Abbey Road 2
UK-release: 22nd November 1968 (LP "White Album")
US-release: 25th November 1968 (LP "White Album")
Style and Form
In its White Album context of so many varied moods and styles, “Birthday” stands out as a
representative example of the sort of plain old blistering Rock that The Beatles were still capable
of in the heart of their so-called Late Period.
On the surface, one of the first things you notice is that this is one of the very few Len/Mac
songs that is even partly in strict 12-bar blues form, though once you probe more deeply, you
quickly discover that this is no mere rote revivalist knock-off.
R&B Revisited
It's really quite a thought provoking paradox: judging from the pre-historic repertoire of their
Quarrymen era (see Note 197), you'd think the only thing they knew how to play, or perhaps
wanted to play, were The Blues. Later as The Beatles, both at the Beeb and on their first several
EMI albums, their choices for cover songs were again frequently in the 12-bar mode; “Boys”,
“Long Tall Sally”, “Dizzy Miss Lizzie”, and just about anything by Chuck Berry and Larry
Williams, to name a few. And yet, when you do a sort through the cannon of official releases
looking for originals, which are at least partially built on a strict blues, form you come up
amazingly short. Prior to the White Album, I could only find four examples: the verses of “Can't
Buy Me Love”, “You Can't Do That”, “The Word”, and the middle eight of “She's A Woman”.
This relative dearth of twelve bar originals (pun fully intended) continues through the White
Album and beyond, even though the conventional wisdom says that the last couple of albums
demonstrate a conscious return to their early roots. In spite of the number of hard rock songs on
those albums, you still find very few blues numbers: only “Birthday”, “Yer Blues”, and “For You
Blue.” Granted, there are many songs in the cannon that are very blues-like, (examples abound
throughout, all the way from “I Saw Her Standing There” to “Ballad of John and Yoko” and
“Come Together”), but if you grade them strictly, they fail to make the cut.
As an attempt to explain this paradox I would propose that as nascent artists, The Beatles not
just admired their Blues predecessors but, in a burst of post-adolescent enthusiasm even sought
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to emulate and sometimes imitate them; e.g., listen to the Quarrymen do Elvis' “That's When
Your Heartache Begins”. But as they matured they likely found that, in spite of all early interest,
the strict blues form was not an idiom they felt all that comfortable with in terms of self-image
and expression. Interestingly, they never quite forgot or expunged the technique from their
vocabulary, but it did remain for them something to be used sparingly, for special effect and
exotic tang.
When you consider this elite group of the Beatles' blues songs, it's tempting to describe their
style as “Neo R & B” to the extent that they manifest more of a self-conscious updated
stylization of an old form and not just a nostalgic evocation of it. In spite of the presence in these
songs of the 12-bar formula, in terms of arrangement, lyrics, and the choice of keys and chord
progressions used in the non-blues sections, they are musically very different from the classic
role models which inspired them.
Form
We have something here that is very close to the standard two-bridge model, though it is
somewhat camouflaged by the long instrumental opener, and the unusual connector sections that
introduce each appearance of the bridge.
Another formalistic technique which considerably unifies the song is the consistent use of
antiphony in all appearances of both verse and bridge sections, as we'll see. But for the long
connector, the lyrics of the formal sections build a close-to-perfect palindrome pattern of ABC/
instrumental/CA. The lead vocal enters well after the downbeat throughout the song. The only
vocals that enter on a downbeat are the backing females in the bridges.
Melody and Harmony
The melodic content is delivered in short, repetitious, chant-like fragments. The figure used
in the sung verses is notable for its emphasis on the blue 3rd and 7th scale degrees. For contrast,
the instrument verse in the middle sticks more closely to the plain Major mode.
The bridge sections provide an abrupt modulation to the unusual key of flat-III (C Major).
Nonetheless, a relatively small number of chords is used, overall; the blues trio of I-IV-V of
the home key (A, D, E) and the tonic/dominant IV of the bridge key (C, G).
Arrangement
The drumming and other special percussion effects on this song (such as maracas,
tambourine, and handclaps) are worthy of special notice.
Ringo turns in an effective performance of his trademark technique of punctuating long
stretches of evenly accented eight notes with complex thirty-second note snare drum fills in all
the right places; typically, though not limited to the boundary lines between sections.
If you make the effort on your own to map out how the rest of the percussion effects are
worked into the piece, you'll find the texture of each section of the song has been carefully and
Page 118 of 962
neatly planned out. The point being that even in a song like “Birthday” which we know was
worked up very quickly, and where a certain informal, “come as you are” feeling permeates right
to the core of the piece, still, nothing is left to chance. This of course is a hot button for those
who like to rag on Paul for being such a control freak, but, it's this attention to detail that elevates
a good rock song to the level of a gem.
In the vocal department you find multiple overdubs of Paul's voice mixed out to separate
stereo channels.
Intro
The instrumental intro is twelve measures long and turns out to be a formal anticipation of
the entire verse. We lead off right from the start with the an antiphonal style that carries through
to almost every section of the song. In this introductory verse, you have the bass doubled by lead
guitar in the odd numbered measures alternating with parrot-like repetition by just the bass alone
in the even numbered measures. Ringo's crackling and metrically ambiguous opening drum fill
starts “on 3.”
Verse
This section is a standard 12-bar blues frame with all the chords appearing as dominant
sevenths. If you want to get picky, it's worth pointing out that the sustaining of the V chord in
measure 10 (as opposed to the more typical move to IV) is mildly unusual though not unheard
of:
A7
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
A: I
D7
A7
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
IV
I
E7
A7
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
V
I
[Figure 20.1]
The syncopated baseline riff outlines the chords and is heard doubled by the lead guitar two
octaves higher; e.g., |aa-c#e-gF#--e|a ...
This section appears four times in the song, and though the second and fourth repetitions with
their virtually identical arrangement and lyrics are indeed quite verse-like, the first and third
appearances of this section are entirely instrumental and serve the purpose of introduction and
"break" section, respectively.
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Antiphony to the blues baseline riff is provided by the lead vocal in the verses. In the break it
is provided by a heavily processed tack piano part.
Long Connector – “Yes we're going to a party party ...”
This section is built out of two eight-measure phrases each of which is hypnotically
repetitive, the end result of which is a buildup of tension that makes you want to beg your partner
to tie you down if you don't get some relief very soon.
The first eight measure phrase features drums only with Macca shrieking a count-off of the
measure numbers that is muffled so far in the background that it's barely audible except with
earphones. The second eight measures beats away on the V chord (E) with the vocals coming in
as a slight surprise starting in the third measure.
It's tempting to ascribe the shrieking in the first phrase as just another obscure “clue” of sorts,
though the little details in the way the numbers are recited over the beat definitely add to the
building tension. Note for example how there is a straight-line climax which crests on "7" but is
followed by an "8" that can't even wait for that number measure to begin. Similarly, during the
second phrase, we have both a general crescendo as well as a quickening of the handwork in the
drums. But even more effective than the buildup per se is the way that when the climax arrives,
it's a “deceptive” one; that V chord resolves not to I (A) but rather to the chord of flat-III (C); do
keep your ears attuned to the way that bass line snakes its way from the sustained E down toward
C during the second half of the last measure.
Bridge – “I would like you to dance – Birthday”
The choice of C Major as the key for this bridge is not so far out as it would appear on the
surface; C being the relative Major of the parallel minor of A, and it's a key relationship
employed in many other songs; e.g., “You’re Going To Lose That Girl.” In “Birthday”, it's quite
a surprise nonetheless, coming as the deceptive resolution of that prolonged V chord of the
preceding section. As surprises go, it's actually quite a pleasurable one at that; one
which adds a bit of tonal depth perspective to the music; as though a door had opened to reveal
another universe that you suspected, but were never quite certain, was there.
This section has musical ties both to the verse in terms of its use of antiphony (between
Macca and the female backers) and to the preceding long connector in terms of its repetitiveness.
The baseline in this section also harkens back somewhat to the riff used in the verse:
|-------- 3X ------|
Chords: |C
|G
|C
|G
|
Bass line: |C- E- F- F#-|G- F- E- D- |C- E- F- F#-|G- G#- A- A#-|
C: I
V
I
V
A: flat-VII
Chords: |E
Bass line: |B
A: V6/4
||E
V
|
|
[Figure 20.2]
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The bass line makes its rearward approach to the note B by a clever “keep going” extension
of the upward chromatic motion already in progress as part of the first half of the riff.
The arrival on the E Major chord in its second inversion feels especially euphoric and heady
because we've just barely recovered our bearings from the surprise modulation to C; the
passionately inarticulate noise of Macca screaming “dance” in rhythmic pattern totally at odds
with the beat enhances the rush of it. For a brief instant, there's a vertigo sensation of not being
sure of just where you stand key-wise from the promontory of this chord, but before you are
allowed to get too unhinged over it, the bass line jumps down to place the chord in its root
position, in which its function as V of the original home key becomes clear. In retrospect, it all
seems like nothing to get hung about, but in the warm moment of arrival you were moved.
The appearance of the female backing voices is another small source of surprise here; after
this, how could Paul have claimed to be upset two years later about Spector's adding the chorus
to “Across the Universe”? According to Lewisohn, it was an impromptu decision to recruit Yoko
and Patti for their participation here; makes one wonder what the heck Linda was up to that
evening.
Short Connector
There is a profound lesson to be learned about the dramatics of music when you contemplate
how this shorter connecting section serves a functionally identical purpose to the earlier longer
one even though it is musically so different from that first one in almost every way. In terms of
structural utility, both connectors serve the purpose of modulating from the key of A to the key of
C. But look at the obvious differences between them, nonetheless:
• This one is only four measures long compared to the earlier one of sixteen.
• Here we have a return to the orchestration of the opening verse with just guitars playing
plain octaves punctuated by sparse drum work, whereas earlier, we had quite a bit of drums
and even vocals.
• Even the specific strategy for making the modulation is different; here, the natural minor
mode of A (with its C and G naturals – no sharps!) which is used for the guitar parts makes
for a smooth and gentle transition, while earlier, the entire mood was one of climax and
surprise.
In the end, it's a simple law of physics and the art of avoiding anticlimax that demands these
differences. To put it rather crudely and simultaneously lift a phrase, which Maureen Cleave used
to describe John (not Paul), even “a young man, famous, loaded, and waiting for something”
can't reset that quickly. And besides, a repetition of the long connector would frankly start to
chafe, whereas this quieter short one (it's the only place in the entire song
where the drums stop for a few beats) provides some welcome respite.
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Outro
The rest of the song follows the gesture of that second connector and provides more in the
way of matched bookend ballast and balance than it does any further excitement, and leverages
the end of the final verse to bind things off with a complete ending. Any sudden disruption that
might otherwise be caused by this ending is mollified nicely by two details:
• The decelerating effect of the syncopations on "four-AND" in the last few measures of the
song. They don't appear anywhere else before this.
• The broken octaves on the piano which seem to psychedelically ricochet even as they fade.
The net effect reminds me of the way your body is jostled when you stop the car too
quickly.
Some Final Thoughts
In the final result, it's quite astounding to read in Lewisohn that this song was essentially
composed by Paul, arranged, recorded and mixed in just one extended session of eleven and a
half hours starting in the late afternoon of September 18, 1968 and running through the wee
hours of the next morning. It's a vivid demonstration of how to live in this moment; this one.
Of course, to keep it in perspective, this song is no magnum opus; for one thing, the elements
of both words and music here are quite simple, and the equally simple device of happy repetition
is used effectively to expedite the cranking out of the piece. In this respect “Birthday” makes for
an interesting comparison with other real standup quickies of theirs, such as “Little Child,” “I
Wanna Be Your Man,” “I'm Down,” and “The Ballad of John and Yoko.”
But none of this diminishes in any way the incredible prowess demonstrated in this act of
spontaneous effusion. Rather it is in this very spontaneity per se that I believe that the genius of
Macca, circa '68 is to be encountered.
From the style of my analysis you might get the mistaken impression that I somehow
imagine him walking into the studio after many hours of erudite forethought with the song all
worked out in his head and a point to prove, Mozart-like. Actually, I rather expect it to have all
been quite the opposite. In this energetically vital and innovative song, I hear a composer so well
primed and up to speed, so “ready to do the show right now” that the music springs right out of
him without a struggle of any kind, as though it were all so casual, second nature, and
obviously meant to be.
“It's my birthday too – yeah”121700#20.1
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Love Me Do
Key: G Major
Meter: 4/4
| Verse | Bridge (solo) |
CD: "Please Please Me", Track 8 (Parlophone CDP7 46435-2)
Recorded: 6th June, 4th, 11th September 1962, Abbey Road 2
UK-release: 5th October 1962 (A Single / "P.S. I Love You")
US-release: 27th April 1964 (A Single / "P.S. I Love You”)
Style and Form
To those who argue that the early original songs of The Beatles are just the same old stuff of
which the Top 40 was made in the early 60s, I present this quirky first official release of theirs.
Granted, by itself, “Love Me Do” is hardly the blockbuster of which legendary careers are made.
In contrast, those silly lists of “The 500 Most Golden Oldies of All Time” promoted by certain
radio stations are peppered through with songs by groups whose claim to fame rests on the
strength of just one single; I expect general agreement from you all that “Love Me Do” wouldn't
have done that for our Boys.
In fact, it's tempting at first blush to dismiss this one as too simple and even unappealing.
After all, we have what must be very nearly the skimpiest Lennon/McCartney lyric ever, a
gawky post-skiffle beat which threatens to break into a polka in a couple of places, and a vocal
duet that would appear to be ripped off from the Everly Brothers. But just beneath the surface,
you find not only that certain bristling intensity in their voices, but also a great deal of
idiosyncratic originality in the compositional details. One might even call it stylistically
prophetic,
especially in regards to the phrasing, the vocal harmonies, and the modal melody.
The most intriguing aspect to this intuitive innovation of the early Beatles is the question of
how much of it was motivated by intentional originality and how much a by-product of lessthan-entirely-adept emulation of their derivative influences. It's a quite serious question, the
answer to which, in spite of the seeming pejorative value judgment in my choice of words, has
nothing to do with the relative merit of the final product itself; but I leave this question for now
in the hands of the aestheticians.
The form used here is none other than the standard two-bridge model with a single verse
intervening. The positioning of the instrumental solo within a repeat of the bridge rather than a
verse is unusual and likely accounts for the absence of there being a pair of verses in the middle.
Contrast this with other Beatles songs of the same period that more typically place a solo in one
of two intervening verse; e.g. “I Saw Her Standing There,” or even “How Do You Do It.”
Page 123 of 962
The verse lyrics are unvarying through four repeats, ditto for the bridge through two. This
is possibly an all time Beatles record. All sections begin exactly on the downbeat, yet another
factor in the somewhat clunky overall impression made by the song.
Melody and Harmony
“Love Me Do” is ostensibly in the key of G Major though it contains a strong Mixolydian
modal inflection from the heavy use of both F-naturals in the tune and in its reliance on the I-IV-I
to establish a feeling of tonal center.
The non-modal Major V chord with an F# is used only in the bridge. Another different sort of
modal inflection in this song comes from the liberal melodic use of bluesy bent-notes on B-flat
over the G major chord (with its B naturals) in the accompaniment.
The verse tune covers the range of an octave and its overall contour is a downward sweep in
spite of the rhetorically repeated upward phrase that it starts off with. The bridge tune also has a
downward shape and is interesting placed in range below where the low end of the verse range
ends off.
Arrangement
It doesn't get much closer to a completely natural recording of the Beatles than this. The lead
harmonica part is just about the only detail here that you might not have expected. The rest of it,
a backing of rhythm guitar, bass, drums, with Paul and John singing their duet in close harmony,
would emerge in short order as an unmistakable trademarkable sound.
The June 1962 demo recording of the song with Pete Best, released on Anthology 1 reveals
that the reportedly late-breaking decision to modify the arrangement to include John on
harmonica had already been made, and that this arrangement would remain essentially
unchanged through the two officially released recordings of it the following September. The
demo also reveals Pete Best as an incredibly unsteady and tasteless drummer, with his changing
the backbeat for each of the bridges, and his apparent slowing of the tempo for the verses
following them; but that's a separate issue.
A question begged by this demo is what part there was on the backing track for John before
his switch to harmonica; a second rhythm guitar part? Hard to imagine, no matter how likely.
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Intro
The intro is a balanced eight measure phrase and utilizes just the two chords of G and C:
|——————————————————————Three times——————————————————————|
G
C
G
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
G: I
IV
I
[Figure 21.1]
We're treated right at the outset to another soon-to-become signature device of John's: the
slow triplet rhythm, as it is found here in the harmonica part, measure 3. Furthermore, we find in
this harmonica solo a very early example of the use of a hook-phrase used throughout an entire
song: the little descending motif of “F-E-D-G", with its bluesy emphasis on the seventh note of
the scale (F) and the heavy use of flutter-tonguing on the repeats, so suggestive of a sob or a cry.
There's also the melodic emphasis in this little riff on the note "D." as it appears superimposed
over the C chord, lending an overall jazzy C9 flavor the song.
As we'll soon see, this introductory hook is made ubiquitous in the song by the incorporation
of this intro within the final portion of the verse section; or shall I say that the final part of the
verse is set-up as the hook by virtue of its having already appeared in the intro? Just a matter of
semantics, I suppose.
Verse
The verse is an unusual thirteen measures long and is broken into the sub-phrases which
pretty much follow the scanning of the lyrics, creating an unusual pattern of AAAB (2+2+2+7):
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
4
—————————————————————— 3X ———————————————————————
|Love,
love me
|do.
You
|
|know
I
love |you.
I'll |
|always be
|true
So
|
G
C
|————————————————————————|————————————————————————|
G: I
IV
1
2
3
4
1
2
3
4
|pleee|e |
C
|————————————————————————|————————————————————————|
IV
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|1
2
3
4
|Resume harmonica hook ...
|-ease
Love me
|do
|
G
|————————————————————————|————————————————————————|
I
|...
C
G
|————————————————————————|————————————————————————|
IV
I
C
|————————————————————————|
IV
[Figure 21.2]
For clarity of graphic presentation I've simplified the rhythmic scanning of the words above
by eliminating the effect of the syncopated performance of them. This sort of free meter in the
scanning of the words (no iambic pentameter for These Boys) is a noteworthy, not infrequent
feature of their later songs, especially those written by John. Its appearance here in such an early,
and otherwise not so ambitious, piece of work is astonishing.
The music continues on with just the same two chords from the intro. Note how the break of
the regular harmonic rhythm in measures 7 - 9 (on the elongation of the word “please”) enhances
the impact of the irregular phrasing.
The vocal harmony of this verse contains two specific seminal details which would soon
become telltale characteristics of “that Beatles sound”; one being the use of open fifths instead of
the more typical thirds or sixths, as in the phrase “Love, love me do”:
[Figure 21.3]
Note in the above example the special coloration, a melding of the two voices, that arises
from this sort of harmony. I'm fairly certain that it's John on the bottom (though there's that
interview clip with Paul discussing the infamous Quarrymen-period acetate of “That'll Be the
Day” in which he sings the bottom part of this same fragment), though with Paul in a busking
partial falsetto on the top they're hard to distinguish from each other.
The other vocal detail is the sustaining of the same note in the upper part against the scalewise movement in the lower, as on the drawing out of the word “please”; Paul's bending of the
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note so reminiscent of the harmonica part. Check out “Please Please Me” for another dramatic
example of this technique.
[Figure 21.4]
One final point of interest here is in the careful working out of the arrangement no matter
how spare and simple it is. Note the unity amidst variation that is achieved by following the
harmonica solo of the intro with a verse that first features a vocal duet and then concludes with
solo voice and the opening harmonica hook figure as backing.
And a detail within a detail: note how at the end of the verse when Paul sings “love me do”
solo, he's actually jumping the octave down from his earlier part to the range where John was
singing in the duet. According to the interview with Paul in Lewisohn's preface, this was an
artifact of a last minute change in the studio to the arrangement; John was supposed to sing it but
it was impossible for him to get the harp in his mouth quickly enough to also play the hook on
time. Regardless of the motivation, it's a nice serendipitous touch.
Bridge
The harmonic shape of the verse section is closed, both starting and ending on I. The bridge
begins with an harmonically open gesture, finally introducing the third of the three chords used
in the song on its downbeat as part of the bluesy V-IV-I chord progression. For all its simplicity,
it is still rather dramatic in that, not only haven’t we seen this V chord ('D.') yet, but we haven't
seen the pitch F# at all in the melody either; the verse staying exclusively with those bluesy/
modal F naturals. Of course, just to keep the game interesting, the vocal melody in this bridge
alternates continually between the F# and F natural.
The first appearance of the bridge is eight measures long, and features the only new words to
be found in the song outside of the first verse. In contrast to the verse, the phrasing of 4 + 4 is
quite square, almost too much so; at a distance of almost thirty years, I still find the “bim BOM”
rhythm on beats 2 and 3 of the eighth measure disconcertingly teetering toward the lame:
|————————————————————————Two times——————————————————————|
D
C
G
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
G: V
IV
I
[Figure 21.5]
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The arrangement of this bridge is just as careful as that of the verse. Here we have Paul
singing solo while doubled by the harmonic alternating with Paul and John singing in octaves.
Note how, just as in the verse, Paul makes another octave jump (upward this time) between his
solo and duet parts; just coincidence or true choreography?
The second appearance of the bridge is an instrumental section of twelve measures, the first
eight of which are an adaptation of the previous bridge with John playing a harmonica part in
place of Paul's vocal.
Tacked onto this first phrase are four additional measures of harmonica riffing over mostly
just the G chord with an oom-pah bass line. In a manner analogous to the ending of the first
bridge, this four measure extension concludes with another (dare I say) even more lame
“Booomp” on the third beat of the last measure; the solo note of D in the bass, punctuated by a
crash of the cymbal here serves in place of the V chord which begs for the next verse.
Outro
The outro, in typical fashion provides a final reinforcement of the hook phrase, with its
repetition of the intro/end-of-verse section ad infinitum into the fade-out.
Some Final Thoughts
An Overflow of Comparisons
We've come to the end of this song but not yet the end of the article. I've got three sorts of
brief comparative analyses up my sleeve for a grande finale.
“Love Me Do” versus “How Do You Do It”
Just how does our current offering stack up against the Mitch Murray cover that George
Martin would've had them perform for their first single instead? Some interesting contrasts:
• Both songs are in the same key of G and have almost identical forms.
• “How Do You Do It” uses "more" chords though nothing more exotic than the so-called
Brill Building selection; in addition to I-IV-V, there's vi, ii, and and V-of-V. Compared to
the raunchy modality of “Love Me Do”, it's quite diatonically Major sounding.
• “How Do You Do It” does have a catchy touch of syncopation in its hook phrase, but note
how the phrasing is unrelievedly four-square throughout.
• “How Do You Do It” positions its instrumental solo in a more traditional verse section, and
furthermore features solo guitar in place of harmonica.
• You have some of the same sorts of duet/solo alternation in the arrangement of both songs,
though “How Do You Do It” features straight-line parallel thirds.
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• Though less countrified than “Love Me Do”, “How Do You Do It” is still closer to pop than
hard rock or blues.
Point-for-point, “How Do You Do It” clearly wins out as a less risky, more conservative
choice in terms that may explain both the lackluster albeit well mannered performance given it
by the Boys as well as their ultimate rejection of it by them. Besides, they hadn't written this one
anyway; “aaaaah, let Gerry have it.”
“Love Me Do” versus the other L/M originals on the Please Please Me Album
Again, there are some interesting point-for-point contrasts. No surprise, but some of the same
signature devices of the nascent Beatles sound that we found in “Love Me Do” are also found in
these other songs:
• Tight vocal duets with rich, unusual harmony in “I Saw Her Standing There”, “Please
Please Me”, “There's A Place”, and “Misery”
• Uneven phrasing in “Do You Want to Know a Secret”, “P.S. I Love You”, and "Ask Me
Why"
• Slow triplets in “Ask Me Why”, and “There's A Place”
• The harmonica, again, in “Please Please Me”
Similarly no surprise, but these other songs have several telltale Beatles signatures not to be
found in “Love Me Do”:
• Unusual chord choices in “I Saw Her Standing There”, “Please Please Me”, “P.S. I Love
You”, and “Do You Want to Know a Secret”, and “Ask Me Why”
• Strong rock flavor (including some fancy drum fills) in “I Saw Her Standing There” and
“Please Please Me”
• Backing vocals in “Please Please Me”, and “Do You Want to Know a Secret”; three-part
vocal harmony (I think) in “P.S. I Love You”, and “Ask Me Why”
• Slow, vocal intros in “Do You Want to Know a Secret”, and “Misery”
“Love Me Do”, this time quite surprisingly, is unique overall, because of the modal inflection
of its harmony. By the way, you might note how, in spite of their well known R&B background
both as Quarrymen and as Beatles at the Beeb, this early set of eight originals overall is rather
more pop-than-rock oriented, the promise of, say, “I Saw Her Standing There” and “Please
Please Me” notwithstanding.
The two officially released versions of “Love Me Do” compared:
A lot has been made of the fact that the official version released on the Please Please Me
album contains a studio drummer (one Andy White) with the unfortunate Ringo relegated to the
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lowly position of hitting the tambourine on the off beats. I'd venture to say that as a commercial
recording, the Andy White version is the one performed with greater polish and confidence, and
recorded with better presence and clarity. Yet, for a unique early snapshot of the Boys at work,
the Ringo-drumming version (thankfully now generally available on Past Masters, I) is definitely
the one to be preferred because of power with which it speaks to both your ears and heart.
With your ears, you can more easily hear the handclaps in the bridge of this version, though
without the tambourine, the overall texture sounds a tad thin. More importantly, from the quiver
in his voice, you can tell just how nervous Paul is at this first “for real” recording session; the
dotted notes in his bass line sounding tentative and uncertain; the same for Ringo's drumming.
But best and most precious of all is what your heart responds to in this version of the song, if
only you'll open it widely enough. There's a lot of “self” invested in those long, drawn-out
phrases; you can keenly feel them putting their “all” on the line. And if you've ever been so lucky
in life, it ought to resonate in you with some past experience of your own.
Let's say, a situation in which your words weren't all you wanted to say, but you were brave
enough anyway to commit it to print and give it to the world? Where you knew, in your heart,
that someday all your hopes and wishes would come true, even if everyone told you “a guitar's
all right, but you'll never earn a living by it” – or words to that effect ? Where you had to prove it
to yourself, somehow, some way, somewhere that you could make the future really happen for
yourself?
That's what “Love Me Do” meant to our own sweet Boys. It may not have been the best song
they ever wrote, but it was the Prime Step for them; it was their first shot at immortality. And
such a humble offering...but what a seed of passion contained therein, don't you think?
“You never know, you might be lucky this time.” 122690#21.1
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Please Please Me
Key: E Major
Meter: 4/4
Recorded: 11th September; 26th November 1962, Abbey Road 2
UK-release: 11th January 1963 (A Single / "Ask Me Why")
US-release: 25th February 1963 (A Single / "Ask Me Why")
Style and Form
“Please Please Me” was only their second single, but it was already a quantum leap in
compositional terms over their first one, “Love Me Do”. In addition to the tight vocal harmonies
seen earlier, we have here a couple of tricky chord choices, crackling drum fills, continuous
variation in the deployment of the backing vocals, and as they say in the “biz”, much, much
more.
Compared with the extant tapes of the Quarrymen, the Star Club, the Decca audition, or even
the couple of preceding EMI sessions, “Please Please Me” gives us an energized performance
and an arrangement more complicated than anything these Boys had attempted heretofore. This
would seem to suggest that the firm and creative influence of George Martin began to be felt
even at this early date.
This song is also emotionally quite gripping, not only because of its apparently incessant
drive, but even more so for the very human way in which the hero appears to waver in the
amount of self-control he can muster—starting out urgently insistent yet trying to appear
controlled; talking through clenched teeth in a forced-polite voice, even while his facade is
continually cracking to reveal the true heat and impatience behind it. On one level, it's a fairly
obvious seduction scenario, yet you find yourself quite hypnotized if not overwhelmed by the
force and subtlety with which the meaning of the words are played-off against the message of the
music.
The form is the compact single bridge model we've seen before in “No Reply” and “Day
Tripper” where the especially raving intensity of mood argues in favor of keeping things brief.
The use of a complete ending is noteworthy. In context of the rest of the top 40 of this period,
circa 1963, where, failing recourse to a statistical analysis of the matter, we seem to at least
remember everything as having a fade out at the end, the relatively large number of early Lennon
and McCartney songs with complete endings (12 out of those same canonical early 21 singled
out below) would seem to be bucking a trend; then again, perhaps “setting a trend” would be
more correct under the circumstances; after all, for a while, it was their profession.
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The lyrics of the three verse sections create an ABA pattern. The verses rhythmically start
after the downbeat.
The bridge starts right on the downbeat.
The 9/11/62 rare version of the song released on Anthology 1 does not at all match
Lewisohn's Recording Session commentary for this date. Granted, this outtake is a rough
performance in all departments, has Andy White on drums(?), and lacks both the several
harmonica overdubs and the interjecting backing vocals of the bridge. But it is far from “dreary”
or “too slow.” I suspect the latter adjectives were actually in reference to the unfortunately lost
demo version done the previous June.
Stating Point of View
The lyrics of “Please Please Me”, when compared with the other contemporaneous songs of
Lennon and McCartney, seem rather unique in terms of point of view and expositional context.
The canonical bundle of their original songs which were officially released up through the end of
'63 (i.e., the 21 single and album cuts running from “Love Me Do” through “Not a Second
Time”) makes for an interesting study from this perspective; a thorough job is way out of scope
with this current article but even the bare statistics are revealing.
All 21 songs are about the romantic relationship between a boy and a girl from the
perspective of the boy; granted, so far no surprise. 17 of the songs are written in direct address to
the girl, and these range from the vulnerable pleading of “Love Me Do” to the mushy puppy love
of “Do You Want to Know a Secret”, to the glib giddiness of “I Wanna Be Your Man.” The
harsher confrontations that would suddenly become a staple trademark starting on the A Hard
Day's Night album with such classics as “Tell Me Why” and “You Can't Do That” are
represented in this sampling only by the relatively milder “Not a Second Time.” Only two of the
songs are soliloquies in which the girl is spoken of in the third person; you have the encomium of
“I Saw Her Standing There” versus the angst-ridden confessional of “Misery.” Two of the songs
stick out as unique; “She Loves You”, which features core-talk advice from the singer to his
friend regarding the friend's girl, and our current choice, “Please Please Me”.
In “Please Please Me”, we have what is in essence a direct address, but one that is framed as
kiss-and-tell reportage of something that happened The Night Before; as though most of the
lyrics should be written in quotes. Of course, it's a small, even moot, distinction because your
ultimate experience of the song is on the level of overhearing the boy urging the girl directly and
in real time; like a so-called frame-tale short story in which by the second page you've totally
forgotten that there ever was any frame established at the beginning because the action itself is so
absorbing.
Melody and Harmony
Compared to the tangy modality of “Love Me Do”, the melodic material here is purely
diatonic E Major. The verse tune is relatively jumpy and has a broad arch shape. The bridge is
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also arch shaped with a first half dominated by stepwise motion and a jumpy second half that
begins with the dramatic upward leap of an octave.
The harmony, in contrast, while still heavily reliant on I-IV-V, also uses ii, VI, and the
presents us with a couple of surprises in the form of the non-indigenous flat-III and flat-VI,
which add just a hint of bluesy minor-mode inflection.
Arrangement
The backing track features the basic Beatles combo with added harmonica. John carries the
single tracked lead vocal. The backing vocals are primarily antiphonal with a touch of backwash
at the start of the bridge.
Intro
The introductory phrase of only four measures played over the unchanging E Major (I) chord
is deceptively simple. Here, as we've seen in so many other songs, the intro, for all its brevity,
plays a key expository role.
First off, we have the ever popular hook phrase trumpeted out by the harmonica and guitar in
unison. In many songs, such hook phrases foreshadow material that will appear in either the
melody of the coming verses or as a mockingbird-like obbligato figure in the background. In
PPM the hook is used both ways.
Secondly, we have the unusual pick-up start on the fourth beat. What you'll look back on later
as the unrelenting forward drive of this song is thus to be found here right at the very start in the
iambic “da-DUM” gesture of those first two notes; even that little drum fill, which bridges the
gap between the end of the intro and the beginning of the verse reinforces this gesture.
Lastly, take note for now of that pleasant dotted quarter note snap in the second measure of
our hook phrase; the better to appreciate how the phrase is modified for its appearance in the
melody of the verse.
Verse
The verse is sixteen measures long and is built out of four phrases of even musical length:
E
A
E
EG GA AB BB
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
E: I
IV
I
|IV V
flat-III
E
A
E
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
IV
I
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A
f#
c#
A
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
IV
ii
vi
IV
E
A
B
E
A
B
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
IV
V
I
IV
V
[Figure 22.1]
As you work your way through the four phrases in turn, you quickly discover a clever overall
dramatic shape to the verse. The first two phrases hang together like a couplet, and the remaining
two phrases seem to meld into a refrain-like eight-measure unit.
The first two phrases are obviously related to each other, though there is a subtlety in the
transition between the two of them which is the first clue to our hero's wavering self-control. The
last measure of the first phrase, on the one hand, seems to suggest a sudden extra push forward
with its syncopated, momentary speed-up of the harmonic rhythm; note the three Major chords
moving step-wise in a row and changing on the offbeat, the first of which - G Major - isn't even a
legitimate member of the key we're in, adding a bluesy cross relation to the texture - G natural
against a background of G sharps. For an instant, we seem to be hurtling just a tad out of control.
And yet, with the start of the second phrase, we're right back where we started out before. Order
has been restored; as though our hero, carried away by his own sweet excitement quickly catches
himself and backs off, the better to resume his former polite and measured, albeit insistent, tack.
Although the second phrase is virtually identical to the first, the difference between them in
their final measures is of structural significance. The open ending of the first one on V smoothly
motivates the start of the second one. By contrast, the closed harmonic ending of the second
phrase on the I chord includes that unusual guitar riff in measure eight, the combination of which
sets off this opening couplet from what follows.
The third phrase is one of both musical excursus and build toward a climax by virtue of the
introduction of new chords, the progression away from the I yet not necessarily reaching a clear
resting point, and of course, the employment in every measure of the hard syncopation on the
half-beat between 2 and 3; this last perturbation being ironic to the extent that this very phrase is
the only one in the entire song in which the harmonic rhythm holds steady for as long as four
measures. The climax, per se, is to be found in the reaching of the melodic apex (high A) of the
entire verse in measure 12.
You would surmise at this point that our hero has crossed the start-line and opened his attack
for better or worse, but immediately following, we experience yet another retreat of sorts in the
way the fourth phrase resolves the accumulated tension of the preceding one with its return to a
musical texture and vocabulary that is very close to that of the first two phrases: no more
syncopations, a resumption of plain I-IV-V, and an exchange of the “come ons” for the “please
pleases”; all this, reinforced by the return of the hook phrase at the very end.
Incidentally, note how the placement of the hook above the I-IV-V progression in this context
gives it a different feel from the one it has when it is accompanied by just the I chord as in the
intro or the first half of the verse.
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Details, Duckie
All this agitation and the thrashing between polite insistence and a less patient coaxing is
only further enhanced by the manifest details of the verse's arrangement. The adaptation of the
opening hook phrase as it appears in the melody of the first two phrases conveys determined
insistence on at least two levels. First off, in the second measure, the snapped rhythm heard in
the intro is here replaced by a continuation of the “marcato”, almost hammer-like quarter notes
of the first two measures. Enhancing this is the way that Paul sustains the single tone of E above
John's singing of the actual melody. Quite nicely, the snapped rhythm isn't entirely dispensed
with here, but is rather moved all the way to the extended ending of the hook phrase in measure
three, where it too adds to the mood of insistence.
The forward-propelling syncopations of the third phrase are put into bold italics by the
antiphonal deployment of the backing voices of Paul and George; soon to become yet another
Beatles signature device. Unusual here is the way in which the fragments sung by the lead and
the backers fit seamlessly together in one melodic line; an effect of great antiquity in classical
music, the technical term for which is “hocket.”
Gentler though undeniable pushes forward are to be found as well in the drum fills which
bridge measures 4/5, 7/8, and the springing guitar riff of measure 8 itself. And on the side of
vacillation, the harmonic rhythm over the course of these sixteen measure is more varied,
changeable, and uneven than virtually any other example we've looked at in this series thus far.
Aside from some new lyrics, the entire verse is repeated virtually verbatim with one minor
change made at the end to smoothly effect the transition into the bridge. In the last measure here,
the harmony holds still on I, the hook phrase is truncated by half, and for a single instant (the
only one of its kind in the entire song), all voices and guitars are tacit in favor of a series of solo
drum fills. It's a subtle gesture which binds off what has preceded and, at the same time, leads
ahead to what follows.
Bridge
Even though this bridge is built out of the same old three basic chords, the lyrics of the song
take a decided turn at this point for the openly confrontational in this section, and the music, too,
provides plenty of contrast with what has preceded.
First off, there is the unusual ten-measure length that is broken up into two three phrase
making for a pattern of 4+3+3, AA’B:
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A
B
E
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
IV
V
I
A
B
E
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
IV
V
I
A
B
E
A
B
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
IV
V
I
IV
V
[Figure 22.2]
Note how all three phrases start away from the tonic and quickly close in on it. The first
phrase here is distinguished by its novel use of the backing voices; at first, just harmonized
“ahhhs” behind John's solo, followed by the surprising “in my heart” rejoinder of measure 4.
The second phrase starts out parallel to the first one but opts for a climactic gesture in the
third measure, and dispensing with what otherwise would have been the balancing fourth
measure, moves directly into the third phrase with its quickened harmonic rhythm, open
harmonic shape, and the reprise of the fanfare-like hook phrase, which draw you back to the final
verse with the same music used earlier to lead from the first verse to the second
one.
Strangely George does not play the exact text of the hook phrase at this point but rather a
variation of it. This fact is exposed in a variety of alternate recordings of the song, such as those
from the Beeb (or even the Anthology outtake), in which they usually omitted the harmonica fill
at that point leaving George in the clear.
What is perhaps the most climactic moment of the entire song takes place in the third
measure of this second bridge phrase; where the melody suddenly jumps an octave to high B (no
coincidence, the single highest melodic peak in the song) on the phrase “to reason with you.”
Ironically, the chords for the beginning of all three bridge phrases are identical, yet, the E chord,
which in the first phrase provides a focal point of repose, here in the second phrase, by virtue of
the melodic high-point, serves as a jumping off point for the third phrase with its open ending on
V; context is everything. The musical climax of this section is in direct synchrony with that of
the lyrics, yet, with the transition right into the final verse, we back off yet again from what
otherwise might have seemed a point of no return.
Outro
The final verse is a full reprise of the first one, and the familiar device of ending with a triple
repeat of the last sub-phrase is neatly worked in here as a natural outgrowth of the fourth phrase
of the verse.
Although none of the thematic material in this outro is anything new by this point of the
song, the boys do bring out a couple of surprises they've clearly been saving till the end. The first
one is the pseudo-contrapuntal texture wherein the “please please me” and hook phrases seem to
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swirl and cascade around us. But most attention grabbing of all is choice of chords for the final
phrase, each one of which is sharply punctuated by a fill of four even sixteenth notes on the snare
drum:
E
G
C
B
E
|———————————————————|—————————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
V-offlat-VI V
I
flat-VI
[Figure 22.3]
The use of the G and C chords is not nearly so far out as might seem at first sight; especially
if you think of them in context of being borrowed, as it were, from the parallel minor key;
besides, we were even sort of "warned" to half-expect something like this given the early
appearance of the G chord by itself in the verse; kind of like how the murder weapon in a
mystery appears as a casual prop in the first scene. Still, the bluesy hint of the minor mode plus
the implicit cross-relations of the G and C naturals against predominant sharps of the E Major
key makes an extremely bracing effect. For laughs, try this last phrase with the more "correct"
diatonic chords of G# Major and c# minor and see how hopelessly square it sounds by contrast.
Some Final Thoughts
In the final result, this song is a worthy textbook example of where a fade out ending would
be, not just wishy-washy, but suggestive of a different unraveling of our hero's outing; one filled
with intimations of endless begging. Instead, the audacious ending we are given provides the
quite appropriate denouement for the passionate plot of the song up to this point. It is as though
our hero, careful not to shoot his whole wad too soon lest all else fails, has held back something,
(not without some difficulty, I dare say), with which to bring things ultimately to a head with an
abrupt, pro-active bang, so to speak; hence, the full ending from which, this time, there can be no
retreat.
“You've just made your first number one.” 123100#22.1
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Strawberry Fields Forever, A Day in the Life, and I Am
the Walrus
An Introduction to Notes on John's "Triple Crown"
In honor of the twentieth anniversary of John Lennon's tragic, untimely death, I'm re-posting
a revision of this article originally published ten years ago on the same date. I'd like to explore
three of his greatest songs as a group because they so well characterize a songwriting sub-genre
which is one of John's unique innovations and which remains a special part of his legacy.
Among the several new musical directions explored by The Beatles from mid-career onward,
none was more astonishing at the time, nor is still so compelling today, as their emerging
preoccupation with the existential joy, wonder, and sorrowful angst of self-discovery, childhood
memory, and post-adolescent adjustment to the realities of the human condition. Paul and George
also worked with these themes, but I would argue that this is an area in which John was both the
most daringly original and successful of the three.
My own admittedly clumsy one-sentence characterization in the previous paragraph aside,
the texts of John’s songs on these heavy themes are most beautiful in their intruiging, ineffably
elliptical poetry, and musically, they are written and arranged in a style unimaginably far
removed from the guitars-and-drums young-love songs of just a few years earlier. Granted,
they're not everyone's favorites, but there is no escaping their great originality.
There are arguably more than just three songs that fall into this category, but the ones I've
chosen here are perhaps the most ambitiously successful and perennially popular of the bunch.
And though there is some thematic and musical overlap among them, each of these three
illuminate different facets of John’s achievement. Eventually, I will treat each of the songs in turn
to a detailed, individualized analysis. For now, I’d like to start with an examination of some
global aspects of the Beatles' mid-career growth as a group, the better to place in perspective
John's personal contribution. Later on, following a bit of a digression to consider other cases
in music history where popular and classical genres have crossed over each other, we'll come
back to compare and contrast these three specific songs with each other.
A Special Season
The year which runs from November 1966 to the same time in 1967 is a particularly special
nodal point in the musical development of The Beatles. It is a period which begins with the first
studio take of “Strawberry Fields Forever” on 11/24/66, ends on 11/24/67 with the UK release of
the “Hello, Goodbye/I Am The Walrus” single,
and is roughly bisected by the release on 6/1/67 of the Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
album which concludes with “A Day In The Life”.
A number of themes and techniques which appear with gathering momentum on the
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Rubber Soul and Revolver albums (as well as on the several singles of that era) can be seen to
converge and blossom fully forth during this musical season of '66/'67. In hindsight, one notes
the social commentary of songs like “Nowhere Man”, “Paperback Writer”, “Taxman”, and
“Eleanor Rigby”; and the re-learning of how to cope with this world after seeing drug-induced
visions of other universes in “She Said She Said” and “Tomorrow Never Knows.”
The extreme sharpness of this convergence can be seen in the topical agenda of the Sgt
Pepper track list in which there is a relative dearth of love songs and a conversely large number
of tracks which deal with the social and experiential. Yet at the same time, this hot-house
intensity turns out to be one which could not be sustained for long or even successfully
developed much further. On the other side of this nodal point, one finds both an over-ripening
temporary decline characterized by the critical flop (relatively speaking) of Magical Mystery
Tour and an almost neatly symmetrical divergence into still new directions, some of which seem
to be driven by a selfconscious desire to get back to prime roots.
For the most part, the increasing number of straight-out rock songs, love ballads, and
nostalgic evocations of earlier pop styles on the last several Beatles albums would appear as a
retreat from the heady experimentation of Sgt Pepper era; John, at a later date would actually
look back on it with some disdain and regret. Nonetheless, several elements from '66/'67 actually
can actually be seen to survive into '68 - '70, albeit with some transformation. In particular,
John's social/experiential interests are seen to mature into a genuine concern about the state of
the world order; a concern at first suffused with sometimes bitter sarcasm, and yet one which
would persist with increasing fervor and clarity of vision in his solo work after the group
disbanded.
Curious Precedents
In addition to the extremely serious subtext of the lyrics, our three songs here also manifest a
compositional complexity and a borrowing from several non-pop/rock musical styles including
both classical and avant garde. The curious thing is that the history of Western music is replete
with such crossovers between so-called popular and more seriously “artsy” genres, though over
the long run, these have been typified by the stylized co-opting of a native pop form or style by
the classical side of the house.
Way the heck back in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, for example, it was customary, even
expected for a composer to weave or embed a popular folk tune into one or more parts of a
choral Mass. Similarly, much of the thematic and motivic essence of 18th century Classical and
19th century Romantic music has demonstrable roots in European folk and popular music; in
fact, during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, you even find a movement of “Nationalistic”
composers such as Dvorak, Grieg, and Bartok on the one hand doing this self-consciously in
order to give world-class exposure to their respective treasured ethnic heritages, and “Futuristic”
composers such as Mahler and Ives (how strange to see those two in the same bed) conjuring up
the vulgarity of a music hall ambience for special shock effect in the manner of a Duchamp
“readymade.”
In the area of dance music, there are even more concrete examples of this phenomenon. The
most obvious ones here might be the Minuet of the Baroque dance suite and classical symphony,
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or the Grande Valse of the 19th century, both of which were direct evolutions of what had been,
just one generation earlier, party music by which to boogie. The crucial point here though (and
one which will link us back up with the Beatles) is that even at the time that these earlier
crossovers took place, the change in the perception of these forms or styles by their audiences
was immediately transformed; i.e., nobody in Bach's lifetime would have gotten up to dance
during the last movement of the Brandenburg First Concerto, nor in Chopin's time to swirl
around the salon in time to the “Minute Waltz”.
The interesting thing about these classical-cum-serious dance forms is that at least some
obvious phatic essence of the time, place, and vitality of the dance rhythm itself still exists in the
music, no matter how rarified the serious transposition by the composer. To stay with our two
examples, you can imagine the powdered wigs and brocaded jackets when you hear those Bach
minuets, or the flowing ball gowns and the heavily crystalled chandeliers upon listening to
Chopin, but even so, there is something so compellingly deeper than that in the substance of the
music that to get up and dance would seem somehow a trivialization of the music.
Viewed in this light, it almost seems like berating the obvious to point out how our three
Beatles songs under consideration here, in spite of their (strictly speaking) quite danceable
rhythm tracks, don't feel quite right to be danced to either. Rather, they seem to be more
appropriately intended to be listened to; carefully, thoughtfully, repeatedly.
What makes the phenomenon of the Beatles' so unique in spite of the historical parallel is
that in the past, a crossover composer from the classical side would likely be doing so in full premeditation to prove a point, make history, or align himself with a larger movement. With the
Beatles, we are dealing instead with some lucky fellows who had both the talent and all manner
of wherewithal to just go off and do there own thing (man) unencumbered by up-front grandiose
notions of where they were headed. Their overall development can be viewed as a scenario in
which successive rounds of ecclectic stylistic elements and techniques were to be superimposed
on top of a relatively unvarying rock substrate; the ultimate effect being not so much a crossing
over from pop to “serious”, as blurring of the distinction between the two.
The Beatles in General, John in Particular
To the extent that all three of the primary songwriting Beatles wrote some songs in the social/
experiential mode, it is especially interesting to contrast John's personal approach and outlook
with that of the others. What I can predict will emerge, hopefully without arbitrary "bashing" of
the other two, is John's especial strength in this area.
A parenthetical note: although Ringo's handful of songs deserves some mention in an
absolutely complete treatment of the works of The Beatles, I think we can safely conclude with
no slight intended toward the lad, that Ringo qua composer did not participate directly in the
heady self-exploration which preoccupied the other three, and as a result, his output does not
figure here.
By now, we've all become so used to thinking of the Boys as separate artists with individual
styles. Even at the time it was happening, we knew this from the White Album onward, and with
greater hindsight, we now even trace it easily back to the earliest of days and albums. It almost
requires some conscious effort to step back from the details in order to recognize the obvious yet
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uncanny parallels among the three of them in terms of macro-trends, themes, and techniques.
Ironically though, even this exercise only serves in the end to highlight their differences.
On the verbal side, Paul's more serious, non-love songs seem to tend toward the journalistic,
contemplative portraits of “Eleanor Rigby” and “The Fool On The Hill.” He speaks in the
subjective tone of introspection with relative infrequency, and when he does so, he's typically
optimistic about the future, as in such examples as “Fixing A Hole”, “Getting Better”, and “Hey
Jude”; significantly, in the latter two songs, improvement is clearly attributed to the presence of a
significant other.
George has a different but just as clear lyric pattern, tending to speak in the first person either
exhortingly as in “Within You Without You” and “The Inner Light” or complainingly as in “It's
All Too Much” and “Only A Northern Song.” For George, improvement of some kind is possible
if you are willing or capable of some sort of spiritual awakening.
John, true to form going as far back as “Help!” and “You've Got To Hide Your Love Away”
takes the significant emotional and artistic risk of speaking most consistently in the first person
with an open willingness to expose his vulnerability to pain and confusion. Our three songs here
are notable in their total lack of love interest, advice, or explicit editorial point of view.
On the musical side, Paul is probably the leader in the area of bringing guest instrumental
soloists into the Beatles' sessions whether it's the string ensembles in “Yesterday”, “Eleanor
Rigby”, and “She's Leaving Home”, or the French horn in “For No One”, or the Bach trumpet in
“Penny Lane” just to mention a few examples among many. Paul's other main avenue of
compositional experimentation is in the masquerade-like stylized evocation and spoof of exotic
and antique musical idioms.
George's most obviously significant and reasonably successful experiment is in the
integration into the pop/rock idiom of classical Indian instrumentation, melodic style and
phrasing. Note however that some will find fault in the extent to which this integration is a
straightforward incorporation the foreign musical elements not fully digested. “Blue Jay Way”
for example remains a curiosity in the way the Indian-like drone harmony and arabesque melodic
motives are retained even in the absence of specifically Indian instrumentation or
"transcendental" subject in the lyrics.
John's musically experimental legacy is primarily in the MacLuhan-esque exploitation for its
own sake of the indigenous quirks of the recording medium. Paul and George too were involved
in all manner of tinkering in the studio with flanging, vari-speed, tape loops and whatnot, but I
believe John is the one who made the really big gestures in this department. Our three songs, in
fact, may be among the best examples of this though the roots of it go back as far as “Yellow
Submarine” and “Tomorrow Never Knows.” And of course, it is John, after all, who in spite of
all later retreat to good old rock 'n' roll would persist with offerings like “Revolution 9” and
“What's The New Mary Jane.”
As a relatively intuitive composer, John also made consistently effective use throughout his
career of uneven phrase lengths, cross-cut switches between different meters, and unusual
harmonic twists; the latter especially ironic in light of his conspicuous harmonic frugality in the
early days. Paul is also consistently imaginative in the novel use of modal harmony and unusual
modulations (take a look, for example at as early as song as “Things We Said Today”), but I don't
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think you find anything in Paul's work that flirts with tonal ambiguity in the extreme way that
something like "I Am The Walrus" does.
The Ties That Bind
We'll find that in almost every measurable category, “Strawberry Fields Forever” and “I Am
The Walrus” are closer cousins to each other than “A Day In The Life” is to either of them, but I
still think they all make a nicely complementary threesome.
On the lyrical level, all three are certainly examples par-excellence of what I have dubbed the
social/experiential genre. “A Day In The Life” leans slightly more in the direction of social
comment, while the other two (especially “I Am The Walrus”) are much more inscrutable and
Zen-like. There's much more that can be said on this point, but it's getting high time that we
finally faced the music itself.
All three are songs intended to be listened to in recording rather than in live performance.
You could make concert adaptations of each of them if you cared to, but something of their
essence would get lost in the translation. And yet, paradoxically, the fact that there is a Beatlesesque rhythm track of the familiar drums, bass, guitar, and/or piano at the root of all three songs
is not be under-emphasized; nor should we ignore the fact these songs all have clear, even
traditional, song forms at their backbones. As I pointed out in an earlier article on “She Said She
Said”, it is only in John's later experiments such as “Revolution #9” that these formalistic values
are abandoned, and for the most part, this retention here of the classic form in the midst of an
otherwise extremely experimental milieu is of significance. The paradox can be vividly savored
by listening to the commonly available outtakes of each of these three songs which prove just
how much of the essence of the finished product does and does not survive the elimination of all
the special effects.
But getting back to the recording techniques, each one of these songs in some obvious way or
another does things with sound that you simply cannot do at all (or easily so, at any rate) in real
time without recourse to extensive editing and other post-processing of pre-recorded sources. In
“Strawberry Fields Forever”, there is the joining of two takes differing in mood and ensemble,
each of which had already been subjected to heavy post-processing to begin with, plus the
reverse fade which includes a very strange doppler-like sound effect. “A Day In The Life”
commences with a cross-fade from the preceding "Sgt Pepper" reprise track, and features a
seemingly very large orchestra which appears intermittently out of nowhere. A couple of
additional details include the vestigial echoes of Mal Evans' counting from 1 to 24, the alarm
clock, and the orchestration and extended fade of the final chord. “I Am The Walrus” would
appear to be the most heavily layered of the three, containing signficant, complex parts for
orchestra, chorus, radio program, and other sound effects all on top of a basic rhythm track and
vocal which themselves have been heavily flanged.
The employment of the orchestra is not only a common denominator of the three songs, but
in each instance, the exact role of this auxiliary ensemble in the plot and arrangement of the song
is quite far removed from the lush, wallpaper of sound you might find on the backing tracks
elsewhere; e.g., the Phil Spector scores which appear on the “Let It Be” album. In “Strawberry
Fields Forever”, the orchestra appears suddenly in the second half of the song in a heavy yet
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exceedingly jumpy pseudo-classical texture which works at cross-currents with the more flowing
beat established in the take which comprises the first half of the finished song. In “A Day In The
Life”, it is used quite sparingly to great effect at the end of the two verse sections in a sweeping
crescendo up a scale of indeterminate pitches. Very cleverly, it is also used to help effect the
transition from the end of the bridge back to the return of the verse, and this additional
appearance keeps the use of it in those crescendi from sounding too contrived and isolated. In “I
Am The Walrus”, the orchestra (and choral) part is a complex overlay on the basic rhythm track
in which exaggerated gestures are employed to almost comically highlight or underscore various
details in imagery of the words and music.
On a more subtle level, each of these three songs contains examples of harmony or phrasing
that is adventurous to an extreme not often seen in the music of The Beatles, in spite of their
career-long penchant for novel chord choices. Very briefly for now, “Strawberry Fields Forever”
makes repeated use of both uneven phrase lengths, a brief switch into ternary meter, and chord
progressions sufficiently unusual to make the tonality of the song periodically ambiguous; all
these devices provide an evocative backdrop for the message of the words. “A Day In The Life”,
though much more straightforward, still presents an ambiguous alternation between the related
keys of G Major and both the Major and minor modes of e; i.e., the verses are in G, but both the
bridge and the ending of the song are in E. Even in the verses, the very first line of the song (“I
read the news today, oh boy”) starts off in neutral-to-optimistic G Major but quickly wilts away
to the more wistful e minor; again, a subtle underscoring of the words. “I Am The Walrus” is the
least tonally stable of the three. Most of the song is ostensibly in the key of A Major, but the
introduction starts off on B, and there is so much step-wise movement in most of the chord
progressions that a clear sense of key is never really well established. The ending, with its
infinitely step-wise descending chord progression and a top voice which is step-wise ascending
has always conjured up in my mind visions of an limitlessly expanding universe, or perhaps,
“consciousness” is more appropriate.
I'd Love To Turn You On
Finally, I’ll admit that I've always had a “thing” for these three songs; beyond a point, even I
won't try to hide it behind a smokescreen of bourgeois musicological cliches; well, not entirely. I
can still remember where and when I heard each of them for the first time; “Strawberry Fields
Forever”, driving my parents car to school during my first semester of college; “A Day In The
Life” at a reverential gathering of special friends one relaxed Friday evening after spring
semester final exams for a first listen to the Sgt Pepper album; and “I Am The Walrus”, the
following fall semester, again on the way to school, this time for a harmony 103 class after which
I tried with limited success to convey my muckle-mouthed excitement over this new music to the
professor. These old-fart reminiscences in their particulars aside, the point is that these songs
were equal parts catalyst and accompaniment for deep cultural and societal changes when they
first appeared; the fact that this was coincident with a rite-of-passage-like time in my personal
life increased their resonance for me by what seemed a thousand-fold.
Ultimately, what's most amazing is that this music continues to fascinate me (maybe “us”?)
on levels far beyond those of mere nostalgia for Youth. Not everything from that period which
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turned me on at the time has fared so well, you know; some things retain only nostalgic interest
now, and others even come back to embarrass me into acknowledging the sophomoric and fickle
nature of my passion at that tender and impressionable age.
In the meanwhile, in spite of whatever supposed wisdom and maturity I may have earned
over the intervening more-than-thirty years, John's three songs continue to teach, encourage, and
challenge me.
Perhaps what I’m trying to say in tribute to John about the scope and power of not just these
three songs but about his artistic legacy as a whole is most succinctly put by the following quote
from a most unlikely source (Evelyn Waugh's Brideshead Revisited, p. 79):
“The zest, the generous affections, the illusions, the despair,
all the traditional attributes of Youth ... come and go with us through life;
again and again in riper years we experience, under a new stimulus,
what we thought had been finally left behind, the authentic impulse to action,
the renewal of power and its concentration on a new object;
again and again a new truth is revealed to us
in whose light all our previous knowledge must be rearranged.
These things are a part of life itself.”
“Pools of sorrow, waves of joy Are drifting through my opened mind Possessing and caressing me.” 120890#23
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Things We Said Today
Key: a minor/Major
Meter: 4/4
| Verse | Bridge |
UK-release: 19th July 1964 (B Single / "A Hard Day's Night")
US-release: 20th July 1964 (LP "Something New")
Style and Form
“Things We Said Today” is one of the earliest and best-ever examples of the innovative
harmony stunts which The Beatles were capable of, being uninhibited as they were by any
schoolbook knowledge of the so-called rules. On the lyrical side here, there's a correspondingly
precocious ambiguity over the exact scenario in which the song, on the surface just a plain old
love ballad, takes place.
The one thing that does seem fairly clear is that it's about the imperturbable constancy of true
love in the face of logistical challenge, or perhaps more precisely, the fear of challenge. As you
might expect, one of the most exciting discoveries to be made in an analysis of such a song is the
way in which the details of the music assist the words in the evocation of an otherwise difficult
to verbalize complex of emotions.
Our friend Macca, in an interview clip from the Put It There video, suggests that he chose to
revive this song for the '89/'90 tour because it “says something nice, ... it's a simple song, ... easy
to play.” What do you think? Is it that he doesn't give himself enough credit, or perhaps, are we
hearing just a small note of false modesty?
The form is the standard two-bridge model with a single verse intervening. In context it
achieves a delicate balance between the rambling and the forthright. The inclusion of two bridges
is in the interest of conjuring a somewhat relaxed mood. But the omission of an instrumental solo
section, which would have probably appeared either in place of the third verse or as an additional
verse section preceding the second bridge, keeps the proceedings from becoming too relaxed.
After all, we need to keep focused with some urgency on the fact that the
protagonist has a lot that he must say right now lest this moment pass.
The lyrics of the four verses contain a refrain-like final couplet based on the title phrase, and
they create a pattern of ABCC. The AB verses feature a characteristic “I/we” swap, and they,
along with the two bridges, rhythmically begin right on the downbeat. The CC verses are each
more tightly integrated with the bridges that precede them so that they rhythmically begin well
ahead of the downbeat, with the phrase “and that's enough;” the downbeat falling in this case on
the final syllable.
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Melody and Harmony
The song is primarily in the modal-sounding “natural” minor key of A; you'll note how in the
verse sections, the minor v7 (e min7) chord with no G# is used in place of the more tonally
functional Major one (with the G#, of course.) In contrast, the start of the bridge sections features
a shift to the parallel Major key of A, a trick reminiscent of what we saw in “I'll Be Back.”
The liberal inclusion of the relatively foreign note of B flat throughout the song adds even
more spice to both the melody and harmony. Melodically, this B flat in the context of A minor is
suggestive of the exotic Phrygian mode; think of it as the white note scale starting on E. Try the
following little exercise if you doubt what I mean about the piquant effect created by this mode:
first play the melodic fragment of A-B-A over a sustained A minor chord and then alternate it
with A-B flat-A over that same chord. Although this phrase never appears explicitly in the topvoice melody of “Things We Said Today”, its alternating presence is definitely there throughout
the song, hidden in the inner voices of the chord changes.
On the harmonic side, a B flat chord is used in both the verse and bridge as part of a gambit
in which what has started off as an aggressive excursion away from the home key is abruptly
aborted with a return to that very same firm, secure home base. The B flat chord in any mode of
A is the unusual "flat-II" or “Neapolitan” chord (so called because of its overly frequent use in
17th century opera of said venue), and what makes its use especially far out in a Beatles song is
the fact that they resolve it directly to the I chord rather than via the V chord as is more
customary in classical usage. Note how the Boys were so pleased with themselves over this that
they recycled the exact same magic trick in “You're Going To Lose That Girl.”
A Scarcity Of Songs In Minor Keys
As a sort of sidebar digression, it is worth noting how “Things We Said Today” is one of the
very few early Beatles songs to be so fully grounded in the minor mode. Through July '64, they
had recorded 51 songs for official release (15 covers, 1 by Harrison, the remainder by Lennon &
McCartney), the great majority of which are clearly in Major keys.
While there is a sizable group of songs which arguably contain some greater or less degree of
minor flavoring, when you get strict about it (“you'll have to be strict, Paul ...”), you find only 7
songs that are distinctively and pervasively minor:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
the cover, “Taste of Honey,” our surprise entry
George's “Don't Bother Me”
“Not A Second Time”
“And I Love Her”
our own sweet “Things We Said Today”
“When I Get Home”
“I'll Be Back”
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A truly uncanny consistency is the fact the last 5 songs in the list above all make conspicuous
use of the trick of switching back and forth between Major/minor phrase or section endings. As
I've asked before in other contexts, is this style or mannerism?
The songs that contain only hints of the minor mode are also interesting. I'd say there are at
least dozen or more of them in our sample study, but you might find more or less of them
yourself depending on how picky or sensitive you are to this sort of thing. These hints are
actually the result of a couple of different compositional techniques used frequently by the
Beatles. For now, just some bullet descriptions with a few examples for further study:
• Heavy use of bluesy cross-relations in a minor vocal part against Major chords in the
accompaniment; e.g., “Can't Buy Me Love”, “You Can't Do That”, and “Money.”
• Emphasis on the I-vi progression; e.g., “It Won't Be Long”, “All I've Got to Do”, and
“From Me To You”.
• Use of the flat sixth degree of the scale either melodically (e.g., “Do You Want To Know A
Secret”) or as part of the minor iv chord (e.g., “She Loves You”, and “I Call Your Name”).
Beyond a point it becomes difficult to draw the clear line between what I'm labeling as
pervasively minor songs and those in the “just a hint of the minor mode” category. For example,
you might say that “Not A Second Time” and “All I've Got To Do” more properly belong in the
same class since they both are based on the I and vi chords. But the critical distinction for me
between these two songs rests on the ordering of the I and vi chords.
“Not A Second Time” is characterized by I moving to vi. “All I've Got To Do” is the other
way around; it moves from vi to I. To my ears the chord that is the "destination" or "target" has a
tendency to assert itself. Hard to know for sure if this is a valid distinction rather than a
rationalized inconsistency.
Arrangement
The vocal arrangement of “Things We Said Today” is neatly organized around the novelty of
using only Paul throughout. The first verse is primarily single tracked with two exceptions: the
third phrase (as in every verse) has Paul harmonizing in parallel thirds with himself, and the
second half of the last phrase of this verse (on the words “things we said today”) suddenly shifts
to double tracking.
The remaining verses and both bridge sections are consistently double-tracked in unison with
a few similar exceptions as above: the third phrase of each verse uses the same parallel thirds as
in the first verse (each voice of which is single tracked), and the second half of the last phrase
(again, on the title phrase) has Paul harmonizing with himself in rather early-Beatles-sounding
open 4ths. Just as a teaser, this same harmonization appears still one place else, at the end of the
second phrase of the final verse; yet again, we encounter the aesthetic of avoiding rote
consistency.
By the way, this track is at least one example where the real stereo mix which may be found
on the American vinyl pressing, Something New, provides more easily discernible detail than the
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mono CD version of A Hard Day’s Night. In stereo, the overdubbed second vocal is separated
very far to the right.
Intro
We have just a brief two measures in which the backing texture of the verse is established.
The even strumming and stroking of acoustic guitar and drums sets a predominantly tranquil
mood, yet two details belie it, keeping you braced for possibly tenser times ahead.
First off, the opening sixteenth-note rhythmic fanfare (di-di-DUM) calls you to attention with
a bigger, more ominous bang than you'd think you might need given the supposedly gentle nature
of the song to come.
Secondly, in the syncopated electric guitar part, the chords are stressed on the half beat in
between beats 3 and 4 of the measure.
On the official recording of this song, the a minor chord is the only one used in this intro,
whereas on the Beeb recording of July '64, you hear them changing to e minor 7 on the offbeat.
Verse
The verse is a standard sixteen measures long, and contains four phrases of even length.
Three of these phrases (the first, second, and fourth) are musically very similar. Harmonically
too, they are quite static featuring in every measure either the lone a minor chord, or with a
change to e minor 7 on the offbeat. While you'd expect to find a strict pattern as to which
measures sustain the chord versus changing it, a close look reveals some internal inconsistencies
throughout the official version, as well as between the official and the Beeb version cited above.
It is, of course, in the third phrase of this section (“Some day when we're dreaming ...”) that
the mood noticeably darkens, largely as a result of a momentary tonal ambiguity. It's clear right
at the beginning of this phrase that the music is suddenly headed away from the home key, but
the future course is kept uncertain. By the time we reach the B flat chord in the last measure, it is
uncertain to our ears whether we might soon stabilize in the new key of F, or perhaps keep
moving along the circle of fifths to the even more remote E flat chord. And yet, at this moment
of most extreme tension, the B flat chord resolves surprisingly-yet-comfortingly back into the
home key. I notate it below as though a modulation to F is the “correct” answer, but I think my
prose description above is more faithful to one's internal experience:
m.9
a:
F:
C
C9/7
F
B-flat
a
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
III
flat-II
i
V
I
IV
[Figure 24.1]
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Details such as the broad arpeggios in the electric guitar on the downbeat of each measure
and the free-form way in which the words are scanned over the underlying rhythm in slow
triplets and syncopation, not to mention the harmonized pseudo-duet also help set off this third
phrase from the other three.
Verse Variations
The first verse is the only one that is followed immediately by another verse and as a result, it
includes a one-measure “reprise” of the intro including the little rhythmic fanfare. Similarly, the
final verse connects directly into the outro which also is just a reprise of the material heard at the
outset.
Verses two and three connect to bridge sections and feature a surprise ending on A Major
instead of the minor chord you'd otherwise expect. It's worth noting how in these verses which
adjoin the bridges, the noisier texture of the bridge-proper (see below) begins right in the final
measure of the verse itself.
Bridge
The bridge sections provide sudden contrast in virtually every category: the harmony shifts
entirely and optimistically to the Major mode, the percussion gets much noisier including the
addition a tambourine, and the bass line features a different rhythmic and melodic pattern. More
to the point, the gambit of harmonic excursion and sudden return which we saw in the verses is
now even further developed.
[Figure 24.2]
These bridges are each eight measures long and contain two phrases of even length. There is
melodic parallelism between the two phrases which is made bitter sweetly ironic by a difference
in their harmony. The melody too is difficultly chromatic and adds to the emotional intensity of
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the section; in addition to the usual chords, I've chosen to notate below what I consider to be the
structural backbone of this melody:
[Figure 24.3]
Harmonically, the first phrase is functional in a relatively traditional way, although you'd
sooner expect the D# in top voice of measure 3 to resolve upward to E rather than downward, as
it does to D. And though the D fits quite logically on top of the E7 chord upon which it finds
itself, the melodic descent conveys some small sense of emotional deflation, especially as it
follows the first three measures of rising, happy-Major-mode expectations.
It's in the second phrase, where this same melodic backbone is suspended over an extremely
unexpected substitution of the B flat chord for the E7 that the sun chillingly goes in for a brief
moment; especially when this half-stepwise descent continues in a second surprise move to the A
minor chord for the start of the following verse. As with the verse above, labeling the B flat
chord a flat-II maybe doesn't even fairly match your experience of the phrase. Perhaps, it's more
like an unhinging sensation of harmonic free-fall, which is brought to a merciful end by the
sudden return to the home key.
Outro
As is common in songs of this period, the outro presents yet another reprise of the
introductory material repeated into a fadeout. It would almost be an anti-climax except for the
ingeniously unifying stroke of adding in the tambourine part from the bridge section. In spite of
the fact that the steady reliability of the A minor backing riff extends as far as you can see to the
horizon, this ending also suggests that little pangs of anxiety will also remain a permanent part of
the tour.
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Some Final Thoughts
Future Fear
Without the clues from the music itself, you might mistake this song for one of a timehonored and slightly hackneyed genre: sentimental words of parting between lovers overhead at
a railway platform or baggage carousel. But I think it's a tad more complicated.
For one thing, the notion of a parting is mentioned only once, and even then, in hypothetical
terms only. Even the rest of the lyrics, which on the surface can easily be read as sweet, simple,
besotted gratitude for a love that is requited can easily be re-interpreted as containing more than
just a suggestion of head-shaking skepticism and concern about the viability of love's lasting till
the end of time; especially if one is so far away. This is what I mean about how the hot flashes of
uncertainty in the music help elucidate the text.
But the ultimately “nice” message of the song is to be found in the repeating line which ends
each verse, in which all fear is revealed to be an illusion. The transcendence of the background
accompaniment and the ease with which the steady carrier frequency of the A minor key may be
accessed again in spite of momentary free-falls and loss of contact vividly underscore the
meaning of the words: that in spite of the potential-yet-inevitable strains upon it, be they tangible
impediments or the one of times passing, love can and will persist, oftentimes though it has little
more to sustain it than the memory of things we said today.
“He'll look good alongside Susan.” 0105001#24.1
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While My Guitar Gently Weeps
Key: a minor/Major
Meter: 4/4
| Verse | Bridge |
CD: "White Album", Disc 1, Track 7 (Parlophone CDS7 46443-8)
Recorded: 25th July, 16th August, 3rd, 5th-6th September 1968, Abbey Road 2
UK-release: 22nd November 1968 (LP "White Album")
US-release: 25th November 1968 (LP "White Album")
Style and Form
Two very different versions exist of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps”. One, the official
release on the White Album, is loud, heavy, wailing, and arranged in successively recorded thick
layers of sound. The other version, take 1, available for years in bootleg and finally released
officially on Anthology 3, is very much the opposite in tone; introspectively quiet and quite
simply arranged, essentially for solo voice and acoustic guitar, with just a hint of harmonium
toward the end. And yet, one might say that the expressive core of “While My Guitar Gently
Weeps” is to be found more deeply embedded in the musical elements which are in common
between the two
versions than it is to be found among the details of their contrasting arrangements, no matter how
interesting it may be to explore and compare their details.
Within the melody, chord progressions, and formal phrasing of the song we discover a
thoroughly sad lament in which there is ironic tension on at least two levels: first, the contrast
between the ploddingly slow tempo and continually restless progression of chords; second, the
predominance of downward-moving gestures which conjure a mood of pessimism, despite the
intermittent appearance of upward gestures that you would half-expect to lighten things up a bit.
While the emphasis in this article will be on the so-called common musical elements, we will
also take a close look, along the way, at the difference between the two versions.
In between these two extremes, by the way, was yet another arrangement which has not been
released officially or otherwise. From Lewisohn's commentary it sounds rather similar to the
official version would appear to have been scrapped as a matter of its having become
overdeveloped with too many overdubs and manipulations of tape speed.
Crying, Waiting, Hoping ... For A New Blue Moon
It may be fashionable sport these days to pick on the supposed Quiet One for being rather
noisily complaining in his song lyrics, but it's a game with some basis in fact; whether the topic
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be lost love, the materialistic blindness of society, or even late-arriving friends, the Beatle
George would always let us know his opinion of others.
Even so, there is an unmistakable shift toward happier songs from him, or at least ones with a
more positive world outlook, starting from around the time of the White Album. With the
exception “Only A Northern Song” and “I Me Mine”, there is a clear trend, starting on the third
side of The Beatles with “Long, Long, Long”, that carries on through the remainder of the
Beatles canon with such upbeat tunes as “Old Brown Shoe,” “Something,” “Here Comes The
Sun,” and “For You Blue.” The biographical and spiritual parallels to this musical transformation
of George during the last phase of his tenure with the Beatles are fascinating but unfortunately
also outside the scope of this already long article.
Amazingly, before the appearance of “Long, Long, Long”, there was virtually nothing among
George’s songwriting credits that might be called cheery, optimistic, or fanciful. Even when the
topic is one of transcendental enlightenment, as in “Within You, Without You”, the underlying
tone is one of peroration rather than encouragement.
Seen in this light, “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” sits on a cusp between two eras. It is
more or less the last of a chain of songs similar in tone and attitude. Perhaps closest in spirit is
“Think For Yourself”, though the rancor of that earlier song from Rubber Soul, which would
appear to be personally directed at an individual, is replaced here in the later song by sad regret
that is targeted more diffusely and ambiguously.
Form
The form of “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” is deceptively familiar, representing on one
hand the two bridge model with two verses intervening, one of which is an instrumental. On the
other hand, the double verse we’ve come to expect at the beginning of Beatles songs is
conspicuous here by virtue of its absence.
This latter move is likely warranted by the slow tempo, the unusual length of the intro and
outro, and the internal structure of the verse section itself, as we'll see shortly when we pull it
apart below.
Aside from the refrain-like frequent reprise of the title phrase, the lyrics of every section are
more or less different. The use here of different lyrics in each bridge, instead of the more familiar
verbatim repeat, is particularly unusual. Even the final verse, which starts off with the same line
as the first verse, presents some new/different material before it is done.
The odd lines of the verse rhythmically commence with a pickup to the downbeat. The even
lines of the verse as well as all the lines of the bridge begin on the 2nd beat following the
downbeat; the latter effect becoming a subtle signature of the piece.
There are a couple of differences between the official version and the outtake worth noting at
the macro level. The outtake features all new words in the final verse whereas the official version
presents a clever variation of the first verse in this spot. Also, the outtake is in the key of g minor
while the official version is in a. Both of these keys force George to sing the bridge section in a
breathy, partly falsetto tenor, an effect that he must have liked very much because he chose to go
with the higher of the two keys for the official version. In spite of any strain on his voice, it's
actually an effect he's sought after throughout his career; songs running all the way from “Don’t
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Bother Me” to “Heading For The Light” all keep him singing for long sections in a range that is
several notes above middle C.
Melody and Harmony
This is yet another one of those Beatles songs in which alternation of parallel minor and
Major modes is used as a structural element. Compare with “I'll Be Back” or “Fool On The Hill.”
The melodic content is shapely and far ranging. The verse stays within the natural minor
mode while the bridge shifts to the diatonic parallel Major mode.
Many, but far from all, of the chords from both minor and Major modes of the home key are
used. No more exotic chords appear though the slowly descending bass line against a static chord
in the odd lines of the verse, and the hint of a modulation to c# in the bridge bear some interest.
The use of harmony is a key element in the song's evocation of a mood that is paradoxically
slow and measured, restless and fretful.
A somber, languid processional is suggested, on the one hand, by slow harmonic rhythm and
moderate tempo; nowhere in the song do the chords change more frequently than once a
measure, and in a number of places, the rate of change is even less frequent.
On the other hand, this static, plodding tendency is more than amply balanced out by the way
in which the chord progressions themselves always seem to be going somewhere, yet never truly
find rest for long. From the home key of A minor there are excursions toward the relative Major
key of C, the parallel Major key of A, and even the comparatively remote key of c# minor, yet
none of these keys are strongly established, with the music always moving on (“like a bird that
flew”) almost as soon as it has touched down.
Arrangement
The arrangement is a pretty thick, heavily layered affair typical of the period in which it was
produced, yet demonstrates overall careful organization, some of which must have been
superimposed later rather than sooner in the process. We'll track it section by section.
By the way, how they ever kept Eric Clapton's guest appearance on lead guitar any kind of
secret is beyond me by the way. Ask yourself when it was you first suspected it, no less had it
confirmed.
Intro
The introduction is an unusually long one of eight measures in which the entire first half of
the verse is presented instrumentally. This length sets an expansive tone for the song at the outset
and the ending of this phrase on V nicely motivates the verse that follows. Note that the intro to
the outtake, though also eight measures long, does not use the the exact same chord progression;
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instead of ending on V, the VII chord of measure 6 is simply resolved to the "i" chord which fills
both measures 7 and 8.
The arrangement of the Intro is attention grabbing, starting right off with the seemingly stray
“hey up!”, but also containing two details of greater substance, neither of which curiously lasts
much beyond the intro itself. We have a simple yet effective precis of what will emerge as the
melody of the verse played percussively on the piano, and syncopated cymbal slashes on the
syncopated offbeat between 2 and 3, which sound as though recorded backward though they
likely were just deftly damped by hand. Strangely, the piano never reappears with equivalent
prominence in the remainder of the song, and the cymbal slashes continue, but only through the
first eight measures of the first verse before the percussion switches over to a different texture for
the rest of the song.
Of course Clapton makes his own dramatic entrance in the measure 7 of this intro with an
obbligato-like riff, the likes of which not only repeat leitmotif-like throughout the song, but the
melodic style of which, heavy on arpeggio outlines, appoggiaturas, neighbor tones, and evenly
played eighth notes, serves as the basis of his incredible solo in the middle section.
There are two other instrumental details that are employed throughout the song and become
emblematic elements of its sonority: the very heavy bass that often sounds as though more than
one string has been plucked, and the Wilbury-like use of a steely-sounding acoustic guitar in an
otherwise exceedingly electric, hard rock texture.
Verse
All the verses in “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” are a square sixteen measures built from
four phrases of even length. Internally, the form of this verse is more precisely that of a double
couplet; i.e., AB-AB’:
Chords: |a
Bass line: A
a: i
|G
|F#
|F
F-natural
VI
|
|a
i
|G
VII
|D
IV
|E
V
|
|a
i
|-
|-
|F
VI
|
|a
i
|G
V-of-III
|C
III
|E
V
||A
I
[Figure 25.1]
I believe it is this repeat-like structure within the verse itself is what discourages the use of
two full verses in a row. In the case of the guitar solo verse, note by the way, how the structure of
Clapton's solo blurs the distinct articulation of the double couplet.
The couplet structure is articulated by both words and music. Lyrically we have the pattern in
every verse of an alternation between lines which begin with “while” and “still”. Musically too,
there's clear parallelism between phrases 1/3 and 2/4.
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The first and third phrases prominently feature a descending bass line whose downward
gesture permeates the song by virtue of its constant repetition. This is nicely balanced out by the
symmetrical arch shape of the vocal melody.
The partially chromatic bass line moves against an A minor chord which is sustained for
three measures above it. From a guitar player's perspective, this makes for what look like
different chords in every measure, but analytically it's all one harmonic “event” and the novel
sonorities of measures 2 and 3 are byproducts of the contrapuntal motion of the bass. Similarly,
the chord in measures 4 and 8 may appear on paper as though it's a D minor chord that quickly
changes to F Major, but the more proper analysis is to call it F Major with a melodic
appoggiatura of D->C on the downbeat; “proper” to the extent that the analysis matches one's
experience of the music.
Both couplets in this verse are harmonically open ended on the V chord, yet there is a subtle
difference created by the simple use of a different chord in the penultimate measure of each
couplet (i.e., measures 7 and 15 respectively). In the first couplet, the approach to the E chord at
the end by way of G and D chords is one of what you might describe as continual motion. In the
second couplet, the resolution of the G chord to C (instead of D) creates a articulative break in
the motion because the dominant-tonic relationship of the G and C chords creates a definite
albeit short-lived sense of having arrived somewhere new.
But we're not yet finished with harmonic motion in this verse even though we're already at
measure 15; there are still two small surprises to come in short order. When the E chord appears
in measure 16 you think to yourself, “oh well, so much for a modulation to C, it's straight back to
the home key of A minor now.” Yet when the bridge begins, we're given not A minor, but rather
the parallel Major key of A. It's not so much a big surprise per se, but
it is sufficient to add to that sense of restlessness; “hey George, either sit still, or let's really go
somewhere, harmonically, for a change!”
The first eight measures of the first verse feature George singing by himself but doubletracked. The second eight measures present a different vocal arrangement, one that persists for
most of the rest of the song: in the third phrase, George sings the melody part while Paul sings in
harmony with him in parallel thirds unusually placed above the melody. The fourth refrain-like
phrase reverts to just George. Although George does have the melody in that third phrase and
Paul sounds as though mixed less prominently than George, I can't help but wonder if Paul might
have been trying to horn-in or upstage poor old Hari in his own song by singing the upper part.
In the backing part, we find Clapton interjecting his brief comments in the final two measures
of each couplet. Starting in the second couplet of this verse (m.9, ff.) the cymbal slashes are
abandoned in favor of bass and snare drum work plus a “dum-ditty-dum” sort of quiet tapping on
what sounds like a wood block, mixed far to the left.
This second verse is built on the same musical structure as the first one. The primary
difference aside from the new words is in the way the vocal duet introduced in phrase three of
the first verse is now repeated in both phrase 1 and 3 of this one.
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Bridge
Harmonically, the bridge further adds to the paradoxical mood of expansiveness with its
sixteen-measure length, and the restlessness with its chord progression. Structurally, it is a
verbatim repetition of the following eight measure phrase:
A
c#
f#
c#
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
A: I
iii
iii
c#:
I
iv
I
b
E
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
ii
V
[Figure 25.2]
Just like the ending of the verse, no sooner have we arrived with some sense of decisiveness
in A Major then we appear to be off yet again; this time apparently for the comparatively remote
environs of c sharp minor. But the establishment of this key, as with both C Major and A Major
before it, is not only short-lived, but also weakly established via its IV chord instead of with a
stronger I-V-I cadence.
As with any good bridge section, this one provides both sharp contrast to the surrounding
verses as well as further development of the essential thematic mood of the song. Overall, this
bridge provides some well needed upward gestures as well as an opening up of the melodic and
harmonic space. In keeping with the rest of the song though, this initial feeling of new energy is
quickly dissipated by section's end with a sad descending which is reminiscent of that of the
verse.
Melodically, the bridge starts off with a dramatic swing upward. The melody of the verse had
been constrained to the small melodic range of A to E (actually, E and G just below the A also
make brief embellishing appearances though they are not a key part of the action). The first part
of the bridge extends the range all the way up to G#, though in keeping with the inevitably sad
nature of the piece, the melodic range of the second half of the bridge tends back downward to
where it overlaps with that of the verse.
In parallel to the melody, there is a lifting of the harmonic root motion at the beginning of
each bridge phrase that suggests a momentary flash of optimism but it quickly fades in the
stepwise-downward motion of the c#->b chords which follow, and the eventual faltering of the
harmonic rhythm in the remainder of the phrase, suggestive of a loss of energy as well as hope.
Note how the official version tries to counterbalance this suggestion of lost vigor at the end
of each phrase by a scale-wise pumping up based on the V chord that makes the music drive
forward into the next phrase. By contrast and with greater pathos, the outtake version leaves this
wilting gesture more simply exposed.
The arrangement of the bridge features George singing double-tracked by himself again,
without the help of Paul. The drumming in this section is slightly different yet again from what
preceded it.
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Just as with the successive verses, the second bridge is musically identical to the first one but
for the use of different lyrics and minor tweaks to the backing track. Also note the subtle addition
in this section of a clanging sound on the offbeat in the percussion; what could it possibly be,
finger cymbals miked very closely?
Note how cleverly the relationship between the “why” and “how” of the two bridges seems
to parallel the “while” and “still” of the verses.
Guitar Solo Verse
Even without the all the flanging and bent notes, this would still be one gem of a guitar solo.
I'll resist the temptation to supply a complete transcription of it for now but will at least sketch it
out.
Above all, it is an extraordinarily melodic, even vocal sounding solo in which the 16
measures are treated not as a couplet, but rather are broken up into two slow, deep and
contrasting phrases of eight measures each. The solo achieves some unity with the rest of the
song by virtue of Clapton's starting off with a retracing of the melodic outline of George's sung
melody, as well as the fact the style of guitar figuration used in the solo had already been
consistently presented in obbligato licks starting as early as the introduction.
While the vocal melody of the verse presented a full arch shape in the space of only eight
measures, Clapton spreads the arch of his solo out over most of the full sixteen measures of the
section. He works his way up a full octave in measures 1 - 8, suspense-fully sustains the high
note in measures 9 & 10, ambles slowly back down the octave in measures 10 - 14, and then,
with breathtaking surprise in the final two measures, passes delicately below the low end of the
octave and very quickly finishes up with a flourish that takes him all the way back up the octave
to end on his earlier high note as the second bridge begins.
The high A of this guitar solo is not only the single highest melodic note of the entire song,
but on some subliminal level it provides ultimate resolution of the high g# left hanging in the
bridge section. Even more significantly, the ending of this solo is very much the climax of the
song because it is the single moment in the song where a positive, upward gesture has the last
word and appears to stick; at least for a moment. Whatever follows this section more or less
provides ballast and an emotional unwinding from this high point.
Outro
The last verse presents still more fiddling with the words and arrangement. Though the
official version essentially repeats the lyrics of the first verse, the third line is unusually
truncated. In the vocal part, Paul's accompaniment of George at a third above is now extended
even to include the fourth phrase.
In keeping with both the spirit and scale of the song to this point, we are given an unusually
long outro consisting of almost two full iterations of the verse section; close to 32 measures of
instrumental music into a fadeout that is accompanied by moaning, both vocal and Claptonesque.
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In equally consistent contrast, the outtake makes a small musical change in the final verse so
that its final two measures make a neat I-V-I cadence into a comparatively brief eight-measure
outro with a complete ending that is followed on the original studio tape by a candid snippet of
George asking to have it played back. This outtake was unfortunately tampered with, originally
for the Sessions project, to have a fadeout ending based on the I and flat-VII chords. It's this
latter version that appears on Anthology 3, but the original is worth seeking.
Incidentally, for those who like to follow this sort of detail, there is what sounds to me like a
glitch near the very end of the official version. In the last repetition of the verse section (at which
point we're pretty well into the fadeout) it appears as though Paul and the rest of the group are
out of step, chord-wise in both measures 7 and 15. To give all concerned the benefit of the doubt,
it's hard to tell if it's a mistake outright, or more a matter of Paul’s suddenly trying out a new
improvisatory trick with the bass line based on his assumption that the finished track would be
fully faded out by this point.
Some Final Thoughts
Having paid insufficient attention to the words, I've been walking around for years thinking
that this song is obviously about a love that George has lost or given up because he has grown
apart from her on some spiritual, intellectual level; as if it were his version of John's “And Your
Bird Can Sing”, or even perhaps a Harrisonian adaptation of Dylan's “Don't Think Twice It's
NOT (sic!) Alright.” But then I finally noticed the enigmatic use of the word “all” and for the
first time realized that this song has as much in common with “Within You Without You” as it
does with “Think For Yourself.”
Alas, poor George cries for us all, but more's the pity that his insight here is one that
enervates him to a walking-in-circles inability to act rather than infusing him with the energy to
do something about it. It's rather comforting to know that in retrospect, it would be only a
relatively short time after “While My Guitar Gently Weeps” that this same Mr. Harrison would
be capable of finding some joyful inspiration for “Here Comes The Sun” in the clear light of the
backyard belonging to the same Mr. Clapton.
Returning to our two different arrangements, you might say that, to the extent that tears come
to reflect a broad spectrum of moods, both versions are on some level a legitimate rendering of
the words to our song. For some, the official version may seem a bit maudlin, while for others,
the outtake will be lacking in production values. In the final result, whichever you prefer is likely
to be a matter of your own sweet taste.
“Here's this kid trying to give me his utterly valueless opinion when I know for a fact ...” 011401#25.1
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I Saw Her Standing There
Key: E Major
Meter: 4/4
| Verse | Verse (solo) | Bridge |
UK-release: 22nd March 1963 (LP "Please Please Me")
US-release: 22nd July 1963 (LP "Introducing The Beatles")
Style and Form
In contrast with the post-skiffle beat of songs like “Love Me Do” and “Misery,” or even
“From Me To You” and “Thank You Girl,” “I Saw Her Standing There” is one of the Boys' first
fast, hard rockers. It was probably the most blazingly original song they had yet written at the
time of its recording. Appropriately and auspiciously, they chose to crown it with the leadoff spot
on their first album.
More importantly for our purposes here, the words, music, and arrangement of this song are
replete with the touches and techniques that in retrospect define the early sound of the group,
making it a prime choice for our detailed study.
Words
The lyrics of the four verses create a formal pattern of ABCA. The lyrics of the two bridges
are a typical rote repeat of each other.
The first three verses and bridge section narrate a deceptively simple boy-meets-girl tale in
the first person to which the pulsating music lends a definitely hot connotation, in spite of the
lack of any explicit passion in the words. Many other songs exist that describe this discovering of
one's special love across a crowded room or at a dance, but “I Saw Her Standing There” is a very
far cry indeed from the likes of Rodgers & Hammerstein's “Some Enchanted Evening” or
Bernstein's “Maria”; as absurd as this association of titles sounds at first, you cannot deny
the uncanny parallels among their respective scenarios.
We also have early examples here of a type of wordplay that would be looked back upon as a
Beatles trademark; i.e., the successive use of “How”, “She”, and “I” at the beginning of the third
line of each verse, and the alternation between “when” and “since” at the beginning of the final
line of each verse. This device was sufficiently clever to trip up the composers themselves,
primarily John. Not only are several of the outtakes riddled by word collisions, but a couple of
such mishaps actually managed to creep into the official version; listen to "when/since" at the
end of the third verse, or John's hesitation with “since” in the last verse.
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Form
The form is a fully cranked out two bridge model with two verses intervening, the latter of
which is for guitar solo, thus making for comparatively long running time of 2:52.
Every section of the song starts off rhythmically with a pickup before the downbeat. This
starts as early as the introductory bass note that falls between the word “four” and the first
measure. It all goes to enhance a general feeling of urgency already projected by other aspects of
the music.
Please Don't Be Long
The song evokes such a pleasurably exuberant mood that I don't believe anyone these days
ever finds it to drag or to be too long in its full form; if anything, the outstretched symmetry is
one of its best features. Interestingly though, if you bother to study the long line of live versions
of the song performed for broadcast or in concert, you'll discover that at some point, they felt
compelled to shorten it up by ~25 seconds, down to around two and half minutes, by dropping
the second bridge right out of the arrangement.
There do not seem to be any written or recorded clues that shed any light on the motivation
for this change, but one might surmise that the shorter version on tour conformed more closely to
the mass-media model of the “two minute” hit song. Or perhaps, to the extent that the Boys
themselves were starting to think of “I Saw Her Standing There” as one of their oldies, the
shorter version allowed them to get it over with more quickly and onto the newer stuff which
they would have found more interesting. Compare this, for example, to the extremely truncated
version of “Twist and Shout” with which they opened the set list on the tour of early '65.
With one notable exception, all extant recordings of the song up through a 6/17/63
appearance on the Beeb were the long arrangement. Starting the following month (again, in a
performance from the Beeb), they began to play the short version exclusively for the remainder
of the song's lifecycle.
One specific performance of the short version seems as if it is out of sequence, because it is
also surprisingly the earliest preserved performance of the song to come after the recording of
the official version; a Saturday Club date at the Beeb on March 16, 1963, aired a full week
before the album actually hit the store shelves, as we can confirm from listening to Brian
Matthews' chat with the Boys between songs. It remains a mystery to me that they would have
been experimenting with this alternate version so soon after the album track had been cut. For
one thing, there is no evidence from the February session tapes that a short version was ever
considered for the OV itself. Secondly, it seems strange how after this March date, they resumed
with the playing of the longer version until later the same spring.
On some level, the longer version must have continued to be thought of as the “real”
arrangement. At least, that's how I interpret the fact that it's the way that Macca played it on his
'89/'90 tour.
From our various Beatlegs we learn that the recording history of “The One After 909” went
through a similar series of modifications. As both Quarrymen and as Beatles of the Get Back era,
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they played it in a long form with two bridges. However, as early Beatles they performed it in a
shorter form by omitting the second bridge—not only the identical change as we find here in “I
Saw Her Standing There”, but uncannily during the same time period; remember, that the early
Beatles session for “909” was (should be no surprise!) in March '63.
Refer to a two-part study of mine published in volume 1 of The 910 (1991) for a more
detailed analysis of close to two dozen live recordings of “I Saw Her Standing There” along with
all the studio outtakes of the song available unofficially at the time.
Melody and Harmony
The tune covers a broad range and consists of an interesting mix of stepwise motion with
dramatic long jumps.
The song is, and always has been, played in the key of E Major; Paul still did it this way on
his '89 tour. It must have been a particularly playable key for them in terms of vocal range and
chord choices, because they used it so frequently in their early string of original compositions. A
non-exhaustive list of examples includes “Please Please Me”, “Do You Want To Know A Secret”,
“There's A Place”, “It Won't Be Long”, and “All My Loving.” Talk about being “tuned to a
natural E!”
Though not strictly a blues song, there is nonetheless, a strong bluesy flavor here created by
the almost exclusive reliance on the I-IV-V chords, the slow harmonic rhythm with its infrequent
chord changes, and the many blue notes in the vocal line that pit melodic notes from the minor
mode against the Major chords in the accompaniment; i.e., the tune has a relatively large number
of G and D naturals in it for a song in the key of four sharps. Only one truly unusual chord is
used in the song, C Major, and it appears with strategic effectiveness right at the climax of each
verse where the voices go into their falsetto “wooh”.
Arrangement
Throughout, there's a delightful tension embedded in the song from the way that the slowness
of the chord changes contrasts with the hard driving activity of the rhythm track and the frequent
long jumps in the voice parts. There are several more specific trademark sources of excitement in
the arrangement to which the entire group contributes:
• Paul's boogie-woogie bass line outlines the chords in a perpetual motion of eighth notes.
• Ringo's elaborately syncopated drum fills typically appear in the space between phrases or
sections.
• The backing work on rhythm and lead guitars works in fine synergy with the bass and drum
parts. George’s little obbligato riffs which fill the space between phrases sound a little more
tentative than necessary, but you’d miss them if they weren't there. When you work your way
through the many later concert and broadcast versions of this song, you find that over time,
George does in fact come out of his shell a bit, and plays these fills with greater confidence and
elaboration.
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• The appearance of a full-length improvisatory guitar solo is notable to the extent that
instrumental solos of any kind are relatively uncommon on the early singles and albums; the
few that do appear tend more toward lighthanded embellishment of the main tune (viz. “Love
Me Do” or “From Me To You”). Granted, there are those who will argue that George's
performance here sounds a tad too stiff and pre-arranged to have been made up in real time, but
the point is, it's intended to sound as though improvised.
• The tight vocal harmonies of Paul and John, which we will look at below in detail, feature a
type of counterpoint that is conspicuously unlike the simpler parallel thirds or sixths of acts
like the Everly Brothers. Even the falsetto used here seems so bracingly different from what
was to be heard from other contemporaneous groups who made a habit of it, such as The Beach
Boys or The Four Seasons. If you can sight-read John's parts from my notation below, I
recommend you try singing them along with the record for a good time.
• The handclaps and the screaming used for background punctuation are unessential yet
nevertheless characteristic.
As always, however, it is only in a thorough walkthrough of the entire song that all the details
can be fully appreciated.
Intro
The intro is a simple four measures of vamping on the tonic chord of E, but the count-in, the
eighth note pickup in the bass, and the generally rhythmic texture of the accompaniment all help
to set, from the very outset, the energetic tone of what is to follow.
Verse
The verse is in a standard structure of sixteen measures with four phrases of equal length:
m.1
E
A
E
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
E: I
IV
I
m.5
B
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
V
m.9
E
A
a
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
**
IV
iv6/3
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m.13
E
B
E
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
V
I
[Figure 26.1]
[** bass players will want to note that Paul often but not always makes sure that E chord in measure 10 is
supported by G# in the bass that allows the bass line to melodically move stepwise to the A of the
following measure. He also always sustains a C in the bass line of measure 12 though the rhythm guitar
plays an a minor triad above it.]
As often happens, the harmony plays an important role in the articulation of the dramatic
shape of such a verse: the first phrase expositorily establishes the key, the second phrase
reinforces this sense of key with its open ending on V, the third builds towards a climax with its
ending on the C chord, and the fourth phrase finally resolves all accumulated tension with its
straightforward re-establishment of the home key.
The chord in measure 12 sounds very much like the C Major, flat-VI chord, but closer
listening proves it to be an a minor chord placed in its first (aka 6/3) inversion by the C natural in
the bass line. Harmonically it's an example of “the minor iv chord appearing in a major key.” The
movement of the bass line for the second chord is an unusual ploy and, along with the falsetto
“wooh” in the vocal of that measure, heightens the impact of the C# versus C-natural crossrelation between the chords. It's a delightfully groin-tightening and ambiguous momentary spike
of intensity; leaving it up to us listeners to decide whether the protagonist's tension is one of
approach/avoidance or more simply the joy of confident anticipation.
The vocal parts also help to bring the dramatic structure of the music into relief. Paul sings
the first eight measures solo and is joined by John for the remainder of the verse in a bit of two
part harmony that is most unusual and tangy. In the counterpoint transcribed below, note the
number of open fourths and fifths, some of which follow in parallel (measure 11), and the large
number of G naturals in either voice which make for "class 1” cross-relations with the G sharps
in the E major harmony below:
[Figure 26.2]
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[** After many listenings, I'm still not 100% certain whether John intends to be singing G or G# in measure
13; it sounds different from one repetition of the phrase to the next. Sometimes, I even suspect he's
intentionally shooting for the blue note that lies in between the two, but other times, I worry he was just
waffling a bit.]
Paul's octave jump upward in measure 12 is an extraordinary effect, and note how its
motivation is anticipated by the earlier leap downward of almost the same magnitude at the
beginning of the second phrase (measure 5, on the words “the way she looked”).
The song contains five iterations of this verse section and other than the words, there is very
little variation among them. The most significant difference is in the guitar solo section where
interestingly, the chord progression is altered in two places; i.e., measure 3 sustains the E chord
instead of moving to A, and in measure 12, the A chord from the previous measure is sustained
instead of moving to the unusual a minor chord. I don’t think this is random at all; if you try to
imagine the solo played over the chord progression from the other verses, you'll find that the two
places that were changed here sound somehow stilted or over-emphasized without the
underscoring rhythmic emphasis of the words and vocal parts.
A smaller variation worth noting is the way that at the end of the two verses which each
precede a bridge section, the bass line in the final measure contains downward scale which nicely
leads us straight into the next section.
Bridge
In spite of their drama, the verse sections have an harmonic shape which is closed overall and
bound to the home key. The manner in which this bridge section seems to be centered around the
IV chord provides both a refreshing change of outlook as well as a platform from which to set up
the return to the home key when the next verse comes around.
As with two of its close cousins, “Love Me Do” and “Please Please Me”, we have another
bridge here with phrases of unequal length here. The section is ten measures long, and my ears
scan it into three phrases; i.e., two + two + six:
... heart went
|A
IV
boom
|-
As
I
crossed that room
|A
|IV
And I
held
|A
IV
in
her
-|-
hand
|-- -|A
IV
||
||
mine
|B
V
-- -|-
--
|
||
[Figure 26.3]
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The totally static harmony of the first six measures, and the triple repetition of the same
melodic phrase builds a suspenseful sense of expectation which is fulfilled by the elongated
continuation of the third phrase.
You're so used to hearing it as written that it's hard to imagine it being any other way, but if
you can snap out of that mind-set for just a moment, you'll notice that it would have been more
obvious (read: less original and effective) to restrain the bridge to the more standard length of
eight measures and simply end on the V chord.
What we have instead, creates an almost paradoxical effect – the decision to resolve the V
chord deceptively to IV for two full measures on the way to its real destination of I is a delaying
tactic that, on the one hand, reduces some of the tension built up to that point of the bridge.
However, four other factors create an even stronger cross-current of increasing tension at the
same time:
· the lengthening of the phrase by two measures,
· the jump to the falsetto high notes with its concomitant crescendo,
· the gutsy support work from the rhythm section,
· and Paul's dramatic, syncopated lead-in to the following verse “Well, we ...”
The key contribution of the vocal parts to the strong impact of this bridge is not to be
underestimated. In contrast with the verse, we have John and Paul singing together throughout
this bridge, with John employing a favorite device of theirs; sustaining during measures 1 - 6, the
single note of 'A' against Paul singing the actual melody part above him. However, the real
master stroke of this section is in the use of falsetto within the final four measures. The following
is what the composite vocal parts of measure 5 - 10 look like:
m.5
[Figure 26.4]
If you listen very carefully though, you'll discover that the top line is not sung by one person
alone, but is the byproduct of John's jumping over Paul by an octave in measure 7. Paul actually
sustains the F# at the beginning of measure 7 all the way through measure 8, and then moves
down to E natural for measures 9 and the beginning of 10, before picking up the melody again
for the beginning of the following verse. John, who has been singing just A natural beneath him
the whole time moves up in parallel fifths with Paul to B at the beginning of measure 7 and in the
second beat of the measure jumps a dizzying octave to the high B, and it is he who sustains that
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impossible high note all the way through to the C# in measure 9. The ultimate clue for this is that
on some of the outtakes, the high C# is sustained long enough that it overlaps with Paul's starting
the next verse. Check it out!
Stepping back from the details, it's worth noting how, on a structural level, the use here of
both falsetto and an octave jump add unity to the overall composition by their subconscious
association with the earlier appearances of both techniques.
Outro
The triple repetition of the final phrase of the last verse is relatively conventional for the
genre we're dealing with.
The first two repetitions are identical both melodically and harmonically, and are built on a
simple I-V-I chord progression.
The final repetition, while melodically the same as the previous two, provides a small
harmonic modification; i.e., a IV chord gets interpolated between the V and the final I chord.
This is the same trick we saw at the end of the bridge, and its reappearance here helps put the
brakes on for the conclusion of the piece, as well as providing yet another subtle touch of
unification.
For you harmony freaks that like to keep track of every little Beatles trademark, we also have
a classically free-dissonant chord at the very end; E Major with at least F# and possible C# as
well tacked on for spice.
Some Final Thoughts
I've made a habit in these Notes of spending a moment or two at the end in consideration of
what hidden meanings might be embedded in the lyrics. But I'll tell you, if you need me to sort
this one out for you, then you’re really in trouble.
For a rare change, we have no romantic or emotional complications; no angst, no pangs, not
even the slightest amount of self-doubt; this time, (to paraphrase Richard Price's The Wanderers)
it's more like some “hip ditty bop noise” to remind us in perpetuity of the “nowness and coolness
of being seventeen and hip;” of falling for the first time in what you think just might be Real
Love.
Granted, there is more often than not, an eventually bitter and disappointing side to this
experience, but I believe that the song isn't so much whitewashing over this truth, as much as
emphasizing that the sweeter part of it is worth taking with you for the rest of your life.
Surely, you do know what I mean?
“When was the last time you gave a girl a pink-edged daisy? When did you last embarrass a sheila wid your cool
appraising stare?” 012001#26.2
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All My Loving
Key: E Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Verse | Verse | Refrain | Bridge |
Style and Form
Many people, Lewisohn among them, have described “All My Loving” as Paul's “best, most
complex piece of songwriting yet” as of the time of its official recording in July '63. In spite of
all praise however, the song seems to have forever been eclipsed in popularity by the other really
big hits of the first American wave of Beatlemania, such as “She Loves You” and “I Want To
Hold Your Hand”; not even “All My Loving”'s appearance as leadoff number on the first Ed
Sullivan show could prevent it from happening.
Perhaps this loss of status is attributable to “All My Loving”'s relative lack of drama or
startling originality when compared to those other songs. Perhaps it's only the matter of never
having been issued as a single.
Either way, it's a shame to have happened, because there's quite a lot to be admired in the
song. A close look at its compositional details reveals it to be very much a typical song of the
second album, With The Beatles.
Especially as concerns form and harmonic vocabulary, “All My Loving” represents a notable
advance in sophistication and technique over the first couple of singles and the original cuts on
the Please Please Me album.
Form
The form is relatively compact, and the number of verse repetitions plus the complete ending
make it seem deceptively familiar, but it really doesn't fall neatly into either the single/double
bridge model of which we've seen so much, or the strict verse/refrain pattern of the folk ballad.
In actuality, the appearance a refrain section here is quite noteworthy, especially in conjunction
with the short bridge section for solo guitar.
Also special is the way in which the song opens in the midst of the action without an intro, or
even a downbeat from which the singer can grab his opening cue note; somewhere on the studio
tape I'll bet someone plays the note 'A' for Paul just before they start. Clearly, the Boys liked this
trick sufficiently to reuse it from time to time; just browsing among the two dozen-odd songs
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we've looked at in this series, there's “She Loves You”, “It Won't Be Long”, “Any Time At All”,
“No Reply”, and “You're Going To Lose That Girl”. In “All My Loving” (as in “No Reply”), the
abruptness of the effect is enhanced by the first chord not being the tonic (i.e. I) chord of
the home key.
The lyrics of the three verse sections create an ABA pattern, with all three of them containing
an identical mini-refrain for the second half. The refrains have identical lyrics which, along with
the words of the outro, are based around the title phrase.
All of the sections begin with a pickup before the downbeat, nicely supporting the sense of
eager urgency manifest in the rest of the song's fabric.
Hooks, Bridges, and Refrains
We need to agree upon the definition of some terms in order to share a vocabulary with
which we can track the development and variation of song forms in the Beatles canon.
At risk of oversimplification, I'll postulate that virtually every song has a “hook” phrase or
riff, and suggest the following correlation between the location of this hook in a given pop/rock
song and the likelihood of whether a bridge (or break) versus a refrain (or chorus) section to be
found within it:
1. If the hook is found in the verse section (typically in the first or last phrase of the verse), then
the middle section of the song is a bridge, by which I mean to describe a section whose
primary purpose is to provide contrast or respite from the music of the verse section,
typically implemented in part by harmonic movement away from or back towards the home
key.
2. Otherwise, the hook will be found in a refrain section, and even though such refrains are
typically to be found in the same formal location as the bridges referred to above, they differ
in feel from bridges in that they are much the focal point of the song, the fulfillment of the
verses, rather than a momentary interlude away from them. As such, refrains tend to
showcase a catchy tune and are built from harmony, which helps establish a sense of key.
Without exception, the entire first crop of Lennon and McCartney originals up through the
Please Please Me album fits into the #1 bridge category; in general, I believe a statistical study
of the Beatles' output would reveal a long term trend in this direction. But what's most curious to
note for the purpose of our current study is the sudden burst of interest in the #2 refrain style as
evidenced from the songs of mid-late '63; in addition to our “All My Loving”, you also have
“She Loves You”, “It Won't Be Long”, “Little Child”, and “I Wanna Be Your Man”.
Parenthetically, it's amusing to note how the songs of Dylan, given his folk roots, manifest
the reverse trend. It has been pointed out that he had never written a song with a true bridge
section until his Highway 61 Revisited album, where you find the song “Ballad of a Thin Man;”
speaking of uncanny Dylan/Beatles cross-references.
But you'll remind me, won't you, that our current song doesn't quite fit into either of my
categories because it has both the refrain and bridge. Indeed, I could (and probably should) have
Page 169 of 962
proposed the above categorization scheme in the context of analyzing a more strictly category #2
type song, such as almost any one of the others listed at the end of the previous paragraph.
For the momentary sake of a placing “All My Loving” in one of two pigeonholes, let me
suggest that in spirit, it belongs in the #2 category, and I'll accept the burden of explaining below
the motivation for its hybrid inclusion of the bridge section.
Melody and Harmony
The melody is characterized by step-wise motion that covers a full octave in range.
In contrast with the earlier songs we've studied thus far, this one utilizes an unusually large
number of different chords; we have the appearance of five out of the possible total seven chords
diatonically available in the home key, plus a couple of other more adventurous ones as well. The
two unusual chords are D Major (the flat VII) and an exotic augmented chord that is used in the
bridge to smoothly mediate between c# minor and E Major.
Beyond the large harmonic vocabulary per se, the rate at which the chords change borders on
the hyperactive. There is a different chord in virtually every measure of the piece, and in no case
is any chord sustained for more than two measures in a row; contrast this back with what we saw
last time in “I Saw Her Standing There”.
Arrangement
Though “All My Loving” has virtually none of that Beatles-trademark sort of syncopation or
uneven phrase lengths, it does still convey an infectiously unperturbed and self-confident vitality
through the incessant fast motor triplets in the rhythm guitar part, as well as through its rapid
harmonic rhythm.
The bass line suggests a perpetual motion of its own, albeit a much slower one than found in
the triplets of the guitar parts. You can't always make out the specific notes in the bass, but the
use of a downward walking scale covering the nine notes all the way from F# down to low E
more than an octave below is quite stunning, and to our delight, it recurs every verse, in
measures 1 -3 and 9 - 11.
Though it's not a particularly fussy vocal arrangement, they did take the trouble to double
track Paul in the first two verses while saving a vocal duet in parallel thirds (for Paul, singing
with himself again) in the final verse. As a further variation, we're given the nice contrast of Paul
appearing single tracked in the refrain with George and John sustaining a backing harmony
behind him on the phoneme “oooh”.
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Verse
The verse is sixteen measures long and is divided into two musically parallel eight-measure
phrases, the former of which is left harmonically open with its ending on the V chord, while the
latter one is closed with its ending on the tonic:
m.1
f#
B
E
c#
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
E: ii
V
I
vi
m.5
A
f#
D
B
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
IV
ii
flat-VII
V
m.9
f#
B
E
c#
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
ii
V
I
vi
m.13
A
B
E
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
IV
V
I
[Figure 27.1]
Each of the couplets boasts a lovely melodic arch in which the peak is asymmetrically placed
(measures 3 and 11), making for an early climax and a leisurely winding down.
The general pause in measure 16 is the only place in the song where total silence reigns for at
least a single heartbeat. It provides both some welcome respite from the otherwise non-stop
motion of the song, as well as a tactical resetting of the stage the start of the next verse.
In place of what you might expect as the more traditional harmonic circle of fifths, the first
phrase presents a chain of downward third-wise chord changes running from measures 3 - 8.
The D Major chord in measure 7 demonstrates an unusual application of the so-called "flat
VII" chord. Typically, we've seen such chords behave either as pseudo dominants (as in the IVII-I progression at the beginning of “We Can Work It Out”, or as a sort of "IV-of-IV", as seen
in the second-half jam section of “Hey Jude.”) Here in “All My Loving”, this flat VII behaves
like a connecting chord between the ii and V chords, the motivation for which appears to the ear
as a result of the arpeggio outline of the root movement in the bass and the upward chromatic
movement of an inner line from C#->D->D# over the course of measures 6 - 8. Though this use
of the flat VII is definitely less widely found than the other two I listed, it is far from
unprecedented, especially in the songs of the Beatles; you'd almost never make the free
association without a hint because the two contexts are so different, but (now, dig this) the same
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flat VII gambit used here in “All My Loving” appears all over again as one of the signature
devices of no less familiar a song than “Help!”
Refrain
This section is eight measures long and built out of two parallel iterations of the following 4measure phrase:
c#
C-augmented
E
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|————————————||
vi
?? root ??
I
[Figure 27.2]
Note how the melodic material of this section is craftily taken in bits and pieces from that of
the verse.
The most novel detail of the song is to be found in that augmented chord of the second
measure. In the context of a song whose mood and vocabulary are otherwise so imperturbable,
this slightly dissonant chord of obscure harmonic origin provides an effective, yet endlessly
subtle touch of anxiety that belies the hero's apparent self-assuredness.
In “theoretical” terms, such an augmented chord is said to not have a root at all, but is rather
the incidental byproduct of melodic motion by an inner voice of the harmonic texture; in this
case, from C# -> C natural -> B; what my jazz-trained friend calls a “line cliche.” The fact that it
is sustained for a full measure, essentially just as long as any other chord in the song, is what
particularly draws your attention to it.
Not all augmented chords are necessarily as rootless as this one. For contrast, see the one at
the end of the bridge of “From Me To You”, which is arguably an inflection of the V chord; a
G#5.
In spite of my proposed rules above regarding the paradigmatic tendency for refrain sections
to clearly establish the home key, this one does it in only elliptical terms by relying on the weak
vi-I progression; i.e., “weak” in comparison to the more traditional textbook cadences of V-I or
IV-I perhaps, but a strong favorite of the Boys starting with “Misery” and going through “From
Me To You”, not to mention (again) “It Won't Be Long”, “All I've Got To Do”, and “Not A
Second Time.” I told you “All My Loving” is rather archetypically second-album in style, didn't
I?
Bridge
In contrast to both verse and refrain sections, this little bridge is ironically the most
diatonically stable and harmonically slow moving spot in the entire song, though it's worth
noting that it too begins with a chord that is not I:
A
E
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|————————————||
IV
I
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f#
B
E
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|————————————||
ii
V
I
[Figure 27.3]
Although there are no new chords used in this section, the specific choice of chord
progression is new material strictly speaking. What Tony Barrow described as George's
"intriguing" solo is in a style that is clearly not improvised. The latter is no slam on George, but
rather a designation of the content of his solo as a “permanently composed” part of the
arrangement. In other words, you expect to hear it the same way every time, and would
likely be thrown or otherwise disappointed a tad to listen to some alternate version where it's
different; and I dare you to find such a one, too!
Alright now, so why did they need a bridge as well as a refrain here? Just to sharpen the
question, consider that if it was to showcase the guitar solo, they just as easily could have done
that, as is so common in other songs, by placing the solo over a musical repeat of either the
refrain or the verse; so why the need for original material? My own pet theory is that there is
something about the specific content of the refrain and its relationship to the verse section that
creates a small compositional problem, which this bridge comes along to fix. I can imagine
it having been composed very late in the game only after they had been playing the song without
it for a while, feeling inarticulately uncomfortable about something just not being right. I also
base this theory on an intuitive feeling that it's hard to imagine the song with only the bridge and
no refrain. Play this option through your head and see what I mean – without the refrain, there's
an insufficient presence of hook in the song, and though the bridge by itself provides some
contrast to the verses, it's too short as is, and if you double its length, then I think
its contrast with the verse is no longer sufficient.
But now run the opposite experiment – play the song out as is but omit the bridge. My
reaction is that the refrain does not sufficiently fulfill the functional requirements of true refrainhood as outlined in my earlier proposal; while it certainly throws a big hook at us, it does not
provide a strong sense of harmonic confirmation, nor does it provide much contrast of melody or
texture, or harmonic pace from that of the verses.
The bridge for all its modest proportions provides everything that the refrain is lacking. The
harmony neatly converges on the home key with simple chord choices, the vocal part is given a
rest, and perhaps most subtle-yet-critical, the slowing of the harmonic rhythm, however slightly,
provides some well-needed breathing space.
I think the final point helps explain why new material is needed here; i.e., the guitar solo
section would not be as effective if it had been placed over a repetition of either the refrain or
verse because both those other sections are harmonically more active.
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Outro
This coda is actually an extension of the second refrain and it squeezes a standard triple
repeat of the final phrase of the lyrics into its eight measures which are built from a repeat of the
following 4-measure phrase:
c#
E
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|————————————||
vi
I
[Figure 27.4]
Note the use again of the vi-I progression, and how, in the interest of what I often describe as
an avoidance of foolish, rote consistency, the augmented gambit between vi and I is not used.
Also note how the single use of vocal falsetto is saved here for the very end, as a small treat.
Some Final Thoughts
Kissing Cousins
Though I've kept saying throughout this article that “All My Loving” is very much a typical
song of the With The Beatles album in general, you probably noticed by now that “It Won't Be
Long” in particular keeps showing up again and again. In fact, “All My Loving” and “It Won’t
Be Long” share an uncanny number of features and details:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
the home key of E Major (granted, there are many others from this period)
lyrics that deal with the theme of “absence and return”
a vocal opening “in medias res”
prominent use of the vi->I progression
an augmented chord that is motivated by chromatic linear motion
the use of a refrain and a bridge
even a little solo for bass or low strings of the lead guitar
In an earlier pair of Notes on “She Said She Said” and “Good Day Sunshine” I noted a
similar laundry list of uncanny parallels between those two songs, suggesting perhaps that the
friendly competition between John and Paul may have manifested itself at times in their electing
to write separate songs starting from a set of common, abstract constraints. Okay, so maybe it
wasn't literally a contest, but I imagine them often trading ideas and comparing notes to the
extent that this sort of compositional cross-pollination would have been inevitable. Did
you ever share private idiosyncratic phrases with a friend to the extreme where eventually,
neither of you could remember which one of you coined the phrase in the first place?
But moving beyond speculation, may I suggest in the case of “It Won’t Be Long” and “All
My Loving”, that it is specifically when the common denominators between two songs are so
numerous that, ironically, the temperamental differences between them (and perhaps their
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individual composers) become most apparent. Take for example here, the way the lyrics of these
two songs deal with the theme of lovers separated yet anticipating the immediate future:
• In “It Won’t Be Long”, John speaks of a painful separation he has endured when she left him,
and he now in the present looks forward to a joyful reunion with her, while filled with what
sounds like repentance for having caused her to leave in the first place.
• In contrast, “All My Loving” is written entirely in the present and future tenses; if you can
pardon my blasphemy, you might say it's a love that has no past. Here, it is he who will be
doing the leaving and we have no reason to suspect there is anything more than a personal
responsibility to be somewhere else that motivates the separation; no hurt, no blame. He
earnestly promises to be faithful and muses aloud about having to adjust his love life to the
realm of fantasy for the duration, but beyond this, any hint of what he's really feeling inside is
left to the imagination and the musical subtext, tinged as it is with that small hint of anxiety.
It's difficult to navigate such a contrast without taking sides or appearing to be making a
judgment. Both songs are musically, artistically valid. Maintaining a personal preference for one
over the other doesn't necessarily mean the other isn't worthwhile or that it isn't an appropriate
favorite choice for someone else. The very least you can say is that both artists, over the long
run, as long as they were being sincere and doing their best work, were amazingly consistent and
true to their respective visions. In fact, if you want to find a real soul mate for “All My
Loving”, perhaps look to “Things We Said Today.”
“It's homework time for all you college puddings. I want this lot all answered tonight.” 012701#27.1
Page 175 of 962
From Me To You
Key: C Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Verse | Verse | Refrain | Bridge |
Recorded: 5th March 1963, Abbey Road 2
UK-release: 11th April 1963 (A Single / "Thank You Girl")
US-release: 27th May 1963 (A Single / "Thank You Girl")
Style and Form
Besides a catchy tune and deceptively complex arrangement, “From Me To You” has a
difficult-to-pigeon-hole musical style; after all, is it rock or pop, blues or skiffle?
Maybe it's just unmistakably Early Beatles, and with that, I'm only being whimsical in part.
“From Me To You” was their third single, recorded during the charmed period between the
recording and the release of the Please Please Me album. Those tight vocal harmonies with their
flashes of passionate falsetto, the drum fills, the harmonica hook phrase, the personal pronouns,
and so many other details were becoming both Trend setting and a bit formulaic by that point,
and who could really blame them, given the roll they were so obviously on?
We've already seen in our earlier studies of the likes of “Love Me Do”, “Thank You Girl,”
“Please Please Me,” and “I Saw Her Standing There” most, if not all, of the specific techniques
that come into play in “From Me To You”. If unique coverage of such techniques per se were our
main interest in this series, we could just as well have skipped this one.
But, if anything, the fact that the songs in this first crop of their originals are still so different
from each other in mood and manner, in spite of the relatively restricted compositional
vocabulary with which they were written makes them all the more extraordinary. The image
comes to mind of master chefs, capable of producing an astonishing variety of dishes from a
small, fixed list of ingredients.
So come 'head; this one's “got (almost) everything that you want!”
Form
The short eight-measure verse creates an overall time scale of modest proportions even
though the form is paradoxically quite sprawling, with two bridges, two verses intervening, and
both intro and outro.
The irony of the short length versus long form will seem sharper if you recall that in form,
“From Me To You” is identical to “I Saw Her Standing There”.
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The lyrics of the four fully sung verses create a pattern of ABAA. The second half of the
verse lyrics are a mini-refrain repeated each time, even in the solo verse. Lyrics of both bridges
are identical as usual.
Rhythmically all sections start off with a pickup before the downbeat.
Melody and Harmony
The melodic content is more chromatic than usual, a combination of the bluesy E-flats in the
verses, the modulation effecting B-flats at the start of the bridges, and the D# atop the augmented
chord at the very end of the bridges. The verse tune is somewhat jumpy and covers the range of a
full octave. The bridge tune covers a slightly smaller range and is primarily stepwise.
The prominence given to the I-vi chord progression in “From Me To You” is something fairly
widespread among the early Lennon & McCartney originals. Similarly, the gratuitous dominant
seventh on F in measure 5 of the verse (“gratuitous” to the extent that it doesn't actually function
as a dominant seventh but merely comes along for the spice it adds), and the augmented triad in
the bridge are also fairly typical L & M chord tricks. There are, however, a few more novel
details elsewhere in the harmony.
The song is among the very first of their officially released originals to feature a modulation
to an alternate key during the bridge section. In spite of its brevity, the excursus to F Major we'll
see below creates an expansive sense of harmonic space that belies the compressed time scale of
the song.
Also unique is the clever surprise ending on the vi chord.
Arrangement
Several characteristic ingredients in the arrangement would eventually become almost cliche
trademarks.
• The vocal part features a duet virtually throughout. Granted, the many flashes of 2-part
harmony are separated by long stretches of the same line sung in unison by Paul and John, but
there is no vocal solo part here.
• Those flashes of vocal harmony, make frequent use of open fifths and falsetto singing.
• Drum fills are carefully deployed at special, structural or dramatic points in the song, not at
liberty.
• An overdubbed harmonica is used to introduce the hook phrase.
• And what sounds like it might be a simple oom-pah bass part actually features a snapped
rhythm of dotted quarters and eighth notes in alternation.
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Intro
The short, four-measure intro presents, right at the outset, two repetitions of the hook phrase
of this song. Just as we saw in “Please Please Me,” the instrumental version of this hook turns
out to be subtly different in rhythmic pattern from the one used in the verses even though the
pitch content of both versions is identical.
Note the complete reliance in this intro on just the I and vi chords. Also note the scoring for
harmonica and scat-singing voices, and the way the drum fill seems to both articulate the border
between the intro and following verse section, as well as effecting a neat transition between the
two.
Verse
As already mentioned, the verse is only eight measures long and its harmonic shape is closed
off by virtue of remaining closely within the home key and ending more or less on the I chord.
Although the melody itself is not particularly arch-like in outline, the harmony in this instance
lends some dramatic arch shape to the verse. Use of that F7, with its E flats that are foreign to the
key, helps add an effective bluesy bit of tension right at the midpoint, while the slight increase in
the harmonic rhythm toward the end of the phrase helps wind it down again:
C
a
C
G
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
C: I
vi
I
V
F7
a
C
G
C
a
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
IV
vi
I
V
I
vi
[Figure 28.1]
The diagram above is of the first verse. The use of the vi chord in the second half of the last
measure keeps the harmony open just enough to allow the music to continue at this point with
verse #2. See for yourself just how lame that transition would sound if you eliminate the vi
chord. The fact that this detail is missing in Take 2 of the song (there, they stay with the C chord
for the entire measure) indicates clearly just how careful they were in the studio to revise at the
last minute even relatively small details for the better.
Speaking of outtakes, the incomplete Take 1 of this song comes to a sudden, ragged halt for
no clear reason, and the resulting three way discussion between John, Paul, and the control room
in which they accuse each other in turn of having called for the timeout is one of those
particularly charming and candid snapshots we're lucky to have of their life in the studio at this
time.
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At the end of the second verse the change to the 'a' minor chord in measure 8 is eliminated
and in its place, the C chord has a dominant 7th added to it in the second half of the measure.
This sustaining of the C root provides an added sense of closure at that point and the addition of
the 7th to it more effectively sets up the coming bridge.
The hook phrase as it appears in the first part of this verse is presented with quite a bit more
bouncy syncopation in comparison to its rather more foursquare appearance in the intro. The
melody of the song in general, is shot through with gentle syncopations which play off
effectively against the even, skiffle-like shuffle of the instrumental accompaniment.
The little snippets of vocal harmony include an open fifth in the first case (“... that you
want”) and a surprising and suddenly passionate burst of falsetto from John in the second (“... I
can do”). I believe it is John who sings the lead part here with Paul singing harmony. This results
in Paul singing above John in the first phrase and then crossing over him to sing below in the
second phrase; a variation on a similar trick seen earlier in both “Love Me Do” and “I Saw Her
Standing There”.
While we're on the topic of vocal parts, chalk up in verse 2 yet another of those infamous
word collisions between John and Paul on the phrase “Just/so call on me ...” It only goes to show
that nobody who was there at the time was thinking in terms of people going over this stuff as
carefully as some now do, so many years after the fact. Either that, or perhaps this “mistake” was
on purpose; i.e., a very early clue.
Bridge
The bridge is also eight measures long but it harmonically branches out nicely in contrast to
the verse:
g
C7
F
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
F: ii
V
I
C:
IV
D7
G
#5(aug)
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
C: V-of-V
V
[Figure 28.2]
We have what is called a pivot modulation to the key of F. The common chord between the
home key of C and this new key is the C Major chord at the end of the previous verse. One hears
that chord at the time it's first played as the I of the home key. But once the bridge begins, the ear
retrospectively reinterprets it as though it were the V of the key of F. Such common chords are
not strictly required in order to effect a change of key, but their utilization makes such shifts
smoother, and less abrupt. It's somehow analogous to the variety of means by which
you might change the topic of conversation.
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This bridge provides quite a bit of contrast to the verse sections. Right off the bat the melody
suddenly becomes much less syncopated. And in live versions, the drumming, especially the
cymbal bashing, may be noted to suddenly become quite muted at this point.
But the greater source of contrast is the way this section builds toward an ultimate climax as
opposed to the arch-like, closed shape of the verse. Particularly in the last two measures we have
a pile-up of intensification based on several musical factors – the augmented inflection of the V
chord by literally stretching the D in the melody to a D#, the cross rhythm of slow triplets in the
rhythm guitar (must be John, right?), the patented Ringo drum frills, and of course, that crowd
pleasing falsetto moan for two-part harmony on the word (ahem) “whooo.”
For the sake of variation (and avoidance of foolish consistency), they add in the second
bridge a novel touch of two-part harmony at the very beginning of the section. Note how, true to
form, Paul's backing part yet again starts off beneath John's lead, only to jump over it a few notes
into the phrase.
Instrumental Solo Verse
You might call this section a “semi-solo,” a simple, standard trick of the trade the Boys
would re-use in “A Hard Days Night.” The musical framework is identical to all the other verses,
yet what starts out as an instrumental solo merely based on the same old chord progression,
degenerates in the second half, to a refrain-like verbatim repeat of that part of the verse.
There are two other cute little twists in the front half. First is the way that the instrumental
first half of the section presents the hook figure in its alternate incarnation from the intro. This
momentary retreat into the realm of the more square makes the syncopated second half of the
section sound all the more bouncy when it returns. Second, is the responsive, mockingbird-like
interjection of the singers here which almost subliminally broadcasts the title of the song at you.
This section did not yet exist as of that early Take 2 mentioned above, and based on the
impression made by that otherwise pleasing performance, I assume that they belatedly added this
because the song felt a tad too short without it.
Outro
This outro section is developed as a springboard-like outgrowth of the end of the final verse.
The last two words of that verse are repeated the canonical three times, making for a creative
variation on the more routine procedure where the entire last line gets reiterated; as in, for
example, “I Saw Her Standing There”. Far from being an arbitrary change, the repetition here of
only “to you” bears effective emphasis.
The rhetoric of the lyrics is ably abetted by the antiphonal accompaniment, which includes a
descending bass line, which in turn, is nicely reinforced by heavy syncopation and vigorous
drum fills. As that bass line moves from C -> A -> A-flat, it incidentally creates yet another
augmented chord, one that is more suspenseful and harmonically ambiguous than the one seen
earlier in the bridge.
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This second augmented chord, spelled from bottom up, A-flat/C/E, could move in one of two
directions. Either the A-flat can resolve downward, making for a move to C Major, or else, the Aflat can behave as though it were a G#, resolving upward, making for a move to 'a' minor.
What we get is quite enigmatically ingenious: the very next chord following the augmented
one turns out, indeed, to be C Major, the I chord of our home key, yet the music immediately
proceeds with one final statement of the hook phrase before terminating abruptly on the 'a' minor
chord. The musical logic of bringing down the curtain on the hook phrase is so subtly persuasive,
that you barely note the ironic fact that the song has ended off-center from the home key;
actually on the chord of the home key's relative minor.
Note by the way how, for virtually for the only time in the song, the voices are silent in this
little coda; in contrast, even the intro at least included scat singing as part of the instrumental
texture.
Some Final Thoughts
Personal Pronouns
Nowhere is the uniqueness of this song in spite of its recycled ingredients more evident than
in the meaning of its lyrics.
Paul with rather unwonted candor, in the interview which appears as a preface to Lewisohn's
Recording Sessions, allows that they had gotten themselves into a bit of a rut in the early songs
with their repeated wordplay on personal pronouns, but he adds that this started out being
motivated by a desire to “play to the market.” He mentions our song by name in this context, but
even so, I think it would be unfair to under-rate it as a mere exploitational pandering to what
Brian Matthews on BBC radio might call “the little darlin's.”
In “From Me To You”, a particular immediacy is achieved by the use of direct address. How
else could this group of four fabulous gentlemen manage, in the midst of a crowded concert hall
or across the incorporeal airwaves, to establish such a direct connection to their audience ? If you
think not, try for comparison the very different feel that this song takes on when the lyrics are
just slightly changed as they were in order to use it as the title jingle for their series of BBC radio
holiday specials. “From Us To You”, for my money, is much more impersonal because the
change of “me” to the plural “us” subconsciously leads one to hear the “you” which follows in
the plural as well.
I bring this whole thing up because in the context of a plethora of songs about you & I, this
one is still rare, if not entirely unique in the way that its message so simply and starkly describes
what the lover longs to give to the beloved without condition or expectation of anything in
return.
The other pronoun-bound songs that come to mind are otherwise embroidered with details
which, though they add context and color, also skew the focus and complicate the message. We
find such things as the drama of pursuit (“Please Please Me”) or blind faith in its successful
outcome ( “I'll Get You”); a polite request (“I Want to Hold Your Hand”) or a raw pleading
(“Love Me Do”) that love be requited; an expression of gratitude for love received (“Thank You
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Girl”) or a prayer that it be not harmed by absence or separation (“P.S. I Love You,” “All My
Loving,” et al.) The list goes on. As usual, I haven't done my homework as exhaustively as I
should, but I hope the point is made.
“From Me To You” is all the more potent because its expression of love that is ready and
willing to be given is so completely unencumbered and unobscured. We're not even told in this
instance what it is within or about the other person that motivates such love, but the combination
of words and music leaves no room for doubt that it most certainly must exist.
“Get him whatever it is they drink, a cokearama?” 020301#28.1
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Beatlemania (1962 – 1964)
At the end of 1962 the Beatles released their first single “Love Me Do” / “P.S. I Love You”.
It was followed shortly in January 1963 by their second one “Please Please Me” / “Ask Me
Why”. Then, in April “From Me To You” / “Thank You Girl” appeared. The same month saw
their first album: Please Please Me. It was followed in August by the single “She Loves You” /
“I'll Get You”. Next in November the public could buy both the single “I Want To Hold Your
Hand” / “This Boy” and the album With The Beatles. It started the Beatlemania, that reigned high
in 1964. That year the group released the single “Can't Buy Me Love” / “You Can't Do That” in
February, followed in June by the EP Long Tall Sally with the original “I Call Your Name” and
three cover songs. One month later, in July, already the single “A Hard Day's Night” / “Things
We Said Today” and the album A Hard Day's Night were available to the public. In November of
the same year the single “I Feel Fine” / “She's A Woman” and the album Beatles For Sale were
released. All in all this output totals to eight singles, one EP and four albums.
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Misery
Key: C Major
Meter: 4/4
Recorded: 11th February 1963, Abbey Road 2;
20th February 1963, Abbey Road 1
Style and Form
“Misery” is one of a group of songs from the Please Please Me album sadly fated for
obscurity in America, where most people had no familiarity with it until Capitol released the
Early Beatles album in spring '65, a full two years after it was recorded. And by that point the
drift of popular attention to the group was understandably tilted toward the really new material.
This obscurity is particularly unfortunate to the extent that the song's overall sound,
characterized by a shuffling, “washboard” beat and spare, pseudo-acoustic instrumental texture,
represents a genuine if somewhat under-appreciated facet of the group's early style.
The melody is in short phrases, punctuated by rhythm guitar obbligato figures, and the
rhetorical interjections of the song's title in the lyrics.
The form is the standard two-bridge model with one verse intervening. The relatively short
duration of the finished song could have easily accommodated an additional instrumental-solo
verse before the second bridge, but my theory is that the closed shape of those verse sections,
especially built as they are from such a limited set of chords, would have been a claustrophobic
mistake that they wisely avoided.
The lyrics of the four verses form a familiar pattern of ABCC.
Three of the four verses and the refrains all begin rhythmically on the downbeat. The lone
exception is the second verse (“I've lost her now”), which begins with a pickup.
Melody and Harmony
The first half of the verse tune sports a jumpy pentatonic lick before the other notes of the scale
make their appearance in the second half. The bridge tune is based unusually on the step-wise
descent of an entire octave.
Only four chords are used. In order of appearance you have F, G, C, and 'a'; i.e., IV, V, I, and
vi, respectively. The vi chord is used in this song as though it were a full-fledged sub-dominant
(in the way it sets up the V chord) or even as a surrogate dominant (in the way it sometimes is
Page 184 of 962
inserted *between* the I chord on either side). Only at the beginning of the bridge is it used in its
more typecast role as the relative minor, or submediant.
Arrangement
The voice parts are predominantly sung in unison but there are surprise blossomings into
two-part harmony, typically saved for phrase endings.
Paul uses the same sort of dotted quarter and eighth notes in the bass part that we saw in
“From Me To You”. This also cleverly carries forward into the bass line the same snapped
rhythm that pervades the main melody of the song, as well as it rescues the bass line from would
be otherwise have been a dull, unrelieved four in the bar.
The piano edit pieces in the intro and bridge are a relatively small touch, but one of no small
historic interest; aside from the fracas regarding Andy White's guest drumming stint on the
original version of “Love Me Do”, this is likely the very first appearance of a guest performer on
a Beatles track in order to provide something the Boys could not do for themselves. Granted, it's
a far cry from the likes of the string quartets and solo brass instruments that would come later,
but it's the same concept nevertheless.
Intro
The intro is only four measures long (discounting the opening piano arpeggio), but it has the
full essence of the rest of the song embedded within in it:
"Adagio" ----------------» "A Tempo"
F
G
C
a
G
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————||
C: I
V
I
vi V
[Figure 29.1]
Starting off with a dramatically slow intro may have been a fairly common technique among
the rest of pop/rock music, but Lennon & McCartney very rarely used it at all. Aside from the
contemporaneous “Do You Want To Know A Secret,” I can't even think of another example off
the top of my head; something worth keeping an ear out for in the rest of our studies.
The choice of opening chord progression makes this yet another Beatles song that opens
away from the home key, yet quickly converges upon it.
In the space of just these few measures were are quickly introduced to several devices that
ultimately characterize and permeate the rest of the song; e.g., the unison singing which unfolds
into harmony, the decorative use of the piano, and the I-vi-V chord progression.
Mark for later reference the little chromatic move in the bass line during the transition from
measure 1 to 2 (F-> F# -> G).
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Verse
The verse is a brief and harmonically static eight measures:
C
F
C
F
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
IV
I
IV
G
C
a
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————||
V
I
iv
[Figure 29.2]
Note how the embellishment of the F chord with “neighbor” tones of D-C-D in the guitar part
lends a jazzy, added-sixth sound to the accompaniment.
In spite of the few chords used, a subtle syncopation in the harmonic rhythm is created by
sustaining the same chord (i.e., F, the IV) over the two measures that straddle the mid-verse
divide between measures 4 & 5.
As we saw with “From Me To You”, wherever a verse if followed by yet another verse
section, the final measure shifts to the vi chord instead of sustaining the I chord all the way
through, as happens in verses which are followed by a bridge. I've told you there are formulaic
aspects to this sort of composition.
Bridge
We have another eight-measure section, one that provides the traditional contrast to the
preceding verses:
a
C
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
vi
I
a
G
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————||
vi
V
[Figure 29.3]
The harmonic rhythm is slower than the verse, and the steep scale-wise descent in the melody
here is in contrast to the jumping here and about seen earlier. Some consistency with the verse is
maintained in the way we still have short, declarative phrases in dotted rhythm, punctuated by
the accompaniment; here the piano, instead of the guitar, provides the mimicking obbligato.
The bass line contains two uncanny details that closely unify it with what is going on
elsewhere: the lead-in to the bridge begins with the same sort of chromatic lick seen in the intro
(G -> G# -> A), and the lead-out of the bridge to the next verse is made up of a descending scale
(G - through C), reminiscent of the vocal part.
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The 'a' minor chord in the first measure of this section sounds at first as though it might be a
part of a modulation to that key but it's really too short-lived to count.
Unofficial releases of outtakes 1 through 6 of this song are an apt example of both a prime
kind of material not included within the scope of the Anthology and candid portrait of them
operating under the stress of a series of sloppy mistakes following what otherwise sounds like a
pretty clean first take. Take 6 contains typical Ringo drum fills in measures 4 and 8 of the
bridges. Though nicely performed and not entirely inappropriate, my guess is that he was asked
to eliminate them from the final version in order to keep unbroken the hypnotic mood of the
shuffling rhythm.
Outro
This outro is built from several repeats of the last two measures of the verse into a quick
fadeout.
The vocal parts burst forth in some “oohs” which are more anguished than passionate for a
change, as well as some “lah-lahs.” These come across as impromptu, though we find in take 1
the virtually the identical set of them as in the final version.
It is John who takes the lead in these vocal effects, and his move is all the more effective
because it is the first time in the entire song that we hear a solo voice.
Some Final Thoughts
This is one of the rare, early Lennon & McCartney originals in which the girl is spoken of
entirely in the third person. Ironically, it appears back to back on the Please Please Album with
another one of these rare examples, the very upbeat “I Saw Her Standing There”. The
uninterrupted flowing beat of “Misery” provides some forward-looking optimism in counterpoint
to the otherwise downbeat lyrics. In the context of the album lineup, I believe that this subtle hint
in “Misery” of a sun concealed behind the overcast mitigates what might have otherwise been
too stark of a manic depressive contrast between those first two tracks.
“Quite right, invites to gambling dens full of easy money and fast women, chicken sandwiches, and cornets of caviar,
disgusting!” 030401#29.1
Page 187 of 962
P.S. I Love You
Key: D Major (with Aeolian inflections)
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Verse | Bridge | Verse | Bridge |
| Verse | Outro (complete ending)
UK-release: 5th October 1962 (B Single / "Love Me Do")
US-release: 27th April 1964 (B Single / "Love Me Do")
Style and Form
The form is virtually identical to that of “Misery”, with two bridges separated by only one
verse. Even though “P.S. I Love You” uses a much richer set of chords than “Misery”, its verse
section is still quite bound to the home key, and for that matter, so is its bridge. Therefore, the
same avoidance of harmonic claustrophobia would seem equally applicable to both songs, in
terms of dispensing with an extra verse section before the second bridge.
An unusual and creative formal touch here is the way that the intro turns out to be a subtle
variation of the bridge.
The lyrics of the four verses create a relatively clunky pattern of ABAB; compare with “In
Spite of All the Danger,” of all things.
Rhythmic attack is virtually always right on the downbeat in this song. The little grace note
ahead of the bar in the first syllable of the word “remember” stands out in contrast.
Melody and Harmony
The intro tune here has a melodic kink around the 7th degree of the scale (C#) similar to what
we saw in the verse of “She Loves You.” The beginning of the verse traverses an entire octave,
scale-wise and with a couple of juicy appoggiaturas, only to balance it out at the end with an
upward leap of the same octave.
The group of chords used in this song is much more exotic than what we've seen in the other
very early period songs we've looked at. In addition to the standard fare of what is diatonically
available within the home key, we have the chords of the flat-VI (B flat) and flat-VII (C Major),
both of which may be said, in theoretical terms, to be borrowed from the parallel minor key of
'd'. The very use of these chords lends an exotic mixed-mode feeling to the song.
The strangest chord of all in the song is the dominant 7th chord on C#, employed in the intro
as a surrogate 'V'. The naturally occurring chord on C# in the key of D is a diminished seventh
chord and that VII chord works nicely as a substitute V because it is the sonic equivalent of the
V7 chord with the root note missing. In modifying the C# diminished chord into a dominant 7th,
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the Boys throw us a curve ball in that you'd sooner expect the latter chord to resolve to the key of
F#. Against all textbook rules and logic, they rely on the stepwise movement of all voices (C# ->
D, E# -> F#, G# ->A, and B -> A) to make it work. Still, coming right at the beginning as it does,
it's an attention grabber.
In addition to the chord choices, we find that several of the chord progressions in this song
are unusual. We’re used to finding in the typical early Beatles song such as “I Saw Her Standing
There”, the pervasive influence of IVI- V sorts of chord progressions which convey a strong
sense of directed kinetic motion that is the musical equivalent of Hemingway's much celebrated
use of transitive verbs. Here, in “P. S. I Love You”, we find two different types of unusual chord
progressions.
The first unusual type of progression is called a “chord stream”, characterized by sliding,
stepwise root movement from chord to chord. In the verse section, we find I->ii->I, and flat-VI>flat-VII->I as examples. This is a technique is most closely associated with either early 20th
century Impressionism or Jazz and it happens to break one of the standard old-fashioned rules
against using parallel octaves and fifths between chords. Aesthetically, it suggests a languid
sensuality.
The second unusual type of progression is called a “deceptive cadence”, characterized by the
V (dominant) being followed by something other than the I chord. In the verse section, yet again,
we find examples of the V being resolved in one case to the plain vi chord, and later on to the
flat-VI. Aesthetically, it suggests a last minute retreat from coming to closure; a musical
approach/avoidance.
Arrangement
The look and feel here is decidedly not that of rock-n-roll. It's rather more like lounge-pop or
Latin dance music, in large part due to the tempo, beat, and choice of percussion instrumentation.
The vocal arrangement presents Paul in the solo spotlight with a particular style of backing
vocal from John and George. Though the backing part persists virtually all the way through,
there is more interesting detail to it than initially meets the eye.
Note, for example, how in all verses except the last one, the backers sing behind isolated
words only, making for a musically italic/bold effect. In the last verse, yet again to avoid foolish
consistency, this effect is dropped in favor of them singing all the way through with Paul.
Similarly in the second bridge, we have the successive interjections by solo voices in
between the phrases for the sake of some colorful variety.
The following piece of trivia is usually eclipsed by the “Love Me Do” story, but it should be
noted that it is Andy White (again) on the drums in this song; poor Ringo plays only the maracas.
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Intro
Even though the words of the bridge are repeated in this intro, the resemblance between the
intro and the bridge is cleverly disguised by the addition here of the C#7 chord, and the fact that
in the bridge, we're used to hearing an additional vocal part that harmonizes a third above the
melody:
G
C#
D
D
A
D
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
D: IV
VII 7 I
V
I
#5
#3
[Figure 30.1]
By the way, this is yet another convergent start away from the home key. The singers come
right in on the first beat, without a cue.
Verse
The verse is not only an unusual ten measures long, but is made up of four phrases of several
different lengths:
"Treasure these few words ..."
"Keep all my love ..."
«------ phrase #1, 3 measures --------»«- phrase #2, 2 measures -»
|D
|e
|D
|A
|b
|
I
ii
I
V
vi
"P.S I love you ..."
"You, you, you ..."
«--- phrase #3, 2.5 measures ---»«--- phrase #4, 2.5 measures ---»
|A
|B-flat
|- - - C
|D
||
V
flat-VI
flat-VII I
[Figure 30.2]
Articulation of the phrasing is nicely aided by the harmony with its multiple deceptive
resolutions of V, first to vi, then to flat vi, then finally to I, but even then, only via the flat VII!
The melodic arch of the first three phrases has a bottom-heavy asymmetry that is balanced
out by the dramatic swing upward of an octave in the final phrase. Note the repeatedly
expressive use of appoggiaturas; i.e., on the words “together”, “forever”, “P.S”, and the middle
“you” of the final phrase.
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Bridge
The contrast of this bridge to its surrounding verses is manifest in its simple chord choices
and regularized shape. We're on a strict harmonic diet here of I-IV-V, and the eight measure
section is articulated into two phrases of four measures each:
|———————————————————————Three times—————————————————————|
G
D
D
A
D
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
IV
I
V
I
[Figure 30.3]
Outro
In typical fashion, this outro grows out of the final measures of the final verse and presents
the formulaic triple repeat of the little hook phrase in a relatively straightforward manner.
Some Final Thoughts
“P. S. I Love You” is ultimately an ironic blend of both backward and forward looking
influences. On the one hand, the relatively soppy lyrics and the pop arrangement are reminiscent
of their cover repertoire from the Decca audition period. By the same token, there's a technical
sophistication here, especially in the harmony and uneven phrasing, which looks well beyond
many of the other apparently more original songs from the early EMI days.
Aside from the sophistication of any specific technical device used here per se, the most
creative touch of all is in the way that the successive deceptive cadences in the verse provide an
exquisitely realistic shyness and emotional “playing footsie” that otherwise belies the readymade paper-cut valentine of the words.
“Quite right, invites to gambling dens full of easy money and fast women, chicken sandwiches, and cornets of caviar,
disgusting!” 031101#30.1
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There's A Place
Key: E Major
Meter: 4/4
Style and Form
The music of this song is paradoxically quite tense in spite of the self-assured message of the
words, and this likely motivates the choice of a relatively short form.
There are two different hook phrases here that uncannily reflect the two sides of the tense/
self-assured paradox mentioned above. The first is the wailing instrumental motif (D#-----E-D#C#) presented by the harmonica right at the beginning. The other is the affirmative figure (B - D#
- E) which resurfaces in a number of places as the melodic setting for the title phrase of the
lyrics.
Also on the reassurance side of the equation is the dramatic dotted figure in the bass and
rhythm guitar (boom-b'-boom, ) which reiterates in the background of most of the song and is
largely responsible for giving the song its characteristic bounce. Notably, this leitmotif is *not*
found consistently in the early outtakes and its later addition is a good example of how The Boys
learned how to revise their work in real time for the better.
The form is unusually small with just a single bridge.
The lyrics of the three verses create a pattern of ABA. The verses begin rhythmically with a
pickup to the downbeat. The bridge, by contrast, attacks after the downbeat.
The modification of the second verse to effect a smoother transition into the bridge is an
unusual formal touch, though by no means unique; see “I Should Have Known Better” for
another example.
We also have those familiar slow triplets in a number of places: the second half of the verse
(“and there's no time”) and almost, but not quite, in the bridge. The outtakes prove that they
originally planned to present the opening hook this way too, but proved to be some combination
of difficult and undesirable.
Melody and Harmony
The verse tune is characterized by short, declarative phrases that are punctuated by rests of a
couple beats each. The bridge tune features a distinctive call-and-answer pattern.
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The hard-hitting, unique sonority of the E Major 7th chord is one of the essential
characteristics of the song and, on the surface, is the prime motivator of musical tension.
On a more subtle harmonic level, the song also projects a groping, insecure sense of tonal
footing. It's clearly in E Major on the one hand, yet as we'll see below, both the verse and bridge
sections have their share of frustrated V chords and fitful modulations.
Arrangement
In many respects, this is a “typical” Beatles arrangement of the period with several of the
familiar ingredients: harmonica hook, pungent two-part vocal harmonies, drum fills, and melodic
bass part.
The guitar parts are sparser than usual, leaving some chords implied by melody, bass line and
context, instead of being made explicit by full-voiced strumming.
As usual, the vocal parts are more intricately worked out than first meets the eye. Paul takes
the lead for most of the verse sections with John singing in harmony below him. At the end of the
first and third verses, Paul suddenly drops out leaving John briefly exposed by himself on lead,
and at the end of the middle variant verse, John sings lead with a vocalese backing by Paul and
George. The bridge section alternates between solo John and John and Paul in unison.
Also, don't miss out on those trill-like ornaments John sensually tacks onto the end of his
phrases in the verse.
By the way, that opening B natural bass pickup “on 'four'” sure does remind me of “Please
Please Me”.
Intro
The intro has an odd length of five measures by virtue of the unusually elongated vocal pickup
phrase at the end of it:
"There,-1 2 3 4
there's a
1 2 3 ~~~
4
place ..."
1
E7
A
E7
A
B
|—————————|—————————|—————————|—————————|———————————————|———————|
E: I
IV
I
IV
V
[Figure 31.1]
The intense mood of the song is immediately established by that dissonant major seventh
chord right on the first downbeat, nicely enhanced by the bent note ('D.'#) in the second iteration
of the harmonica phrase.
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Verse
The verse has an unusual total length of 15 measures. It's actually built out of regular sorts of
four-measure phrases until near the end where the odd length is created, as in the intro, by the
stretched out pickup to the next phrase:
m.1
E
A
E
A
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
IV
I
IV
m.5
E
c#
B
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
I
vi
V
m.9
g#
A
E7
A
f#
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
iii
IV
I
IV
c#:
vi
iv
m.13
"I -----think of you…"
3
4
1 2 3
4
1
c#
B
|—————————————|—————————————|————————————||—————————————|
E:
V
c#: i
[Figure 31.2]
Note how the first eight measures have a classical open shape, ending on the V chord. Yet,
the remainder of the section, instead of routinely closing it back up, proceeds to tonally meander.
In greater detail: the home key is established in the first phrase via the relatively weak Plagal
cadence of I-IV. The next phrase opens up widely with those two full measures on the V chord,
yet this juicy dominant is left dangling unresolved as the music veers fitfully toward g# minor at
the beginning of the final phrase. This excursion is itself short-lived and the verse ultimately
settles down in what would appear to be a modulation to the key of the relative minor, c#. But
after all this, the next verse reverts directly right back to the home key.
I hear the entirety of measure 8 as the V chord, though if you listen carefully, Paul plays the
notes G#->A->B during the slow triplet in that measure as though he were trying to do
something like the "iii-IV-V" chord cliche we saw in “Please Please Me”, measure 4.
The single most compositionally clever detail in the entire song is the way that the wailing
harmonica hook phrase is worked into John's backing vocal part in measures 9 - 12. Part of the
magical effect in those measures is the way that Paul and John's vocal parts climax twice on a
tasty fourth that is resolves with their respective parts moving in contrary motion:
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[Figure 31.3]
And note, finally, how the harmonica hook reappears on cue in measure 13.
Verse Variant
The first eight measures of this section are identical to those of the first verse. The music then
continues with the following straightforward four measure phrase that reiterates the earlier open
ending on V:
"Like I love
only you ..."
A
B
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
IV
V
[Figure 31.4]
True to form and purpose, note how when we move onto the bridge, this V chord is
frustrated, yet again, by another deceptive cadence to vi!
Bridge
The bridge is an unusual 10 measures long, though basically built out of two identical
repetitions of the same four-measure phrase. The asymmetrical length is created (just as in the
intro and first verse) by the reappearance of the by now familiar elongated vocal pickup for the
next verse section:
c#
F#
E
G#
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|————————————||
c#: i
V
B: ii
V
IV
-»
?
(modulation abandoned)
c#
B
|—————————————|—————————————|
i
V
[Figure 31.5]
The sometimes-restless sense of tonal direction seen in the verse is further developed here to
the extreme that each successive chord keeps us guessing as to where we're ultimately headed.
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Though we start off in the relative minor key of c#, the section continues at first as though a
pivot modulation to the key of V (B Major) were in the offing. Even the awkward appearance of
the E chord in the third measure could work as part of this modulation, being heard as the IV of
the new key, but only if the B chord itself would follow it; try it out yourself, see how nicely it
works – c# -> F# -> E -> B.
It is the sudden appearance of the G# Major chord which abruptly cuts off that modulation
in-progress, and briskly pulls the music right back to the key of c#. Part of me is tempted to
chalk this seeming inelegance up to inexperience on their parts, though I cannot escape the
thought that the groping, casting-about feeling conjured by it is germane to the spirit of the song.
Outro
The final verse is identical to the first one though one measure shorter in duration. Directly,
in the second half of measure 14, we move into an outro in which both the vocal and
instrumental hooks are presented antiphonally in strict alternation into a fadeout ending; a vivid,
concrete presentation of what I've alluded to as the underlying paradox of the song.
Some Final Thoughts
We have here yet another of those songs in which John apparently soft and insecure
emotional core would seem to musically belie his tough, or at least more self-assured lyrics. This
listener, for one, would feel much better convinced by what's professed here as an unshakable
belief in this special place, if the story had been set in straightforward, simple chord progressions
and even phrases; on this level, even a dire ditty like “Misery”'s got a more relaxed phatic
subtext.
The song is also typically and prophetically John-like for its off-center point of view. The
expressed facility to escape inside of himself in order to commune with object of his love is
strange enough for starters. But even more provoking is the way in which the anxiety factor of
the music combined with the escapism of the lyrics suggests that, in spite of the second person
pronoun phrasing of those same lyrics, the protagonist is not so much talking to his love, as he is
ruminating to himself at a distance from her, and in solitude.
“Leave him alone, Lennon, or I'll tell them all the truth about you.” 031101#31.1
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Do You Want To Know A Secret
Key: E Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Verse | Bridge | Verse |
| Outro (fade-out)
US-release: 22nd July 1963 (LP "Introducing The Beatles”)
Style and Form
The intro is slow, the verse long, and the bridge short. The form is compact, the less popular
single bridge model, and the overall duration of the song brief, as well; a likely consequence of
the large amount of repetitious rhetoric built into the verse section.
No exaggeration, the lyrics here, which are identical through all three verses, may nose out
even “Love Me Do” for skimpiness, though the use of different material in both the intro and the
bridge makes up some of the deficit.
The song fairly overflows with a number of leitmotifs all built out of chromatic scale
fragments of 3 or 4 notes; the rising lead guitar riff at the end of the intro, a descending portion
of the verse melody (on the “woah” that precedes the word “closer”), and in the recurrent little
descending chord stream that appears in the second half of almost all the odd-numbered
measures of the verse.
Singing in the intro begins after the downbeat. In the verses, it is introduced with a long
guitar pickup before the beat, an effect that is carried through the rest of the verse melody. For
contrast, the bridge attacks the sung material right on the beat.
Melody and Harmony
The tune contains mostly scale-wise movement punctuated by a dramatic falsetto leap
upward near the end of the verse before ending it off with a descending chromatic scale fragment
The song is quite securely in E Major in spite of a firm modulation to the axis of A Major/f#
minor during the bridge. Allusions to the parallel minor key of e in both intro and verse provide a
touch of pathos as well as harmonic variety.
The single most unusual chord in the song is the "flat II", found here in both the intro and the
verse; we’ve seen this one before in “Things We Said Today” and “You're Going To Lose That
Girl.”
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Arrangement
The song leaves a lasting impression of having been enwrapped in a haze of gentle
reverberation even though it was not literally nor entirely recorded that way.
George gets the first of his few chances to take the lead vocal in a LennonMcCartney tune.
The composers themselves show up vocally in the form of an old-fashioned “doo-wop”-like
backing starting in the second verse.
One rare outtake has them singing the backing vocal even in the first verse, the latter being a
clear violation of what would emerge as a Beatles layering trademark; which is why they
probably dropped that for the official recording.
Like the piano in-lays of “Misery”, the overdubbed tapping of drum sticks in the bridge is a
musically small touch that is historically notable because of the trend in recording/arranging
practice it signals.
Intro
The intro is not merely adagio, but entirely ad libitum; my delineation below of where the 4/4
measure boundaries are is purely a guess:
e
a
e
G
F
B
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————————|
e: i
iv
i
III
flat-II V
[Figure 32.1]
The shift from e minor to E Major which occurs between intro and first verse is exceedingly
smooth because of the "parallel" relationship between the two keys, but if you recall the first
time you ever heard this song, it still has the power to surprise.
Though emotionally and compositionally simplistic on one level, that minor to Major
transition still effectively conveys the angst-cum-epiphanistic joy “we” all go through in the
unique moment of timidly expressing a burgeoning fondness.
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Verse
This verse has an unusual length of 14 measures and is designed as a couplet of two uneven
phrases that share a common beginning:
“Listen…”
E
g# g f#
B7
E
g# g
f#
B7
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|————————————|
E: i
ii
V
I
ii
V
m.5
E
g# g f#
F
|—————————————|—————————————|
i
ii
flat-II
“Closer…”
E
g# g f#
B7
E
g# g
f#
B7
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|————————————|
E: i
ii
V
I
ii
V
m.11
A
B
c#
f#
B
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|————————————|
E: IV
V
vi
ii
V
[Figure 32.2]
The first phrase is six measures and would seem to run harmonically in circles if it were not
for its surprise ending in which we find yet another application of the chromatic chord stream
cliche. Note how the F chord is unusually placed on top of the note C in the bass; as though Paul
were uncomfortable with a certain awkwardness about the chord progression and trying to paper
it over a bit.
The second phrase is eight measures and though it too starts off running in the same tight
circle, its harmonic rhythm broadens out into a deceptive cadence on vi before cycling back
again to V.
The melody of this verse is just as repetitious as the chord changes, and the falsetto flip in the
last measure finally and satisfyingly opens up the previously constricted pitch range.
The chord stream of g# minor -> g minor -> f# is more coloristic than functional; the ear
comprehends the structural harmonic progression as though from E in the first measure to f# in
the second. The other chord stream in measure 6 - 7 is actually more structurally significant than
the previous one in that one hears the F Major chord as a surrogate Dominant with respect to the
E (I) chord which opens the second phrase. Note how the melodic use of C natural at this
juncture creates an allusion to the minor mode of e.
The rhythm is in a shuffling beat throughout until the final four measures where it's suddenly
interrupted by syncopation (m. 11 - 12), which then moderates to a pulsating bass drum beat
before settling back to the shuffle.
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George's pronunciation of the word “ear” (especially in the first and third verses) offers us
what ‘Simon Marshal' would someday describe as “the old adenoidal glottal stop for our
benefit”.
Bridge
This is one of the shortest bridges we've ever seen; only six measures long, and built, just like
the verse, out of two phrases unequal in length yet sharing the same opening content:
A
f#
c#
b
A
f#
f#
B
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|————————————|————————————|
f#: III
i
v
V
III
i
i
E: IV
ii
V
[Figure 32.3]
The harmonic transition into this section from the V chord on B, which ends the previous
verse, is somewhat abrupt though by no means rude; the pivot for the modulation is not obvious
to the ear, but at least it is a common chord to both keys involved.
The pivot back to the home key is much smoother. It's a rather superb example of just how
so-called pivot modulations work for those who have trouble grasping the concept: note how
when the f# chord is followed by the B Major one, the ear retroactively reinterprets it as the ii
chord of the original home key of E.
In the arrangement, the do-dahs are given a break in deference to George's solo vocal. And
Paul, having played up to this point a nicely elaborate bass line, gets a little carried away in this
section and winds up making a mistake on the first c# chord, by playing a B natural which
clashes with the chord above it.
Outro
The deceptive cadence near the end of the verse is leveraged and recycled for the inevitable
three-repeat coda.
The song fades very rapidly and the outtake with the doo-dahs in the first verse reveals that at
least one studio performance of the song, if not the official version, actually ended, barely a few
seconds after our fade, with a complete ending on an added-sixth chord.
That added sixth so nicely summarizes the song that it's especially unfortunate they chose to
mask it out. Looking back over the full length of the piece, one notes how much the sonority of
the added-sixth resonates within it; e.g., the repeated appoggiatura of C#->B on the words
“listen” and “secret” in the verse, and the large number of deceptive cadences in which you so
strongly anticipate the next chord to be E, yet it turns out to be (surprise!) c# instead. To the
extent that this added-sixth has the incidental sound of the I (E) and vi (c#) superimposed upon
each other, it makes for an effective harmonic double-entendre. Paul makes yet another mistake
in the bass line of this section, analogous to the one in the bridge.
Page 200 of 962
Some Final Thoughts
The aesthetic of sentimental shy puppy love and gauzy soft focus is not one to which the
Boys were often drawn over the long run; Sweet and Cuddly Moptops notwithstanding, it didn't
suit them as a group. Even here, they manage to rescue this one from drowning in its own cliches
only by means of an abundance of interesting details and a modicum of sincerity.
Ironically, it's the more subtle aesthetic of repetition here, which you would be tempted to
denigrate offhand as a matter of lazy craft, which provides one of the major sources of emotional
realism and sincerity to the song. I'd bet, for example, that anyone out there who relates to the
pre-confessional anxiety of the intro will also vouch for the corresponding post-declaration
euphoria in which all they wanted, even needed, to do was repeat the same words of love like a
mantra, endlessly without stopping.
“I don't really know, but it sounded distinguished like, didn't it?” 032101#32.1
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Ask Me Why
Key: E Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse (initial) | Verse (variant 1) | Bridge |
| Verse (variant 2) | Verse (initial) |
| Verse (variant 2) | Bridge |
| Outro (verse variant 2, with complete ending)
Recorded: 6th June, 26th November 1962, Abbey Road 2
Style and Form
This is just about the fussiest, most complicated form we've yet seen. You can sort of parse it
as a mutant version of the two-bridge model, but what is most notable is how the verse material
appears in three variations, each of which is tailored to suit a different purpose.
The initial verse is typically expository in nature but has an harmonically open ending on V
that is unsuitable for leading into the bridge. As a result, variant #1, though very similar to the
initial verse, is crucially amended to link smoothly with the bridge that follows it.
Variant #2 is a much-abbreviated affair that merely alludes to the other verses rather than
fully recapitulating them, and it itself reappears three times in the song, always slightly different
in content and formal context. It creates the impression of being like a refrain, in part, because of
the inclusion of the title phrase in its lyrics.
All the phrases and sections of the song start off in the middle of the preceding measure.
Compare this for example to “From Me To You” and “All My Loving”; also contrast it for
example with “P. S. I Love You” and “Do You Want To Know A Secret”.
The lyrics closely match the form. Lyrics of both "initial" verses are identical, as are the
respective lyrics of both verse variant#2, and bridge; the single appearance of verse variant #1
has unique lyrics.
Melody and Harmony
Most of the melodic material stays within an octave running from E to E, with the last phrase
of each initial verse section breaking the mold.
Key-wise, the song is solidly, almost completely in E Major though the verse contains a
momentary leaning toward the relative minor key of c#.
As with “P. S. I Love You”, we have a strong presence here of chord streams, though this
time the chords are jazzy parallel sevenths, not just plain triads.
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The Major seventh chord on E (the I7) is one of those chords that has the coincidental
sonority of two different triads superimposed; in this case, the I and iii. To the extent that both
the I and iii are used so heavily throughout this song, I half suspect that the I7 was purposefully
exploited here, analogous to the way in which added-sixth chord on I was used in “Do You Want
To Know A Secret” for its sounding like the I and vi combined.
Note how this same I7, which was used to connote great tension in “There’s A Place”, feels
so much more relaxed here because it is use in the midst of a chord stream of other sevenths,
rather than appearing starkly head on; indeed, context is all.
Arrangement
The two most conspicuous surface features of the arrangement are the pseudo-Latin dance
beat and the harmonized “woahs” sung in slow triplets.
The backing vocal part for Paul and George is repeatedly cut off in mid-phrase leaving John
exposed dramatically in the spotlight; in one such spot we hear his voice forced to cracking on
the word “cry.”
Just the smallest sound of silence is effectively used throughout the song as a leitmotif.
Virtually everywhere you find a phrase or section commencing with a pickup on beats 3 and 4 of
a measure, there is a neat pause “on 'two'”, for the beat preceding. If you want to play this song
nicely, you have to mind such details.
Intro
The intro is very short but within barely two measures it manages to set the mildly
syncopated beat of the song in motion, establish the home key via a I-V-I progression, and set the
stage for the entrance of the singers.
The harmonic rhythm of the first measure is unusual for a Beatles song, with the first chord
(I) being sustained for three beats, and the change to V occurring on beat four; this trick is
carried on into the verse.
Verse (initial) – “I love you ...”
The initial verse is thirteen measures, built out of three phrases. The first two are even in
length, but the final one is elongated:
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E:
E7
I
m.1
f#7 |g#7
ii
iii
[beats: 1, 2, 3, 4 ]
|f#7
B7 |E
ii
V
I
m.5
|g#7
iii
[beats: 1, 2, 3, 4 ]
|f#7
B7 |E
ii
V
I
m.9
|c#
vi
|-
|A
IV
|F#9
V-of-V
|-
E7 f#7|
I ii
|G#
V-of-vi
|
|B
V
|
[Figure 33.1]
The dramatic thrust of this verse doesn't truly start building until near the end of the second
phrase at which point the melody mounts steadily towards an ultimate falsetto climax at the very
end. In the first appearance of this section, John melodically descends from the high g# in
measure 12 to an f# in the final measure. When this section is repeated later, he ascends all the
way to high B; this admittedly small change both represents an avoidance of foolish consistency
and is an object lesson in how one should always hold back a little something extra for the next
event.
The harmony supports the climax in a number of ways: an eventually complete shift away
from stepwise chord streams toward root progressions with a stronger feeling of transitive
movement, the inclusion of a flirtation with the key of c#, a broadening of the harmonic rhythm,
and the use of that intense 'V9' chord right before the peak.
The ending on V smoothly motivates the continuation to the next verse. What's subtle is the
way in which the climax itself is the more potent because of this harmonically open ending;
compare with variant #1 below.
Verse (variant #1) – “Now you're mine ...”
This first variant is thirteen measures long again, and the game plan is identical to that of the
initial verse until the last three measures during which a number of important changes appear:
m.9
c#
a
E
E-aug
|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|—————————————|
vi
iv
I
V#5-of-IV
[Figure 33.2]
The ending of this verse is harmonically closed, and the climax is muted this time by virtue
of a less flamboyant melodic line and the way that the peak occurs one measure earlier than
where it appeared in the initial verse. Contrast how variant#1 sounds as though it ends in
measure 12 with measure 13 functioning like a transitional filler. In contrast, the climax in the
initial verse runs right into the final measure of that section.
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In measure 11, John's much favored minor iv chord (i.e., the one borrowed, as it were, from
the parallel minor key of e) is substituted for the naturally occurring Major IV chord we saw in
the same measure of the initial verse.
Also note how the E chord, which always has the potential energy to serve as a "V of IV", is
nudged into this role here by the augmented alteration of the chord in the final measure of this
verse.
Bridge – “I can't believe ...”
Typical bridge-like contrast is provided here by the use of simpler chords, a balanced eightmeasure length (they don't call 'em “middle eights” for nothing!), and a convergent harmonic
shape for each of the two phrases, starting away from the I, but moving toward it:
m.1
|A
IV
m.5
|A
IV
|B
V
|E
I
"miRhythmic emphasis: 1& 2
|B
|E
V
I
|E-aug
V#5-of-IV
ser|
1
|
y"
2 3 4
B E7 f#7|
V
[Figure 33.3]
The rhythm guitar triplets in measures 1 and 5 provide rhythmic continuity with the verses
even while the abrupt syncopations in measure 7 and 8 enhance the sense of contrast.
Verse (variant #2) – “Ask me why ...”
This refrain-like precis of the other verses makes the first of its three appearances relatively
late in the song, not until after the first bridge. It's not only much shorter than the other verses,
but offers a very different dramatic gesture from them; in place of the earlier climaxing, we get a
chance to power down a bit here. This change is brought about by the relatively flat melodic
shape used in this section as well as the reliance on weak chord progressions, such as stepwise
chord streams and the plagal IV-I cadence:
E:
m.1
E7 f#7|g#7
I ii iii
m.4
|A7
IV
|A
IV
|g#7
iii
|E
I
|-
|
(next verse)
E7 f#7|
I ii
[Figure 33.4]
The fact that this section is closed harmonically makes for a slight and uncharacteristically
inelegant move when the next section (a repeat of the initial verse) begins.
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When variant #2 returns for a second time, the last measure is modified to contain the E
augmented chord. This is a clever move in that it creates a smooth lead-in to the second bridge
without them having to repeat the entirety of variant #1, which at this stage of the song would
have been a tactical mistake, making it start to drag.
Outro
The outro turns out to be yet another iteration of verse variant #2, modified and extended this
time to accommodate the triple repeat of the final lyrical fragment (“you-ou-ou”). The harmony
gently fluctuates toward final quiescence on an extremely unusual voicing of an enigmatic
sounding I9/7 chord; with B as the lowest note in the bass, and possibly all other notes of the
chord present except for the root!
E:
E7
I
m.1
f#7|g#7
ii iii
|A
IV
|g#7
iii
m.6
|A7
|E
|A7
IV
I
IV
|A7
IV
??
|E9
7
I
|E
I
|
||
[Figure 33.5]
Some Final Thoughts
The quaint arrangement and corny backbeat of this song have a nostalgic power of sufficient
magnitude to seriously get in the way of an objective assessment of its craft. On some level, the
legitimacy of such first impressions is neither to be denied nor argued with.
Granted, this was a rather fledgling compositional effort of theirs. We know, for example,
that they had it in hand at least as early as the June '62 EMI audition for George Martin and as
such, it's very easy to be condescending about it. But I'd dare to suggest that our analysis above
clearly demonstrates that the music here is nowhere nearly as derivative as it may seem at first
glance.
“Mind you, I stood up for you, I mean I wouldn't have it.” 032701#33.1
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I'll Get You
Key: D Major
Meter: 4/4
| Outro (with complete ending)
Recorded: 1st July 1963, Abbey Road 2
UK-release: 23rd August 1963 (B Single / "She Loves You")
US-release: 16th September 1963 (B Single / "She Loves You")
Style and Form
This is an extremely straightforward if not plain-and-simple song in terms of almost any
compositional metric by which you'd want to measure it. And still, it is full of trademark details
which indelibly mark it as an early Beatles song.
Both the higher-level form and the inner construction of the individual sections are quite
standard, though the manner in which the “Oh yeah!” motif of the intro is worked smoothly into
the flow of the verse is a clever touch.
The form is the short, single bridge model.
The lyrics of the three verses create a pattern of ABA. The verses have an identical, refrainlike ending.
All sections commence rhythmically with a pickup ahead of the downbeat.
Harmony
The tune is centered within a D-to-D octave, though the verse endings open up additional
space at the bottom, and the bridge likewise opens up the high end. The song is firmly,
unrelievedly, in the key of D Major and only about a half-dozen chords are used throughout. In
this light, the number of chords which appear with spicy embellishment is notable; e.g. the added
sixth chord on I (D), a Major seventh on IV (G), and a dominant 7/9 chord on the V-of-V (E).
Most unusual and forward-looking in terms of what would later emerge as a favorite item in
the Beatles bag of harmonic tricks is the use of a minor v chord in the verse section (measure
10), despite the Major mode of the home key; thus adding a surprise modal/bluesy inflection to
the music.
Arrangement
The arrangement has a rather nondescript backing track, yet paradoxically (or should we say,
inconsistently) sports a number of fussy details. Although the bass part is both active and
prominently mixed forward, the rhythm guitar and drums for the most part get to do no more
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than strum or stroke (as the case may be) in even eighth notes. Furthermore, to my ears at any
rate, there's no sign of a part for lead guitar; where indeed was George that day?
The harmonica is used differently here from what we've become used to in other Beatles
songs. On the one hand, the harmonica does not get to play any memorable hook phrase, but it
does appear unsparingly used throughout, except for a brief rest during the bridge. To the extent
that John too sings throughout, I've got to assume that this harmonica part was overdubbed
separately; or else, maybe that's what George was playing for this session.
The sort of handclaps seen earlier in “Love Me Do” and “I Saw Her Standing There” appear
here only in the intro as a surrogate percussion part. Conversely, it is not until the end of the intro
that the drums, with a solitary little fill, make their entrance. John and Paul sing a duet literally
throughout, so that variety is provided by the two voices alternating frequently between singing
in unison, at the octave, and in brief yet colorful splashes of 2-part harmony.
Intro
In only four measures, this intro establishes the key and introduces the “oh yeah” hook
phrase that recurs both at end of each verse and in the outro. The same dotted rhythmic figure
seen earlier in “There’s A Place” to convey self-assurance is used here to similar effect. It
appears right off in the bass part of this intro and is used frequently in the melody of both verse
and bridge sections.
Verse
The verse is sixteen measures long and built out of four phrases equal in length:
m.1
|D
D: I
m.9
|D
I
|-
|G
IV
|A
V
||D
I
|b
vi
|G
IV
|A
V
||
|a
v
|D
I
|b
vi
||G
IV
|A
V
|D
I
|A
V
||
[Figure 34.1]
The number of melodic appoggiaturas is pervasive, thematic, and a large part of the reason
for all the embellished chords mentioned above; it makes for an interesting comparison with the
later “We Can Work It Out”. Examples here include:
• the use of B in the melody on top of the D chord in measures 2 and 11,
• F# on top of the A chord in measures 4, 8, and 14,
• E on top of the D chord in measures 5, and
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• G on top of the D chord in measure 9
Melodically, each eight-measure pairing of phrases presents its own symmetric arch. As a
matter of good dramatic practice, the higher melodic peak is saved for the second of the two
arches.
Bridge
This bridge is a rather archetypal middle eight in which, instead of harmonic modulation, we
simply converge back toward the home key after starting the section away from it. Note in
particular the drawn out build up toward the V chord:
|G7
|-
IV
|D
I
|-
||E9
|7
V-of-V
|A
|-
||
V
[Figure 34.2]
We have a wonderful demonstration here of the powerful effect that harmony can have on
your perception of the melody which it accompanies; hardly a phenomenon unique to the
Beatles, but this just happens to be an unusually good textbook example. To wit, the melody of
this bridge contains the same three note descending figure (f# -> e- > d) repeated three times,
each time over a different chord (G, D, and E); and note, how different in a rhetorical sense the
melodic figure sounds with each change of chord.
There is an obvious word collision between the singers in this section followed by what
sounds like a very brief instant of confusion (perhaps one of them thought to stop) before
composure was regained. With examples like this, who needs outtakes?!
Outro
As with both verse and bridge, this outro is a fairly standard specimen of its genre; growing
directly out of the end of the final verse and repeating the last phrase three times. The harmonica
is left still sounding after all else has halted.
Some Final Thoughts
I don't know if I can use the following term without sounding more harsh than intended, but
I'll dare say that “I’ll Get You” was a bit of a “pot boiler”. It was originally released as the B-side
to “She Loves You”, and both the music and recording of “I’ll Get You” have definite earmarks
of a rush job which they must have assumed nobody would ever notice; I can just imagine
someone in the studio wondering aloud to the effect of, “who listens to the B-side of single,
anyway?”
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That's not to say that it's necessarily not a good song; merely that mapped against the steep
growth trajectory they had so quickly established for themselves by this point, “I’ll Get You”, if
not entirely off the pace, surely catches them in the act of treading water.
The impressive aspect of this, which should not be lost sight of, is that they had by this point
established for themselves not only a name but also a genuine musical style, more than just a
bunch of hackneyed mannerisms. And that on their occasional off day in which they really might
not mind being more derivative than original for a change, this song demonstrates that they
already had their own unique set of ingredients from which to crib and re-fashion.
“The office was on the phone, they think it'd be better if we pushed straight to Wolverhampton ... you've got a
midnight matinee.” 032701#34.1
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The Cover Songs That Appear On The Please Please
Me Album
Our study of the songs of the Beatles would not be complete without a modicum of attention
paid to the covers; at least a brief comparison of the Beatles versions to the originals, as well as a
consideration of the cover repertoire in its relationship to the emerging Lennon/McCartney
compositional style.
The group maintained an astonishingly broad variety of cover songs in their stage repertoire
while on their way up, but when it came time to establish themselves as recording artists, it
seems clear that they had, from the very beginning, a strong preference to record their own
material. Witness for example their pushing back as early as September '62 on George Martin
when he wanted them to do “How Do You Do It” for their first single instead of “Love Me Do”.
Even more significantly, note how, in England, they carefully avoided releasing any cover on a
single, even as a B-side! Filling out EPs and LPs was one thing, but not for singles.
It is most common to rationalize the specific cover song choices on the Please Please Me
album as having been selected on the basis of their nicely showcasing the talents of the group
and providing a way for them to pay homage to the music which they themselves enjoyed and
which most directly influenced them.
Beyond this common wisdom, I think our cursory notes on each song below tend to suggest a
number of additional ironies surrounding these cover songs:
1. They were at least partly chosen for the way in which they rounded out the group's repertoire
or filled gaps in what the they were interested in or compositionally capable of providing for
themselves at this stage of their career; i.e., these covers provided a type of material readymade that they could/would not yet write as a matter of lacking some combination of
technique, imagination, or nerve. On the later albums, (e.g. Beatles For Sale and Help!)
perhaps the very appearance of any covers was quite frankly a shortcut to filling out two
sides of vinyl. At this early stage, it was a matter of fleshing out the act itself.
2. As much as the Beatles might be said to have been inspired or influenced by these specific
cover songs, it is curious to note the extent to which these songs do not manifest very many,
if any at all, of what we have come to see as the punch list of early Beatles musical
trademarks; the tricky chord progressions, the pungent vocal harmonies, the clever word play
etc.
3. Most surprising of all is the way in which, for some of these covers, the Beatles' version
transcends the original recording, not just by virtue of performance quality, but because of
structural tweaks to the arrangement and composition!
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Page 212 of 962
Anna
Key: D Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Mini-refrain | Verse |
|Bridge | Verse | Bridge | Verse |
| Mini-refrain (complete ending)
Composer: Arthur Alexander
Influential
version: Arthur Alexander
The original version is in the key of C and is slightly less syncopated than that of the Beatles.
The Beatles arrangement closely follows the original with two telling differences:
• It does not mimic the way that Alexander adds a string section to the backing starting in the
second verse. This sort of layering would later become a common technique for the Boys but
they didn't take the hint this time.
• They replace the fadeout ending of the original with a complete one; already this had become a
marked preference in their own material.
Among the six particular songs in this group, this one is among the most Beatles-like as a
result of the love related anguish in the lyrics, the slightly free-form phrasing of the verse, and of
course, John's intense single track vocal. This is the only one of the six covers here to have been
recorded by its composer.
Harmonically, note the emphasis on the I-vi progression starting right off in the intro, and the
use of the minor iv chord in the bridge. Both these devices are fairly widespread and I don't mean
to imply that their frequent use
in the original songs of the Beatles is in any way directly related to this song; by the same token
though, the appearance of such harmonies in this song does help reinforce whatever Lennon/
McCartney-like resonance it may already have from other sources.
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Chains
Key: B-flat Major
Meter: 4/4
|Bridge | Verse | Outro (fade-out)
Composer: Gerry Goffin / Carole King
Influential
version: The Cookies (1962)
The original recording is in the higher key of 'D.' and is performed a bit slower than the
Beatles version. As with “Anna”, the two treatments are remarkably similar with the exception of
a saxophone used in one and an harmonica used in the other.
The verse of this song is in 12-bar blues form, and though its in a Major key, there are a
number of minor sounding inflections in the melody making the music sound both more bluesy
and exotic. As I've written elsewhere (in an article on the Quarrymen in Illegal Beatles #17, as
well as a Note on the song “Birthday”), it seems that when it came to The Blues, that the Beatles
preferred ordering takeout rather than take a chance with cooking it up for themselves; this song,
as well as “Boys” below are certainly examples of this phenomenon.
The fadeout of the original version loops on a rote repeat of the final phrase; the Beatles
characteristically stretch out one of those repeats, over a minor iv chord, no less.
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Boys
Key: E Major
Meter: 4/4
| Verse (guitar solo)| Verse |
| Bridge | Outro (fade-out)
Composer: Luther Dixon / Wes Farrell
Influential
version: The Shirelles (1962)
The original version is in the higher key of G and includes a piano and sax in the
arrangement. The Beatles needed to change some of the words in order to make the gender
pronouns come out right for a male lead singer, though they went beyond this and also changed
the scat-sung phonemes for the backing vocals. The Shirelles save that backing vocal for the
second verse but the Boys start it right off the bat – further evidence that they had not yet learned
the layering trick.
This song employs the 12-bar blues form throughout by use of a fairly old trick in which the
backbeat and arrangement are modified for the bridge in order to disguise the fact that the music
(or at least the chord progression and phrasing) is identical to that of the verses. The placement
of the second bridge at the very end with a third repeat of it into the fadeout is an additional
formal novelty, though personally, I don't think it is sufficient to prevent a certain monotony from
setting in.
Intentional or not, this song started what would develop into a long-lived tradition for Ringo
to be relegated to covers and/or novelty numbers for his carefully rationed solo vocal
assignments. Up until Rubber Soul, the only non-cover was “I Wanna Be Your Man”, and from
then onward, even with his own few original compositions, we'd hear him more often than not on
the likes of “Yellow Submarine” and “Octopus's Garden.”
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Baby It's You
Key: G Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Verse | Verse (first half, piano solo)
| Outro (fade-out)
Composer: Mack David / Barney Williams / Burt Bacharach
Influential
version: The Shirelles (1961)
Again, the Shirelles play it in the higher key of B-flat (the same relative transposition as in
“Boys”) and their vocals are more breathy and soulful, though perhaps, compared to John, less
intense. The original features an organ instead of a piano for the instrumental solo. And you
might say that the Boys more smoothly join the gap between solo and second half of the middle
verse.
This one is also rather Beatles-like for many of the same reasons enumerated above re:
“Anna”, right down to the heavy use of the I-vi chord progression. Other subtle touches which
resonate with the Lennon/McCartney style are the verse opening on IV instead of I, the minor
chords which hang like a cloud over its middle section, and the way its final phrase is
rhetorically extended to an uneven length.
The form is very unusual, likely a consequence of the longish verse and slow tempo. There
are only three verses in the song, and in instead of a real bridge, the first half of the middle verse
is done up as break-like instrumental solo passage with the regular vocal part resuming in the
second half. Although the form of ”From Me To You” is otherwise quite different, the
instrumental break there is very similarly handled.
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Taste of Honey
Key: f# minor
Meter: 3/4 (verse) and 4/4 (bridge)
Form: Intro | Verse | Bridge | Verse |
| Bridge (complete ending)
Composer: Bobby Scott / Ric Marlow
Influential
version: Lenny Welch (1962)
The original is in the lower key of e and runs a bit faster. It also has a third verse (plus
bridge) absent from the Beatles version; perhaps their slower tempo argued in favor of dropping
it. The arrangements are otherwise rather similar, although the Beatles feature a scalar walking
bass line and a complete ending whereas the original fades out.
The music features a number of tricks: the slow intro and outro, the modally inflected minor
key, and the constant switching between ternary and binary meters from section to section; the
latter would eventually make its conspicuous appearance in several Beatles compositions, but not
until much later.
This also happens to be a type of sticky sweet ballad of the sort to which Paul must have
always been drawn but did not write for himself until, say, “And I Love Her.” Interestingly, that
particular song is not only heavily in the minor mode, but also has one special detail in common
with “A Taste of Honey” – both end surprisingly on a Major chord.
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Twist And Shout
Key: f# minor
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Verse |
| Bridge + Arpeggio buildup | Verse |
| Bridge + Arpeggio buildup (complete ending)
Composer: Phil Medley / Bert Russell
Influential
version: The Isley Brothers (1962)
This is the cover in which the changes made by the Beatles result in the most radical change
of character and impact. The Isleys play this in the higher key of F and the rhythmic swing of
their performance and their brassy arrangement gives the song an entirely different feel from the
Beatles' rendition; bluesy in an almost Latin way, as opposed to hard rock.
What the Beatles do to the form of the song, though, is what really counts; even more so than
John’s unprecedented vocal performance. The Isleys end the song with an extended jam on the
verse which follows the first arpeggio buildup. The Boys had the savy to not only repeat the
bridge and buildup but to parlay the latter into a slow-triplet-bound complete ending. This gives
the overall thrust of the song a much greater sense of teliology, of having arrived somewhere; the
Isleys (itself not at all a bad version by any means) sounds in comparison more like just static
vamping.
Two other musical features, the use of only three chords (I-IV-V) throughout, and the
antiphonal backing vocals, are reminiscent of the Beatles' own style, even though they had not
yet, at this stage, written original songs with quite the same blistering beat in them as this one
has. But that they surely would do, soon enough.
“Have you no natural resources of your own?” 090891#35
Page 218 of 962
All I've Got To Do
Key: E Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Bridge | Verse | Bridge |
| Verse / Outro (fade-out)
Style and Form
This song retains a strongly exotic flavor from the combination of several factors: the
pentatonic mode of the melody, the Major/minor byplay of the harmony, and the belly-dancerlike syncopation of the rhythm. We have yet another example here where the bridge is repeated
but separated by only a single verse section; this time, I believe the reluctance to provide that
additional verse is motivated by the slowness of the harmonic rhythm throughout the song.
Two small but creative twists are applied to the otherwise straightforward short form: the
strange opening that's not quite a full intro, and the manner in which the final verse, arranged as
it is with a wordlessly hummed vocal, fades out in mid-section.
Melody
The melodic material of the song is almost entirely from the pentatonic scale; think of it as
the all “black note” scale starting on f#, but transposed here to the key of E. This spell is broken
is for only a couple of d#'s in the verse (see the harmonization of the title phrase below), one of
which is a juicy appoggiatura.
Just as we recently observed in “I'll Get You”, the melody of this song contains a higher than
average quotient of appoggiaturas; this time let's leave the locating of them all as what used to
quaintly be described as an exercise for the reader.
Harmony
Most of the work here is done by three chords, I, IV, and vi (E, A, and c#), with a little help
from their friends, ii and V (f# and B). In addition to the naturally occurring Major IV chord, we
also have near the end of the verse an appearance of the borrowed minor iv chord, this one
motivated by chromatic downward motion of an inner voice.
There is no small amount of ambiguity as to whether the song is in E Major or its relative
minor key of c#; a by-product of the way in which phrases of the verse start off on vi, and the
Page 219 of 962
virtual absence throughout the song of firm V->I chord 'cadences' which would have more
clearly established E as the home key. This exploitation of the vi/I chords was something which
Lennon and McCartney leaned on heavily during this period; see for other examples, “From Me
To You”, “She Loves You”, and “It Won't Be Long.”
The opening chord is one of those sonorities that defies a neat textbook analysis. Spelled
from the bottom up, it's E - C# - F - A; an augmented triad on C# suspended over an E in the
bass. In practical terms, the note on the bottom gives John the cue note for his vocal, and the
augmented triad above it works as an aurally acceptable albeit surprising surrogate IV-like
antecedent to the c# chord which leads off the verse.
Arrangement
John's single-tracked solo vocal is sensually accompanied by a brief bit of counterpoint from
Paul in the verse, and by the chordal accompaniment of both Paul and George in the bridge.
The vocal counterpoint of the verse starts off as plain parallel thirds, but then changes over to
trademark- Beatles parallel 4ths by virtue of Paul briefly holding over one note (marked `*` in
the transcription below) and then following the pentatonic scale downward the rest of the way:
*
[Figure 36.1]
Paul plays double stops on his bass in the portion of the verse in which the c# and E chords
alternate; the root notes of each chord are on the bottom and a common note between them, g#,
appears on top.
Syncopated emphasis on the eighth note between the second and third beats of the measure
(on “two-AND") is a subtle leitmotif of the song. It is delivered primarily in the form of damped
high-hat cymbal slashes from Ringo, but there are places, such as the second half of the bridge,
where the bass and rhythm guitar maintain the pattern even while Ringo has switched for the
moment to more evenly played eighth-note tapping.
Page 220 of 962
Verse
This verse is an asymmetrical eleven measures long. Its first phrase is a standard 4-measures
but is followed by two more phrases of uneven length; first the two-measure title phrase, and
then an unusual 5-measure phrase that is rhetorically elongated by the repetition of material in
measures 7 - 8, on the words “call you on the phone, and you'll come running home”. Note, by
the way, how this point of expansiveness coincides with the location of where the hard
syncopation is given a brief rest:
m.1
|c#
E: vi
|-
|E
I
m.5
|c#
vi
|-
|
m.7
|f#
ii
|
|a
iv
|-
|
|E
I
|-
|
[Figure 36.2]
The home key of E is established harmonically only by indirect means; the verse opens with
a chord that is not the I chord of the home key, and the V chord never appears until the end of the
bridge.
Bridge
This bridge creates the early impression of intending to perhaps stray far and long from the
home key, but by the beginning of the second of its two 4-measure phrases, it clearly begins
moving steadily back toward E. The B chord in measure 8 is the only appearance in the song of
the V chord:
|A
IV
|-
|A
IV
|E
I
c#
vi
|c#
vi
|-
|A
VI
|E
I
|
B
V
|
[Figure 36.3]
There are two deft variations applied to the repeat of the bridge. Melodically, John modifies
the phrase on the words “I'll be here” so that it creates a new high point. And formalistically, the
last sub-phrase is repeated, lending a free-verse rhetorical feeling to the section rather similar to
that felt in the second half of the verse.
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Final Verse/Outro
In context of the rest of their original songs recorded to this point in time, the humming and
early fade of this section are both novel and unprecedented little experiments, particularly
significant for the continued creative trend which they presage.
A Final Thought
I'd also suggest that the hummed ending here is more than just a clever device for its own
sake, but that it rather effectively drives home the underlying self-satisfied subtext of the lyrics;
to the extent that some things in life, such as the comfortable equilibrium of a relationship
between helpmates, defy completely adequate expression in words.
“You can be replaced, you know, chicky baby.” 100191#36
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Don't Bother Me
Key: e minor (with Pentatonic and Dorian inflections)
Meter: 4/4
| Verse | Verse / Half-solo | Bridge |
Recorded: 11th, 12th September 1963, Abbey Road 2
US-release: 20th January 1964 (LP "Meet The Beatles”)
Style and Form
This moody and exotic sounding number was, of course, the first solo- original composition
George was to do With The Beatles. As a premiere effort, it is technically quite polished, yet even
more notable for its compositional individualism, especially in light of what must have been the
creative climate within The Beatles as a group at the time of its composition, in the second half
of '63. Even without any kind of direct peer-pressure from John and Paul, you'd think, given the
rapidly rising tide of Beatlemania, it would have been the easiest, or at least easier, path for
George to show up with something a lot less imaginative and rather more slavishly imitative of
his older, more experienced mates.
Instead, though you might be sorely tempted to want to pull him down on the bed with you
by his shoulders and beg him to lighten up (would ya' ?), you've got to admire him for being
himself at all costs, and for coming up with a song that turns out in retrospect to uncannily
foreshadow musical techniques and tendencies with which he would preoccupy himself for years
to come; in particular, the minor key, the sensually modal melody, and the inwardly focused and
sad/angry theme of the lyrics.
Harmony
Although the song sounds overall as though in a minor key, there are a number of positively
modal touches to be found in the chord choices and progressions. In particular, the 'v' chord used
here is a minor triad, unsuitable for use as a strong Dominant in establishing the home key.
Consequently, the burden of that function is shared in this song between the VII chord (which in
a Major key would have to be called 'flat VII' because it does not occur naturally in Major keys,
whereas it is actually quite at home here in the minor/modal domain), and the IV.
The appearance in this song of the Major IV chord in a minor sounding mode is a unique
twist on a trick we're used to see being played in reverse. Strictly speaking, this device is
associated with the ancient “Dorian” church mode; think of it as the all white-note scale starting
on d – and note, how its 6th scale degree is a Major sixth above the tonic note of the scale,
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whereas the other modes we're familiar with that have a minor bottom half, such as the “natural
minor” (aka “the Aeolian mode”), have a minor 6th degree.
Melody
The melody of this song is equally as pentatonic in pitch content as “All I've Got To Do”, but
there is a crucial difference between the two songs. “All I've Got To Do” uses the five notes of
the pentatonic scale to conjure a mode that is primarily Major in feel; our song here, “Don't
Bother Me”, rearranges the same five notes to convey a deeply minor mode.
In order to explain this, let's normalize the two song melodies by transposing them so that
they both lie along the black notes of the piano. In this case, the home key of “All I've Got To
Do” may be said to be F# Major, and the melody is for the most part built out of a Major scale
that has some unusual gaps; i.e., with rare exceptions, mentioned in our note last time, the tune of
“All I've Got To Do” is limited to a scale of F# - G# - A# - C# - D# - F#. Note carefully, the
distinctive modal inflection created by the absence of both a 4th and 7th degree in this scale. On
the other hand, the presence of A#, a Major third above the tonic note, is sufficient to establish
the underlying feel of a Major key.
“Don't Bother Me”, when transposed to this world of the black notes, is in a home key that
sounds very much like d# minor, but which contains its own unique set of modal inflections. In
contrast to “All I've Got To Do”, our scale for “Don't Bother Me” is spelled as D# - F# - G# - A#
- C# - D#. This time it is the absence of a 2nd and and 6th degrees in the scale which lend a
characteristic pungency to the song's melody. And yet again, the presence of F# in this scale, a
minor third above the tonic note, is sufficient to establish the underlying feel of a minor key.
What's particularly interesting about “Don't Bother Me” is the way in which those missing
scale degrees do make their subtle, limited appearance. The second scale degree (E# - let's keep
it all transposed to d# minor for the moment), for example, is carefully saved for its powerfully
unique melodic appearance at the very climax of the bridge section; it also turns out to be the
highest melodic note in the entire song. By the same token, the harmonic trick of alternating
throughout the song between a minor and Major chord on IV (A minor as alternated with A
Major) is made possible by manipulation of the 6th degree of the scale (in the transposed context
of d# minor, we're talking about B and B#) which is otherwise entirely absent from the tune.
And to hopefully head off my critics at the pass, I know that none of the Beatles could read or
write musical notation and were untrained in the rudiments of theory. I acknowledge with equal
unequivocality that none of them as composers would likely ever work the sorts of technical
pirouettes we've been discussing into their songs aforethought, even if they had been trained in
music theory. But that in no way diminishes the manifest sophistication of the finished product.
If anything, the fact that they were capable of such intricacy on the subconscious, intuitive level
makes their achievements all the more impressive, in my humble opinion.
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Arrangement
We get George's double tracked vocal the whole way through in this song, and there are no
other backing voices. If you have the chance to hear the single-track vocal on take 13 (which is
the actual base track to which the second vocal was overdubbed) you'll acquire a sense of the
power that double tracking has to paper over a multitude of notes sung slightly out of tune.
The rhythm track is characterized by heavily reverbed guitar parts and an almost ostentatious
battery of world-music percussion instruments; the latter being overdubbed by the other three
Beatles along with George’s second vocal.
The solo guitar section is structured in a remarkably similar way to the one in “From Me To
You”; an example of yet another formulaic device of the genre, in which the instrumental solo
part is a close paraphrase of the original melody, and the vocal part is then resumed for the last
phrase or two of the section as though it were a refrain.
Intro
I believe that the tempo of this song is actually twice the speed of what George slowly counts
in at the beginning of takes 11 - 13; if for no other reason than the section lengths will appear to
be impossibly short in terms of numbers-of-measures if we take George at his word, without any
recalibration. In any event, the intro is four measures long and is built out of material which
cleverly anticipates the opening of the bridge section to come much later, right down to that
recognizable figure in the bass line:
Chords: |D
Bass line: D
F#
e: VII
||E
D
|e
E
i
|-
|
[Figure 37.1]
Regardless of tempo and elaborate percussion noises, the song retains a measured, somewhat
ponderous feel as a result of the slow and even pace of the harmonic rhythm.
The non-I opening with its reliance on the VII -> i progression to establish the initial sense of
key is quite elliptical; you might even be fooled into thinking for an instant that the song is going
to be in the key of D Major and that the e chord which follows is the ii, and not the i!
Verse
The verse is twelve measures long and built out of three phrases equal in length. Though the
harmonies and overall style are far removed from the strict blues style, the structure here is
undeniably quite blues-like:
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e:
|b
v
|a
iv
|G
III
|e
i
|
|b
v
|a
iv
|G
III
|-
|
|e
i
|A
IV
|e
i
|-
|
[Figure 37.2]
The first two phrases have a couplet-like parallelism to them, with the third phrase providing
a refrain-like capping off; the flourish of drums at the end of the second phrase, followed by a
sudden grand pause for just an instant further articulates this structure. Similarly, the fourth
iteration of this section, with its guitar solo for the first two phrases and return of the vocal part
in the final phrase also serves to underscore the refrain effect.
All such formal articulation aside, this section is relatively static and closed up in shape. All
three melodic phrases are flatly declarative in the way they tersely finish saying their respective
pieces well before the end of the four measures of music allotted to them. The harmony is
similarly static, giving virtually unrelieved emphasis to the i chord of e minor. The ending of the
second phrase on G for a change, and the way in which the downward melodic motion of the
third phrase balances out the upward gestures of the preceding two phrases are our only
dynamic formal gestures. At the very least, this claustrophobic and withdrawn feeling of the
music here is very much in keeping with the sense of the words.
The minor iv chord is used in context of the chord-stream-like progression of the first two
phrases where it fits in smoothly, and allows George to save that Dorian Major IV chord for
expressive, surprise effect in the final phrase.
Bridge
The bridge is sixteen measures long and is built out of four phrases even in length; perhaps it
would be more accurate to describe the final eight measures as one longer phrase; just as in the
verse, the third phrase comes to balance out the couplet parallelism of the first two phrases:
|D
VII
|-
|e
i
|-
|
|D
VII
|-
|e
i
|-
||
|b
v
|-
|a
iv
|-
|
|C
VI
|-
|e
i
|-
||
[Figure 37.3]
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Several elements help create some sense of contrast between this section and the surrounding
verses: the 4x4 phraseology, the opening up of the melodic space to allow for an effective climax
on the high f# in measure 9, the appearance of a couple of chords not yet heard in the song, and
the sudden slowing down of the harmonic rhythm to one chord change every other measure.
Although the tempo of the song is steady throughout, the return in the
following verse to chord changes in every measure creates a subtle illusion of acceleration.
In spite of all the above, the inwardly focused and static mood established in the verses is
pretty well sustained in this bridge; primarily a result of the continued relentless emphasis on the
tonic chord of our home key of e minor. The relative absence here of strongly functional chord
progressions, which in most songs are the principle agent by which a key is established, winds up
defaulting a large part of that function to a phenomenon that might be described as “establishing
the key by repetitive insistence.” As a listener it makes you feel paradoxically in no real doubt as
to what key we're, but still you may feel vaguely dissatisfied; a feeling not at all
out of keeping with the song's own inner feelings.
The most sublime moment of pathos in the song is found in the arpeggiated melodic ascent to
the high note of f# in measure 9, followed as it is by a descent from the minor v chord to iv; note
the parallel fifths created between bass line and melody by this move.
Outro
The outro presents a typical sort of looping on the final sub-phrase of the verse which by no
coincidence includes the title within its lyrics. The harmony here oscillates between the i and IV
chords. As a variation upon all previous appearances in the song of this chord progression, the IV
chord is now emphasized by a hard-accented syncopation on the eighth note just before the
downbeat where you expect it to appear; on "four-AND". It's a matter of what I so often describe
as an avoidance of foolish consistency, but even more so, its a touch of musical agitation in
keeping with and reflective of what has been described in the words of the song throughout.
Some Final Thoughts
At the time of its release “Don't Bother Me” was likely the most negative lyric in the Beatles'
canon to-date. And for all that it superficially would seem to presage John's “You've Got To Hide
Your Love Away”, there are some key differences between the two songs which only serve to
sharpen our view of George's individual profile and outlook.
Whereas both fellows might seem to suffer with equal amounts of inconsolable sadness, it is
George who seems to rush in where John would fear (or is perhaps too crashed-out to want to)
tread. In place of John's reticent perplexity, George gives us many words and pronouncements;
blaming himself, complaining about the unfairness of his fate (“it's just not right”), and above all,
certain there can never be another like her, crying/waiting/hoping that there's a happy ending
somewhere in store when she'll come back.
Intentional or not, I believe that the wordiness of the song enhances and accentuates its
impact. It's one of those cases where you can turn off the CD and read the text of the song quietly
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aloud to yourself from a book or computer screen; even without the musical medium, the
message still seems come right at you, straight from the shoulder.
“Can I say something ? ... It's highly unlikely we'll be on. I mean the law of averages are against you and it seems
that, etc. etc. …” 101491#37
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Little Child
Key: E Major
Meter: 4/4
| Break | Bridge | Verse | Outro (fade-out)
Recorded: 11th, 12th September, 3rd October 1963, Abbey Road 2
Style and Form
The form of this song is a bit tricky. On strictly musical grounds, I believe one hears it in the
way that I've parsed it above, as one of the standard and familiar formal models. However, the
repeat pattern of the lyrics would seem to argue otherwise; that what I've labeled a “verse” is
more of a “refrain” because the words are unvaried over four repeats of the section. Similarly,
that what I've labeled as a “bridge” is more properly a “verse” because it is only in that section
that the words are varied. This alternate pigeon-holing scheme though would yield an unusual
formal structure indeed:
Intro | Refrain | Refrain | Verse | Refrain |
| Break | Verse | Refrain | Outro (fade-out)
Hence, I'll stay with my original analysis, though this formal ambiguity caused by the
disposition of the lyrics is noteworthy. We ran into a similar dilemma on “It Won't Be Long” way
back in article #10 of the series and the temporal proximity of these two songs makes me wonder
if, on some level, John was consciously experimenting at the time in this way.
Another quite uncommon feature in the form of this song is the appearance of an honest-togoodness instrumental break, in strict 12-bar blues no less!
Harmony
The key is decidedly E Major and the mood ravingly upbeat. However, the harmonic diet
here is more low-budget than we've seen in a while, restricted to only four chords and very
common ones at that. In order of appearance, there are the I, IV, V, and V-of-V; that's the Major
chords built on E, A, B, and F#, respectively. Note how the lack of any minor, diminished,
augmented or otherwise altered harmonies helps to project the uncomplicated emotional tone of
the song.
Unlike many of the other songs we've looked at, in which harmonic rhythm tends to follow a
fairly regular pattern (e.g. chord changes in every measure, or every other measure), the
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harmonic rhythm in this song is a bit more flexibly varied to help articulate shape of the sections;
the verses in particular.
Arrangement
There's a lot of overdubbing on this otherwise simple track to the extreme that even the
original British mix of it on With The Beatles has a Dave-Dexter-Jr.-like muddiness that becomes
part of the experience of the song, whether or not you particularly like it aesthetically. Unlike the
case of “Thank You Girl” I'm afraid to think that there's no clean/dry version of this one even in
the vaults of EMI.
On the vocal parts, a double-tracked John is featured solo, with Paul joining him for little
flashes of harmony. Instrumental overdubs feature Paul on piano and John on harmonica pretty
much the whole way through.
Intro
Don't be fooled by those seemingly ad-lib and out-of-tempo harmonica chords at the
beginning. They are precisely in tempo making the intro weigh in at four measures long:
E:
|E
I
|A
IV
|E9
I
|-
|
[Figure 38.1]
Of course, your ear can't figure all this out until the accompaniment kicks with that piano
glissando right before the third chord, but it's just this sort of ambiguity than enhances the fun of
the music. The spicy F# in the harmonica played over the E chord in the third measure sounds a
jazzy, freely dissonant note that is picked up on again in the repeated appearance of Major 9th
chords of the verses, and during a good part of the instrumental break.
Verse
The refrain-like verse is only eight measures long and built out of two phrases equal in
length:
E:
|E
I
|-
|-
|B
V
|A
IV
|F#9
V-of-V
A
IV
|E
I
|
|B
V
||
[Figure 38.2]
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The first four-measure phrase itself subdivides rhetorically into a ready-steady-go group of
three short “phrasettes” (to coin a term), quite reminiscent of the “move over once, move over
twice ...” snippet in “One After 909”, and it is harmonically closed in shape. The second phrase
nicely balances this out by subdividing more neatly right down the middle of its four measures,
and by its harmonically open ending on the V chord.
The second verse is a slight musical variant of the first one of the sort we've seen before in
songs like “Ask Me Why”, “There's A Place”, and the slightly later “I Should Have Known
Better.” Here, the structural purpose of the change is to harmonically close up the ending of the
second phrase:
E:
|E
I
|-
|-
A
IV
|B
V
|A
IV
|F#9
B
V-of-V V
|E
I
|
|E
I
||
[Figure 38.3]
Bridge
The stylistic gesture of short phrases seen in the verses is perpetuated in this bridge as well,
which is only six measures long, yet contains three phrases equal in length:
|E
I
|B
V
||E
I
|-
||F#
V-of-V
|B
V
||
[Figure 38.4]
The usage in this section of a poetic triplet nicely contrasts with, and provides some helpful
relief from, the quatrains of the surrounding verses. Compared to a song like “I'll Get You”,
there's a virtual absence in this song of melodic appoggiaturas. However, in measure 5 of this
bridge, above F# chord, there's a stunner of a d# in the melody on the downbeat.
Break
It's a rare early Beatles song indeed that has such a break section as this one, both completely
instrumental and not based on one of the preceding sections of the song.
The last two chords of this otherwise pure 12-bar blues passage are modified to include the
IV -> V-of-V -> V progression which by this point of the song strongly resonates with the end of
the verse sections, and this tweak helps to unify the break section with its surroundings.
John's wailing solo is quite nicely done and as a little bonus he even throws in some slow
triplets right at the climactic penultimate measure as though just to let us know for sure it's a
“John song”; as if this fact were not already clear as an azure sky or an un-muddied lake. My
only complaint here is the uncharacteristic roughness with which both the beginning and end of
this overdub were edited in.
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Outro
We have a very standard looping into the fadeout based on the final two measures of the
verse with some clever handling of the duet vocals as they alternate in pattern on the "oh yeahs”.
Some Final Thoughts
This song is the fifth one in a row on the first side of With The Beatles in the key of E.
Though a comparison of the album's running order to a Baroque dance suite is perhaps a jesting
overstatement, there is a certain amount of classic sensibility reflected in the way those five
Beatles originals are sequenced to provide a balanced and varied alternation of mood and tempo.
That said, “Little Child” is probably the weakest of those five songs; following on the heels
of “Don't Bother Me” it's a case of “from the ridiculous to the sublime”, or shall we say it the
other way around? On casual acquaintance, it's easy to dislike “Little Child” for what are, by
today's standards, its condescendingly wise guy/sexist lyrics. Even a closer look at the music
itself might make you think of it as a pot-boiling throwback to the first album because of the
small number of chords, the facile melody, and simple phrasing.
And yet, if you can get beyond your own hyper-serious reactions (hey, Alan, speak for
yourself), I believe you start hearing this song actually as one feel-good rocker of no small
sincerity. In time, the words eventually warm up to strike you as the quite realistic braggadocio
of a cool dude on the make. And what you at first reacted to as rudeness in that cool appraising
stare of his is nothing other than his active compensatory factor, more or less.
“I bet you're a great swimmer. My turn? Bingo!”102191#38
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Hold Me Tight
Key: F Major
Meter: 4/4
| Bridge | Verse | Outro (complete ending)
Style and Form
This one's a good example of the standard two-bridge-but-no-solo formal model, and it's in
the unusual key choice for the Beatles of F Major. And that's where the easy parts of it end.
Granted, it has some mixed reputation among even the serious fans, and none other than Paul
himself has been known to vaguely shrug it off as just a “work song.” But, no matter, there is no
escaping its technical sophistication. Consider the following three items for starters, and keep in
mind we're not even getting anywhere near the finer details yet:
• Chromatic “line cliches” are hidden throughout the song within the inner voices of the
chord changes, sewn between the layers of fabric, as it were, to an extent that the device
provides structure and unification, not just decoration.
• The rhythm track features the similarly widespread use of an ostinato figure in the bass and
guitar parts; i.e., the same arpeggiated riff transposed and repeated for many of the chord
changes.
• In between the end of the second verse and the beginning of the bridge there is a
simultaneously melodic, verbal, and metric elision in which the measure containing word
“you” serves as a pivot.
I don't know if it's just a side-effect of the growing number of songs in the Beatles canon
we've already covered in this series, or if “Hold Me Tight” really is that stylistically resonant, but
I am struck by the extent to which it free associates with other Lennon/McCartney songs. We
observed widespread use of chromatic line cliches in “You Won't See Me”, phrasing elisions in
“It Won't Be Long” and “Any Time At All”, and an ostinato bass line in “Day Tripper” and
(eventually will when we get up to) “Lady Madonna.” However, I believe that the most
important resonance for “Hold Me Tight” is in its affinity with the emotional push-pull of
“Please Please Me”. Even though “Hold Me Tight” does not contain the same level of expository
high drama as the latter song, it does seem to describe a similar tableau of hot pursuit at the
brink.
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Harmony
The song is unrelievedly in the key of F Major. Though only seven different chords are used
throughout, three of them (almost half the budget) are altered, or borrowed ones, not occurring
naturally in the home key. In order of appearance these are V-of-V (G), minor iv (B flat minor),
and flat III (A flat). By now we've become quite used to seeing examples of the first two of these
chords in Beatles songs.
But the last one, "flat III", is a bit more rare and dramatic in sound. In theoretical terms, it's
actually not quite as remote a neighbor to the home key as may appear at first glance. The
textbooks describe it as the relative Major to the parallel minor – imagine the home key being f
minor instead of F Major and you'll see what I mean. In context of the Beatles, we've seen this
one used before in the bridge section of “You're Going To Lose That Girl” and as part of a little
chord stream in the verse section of “Please Please Me”. In any event, the special dramatic
flavor of this chord is manifested in the way that, when juxtaposed with the I chord, we hear an
implied melodic wavering between the Major/minor third degree of the scale; in our song which
is in F Major, we're talking about the notes A flat and A natural.
Arrangement
The arrangement has an overall thick sound with husky sounding guitars, lots of cymbal
sizzle, and hand claps.
Paul gets to sing the lead vocal solo, while John and George provide a backing part that
features a tricky passage of syncopated antiphony with the lead in the third phrase of the verses.
The same sloppiness of execution which brought take 22 of the song to a rapid halt may also be
heard on the finished track for an instant during the third verse.
The backing vocals sound discordant to the extent that they are placed very close to each
other pitch-wise, and for John especially, are high up in the voice range. This is actually a
widespread trademark device of the group and perhaps the reason why some react to it here with
less than their usual enthusiasm is because the combination of John with George in this context is
just not as euphonious as it is with Paul.
And of course, there is the infamously repeated verbal collision every time the phrase “it
feels so right so/now” appears. Though there are several other such mistakes littered throughout
the official recordings, I tend to think of this as being not so much an error as what I can only
surmise was an intentional albeit misguided experiment.
Intro
The intro is only two measures long yet it manages to quickly establish the key, expose the
ostinato guitar figure, and introduce what emerges over the course of the song as one of its
hooks, the phrase "it feels so right." The whole thing sounds deceptively similar to the way the
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end of the bridge sections lead back around into the verses which follow them. However, a
variation in the rhythmic emphasis of the backing track here makes for a subtle difference.
Verse
The verse is sixteen measures long and divides up into three phrases. The first two are a
couplet of four measures each, and the last eight measures combine to make one long phrase
which nicely balances out the previous two:
----------------------- 2X -----------------------Line cliché: A
B-flat
B-natural
C
Chords: |F
|B-flat
|G
|C
|
F: I
IV
V-of-V
V
Line cliché: F
Chords: |F
F: I
Chords: |F
F: I
E-flat
|F7
V-of-IV
D
|B-flat
IV
|b-flat minor|F
IV
I
D-flat
|b-flat minor|
iv
|C
V
|
[Figure 39.1]
This section has a strongly dramatic arch-like feeling to it in the way it begins to intensify
during the third phrase toward a clear climax on the downbeat of the thirteenth measure (on the
phrase “it's YOU”).
The setup of the climax is musically abetted by a number of factors. The first four measures
of the long third phrase are rhetorically insistent in the way they repeat the same two melodic
notes several times (“so hold me tight, tonight ...”). This is further supported by the way in which
the root harmonic rhythm suddenly slows from a change every measure to every other measure
and the syncopated antiphony of the backing vocal. The big moment itself is enhanced by the
appearance of the long-awaited melodic high note on the downbeat of measure 13, and the
sudden cessation of the agitated syncopation of the previous measures.
Even the sequencing of upward versus downward line cliches plays a dramatic role. One
might say, in the same oversimplified language that allows us to describe the Major mode as
“happy” and the minor as “sad”, that upward line cliches connote such things as eager
expectation, while the downward ones connote grimness or impatience. In that sense, the use of
the upward gesture in the first two phrases, followed by the downward one at the beginning of
the third phrase helps portray a dramatic development which has quite a bit of real-world
experiential resonance to it. The cheerful coaxing of the first half of this verse might be said to
give way to something a bit more desperate before it's over. I even hear this tension reinforced by
the way the minor iv chord is inserted so quickly after what would otherwise be a moment of
release following the climax; try that phrase with the more “natural” Major IV and see how
different it feels.
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Verse Variations
All the verses other than the first one contain an A flat chord (flat III) in their last measure;
all the smoother to lead toward the bridge and outro sections.
Yet another small example of foolish consistency avoided can be found in the way Paul
throws in a little vocal flip and stretches out the scanning of the words in the first phrase of the
third verse.
Bridge
This bridge is an unusual seven measures in length and its subphrases are not easily or neatly
to be parsed. There is even some ambiguous possibility, created by the elision mentioned above,
that this section is to be heard as eight measures long if you include the last elided measure of the
verse as part of the bridge.
Line cliché: A
Chords: |F
F: I
A-flat
A
|A-flat |F
flat-III I
B-flat
|B-flat
IV
B-nat
C
|g-minor |G-Major |C
ii
V-of-V
V
[Figure 39.2]
As a variation on the straight up-or-down line cliches of the verse, we have in this section a
more snake-like inner line which lends an air of suspenseful indecision to the music. The slowing
of the root harmonic rhythm toward the end reinforces that sense of suspense. Note though how
this mood is shaken off by section's ending with another climax, this time assisted by an upward
line cliche.
Other more typical sources of bridge-like contrast here are the change in texture (drumming
without cymbals and slowly-strummed guitar chords on the downbeats—see “I Should Have
Known Better”), and the backing voices being given a rest.
Outro
The outro is done as fake pass at a third repetition of the bridge that literally grinds to a stop,
with the ritardando starting a full three measures before the end. Given the sort of emotional
program of pursuit sketched out earlier, this sort of musical ending doesn't bode well for the fate
of our hero.
Some Final Thoughts
In context of the rest of the Beatles' early output, this is clearly one of their hotter “touch”
songs; more urgent than the sweetly pleading “I Want To Hold Your Hand” but also less
confrontational than “Please Please Me”.
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Ironically though, “Hold Me Tight” also reminds one at the same time of the more innocent
precursor songs of pursuit by other artists. In particular, I hear echoes in it of Carl Perkins' “Sure
To Fall” which includes the line, “so hold me tight, let tonight be the night, darling, don't ever let
me go.”
In the final result, as we saw earlier in the case of “All My Loving” versus “It Won't Be
Long”, whatever parallels may be found between “Hold Me Tight” and “Please Please Me” also
serve to underscore some of the primal differences in style between Paul and John. Just as in “All
My Loving”, the focus for Paul in “Hold Me Tight” is temporally on the present and future of the
relationship to the love object (no past!), and is emotionally self-centered with no allowance for
or representation of her feelings and actions. John, in contrast, always includes both allusions to
the past and her actions, even resorting as necessary to some clever measures to work this into
the lyrical narrative no matter how obliquely.
There's also a much simpler logistical difference between the respective endings of “Please
Please Me” and “Hold Me Tight”. Whereas the former would seem to end with the gauntlet
thrown down and the situation beyond the point of return, the latter would seem to leave us with
the poor hero “on my knees, beggin' if you please.” But, oops, that's a different song altogether,
isn't it?
“Aye, but don't rush. None of your five bar gate jumps and over sort of stuff.” 112091#39
Page 237 of 962
I Wanna Be Your Man
Key: E Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Verse | Refrain | Verse | Refrain | Break |
3rd, 23rd October 1963, Abbey Road 2
Style and Form
This song is ravingly bluesy in a stylized but facile, simplistic way, representing a certain
kind of triumph of style per se over content. If you're charitably disposed, you'll say that the
heavy attention paid to external mannerism and evocation of mood more than adequately
compensates for the otherwise minimalistic amount and quality of material used throughout. In
any event, the song would seem to demonstrate just how it is that a pop song can, under some
circumstances, be written on the fly in what I'd wager must have been less than a single
afternoon. In context of the other contemporaneous Lennon & McCartney originals of the period,
this one is formalistically notable for its bridge-like refrain, and the improvisatory instrumental
break.
Harmony
Very few chords are used at all, with the verse section being a jam session on virtually just
one chord. A few additional chords appear in the refrain though they are all garden variety in
nature.
Arrangement
Ringo, of course, gets to sing the lead vocal and he's accompanied by John and Paul in the
refrain. The rest of the texture is quite fluffed up, perhaps even overdone a bit, with double
tracking, overdubbed Hammond organ, and a lot of screaming.
We have the case here where non-official versions of the song, preserved as they are in
unreleased recordings of BBC radio broadcasts and live concerts, present a revised arrangement
which omits the organ but is in all other respects more effective. I'll single out such specific
improvements as we come to them in our walkthrough below.
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Verse
You can hardly call it an intro by itself, but the hot little guitar lick that precedes the opening
downbeat helps immediately set the wild and crazy mood of what is to come. Several live
versions include four full measures of introductory vamping on E before Ringo's vocal entry.
The overall section is seventeen measures long and divides up into two eight-measure
couplets, plus one additional measure to give a little breathing space for the long pickup into the
refrain. This last measure is not strictly required in the scheme of things, and its presence does
indeed create a slightly awkward metrical asymmetry. My guess is that they decided to include it
as the lesser of two evils because if you try this section out without that seventeenth measure, the
title phrase which commences the refrain gets garbled in a scramble to squeeze it into measure
sixteen.
Only the I chord (E) is used in this section, though there is a brief hint of the V chord (B) in
the second half of measures 8 and 15; this chord change is much more clearly articulated in the
live versions. The bluesy melody with its emphasis on f# and the flat-seventh (d) lends some
indirect harmonic embellishment of that lone E chord.
Refrain
This refrain is eight measures long and built out of four little 2-measure phrases each of
which declaims the title phrase of the lyrics:
Riff: f#-f-e|d#
Chords:
|F#
E:
V-of-V
d#
|f#
ii **
|B
V
|B
V
e-d#-d|c#
|E
I
|E
I
f#-f-e|
|C#
|
V-of-ii
|-
|
[Figure 40.1]
[** that f# minor chord just *might* be F# Major but I find the recording too muddy to tell for sure.]
The shift in this section to a distinctly non-bluesy style with those cornball chromatic-scale
guitar riffs is the primary source of formal contrast.
On a more subtle level, the introduction in this section of a number of different chords with a
concomitant amount of harmonic rhythm also contrasts with the monotony of the verses. Though
this refrain doesn't actually stray at all from the home key, the large number of intensely
functional chord changes (with root movements lying along the circle of fifths) make it sound as
though it's very much on the harmonic prowl.
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Break
The break is twelve bars long and like the verse, it jams on just a single chord. The heavy
blues style returns with what seems like a high water mark amount of shouts and grunting. The
guitar solo here consists of sound-bite-like short “licks”. There is very little of the sort of melodic
continuity or dramatic sense of direction seen in the solos of either “I Saw Her Standing There”
or even “Little Child.” The live versions turn this section very clearly into a 12-bar blues frame
and feature more overall shape to the guitar solo.
Outro
The outro brings a return of the texture heard in the Break, only this time there is an
adaptation of the vocal parts of the refrain superimposed over the backing track.
A small flash of the IV chord (A) during the fadeout hints at the real blues jam session that
might have gone on in the studio after the faders had been lowered all the way; see the
unreleased Take 7 of “She's A Woman” for an example of what I'm thinking of.
The live versions of our song in fact replicate the 12-bar blues form seen in the Break and
thus take the song to an alternate complete ending.
Some Final Thoughts
Tony Barrow, whose liner notes on the first couple albums are surprisingly accurate most of
the time in spite of their unabashed PR-perspective, gets caught in, not one, but two lies
regarding this song:
1. saying the song was written especially for Ringo rather than the Rolling Stones, and
2. that it is John on the Hammond organ, not (as Lewisohn reports) George Martin.
There are a number of well known Dylan-Beatles connections out there, but one of the more
obscure and unusual examples must be Zimmy's unreleased track from a late '65 session done
with the proto-Band; a song entitled “I Wanna Be Your Lover”, in the refrain of which he
humorously sends up our own “I Wanna Be Your Man”. The existence of such a parody forces
me to acknowledge, almost against my will as it were, that our song must have had, in spite of
whatever its limitations, a sufficient presence as a ready-made pop-culture icon in order to draw
such distinguished imitation, even if only in jest. But I guess that's what I meant to begin with,
with my own wisecrack about the triumph of style per se over content.
“I don't wanna be her's, ... I wanna be your's!” 112491#40
Page 240 of 962
Not A Second Time
Key: G Major / e minor
Meter: 4/4
Form: Verse (initial) | Verse (variant) | Refrain |
| Refrain (solo) | Verse (initial) |
| Verse (variant)| Refrain | Outro (fade-out)
Recorded: 11th, September, Abbey Road 2
Style and Form
Though far from having been one of the big hits of its period, this one has its own share of
small-to-medium sized stylistic innovations; especially in terms of form and key definition.
The middle section of the song would appear to be much more of a refrain than a bridge
according to the couple of principles suggested for making such a distinction back in our Notes
on “All My Loving.” After all, it does feature the song's lyrical hook at the end and feels overall
more like a fulfillment of the verses than a contrasting interlude away from them. Nevertheless,
it's still an unusual sort of refrain for its convergent harmonic shape and the way in which it
sounds like a continuing outgrowth of the verse instead of a discrete section on its
own. You also expect a refrain to be a bit more tunefully catchy if not downright jingle-like than
this one is; think of examples such as “She Loves You”, and “It Won't Be Long”, and of course,
“All My Loving.”
The appearance of the instrumental solo in a section based on the refrain instead of the verse
is another unusual formal feature here. So is the fact that this solo-refrain immediately follows
another refrain section.
Less unique but nonetheless noteworthy is the use of a variation of the original verse section
for those verses which immediately precede a refrain.
Harmony
The harmonic vocabulary is relatively straightforward. A total of six chords is used though
they are all part of the set that is diatonically available within the home key. Unusually,
diminished chord on vii is used but the more common IV chord is not.
The identity of the home key is less clear. Though ostensibly in G Major, there is quite a bit
of emphasis given to the relative minor key of e by virtue of heavy use of the I - vi chord
progression in the verses and the way in which the refrain veers toward the key of vi. This I/vi
ambiguity had been used rather incidentally by the Boys in such past songs as “From Me To
Page 241 of 962
You” and “All I've Got To Do.” Here though, seemingly for the first time, it provides a
programmatic touch of pathos that belies the plain meaning of the words.
The lyrics would seem on the surface to articulate a feeling of unbendable resolve not to be
taken in or fooled any more, yet the manner in which the resolute harmonies of G Major
repeatedly give way in the refrain sections to surprising turns toward the more mournful,
disappointed key of e would indicate that the hero is not quite so able to follow his own best
advice. In Classical usage, such deceptive cadences to the relative minor are typically done as a
tease, after which, things are quickly put right. Our song, in contrast, allows this last minute
change to hold sway, making it feel all the more ominous.
Arrangement
Keyboards show up relatively frequently in the songs on the With The Beatles album, though
the piano part is especially prominent in a bottom heavy way on this track, with its solo part
played in the unusual baritone range.
John appears vocally double-tracked throughout and it's a rare track indeed from this early
Beatles period in which literally no other backing voice parts are included.
A resolute rhythmic figure (“bom - pause - b'bom - ching!”), one quite reminiscent of
“There's A Place”, pervades much of the song. By no coincidence, “There's A Place” turns out to
be a yet another song in which a tension between decision and doubt would seem to reign.
Initial Verse
The lack of an intro is partially compensated for by the way the drums come in at the
beginning of the fifth measure of the first verse, making the first half of the initial verse feel
somewhat like an intro in retrospect. The tune is heavily pentatonic though not exclusively so;
reminiscent of what we saw in “All I've Got To Do”, right down to the detail of the way in which
the non-pentatonic 7th degree of the scale (f# in this song) is used as an expressive 9-8
appoggiatura over the vi chord (e minor); refer to the fourth measure of the verse on the word
“why”. The verses all have an odd length of seven measures which parses into sub-phrases of 2 +
2 + 3 measures:
----|G
G: I
2 ----- ------ 2 ------ ---------- 3 ---------|e
|G
|e
|D
|G
|D
|
vi
I
vi
V
I
V
[Figure 41.1]
Verse Variant
The primary difference between the initial verse and this variation of it is in the change of the
chord in measure six from I (G Major) to ii (a minor). Even though both verses otherwise have
Page 242 of 962
the same length, sub-phrasing, and open harmonic ending on V, this isolated chord change still
does make for a subtle difference.
In the initial verse, the appearance of the I chord in measure 6 provides a palpable sense of
closure, almost as though the verse were really six measures long, with the V chord of the
seventh measure being an appendix put there specifically to motivate the following verse. This is
especially true in the first appearance of the initial verse where the vocal part ends in measure 6,
leaving measure 7 fully exposed as a filler.
By contrast, the ii chord in measure 6 of the verse variant extends the open-ended feeling of
the V chord that precedes it in measure 5. As a result, one can feel a sense, building all the way
through the last three measures of this verse variant, of expectation that is ultimately fulfilled
with the arrival of the refrain.
Refrain
As we alluded up top, this refrain is unusual many respects. For starters, it is ten measures in
length and breaks down into a number of rhetorically short phrases of varying lengths which lend
a free-verse feel to the music that is very typical of John Lennon even in this relatively early
period:
You're giving me the same old line/I'm wondering why (2 + 2)
You hurt me then/you're back again
(1 + 1)
No, no, no, not a second/time.
(2 + 2)
[Figure 41.2]
Note, by the way, the powerful effect here which stems from the fact that the only one of the
little phrases which begins emphatically on a downbeat is the one beginning with “No”.
Harmonically, we find a vague restlessness in the chord progression of this section. For one
thing, not all the chords are articulated clearly by the fuzzy texture of the arrangement; e.g., is
the chord in the third measure below G Major with an added sixth of e in the melody, or an e
minor chord in its so-called first inversion with the note G in the bass line? And for another
thing, the bass line snakes around (especially in the second half) in a way which further blunts
the sense of clear root chord movement:
Chords: |a
Bass: A
G: ii
|b
B
iii
|G or e? |e
G
E
I or vi? vi
|
Chords: |a
Bass: A
G: ii
|f# dim
A
vii
|b
B
iii
|e
E
vi
|f# dim
A
vii
|-
|
[Figure 41.3]
In fact, I believe that the bass line movement in measures 5 - 8 is one of the critical elements
in setting up the sense of "deception" when the e minor chord appears in place of G Major in
Page 243 of 962
measure 9. Even if you don’t explicitly "listen" to the bass line during the song or read music, I
still think that you expect the bass line to move scale-wise to a chord on G, rather than take the
plunge to e at that point.
Curiously, no V chord is used in this refrain. Instead we have the diminished chord on vii,
which is not only a very reasonable surrogate for the V of the Major key, but is also one of those
chords which enharmonically can also be substituted as the V of the relative minor. In other
words, those diminished triads in measures 6 and 8 might be either the vii of G or e depending
on how they're “spelled”, and it is this ambiguity which helps smooth over the deceptive cadence
and makes it the more believable when it happens.
Outro
The outro consists of an harmonic vamping on the I-vi progression with the vocal part being
a medley being built out of pentatonic fragments of what had been the tune of the verse sections.
In terms of what I've described above as “programatic significance”, this repeated alternation of
I-vi into the fadeout would seem to just about sum up the underlying mood of the song.
As a break from the straight double tracking heard in the rest of the song, there is a small spot
during the outro where John's second part is cascaded against the primary track. One can only
guess whether this is an accidental glitch or an intentional special effect. Perhaps it
serendipitously started out as the former, and they decided to keep it as the latter once they heard
what it sounded like; just maybe.
Some Final Thoughts
The story of a love/hate relationship in which someone is trapped between their rational side
which says “go” while their weaker heart cries “stay anyway, or at least for now” is surely one of
the standard pop-song plot lines of all times. But whereas the songs by other artists which come
to mind (e.g. “You Really Got A Hold On Me” or “You Keep Me Hanging On” just to name a
pair off the top of the head) seem to place the dialectic tension of the situation right on center
stage of the lyrics, it is quite striking to note the extent to which John would be capable of trying
to hide the waveringly weaker side of the story behind an apparently straight-faced and toughminded lyrical exterior as he does here.
Even more striking is the unexpected way in which this sort of ironical use of musical subtext
shows up later in his non love songs. You'll likely have to wait a couple of years or so for it at the
rate at which I'm making progress with the series, but some day when we get to a detailed Note
on it, you may surprised to discover how the same Major/minor musical card trick is tucked
beneath the otherwise arch-blase and disaffected lyrics of no less an epochal song than “A Day In
The Life.” Same exact chords and keys, no more, and certainly no less.
“Eh, Mister, are you nursing a broken heart, then?” 120891#41
Page 244 of 962
The Cover Songs Appearing On The With The Beatles
Album
Both the Please Please Me and With The Beatles albums contain six cover songs and eight
originals. While there are some parallels between the covers on both albums, there are equally
interesting differences as well.
The parallels:
• Both sets of covers contain examples of types of material that the group could or at least would
not write for themselves at this stage of their career. The connections between “Taste of
Honey” versus “Till There Was You” (soppy love ballads), “Boys” versus “Roll Over
Beethoven” (jumping little records with every section a 12-bar blues frame), “Anna” versus
“You Really Got A Hold On Me” (heavy soulful ballads), and “Twist and Shout” versus
“Money” (raving screamers) are fairly obvious.
• Given the decidedly male image of the group, both sets of covers contain a surprisingly strong
showing of material first popularized by so-called Girl Groups; three out of six on the first
album, and two out of six on the second.
• Although The Boys would seem in some respects to rather slavishly copy the original versions
of the songs in both sets of covers, they almost always, by the same token, appear to include
their own subtle stylistic touches.
• This appears with increasing liberty on the second album, where for example three of the
covers whose originals feature a fadeout ending are given a complete one by the Beatles.
The differences:
• Overall, the set of covers on With The Beatles is more heavily weighted toward driving R&B.
Either that or perhaps it is in sympathetic vibration, as it were, with the heavier set of originals
on this album that one hears the covers this way. Though a highly subjective call, I dare say
that With The Beatles packs a harder punch as an album than does Please Please Me partly
because of the type of covers it contains.
• Less subjective is the fact that the With The Beatles covers represent, in part, an older layer of
the Beatles repertoire than the ones on Please Please Me. Of the six covers on With The
Beatles two (“Till There Was You” and “Money”) go back at least as far as the Decca audition,
and “Roll Over Beethoven” goes back even further.
• According to Lewisohn, there was even a time when the proto-Beatles played “Roll Over
Beethoven” with John singing lead! The Please Please Me covers, in contrast, were mostly
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recent hits at the time the Beatles recorded them; only “Baby It's You” predates the 1962
season which immediately preceded the recording of Please Please Me.
Page 246 of 962
Till There Was You
Key: F Major
Meter: 4/4
| Verse (guitar solo) | Bridge | Verse |
| Outro (complete ending)
Composer: Meredith Willson
Influential
version: Peggy Lee (1961)
Recorded: 18th, 30th July 1963, Abbey Road 2
The Beatles acoustic arrangement with its Latin beat and bongos is certainly a far cry from
the smoothly flowing schmaltz of the original version heard in The Music Man Broadway show.
Perhaps this bouncier treatment was inspired by Peggy Lee (unfortunately this is the one original
cover version I did not have on hand for this article), or perhaps, they took their own cue for it
from the likes of “P.S. I Love You” and “Ask Me Why”.
A couple of details betray the Beatles own fingerprints; e.g. the flat VI chord (D flat Major)
in the coda and the final F Major chord with the added Major 7th are definitely not part of the
original. Despite this, the musical essence of this song, with its chromatic winding that pervades
both vocal melody and bass line (and which indirectly affects the choice and progression of
chords) is something quite off the Beatles track.
No matter how much you think he deserves to be ragged on for playing it apparently from
such rote practice, George's acoustic solo work on this track is tastefully conceived and executed
with great nuance. Granted, it’s simultaneously both impressive and depressing to hear the
identical solo, note for note just about, on the Decca tape.
Page 247 of 962
Please Mister Postman
Key: A Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Refrain | Verse | Verse | Refrain |
| Verse | Refrain | Refrain |
| Refrain (fade-out)
Composer: Dobbin / Garrett / Garman / Brianbert
Influential
version: The Marvelettes (1961)
Every section of this song is based on the same I -> vi -> IV -> V chord progression, one of
the most popular cliches of early Rock and Roll, yet one which for some reason the Beatles
generally eschewed.
The monotony of the harmonic plan tends to blur somewhat the distinction between what is
“refrain” and “verse”, but it should be noted how the former utilizes dramatic antiphonal
counterpoint between the backing and lead vocals, while the latter features the lead up front with
the backers softly “oooh-ing.” One of the other covers here features similarly conspicuous
antiphony (see “Devil In Her Heart”) and this sort of device would eventually become a major
trademark of the Beatles original work; think of the likes of “You Can't Do That” and “You're
Going To Lose That Girl.” In “Postman” the vocal antiphony starts, bang!, right in the intro, and
I for one can't avoid hearing a direct resonance between those opening shouts of “Wait!” and the
Boys own “Help!”
John is double tracked while the Marvellete's lead is not. Otherwise the arrangement of both
versions is essentially the same, allowing of course for the large change of key required to
accommodate the different vocal ranges of the two groups.
Incidentally, you'll find that there is some confusion over the authorship of this song if you
compare various sources. Current CD pressings of With The Beatles credit the team listed above.
However, the older LP copies of the Second Album list just “Holland” and this is supported by
the Parlophone company-memo originally defining the running order for With The Beatles as
reproduced in Lewisohn's Recording Sessions. Note though that Lewisohn's Live book lists it as
“Holland/Bateman/Gordy.”
Page 248 of 962
Roll Over Beethoven
Key: D Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse / Refrain| Verse / Refrain| Verse / Refrain| Bridge
| Guitar Solo | Verse / Refrain| Verse / Refrain|
| Refrain (complete ending)
Composer: Chuck Berry
Influential
version: Chuck Berry (1961)
As with many other, if not quite literally all, of Chuck Berry's songs, every section of this
one is in the 12-bar blues form—eight of them all in a row! I only call the fourth section a bridge
(“Well if you feel it”) because of the subtle change in the melody and backbeat.
There's a minor variation here on the standard blues formula in the way that the chord
progression of the last four measures of the 12-bar pattern is played as IV->V->I instead of V>IV->I. This is actually much easier to hear on the Beatles version than the original, though I
believe they both play it the same way.
Formalistically, each 12-bar section is internally sub-divided so that the first eight measures
provide verse-like exposition, and the final four measures deliver a refrain-like hook. Note how
the text of the hook/refrain itself is varied from section to section. Also, note the subtle way in
which formal plan here contrasts from of that of “Money” below.
The lyric is wordy to an extreme bordering on the “talkin' blues” style, and is quite wryly
irreverent. Seen in this perspective, Chuck's performance scans the words against the beat more
freely than does George, in a way that anticipates the style of Dylan in some respects.
The original features a drumming style that is less splashy than the Beatles cover while the
Beatles double track the lead vocal and add their hand-claps to the rhythm track. But these are
small details and otherwise, the Beatles just about rip the whole thing off from Chuck right down
to the opening riff and “middle twelve” break.
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You Really Got A Hold On Me
Key: A Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Refrain | Verse | Refrain |
| Closing | Bridge / Re-Intro | Verse |
| Refrain | Closing | Refrain |
Composer: William Robinson
Influential
version: (Smokey Robinson and) The Miracles (1962)
Recorded: 18th July, 17th October 1963, Abbey Road 2
There's an unusually complex form at play in this song; note, that I define my terms used
above as follows:
•
•
•
•
Verse: “I don't like you ...”
Refrain: “You really got a hold on me ...”
Closing: “I love you and all I want you do ...”
Bridge/Re-intro: instrumental followed by “Tighter!”
The vocal arrangement is equally complex with the relationship between the lead and backers
frequently alternating between trio, solo, and some antiphonal singing.
Harmonically, the song features an emphasis on the I- vi progression that is rather Beatles-like in
an coincidentally ironic way.
Smokey does it in the higher key of C with (just like Chuck) a different scanning of the
words. The original arrangement also features saxes and notably, a fadeout ending. John has the
good sense here to sing it single tracked, but while his performance has an obvious intensely raw
sincerity to it, Smokey's own smoothness is rather hard to beat.
Page 250 of 962
Devil In Her Heart
Key: G Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Refrain / Verse | Refrain / Verse |
| Refrain / Verse | Bridge |
Composer: Richard B. Drapkin
Influential
version: The Donays (1962)
The lyrics and arrangement of this song present an argument between the backers who warn
the lead of his lover’s cruel dishonesty, and the lead who point-by-point protests their sad
prophecies as false and refuses to be swayed by their counsel; it's a regular little Greek Chorus
Drama in miniature.
The form of the song though is surprisingly flat in spite of the dramatic scenario, with a
mechanical succession of Refrain and Verse pairs. Defining my terms again:
• Refrain: “She's got a devil in her heart ...” – I'll still peg these sections as refrains in spite of the
fact that the lyrics which follow the hook line keep changing in each reiteration.
• Verse: “He'll never hurt me or desert me ...”
Both formal sections of the song have a convergent harmonic shape, which is unusual. The
refrains start off with ii->V->I (shades of “Don't Let Me Down”) and the verses start off with the
IV->iv->I (Major IV to minor iv) cliche.
The transfer of this song from a female to male group obviously necessitated changing the
words a bit as well as a transposition of key (the Donay's did it in E.) The original has a large-ish
sounding band behind it and a fadeout ending. The Beatles include maracas, and not only make
the ending a complete one, but adorn it with one of their beloved Major ninth/seventh chords on
I.
Page 251 of 962
Money
Key: E Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Refrain / Verse | Refrain / Verse |
| Refrain / Verse | Break |
| Verse / Refrain | Refrain |
Composer: Janie Bradford / Berry Gordy
Influential
version: Barret Strong (1959)
This is yet another song in which (virtually) every section is in 12-bar blues form, but it bears
an interesting comparison with “Roll Over Beethoven”. Here, the 12-bar frame is divided so that
only four measures are verse-like exposition with the remaining eight devoted to a raving refrain.
The proportions in ROB are a reversed eight-to-four. And the difference is more than just a
mathematical curiosity to the extent that the longer refrain section in “Money” is as much a
factor in making it a screamer of a song as is the performance of the lead singer. If you're looking
for other examples with which to test this theory, look back to the first album where you find the
verse of “Chains” which corresponds to the “Roll Over Beethoven” 8+4 pattern as well as
“Boys” which matches the 4+8 pattern of “Money.”
One additional parallel between “Money” and “Roll Over Beethoven” is the way they both
have final sections in which the hook-phrase takes over the lyrics completely. The Beatles cover
presents the intro and solo as an eight-measure compression of the 12-bar frame. The original
keeps both those sections at the full twelve bar count. Note however that the original has only
two instead of three verse/refrain pairs before the break.
The vocal line of this is very bluesy with lots of juxtaposed Major/minor thirds and flat 7ths
and the arrangement yet again features a large amount of antiphonal singing. The Beatles throw a
hard edged piano in the mix and of course John's blistering vocal now single tracked. The use of
the E Major key nicely supports Tony Barrow's suggestion that you can flip the disk over for a
second play from the beginning since the first track, “It Won't Be Long”, is also in E.
The selection of this particularly raving number for the final track of the album and the
modification of it to include a big-finish complete ending sounds to me like they were striving
hard to repeat the immense success of “Twist And Shout” on the first album, and I'd dare say
they come pretty darn close. If you want to get picky here, perhaps you might deduct a few
points either because the spin-off of the earlier “Twist And Shout” triumph is a bit too obvious or
because the message of the lyrics is kind of crass and rough, for all its tongue-in-cheek posturing,
in a way which doesn't entirely become the image of the group at this point with their collarless
suits and little boots. If I don't watch it, though, I'm going to starting sound too much like Eppie.
“Have you no natural resources of your own?” 121791#42 Page 252 of 962
I Want To Hold Your Hand
Key: G Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Verse | Verse | Verse | Bridge | Verse |
Recorded: 17th October 1963, Abbey Road 2
UK-release: 29th November 1963 (A Single / "This Boy")
US-release: 26th December 1963 (A Single / "I Saw Her Standing There")
Style and Form
On the surface "I Want To Hold Your Hand" is deceptively straightforward and regular in
design. Its high-level form is a standard two-bridge model with only one verse (and no solo)
intervening between the two bridges. Similarly, its phrase lengths appear for the most part to be
symmetrically even, and its back-beat for long stretches sounds closer to conservative pop than
rebelliously hard rock.
And yet, by the same token, just about everyone of the Beatles' early trademark tricks of the
trade is to be found within it: the abrupt syncopations, non-intuitive two-part vocal harmony,
falsetto screaming, an occasionally novel chord progression, even some elided phrasing. And of
course, don't forget the overdubbed handclaps!
Perhaps it is just this paradoxical contrast between familiar and more daring elements that is
at the heart of the song's phenomenal success.
Harmony
The list of chords used is not particularly unusual in itself, though the way they leave the Vof-vi chord (B-Major) repeatedly unresolved in the verse sections is rather creative. The subtle
leaning toward the relative minor key is reminiscent to some extent of what we saw recently in
“Not A Second Time”; and as I mentioned there in connection with “A Day In The Life”, the
same choice of key here yet again seems beyond mere coincidence.
There is also the relatively rare occurrence of a full-blown pivot modulation to the key of IV
(C Major) in the bridges.
Arrangement
John might be said to be the lead vocalist here because it is he who sings the tune proper
while Paul is delegated to singing harmony above him, but most notably, there is no actual vocal
solo in the song; i.e. they sing in duet virtually the whole way through, albeit with frequent
Page 253 of 962
shifting back and forth between singing in unison and that "patented" vocal counterpoint style of
theirs in which they seem to go out of their way to court open fourths and fifths, instead the more
traditional thirds and sixths.
In addition to the handclaps already mentioned, Paul plays quite a bit of double-stops in the
bass part, Ringo throws in some of his structurally significant drum fills in between the second
and third phrase of each verse, and most subtle of all, George contributes a number of lead guitar
fills which you almost don't notice per se, but have always been part of your special enjoyment
of the recording.
Intro
This is a classic opening right into the midst of the action if ever there was one. It converges
toward the home key, starting on IV and moving quickly with heavy syncopations into a big
buildup on the V chord.
This intro is four measures long, but it opens with one and a half beats of music preceding
the first downbeat. The syncopations place the accents on the eighth notes which follow the third
and fourth beats of the measure, which is a bit hard to grasp at first because of the abrupt way in
which the music starts. By measures 3 and 4 though, the rhythmic backing (especially the lead
guitar) helps get you better oriented with the way in which it clearly beats out four in the bar:
Accents:
Beats:
G:
^ ^
^ ^
^ ^
"Oh yeah, I ..."
3&4& 1&2&3&4& 1&2&3&4& 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4
1
CCD|-----CCD|-----CCD|- - - - |- - - ||G (verse)
IV V
IV V
IV V
I
[Figure 43.1]
This large of a climax so early in the evening, so to speak, is unusual and draws one's
immediate and expectant attention.
If you're a big maven of the film "A Hard Day's Night" then you probably have noticed long
ago that Paul, in a rare moment of exuberant spontaneity, horses around at the end of their
performance of “If I Fell” in the film by playing the bass riff for parallel fifths from this intro
while simultaneously tripping the live fantastic for just an instant.
Verse
The all-important verse section here is twelve measures long, but (surprise!) it's hardly a
standard blues frame:
mm. 1-4, 5-8
---------------------------|G
|D
G: I
V
2X ----------------------------|e
|B
|
vi
V-of-vi
Page 254 of 962
mm. 9 - 12
|C
IV
D
V
|G
I
e
vi
|C
IV
D
V
|G
I
|
[Figure 43.2]
The first two phrases form a couplet in which each contains the same harmony and even
melody; the sole difference being that the first phrase melodically ends going down to F#, but the
second goes up to that note (an octave higher than the first time). The third phrase, with its
suddenly double-timed harmonic rhythm, provides the refrain-like title/hook which balances out
and resolves the tension accumulated over the course of the preceding couplet.
The overall melodic arch peaks on the downbeat of measure 10, but in some ways it's an anticlimax, because the more palpable point of no-return occurs on the syncopated and falsettodrenched leap to the high F# just before the downbeat of measure 8. You don't need to be a
musicologist in order to feel such things :-)
The first two phrases each veer straight toward the key of the relative minor, e, via a
deceptive cadence, finishing off on the V of e. In the first instance, this V-of-vi is left dangling
like a non-sequitur when the next phrase starts off all over again from I (G) as though nothing
had happened. Furthermore, this juxtaposition of the G- and B-Major chords creates a tastily
wavering cross-relation between the notes D# and D-natural, somewhat analogous to what we
saw regarding the relation between the chords on I and flat-III in “Hold Me Tight”. In the second
instance, the B chord is itself resolved deceptively by the move to IV (C) at the beginning of the
final phrase.
The chromatic-scale-fill played in parallel fifths on the bass guitar during the second half of
measures 2 and 6 may well be one of the most easily recognized riffs in all music history. Note,
by the way, how neatly George coordinates his own little twang to coincide with the end of Paul's
riff.
The rhythmic scanning of the words breaks up the natural phrasing of the lyrics with frequent
pauses, adding a sweet hint of bashful tongue-tiedness to the affair; e.g. "Oh yeah, I (pause) tell
you something (pause) I think you'll understand etc."
The restraint with which the vocal duet, sung primarily in unison, is allowed to briefly
blossom forth into two-part harmony for only a few measures (measures 8 - 10) is a good
demonstration of how less can be more.
Bridge
The bridge has an unusual length of eleven measures. What I think happens here is that what
"should" have been a more standard eight-measure bridge of two equal phrases is adjoined to a
recapitulation of the song's intro in such a way that the last measure of the eight-measure bridge
is elided with (or perhaps interrupted by) the first measure of the intro-recap:
C:
|d
ii
|G
V
|C
I
|a
vi
|
Page 255 of 962
C:
|d
ii
|G
V
|C
I
G: IV
CCD|-----CCD|
G:
|-----CCD|- - - - |- - - - ||G (verse)
IV V
I
IV V
IV V
[Figure 43.3]
Harmonically, we have a textbook pivot modulation to the key of C. Additional textural
contrast with the surrounding verses is achieved by a change in drumming. I also happen to
especially like, in the measure immediately preceding the bridge, the way the guitar plays a
couple of choppy chords on the off-beats in direct antiphony with the bass.
We have a great example in the voice parts of how the Boys could find an opportunity in
even rather mundane melodic situations to set up one of their splendid open-fifths. When the
music of the intro returns here and they sing the words "I can't hide" three times in a row, John
sings the notes C -» C -» D in all three cases, whereas Paul on the top part sings E -» E -» F# the
first two times, but very naturally precedes up the scale to sing G -» G -» A the third time,
creating the parallel fifths with John.
In the avoidance of foolish consistency department they feature in the second bridge section a
duet for two-part harmony the whole way through.
Outro
As we've seen in other songs, the outro here is developed as an outgrowth of the final verse.
Measure 12 is modified the last time around so that instead of going home to the I chord (G), it
moves quite deceptively to the V-of-vi (B), which neatly motivates a "petit-reprise" (no joke — a
legitimate "technical" term in the parlance of the French Baroque!) of the IV-» V -» I title phrase.
Note, by the way, the incorporation of the intro-like lead-guitar riff into that deceptive cadence.
But wait — there's still one last bang-up surprise to come: the slow triplets and the chord
progression which interpolates two measures of IV coming in between the V and its ultimate
resolution to I; talk about your pent-up but eventually fulfilled gratification!
Some Final Thoughts
This ever-popular number was released as a single in England (together with its B-side: “This
Boy”) precisely one week after the "With The Beatles" album near the end of November 1963. It
is undeniably one of the Beatles all-time blockbusters and in many ways represents the
compositional culmination of what might be called their their Very Early period.
The next recordings to appear would be the March 1964 single of “Can’t Buy Me
Love” (with its B-Side “You Can’t Do That”), by which time the Beatles would have their first
appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show behind them and the "A Hard Day's Night" film project to
look forward to. Their world (and ours, for that matter) by then would be forever changed, and
this fact would appear quite obviously in the new music they would write from then onward.
Page 256 of 962
Though still relatively 'early' in comparison to "Rubber Soul" or "Sgt. Pepper", the songs on "A
Hard Day's Night" represent a quantum leap from the first two albums in both technical
command and temperament.
But getting back to "I Want To Hold Your Hand", in context of November 1963, it was the
best they could do, a kind of summing up of all they had done to-date. And almost thirty years
later, in spite of all its seemingly puppy-love simplicity, and for reasons so ineffable that I can't
come close to adequately explaining them and in spite of all my analysis, it does hold up
remarkably well, like a classic.
Page 257 of 962
This Boy
Key: D Major
Meter: 2/4 (6/8)
| Outro (fade-out)
UK-release: 29th November 1963 (B Single / "I Want To Hold Your Hand")
Style and Form
“This Boy”, with its tight three-part harmonies, jumping triplet rhythm, cliche chord
progression, and climactic bridge section for the vocal soloist, is a stylized update of the late 50's
genre sometimes described as “the slow wall climber.”
The form is short, partly because of the slow tempo, but more importantly because the
intense nature of the bridge argues against a repeat of that section.
Although the final verse or two of the typical Beatles song tends to repeat the lyrics from one
of the earlier verses, every verse of This One contains different words. The lyrics also feature
“this/that” wordplay throughout.
Harmony
The chord progression "I->vi->ii->V" permeates the verse sections. It is remarkably similar
to the “I-vi-IV-V" cliche we saw in “Please Mister Postman”. However, the use of ii here places
the last three chords along the circle of fifths and on a very subtle level (try comparing the two of
them, yourself) this gives the overall progression a feeling of gentle inevitability that is missing
when IV is used in its place.
The prevalence of appoggiaturas in the vocal parts makes almost every chord in the song into
seventh or a ninth chord, many of which are resolved though by the time they do so, it's often
already the next chord. A good example of this appears at the end of the verse on the word
“again”. The top vocal part there pits a b -> a appoggiatura above the D chord, except that by the
time the b resolves down to the a, the harmony has already moved on to a b minor chord which
now puts the same note 'a' which would have been a consonant note in relation to the D chord
into the unexpected position of being a 7th on top of the b chord. This particular style of
dissonance treatment conjures an aesthetic of romantic yearning, and in the realm of classical
music is one of the hallmarks of such mid-late 19th century composers such as Wagner, Brahms
et al.
Though the bridge does not make a firm modulation, it does in fact drift away from the home
key just far enough to allow for a big build up on V and a pleasant sense of return at the end of it.
Page 258 of 962
Arrangement
Along with “Yes It Is” and the much later “Because”, this is one of the Beatles most
ambitious forays into sustained three-part harmony. One of my favorite video clips of the group
is from their February '64 concert at the Coliseum in Washington DC at which, forced by a
combination of the primitive audio equipment of those days and the pandemonium of the crowd,
they perform "This Boy" with the three of them huddled uncomfortably close around a single
microphone in order be able to hear themselves.
Unusual here is the manner in which the combination of the following factors creates the notunpleasant effect of obscuring the actual tune: the close placement of the three vocal parts in
relation to each other, the relative lack of melodic individuality among the three parts, and the
assignment of John (who sings what is ostensibly the main melody) to the bottom part. This also
makes John's finally soaring clearly above the range of the others in the bridge section seem all
the more spectacular.
Intro
The intro opens with three unaccompanied guitar chords, the first of which actually marks
the middle of a measure, followed by an instrumental ensemble performance of our cliche chord
progression. The section is an asymmetrical five and a half measures long, as though the first
three chords were merely an elongated pickup to a four-measure-long intro-proper.
Verse
The verse is sixteen measures long. The backing part is built out of essentially four ostinatolike repeats of what I've dubbed the cliche progression:
D:
|D
I
|b
vi
|e
ii
|A
V
|
[Figure 44.1]
Note though, that the vocal parts actually make up three phrases which are not only unequal
in length, but start in a different place within the four-bar frame. The first phrase (“That boy took
my love away”) begins right on the downbeat of measure 1. The second phrase (“Though he'll
regret it...”) begins its long anacrusis in the midst of measure 7. The third phrase (“But this
boy...”) has a small pickup on the word “but”, however the emphasis on the word “this” gives it
the feeling of starting squarely on the downbeat of measure 11 and it ends early enough to leave
measures 15 and 16 as though they were between-verse filler. Note too how the backing rhythm
is momentarily silenced to good effect at the beginning of this last phrase.
Page 259 of 962
The way that they manage to feature the D Major 7 in the vocal arrangement at the beginning
of the first three 4-measure phrases even though the melodic context is different each time is
quite ingenious. To the extent that this motif reappears in the outro, you might say that its the
hook of the piece.
The last four measures of the second verse, which happens to directly precede the bridge, are
modified so that instead of the usual chord progression we find the D Major 'I' chord sustained
throughout, and actually modified to D7 so that its potential secondary function as the V-of-IV is
brought into play by the end of the phrase.
Bridge
The bridge is also sixteen measures long but is internally designed to contrast with the verse
on a number of levels, not the least important of which are its division into two neat phrases of
equal length and the sudden slowing of the harmonic rhythm to only one chord change every two
measures:
D:
|G
IV
|-
|F#
|V-of-vi
|b
vi
|-
|D
|V-of-IV
|
|G
IV
|-
|E
|V-of-V
|A
V
|-
|-
|
|-
[Figure 44.2]
The slowing of the rate of harmonic change is made ironic by the increased sense of
restlessness in the sequence of chords. Note in this section the high quotient of chromatic
harmony (i.e. chords not diatonically indigenous to the home key, such as 'V-of ...' chords) in
spite of the fact that we never actually leave the home key. In terms of word painting, I hear this
gambit as illustrative of a lad who is desperately pulling out all the stops, using all the tricks he
has at his disposal, ultimately to prove a relatively simple point regarding the constancy of his
love.
The other obvious contrast is in the vocal arrangement of this bridge, with double-tracked
John stepping in front of the backing chorus, as it were, for his big solo. Lewisohn tantalizes us
with the disclosure that early takes in the studio actually featured a guitar solo here instead!
As in the verses, the perpetual backing rhythm is briefly halted during the final two measures
of this section to great dramatic effect.
Right between the very last beat of the bridge and the final verse is an obvious, ugly splice.
Granted, it doesn’t go “click”, but this is still further proof (as if you needed it) that not too many
people involved at the time could have been thinking that people would listen this closely this
long after the fact.
Page 260 of 962
Outro
The outro merely presents the opening hook phrase looped in alternation with a little counter
melody played by the lead guitar. The latter is the only place in the song where this much
prominence is given to the lead guitar and I wonder if this is partially a vestige of the bridge solo
abandoned earlier.
A Final Thought
The lyrical concordance of the Beatles' songs titled “Things We Said Today” (edited by
Campbell and Murphy) has "This Boy" subtitled as “Ringo's Theme”, which is news to me. I'll
take it on faith that this correctly reflects how the song was published. But I will ask if anyone
out there can answer whether the alternate title was supplied before or after the making of A
Hard Days Night. The fact that an instrumental version of “This Boy” is used in the film as
accompaniment to the long scene in which the sad and lonely one goes paradin' about town
seems like just too much of a coincidence to ignore. But on the other hand, I've got just the
shadow of a doubt that perhaps the movie scene was inspired by the song rather than the other
way around ... just kidding.
“Well, that's lovely talk, that is. And another thing, why aren't you at school ?” 123091#44
Page 261 of 962
Can't Buy Me Love
Key: C Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Verse | Verse | Verse | Refrain | Verse |
| Verse (guitar solo) | Refrain |
Recorded: 29th January 1964, EMI Pathé Marconi Paris;
UK-release: 20th March 1964 (A Single / "You Can't Do That")
US-release: 16th March 1964 (A Single / "You Can't Do That")
Style and Form
We have here a very standard long form with two refrain-like bridges separated by two verse
sections, one of which contains a guitar solo. However the combination within the same song of
a verse section so traditionally bluesy with a refrain/intro/outro that is equally so non bluesy is
far from routine and makes this number truly ground-breaking in its own quiet way.
Harmony and Melody
The verse section uses only the standard three chords of the 12-bar blues form: I, IV and V
(C, F, and G Major respectively). Its melody strictly uses flat thirds and sevenths (notes E- and
B-flat) and this makes for similarly traditional-blues cross-relations with the E- and B-naturals of
the chords below it.
By contrast, the intro/outro heavily uses the iii and vi chords (e and a minor), and its melody
strictly employs the diatonic third of E-natural, both of which connote something other than
straight-up blues. Yet, the real kicker comes in the refrain where these two modally different
worlds of the verse and intro/outro are starkly contrasted directly with each other in alternation.
Arrangement
The melodic line plays off a virtually continual stream of syncopation against the steady
four-in-the-bar jazz beat of the accompaniment. The sharp angularity of this is somewhat
softened by the effect of Paul's solo vocal being double-tracked from end to end.
George's guitar solo makes an uncanny first impression of genuinely smooth improvisation,
but hearing the series of broadcast and live performances of this song will convince you that it
was, alas, practiced by rote before hand.
The use of sizzling cymbals everywhere in the song except the intro and outro is a typical
Beatles example of texture used for purposes of formal articulation.
Page 262 of 962
Intro
We've seen quite a number of early Beatles songs with 'in medias res' of openings (e.g. “All
My Loving” and “She Loves You” among others) but this one is one of the most audacious, with
the true identity of the home key not becoming clear until close to the end of the intro.
The section is an unusual six measures long. Under more tritely ordinary circumstances it
would actually be a full eight measures (try tacking two measures of C Major onto the end of it
before starting the verse – in fact this is exactly what happens in the outro) but, again in
somewhat of a trademark move of theirs, this intro is elided with (or interrupted by) the
beginning of the verse:
[Figure 45.1]
Paradoxically, the primary melodic notes outline the C Major home-key triad almost as
slavishly as might a bugle call, while in contrast, all the chords up until the G in measure 6 are all
minor. Also note how the melodic logic of the triadic outline lets you readily accept those jazzy
but otherwise gratuitously dissonant 11th and 13th chords on d and G respectively.
Verse
The verse sections are all strict 12-bar blues frames. The one slightly unusual detail is in the
re-appearance of the I chord being delayed until the final measure instead of coming back, as is
more typical, in m. 11:
m.1
|C
I
|-
|-
|-
|
m.5
|F
IV
|-
|C
I
|-
|
|F
IV
|-
|C
I
|
m.9
|G
V
[Figure 45.2]
Page 263 of 962
In addition to the blue-note cross relations (e.g. the melodic E-flat against the E-natural of the
C Major chord in m. 1), there are several appoggiaturas which spice up the otherwise simply
chords. Examples include 'D' on the downbeat of m. 2 and 6, the G on the downbeat of m. 5 and
1.
The halting of the ensemble for an instant right after the downbeat of m. 10 (as in “I don't
care too [Brrr- UMP!] much for money”) is crisply executed, and a great example of the
sometimes eloquent power of silence; the better to listen to your heart beating.
Refrain
The refrain is very similar to the intro, but is a more square eight measures long, and parses
neatly into four brief 2-measure phrases. The words make a poetic 'ab-ac' pattern that is echoed
by the music itself:
[Figure 45.3]
The stark interjection of those bluesy E-flats in measure three amidst the cheerier E-naturals
both earlier and later in the section is perhaps the most distinctive detail of the entire song.
Guitar Solo
This is one of George's great early solos and I'd place it right up there with the one in “Till
There Was You” in terms of being understatedly just right for the context. I especially like the
momentary lapse into a paraphrase of the tune in measure 9.
In between the preceding verse and the beginning of this section is inserted an unnecessary
additional measure which serves to better highlight the commencement of the solo as well as to
throw you off guard just a bit. This is sort of a reverse variation of the elision gambit.
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Outro
As mentioned above, this section is identical to the intro except that it includes the additional
two measures of C Major that were lopped off at the beginning by the start of the first verse.
Some Final Thoughts
The appearance of any amount of straight-blues in a Beatles original is noteworthy in and of
itself. A recurring theme in our studies has been John & Paul's predilection for bluesy cover
material, going back all the way to the Quarrymen era, made ironic by the virtual dearth of such
material in their canonical songbook; you'll find that the number of 12 bar Beatles originals can
be counted one less than the fingers of two hands.
In this light the timing of “Can’t Buy Me Love” shouldn't seem a total surprise, given both
that its B-side, “You Can't Do That”, coincidentally happens to also be largely 12-bar in form,
and that the next recording released in England would be the Long Tall Sally EP, a four-song
collection three quarters of which is covers of 12-bar hits made famous by bluesmeisters
Richard, Williams, and Perkins.
What's much more significant though about “Can’t Buy Me Love”is how, in context of early
'64, it points to the future at least as much as “I Want To Hold Your Hand” sums up the past.
“Can’t Buy Me Love” contains in its music a fusion of loosely related styles, and in its lyrics, the
transmutation from platitude to poetry of a certain commonplace re: love and money; both of
which innovations subtly prophecy particularly fertile trends of Beatles experimentalism to come
years hence.
As with many things in life and love, I've often found it rather awesome and uncanny to look
back later and discover just how early were sown the seeds of some great harvest.
“Sorry if we hurt your field, Mister.” 010592#45
Page 265 of 962
You Can't Do That
Key: G Major
Meter: 4/4
| Verse (guitar solo) | Bridge |
Recorded: 25th February, 22nd May 1964, Abbey Road 2
UK-release: 20th March 1964 (B Single / "Can't Buy Me Love")
US-release: 16th March 1964 (B Single / "Can't Buy Me Love")
Style and Form
Generally speaking, “You Can't Do That” foreshadows a heavier, harder-rocking sound for
the group that would infiltrate an increasingly large portion of their repertoire over the next
couple or three albums. Call it the dawn of the Later Early Period.
It also bears a close comparison to its companion A-side, “Can’t Buy Me Love”. Both have
the same form although the bridge of this one is closer to a true bridge than the refrain-like one
we saw last time. Both songs also display a split stylistic personality by utilizing relatively
straight blues in the verse but not at all in the bridge. The split in “You Can't Do That” runs even
deeper to the extent that the verse itself is not the “pure” 12-bar blues variety seen in “Can’t Buy
Me Love”, but rather features other elements thrown into the mix.
Harmony and Melody
The G Major home key would seem like a clue to the new direction in this area, away from
the erstwhile favorite choice of E Major on the first two albums, as evidenced by the four songs
in G on the A Hard Day's Night album; in addition this one you have “I Should Have Known
Better”, “I'll Cry Instead”, and of course, the title cut.
The melody of the song is quite jumpy throughout, both in terms of rhythmic syncopations
and intervallic leaps. The bluesy verse uses the flat seventh scale degree (F-natural) with a
traditional consistency that makes for some bracingly dissonant collisions with the F-sharp
contained in the D Major chord (as in "I told you before”), but both flavors of the third (scale)
degree are used (B-flat and B-natural) and this lends a colorful bi-modal tang.
The single most dissonant moments in the song come from the clash of F-naturals (the flat
seventh degree) in the voice part against C Major chords in the accompaniment; viz. two places
in every verse – on the word “you” in the phrase “and leave you flat”, and at the very climax, on
the word “Oh!” in the phrase “Oh!, you can't do that.”
Page 266 of 962
The bridge makes an harmonic break with the I-IV-V blues diet of the verses by introducing
additional chords and flirting briefly with a modulation toward the key of the relative minor, e.
Unusually, both Major and minor flavors of the B chord appear in this section.
Arrangement
An ostinato figure characterized by vacillation between the Major/minor melodic third
appears as a unifying device throughout much of the intro, outro, and verses; at least wherever
the G Major chord is sustained for long.
The intimate direct-address of the lyrics is galvinizingly enhanced by the single-tracking of
John's lead vocal, in which, if you listen for it specifically you'll note, he uses an astonishing
number of varied shadings of tone.
By the same token, the backing vocal part for Paul and George, with its subtext of “whatever
John says goes double for us!”, runs at cross-currents to the direct-address of the lead, even while
it reflects and amplifies upon the choppy angularity of the melody and the rhythm track. This is a
stylistic trademark that would reappear later in songs like “Help!” and “You're Going To Lose
That Girl”. At this early date, the contrast of its effect in “You Can’t Do That” with the softening/
smoothing-over effect in “Can’t Buy Me Love”of Paul's being double-tracked with no backing
vocal part is instructive.
A ruthless syncopation on the eighth note which precedes the downbeat provides a rhythmic
hook for the song. We characterized this particular choice of syncopation as “swingingly
passionate” way back in the note on “I Should Have Known Better” (which by ironic
coincidence turns out to have been recorded the same day as “You Can’t Do That”), and this
rhythmic figure turns out to appear on other tracks of the A Hard Day’s Night album as well.
In this song, the syncopations are all the more wrenching because of the way that the drums
painstakingly mark the spot where they take place. In the last phrase of each verse, right after the
phrase “because I told you before”, Ringo beats out in even eighth notes the beats of ‘and-fourAND- one.’ John sings the syncopated cry of “Oh!” on what I marked as ‘AND'’ but Ringo's
playing out the downbeat (i.e. 'one' ) of the next measure helps clarify to your ear what has
happened. Contrast this to the raving opening of “When I Get Home”, where the downbeat that
follows this same 'four-AND' syncopation (on the word “Woah-AHH!”) is left to the
imagination.
Lewisohn reports the debut appearance on this track of what would become George's familiar
12-string guitar sound of the period, as well as the inclusion of the unusual choice of cowbell and
bongos in the rhythm section.
My ears also hear an electric piano (or perhaps organ) doubling the ostinato figure in the
opening.
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Intro
The intro is for instruments only, providing four measures of just the 'I' chord with the
ostinato figure as a constant, and the entry of the bass and percussion delayed until the third
measure. Both the suspense- building use of a single chord which happens to continue well into
the verse that follows, and the staggered entry of the instruments anticipate the likes of “Ticket
To Ride” and “Day Tripper.”
The 'four-AND' syncopation is pervasive right off the bat. Not only is it inherent in the
ostinato figure, but it is also picked up by the way the rest of the ensemble enters in measure 3
with a vacuum cleaner- like zooming into the G chord from the F# below.
Verse
Harmonically, the verse is a classic twelve-bar blues frame, but the content and phrasing
belies this a tad. The melody is composed straight through with little or no obvious parallelism
among the phrases. The one exception here is in the way the first four measures subdivide into a
little couplet (“I got something to say that might cause you pain/If I catch you talking to that boy
again”).
By virtue of the earlier mentioned jumpiness, there is also no overall arch or other clearly
directed shape to the tune. Consequently, the climax of this section (“because I told you
before ...”) is ultimately motivated by rhythm and chord progression, rather than melodic
contour.
The notion of a layered arrangement is carried forward in the very typical way in which the
backing vocals first start in the second verse. In an outtake of one of their very early songs, “Do
You Want To Know A Secret”, the Beatles would make the understandably inexperienced
mistake of starting such vocals right in the first verse, but even at that stage, they were smart
enough (or else had someone of greater wisdom who could advise them) to alter their strategy for
the official release.
A small change in harmonic floor-plan differentiates the verses which lead to other verses
from those which lead to a bridge. The former move to the V chord (D) in their last measure,
while the latter sustain the old I chord.
Bridge
Just as we saw in “Can’t Buy Me Love”, the bridge here again breaks the strict mold of the
blues. At the very least, the melody in this section eschews all blue notes in favor of a strict diet
of the Major third (B-natural) and the Major seventh (F-sharp).
More substantively, we have here an eight measure section that subdivides into two roughly
parallel phrases equal in length, the first of which is harmonically closed off while the second
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one ends wide open in order to set up the following verse. Additionally, we have an intriguing
fake modulation to the key of e minor:
e:
|B
V
|e
i
|a
iv
G: ii
e:
|B
V
|e
i
|a
iv
G: ii
b
iii
|G
flat-III
I
|
|b
|
iii
D
V
[Figure 46.1]
Though tentative and short-lived, the move toward e is immediate and impetuous. Not only
does the section start right off with the B Major chord, but that syncopated D# in the tune there is
just about the longest sustained note in the entire song. Despite this, the music turns tail just as
quickly back to the home key by the somewhat awkward, or at best anti-textbook, root
progression of ii-iii-I; the “book” would prescribe the V (D) in place of the iii.
This scrambling back to the home key so quickly after such a brief excursion connotes for me
the image of someone who in full rant, rambles off onto a tangent (“And while I'm at it, another
thing, ...!”), only to catch himself and get back forthwith to the immediate obsession of the
moment.
In the spirit of bridge-like contrast, the backing voices are also handled different in this
section, now used for italic-like emphasis instead of the antiphonal counterpoint heard in the
verses. In some spots, it's difficult to tell whether we're hearing John double-tracked here or just
him and George or Paul singing together in unison.
Guitar Solo
The mood of general agitation, as well as the interjections of the backing vocalists, are
continued straight into the solo, where choppy chords and tremolo bent notes prevail over any
attempt at an out-spun melody. For just an instant, around measure 9 of this section just as the
chords change to V (D), it almost sounds as though the fragmentary riffs might be ready to
coalesce into some kind of longer line, but alas, it's not meant to be, and the solo closes in the
same disjointed mode in which it began.
A certain amount of screaming at the beginning of a solo section is a Beatles tradition going
all the way back to “I Saw Her Standing There”, but John's growling gesture at the beginning of
this one goes beyond mere convention, and can likely be felt in the pit of your stomach long after
you might expect to have become used to it from repeated listenings.
Outro
The outro is both abrupt and brief. It is entered immediately following the end of the last
verse with none of the more standard setup via a triple repeat of the last phrase. It consists of
only two measures of the familiar ostinato figure scored, in complete symmetry with the song's
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opening, without drums, although here at the end the bass guitar is included. The lingering on the
penultimate F# right at the end is a teasing surprise.
Some Final Thoughts
You'd half expect the less-than-upbeat theme and side-B status of this one to leave it stranded
in the backwaters of popularity, but it actually is both a great and favorite song of its period.
It's tough, tense, and jumping out of its skin with an offbeat attitude and a matching list of
colloquial phrases rarely heard if ever, in a pop song of the time; e.g. “cause you pain” (?), “leave
you flat” (??), “it's a sin” (???). Our hero, after all, seems rather immaturely preoccupied with
what some nameless others (“everybody”) must think of his relative prowess in the lovemaking
department. Either they're “gree-en” with envy at his success, or else they “laugh in (his) face”
when he fails.
There's no talk admission here of his feeling hurt by the actual loss of the girl's love, no
mention of any preexisting feelings; for all we know, the other guy may truly be just a platonic
friend and the whole thing just some over-reaction borne of terrific insecurity. Erich (“The Art of
Loving”) Fromm would not have been impressed.
But even while it may not be pretty or noble, I think that for anyone who has ever
experienced the feelings described here, even if only during a small young lapse into pimply
hyperbole, this song rings unnervingly true, and there-in likely lies its popularity. What a shame
they cut it from the film!
“Well, you've got to admit you've upset a lot of people.” 011392#46
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I Call Your Name
Key: E Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Verse | Verse | Verse (variant) | Bridge |
| Verse (variant) |
| Verse (variant, for guitar solo) | Bridge |
| Verse (variant) | Outro (fade-out)
Recorded: 1st March 1964, Abbey Road 2
UK-release: 19th June 1964 (EP "Long Tall Sally")
US-release: 10th April 1964 (LP "The Beatles' Second Album")
Style and Form
The style of this one is not easily pigeon-holed; somewhat bluesy in flavor, but not at all in
form; more like pop, or even jazz, than the predominantly harder rock songs which
chronologically surround it.
The form is full, including two bridges that are separated by two verse sections, one of which
is an instrumental. A slight variant of the initial verse is used for all verse sections except the first
one. The length of each verse is quite short and this makes the first pair of them sound almost as
though they comprise one longer couplet-like section. Similarly, the remaining verses, all built
on the variant, sound a bit unnaturally truncated.
During the solo section, the backbeat is modified even while the tempo is kept constant.
When the original beat returns after this break, it too sounds like a change yet again! This is
possibly the first time we've seen this trick in a Beatles song, though in the future it would
become one of John's own trademarks; viz. “We Can Work It Out”, “Girl”, and many later songs
such as “Good Morning Good Morning”, “Yer Blues” and “Happiness Is A Warm Gun”.
Harmony
The song is in the key of E Major with the exception of the intro section which contains blue
hints of the parallel minor of e. Though only seven different chords are used throughout, three of
them (almost half the budget) are altered or borrowed ones, not occurring naturally in the home
key. In order of appearance these are:
• The V-of-V-of-V (C# Major); something I don't believe we've seen before now in a Beatles
song.
• The V-of-V (F# Major); which on the contrary, we've seem time and time again in our
studies.
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• The flat-VI (C Major); sometimes jokingly referred to as the “Peggy Sue” chord, we've
seen it before in “PS I Love You”, "It Won't Be Long", and the much later “Birthday.”
Although the harmonic rhythm is quite relaxed throughout most of “I Call Your Name”, with
chords tending to change only once every other measure, the frequent use of the three nondiatonic chords listed above create a sense of continual, restless motion even in absence of a
clear modulation of key. By the way, we observed an analogous harmonic scenario to this one in
“Hold Me Tight” although the implementation details there were very different.
Melody
The tune has an underlying pentatonic flavor; note the E->G#->B-C# hook phrase (on the
words "but you're not there." Overall, it's not as strictly pentatonic as, say, “All I've Got To Do”,
since the 7th scale degree (D#) is used liberally within the tune. By the same token though, the
other non-pentatonic scale degree (i.e. the 4th – A) is carefully avoided.
Arrangement
The change to a jazzy ska beat in the guitar solo is the result of several factors: Ringo's shift
from even eighth notes to a more limping dotted rhythm, Paul's shift from bass line work that is
primarily root-note oriented to a stepwise walking pattern, and of course, George's solo itself.
John's double-tracked solo is the only vocal part.
Inexplicably, the synching of the overdub is much looser than usual. This is especially
noticeable in the second half of the song following the guitar solo; check out “but just the same”
in the last verse.
Intro
The intro provides four measures of instrumental lead-in to the first verse. It is unusual both
for its harmonic start away from the home key, as well as the deceptive way in which the nature
of the opening guitar lick (with its G and D naturals) misleads you into thinking the song is going
to be more bluesy than it actually is:
E:
|F#
|B
V-of-V V
|E
I
|B
V
|
[Figure 47.1]
Verse
The initial verse consists is eight measures long and it parses into four short phrases equal in
length. Harmonically it opens up wide with three dominant seventh chords in a row:
Page 272 of 962
E:
|E
I
|-
|F#
|V-of-V
|C#
|V-of-(V-of-V)
|
|B
V
||
|-
[Figure 47.2]
The appoggiatura in measure 5 of D#->C# sung in the melody over the F# chord below it
would be expressive under any circumstance, but the effect here is enhanced by the fact that the
D# is the first occurrence in the melody of a non-pentatonic scale degree.
Verse (variant)
The variant starts off very much in parallel with the initial verse, but in the second half both
the choice of chords and the pace at which they change is modified to help articulate a sense of
closure:
E:
|E
I
|-
|F#
|A
V-of-V IV
|C#
|V-of-(V-of-V)
|
|E
I
||
|-
[Figure 47.3]
The final cadence here is made via the IV chord instead of the more standard V, in spite of
the fact that the initial verse had ended on V, and this second verse happens to set up its own
expectation of the V with a V-of-V chord in measure 5. Following the V-of-V with IV connotes a
subtle sense of deferred gratification and it would become a long-favored Beatles trademark; we
saw it in our look at “Eight Days A Week”, but it also shows up in the canon as late as the title
track on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Bridge
The bridge is another eight-measure section, and it too parses into four short phrases of two
measures, each:
E:
|A
IV
|-
|F#
|V-of-V
|c#
vi
|-
|C (nat)|B
flat-VI V
|
||
[Figure 47.4]
Page 273 of 962
Harmonically, this section has a roving feeling of being ungrounded in any one specific key
from the way in which the I chord of the home key is avoided throughout.
A sense of climax is provided by the manner in which the open ending on V is set up by the
flat-VI chord and the fact that the melody of this section peaks out at an ever so slightly higher
pitch than do the verses. Further bridge-like contrast is found here use of an ostinato figure
(similar to one heard in the verses of “Hold Me Tight”) in the lead guitar.
Outro
The outro is uncannily similar to the one in “Don't Bother Me” including such details as the
title hook phrase, the I-IV chord progression, and the usage for the first time in the song of the
syncopated chord change on “four-AND”.
A Final Thought
The lyrical theme is angst-ridden to an extent that is consonant on some level with other
trends in the rest of the group's music at this point in time and yet the song seems a little
detached albeit not insincere. I'll stand by my opening comment regarding the way in which the
whole production of this one is stylistically anomolistic.
Perhaps this is bound up in the fact that it was written with the a priori intention of being
given away to Billy J. Either that, or maybe I've just been spoiled over the years by the image of
the later cover by the Mamas and Pappas.
“Control yourself or you'll spurt. He's bound to be somewhere.” 012092#47
Page 274 of 962
The Long Tall Sally EP
What Goes On?
With the exception of the much later “Magical Mystery Tour”, this was the only one of the
British EPs to contain unique material, and what a strange lineup it is: three covers from the notso-late 50’s and one original from John's compositional infancy! And these songs are not just old
per se, but they (the covers especially) are very different in words and tone from most of what
the group had heretofore delivered.
The impact of this was blunted for us in the States by the way these four tracks were split up
by Capitol between the Second and Something New LPs, and thrown in there alongside generally
more current and/or original material. However, when you hear this lineup in the confines of the
7-inch/4-song mini-medium you can’t help wonder what in blazes the group thought it was doing
here.
If you want to be cynical about it you might say they were under pressure at the time for new
product and simply couldn't do any better; that between the Conquering of America and A Hard
Day's work on the film, which had not yet been released, they had momentarily shot their wad
and it was surely tempting enough to move out old inventory on the assumption that, during this
hottest peak of Beatlemania, no one would even notice. But not so fast, wise guy. There are at
least two other interpretations that can be cast upon the matter; the one, at least benign, and the
other even a tad sublime.
Now That You Know Who You Are, What Do You Want to Be?
If nothing else, I believe the song selection on this EP can be viewed as the result of the
Beatles self-consciously exposing their roots, as if to say “this is what we used to be like before
we made it big!” But something much more interesting than mere nostalgia is going on here as
well.
They had been consistent from the start of the EMI relationship in carefully, incrementally
building a consistent musical image; it was more substantive than, but bears some analogy to, the
collarless suits and ankle boots. In this sense, covers were used in the early official releases to inobtrusively round out and solidify, rather than complicate and thereby run the risk of confusing,
what was rapidly evolving as a uniquely indigenous and identifiable sound.
Yet, here in the middle of 1964, where this whole musical and marketing gambit had
culminated to a height virtually unprecedented in all of Western cultural history (and I don't say
this lightly!), it would seem with this EP that they were, with almost perverse delight, trying to
push their image beyond the envelope they themselves had established for it by branching out
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into new sub-genres, and borrowing/affecting/impersonating musical roles outside of the ones
which were recognizably part of their image and sound during the very first wave. It's as
though, with the cover songs on this EP they were saying “Surprise! this is what we could be like
if we want to be.” The fact that they could achieve this by dipping backwards in their repertoire
for material they had been playing since the dawn of the 60s only goes to make it the
more ironic.
Granted, we saw a trend toward covering oldies back on With The Beatles, but I'd argue that
in terms of vocal rendition and lyrical content, the likes of “Till There Was You” (as a love song),
and “Roll Over Beethoven” (with its trenchant wit) manage to fit in better amongst the Lennon &
McCartney originals there than any of the three cover songs heard on this EP. I suppose that
“Money” does come closer to stressing the mold, but in context of With The Beatles, its impact is
diluted by virtue of its being outnumbered. As mentioned above, the exclusive focus on oldies in
this EP is intensified by the very compressed nature of the medium itself.
Cover songs would play a steadily diminishing role in their repertoire from this point
onward, but this harnessing of covers for the purpose of extending (not just rounding out!) the
stylistic range of the group would continue with the likes of “Mr. Moonlight” and “Act
Naturally.” Furthermore, this notion of forward development and diversification of the group's
image via the initially impressionistic mimicry and eventually synthetic absorption of varied
styles would come to its ultimate fruition in their original work of the Middle and Later periods.
At first this would appear tentatively and sporadically in the likes of “Yesterday” or “Yellow
Submarine.” But in the long run it would be directly traceable to the chameleon-like shuffling of
funny and diverse styles which so pervades the White Album and Abbey Road. The best visual
metaphor for this
phenomenon is their appearance in costume on the cover of Sgt. Pepper standing right next to the
waxworks of themselves from around the time of this EP.
In summary, the Long Tall Sally EP would seem to be a unique event in their recording
history. Using the self-same material, they manage to make both the most unabashed tribute-like
gesture to their past, while at the same time uncannily signaling what they later would do with
material written entirely by themselves.
Well You Can Imitate Everyone You Know
All three of the cover songs here are obviously in fairly straight 12-bar blues form, though it's
noteworthy that they each project a very different emotive/sub-cultural style, and appropriately,
the vocal solo of each was given to a different member of the group.
Although I describe these specific cover songs as extending the sound and image of the
group, it should be noted that all three of them formed a staple part of the Beatles stage repertoire
not only during the salad days of the '59-'62 period, but well into the '63 season as well. I was
astonished to discover that all three cover songs on this EP were performed at least once by the
Beatles on the radio during 1963, and in essentially the same arrangements heard on this EP.
However, I assume that the exclusion of these songs from official release until this relatively late
date was not at all inadvertent. Page 276 of 962
Long Tall Sally
Key: G Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Verse ("Tell Aunt Mary") |
| Verse ("Saw Uncle John") | Break |
| Verse ("Long Tall Sally") | Break |
| Verse ("Have some fun)
|
| Verse ("Have some fun) (with complete ending)
Composer: Onotris Johnson / Richard Penniman / Robert Blackwell
Influential
version: Little Richard (1956)
US-release: 10th April 1964 (LP "The Beatles' Second Album")
This is a raving rock-n-roll blues number in the 4 + 8 model, where each 12-bar frame starts
off with four measures of expository lyrics that is followed by an eight measure refrain like
section; compare the structure of this one to “Money”, for example. To the extent that songs in
this style often base their refrain section on the title hook phrase (again, compare with “Money”),
you'd half expect the title of this one to be “have some fun tonight”.
There are other stylistic cliches here as well: the backing of the mini- verse-like opening four
measures of each section with dramatic block chords that are widely separated by silence, the
manner in which the lyrics of the final section degenerate into simple repetition of the hook
phrase, and the fact that this repetitious section is repeated a second time. Especially dramatic is
the shouted opening without intro or warning.
Paul's stylized imitation of Little Richard, the likes of which had not heretofore appeared on
an official recording of the Beatles remains so astonishing by itself that one tends to overlook
just how outrageous the words of this song are in context of the Beatles' act. Indeed, the strange
tale told here about philandering Uncle John, his girlfriend Sally, and their near-miss attempts to
keep their antics a secret from Aunt Mary are a far cry from the yearnings of teen love which
were the virtually exclusive purview of the group's officially recorded output up until this point
in time.
The Beatles add some trademark devices to their arrangement of this song; e.g. the
prominence of the piano and lead guitar parts, the final ending on a dissonant I7/9 chord, and
Paul's bass line which is predominantly walking throughout except for the final sections in which
it changes the whole feel of the music simply by shifting to throbbingly repeated notes. All this
notwithstanding, there are interesting differences between this and the original version.
Little Richard played it in the lower key of F Major, his backing group sounds much more
spare, and quite frankly, his vocal performance is more raving-yet-controlled than it is
screaming. Specifically, his high notes contain a higher ratio of falsetto to screech than do Paul's,
and you can make out the words much more clearly.
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The original also follows a very different ordering of verse and break sections as follows.
Note how the Beatles bother to consolidate and re-order the sections so that the form more
closely resembles the rest of their output:
Verse ("Tell Aunt Mary") |
| Verse ("Long Tall Sally") |
| Verse ("Saw Uncle John") | Break | Break |
| Verse ("Long Tall Sally") |
| Verse ("Saw Uncle John") |
| Verse ("Have some fun) (with complete ending)
[Figure 48.1]
I'd heard both the original and the Beatles versions of this song countless times before, but
not until I listened carefully for the purposes of doing this article did I notice the fact that in the
official Beatles version Paul changes the line about “bald headed” Sally to read “long tall”; this,
in spite of the fact that in all the live or broadcast Beatles performances of this that I checked
(both those that precede or followed the official recording by as much as 6 or more months in
either direction) feature the original wording restored!
All I can figure here is that the reference to a bald headed woman (with or without wig/hat)
was thought to be just too raunchy or ethnic a reference for the typical middle-class and
mainstream Beatles fan of 1964; or else perhaps Dick James would have been offended.
And one last honest open question: I'm interested in a straw poll of whether people
understand the song to speak of only one or two different women named Sally; an honest, if
stupid, question.
Page 278 of 962
Slow Down
Key: C Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Verse | Break |
| Verse (complete ending)
Composer: Larry Williams
Influential
version: Larry Williams (1958)
Recorded: 1st, 4th June 1964, Abbey Road 2
US-release: 24th August 1964 (B Single / "Matchbox")
The form of this song is based on an expanded variation of the classic blues in which every
section is twenty-four, instead of twelve measures long. The infra-structure is identical to the 12bar model, but it leisurely unfolds at half the speed, nicely urged along by a pentatonic boogielike ostinato figure. As with “Long Tall Sally”, the tune and lyrics divide the blues frame up into
4 + 8 (actually 8 + 16), with the title-hook refrain kicking in on the first change to the IV chord.
Lyrics-wise, this is the most conventional of the three covers on this EP. Aside from the
blackboard jungle undertone which seems to be sort of Larry Williams' trademark, the focus of
the words themselves is on love related angst, a topic quite in the mainstream of the Beatles own
repertoire. Indeed, the hero of this song sound like the guy in “You Can’t Do That” except that
this time he's running scared.
The Beatles arrangement is characterized by lots of piano and lead guitar. The ostinato is
executed in painstakingly even eighth notes that make for a nicely humming backbeat. John's
overdubbed vocal diverges pitch-wise from the initial track so that he sounds as though
harmonizing with himself in places; it's hard to know if this was intentional or not. Williams does
it in a different key (D Major), he's got what sounds like close to a big band behind him, and his
ostinato swings a bit more than it is even.
His single tracked vocal is more mellifluous and less shouted than John's, and this gives the
whole song a slightly different feeling; evoking a hero that is more cooly calm and self-assured,
rather than on-the-run and desperate.
Both versions follow the same ordering of the formal sections. Williams uses the identical
24-bar chord progression in every section whereas the Beatles use the original model only in the
instrumental intro and break, and make a subtle but effective modification to the pattern in all the
sung sections. The third eight-measure phrase in the original gives two measures each to the V
and IV chords followed by four measures of the I chord. In the sung verses, the Beatles give only
one measure each to the V and IV chords and six measures to the I; this creates the not
unpleasant sensation of an accelerating intensification on the phrase “give me little lovin' etc.”
that is missing from the original. At the level of details that almost go without saying, Williams
features a saxophone solo while the Beatles feature a guitar. And although John does shamelessly
rip off Larry's tongue-tickling “BRRRRR!”, he does it in the second verse whereas Larry does it
right off in the first section.
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Matchbox
Key: A Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse ("sitting here") |
| Verse ("old poor boy") |
| Verse ("don't want my peaches") | Break |
| Verse ("be your little dog") |
| Verse ("sitting here") (with complete ending)
Composer: Carl Perkins
Influential
version: Carl Perkins (1957)
US-release: 24th August 1964 (A Single / "Slow Down")
Though formalistically speaking, in straight 12-bar blues form, the rock-a-billy arrangement
and patter-song lyrics almost overshadow that fact. Unlike most of the other 12-bar covers we've
looked at, this one employs its title/hook phrase only in the verse section which opens and closes
the number. According to Lewisohn, this song went into the Beatles repertoire as early as '61 at
which time the lead vocal was assigned to then-current drummer Pete Best.
Although the topic here would seem to be love-related, the specific perspective of the “man
who's sad and lonely” which it represents is a novel departure from the typical Beatles love
songs which had been officially recorded until this point. By the same token, this one also
establishes the start of a long term type-casting in the sorts of songs assigned to Ringo. Note the
common threads of both rock-a-billy style and forlorn lyrics that run through “Honey
Don't” (also by Perkins), “Act Naturally”, “What Goes On”, and even Richie's own “Don't Pass
Me By”. In this light, the fact that the latter song had already been written by some point in '64
(as we learn from a chance remark made during one of the Beeb radio shows) seems like no
small coincidence. Ringo provides a double-tracked solo vocal, and just as we saw with the over
songs above, the piano and lead guitar parts are featured prominently in the mix. Note the
Beatles-like staggered entrance of the instruments during the intro.
The Beatles organize the ordering of the sections slightly differently from Perkin's original
version, and even add a verse (“peaches”) which he did not have. Ironically, the form of the
original below, with its two breaks that are separated by one or more verses, is strongly
reminiscent of the Boys' own restructuring of “Long Tall Sally”:
Intro |
|
|
|
|
Verse
Verse
Verse
Verse
Verse
("sitting here")
("old poor boy")
("be your little
("sitting here")
("sitting here")
|
| Break |
dog") |
| Break |
(with complete ending)
[Figure 48.2]
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Class dismissed.
“... but not our little Richard ... oh no! When you're not thumping them pagan skins, you're tormenting your eyes wid
that rubbish!” 020292#48
Page 281 of 962
A Hard Day's Night
Key: G Major
Meter: 4/4
| Verse (solo) | Bridge | Verse | Outro (fade-out)
Recorded: 16th April 1964, Abbey Road 2
UK-release: 10th July 1964 (A Single / "Things We Said Today")
US-release: 26th June 1964 (LP "A Hard Day's Night")
Style and Form
Though much less directly blues-derived than either “Can’t Buy Me Love” or “You Can’t Do
That”, "A Hard Day's Night" bears close comparison to both of those songs. At the very least, all
three of them share the same long form, with two bridges and an instrumental break. Of course,
the more interesting connection is the manner in which "A Hard Day's Night" takes one step
further the concept, seen in the other two songs, of a style borne of the fusion between traditional
blues elements and those more recognizable as the Beatles' own trademarks.
There's a bonafide trend to be charted here: “Can’t Buy Me Love” had a verse section that
was close to pure blues in form, chord progression and melody. “You Can’t Do That” retained
the blues form and the chord progression, but its melody already had wavered between the minor
and Major third. In "A Hard Day's Night", only the twelve-bar length and AAB phrasing of the
blues remains along with some of the minor third melodic flavor, but the rest had long since gone
the way of Lennon and McCartney.
“A Hard Day's Night” is a particularly forward-looking song as well. Aside from several
innovations in the area of harmony and arrangement, its rhythmic resources make an especially
strong contribution. As we'll see during our walk-through, behind the generally energetic and
syncopated bustle that appears on the surface, there is also a great deal of forward thrust
generated here by the way the music, on an almost subliminal level, toys around with surprising
stop-and-go contrasts of pace and activity.
Melody and Harmony
The verse features notable emphasis on the bluesy melodic flat seventh, but with the
exception of the closing phrase ("feel all right"), the melodic third is clearly Major, rather than
minor. By contrast, the bridge is entirely in the Major mode. All this, by the way, is very similar
to what we saw in the melody of “You Can’t Do That”.
Overall, the words are patter-scanned with one note per syllable. However, in contrast, there
are many long-sustained notes which jut out of the tune on a paradoxically frequent but irregular
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basis. The verse, in particular, contains an unusually large number of different rhythmic values,
all the way from half to sixteenth notes, and a steady stream of syncopations; I'd spell it out
further but without music paper it's just too tedious.
The song is firmly in the key of G Major, though the bridge presents a short-lived and weakly
established excursion to the unusual key of iii (b minor).
With the obvious exception of the opening/closing sonority, the choice of chords is familiar.
Although the Beatles had already used the flat-VII chord on few songs that pre-date this one (e.g.
“P.S. I Love You”, “Don’t Bother Me”, and “All My Loving”), its appearance here is still a
notably early example of its employment.
A couple of dissonant clashes between the tune and the chords are continually reiterated. In
the verse, the melodic note D appears first as a ninth against the C-Major chord (as on the word
"days" of the opening line) and later as an added-sixth against the F-Major chord (as on the
syllable "wor" in "working", and on the word "like"). Similarly in the bridge, the melodic note A
clashes as an added-sixth against the C-Major chord on the word "tight" (you should pardon the
expression.) These all pass you by quickly, but on a subtle level the very casualness with which
such dissonance is used adds a characterizingly "slang" flavor to the song's overall musical
vocabulary.
Arrangement
Alas, even the mono CD mix of this song has a fake-stereo-like high level of fuzziness to it,
though it does have the curious property that if you turn it up loud enough, it begins to feel like a
wall of sound. For those who have ever bemoaned this fact, the roughly executed but clearly
recorded early outtakes are a revelation.
The wall of sound effect is partly the result of the drumming style being kept unvaried
throughout. With the minor exception of some added four-in-the-bar beating on a cowbell during
the bridges, we have wall to wall thumping on drums and cymbals in place of the sort of drum
fills and texture changes we're more used to hearing Ringo employ to differentiate formal
sections. Instead of creating a "problem", this monolithic approach to percussion here actually
adds to the steam-rolling thrust of the song.
Joking aside, this is very much the song in which the characteristic sound of George's twelvestring guitar would establish itself. Its appearance in the opening and closing chords, as well as
the manner in which it is doubled with electric piano in the solo section are among the more
instantaneously recognizable sound bites in all of popular music.
John and Paul's vocals employ the familiar double-tracking throughout, but their arrangement
itself features a novel gambit. John takes most of the verse as a solo, and ditto for Paul with the
bridge. The first half of the verse's closing phrase, though, is done up as a duet in parallel thirds
on an unusual downward chromatic run; a gesture that mediates nicely between the alternating
solo passages.
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Intro
That chord, (bang!), eh? Its great effect is not only related to the pitch content, but to the
sudden, crisp attack as well. Wake me up from the dead of sleep many years hence and play it for
me by itself out of context, and not only do I trust I'll be able to identify it immediately, but also
summon with close to total recall just how it shot through my consciousness the very first time I
heard it as a mere not-so-pimply adolescent.
I've seen better people than myself argue (and in public, no less) about the exact guitar
voicing of this chord and I'll stay out of that question for now (what a cop-out, Alan!), and
merely state that its sonority is akin to a superimposition of the chords of d-minor, F-Major, and
G-Major; i.e. it contains the notes D, F, A, C, and G — to my ears, only the B is missing. Even if
you don't know a thing about harmony or musical dictation, you can at least hear the G as a
suspended fourth over the D on the bottom. Hullaballoo aside, this chord functions as a surrogate
dominant (i.e. V) with respect to the chord on G which begins the first verse.
As a formal section, this intro is precisely two measures long and is played "in tempo"; check
out take 7 before which John explains to the others how he'll "tap toe" through the long pause
that follows the opening chord so the others know when to come in. This pause, by the way, is
the first example here of how suspense and a sense of rising expectation is created by a change of
pace. A large part of this specific effect is the surprise factor, especially as you experience it at
the beginning of the film or the album. When the song is literally announced as in a concert
("and now we're gonna play "A Hard Day's Night" ...") the effect simply doesn't work as well.
Verse
Although the twelve-bar blues chord progression is not used here, this verse in section is still
twelve measures long and built out of three phrases equal in length that form an AAB poetic
pattern (actually, quite similar to “I Want To Hold Your Hand”):
mm. 1 - 4, 5 - 8
------------------------- 2X -------------------------|G
C
|G
|F
|G
|
G: I
IV
I
flat-VII
I
mm. 9 - 12
|C
IV
|D
V
|G
I
C
IV
|G
V
|
[Figure 49.1]
The overall harmonic shape is closed and rather static. The appearance of an "official" V -» I
cadence is delayed until the third phrase, but well before then, the G chord has been confirmed as
the I of the home key several times over by the gentler, less formal means of the IV and flat-VII
Page 284 of 962
chords. The manner in which the first two phrases of the tune seem so firmly centered on the
note D provides an additional source of stasis.
A couple of factors work at pleasing cross-currents to the static harmony and melody and
help lend some shape and sense of direction to the verse; e.g. the syncopated stress and sustained
duration given to the melodic F-naturals in measures 3 and 7, and the holding out of the melodic
climax until measure 10 where it is embellished by the brief duet of the two singers.
Bridge
The bridge is eight measures long and built out of two phrases equal in length and parallel in
melodic shape:
G:
(b:
|b
iii
i
|e
vi
iv
|b
iii
i??)
|-
|
|G
I
|e
vi
|C
IV
|D
V
||
[Figure 49.2]
The first phrase presents a half-hearted modulation to the key of b minor. The new key is
never formally established by any kind of dominant -» tonic (V -» I) cadence but for an instant,
one surely hears the b -» e -» b chord progression as though it were i -» iv -» i in the key of b. Of
course, all this is all straightened out in the second phrase where G is quickly re-established as
the home key via one of our favorite rock cliché chord progressions.
Some free associations with “You Can’t Do That” are unavoidable. Note the way in which
the bridge opens with a dramatically sustained melodic note (on the word "home" — the longest
single duration in the whole song) that is followed by a resumption of a chattier rhythm. The
heavy emphasis on B and E chords in both bridges is also striking though it should be pointed
out that in the each of the two songs, the chords are to be interpreted in the opposite ways. In
“You Can’t Do That”, the modulation was to e and the B-Major chord sounded like its V chord;
here, it is b-minor that sounds like the key to which the modulation has taken place, and the e
chord sounds like its iv.
As ever, we continue to find new examples in the active avoidance of so-called foolish
consistency in the creation of small variations: here, the completion of Paul's solo and the return
to John's vocal at the end of the first bridge is neatly spliced end-to-end but with virtually no
overlap, whereas in the repeat of the bridge, John goes out of his way to create a small
spontaneous-sounding overlap by coming in a beat or so early moaning the phoneme, "Oh ..."; I
call it spontaneous sounding because the effect appears as early as takes 3 and 7.
Solo
The solo is melodically unconventional yet very bluesy at the same time. The nervous and
frequent changes of rhythmic values seen earlier ripen into what borders on the spasmodic at this
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point. Indeed, am I the only one who hears the execution of measures 3 and 7 of this solo as
sounding "impossibly" fast?
Formally, we have the sort of "semi-solo" we first saw back in “From Me To You”, where the
instrumental is abandoned in the final phrase of the section in favor of a refrain-like reprise of
the vocals heard in other iterations of the verse.
Outro
The outro starts of with their trademark powering-down triple-repeat of the last half-phrase
of the final verse, but it ends off enigmatically on virtually the same chord with which the song
began. This parallelism by itself provides some unity to the song overall, but still, the use of a
non-I chord ending is unusual, and at the time, was virtually unprecedented in a rock song;
indeed, non-I openings, while by no means nearly as rare, were themselves still unusual.
Although the chordal outlines played gently into the fade-out by the lead guitar have none of
the commanding impact of the opening chord, the effect at the end is, in its own way, just as
suspenseful as the opening. In the film it effectively bridges the gap between opening credits and
first scene.
Some Final Thoughts
The lyrics are far from epochal or even merely profound. As touched as you might allow
yourself to be by the hero's profession of loving gratitude and affectation of the working class
hero, you just as easily might be made a little uneasy by his faint air of condescending
chauvinism.
Beyond a point it doesn't really matter, though. Based on "only" music and exuberant mood
alone "if necessary", the song "A Hard Day's Night" arguably holds a place within the uppermost
echelon of the Beatles' catalog. And in contrast to the historical subtleties of the Long Tall Sally
EP, it is very much along what I've described as the indigenous stylistic path of the group.
Even if you had somehow missed them on Ed Sullivan, or if perhaps you had seen them on
Ed's show yet their impact somehow missed you (you dour old curmudgeon), it would have
become increasingly, if not impossibly, difficult to ignore the Beatles once the likes of this song
and its associated film came on the scene.
Even my neighbor Fred (yes, that Fred) confided to me once in a moment of exquisite
vulnerability that although his parents had taken him abroad on holiday during the summer of
1964, a vacation during which he was protectively sheltered from the deleterious influence of
Top-40 AM radio, that when he returned to our shores in the early fall, upon hearing our title
song, even he now knew the Beatles were onto Something New.
“They take a turn down a back alley way and the crowd of screaming girls are after them.” 021792#49
Page 286 of 962
If I Fell
Key: D Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse (original) | Verse + extension |
| Verse + extension | Verse (original) |
UK-release: 10th July 1964 (A Single / "A Hard Day's Night")
US-release: 26th June 1964 (LP "A Hard Day's Night”)
Style and Form
This one was one of the most soulful songs Lennon & McCartney had yet written at the time
of its initial release, and the harmonic card trick contained in its intro remains one of their most
clever and daring ever.
The form is also unusual. Instead of a discrete bridge or refrain section, formal contrast is
provided by a bridge-like extension that grows directly out of each of the inner two verses.
Melody and Harmony
The melody, though punctuated now and then by a leap or two, moves primarily in step-wise
fashion and contains a couple of extended upward runs; the latter in spite of the theme of
“falling” contained in the lyrics.
The motif of step-wise, scalar motion is curiously carried forward in the harmony, as well,
with the repeated use of the I->ii->iii chord-stream. The harmony carries with it a strong flavor
of jazzy bittersweetness, largely the result of the prominence given to the minor iv chord and the
deployment of a pungent 7/9 chord at the climactic point where the verse extension commences.
The intro actually starts off in a different key (D flat Major) from the body of the song,
though as we'll see, this is not at all immediately clear to one's ears as it unfolds in real time. Not
surprisingly, given such a tonally disorienting opening, the rest of the song stays very closely
rooted to the home key without the slightest hint of a modulation.
Arrangement
John solos in the intro, but the rest of the song finds Paul in the lead with John singing
harmony below him in their inimitably funky style in which they sneak in those open fourths and
fifths where you least expect them. The overall melodic range is relatively wide, though outside
of the intro which is placed in John's baritone range, Paul's lead remains on the high end of his
own spectrum.
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The contrapunctal aspect of this particular vocal arrangement is somewhat disguised by the
rhythmically placid context and the afore-mentioned predominance of step-wise motion in both
parts. The disguise is so successful that, if anything, you walk away with the impression that the
arrangement is more of a chordal setting for three parts in the manner of “Yes It Is”, but the truth
is that there is no vocal part here for George; just John and Paul huddled, according to Lewisohn,
closely around the same mike.
Intro
The intro is eight measures long and built out of two parallel phrases equal in length:
D-flat:
|e-flat
ii
|D (natural)
flat-II
|e-flat
ii
|D (natural)
flat-II
D: I
|D-flat
I
|b-flat
vi
|
|e7(natural)
|A
|
ii
V
[Figure 50.1]
Quite unusually for Lennon & McCartney, we find here an old fashioned kind of intro in the
style of, say, Gerswhin or Porter. It’s fully developed as a section unto itself with material not
heard in the remainder of the song, and set-off from what follows by a different texture in the
instrumental backing track; examples of the latter include John's four-in-thebar rhythm guitar
strumming punctuated on the downbeats by George, and Ringo's delayed entrance until the
verse.
The harmonic shape of this section is another story entirely; hardly at all old fashioned and
rather both ingenious and clumsy at the same time. At the very start you pretty much assume that
the opening chord (e-flat minor) is the i chord of the home key but as the music free-falls first
through D Major and then continues down to D-flat Major, you're no longer so sure about that; in
fact, for a couple measures, you're totally lost and out to sea — go ahead and admit it, it's good
for your soul.
It's only after we come back to the e-flat chord in measure 5 that you quite regain your
bearings, only now, this e-flat chord feels much more like a ii in relationship to the D-flat chord
of the previous measure. The real coup is in the way in which the second time around, the music
makes an harmonic pivot, using the same D Major chord that had appeared more or less in
passing during the first phrase, now as the I of the actual home key of the song.
Verse (original)
This verse is ten measures long and breaks down into two parallel four-measure phrases that
are followed by a two-measure connector which leads us back to the next verse:
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mm.1-4, 5-8
------------------------------ 2X ----------------------|D
e
|f#
f-nat
|e7
|A
|
D: I
ii
iii
flat-iii ii
V
diminished
mm.9-10
|D
I
|g
iv
A
V
|
[Figure 50.2]
On a subtle level, a kind of circular harmonic openness is another unifying motif of the song
in that both sung phrases of this verse, as well as the connector, end on the V chord. For that
matter, so does the bridge-like extension below.
The chord on the fourth beat of measure 3, which I've provisionally labeled as “flat-iii
diminished” is more accurately described without any kind of roman numeral as one of those
chords that is the incidental result of linear motion of the various parts as they transition between
the chords on either side of it:
[Figure 50.3]
Note the vocal open 5th in the above example, as well as the similar open 4th at the
beginning of measures 9. The minor iv makes its quiet, first appearance in the final measures of
this section and it too recurs throughout the song.
Verse and extension
The first eight measures of this alternate verse section are identical to the original verse, but
we find a new extension here starting in measure 9 that's an asymmetrical seven measures long:
m.9
|D7/9
|I ..... V-of-IV
|G
IV
|
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|g
iv
|-
|D
I
|A7
V
|
[Figure 50.4]
One's sense of D Major as the home key remains crystal clear but is made quite ironically
bittersweet by some of the chord choices and the way they are orchestrated; e.g. the yearning
stretch in the vocals required for the D7/9, and the small shift by John from B-natural to B-flat
(on the words “and I”) in order to ominously change that Major IV to a minor iv, accompanied as
it is by Paul's literally trembling voice the second time around.
The phrase “sad if our new love” contains an unusual melodic cross-relation between the Fnatural (on the word "our") and the F# two words later on “love.” Also look out for the way that
John, after singing most of this phrase in parallel thirds with Paul, breaks out of the pattern with
a slide from E all the way down to A on the downbeat of measure 14.
Outro
The final verse is essentially identical to the initial one though it leads into a brief coda. The
open 4th in measure 9 is repeated here again, though after the intervening general lushness of the
texture, it sounds hauntingly hollow coming as the final word. The coda, a terse, touching echo
of the “sad if our new love” phrase, provides the lead guitar with its solitary moment in the
limelight. And then the song gently ends on a surprisingly reverberated single chord.
Some Final Thoughts
The lyrics are deceptively simply and full of elliptical, ambiguous word play so typical of
John's best work. Examples abound—the dangling question (“[would you] help me
understand?”—understand what ?), the use of “to/too/two” in close proximity to each other, and
the non-sequitur of the second repeat of the verse extension (“‘cos I couldn't stand the pain”)
when it follows the line “she will cry when she learns ...”
But beneath the mere cleverness of it all, what makes this song so potent is the desperate
vulnerability it manifests; a veritable obsession with the subjunctive “iffy-ness” of love,
described as a state in which people might run and hide and pride be hurt. For me though, the
greatest ambiguity of all here is in the tension between the hero's begging for love's being
requited on the one hand, while at the same time holding back from freely offering it for fear of
being rejected. Is this ingenuous realism, such a lot of chutzpah, or likely a bit of both?
“You won't interfere with the basic rugged concept of me personality, will you, Madam?” 030192#50
Page 290 of 962
I'm Happy Just To Dance With You
Key: c# minor / E Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro + Refrain (second half) | Verse | Verse |
| Refrain | Verse | Refrain | Verse |
Style and Form
A brisk tempo combines here with relatively small section lengths to make this a short song
with a paradoxically longish form; the refrain is not only repeated twice, but the latter half of it
appears as part of the intro as well.
Melody and Harmony
The melody of the refrain is quite pentatonic and has a shape in which downward gestures
predominate. In contrast, the verse melody is not at all restricted pitch content-wise, and its shape
is more closely resembles an arch.
This is yet another Lennon & McCartney song in which a Major key (E) and its relative
minor (c#) continually alternate as the apparent choice of home key. The verse here is always
clearly in the Major mode, yet the intro and the refrains always start off in the minor mode. In the
outro, this duality develops into a brief moment of tense conflict before it is ultimately resolved
in favor of the Major mode.
Major/minor gambits must have fascinated John and Paul during this era judging from the
number of roughly contemporaneous songs which use the device. The Major/relative-minor trick
appears for example in “Not A Second Time” and “And I Love Her”. And a similar trick of
alternating a Major key with its parallel minor (e.g., A Major/minor) appears in “Things We Said
Today” and “I'll Be Back”.
Harmonic gambits are not the only devices to resonate from one song to another on the A
Hard Day's Night album. As I should have pointed out in our last note on “If I Fell”, the unusual
technique seen there of having three chords in a row moving downward in half-step root motion
also appears (admittedly in a different context) in “Things We Said Today”.
All this aside, the chord selection itself in this song is quite straightforward though the use of
an augmented alteration of V in place of the more normal Major chord is noteworthy.
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Arrangement
Although George's understatedly sardonic performance as a quipster shines throughout A
Hard Day's Night, his double-tracked lead vocal here was to be, fairly or not, his lone moment in
the musical spotlight.
A seemingly trivial and reverberated “oh-ooh” backing part for John and Paul in the refrains
actually turns out to critically underscore the rhythmic hook of the song. Note how from the very
second measure, the move from the f# chord to the one on G# which recurs over and over again
throughout, is always delivered along with a heavy syncopation on the half beat between '2' and
'3'; i.e. "on 2-AND". During the intro and first refrain Ringo nicely punctuates this moment with
one of his characteristic fills. Unfortunately, he falls asleep at the switch for this during the
second refrain and most of the outro. And no, this is not an example of what I typically describe
as an avoidance of foolish consistency.
Speaking of consistency, note how the deployment of the backing voices is carefully staged.
In the first refrain they appear only after the second phrase (“is everything I need”), whereas in
the second refrain it appears after the first phrase as well (“Just to dance with you...”).
The instrumental backing track is on the fuzzy side though John's bouncy rhythm guitar work
does and Paul’s bass line both stand out clearly.
Intro and Refrain (2nd half)
This section is eight measures long and is built out of four two-measure phrases, the first of
three of which are based on the same chord progression:
------------- 3X -------------|c#
|f#
G#
||A
c#: i
iv
V
VI
E: IV
B
|E
B
V
I
V
|
[Figure 51.1]
The first four measures are entirely instrumental, while the latter four present what turns out
later to be the second half of the refrain. Following the initial establishment of c# minor as the
apparent home key and repeated emphasis of this fact, the song pivots around toward the relative
Major in the final couple measures.
Verse
The verse is also eight measures long and built out of four two-measure phrases. The first
two phrases form a parallel couplet while the last two tend of be heard as one long phrase which
balances out the first two:
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|E
E: I
------------- 2X -------------g#
|f#
B
|
iii
ii
V
|A
IV
|E
I
c#
vi
|A
IV
B aug.
V
|E
I
(B)
(V)
|
[Figure 51.2]
In spite of the formal similarity between this and the other sections, contrast with the intro
and refrains is provided here by the key being clearly E Major throughout, and the fact that even
though the tune itself contains some syncopation, that hook rhythm on the chord changes is
pretty much avoided here entirely.
A vi chord (c#) would have been a more likely choice to put in between I and ii at the
beginning of this section than the iii chord (g# minor). As it stands, the chord-stream parallel
motion inherent in the iii->ii progression adds a jazzy touch that would have been missing had vi
been used instead.
Refrain
The schematic plan of the refrain is identical to what we saw in the intro. The only difference
is that the first half of the section now contains an opening vocal phrase to balance out what had
been heard earlier as just the second half.
Outro
The outro is a seven measure section that is elided with the last measure of the final verse.
Note the ingenuity with which this section begins as a deceptive cadence coming off the B
augmented chord in what is the seventh measure of the verse; you're expecting to hear E (I) at
this point, not c# (vi):
|c#
E: vi
c#: i
|f#
|c#
E: vi
c#: i
|f#
iv
iv
G#
V
G#
V
|A
IV
VI
B
V
|
|A
IV
VI
B
V
|E
I
||
[Figure 51.3]
But most powerfully, they don't stop there. In many of their earlier songs, the triple rote
repeat (or “petit reprise” as the French call it) of a final phrase during the outro had become a
cliche, trademark, or both. Here, in a novel variation on this gambit, they pull the deceptive
cadence trick twice in a row before playing it straight the third time around. Somehow it conveys
the image of beating something down that refuses to give up.
Page 293 of 962
Some Final Thoughts
It's no surprise that the emphasis on c# minor during the outro is accompanied by a reprise of
the back beat heard earlier in the intro. The complete ending on an added-sixth chord also seems
especially appropriate. To the extent that this chord tends to sound as though it were a
superimposition of the I and vi chords together, it's only fair that while the Major mode is
allowed to ultimately prevail, a touch of the bittersweet vi is allowed to linger alongside it, or if
you will, embedded within.
By the way, looking for “mistakes” or recording oddities? Then what the hell is that little
squeak or scrape that managed to elude the quick pulling down of the faders right after the final
chord?
“Why don't we do the show right here?” 030992#51
Page 294 of 962
Tell Me Why
Key: D Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Refrain | Verse | Refrain |
| Verse | Refrain | Bridge | Refrain |
Style and Form
Superficially speaking, “Tell Me Why” is not one of the more conspicuously forward looking
songs on the A Hard Day's Night album. The very limited, conventionalized set of chords, and
the antiphonal vocal arrangement seem particularly familiar, if not predictable. Nonetheless, the
bracing, confrontational tone of the lyric, and the subliminal way in which the blues are conjured
even in absence of the 12-bar form, mark this song as one very much if its place in time and
context.
The form is also unusual both in the way it leads off with a refrain, but even more so in the
way that the lone bridge section is saved for very near the end.
Melody and Harmony
The melody of the refrain is in a pentatonically Major mode and is „rhythmically stretched
out, whereas the verse emphasizes the bluesy minor third of the scale and is rhythmically chattier
and more jumpy. This subtle kind of melodic differentiation between sections is a trait which
we've seen in several other songs of the period, two of the best examples of which may be found
on both sides of the “Can't Buy Me Love” single, b/w “You Can't Do That”.
The harmonic diet is pretty much limited to the I-vi-ii-V cliche chord progression. This set of
chords is used in both the refrain and verse sections but the melodic differences spelled out
above as well as the use of a walking bass line in only the refrains, make those sections sound
and feel more different than they really are.
The song contains a much higher than average number of dissonant 7th and 9th chords by
virtue of the correspondingly high number of appoggiaturas and "escapes". I wouldn't dream of
spoiling the fun of your discovering these on your own.
Arrangement
This song provides a fine example of how a rhythmic motif may serve as a full-fledged hook.
In this case we have in the intro, refrains, and outro, a triplet drum fill that precedes the
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downbeat, followed in the next measure by a wrenching syncopation on the eighth note between
the second and third beat (i.e. on “two-AND”).
Falsetto singing also appears as a leitmotif. Had it only been used for that magic moment in
the bridge, its appearance there would seem somewhat arbitrary. The casual, repeated use of
falsetto in the refrains therefore creates a context in which the big moment of the bridge feels
better motivated.
We haven't been consistently checking mono versus stereo versions of songs over the course
of this series, but this one features a couple of particularly noticeable differences. On the mono
CD pressing, John's solo vocal sounds single tracked in the verses and the bridge, whereas the
stereo LP pressing sounds as though the vocal in those sections had been double or even triple
tracked. The stereo version also has an extra second or two at the very end; just long enough to
hear someone running a hand down the neck of a guitar to dampen the remaining reverberation
of the final chord.
Intro
The four measure intro presents an instrumental, quadruple rote repeat of the ii -> V chord
progression (e7 -> A7) that is arranged around the rhythmic 'hook' described above. Notable are
the non-I harmonic start as well as the manner in which the rhythmic hook for drums alone starts
the whole thing off.
Refrain
The refrain is twelve measures long. It consists of two parallel phrases equal in length, each
of which is subdivided into a four-measure main phrase followed by a two measure “connector":
------------------------ 2X -------------------------|D
|b
|e
|A
||D
b
|e
A
|
D: I
vi
ii
V
I
vi
ii V
[Figure 52.1]
We've seen this chord progression earlier in “This Boy”, in which context we commented on
the feeling of inevitably that it conveys following from the fact that most of it lies along the
circle of fifths. It also happens to be a tonally open-ended progression with its ending on V, and
this sense of it is emphasized by the way in which the connector sub-phrase recapitulates the
entire progression of the first four measures in harmonic double time.
The walking bass contrasts with the stretched out melody and creates an illusion that the
chords change more rapidly than they actually do. And of course, the unifying rhythmic hook
always appears at the end of the each six-measure phrase.
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Verse
The verse is eight measures long and, similar to the refrain, is built out of two parallel
phrases equal in length:
----------------------- 2X -----------------------|D
|b
|e
|A
|
D: I
vi
ii
V
[Figure 52.2]
Again, the bass line contrasts with the melodic line; this time, though, it's the bass line that is
the more stable agent working at cross-currents to the rather nervous, declamatory tune.
Bridge
The ten-measure bridge consists of two four-measure phrases followed by the two-measure
connector, which has become quite familiar by this point in the song from the several repetitions
of the refrain:
|G
IV
|-
|A
V
|-
|
|b
vi
|-
|e
ii
|A
V
||D
I
b
vi
|e
ii
A
V
|
[Figure 52.3]
This section is setup via a small modification made to the end of the refrain that immediately
precedes it. Instead of repeating the I-vi-ii-V progression in the final two measures of that
refrain, we are given instead a plain sustaining of the D chord for the full two measures. The
longer that this chord is prolonged it begins to ripen to our ears from plain 'I' into a V-of-IV. We
saw the same effect in “This Boy.”
In addition to the unique falsetto outburst of the second phrase, this bridge is also made
dramatic by the sudden slowing down of the harmonic rhythm, the two full measures of
drumming triplets, and a foolish consistency- avoiding elimination of the syncopation in this
repeat of the connector phrase.
Outro
The four-measure outro is entered as a deceptive cadence coming off the V chord that ends
the preceding refrain:
|b
vi
|B-flat
flat-VI
|A4 -» 3
|V
|D
I
|
[Figure 52.4]
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It is entirely instrumental, built out of what is, in context of the rest of the song, a novel chord
progression, and contains a hard syncopation in every measure. In gesture, it is reminiscent of the
codas to both “Please Please Me” and “It Won't Be Long”. Here, because literally every phrase
of every other section ends on V, the song accumulates a going-in-circles kind of forward inertia
that requires a sort of radical intervention in order to bring things to a halt.
Some Final Thoughts
Although one of the more confrontationally bitter songs of the period, this one somewhat
uniquely incorporates no small measure of the sad, desperate frustration seen in some of John's
other work.
And just as we've seen in some of those other cases, no amount of studying the lyrics
necessarily pierces the surface ambiguity that surrounds the circumstance in which the song
would appear to unfold.
To say that we're eavesdropping in real time on an actual moment of truth feels, somehow,
too pat. In spite of all ranting, I think I'd more readily assume it's the rehearsal-like soliloquy in
advance of a Showdown, or perhaps even, merely the muttering under his breath for selfcomfort, after the moment for a face-to-face clearing of the air had, alas, long since passed.
“If there's anything I can do ...” 033192#52
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I'll Cry Instead
Key: G Major
Meter: 4/4
| Bridge | Verse (with complete ending)
Style and Form
The “official” version, found on the British A Hard Day's Night album, is a standard twobridge model with neither an instrumental solo section nor double verse in between the two
bridge sections. An small unusual twist here is the lack of an outro, proper; instead, the song
simply comes to a complete halt at the end of the final verse.
Strange as it sounds, the song was planned at one point to be used in The Film as the musical
accompaniment to the running and jumping scene, instead of “Can't Buy Me Love.” In order to
lengthen it out to match the timing of the film scene, an alternate version, with the first verse
repeated at the end, was artificially spliced together. This formalistic oddity can be found on the
American film album (from United Artists) as well as the mono pressing of Something New.
Melody and Harmony
As we've seen in many other songs on the A Hard Day's Night album, the melody of this one
is heavily bluesy but only in the verses, and even in there, the use of the blue minor third and
seventh is not consistent; look carefully at the tune and observe the continual alternation of b
natural and b flat, and the extent to which this lends a characterizing flavor to it. Similarly, the
chords of the verse are limited to the bluesy set of I-IV-V, while the bridge features a full-blown,
albeit short-lived modulation to the key of V (i.e. ‘D').
Arrangement
John's solo is the only vocal part heard on this track. The double tracking is quite noticeably
better synched here than usual, leading me to half suspect that it might have been artificially
done, even though I don't believe that the Beatles had yet discovered the special effect of ADT at
this point.
The overall instrumental sound is rather countryish by virtue of the strumming style of the
rhythm guitar, the chordal obligato part for the lead guitar, and the prominent use of the
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tambourine. Note the way they all ‘zoom' into the opening G Major chord from the note below,
and the extent to which this effect recurs throughout.
Intro
There's not much of an intro to speak of here, except for two measures worth of vamping on
the I chord (i.e. G). The guitar part hints at a shift to the IV chord (i.e. C) on the off beat, but I
believe these are heard more as transitional neighbor tones filling in between the I chords on
either side, rather than as a discrete change of chord root.
Verse
The verse is sixteen measures long with four phrases all of equal length:
G:
|G
I
|-
|-
|-
|
|G
I
|-
|D
V
|-
||
|C
IV
|-
|-
|-
|
|G
I
|D
V
|G
I
|-
||
[Figure 53.1]
The harmonic rhythm is almost plodding, but the momentary speed-up in the final phrase
helps create a sense of formal closure to the section.
The melodic phrase heard over the C chord in measure 9 ('d->f->d->c-> b-flat->c' as in “if I
could see you now”) – with it's flat 7th and 3rd, as well as the way in which the f and d run
roughshod over the C chord below it, are extremely characteristic of both this song and the
Beatles semi-bluesy style of this period in general.
The penultimate phrase of each of the two verses which follow a bridge section feature the
dramatic touch of the other guitars dropping out to make way for a long walking bass solo plus
tambourine. Together with the specific choice of words that starts off these verse (“and when I do
you better ...”), this musical effect has a way of connecting them to the preceding bridges and
making them feel as if they tie off some kind of business left unfinished back in the bridge.
Bridge
The bridge is eight measures long with two phrases of equal length:
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G:
D:
G:
D:
|b
iii
vi
|-
|D
|-
|A
|-
|
V
I
|e
ii
|A
V
D
V
I
|
[Figure 53.2]
The pivot modulation from G to D is somewhat ingenuously awkward. The move to the b
minor chord does not by itself signal the start of a key change, and although the move from there
down to A tells you something is afoot, it is a move which is more ambiguous than sure-footed.
In truth, one does not regain a clear sense of key again in this section until near the end when
the new key of D Major is firmly established by its own ii-V-I progression. And yet, just as this
happens, we just as quickly scamper right back to the home key in the final measure of the
section, a moment which contains the fastest stretch of harmonic rhythm in the entire song.
Indeed, this jumpy kind of tonal shifting around neatly reflects some of the unease of the lyrics.
Some Final Thoughts
It's tempting to describe this one as a less mature, less self-aware warm-up for the later
“You've Got To Hide Yourself Away.” Most notable, in contrast to the few other bitter songs of
this still relatively early period (e.g. “You Can't Do That” and “Tell Me Why”), is the complete
focus in this song on the forlorn aftermath of the breakup, accompanied as it is with thoughts of
self-pity and revenge. There are no descriptions or allusions here to any past pleasures, whys or
wherefores; only pain.
“Well, you stick to that story, son.” 042192#53
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When I Get Home
Key: A Major / a minor / C Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Refrain | Verse | Refrain | Verse | Refrain |
| Bridge | Verse | Refrain |
Style and Form
We wind up here completing our study of the Beatles third album with this relatively less
popular but nonetheless characteristically novel and interesting number. I believe that some
listeners find in this song a tense agitation in the refrain and a fierce determination in the verse
that are irritatingly out of proportion to the situation implied by the lyrics. For my own tastes,
this contrast only goes to heighten a sense of irony and intrigue about the song.
After all, just why the forceful delivery? Is the hero simply worried that he'll be somehow
prevented by woman #2 from returning "home", or perhaps is it more the reflection of an inner
ambivalence within the hero himself about wanting to effect such a return? I similarly wonder
what in blazes he possibly means by the line “I’ll love her more till I walk out that door again.” –
Just going to work or out on errands the next day after his planned return, or is this some offhanded allusion to the inevitability of repeated philandering? Such wonderfully elliptical
ambiguity! But getting back to the music...
The most unusual item found here is the key scheme. The relatively large number of songs on
the A Hard Day’s Night album which make conspicuous use of either relative Major/minor shifts
(e.g. “And I Love Her” and “I'm Happy Just To Dance With You”) or parallel Major/minor shifts
(e.g. “Things We Said Today” and “I'll Be Back”) has already been discussed in this series. But
“When I Get Home” is the only example we've seen in which both gambits are used in the same
song.
Secondarily, the form of the song is also unusual, starting off with a refrain, but also
containing a bridge, as well. Compare this, by the way, with “Tell Me Why.”
Melody and Harmony
The parallel Major/minor gambit is based on the keys of A, with the refrain starting out in A
Major but ending in a minor. The relative Major/minor gambit is based on the relationship
between the appearance of a minor just mentioned and C Major which dominates the verses as
well as the bridge.
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Surprisingly, barely six different chords are used within the entire song to exploit such a
complex tonal situation, in which your sense of where the home key is is kept continually in flux.
I'd suggest that this changeability is so strongly a subliminal hook element of the song that the
final ending on C sounds a tad abrupt and forced; perhaps a fadeout would have worked better.
The melodic style here is essentially declamatory with short phrases of 3-6 notes repeated
frequently repeated for rhetorical effect; a Beatles trademark running as far back as “Love Me
Do.”
Arrangement
The instrumental backing contains a fuzzy/boomy texture heard on several other tracks from
the same album, though some of the fancier drum work (such as fills which bridge the gap
between the ends of refrains and the beginning of verses) stands out nicely.
The vocal arrangement features John single tracked in the verses, double tracked for most of
the bridge (sounds like they rather fussily omit the second track for the climactic “I love her
more” phrase of that section), and accompanied for emphasis by the others in the refrain.
The refrain contains a rhythmic hook to be found in the recurring hard syncopations on the
final eighth note of the measure (i.e. on “four-AND”), unusually followed by no demarcation of
where the downbeat of the next measure actually is; a special effect which only goes to make the
syncopation feel all the more gut-wrenching.
Refrain
The refrain is eight measures long and is structured out of two parallel phrases of two
measures each that are balanced out by a single phrase of four measures:
A:
|A
I
|-
|-
|D9
IV
|G
flat-VII
|a
i
||G
flat-VII
C: V
|
|
[Figure 54.1]
The melodic use of G naturals in the A Major context of the first two phrases lends a bluesy
touch. The last phrase is especially tangy by virtue of the melodic E over the D chord in measure
5, followed by the F natural over the G chord in the next measures. Lyrically, the opening of this
section must be one of the earliest examples in the Beatles oeuvre to feature wordless phonemes
so prominently.
In terms of dramatic structure, this section strangely begins right off at a point of climax,
giving us listeners the feeling of having walked in on something already well in progress. This
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effect is further heightened by surprising series of harmonic moves in the last couple measures;
first the arrival of a minor in a place where you expect it to be Major, followed immediately by
the G Major chord which punningly pivots as a dominant V chord over to the key of C Major.
Note too, how the uneventful harmonic rhythmic of the first half of this section contrasts with
what happens in the remainder of it.
Verse
The verse is eight measures long and structured in a manner similar to the refrain. This time,
the initial two-measure melodic phrase is repeated three times before blossoming out a bit the
final time around:
---------- 3X -----------|C
|F
|G
C: I
IV
V
|-
|
[Figure 54.2]
Instead of containing bluesy hints, the tune in this section is shot through with little
chromatic scale riffs. In common with the refrain though is the melodic emphasis on the F
natural over the G chord near the end here.
The tone of this verse is hard-edged and determined, and it is effectively designed to not only
contrast with the comparative turbulence of the refrain, but also, by virtue of its rhetorical
repetitiousness and harmonically open ending on V, to build momentously toward that next
section.
I'll leave the second chord of the verse simply labeled as IV, though I believe it could (and
should) be more academically (and correctly) analyzed as the "ii 6/5"; i.e. d7 in the first
inversion. Listen carefully and note how Paul plays a double stopped fifth (F-C) in the bass,
while the melody contains a D natural against it. For further discussion of this type of chord, see
our much earlier note on “No Reply.”
Bridge
This bridge is ten measures long, the only un-square section to be found in the entire song,
and can be broken down into a series of five short two-measure phrases which coalesce into an
uneven grouping of 2 + 3:
C:
|C
I
|a
vi
|C
I
|a
vi
|
|F9
IV
|G
V
|F
IV
|G
V
|a
vi
|G
V
|
[Figure 54.3]
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The tone of this section is closer in spirit to the verses than the refrains, though the internal
shape of the bridge is more arch-like with an internal climax somewhere near the middle of the
section (on those melodic octave leaps to the F9 chords), rather than ending, like the verses, just
on the verge of a peaking. Note how the final measure of the refrain which immediately precedes
this bridge is modified to sustain the a minor chord.
Outro
The outro of this song is in the form of a 'petit-reprise'-like extension of the final refrain. In
measure 7, this time, an A Major chord is substituted for the expected a minor, which nicely
motivates a repeat of the second of the second half of the refrain, starting from the D Major
chord; except, of course, for the final surprising ending on C!
As the final C chord reverberates and fades away, I detect a curious resonance of the note F#,
which may or may not have been deliberate. Either way, the subtle appearance of such a
dissonant and foreign tone in this context lends a connotation of something uneasily left
unresolved which somehow surely seems to fit in with the spirit of what has preceded.
Some Final Thoughts
In considering the thirteen tracks on the A Hard Day's Night album as a whole and in
comparison with the group’s work which preceded this collection, a number of interesting trends
and other observations come to mind.
First off, a number of earlier trademarks of the group seem conspicuously downplayed, if not
entirely avoided. In particular, they would seem to have traded in their sinewy two-part vocal
counterpoint for more in the way of solo lead vocals that get punctuated by antiphonal touches of
three part singing. There also seems to be much less of the free-verse uneven phrasing here than
before. And with exception of the Major/minor gambits mentioned above or the intro to “If I
Fell”, there also seems to be less than their typical level of experimenting with unusual chord
progressions.
But of course, there are the undeniable signs here of stylistic development as well. In the
absence of cover songs for the first time, it is particularly notable how many different moods,
tempos, and instrumental textures are included in the mix; in additional to the obligatory rockers,
we also have the likes of a ballad such as “And I Love Her”, as well as a couple of semi or
pseudo acoustic numbers (e.g. “Things We Said Today” and “I'll Be Back”) which anticipate the
folk rock style heard later on Rubber Soul.
Just as importantly, there are also the examples of increasingly sophisticated word play and
imagery, as well as the several ways in which the spirit and flavor of the blues are conjured with
only very little if any direct reference.
“I've only one thing to say to you, John Lennon.”043092#54
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I Feel Fine
Key: G Major
Meter: 4/4
| Verse | Verse (guitar solo) |
UK-release: 27th November 1964 (A Single / "She's A Woman")
US-release: 23rd November 1964 (A Single / "She's A Woman")
Style and Form
The form of this song is unusually bulky as a result of the individual sections themselves
being rather short. Note especially the unusual series of three verse sections in the middle, one of
which is for solo guitar. The alternation found here in the penultimate phrase of the verses
between “I'm” and “She's” might be described, at this stage of their career, as almost equally
nostalgic as it is characteristic.
Melody and Harmony
The entire song stays firmly rooted in the home key of G Major, and the harmonic diet is
limited to only four chords; with the bluesy triumvirate of I, IV, and V sufficing for the verses,
and the iii chord being thrown in for the bridges. The only harmonic feature here that is even
slightly unusual is the use of iii to bridge the gap between I and IV; i.e. iii more often than not is
generally followed by vi.
The verse sports a number of other kinds of trademarks -- the melodic noodling on just a
couple or three notes in a narrow range; the bluesy flat sevenths found in the early part of the
section followed by the flat third only near the end of it; and the static harmonic rhythm in the
opening phrase.
Arrangement
The guitar feedback at the very opening is much celebrated for its serendipitous,
experimental origin. It's worth emphasizing though that this effect is not random noise, but rather
a clever isolation of the naturally occurring harmonic resonance one octave above the original
note that was plucked. Furthermore, the specific choice of note plucked was far from random;
see below.
The lead guitar is prominently featured on the backing track to an extent that its recurring
presence provides a secondary hook of sorts. Beyond the solo section itself, the licks which
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appear during the intro and in between the two phrases of each verse create the impression of the
guitar always lurking there in the background.
The vocal arrangement has John double tracked on lead with continually intermittent support
from Paul and George. Note how in the verse, the chorus joins John for the second half of the
section, whereas the gambit is reversed in the bridge – there, the chorus loudly reinforces the first
half of each phrase, only to retreat for the remainder of it to a sotto-voce “ooh-ing” support role.
The consistent placement of John's singing of the tune on the below the other two lines adds a
characteristic tang.
On top of all else, the particular style of the drumming lends an offbeat, slightly 'Latin' flavor
to the overall production.
Intro
The intro starts off with the feedback sequence mentioned above. They may have had some
specific duration for this in mind, but the listener's impression of it is as though it were
performed ad libitum, out of tempo.
This effect is immediately followed by a strange small noise, and then comes the intro
proper, a section of eight measures in length that is later quoted again almost verbatim in the
second half of the guitar solo section:
|D
G: V
|-
|C
IV
-- 4X -|G
|
I
|-
[Figure 55.1]
Once the music gets rolling, one hears the opening note retrospectively as having implied an
A Major chord (V-of-V) in relationship to the D Major (V) which follows it. The V-IV-I
progression itself helps set the quasi-bluesy tone of the song from the start.
This intro is also a good example of the Beatles trademark layered opening, an effect created
primarily by the manner in which entry of the other instruments, especially the drums, is delayed
until the end of measure 6.
Verse
The verse is ten measures long, and breaks down into two phrases of 6 and 4 measures
respectively as a matter of the rhetorical inner sub-phrasing of the lyrics and melody. In spite of
the asymmetry, the overall dramatic shape of the section remains arch-like and closed:
|G
I
|-
|-
|-
|D
V
|D
V
|C
IV
|G
I
|-
|
|-
|
[Figure 55.2]
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The ensemble singing is ever so slightly ragged. With the exception of the third verse, they
seem rather incapable of making a clean, coordinated cut-off at the phrase endings.
Bridge
The bridge is eight measures long and built out of two repeats of what is essentially the same
four-measure phrase. In contrast to the verse, the shape of this section is open ended and leads
nicely back around to the verse which follows it:
--------------- 2X ---------------|G
|b
|C
|D
|
I
iii
IV
V
[Figure 55.3]
Verse (Guitar Solo)
Though clearly based upon the verse, the length of this section is adjusted slightly, to add a
tad more dramatic emphasis to the second half (note the re-entry of those drums!), as well as to
make an associative allusion back to the intro.
The solo part itself mimics the pitch content and rhetoric of the tune. The original backing
track already had some solo guitar work on it, to which a final solo part was later overdubbed
(you can check this on your bootlegs), and the intersection of the two parts in a few instances
makes for a surreal effect.
John vocally introduces this section with a moan. This is an infinitesimal gesture perhaps, but
it sets up a subtle point of reference that resonates nicely when the same effect returns in the
outro.
Outro
The outro starts off as another one of those petit reprises of the last phrase of the final verse;
in this case, a winding back to the V-IV-I phrase yet again.
This is followed by a vamping into the fadeout over the sustained I chord, accompanied by
guitar riffing reminiscent of the intro, as well as moans, whoops, and handclaps. The latter are
barely audible on the finished release, but reference to the bootleg of un-retouched and unedited
take 9 (misleadingly identified on all boots as “take 7” – you heard this here first!), betrays the
extent to which this horsing around went on during real time in the studio.
Some Final Thoughts
Viewed in perspective of the Beatles stylistic development over the long run, this song very
much builds directly on the innovations and new trademarks of the A Hard Day’s Night album.
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Perhaps the single most exceptional gesture in this particular number is to be found in its
unaccustomed display (for John) of such effusive romantic euphoria, completely uncomplicated
for a change by even the slightest second thoughts, anxiety, or self-doubt.
“Congratulate me, boys, I'm engaged.” 050792#55
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She's A Woman
Key: A Major
Meter: 4/4
| Break (guitar solo) | Bridge |
UK-release: 27th November 1964 (B Single / "I Feel Fine")
US-release: 23rd November 1964 (B Single / "I Feel Fine")
Style and Form
This one was one of Paulie's big personal triumphs. Not only was it a staple of the Beatles
stage repertoire for the season of '65, but as recently as the “Unplugged Special” of last year, it
was clearly on the composer's own short list of Beatles songs he's proud to still play in public.
At the time of its initial release, “She's A Woman” was Paul's most outrageous vocal
performance since his earlier rendition of “Long Tall Sally”, and it was also his first foray into
this genre with an original effort. As I commented back in my note on the Long Tall Sally EP, the
underlying gesture of this stylistic masquerading would have far-reaching repercussions for the
Beatles in mid-to-late career. In terms of Paul's own contribution, we can trace a relatively direct
line between our current song and the likes of “Get Back” and “Oh, Darling.”
This song would be just about the Beatles most blues-like number to date on compositional
grounds, as well as those of performance style. The tune and the chord choices are bluesy in
flavor, and the instrumental break and outro sections even sport a true-blue 12-bar form. Even
the verses turn out to be in a subtly disguised expanded variation on the standard 12-bar
framework.
As we've seen in other songs from this period, the bridge provides the only respite here from
the blues. This particular one is extremely truncated in length to an extreme that one tends to
hear what is actually the beginning of the next verse as though it were a continuation of the
bridge itself.
Melody and Harmony
The melodic hook of the song is to be found in the quite distinctive melodic lick which opens
the verse, with its dramatic initial upward jump of a minor sixth, and the craggy manner in which
it works its way back down the other side of the arch. It also contains a tangy implied crossrelation between the opening C# (on the word “my”) and the later C natural (on the first syllable
of the word “presents”.)
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The opening jump takes Paul all the way up to high 'A', a note that is barely within his
comfort zone. In fact, the predominant range of the tune (the fancy technical word for this is “the
tessitura”) is on the high side. Paul’s evident strain in trying to reach the mark indirectly adds an
earthy, humanizing factor to the proceedings. And – for “Unplugged”, the older Mr. McCartney
saw it as prudent to transpose the whole thing down a full fourth, all the way to the key of E!
With the exception of the two brief bridge sections, the chord selection is strictly I-IV-V,
though the bridge does manage in its terse way to provide some respite.
Arrangement
In trademark fashion, the entry of the percussion (both drums and chocalho – sounds like
maracas to me) are delayed until the second half of the intro. Furthermore, the style of drumming
is modified for the bridges and outro.
The overdubbed piano, which doubles the guitar on those offbeat chords in the intro (or is it
actually some tricky double tracking of the guitar, alone?), sits out the first verse, only to return
for the duration in the next section with a part that is primarily chordal but which also features
the hook phrase of the tune in mockingbird like antiphony with the singer; compare the latter
effect with the handling of the lead guitar lick in "She Said She Said."
There is some nice, ongoing interplay established between the bass line and the piano, though
for one precarious instant in the verse which follows the first bridge, the ensemble between the
two of them sounds almost ready to fall apart.
Macca sings solo throughout, though he is rather loosely double tracked for the bridges.
From one verse to the next, he employs an uncommon (for him) amount of improvised variation
on the basic tune. These little twists seem to get steadily freer, louder, and more extroverted as
the song progresses; as well they should.
Intro
The available outtakes of this song with their inevitable count-ins show us that the music was
conceived as being in a very rapid 4/4 meter. By this rule of thumb therefore, the intro is eight
measures in length:
A:
|E
V
|-
|D
IV
|A
I
|-
|-
|-
|
1*2*3 4
|- E
|
V
[Figure 56.1]
Page 311 of 962
The outtakes also show that the unaccompanied chords played on the offbeat were
sufficiently clever to trip up the group virtually every time. Even the flawless official version
maintains the power to throw you, the listener, off base a bit no matter how many times you've
ever heard it.
Verse
The verse is twenty-four measures long and though its formal outline is very similar to that of
the standard 12-bar blues frame, that familiar structure here unfolds at half the normal pace
(compare, by the way, with the Larry Williams cover, “Slow Down”), and its resemblance is also
further obscured by the recurrence of the D Major (IV) chord in the midst of what would be, in a
more pure blues number, measures of just the plain A (I) chord:
------------- 2X -------------|A
|D
A |A
||
I
IV I
|D
IV
|-
|-
|-
|A
I
|D
IV
A
I
|A
|-
|
|E
V
|-
|D
IV
|-
|A
I
|D
IV
A
I
|A
|-
|
[Figure 56.2]
An hypnotic mantra-like effect is created by the four-fold reiteration of the distinctive hook
phrase over the course of this section. The only other contrasting melodic material comes in little
phrases that move stepwise around a single note, and these too are repeated to hypnotic effect.
The first verse is slightly different from all the rest, with its lack of a piano part and its
ending on a syncopated V chord, just like the intro. Once the piano enters, it seems that
whenever the hook phrase occurs, the piano repeats the D-A chord change in measure 4 of that
phrase even though the bass line appears to hold to the sustained A chord pattern established in
the first verse.
Bridge
As mentioned already, the bridge is a scant four measures in length. It is built out of a
repetition of the same two-measure melodic phrase, and provides a terrific example of the way in
which different chords used under identical melodic conditions change the feeling of the melody
in each case:
|c#
iii
|f#
vi
|c#
iii
|D
IV
E
V
|
[Figure 56.3]
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Appropriate bridge-like contrast is provided by several factors – the non bluesy melody for a
change, the new couple of chords, and the brevity of the section itself.
After having discussed in our Note on “I Feel Fine” the relative propensity of the iii chord to
be followed by vi versus IV, we ironically find in this next song an object lesson in which iii is
alternately followed by each of those targets. I have a reasonable doubt regarding whether that
chord on f# is a Major or minor triad; if the former, then change my label to "V-of-ii", and add a
footnote about how that chord suggests, but far from consummates, a potential modulation to the
key of b minor that is left hanging in mid-air.
Break (Guitar Solo)
In the guitar solo section, the music abandons all disguise and once and for all offers us a
classic 12-bar blues frame. Note both the strange stereo mixing of the solo, as well as the manner
in which it manages to sound spontaneously improvised even while it incorporates pieces of the
opening hook phrase.
Outro
The outro features a break out into the 12-bar improvisatory style seen earlier in the solo
section, this time including Paul's own vocal part based on the title phrase.
Some Final Thoughts
I've suggested on a number of occasions the seemingly far-fetched possibility that there may
have been times when John and Paul would, if not quite compositionally compete with each
other in any explicit, technical way, subliminally work out some similar musical problem in
parallel with each other; the result of which might be two very different songs which,
nonetheless, betray a similar lyrical thesis or technical structure at a level below the surface.
I first suggested this way back in connection with “She Said She Said” versus “Good Day
Sunshine”, and “It Won't Be Long” versus “All My Loving.” We saw it more recently with “You
Can't Do That” and “Can't Buy Me Love.” I predict we'll see it yet again when we get to “Rain”
versus “Paperback Writer”, and even “Strawberry Fields Forever” versus “Penny Lane.”
Indeed, the flip sides of singles seem to have been a frequent and fertile place for this to
happen. I suggest we have this same phenomenon here between “I Feel Fine” and “She's A
Woman.” In this case, I am particularly struck by the euphoric subtext of the words, the stylized
handling of the blues, and especially the V-IV-I intro in which the ensemble doesn't quite start
until the I chord.
Paul's got one leading edge here with a small yet stylistically prophetic bit of wordplay—the
manner in which he rhymes "jealous" with "well as" seems just a tad too coincidentally similar to
those rhymes of "doin'" with "blue an'" and "runnin'" with "fun in"; to be found in “What You're
Doing”, recorded more or less during the same group of sessions as “She's A Woman.” What a
guy!
“You'll have to love her; she's your symbol.” 051892#56 Page 313 of 962
I'm A Loser
Key: G Major
Meter: 4/4
| Solo Break (half-Verse + Refrain) |
| Verse | Refrain | Outro (fade-out)
Recorded: 14th August 1964, Abbey Road 2
Style and Form
For a rock song, this one contains a stronger blend of folk elements than almost anything else
the Beatles had done to-date. Apart from the semi-acoustic arrangement, we have a form which
(with the exception of the break and outro) presents a ballad-like straight alternation of verse and
refrain. The lyrics are different for each verse and imply a kind of narrative that is told in 2nd
person direct address, and ends on a cliche moral note (“... pride comes be-fore a fall...”). We'll
come across even more details supportive of this thesis as we do our walkthrough below. The
most unusual formal touch here is the instrumental break section that is a hybrid half-verse plus
refrain. However, the ad-lib intro and recapitulation of the break that occurs in the outro are both
also noteworthy.
Melody and Harmony
The melody is closer to the Mixolydian mode than it is bluesy, with the Major 3rd (B) and
flattened 7th (F) consistently emphasized in the verses. The naturally occurring Major 7th (F#)
occurs only in the refrain section along with the 6th degree of the scale (E) which is emphasized
there after having been withheld entirely during the verses. I'll grant you that virtually no
composer plans out such consistency in any kind of pre-meditated fashion, but it still fascinates
me to observe how the creative mind does seem to subconsciously impose such order.
The harmony is also modal by virtue of the heavy use of the flat-VII chord throughout. The
continual juxtaposition of the flat-VII (F Major) to the V chord (D Major) in this song makes for
a tangy cross relation between the F natural of the one chord with the F# of the other.
The harmonic diet is otherwise straightforward and limited. There is a small number of
chords involved overall, and the whole thing is strictly in G Major with not even the least hint of
modulation or other gambit; yet another aspect of the song which suggests the folk style.
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Arrangement
The details of the arrangement seem more carefully organized than usual toward maximizing
contrast between the verses and refrains. In the verses, John sings a single tracked solo, the bass
line is in a predominantly four-in-the-bar oompah pattern, and the percussion is quietly
restrained. For the refrains, John is double tracked and joined by Paul's harmonizing above him,
the bass line is walking, and the percussion gets noisier and more sizzling.
The rhythm guitar provides a background wash containing a high level of noise from the pick
being strummed across strings. The lead guitar provides its own wash of bent-note chords during
the verses. This effect sounds as if it were mixed more prominently and played with an increased
amount of bending during the final verse; a touch which pleasantly resonates with the analogous
bent notes in the lead vocal and the harmonica solo.
John's harmonica makes its first appearance here since “I Should Have Known Better”, and
this time it is used more sparingly though with greater abandon.
Intro
This is one of those relatively rare Beatles intros that is played ad-lib and out of tempo.
Formally, it turns out to be a truncated version of the refrain section:
|A Tempo ----»
---------- 2X ----------|a
|D
||F
|G: ii
V
flat-VII
D
V
|
[Figure 57.1]
Most other songs with this kind of intro would find the complete ensemble coming in right
at, or just before the "A Tempo" downbeat; here, they wait it out until the very last beats of the
entire section.
Verse
The verse is sixteen measures long. Although it is harmonically built out of a fourfold
repetition of the same four measure chord progression (yet another folksy touch), the melodic
phrasing creates two eight-bar couplets:
----------------------- 4X -----------------------|G
|D
|F
|G
|
G: I
V
flat-VII
I
[Figure 57.2]
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The tune is roughly arch-shaped with unusual and slightly awkward leaps that take John all
the way down to a low G that is difficult for him to reach. By the same token, John makes the
most of a bent-note D->C appoggiatura which occurs toward the end of each verse; for example
on the word “known” in the first verse.
In several places, the tune seems to go out of its way to force freely dissonant notes against
the underlying chords, making for a disingenuously "primitive" impression; note especially the
G's in the second half of the first couplet which clash over both the D and F chords – on the
words “should” and “never” – reminiscent of something we saw back in “I'll Cry Instead.”
Refrain
The bridge is eight measures long and is built out of two four-measure phrases that are
melodically parallel even though they are placed on top of different chord progressions. Note the
subtle effect of the last measure of this section, the only place in the entire song where the
harmonic rhythm quickens beyond one chord change per measure:
------------- 2X -------------|a7
|D
|G
ii
V
I
|a
ii
|F
D
flat-VII V
|e
vi
|
|
[Figure 57.3]
The verse had been harmonically static and closed in shape, and this refrain, even without
any kind of modulatory tendency, makes a nice contrast in the way that it starts away from the I
chord and ends up on the V chord, thereby providing motivation for the section which follows.
The tendency we observed in the verse toward free dissonance between melody and harmony
is continued here as well; the most striking example being at the beginning of the second phrase
– E over the G chord and D over the e chord on the two syllables of “loser” respectively.
Paul drops out of his supporting vocal role for the last half-phrase of this section leaving
John's solo exposed again. It's an elegant and dramatically convincing touch though, as we learn
from the early studio outtakes, it was not originally planned this way. If it were not for Paul's
continual difficulty in finding an acceptable counterpoint solution for those last couple bars, it's
possible if not likely that he would have sung the whole way through.
Break (Harmonica and Guitar Solo)
This break is sixteen measures long and is pieced together from the first eight measures of
the verse plus a complete refrain. This strategy may be argued as necessary to the extent that the
entire verse by itself would make a poor basis for a break because of its static structure, while the
refrain by itself would not work well as a break section if you are forced to choose between
Page 316 of 962
placing it immediately following a sung refrain, or following a verse in place of a sung refrain.
Run these options in your head and think it over.
Again we find still more melodic dissonance against the harmony in both harmonica and
guitar parts. This effect tends to accentuate one's sense of Dylan's influence on the proceedings.
The percussion reaches its sizzling peak during this break; a fact you almost don't realize till
the smoke slowly clears, so to speak, over the course of the first phrase of the next verse.
Outro
The outro provides a virtually note-for-note recap of the break section albeit one faded out in
mid-course. Ringo inserts an elaborate fill (the only one in the entire song!) in between the first
two phrases of this outro. The only problem is that it sounds as though a small but critical
fractional part of a beat is missing, the end result making you feel like you've tripped over
something in the dark when you hear it.
Some Final Thoughts
One of the obvious stylistic trends often noted about the Beatles For Sale album is its much
larger quotient than usual of unhappy love songs. Out of eight Lennon & McCartney originals,
only “Eight Days A Week” and “Every Little Thing” strike the familiar Beatles chord of romantic
euphoria. The other six range across a fairly broad though equally conventional spectrum of from
sad-to-bitter regret at one end ( “I'll Follow The Sun”, “I Don't Want To Spoil The Party”,
“Baby's In Black”), all the way to desperate confrontation at the other ( “No Reply”, “What
You’re Doing”).
“I'm A Loser”, though, is somewhat unique, both in terms of this general context as well as in
the larger one of John's other regretful or bitter songs written to this point of his career. For the
first time in this one, the focus is completely on self-blame almost to the excessive extreme of
maudlin self-pity, but likewise with none of the previously familiar emphasis at all on bitter
accusations.
It's become glibly fashionable to trace a certain kind of turning point in John's compositional
development to the writing of “You've Got To Hide Your Love Away” , but it seems to me that a
lot of what is in that later song can already be seen emerging right here in “I'm A Loser”; even
the choice of key and chords is awfully similar.
“No, she'll only reject me in the end, and I'll be frustrated.”052892#57
Page 317 of 962
Baby's In Black
Key: A Major
Meter: 3/4
Form: Intro | Refrain | Verse | Refrain | Verse |
| Bridge | Refrain | Refrain (guitar solo) |
| Bridge | Refrain | Verse |
| Refrain (with complete ending)
Recorded: 11th August 1964, Abbey Road 2
US-release: 15th December 1964 (LP "Beatles ’65")
Style and Form
Formalistically, this is among the more verbose and complicated songs we've looked at, with
its refrain, bridge, and guitar solo sections. While The Beatles didn't go in for this sort of thing
very often, neither is such a form unprecedented. Examples uncovered thus far in our studies
include “It Won't Be Long”, “When I Get Home”, and “You're Going To Lose That Girl”. The
fact that the preceding list is entirely built out of songs that conspicuously belong to John would
seem noteworthy.
Stylistically, the song has an unusual mishmash of elements – the bluesy tune and choice of
chords; the folksy almost hillbilly vocal arrangement; not to mention the exotic touch in the final
verse where those drone-like open fifths in the bass parts conjure, to my ears, a strange musical
cross between Scottish bagpipes and an Indian tamboura.
John described it as a waltz (check his spoken lead into the song at the Paris concerts in
January '65), but in spite of the 3/4 time signature, the rapid tempo and agitated mood of the
piece seem out of character with that romantic dance form.
Melody and Harmony
The melodic mode is almost entirely Major with the exception of some intermittent use of the
bluesy minor third in the refrain.
Very few chords are used throughout and the song remains firmly rooted in the initial home
key. The refrain and verse sections limit themselves to the familiar I-IV-V chords. Although the
bridge adds in the vi and V-of-V for variety, its still all simple stuff.
The one notable harmonic detail is the familiar Beatles trademark of directly following V-ofV with IV instead of V. Early and contemporary examples of this are to be found in “She Loves
You”, “I Call Your Name” and “Eight Days A Week”.
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Arrangement
There's an unusual unrelieved end-to-end vocal duet with John on bottom and Paul on top.
This relative lack of textural variety here increases the tension and intensity of the mood. Note
though how in spite of the predominance of parallel thirds in the two voice parts, there are
several places in which they subtly branch out into a more typically Lennon/McCartney kind of
counterpoint; check out the end of the refrain and the opening of the bridge.
The instrumental texture is similarly consistent throughout, though in a wise attempt to avoid
monotony and provide a bit of contrast, they make a temporarily radical change to the backing
for the final verse before resuming the original texture for the closing refrain; an effect which
would be repeated with equal success in “Help!”.
Intro
The intro is a scant four measures long and creates the effect of your having walked in on the
middle of the song, just as it was coming out of a refrain section:
A:
|A
I
|E
V
|A
I
|-
|
[Figure 59.1]
The guitar hook heard right at the beginning anticipates a key phrase of the tune (“Oh, what
can I do”) and provides a means of unification from the way it is repeated at the end of every
refrain except for the second one. The fourth refrain, by the way, presents the guitar hook in a
different range than elsewhere, and I have a hard time deciding weather this is avoidance of
foolish consistency or just sloppy playing.
Refrain
The refrain is twelve measures long and is built out of three phrases equal in length:
A:
|A
I
|-
|E
V
|-
|
|D
IV
|-
|E
V
|-
|
|A
I
|D
IV
|A
I
|-
|
[Figure 59.2]
The melodic shape is an inverted arch. The harmonic shape is closed. The chords are the
familiar I-IV-V of the blues form though the progression pattern is far from the traditional one of
that form.
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Verse
The verse is an unusual fourteen measures long and built out of three phrases whose number
of measures create an asymmetrical pattern of 4+4+6:
A:
|A
I
|-
|-
|-
|
|A
|(V-of-IV)
|D
IV
|-
|
|D
IV
|A
I
|E
V
|A
I
|-
|-
|
[Figure 59.3]
Again, the harmonic shape of the section is closed, though the strategy of the chords not
changing on the phrase boundaries creates a subtle sense of freedom.
For those who are keeping score of such things, note the “and/but” word collision in the final
verse. This one is even picked up by the compilers of the lyrical concordance, "Things We Said
Today" [**]. However, I believe that if you listen carefully, it also sounds like there is another
collision (this time on "he" versus "she") immediately following, though this one sounds as
though it is perhaps a residue from an earlier guide vocal track that they were trying to mix out.
[** see: Campbell, Colin, and Allan Murphy (1980), Things We Said Today. The Complete Lyrics and a
Concordance to the Beatles' Songs, 1962-1970. Ann Arbor: Pierian Press, 1980.]
Bridge
The bridge is eight measures long and would appear on the surface to be made up of two
phrases equal in length:
|f#
ii
|-
|B
|V-of-V
|D
IV
|-
|E
V
|-
||A
I
[Figure 59.4]
Actually, the second phrase carries all the way through into the beginning of the ninth
measure, where it makes a striking elision with the start of the next refrain. It's an unusual
example of this technique, even for the Boys, because even the words here are elided at the point
where the two sections intersect; e.g. “made...dear” instead of “Oh, dear”.
The overall melodic range is cleverly managed. The frequently repeated refrain contains the
unique low point of the tune, but it also reiterates a constricted high point on the pitch 'E' almost
to the point of monotony. The verse sections open the high end up as far as 'G', but these sections
even more so emphasize the same harping on 'E' heard in the refrains. The climactic peak of the
song (on the pitch 'A') is held back and dramatically released right at the start of the bridge.
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Guitar Solo
For a guy who made such a specialty of the well-practiced kind of solo that is the most
understated delicate paraphrase of the tune, George really lets go here with a solo whose only
obvious connection to the original refrain melody is to be found in the lilting cadence of its
rhythmic pattern. Otherwise, in place of the predominantly stepwise melodic arch performed by
the singers, we get a guitar part that is not only full of long jumps, but is also peppered through
with bent notes and free dissonances against the underlying chords; all in all, a worthy contrast
with the surrounding sections.
Some Final Thoughts
To the extent that the common wisdom seems to obsess on the “downbeat” mood of the
Beatles For Sale album, I suppose that its the implicitly lugubrious nature of the words to
“Baby's In Black” that may have contributed more so to this phenomenon than any one other
song.
Personally, I've never been swayed too much by that. For one thing, it has always seemed
easy enough to simply interpret the mourning described in the lyric as figurative, rather than
literal. And when all else fails, I still find it difficult to get hung about a song that sounds so
similar in a way to the traditional folk ditty, “Oh dear what can the matter be?”; no matter how
gamey the words may be.
“How do you like your girlfriends to dress?” 061692#59
Page 321 of 962
I'll Follow The Sun
Key: C Major
Meter: 4/4
| Verse (half guitar solo) | Bridge |
| Verse (with complete ending)
US-release: 15th December 1964 (LP "Beatles ’65”)
Style and Form
Form-wise, this is one of the more straightforward ones we've seen in a while: a familiar twobridge model where two verses, one of which is a (partial) instrumental solo, separate the
bridges. The folksy first impression created by the primarily acoustic arrangement and
performance style is belied by chord progressions and a tune that are distinctly non-folk-like.
Ever since we crossed the approximate frontier of the A Hard Day's Night album, I've been
pointing out repeated examples of the Beatles' tendency toward blending elements of the Blues
style into a pop-rock context.
Along with some of the other songs on the Beatles For Sale album, this particular one is a
fine example of the Boys playing the same trick, but with folk elements instead of the Blues.
Melody and Harmony
A relatively small number of chords is used throughout. Although the song is ultimately seen
to reside entirely and firmly within its home key of C Major, the manner in which the chords
progress during the verse does challenge your clear perception of the home key. There's even
some slight harmonic awkwardness to the verse as though Paul were self-consciously striving for
something new.
Chromatic line cliches that are concealed within an inner voice of the texture play a role here
reminiscent of what we've seen in both the earlier “Hold Me Tight” and the later “You Won't See
Me.” The more obvious example here is found in John's descending vocal counterpoint during
the bridge. This is nicely balanced out by a longer upward run in the verse, but the latter is quite
a bit better concealed to the extent that it is merely implied by the schematic voice leading of the
underlying harmony rather than being explicitly called out.
The verse melody is a standout, not only because it contains an unusual series of upward
leaps of a fourth, but also for the extremely large pitch range traversed by its expressive arch
shape.
Page 322 of 962
Arrangement
The instrumental backing is most characterized by the finger-picking acoustic guitar part, in
spite of the presence of electric instruments on the bass and lead guitar parts. Note the unusual
lack of any percussion part. Where was Ringo, off practicing timpani for the other cuts?
Although it is Paul undeniably in the vocal spotlight, John plays an uncannily subtle
supporting vocal role; he's actually in there singing along almost the whole way, though you
hardly even notice it! For example, John doubles Paul in unsion for the first half of the verse
only to drop out leaving Paul exposed solo in the second half.
The bridge features similar by-play between the two of them.
Intro
The intro is a mere two measures long and serves to establish the home key as well as the
background guitar figuration:
C:
|C
I
G
V
|F
IV
C
I
|
[Figure 60.1]
As the song unfolds, this intro turns out to be nothing more than an anticipation of the ending
of the verse section, and indeed, the same couple of measures provide the defacto outro at the
end.
Verse
The verse is eight measures long. Though it metrically scans into two phrases of four
measures each, it melodically consists of one long phrase:
Inner
line: D
Chords: |G
C: V
G
|C
I
e
iii
E-flat
|Fb7
IV
E-natural
|C
I
F#
|D
V-of-V
|D
G
V-of-V V
|C
I
|F
IV
G
V
|
C
I
|
[Figure 60.2]
Harmonically, this section begins away from the home key (on V) but converges eventually
toward one though not before throwing us a few curve balls -- i.e. the "gratuitous" dominant 7th
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on F (after all, it doesn't resolve to B-flat), the deferred resolution of the first V-of-V, and the
appearance of iii in the so-called 6/4 inversion with B in the bass line.
I believe that in the context of this strange progression, the embedded line cliche plays a
significant role in holding the whole thing together by providing a clear (albeit concealed) thread
of continuity. The speeding up of the harmonic rhythm in the second half of he section also
helps.
A slight modification is made to the two verses which precede the bridge sections: the C
chord is sustained through measure 7 and is converted into a dominant 7th (V-of-IV) during
measure 8.
Bridge
The bridge is also eight measures long though its two four-measure phrases are nicely
parallel in structure:
A-natural
|d
ii
A-flat
|f
iv
G
|C
I
|C7
V-of-IV
|d
ii
|f
iv
|C
I
|d
ii
|
|
[Figure 60.3]
As with the verse, this section also starts out away from the home key, eventually converges
toward it, only to close right back on the ii chord, as is required to properly motivate the verse
which follows with its own opening on V. The downward line cliche provides us with one of the
first minor iv chords we've seen in a while; and in a “Paul song”, no less!
Some Final Thoughts
An astonishingly almost-but-not-quite version of this song has been preserved for us on a
mysterious rehearsal tape attributed to the Quarrymen of spring, 1960.
The form presented there is essentially the same as the official version, but the music varies
quite a bit at the detailed level. For example, the key there is G, while our album version is in C,
and the bridge sections there each conclude with a brief guitar lick that is totally absent in our
version.
The most intriguing thing about the older version is how un-snugly the melody sits atop the
chords. In reworking it for the official version, Paul must have been conscious of this problem to
the extent that he changed so much of the harmonic content for it. The thing is, as we've noted,
that even the official version of the song retains a certain "charming awkwardness" about it the
only makes me wonder all the more: was the song somehow jinxed in a way that prevented Paul
from fixing it up completely, or is at least *some* of this so-called awkwardness part of the
intended effect here, perhaps?
“He can't walk out on us.” 062992#60 Page 324 of 962
Every Little Thing
Key: A Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Verse | Refrain | Verse |
| Verse | Refrain | Verse (guitar solo) |
| Refrain | Outro (fade-out)
Recorded: 29th, 30th September 1964, Abbey Road 2
US-release: 14th June 1965 (LP "Beatles VI")
Style and Form
The form of this one is a tad subtle; being neither a one- or two-bridge pop model, nor a folklike strict alternation of verses and refrains. Instead, we have some kind of hybrid in which the
refrain sections (three, count 'em, three) are alternated with double verses; yeah, I know, the
single-versed guitar section breaks up what would have otherwise been a foolishly consistent
pattern.
In contrast to the last several songs we've looked at, this one is in a relatively germane and
generic early Beatles pop/rock style, right down to the usage of funky vocal counterpoint in the
refrain.
Nevertheless, a sufficient number of novel details betray the extent to which the group had
compositionally progressed beyond the likes of “She Loves You” and “I Want To Hold Your
Hand”: in addition to the unusual form we have modally inflected harmony, and a carefully
layered instrumental backing with its piano-reinforced bass line and punctuating touches of
timpani.
Melody and Harmony
The harmonic budget is frugal to an extreme that's rather typical of John. Aside from I, IV, V
and iv, the only chord choice here that is even slightly exotic is the heavy play given to flat-VII.
The melodic use of the inflected flat-seventh (G natural) in conjunction with the naturally
occurring Major third (C#) makes the basic tune more Mixolydian-modal than bluesy. If
anything, the refrain, with its avoidance of a melodic 7th degree of any kind, sounds even a bit
pentatonic.
Through our studies of the Beatles output we've become used to seeing fairly regularized
harmonic rhythms. In this song though, we find an unusual and sophisticated example of an
irregular harmonic rhythm used to underscore syncopation in the tune. We'll have more to say on
this as we encounter specific examples in our walkthrough.
Page 325 of 962
Arrangement
John has a double-tracked solo for the verses but is joined by Paul in the refrains for a stretch
of their trademark open-fifth vocal harmony, the likes of which didn't show up much on A Hard
Day's Night, but which re-appears again on the Beatles For Sale album, not only in this song, but
also on “Eight Days A Week” and “I Don't Want To Spoil The Party”, as well.
The instrumental texture is unusual. There's a lot of noisily strummed acoustic guitar in the
middle range (compare with “I'm A Loser”), and a heavy bass line that is fortified (at least in
part) by doubling in the low octaves of the piano and some punctuation by timpani drums, of all
things. Beyond the solo section, there is very little role here for the lead guitar other than some
almost subliminal punctuating (there's that word again) chords during the refrain. And overall,
the arrangement makes a paradoxical impression of weightiness that is simultaneously balanced
out by transparency.
Ringo's brief stint on the timpani is somewhat history making, not merely because it is a
relatively early example of the group's incorporating an exotic instrument in one of their songs
per se, but also because the instrument in question is being played by a member of the group.
Intro
Once you're used to the song, you come to recognize this two-measure intro as the opening of
the verse section as played by solo guitar. Even then, the fact that this intro begins on what is
actually the second beat of the measure without any provision having been made to give you a
clue where the first beat of it was, tends to throw you off your sense of meter until the first verse
actually begins; the latter remains true, I'll bet, no matter how many times you've heard the song!
Verse
The verse is six measures in length and is built out of three short phrases of two measures
each. Rhetorically, the first two phrases are roughly parallel to each other, with the third phrase
providing, a sense of resolution to the opening couplet stemming from the way in which it
rounds out the melodic arch of the section. I'd dare say that this kind of construction is as
characteristic of John's style as the slow melodic triplet to be found in measure 5:
Page 326 of 962
Bass line: |
Rhythm: |
Chords: |A
A: I
|
|1
|D
IV
|
|
|A
I
|
|1
|G
flatVII
|B
|b
vi
A
2
E
V
D
2
D
IV
|G#
|E
V
|
|
|
3
4
3
C#
4
|
|
|
A
A
I
|
|
[Figure 61.1]
Another source of contrast between the first pair of phrases versus the final one is the way in
which the first two phrases share the syncopated harmonic rhythm in common, while the final
phrase provides an harmonic scenario which, though straight out of the textbooks for Harmony
101, is nevertheless seen in a song-by-song examination of their output, to be extremely rare in
the music of the early Beatles.
What this scenario consists of is a slow but prominent melodic "turn" (that's actually a
technical term in this context) around the note A. In measure 5, the A in the bass line functions
merely as a passing note between the B and G# on either side of it while the b minor chord above
is sustained, and in measure 6 we find the E major chord placed in the 6/3 (or "first") inversion
because of the incidental melodic motion of the bass line.
The guitar solo section carefully follows the shape of this verse section with the first half
being a close paraphrase of the main tune, and the latter half being an improvised extension of
the single slow triplet that had appeared in the vocal verses. Note, by the way, that although the
sung melody of the verse clearly places an A on the downbeat of measure 2 of this section
moving to B on the second beat, in all sections where the lead guitar solos (as in the intro, solo
section, and outro), it places B on the downbeat creating a characteristic added-sixth sound above
the D chord below.
Refrain
The refrain is eight measures long, being built as a repeat of the same four-measure phrase:
1
Melody: |
Chords: |A
A: I
-
|1
|
|-
-
2
E
- 3
F# A
-
Ev'ry lit-
[Figure 61.2]
2
D
3
D
-
she does
4 - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4
F#
|E
D D
|G
flat-VII
tle
thing
she does,
-
4
D
-
for
-
1 |D E
|A
I
me,-
2
-
3
D
E
yeah.-
4
|
|
|
|
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
2X
Page 327 of 962
Counterbalancing melodic appoggiaturas are used here. In measure 2, the E on the downbeat
is dissonant against the G chord below (yet another added-sixth sonority!) but it quickly resolves
downward to the consonant D. Conversely, the D on the downbeat of measure 4 is dissonant
against the A chord but it resolves, this time upward, to the consonant E.
Though a slower and more subtle effect than what we saw in the verse, the sustaining of the
G chord through measures 2 and 3 in this refrain provides another example in the same song of
syncopated harmonic rhythm.
We have a fairly traditional kind of textural contrast provided here by the drums, which after
a relatively low key presence in the verses, signal the outburst of sizzling cymbals in the refrain
by a neat little fanfare-fill at the beginning of the section. Don't forget, either, about those chordchopping lead guitar accents; attention paid to such small details is one of the things by which
These Boys were distinguished.
Outro
The outro recapitulates the same idea heard earlier in the intro (i.e. the first two measures of
the verse played by the lead guitar), but this time it is answered by the singers who set the title
phrase of the lyrics to a new melodic phrase that is sung in parallel thirds. This antiphonal pattern
is repeated into the fadeout. The vocal parts turn the E Major chord in this outro into a tangy E9.
And there's also a vestigial occurrence here of the word “yeah” in the form of an expostulation.
Some Final Thoughts
The words to this song are lovely in one sense but honestly a bit pedestrian at the same time.
Still two details in the first pair of verses catch my ear.
The first one is the opening couplet, “When I'm walking beside her, people tell me I'm
lucky”, which resonates with earlier examples of John's preoccupation with factoring in the
opinions of un-named others when it comes to his taking the measure of his sense of selfsatisfaction or self-worth when it comes to affairs of the heart.
By the same token, the second verse with its reference to “the first time I was lonely without
her” provides a superb example of John's uncanny ability to embed a surprise twist, or place a
surprisingly deeper poetic spin than you'd expect onto an otherwise commonplace string of
words. In this specific example, he could have just as easily expressed the same idea in the
positive sense of his remembering the first time he was thrilled to be with her. But as it stands, he
manages to score an ultimately positive point via an apparently negative, or reverse inference,
and this not only the more clever and elliptical, but also the more sublime; to an extreme that I'm
afraid my own fumbling words could never adequately describe.
“You'll have to love her.” 070892#61
Page 328 of 962
I Don't Want To Spoil The Party
Key: G Major
Meter: 4/4
US-release: 15th February 1965 (B Single / "Eight Days A Week")
Style and Form
The instrumental and vocal arrangement create a folksy, even countrified facade for this
song, but virtually everything else about it including the lyrics suggests the pop/rock Beatles
style. Conceptually it's another kind of hybrid.
The repeat pattern of the form with its use of a bridge instead of a refrain, as well as the
chord choices and melodic style, suggest the urban pop style more so than they do C&W, in spite
of all acoustic guitar and vocal harmony mannerisms on the surface of the piece.
Melody and Harmony
An unusually large number of chords are used, including five out of the seven naturally
occurring triads (I, ii, IV, V, and vi), plus flat-VII and two secondary dominants (V-of-V and Vof-vi).
For a change, the melody contains no touches of any quaint modalism. In fact, you could
almost declare it as “purely” in the Major mode, though the inclusion of the D# in the tune in
order to maneuver around the V-of-vi chord does stretch the envelope a bit.
Arrangement
As we've seen in several other folksy songs on the Beatles For Sale album, the instrumental
texture is dominated by the acoustic rhythm guitar part. Even though the lead guitar is mixed
quite forward and “dry” for its solo section and the outro, its presence is so low key the rest of
the time that you almost don't notice it's there. Even in the intro, where it ostensibly provides a
lead role, it is inexplicably mixed down behind the rhythm part.
In the first half of the verse John sings the top part with either Paul unusually singing the
counter-melody on the bottom for a change, or else it's John down there over-dubbed with
himself. The third phrase of the verse features Paul and George switching to a very un-folksy
Page 329 of 962
backing vocal of “oooohs” behind John's solo, with the earlier folksy texture returning for the
final phrase.
In the bridge it is definitely Paul on top and John on the bottom for a stretch of their
trademarked stridently bracing harmonies; note especially the juicy open 5th on the word “love.”
Intro
The intro is eight measures long and with simple chords quickly establishes the home key
and sets the stylistic tone for the rest of what will follow:
G:
|G
I
|-
|D7
V
|-
|-
|-
|G
I
|-
|
[Figure 62.1]
The rhythm and lead guitar take the prominent role in this section with the entrance of the
bass and drums carefully held back until the very end of it.
The solo work is reminiscent of the music heard in the rest of the song though when you look
at it more closely you discover an extremely unusual example here where the material for the
intro is in fact not heard again in the body of the song.
Verse
The verse is sixteen measures long and built out of four phrases equal in length to form an
'AABA' structure that is nicely underscored by the handling of the vocal arrangement. The first
pair of phrases form a roughly parallel couplet, the contrasting and climactic third phrase
provides both the melodic peak as well as an increase in the pace of the harmonic rhythm, and
the section is finally capped by a repeat of the opening phrase:
G:
|G
I
|-
|-
|-
|
|G
I
|-
|D
V
|-
|
|e
vi
|B
|a
V-of-vi ii
|D
V
|
|G
I
|F7
|G
flat-VII I
|
|
[Figure 62.2]
Page 330 of 962
The third phrase tends to cleave in two with the B Major chord (V-of-vi) particularly feeling
left hanging as a sort of harmonic non-sequitur. The melodic D# which sits above that same B
chord similarly makes for an indirect cross-relational clash with the D natural that is implicit in
the D Major chord at the end of the phrase.
The manner in which the flat-VII is deployed here is slightly unusual. We're more used to
seeing it used predominantly in place of V, or else used in frequent alternation with V. Here, for a
change, we're set up to expect such a clear domination by the V chord that the sudden and
belated appearance of flat-VII so near the end of the verse section catches us a bit by surprise,
and makes for what I react to as a lazy, shoulder-shrugging impression in contrast to, say, the V9
chord you might have sooner expected in its place. Note, by the way, the freely dissonant 7th
made by the E in the melody over this F chord.
There is something ironic about the composition of the guitar solo; superficially much
choppier, less melodically continuous, and more dissonant than the sung tune, yet remarkably
closer to the abstract outline of it if you bother to compare the two of them side by side.
Bridge
The bridge is twelve measures long and is built out of a repetition of the same unusual sixmeasure phrase:
G:
|G
I
|-
|e
vi
|A
V-of-V
|C
IV
|D
V
|
[Figure 62.3]
This six-measure phrase could have been coerced into a more standard (not to say rushed)
four-measure model by a doubling up of the harmonic rhythm starting in measure 3, but the way
it stands with the sudden drawing out of the melodic rhythm, makes a more dramatic, rhetorical
effect.
In contrast to the verse which is closed in harmonic shape (in spite of the adventurous third
phrase), this section is open-ended in order to better motivate the return of the verse which
follows it.
This is yet another one of the songs on this album to feature the "classic" Beatles gambit of
"V-of-V moves to V by way of IV", with its concomitant cross relation. Beatles For Sale features
enough close-together examples of this device to make you feel as though this must have been a
“new toy” kind of thing for them at the time, comparable to their apparent fixation with Major/
minor combinations on the A Hard Day's Night album.
We also have another good example here where the bridge provides not only a change of
pace from the verses but also the unique melodic peak for the song overall. The verse had topped
out on G (i.e. the second syllable of the word “dis-a-ppear”), whereas the bridge here stretches it
up to A (on the word “be” in the phrase “I'll be glad.”)
Page 331 of 962
Outro
The outro is primarily a recap of the same material heard in the intro though this time it is
scored for the entire ensemble. The two sections nicely function like symmetrical bookends to
the rest.
Some Final Thoughts
The party that should have been a blast but which turned out to be a supremely hurtful
confrontation with romantic disappointment or betrayal is one of the archetypal scenarios of the
top-40 pop-song genre.
The extent to which the Beatles were capable of transcending the nominal bounds of the
cliche is effectively brought home by comparing our current song with one of the more popular
examples in this model done by another roughly contemporaneous artist; I'm thinking of the one
about “my party” and “I'll Cry If I Want To”—yes, go ahead and flame me for even thinking
about mentioning this one in the same article.
The crux of the matter can be summed up as a case of “less is more.” The other song spells
out a kiss-and-tell tale of woe in almost embarrassing detail. What John gives us, in contrast, is
much more internally ruminative, sparse, and ambiguous.
Just one example to get you thinking about it and then I'll take my own advice about less/
more and get the heck out of here: it's impossible to tell for sure from just the lyrics alone what
kind of relationship existed between the protagonist and his beloved prior to “the party”. The
truth might lie anywhere along a broad spectrum of possibilities that includes at one extreme the
open betrayal by a significant other, and at the other extreme, the case of a secret admirer merely
disappointed over a lost opportunity to gaze from afar.
The interesting thing about such ambiguity is that it not only is more poetic by nature, but
also opens up the likelihood of the song which contains it to strike resonant chords in the hearts
and experience base of the largest possible number of individual listeners. And this latter point
has implications that are marketing related as well as merely aesthetic.
“It's all your fault, getting invites to gambling clubs. He's probably in the middle of an orgy by now.” 071592#62
Page 332 of 962
What You're Doing
Key: D Major
Meter: 4/4
| Outro (fade out)
Recorded: 29th, 30th September, 26th October 1964, Abbey Road 2
Style and Form
The form of this song is a quite standard two-bridge model. Although the overall
instrumental texture bears an uncanny resemblance to that of “Every Little Thing”, the
arrangement does contain a number of features which, if not entirely novel and unique, we've not
seen in our studies for a while.
Melody and Harmony
Though clearly in the key of D Major, the heavily syncopated tune makes emphatic use of the
bluesy minor third scale degree (i.e. F natural); it also contains an uncommon number of
appoggiaturas, suspensions, and free dissonances. While some amount of dissonance is the life's
blood of most musical styles, the extreme amount of it found in this song is noteworthy. On an
almost subliminal level, it is one of the main ingredients that make you relate to the song as jazzy
in contrast to Paul's more hymn-like songs, such as “Hey Jude” and “Let It Be” where the
dissonance is handled much more carefully, almost quaintly so.
An average number of chords (five, count 'em, 5) are used though this limited diet is rather
spiced up by the high quotient of melodic dissonance turning many of the plain triads into addedsixths and free (i.e. non-dominant, non-resolving) sevenths and ninths.
The chord progressions of both verse and bridge sections give some prominence to the
characteristic feeling of alternating between vi and IV (i.e. b minor and G Major). Interestingly,
this device was something that Paul would come back to with increased fascination in “Drive My
Car”. Note how in the refrain of that later song, the extreme emphasis on vi and IV momentarily
blurs your clear sense of what is the home key.
Arrangement
The solo use of drums here in the intro is a first for The Boys. The hard thumping is
reminiscent of the timpani drums used in “Every Little Thing”, though I believe in this song we
Page 333 of 962
are listening to the standard bass drum that comes along with the kit. Timpani are tuned to a
specific pitch and the drums on this track, to my humble ears, have no pitch, only thud. The other
passing resemblance here to “Every Little Thing” is found in the the heavy-on-those-loweroctaves use of the piano.
The second half of the intro offers up an ostinato figure that bears partial resemblance to the
tune; generally, in terms of its syncopated nature, and specifically in the way that the last four
notes of it echo the hook phrase “what you're doin'”. This ostinato provides some overall unity to
the song from the way it is deployed as a backing obbligato within the verses, though its
execution there by George is a bit timid and awkward sounding in places.
Paul's solo is double tracked throughout. The backing voices though alternate between two
functions. In the first instance, they are used to punctuate, exclamation-style, the first words of
the first two lines of each verse. This trick anticipates what is likely the Beatles most famous use
of the technique in “Help!”, though its worth noting that the gambit had already been tried by
them once before in the much earlier “P. S. I Love You”. In the second instance, the backing
voices supply an “oohing” background wash to the soloist in the second half of the verse.
Since we're already doing more than the usual amount of free-associating between this and
other songs, I’d propose that the layered handling of the intro and outro here, not to mention the
ostinato figure, suggests an anticipation of some of what would later appear in “Day Tripper”.
Intro
The intro is longish and layered; its eight measures split into two four-measure sections, the
first of which is for solo drums that mark out a repeated drum-majorette kind of fanfare, and the
second of includes the rest of the ensemble joining with a dual- statement of the ostinato figure:
[Figure 63.1]
The identity of the home key is established entirely by the I and IV chords. Looking ahead, it
is noteworthy how only one other chord (vi) in addition to these two is used until the bridge
section; indeed, the all important V chord is held back all the way until the end of the bridge!
An exceedingly subtle though important difference between the ostinato and the main tune is
that the former starts off with a syncopation from the "four-AND" beat of the previous measure,
whereas the latter starts, bang, on the downbeat.
Page 334 of 962
Verse
The verse is a standard eight measures which in turn breaks up into two four-measure
phrases. The verse sections which are followed directly by another verse instead of a bridge are
nine measures long, with a two-measure repeat of the ostinato figure that begins overlapping
with the last measure of the eight-measure verse:
D:
|D
I
|G
IV
|D
I
|G
IV
|
|b
vi
|G
IV
|-
-- ostinato --|D
|G
|
I
V
[Figure 63.2]
Examples of dissonance here include the following: the F-natural in the melody against F# in
the D Major chord every time the hook phrase appears (as on the word “you're”), the A->G
appoggiatura in the second measure (on the word “doing”), and the G on the downbeat of
measure 5 against the b minor chord.
Bridge
The bridge is eight measures long and is to be parsed into three phrases which make an AAB
pattern of 2 + 2 + 4 measures:
D:
|G
IV
|b
vi
|E
|V-of-V
|G
IV
|b
vi
|
|A
V
|-
|
[Figure 63.3]
The verse was harmonically closed in shape, and this section contrasts sharply with that. The
first half of the bridge is heard almost as though there had been a modulation to the relative
minor key (b minor) in which case your ear interprets the chords b and G chords as i and VI
respectively. One thing is sure in any event; this section opens away from the I chord and ends
wide open on the V chord by way of a broad set up from V-of-V.
The quotient of melodic dissonance remains the same here as seen in the verse. To save
space, I'll leave the
finding of more examples as the proverbial exercise for the canonical reader.
One example, though, is worth pointing out, and that in the last two measures where F# on
the downbeat of measure 7 creates an added-sixth, followed by the 4-3 (D->C#) appoggiatura on
the downbeat of measure 8. There is an interesting dramatic effect to be observed in these two
measures as well. The sustaining of the A Major chord for two measures coupled with the
Page 335 of 962
descending melodic melisma on the word “me” is an essentially relaxing or winding-down kind
of gesture.In sharp contrast to this, the rhythm backing takes the opportunity to use the last beat
of the last measure as an energetic springboard into the next verse, and the overlap of the two
gestures makes an uncanny effect; kind of like your being pulled in two directions at once.
Outro
The outro is longer and more complex in organization than usual. We first start off with
Paul's making an old fashioned triple petit-reprise of the final couple measures of the verse. This
sort of gesture had been common in outros on the first two albums, but the most recent time we'd
seen one like this before now was back on “I’m Happy Just To Dance With You”.
The triple-repeat is followed by a reprise of the intro, more or less: first a single statement of
the ostinato, followed by four measures of the drum fanfare, accompanied this time in mid
phrase by the bass guitar, ultimately followed by a recap of the ostinato figure, repeated here not
just twice as above, but implicitly ad infinitum into the fadeout.
Some Final Thoughts
Paul's decision to rhyme “blue and” with “doing” and “fun in” with “running” recycles a
clever idea seen earlier in “She's A Woman”.
I'm evenly divided on the question of whether the abandonment of this pattern for the third
verse (“lying” rhymed with “crying”) was a purposeful avoidance of foolish consistency, or
something more in the realm of careless oversight or being fresh out of clever rhyming pairs.
“And don't you take that tone with me, young man!” 072292#63
Page 336 of 962
The Cover Songs Appearing On The Beatles For Sale
Album
It's Still The Same
Some things would appear to never change:
• We have here yet another album of 14 songs, 8 of which are Beatles originals and 6 of
which are covers.
• Music in the Blues form remains this time around the most conspicuous item that the
group would order out for.
• The tendency charted earlier on With The Beatles and Long Tall Sally of their dipping
back into the procrustean layers of their pre-fame repertoire is continued further here,
yet again.
But You Have Changed
Nevertheless, this group of covers is different in some respects from the ones we've seen in
the past:
• The Beatles stay more slavishly close to the originals this time around than they had before,
in spite of an earlier trend toward liberal reworking noted on With The Beatles and Long
Tall Sally; perhaps a side- effect of the relative haste with which this album is known to
have been put together. Notably, the original key choices and section orderings are closely
followed for most of the songs in this bunch.
• Stylistically, this set of six songs is evenly weighted between straight rock, rockabilly and
pop/novelty. The folksier stuff resonates with the several original songs on the album that
have acoustic arrangements, and the rockier stuff makes up a bit for what could be (fairly, I
hope) described as a deficiency of fast jumping music among the eight originals. By the
same token, the appearance of “I'll Follow The Sun” must have eliminated the "need" for
them to include a tender/soppy cover along the lines of “Till There Was You” or “A Taste
Of Honey.”
• For a change, no Girl Groups are represented in this group of covers. If anything, you
might describe this as an "oldies" / "tribute" collection of songs. This time, we not only
have the familiar Berry and Penniman, but Buddy and Carl as well. There's a temptation to
draw a connection between here and the Long Tall Sally EP, but I believe that the
caricatures are much less outrageous this time around.
Page 337 of 962
• Five out of these six covers were originally recorded by their composers! This was not at
all the case earlier on, and I'm tempted to suggest that this was a conscious part of the
“tribute” element, based on the group’s firmly established preference by this point in time
for recording their own original material as much as possible.
Page 338 of 962
Rock and Roll Music
Key: A Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Refrain -» Verse |
Intro | Refrain -» Verse |
Composer: Chuck Berry
Influential
version: Chuck Berry (1957)
Within this batch of six covers, this was clearly the “longest running” number, still hanging
in there at the bitter end of their touring days. Along with “Twist and Shout”, it is one of a very
small number of non-original songs which might be described nonetheless as one of the group's
emblematic "anthems". Curiously though, this particular Chuck song appears to have not been on
the playlist of the Quarrymen era in spite of the fact that they were already playing back then the
likes of “Roll Over Beethoven”, “Johnny B. Goode”, and “Sweet Little Sixteen”.
While the harmonic material of this song is limited entirely to the familiar I-IV-V of the
blues, the formal schema used in both refrain and verse are more flexible here than the rigid 12bar formula we're so used to finding in Berry's other songs. The refrain comes close to the 8+4
sub-species of the 12-bar form, though a petit-reprise-like repetition of the final half-phrase (“if
you wanna dance with me”) rounds the section out to an unusual fourteen measures. The verse is
only eight measures long and harmonically opens and closes on the V chord.
The Beatles version follows the formal outline of the original, but both the arrangement and
John's vocal performance suggest a harder-driven interpretation of the song rather than a stylized
impersonation. Once having gotten used to the Beatles version as the default, I find myself a bit
"surprised" to rediscover how much more melodic and laid back the original sounds in
comparison.
Beyond this, the two versions differ in a matter of some details. For example, Chuck played
it in the lower key of E (or is it E-flat – the CD re-issue from MCA is mastered at what sounds
like off-speed), and there is some variation in the scanning of the words (e.g. "*PI*an*O* versus
"pi*AN*o"). Note too how Chuck cues himself with a I chord at the beginning, whereas the
Beatles sensibly change this to V. Page 339 of 962
Mr. Moonlight
Key: F# Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse (initial) | Verse (variant) |
| Verse (half solo, half vocal) |
| Verse (variant) -» Outro (fade-out)
Composer: Roy Lee Johnson
Influential
version: Dr. Feelgood (1962)
Recorded: 14th August, 18th October 1964, Abbey Road 2
Judging from the introductory vocal scream you'd be tempted to suppose that John had a
hankering to play the good Doctor that was as long-lived as Paul's desire to be Little Richard. It
turns out that this song was not at all an “oldie” at the time the Beatles picked up on it and they
didn't even keep it in their repertoire for all that long!
Seems like this is the Beatles cover which everyone loves to hate; it must be something about
the self-consciously campy vocal, lugubrious Hammond organ, and generally queasy blend of
dooh-whop and Latin musical styles. But get beyond this if you can and discover a number of
compositional details which are more reminiscent of the Beatles' own style than you'd ever
expect from the surface.
Some examples:
• The first section is based on a subtly different form from the rest of them. The relatively
long verses all sub-divide into two halves, the second of which is always introduced by a
rising scale played solo by the bass guitar, and if you bother to check, the first half of the
first one is quite different (and eight measures longer than) the all the rest.
• The harmonic rhythm is very slow and contains many cases where the same chord is
sustained for 2 or 4 measures or even longer, and the overall result is that the poetic
scanning of the phrases sound less foursquare than they actually are.
• The half instrumental solo and half vocal division of the middle section is a favorite,
granted not original with them, device of the Beatles seen in such places as “From Me To
You” and “A Hard Day's Night”.
As with “Rock and Roll Music”, the original version turns out to be less extremely inflected
than the Beatles cover of it. One of the strangest variances is in the choice of key, the original
having been in G. I can't honestly figure what would have influenced the Boys to do it in the very
unusual key of F# Major, unless the half-step difference was just sufficient to keep John from
cracking on the high notes. Still, I'd assume they must have fingered it in an easier key like E or
F and used some capos. Page 340 of 962
Medley: Kansas City - Hey, Hey, Hey, Hey
Key: G Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Verse | Verse (solo) |
| Verse | Verse | Verse | Verse (fade-out)
Composer: Jerry Leiber / Mike Stoller - Richard Penniman
Influential
version: Little Richard (1959)
Here we have the inevitable song, actually two of them spliced together, in which every
section is in straight 12- bar (8+4 or AAB) blues form. Though recorded originally as two
separate songs, Little Richard himself had already popularized the medley performed here by the
Beatles. Independent of Paul's Penniman fixation, it's easy to imagine that the antiphonal backing
vocals of the second half would have been something to attract the Beatles toward this number.
For all its apparent simplicity, this turns out to be one of the more re-worked items in this set
of six cover songs. Paul reverses the lyrics to the first two verses; perhaps an oversight more than
anything else. But Little Richard saves the instrumental section (played on his version by a
saxophone instead of guitar) until after the first “hey hey” section has been sung. Along the same
lines, we find that the original contains a complete ending instead of the Beatles' fadeout; very
strange considering the large number of other cover songs with fadeouts on the original version
changed to a complete ending by the Beatles.
Both versions are performed in the same key though. As is the case concerning John versus
Chuck, we find here that Paul's vocal sounds a bit strained and affected compared to the original.
The Beatles make a small but persuasive chord change at the end of the first verse; changing
measure 12 to the V chord (instead of sustaining the I chord from measure 11), all the better to
motivate the next section.
Page 341 of 962
Words Of Love
Key: A Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Verse | Verse (solo) | Verse (solo) |
| Verse | Verse | Outro (fade-out)
Composer: Buddy Holly
Influential
version: Buddy Holly (1957)
US-release: 14th June 1965 (LP "Beatles VI”)
Strange, isn't it, given the extent to which the group can be said to have been influenced and
inspired by the nice fellow from Lubbock, that this is the only one of his tunes to have become
part of the official Beatles songbook, especially considering the relatively large number of his
tunes that had been in their early repertoire, starting as early as the infamous Quarrymen acetate
of “That'll Be The Day”.
The form is monotonous in the manner of Chuck's blues numbers though the sections here
are all eight, instead of twelve, measures long. The harmonic content is an ostinato/mantra-like
endless repetition of the I-IV-V chord progression, and the two-fold instrumental solo section is
an unusual touch.
Buddy's original is a tad more Latin in its backbeat, but the choice of key, as well as much of
the guitar work, is identical in both versions. Granted, the Beatles do greatly emphasize their
own open-fifth style of vocal counterpoint in the arrangement, plus they add hand claps and
Ringo's banging on a packing case to the percussion section. But still, it remains essentially a
sentimental and nostalgic Tribute To Buddy, rather than an outright imitation.
Page 342 of 962
Honey Don't
Key: E Major
Meter: 4/4
| Verse (solo) | Refrain |
| Verse | Refrain | Verse (solo) | Refrain |
Influential
Forget about Buddy and Berry. Clearly, our Boys had some kind of Carl Perkins fixation.
Surprisingly, he scores – together with Larry Williams, of all people – the highest number of
songs by a single artist to have been covered by the Beatles on their official releases!
Once you recover from your initial shocked surprise, it's worthwhile acknowledging the
extent to which Perkins' “rockabilly” style rounds out the repertoire of a group that at the time
was in transition toward Rubber Soul by way of Beatles For Sale. From a different perspective,
you can even argue that Carl's penchant for surprising, enigmatic lyrical turns of phrase
(“sometimes you say you will when you won't”/”got that sand all over your feet”) would also
intrigue the Beatles, especially John.
This specific song didn't come into the act until as late as '62, but it stayed there as the default
Ringo song on stage, for a while. Personally, I always find John's rendition (as heard on a pair of
Beeb radio appearances) the more knowing and trenchant.
For a fellow like Perkins whose output otherwise focuses around 12-bar formats, this one is a
bit unusual. Granted, the refrains here are in the straight blues form, but the 12-bar verses
incorporate a rather Buddy-esque use of the flat-VI chord, and the guitar solo sections are
actually a clever 8-bar contraction of the verses in which the eighth measure moves to V instead
of sustaining the flat-VI from the previous measure.
Compared to the tidiness of the typical Beatles original composition, the repeat and
alternation pattern sections of this one is relatively cranked out seemingly at random. Note
especially the multiple solos and their asymmetrical placement. Faced with a similar game plan
back in “Matchbox”, the ever-fastidious Fab Four had taken the trouble to reorganize the song
for increased tightness.
Those who are primarily familiar with the Beatles version will likely be surprised by the
extent to which it matches the original, right down to the same key, form, basic arrangement
including the solo guitar work. Perkin’s original vocal delivery though is unique and would not
easily be imitated; especially by Ringo.
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Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby
Key: E Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Verse | Verse (solo) | Verse |
| Verse (solo) | Verse (solo) |
| Verse | Verse |
Influential
Yet another Perkins song, dropped out of the repertoire during '63 only to return for '64 and
'65, likely in order to give George a solo vocal with which to fill the gap between “Roll Over
Beethoven” and “If I Needed Someone,” the poor guy.
This one sports the familiar Perkins signature of a lengthy form with unusual repeat patterns
and multiple sections for instrumental solo. In contrast to “Honey Don't”, this time every section
is in the classic 12-bar blues mold. Indeed, the 4+8 inner structure of each frame obviates the
need for a separate refrain since the longer second half of each section provides its functional
equivalent.
The Beatles opt for a thick, muddy sounding instrumental backing that makes Perkins'
original look primitive and homespun in comparison. The choice of key and form though match
up with the original.
Some Final Thoughts
Going In And Out of Style
The following chart, derived from data published in Lewisohn's "Live" book, provides some
insight into the historical layering of the Beatles cover repertoire. The data below covers only the
six songs under discussion in this article, but I'd suggest the same technique should be applied to
their entire catalog; volunteers ? :-)
'57-'59
Every
Honey
Kansas
Mister
Rock
Words
======
#songs
'60
'61
X
X
X
======
1
X
X
====
2
X
X
====
4
'62
X
X
X
X
X
X
====
6
'63
'64
'65
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
====
3
====
4
====
3
'66
X
====
1
#years
||
||
||
||
||
||
4
4
3
2
7
4
[Figure 64.1]
Page 344 of 962
Some observations:
• Our six songs entered and exited their repertoire on a staggered basis over the course of
their entire stage career, with all six appearing only in the '62 season. With the exception of
“Mr. Moonlight”, all of these songs were adopted by the Beatles at least a year or more
later than the original appeared.
• The persistence of two-to-three of these songs in the continually shrinking list of songs the
Beatles would play live as the group ground toward their last couple seasons as a touring
band is striking in light of the expected trend toward original material. It's also interesting
too to see how the four cover songs current during '64 are evenly divided among the
foursome in terms of who is the lead vocalist.
• Three of these six covers were dropped out during the busy '63 season, though two of them
paradoxically were returned to the lineup in '64. Even stranger, and likely indicative of their
scrambling to fill out the album, is the inclusion on the album of two songs which were not
part of the live lineup any more as of '64; indeed, was it nostalgia or desperation?
• The earliest included song of the six, “Words Of Love”, was also the first one to be
dropped out. And quite appropriately, “Rock and Roll Music” was fated to be the longest
running!
“Will you still need me, will you still feed me?” 080592#64
Page 345 of 962
Becoming Artists (1965 – 1966)
In the middle of the sixties rock musicians began to see themselves as artists. The Beatles
stood at the front of this movement, treating their music as an artistic expression of their
emotions and a serious reflection of their feelings. The Beatles already departed from their image
as teenage stars with their first single of the year 1965 Ticket To Ride / Yes It Is, which appeared
in April. This tendency became stronger in their summer single Help! / I'm Down, released in
July, and the sound tracks on on the album with the same name, released in August. December
saw the album Rubber Soul and the single Day Tripper / We Can Work It Out. The Beatles started
late in 1966. In July they released the single Paperback Writer / Rain. One month later, in
August, the album Revolver followed step. As Pollack shows in his analyses the development of
the group in these years is ruled by a growing independency from their musical roots.
Page 346 of 962
Ticket To Ride
Key: A Major
Meter: 4/4
| Verse | Outro (fade out)
UK-release: 9th April 1965 (A Single / "Yes It Is")
US-release: 19th April 1965 (A Single / "Yes It Is")
Style and Form
After the folksy originals and nostalgic covers of the Beatles For Sale album, “Ticket To
Ride” brings with it a measure of tight toughness that is most welcome to those wondering
wither this erstwhile sharp edge of the group's attitude and style had fled following the A Hard
Day's Night album.
The form is an ordinary two-bridge model with only one verse in the middle and no
instrumental section. The special kicks here are to be found in the arrangement, especially in its
exploitation of texture, rhythm, and harmonic dissonance.
Melody and Harmony
Although the tune does not make a primarily bluesy impression, both the flat 7th and minor
3rd scale degrees do bear some melodic emphasis in the verse and bridge, respectively.
Five of the seven chords that naturally occur in the home key as well as the flat-VII chord are
used. No other more exotic chords show up nor is there any hint of modulation. This relatively
bland harmonic diet is spiced up by the liberal use of free melodic dissonance and a certain
suspense factor created by the exceedingly slow harmonic rhythm.
In the dissonance department, Major ninths and seconds appear as though a leitmotif. Not
only is there an unusual number of 9th chords in the song, but the bare interval is also found
within the opening ostinato figure as well as in the repetitious vocal line which takes the song out
at the end.
Arrangement
The ostinato figure played by the solo 12-string guitar at the outset provides a great deal of
unity to the song. As we've seen in other ostinato-driven songs of the Beatles, these recurring,
motorized little figures seem to create the illusion of being there in the backing track more of the
time than is actually so. For example, if the figure is apparent at both the beginning and end of a
Page 347 of 962
section, as long as there is something of sufficient interest to divert your attention in the middle,
you will subconsciously assume that the figure has continued all the while, even though if you
double check carefully you'll find that this is not so!
The ostinato used here's not as distinctively melodic as the ostinati in either “What You're
Doing” or “Day Tripper”, but it does have a wrenchingly syncopated rhythm which carries all the
way through the characteristic backbeat of the intro and first two verses:
>
>
>
rhythmic emphasis 1 & 2 & 3 & 4 &
As a foil to all this, the tambourine is relegated to simply marking off the 2nd and 4th beats
of virtually every measure in every verse.
The vocal arrangement is fussier than we've seen in a while, with three alternating textures
used in the verse, alone. The first half of the first phrase is sung by John, solo and single-tracked.
Paul joins him above on funky counterpoint for the remainder of this phrase into the first half of
the next one, and then leaves John exposed solo at the phrase's end. John then sings the third
phrase double tracked with Paul joining him for a final touch of counterpoint at the end of the
fourth phrase.
Intro
The intro consists of a four-fold presentation of the ostinato figure over the I chord. The
ensemble joins the solo guitar with a slow dramatic drumroll just before the downbeat of
measure 3:
|A
|-
|-
|-
|
[Figure 65.2]
The parallel between this and “You Can't Do That” or “Day Tripper” is noteworthy. The
accentuation here by the drumming of the syncopated rhythm inherent in the guitar ostinato is
especially gripping and literally pulls you into the music.
Say, is that a small touch of organ or harmonium used as a wash behind the solo guitar
opening ? If so, does it continue throughout, just buried in the mix ? or perhaps, does it drop out
quickly once the rest of the ensemble gets going ?
Page 348 of 962
Verse
The verse sixteen measures long, built out of four phrases equal in length. The section more logically
splits right down the middle, with the first half providing an eight-measure expository section that
harmonically opens up to the V chord, and the second eight measures providing a refrain-like ending
which veers back toward the I:
A:
|A
I
|-
|-
|-
|
|A
I
|-
|b
ii
|E
V
|
|f#
vi
|D
IV
|f#
vi
|G
|
flat-VII
|f#
vi
|E
V
|A
I
|-
|
[Figure 65.3]
The tune has an unusually high amount of rhythmic syncopation against the underlying beat
(on "four-AND") as well as melodic dissonance against the underlying chords. I'll leave the
majority of such details as an exercise for the reader though two examples here are noteworthy.
First off, the melodic sustaining of the pitch E over the b chord in measure 7, on the second
syllable of the word "away". Even better is the the climactic event over the G Major chord in
measure 12, with John singing the pitches F#-E-C# on the stretched out word “ri-i-de”, none of
which is consonant with the chord below it.
The three-way alternating pivot off the vi (f#) chord is one of the more novel harmonic
gambits we've ever seen the Beatles pull; first to the IV, then to the flat-VII, and ultimately to the
V, which under the circumstances is the most comfortingly "functional" of the three choices. It
kind of reminds of the feeling one has in a chess game where you think you've been checkmated, but in a half-panic, on considering your several brute-force logical alternatives, you
eventually discover with some relief that there is still at least one legal move available to you
with which to continue the game.
The vocal counterpoint at the beginning of the second phrase not only features their
trademark parallel, open fourths, but Paul's initial stress on the pitch B provides a development
of the added- ninth flavor we've described as inherent in the opening ostinato figure. Also note
how John's initial stress on G natural here adds a subtle, partly hidden touch of the blues (I'm
also very partial to the little rapid-fire 16th note run with which John ends the phrase):
Page 349 of 962
Bridge
The bridge is eight measures long and built out of a parallel-style repeat of the same fourmeasure phrase:
|D
IV
|-
|-
|E
V
|
[Figure 65.5]
Bridge-ly contrast is provided by virtually every compositional parameter:
• the vocal arrangement shifts to straight-away parallel thirds except for a couple of stray
eighth notes in which John is left exposed solo for a split second (check out the second
syllable of the word "goodbye.")
• the rhythm section, including the tambourine, shifts away from wrenching syncopation to a
pattern of relatively even-handed eighth notes in which the off-beat (on 2 and 4) pattern,
first heard from the tambourine in verses, now prevails in the drums.
• the harmony, even though it features no kind of modulation, does manage to stay entirely
away from the I chord, the section ending firmly on the way back towards it.
A new guitar riff is used at the very end of the section to lead back into the next verse. Its
melodic and rhythmic gesture are reminiscent, albeit not slavishly so, of the opening lick. The F#
that marks the apex of this new figure makes for yet another added ninth chord here.
Verse Variants
This song has a higher than average number of small twists applied to the arrangement of its
later verse sections. As spontaneous as these details sound to us, I rather suspect that at least
some of them were planned quite in advance.
Here, in the third verse, John adds the word “yeah” to the end of the second line (in addition
the one that repeatedly appears at the end of the first line), and he prefaces the third line with an
“Oh” (or is it an “aw”?); the latter variation being repeated in the fourth verse as well.
Ringo provides an evenly beaten sixteenth note pattern as a fill between the second and third
lines of the third verse in place of the plain roll he uses elsewhere in the song. In the final verse
he plays in this spot no roll nor fill, but only a single whack “on FOUR!”.
One particular variant feature rises above the status of mere detail to assume structural, and
perhaps
subtextual significance. The hard syncopations mentioned above which so pungently characterize
this song are actually found to be very much subdued starting right after the second verse.
Granted, we already noted that the bridge itself dispenses with the syncopation as a matter of
Page 350 of 962
contrast. But look ahead – in both of the final verses, Ringo's drumming sticks with the more
evenly played eighth note patterns introduced in the bridge instead of returning to the
wrenchingly syncopated pattern; this, in spite of the fact that the guitar ostinato (from which his
syncopated patterns were derived in the first place) does continue to make its own appearance.
This could hardly have been accidental and I find myself pondering its motivation—did they
discover that the wrenching rhythm when carried all the way through was simply too much of a
good thing, or is there some subtle poetry embedded in this change drumming?
Outro
The question of what manner of poetry may be conveyed by a change of beat is further
sharpened by what happens in this outro where the syncopation is loosened even further than it
was for the bridge.
This time, the effect is one of a sudden, free-wheeling, accelerating release of all tension.
John would later use a similar effect at the end of “She Said She Said”.
Also here at the very end, the final vocal lick, which is otherwise double-tracked in unison,
splits out for an instant to include one last example of a Major second sonority.
Some Final Thoughts
“Ticket To Ride” was recorded after more than a two-month hiatus (11/27 to 2/15) in the
Beatles attendance at Abbey Road. One gets used to the song's having been tucked away on the
Help! album as the last song on “side 1”, but in truth, it was the first song recorded after the
Beatles For Sale album was released, and it appeared as the A-side of a single several months
before the film was released.
Once you get the chronology straight in your mind, it's hard to listen to the song without
feeling as though you've crossed a frontier. Lewisohn himself comments on this, though his
perspective is entirely on the recording process changes that kicked in at this point in time; i.e.,
the practice of perfecting the rhythm and backing track first before adding everything else on
later as overdubs.
I'm thinking more of style, though whatever compositional innovations are to be found in this
song are not without their own irony to the extent that they represent at least as much a return to
erstwhile values as much as they do a forward evolution. Yeah, this one looks at least as far
ahead as “Day Tripper”, but it equally so picks right up where “A Hard Days Night” left off,
followed as it was by the anomalistic Beatles For Sale album.
“I ride this train regularly; twice a week!” 082592#65
Page 351 of 962
Yes It Is
Key: E Major
Meter: 2/4 (6/8)
UK-release: 9th April 1965 (B Single / "Ticket To Ride")
US-release: 19th April 1965 (B Single / "Ticket To Ride")
Style and Form
Comparisons of this song to “This Boy” are inevitable and ubiquitous. Yet, for all their
similarities, “Yes It Is” is arguably the more fully developed and mature of the two songs. Behind
the standard two-bridge-no-solo form, and in spite of its B-side status, “Yes It Is” features lyrics
that are more clever, an harmonic palette more rich, and a mood more sharply characterized than
the earlier song.
Melody and Harmony
The verse melody is constrained to an almost entirely pentatonic range of six notes; from E
up to C#. The bridge opens this range way the heck up to G#; an unusually high note for John.
The roster of chords appearing in the song is relatively standard but both the ordering of their
progressions, as well as the voice leading transitions between some of them, is extraordinary.
Only the bridge section and the first phrase of the verse are made up of chord progressions that
approximate cliche patterns of the period. The remaining three-quarters of the verse is pure
Lennon/McCartney with its twice-surprising deployment of flat-VII and the last-minute
deceptive cadence to the relative minor key.
This latter gambit of, in a song that is otherwise clearly in a Major key, hovering around the
relative minor chord to such an extent that the identity of the actual home key becomes a tad or
more ambiguous, was something for which the Boys had a real penchant; e.g. check out our
studies of “Not A Second Time”, “And I Love Her”, and “I'm Happy Just To Dance With You”.
“Yes It Is” is not quite as extreme an example as these others, but the principle is the same. To
the extent that “And I Love Her”, “I'm Happy Just To Dance With You” and “Yes It Is” are in the
same key, I wonder if they somehow had some a subliminal association of the gambit itself with
the world of 4 sharps!
Back in “This Boy” we had already commented on their use of an harmonic technique that
had been popular in the late-Romantic/Impressionistic periods of so-called classical music; the
one in which the resolution of 9/11/13th chords is delayed until the point at which the root of the
chord has already changed, conjuring a feeling as if one chord has melted into the one that
Page 352 of 962
follows it. The same technique is brought forward in the current song to the point where some of
the higher-order dissonant chords are found to never quite resolve.
The bridge section offers a short-lived but real modulation for a change; something we
haven't seen all that often in our studies.
Arrangement
The three part vocal arrangement of the verse is dense and dissonant, and its level of
compositional sophistication begs some intriguing questions about the working mode of the
group and the involvement of George Martin as a coach. Bootlegs of the unmixed final take 14
belie the cream-finished haziness of the officially released product and betray just how dry and
close-up the vocal parts were originally recorded.
In the bridge we have John's double tracked solo in the first half with George and Paul
coming back in to give him appropriately moaning support for the big climax.
The rhythmic scanning of the words contains a large amount of syncopation and two-againstthree cross rhythms which cut across the evenly lilting triplet rhythms of the backing track. You
might go as far as to describe this as the rhythmic analogue to the dissonant harmonic elements
described above.
George's tone pedal guitar adds an ethereal touch that is as novel as it is complementary to
the vocal texture.
Intro
Given just two measures of the 'I' chord, this intro sets forth the basic backbeat and
instrumental arrangement for the entire song.
The piece begins with a guitar pickup of low B natural “on FOUR”. As we did back on
“Don’t Bother Me”, I propose that this song be parsed as though its measure lengths were half as
long as the 4-in-the-bar count-in heard in the outtakes would imply; otherwise, the phrase lengths
come out looking absurdly short.
Verse
The first verse is an unusual fifteen measures long. It starts off with a couplet of two phrases,
each of which is four measures long. This is balanced out by a closing phrase of six measures
plus one last measure of plain breathing space before the next verse begins:
E:
|E
I
|A
IV
|f#
ii
|B
V
|
|E
I
|A
IV
|D
flat-VII
|B
V
|
Page 353 of 962
|E
||A
I6
IV
3 (first inversion with G# in bass)
|c#
vi
|E
I
|D
flat-VII
|
|verse #2 & 3 ...
||
|A:
V
[Figure 66.1]
The second and third verses, both of which are followed by a bridge section, use a rhetorical
repetition of the
closing hook phrase to extend this section out to a more typical sixteen measures. This allows the
sustained E Major chord at that point to be punningly leveraged as not only the plain I, but also
the V of the key of A, which nicely sets up the modulation to that key just in time for the bridge.
The flat-VII chord is used in two different and unusual ways in the second and third phrases
respectively. In the first case it is used as a surprise surrogate for the ii chord heard in the
corresponding context of the previous phrase. The resolution of of this same chord to vi (the
relative minor of the home key) in the third phrase is even more unusual, and quite evocative of
the bittersweet message of the song's lyrics.
Some quick examples of the free dissonances created by the lead vocal against the underlying
chords: an A9 in measure 2, an f#11 in measure 3, and a D added sixth (called a 13th by some) in
measure 7. I believe one senses a feeling of exquisite yearning in the implied resolution of the
note D-natural upward to D# over the barline between measures 7 and 8; the effect is ironically
enhanced by the fact that the voices actually drop out for measure 8, leaving this D-D# literally
implied rather than spelled out.
Bridge
The bridge is ten measures in length and it follows a similar plan to that of the verse, with the
second of its somewhat parallel phrases being elongated; i.e. a 4 + 6 subdivision of the 10
measures:
A:
|b
ii
|E
V
|A
I
|b
ii
|E
V
|c#
iii
E: vi
|F#
V-of-V
|B
V
|
|f#
vi
|
|E
|
I
[Figure 66.2]
Formal contrast is provided in this section by the change of vocal arrangement, a temporary
cutback in the level of dissonance, a large-scale opening up of the melodic range, and the clear,
Page 354 of 962
obvious build to a climax; the latter following on the heels of a verse which had no such sense of
dramatic shape.
The modulation that is first hinted at by the E7 chord at the end of the second verse is not
fully consummated until the third measure of this bridge. In fact, the continued use of D#'s in the
melody of this further serves to blunt one's sense of a modulation having taken place in so many
words, or perhaps I should say chords.
The reappearance of the c# minor chord right at the start of what is the quickening toward
climax touches one as being somehow ominously appropriate.
Outro
The full ending is crafted out of a last-minute variation on the sixteen-measure form of the
verse, the two final reprises of the hook phrase now being harmonized as follows:
|E
I
|-
|G#
|A
V-of-vi IV
|E
I
|
[Figure 66.3]
The appearance of G# Major at this turn half-surprisingly hints that a belated modulation to
the relative minor key of c# might yet actually take place, but it even more surprisingly resolves
deceptively to IV and from there to the final I chord.
The riff of pedal guitar notes which float away after the last chord has already been sounded
-- D# - B - G# - C# -- close things up in the freely dissonant mode that characterized most of
what preceded.
Some Final Thoughts
Over the long run, John is nothing if not consistent in the style of his wordplay. The red/blue
pun which runs through the current song has as its precedents not only the black/blue obvious
example of “Baby's In Black”, but also the “this/that” motif of “This Boy”, and many others as
well.
A number of equally familiar verbal pirouettes reappear here, some of which go beyond
cleverness to hint at emotional content with almost subconscious indirection. We have, for
example: a vague reference to something spoken offline from the song proper (“remember what I
said tonight”), a hint that the hurt of love lost is exacerbated by a feeling of public humiliation
(“everybody knows, I'm sure”, and “but it's my pride”), and just plain small talk cliches thrown
in for good measure (the title phrase, and “it's true.”)
Most potent of all is the ironic place of honor given in the song to the persistence of memory;
ironic because of the manner in which the tyrannical, debilitating power of such memory is
contrasted with the simple, mundane objects and sensations of life which are capable of
triggering such hot flashes. Granted, John had already dealt with this theme as early as the song
“Misery”, but you can intuit that a more permanent and serious attachment was at stake in our
Page 355 of 962
later song from a subtle shift in emphasis. Back in “Misery” the tears were shed over the memory
of “all the little things we've done”. Here in “Yes It Is” we're now talking about “the things we
planned.”
“Can you take me back where I came from?” 090892#66
Page 356 of 962
Tell Me What You See
Key: G Major
Meter: 4/4
Style and Form
In context of some of the more innovative songs of the Help!/Beatles VI era, this one is part
of a small group of songs that might be described as nice but non-blockbuster. Several by now
well-established Beatles trademark devices and novel touches are apparent here at the detailed
level; the larger than usual number of cross-references and associations with other Beatles
mentioned below indeed seems to reflect this.
Nonetheless, the overall mood and technique here are relatively simple and straightforward.
I'm sure there is at least one of my readers who has been in love with this one since the first time
s/he heard it, and that's fine. Just remember, I did say it's nice, didn't I?
On the surface, the form is yet again the familiar one of two-bridges-but-no-solo, yet the
verse section here is unusual in that its second half sounds a bit like refrain; compare this with
the earlier example of “Thank You Girl”. Even more unusual is the way that a mini-solo is
worked into the second half of the bridge itself.
Melody and Harmony
The song is clearly and unrelievedly in the key of G Major. A recurring emphasis on the flat
7th scale degree (F natural) at the beginning of each bridge lends some touch of the blues, but
compared to examples like “A Hard Day's Night” or “Ticket To Ride”, this one contains an
extremely mild dose it.
The harmonic diet is very plain, being limited to the major chords of G, C, and D (i.e., I, IV,
and V). The G chord that opens the bridge with an F natural in the melody actually functions as a
V-of-IV, but regardless of how you parse it, it's still a chord rooted on G.
Harmonic rhythm is more varied in the service of formal articulation and this somewhat
makes up for the small number of chords.
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Arrangement
The prominent solo part for electric piano as well as the several exotic percussion
instruments which substitute during most of the proceedings for the usual full drum kit provide
quite a bit of novelty to the backing track. This texture also turns the song into the most strongly
Latin-flavored of any Beatles original since the days of “Ask Me Why” and “P.S. I Love You”.
The vocal arrangement features two voices throughout, though the two parts alternate
frequently between phrases sung in harmony and those sung at the unison or octave. To the
extent that the words communicate the kind of desire for loving union that will never accept 'no'
for an answer in spite of all distance and other obstacles, this device takes on an almost
programmatic significance; the operative phrase in this regard being “we will never be apart if
I'm part of you.”
I definitely hear John in there for at least parts of the song, but in some places, I have a hard
time determining whether its the Two of Them, or just Paul over-dubbed with himself.
Intro
With just two measures of vamping on the I chord (G), the predominant mood and texture is
quickly established.
The music starts a small instant before the downbeat and this subtle gesture has a way of
pulling you into the song as if by the hand, so to speak. Compare this to “I'll Cry Instead” and
“The Night Before”.
Verse
The verse is sixteen measures long. Though it parses neatly, on one level, into four phrases
that are equal in length, the structure here is more accurately described as two eight-measure
couplets; the first being verse-like and the second sounding more like a refrain, with its suddenly
slower harmonic rhythm and hook-phrase ending:
G:
|G
I
C
IV
|D
V
G
I
|G
I
C
IV
|G
I
|
|G
I
C
IV
|D
V
G
I
|C
IV
D
V
|G
I
|
|G
I
|
|G
I
|
|C
IV
|G
I
|C
IV
|C
IV
|G
V
|C
IV
D
V
[Figure 67.1]
Page 358 of 962
The tune is distinguished by its opening with a dramatic upward leap of an octave and its
abundance of appoggiaturas. In terms of shape, it gets rather obsessively stuck around the 5th
scale degree (D) and curiously contains no appearance of the 7th scale degree (F#).
The opening line of the verse (and much else) is scanned so as to place virtually all rhythmic
emphasis off the beat. This nicely cuts across the underlying smooth and steady backbeat.
The vocal arrangement features two-part harmony in first two measures of the first couplet
(with John on the tune) but the remainder of this section has them singing in unison.
Bridge
The bridge is an even eight measures but its structure is unusual. Only three of the four
measures in the first phrase are sung, featuring the title phrase declaimed as though it were a kind
of categorical imperative. This phrase is rounded out by a fanfare-like riff on the electric piano
(featuring a slow triplet, no less), and leads to a second phrase that is entirely instrumental:
|G
|-
|C
|-
|
|G
|D
|G
|-
|
[Figure 67.2]
Other sources of bridge-ly contrast here are the dramatically still slower harmonic rhythm
and the sudden appearance for the first time in the song of the complete drum kit.
A unifying connection with the music of the verses is found in the continued high quotient of
appoggiaturas and that leap upward at the end of the piano solo; a sixth this time instead of an
octave, but the gesture still resonates with the tune's opening.
Outro
The outro is a compressed variation of the bridge in which only the first phrase is presented
as modified so as to lead directly to a complete ending. The surprise touch of humming without
words here at the end had been used to equally satisfying effect by John way back in “All I've
Got To Do.” A peculiar loud amount of hiss can be heard right at the end on the right channel,
leading me to suspect that someone must have been caught asleep at the sliding fader switch.
Some Final Thoughts
That the group had a longstanding sweet tooth for the Latin flavor in their cover repertoire
can be traced along a trajectory that runs from “Besame Mucho” through “Mister Moonlight”
with several other examples coming in between. But you wouldn't necessarily say the same thing
about their repertoire of original songs, especially during the year or so that preceded our current
number.
Page 359 of 962
Granted, during much of '64 they could be seen as branching out into unaccustomed styles
and cross-blends, but the marked trends we've noted are in the direction of first bluesy, and later
folksy elements. The turning here toward their erstwhile favored Latin beat is at first glance a
mildly shocking surprise, or even an anachronism.
On another level though, you might say this also shows not only a flexible versatility, but
even a restless determination to keep trying new things and not repeat themselves overmuch. In
perspective of what was first yet to come from them over the next several years, you might call
this otherwise simple song yet another clue to the one of several new directions.
“Oh, you can come off it with us.” 100592#67
Page 360 of 962
You Like Me Too Much
Key: G Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Verse | Bridge | Verse | Break (solo) |
Style and Form
George had been granted his first solo shot as a songwriter with “Don't Bother Me” way back
on With The Beatles. Amazingly, he had to wait until this one for a second chance. It's up to the
biographers to find out if this was the only other thing he had written since then, or if perhaps
there is a plethora of “lost” Harrisongs that have been either suppressed, destroyed or are
otherwise waiting to be unearthed by the perseveringly enterprising.
In spite of its superficial resemblance’s to the Lennon & McCartney songs which surround it
in context, “You Like Me Too Much” contains ample substance which attest to its belonging to
George, only; especially in its chord progressions and the attitude of its lyrics.
The form of the song also contains a number of formalistically distinctive earmarks: the
apparently ad lib/slow intro, the deployment of both a bridge and break, and the subtle manner in
which verse and bridge elide with each other in terms of both music and words.
Melody and Harmony
The entirety of the melody lies within a narrowly constricted range of only six notes; from G
only up to E above it. The verse especially has a circular repetitiveness reminiscent of the kind of
rut you can wear in a carpet from too much fretful nervous pacing.
Furthermore, a falling scale fragment permeates the tune as a leitmotif in both verse and
bridge. Seemingly by way of contrast, the break uses a chromatic scale fragment which both
rises and falls. This chromatic idea also makes unifying appearances at the end of the bridge, as
well as in the intro and outro.
A larger than average number of chords are used here; six out the seven which appear
naturally ("diatonically") in the home key (I through vi), plus flat-III, and a couple of secondary
dominants (i.e. so-called "V-of..."s).
But more so than the variety of chords per se, it is in their unusual sequencing that George's
particular style is distinguished. The more typical pop song, whether influenced by blues, rock,
folk or whatnot, is dominated by clearly teleological chord progressions that start from (and/or
move steadily toward) such harmonically conspicuous goals as the tonic (I) or dominant (V). As
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a result, progressions which lie along the circle of fifths and involve root movement of a fifth
upward or downward also typically predominate.
In contrast, George demonstrates a predilection for root movements that are stepwise or by
thirds. He also likes to defer bringing things to a sense of climax or resolution, and even once he
finally reaches the brink of such a payoff, we'll note a tendency for him to step away from it yet
one more time; a musical technique and effect which uncannily matches and reflects the strong
subtext of vague, ambivalent dissatisfaction which underlies so many of his lyrics.
Arrangement
The choice of home key and the prominent role of the piano suggest at least a superficial
connection between this song and the subject of our previous study, “Tell Me What You See”.
And indeed, these two songs were recorded at back-to-back sessions.
The Steinway-reinforced electric piano part provides the song with a rhythmic hook by virtue
of its relentless, syncopated accenting of the eighth note in between the second and third beats
(on “two-AND”). The piano also freely embellishes many of the chords with added 6ths and
7ths, lending a slightly jazzy flavor to the backing.
George is vocally double tracked in unison for start of each verse, with a second harmonizing
vocal line (either Paul or George overdubbed) added for the title hook line and continuing
through most of the bridge. The harmonization is primarily in parallel thirds though a Beatlesque
open fourth occasionally is snuck in (e.g. on the final “you” in each verse).
Intro
The intro only seems to be slow and out of tempo as an artifact of there being no percussion
backbeat behind it. If you compare it carefully with the outro, in which the virtually identical
phrase is recapitulated with backbeat, you'll discover the tempi of the two is quite close, with just
a small amount of rubato applied to the intro.
We start off with a drawn-out six measure phrase in which the home key is clearly defined
before the song moves on to deal with less direct chord progressions:
G:
|G
I
|-
|B-flat |D
flat-III V
|G
I
|-
|
[Figure 68.1]
The use of flat-III right off the bat is unusual enough. When its F-natural is melodically
sustained against the following D Major chord (with its concomitant F#) we have a small clash
which just might be the most bluesy moment of the entire song.
Page 362 of 962
A lugubrious touch of reverb is applied in this short passage to one of the keyboard parts and
some tremolo to the other one. The latter effect returns in both the break and outro, but
thankfully, the former one is not repeated elsewhere.
Verse
The verse is sixteen measures long and contains four phrases equal in length. The first two
phrases form a couplet followed by a bridge-like third phrase which leads to the closing title
hook:
------------- 2X -------------|a
||C
|G
||
ii
IV
I
|b
iii
|-
|D
V
|-
||G
I
|C
IV
|D
V
|-
||
[Figure 68.2]
In spite of the plentiful supply of 'I' chords in this verse, the harmonic shape of the section is
“open” on both ends; both starting and ending away from tonic. Furthermore, the setup of IV via
ii and the setup of V via iii are examples of the kind of weak or indirect chord progressions that I
described above as creating a sense of avoidance of harmonic closure.
Bridge
The demarcation of this bridge as a section distinct from the verses which adjoin it is
significantly blurred by the flow of the lyrics. The opening bridge line ("I really do") follows
seamlessly from the verse ending (“you like me too much and I like you”). Similarly, the ending
of the bridge (“If you leave me”) moves just as smoothly into the next verse (“I will follow
you ...”).
The harmony here, being even more open-ended than the verse on both sides, helps support
this sense of formal elision. In addition, the large number of secondary dominants and some
syncopation in the last couple measures create a semi-modulatory feeling of being less than
securely grounded. You could parse it as an almost but not quite complete pivot modulation to
the key of D except that the end of the section sounds so clearly like big windup on the V chord.
Even so, note how the continuation with the next verse (starting on ii) winds up, true to form,
leaving the resolution of this V chord deferred until later.
As a result of all the above, this eight-measure section sounds much less four-square than it
would appear to be on paper:
|e
iii
|-
|b
ii
|A
V-of-V
|A
V-of-V
|E
A
V-of-V-of-V V-of-V
||A
|
D
V
|
[Figure 68.3]
Page 363 of 962
The melody of this section fails to break the range barriers of the verse, though any potential
side-effect of monotony caused by this is balanced out by the striking manner in which the
opening of the section broadens out rhythmically.
One other source of contrast in this bridge is the temporary addition of a tambourine to the
backing track.
Break
The break is a very clever combination play of a 12-bar instrumental blues frame with the
four-measure sung title hook phrase grafted on at the end.
At cross-currents to the underlying blues form, the piano and lead guitar parts trade copycat
chromatic scale riffs during the instrumental portion.
Outro
The outro in introduced, so to speak, by yet one more petit-reprise of the ubiquitous title
hook phrase.
From there on, it's all a rehash of the intro except that this time it's accompanied by the
steady support of yer droombeat.
Some Final Thoughts
The lyrics to this song seem to send a mixed message. I mean, if you were on the receiving
end of them, would you be convinced in your core that George really “likes” you as unshakably
as he professes, or would those reiterated accusations and the recounting of your past misdeeds
tend to undermine his claim in your light blue eyes?
On the one hand, we could debate all night the question of whether this kind of Harrisonian
ambiguity is the result of artful design or unintended-yet-unavoidable awkwardness. But, then
again, I'm reminded in this regard of a former boss who, when confronted over a bare-faced selfcontradiction he had just made, responded that the difference between confusion of mind and
complexity of mind or emotion is often merely the thinnest of gray hairs.
“Oh, you can come off it with us.” 110292#68
Page 364 of 962
I'm Down
Key: G Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Verse | Verse | Break (guitar solo) | Verse |
| Break (organ solo)| Refrain | Refrain |
| Refrain (fade-out)
UK-release: 23rd July 1965 (B Single / "Help!")
US-release: 19th July 1965 (B Single / "Help!")
Style and Form
Tucked away on the lonesome B-side of the “Help!” single was this spicy little surprise. It's
raucous, rough-shod, and in context of where the Beatles were "at" as of the time of its release,
it's even a bit self-consciously regressive. We had heard Paul screaming several times before,
repeatedly, but never quite as primally this; at least not in a Lennon & McCartney original.
On the basis of the raw material alone it's tempting to assume that they threw this song
together in less than a single afternoon. The musical style is derived from one of the archetypal
cliche R&B idioms of the 50's; a semi-improvisatory rave-up in which the exact words don't
quite matter as much as the angry or naughty tone they set.
You might even say that this quality of sounding as though it's being made up on the spot as
they go along is an essential part of the aesthetic.
That said, there's still an impressive amount of carefully staged and choreographed variety
applied to both the arrangement and the blues form here. Nothing earth shaking per se, but
indicative nonetheless of the type of care the Boys would take in sweating the details, even for a
quick one-off.
Melody and Harmony
The song is extremely bluesy in both departments. The tune is shot through with flat 3rds and
7ths, and the chords are strictly limited to I-IV-V.
Even though the tone of the song is very similar to those Berry and Penniman numbers in
which every section is based literally on the same chord progression and phrase lengths, it turns
out that a couple of slightly different forms are used here in alternation.
Arrangement
The first and last phrase of each verse feature sudden syncopated accents that are followed by
dramatic momentary rests in the backbeat. This effect provides a bookend-like symmetry to the
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verse itself. It also provides contrast with the rest of the bouncy texture that is otherwise used
throughout and lends a certain amount of higher-level periodic rhythm to the overall
composition.
The backing vocals sound more like the Stones (circa “Between The Buttons” or earlier) than
the Beatles.
Every time Paul sings the title phrase, someone (John?) doubles him on the second word in a
sustained mock baritone voice, while two other singers (one of which is definitely George and
the other might even be Paul overdubbed) provide a mockingbird like commentary in response
(“I'm really down/ down on the ground”).
Verse
The verse is a fourteen measure long distortion of what would otherwise be a straight 12-bar
frame of the 4 + 8 model if only the middle phrase were not extended by a third repetition of the
title phrase. If you don't believe me, imagine what the section would sound like with measures 9
and 10 excised:
G:
|G
I
|-
|-
|-
|
|C
IV
|-
|G
I
|-
|C
IV
|-
|D
V
|-
|
|D
V
G
I
G
I
|-
|
[Figure 69.1]
A couple of Beatle-esque verse variants worth mentioning: Paulie starts off the song in the
first verse entirely solo without even so much as a single bass note or drumbeat to help clarify to
the listener the location of either key or downbeat; no matter how many times you've heard the
song, it's an effect which retains the power to startle. In the second measure of the third verse he
anticipates the syncopated downbeat with a little chromatic riff of F-> F# -> G; or is that actually
George on lead guitar?
Break
Both breaks are genuine 12-bar frames though they differ on a choice of chord in one
measure (the first break sustains the D chord through measure 10):
|G
I
|-
|-
|-
|
|C
IV
|-
|G
V
|-
|
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|D
V
|C
IV
|G
I
|-
|
[Figure 69.2]
The first break features the lead guitar in foreground against a backing of fast organ triplets
that is punctuated by Paul's screaming. The first phrase of this break carries through the dramatic
pause concept heard in the verse sections.
The second break features the organ itself in the foreground, its rapid-fire triplets now
punctuated by some wild off-beat glissandi and even more of Paul's screaming than heard before.
In this break the dramatic pauses in the first phrase are dispensed with making the section feel
quite a bit looser than the previous break; an effect which nicely sets up the jam-session feeling
which prevails for the remainder of the proceedings.
Refrain
The thrice-repeated refrain section is yet again a 12-bar frame in the same flavor as the
second break diagrammed out above.
The only differences among the three refrains are in the improvised scat singing and
improvised lyrics heard in each section. From one repeat to the next, the mood gets successively
wilder and less structured with the final round degenerating into the likes of “baby, baby, baby”
and “I'm down, down, down, down, down, down ...”; the latter strung out nicely at cross-rhythm
to the underlying beat.
Some kind of congas, bongos, or other kind of slapped drums sound as though either added
new at this stage of the song, or else they were perhaps there all along and only now mixed a bit
more forward.
Some Final Thoughts
As Lewisohn points out (and well he should), “I'm Down” was recorded on June 14, 1965 at
the same session as “I've Just Seen A Face” and “Yesterday”. Whether by coincidence or by
design, it was indeed a day on which Paul's prowess in the versatility department was fated to be
displayed with astonishing prowess. Given that our current subject was 2nd in the batting order
that day, maybe I'm still amazed that, with only a 90 minute break for dinner and a smoke, he
was ready after all that earlier shouting to come back in to tackle Ol' “Scrambled Eggs.” But
that's Our Kid for you.
Of course such historic perspective and appreciative revisionism is a wonderful but curious
thing. Memories of my own reactions to hearing “I'm Down” for the first time way back in the
counselor's lounge at camp in the summer of '65 are quite different. There, in spite of the
reverent popularity accorded to the A-side of the same single, the lads would frequently gather
round the juke box to listen to this one strictly for a giggle. We couldn’t quite turn the sound
down on him, but it never did stop us from saying rude things.
“Get him out of here!” 110992#69 Page 367 of 962
The Night Before
Key: D Major
Meter: 4/4
| Verse | Verse (half solo) | Bridge |
Style and Form
With its strong bluesy foreground that is so nicely balanced out by the predominantly pop
style that underlies it, this song provides about as good an example as you'll find of the Beatles
predilection on the threshold of mid career for a synthesis of their erstwhile desire to play
genuine 12-bar blues with an even greater passion to transcend that it.
They use the standard long form here, one of their favorites, with its two bridges that are
separated by two verse sections, the second one of which is partly for instrumental solo. “From
Me To You” and “A Hard Days Night” come to mind as archetypal examples, but there are many
others as well.
In addition, there is an almost subliminally unifying effect created by the recurring use of
chromatic shifts and scale fragments; anticipatory shades of Paul's later “You Won't See Me”,
which happens to share a certain amount of similarity with this song at the level of its subject
matter.
Melody and Harmony
The song utilizes a relatively large number of chords (eight!), fully half of which are foreign
in one way or another to the home key. In addition to the I, IV, V, and vi which are diatonically
indigenous, we also find here the flat-III, minor iv, flat-VII, and V-of-V.
In terms of chord progressions, this just may be the first place that The Beatles would use
flat-VII in between I and IV. The song also features the first example we've seen in quite a while
of the minor iv used in a Major key. Ironically, although I tend to associate the use of this chord
especially with John, the most recent example we had seen was back in Paul's “I'll Follow The
Sun”.
Chromatic shifting between two flavors of a note appears here under a number of guises. The
first and most prominent example is in the opening phrases of the verse where the melodic
prominence given to the bluesy minor 3rd (F natural) in phrase 1,2, and 4 is contrasted with a
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switch to the major 3rd (F#) near the end of phrase 3. Note, by the way just how juicy a crossrelation that heavy use of F natural makes against the D Major chords in the accompaniment.
Other deployments of the same basic idea are found in the alternation between B natural and
B flat implied by the chord change between b minor and g minor in phrase 3 of the verse, as well
as the melodic noodling around D/C# and E/D# at the beginning of the bridge.
Arrangement
Paul's vocal lead is double tracked throughout and he repeatedly throws in a little Gershwinesque grace note in the final phrase of the verse (on the word "did") that reminds me of
something John did in “I'm A Loser”.
The vocal arrangement of the verse is of particular interest. What appears at first as a garden
variety call-and-response pattern actually turns out to be a single thread vocal line shared,
“hocket”-like, between the double tracked soloist (Paul) and the backers. Last time we had seen
anything quite like this was “Please Please Me”. “Help!” and “You're Going To Lose That Girl”
use a device that is, while similar to the hocket, more in the realm of a gloss or commentary on
the main line rather than a sharing of it.
The prominent appearance of the electric piano here yet again would seem to suggest that its
sound was something the group had somewhat faddishly latched onto during the late spring of
’65.
Intro
This is one of those songs where the instrumental texture is relatively unvaried throughout.
I'd dare say that if you could find yourself a bootleg of just the backing track for it, it would
sound just like the intro.
This section is one long eight-measure phrase with a slow harmonic rhythm and a chord
progression that neatly opens out to V, thereby providing motivation for the verse which follows:
D:
|D
I
|-
|F
flat-III
|-
|
|G
IV
|-
|A
V
|-
|
[Figure 70.1]
Two nice rhythmic details to listen out for -- Paul's C# -> D anticipation of the first
downbeat; and the manner in which the individually syncopated parts combine during in the last
couple measures to make for a compound rhythm that is very close to even eighth notes.
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Verse
The verse is a standard sixteen measures long and is made up of four equal phrases that form
a poetic pattern of “aabc”:
----------------------------- 2X -----------------------------|D
|C
|G
|A
|
D: I
flat-VII
IV
V
|b
vi
|g
iv
|b
vi
|g
iv
|
|D
I
|G
IV
|D
I
||-
|
|
verses which are followed by another verse:|F
|flat-III
G
IV
|
|
[Figure 70.2]
The narrative and poetic structure is abetted by the harmonic scheme. The first two phrases
open up widely to the V chord. The third phrase, rather than providing any kind of resolution,
further heightens the suspense and even adds a touch of anxiety by its staying away from I and
introducing the ominous sounding minor iv chord. As is typical, the final phrase puts everything
right with its return to I. Note, though, how in those verses that are followed by another verse the
harmonic ending is modified so that a motivation for a return to I at the beginning of the next
verse is motivated by a forced move away from I at the last moment.
A faintly stuffy, pedagogical observation about first minor iv chord in phrase 3: it could
alternately be parsed as ii6/b5 because of the e in the melody. To the extent that both ii and iv
denote a subdominant function though, the difference between the two labels is somewhat moot.
Although the lead and backing vocalists share the melodic spotlight in the first two phrases,
they interestingly overlap at the “seams” of their respective parts. This creates a special effect at
the beginning of the second phrase, where the backers falling away from the lead subtly suggests
a kind of sighing accompaniment. The manner in which the backers continue on in the third
phrase entirely as part of the background wash, only to dramatically desist entirely for the final
phrase, also makes for a dramatic effect.
George, likely feeling finally unbound after keeping such a low profile in the first half of the
song, introduces his solo section with an enthusiastic “Yes!”. There's a more half-hearted “yeah”
that precedes the second bridge, which for all we know, just might be another one of those
infamous anomalies.
The half-section's worth of guitar solo is doubled at the octave and definitely sounds more
worked out and painfully practiced than it does improvised; the tip-off being in the way that both
phrases of it are repeated identically. The interjectory nature of the solo and the dissonant manner
in which its melodic content rides roughshod over the chords below it sound perversely out of
style with the rest of the song. It's as if they were trying to achieve in music the same kind of
obtuse non sequitur which peppers their onstage verbal antics.
Page 370 of 962
Bridge
The bridge is eight measures long and built out of two equal phrase:
|A
V
|D
|G
V-of-IV IV
|-
||b
vi
|E
|A
V-of-V V
|-
|
[Figure 70.3]
As is a well-established convention, a subtle change of the percussion pattern is used here to
help the bridge sound more set-off from the surrounding verses.
With the exception of the intro, the harmonic rhythm of this song is relatively fast
throughout. The phrase endings of this bridge provide a notably rare and brief breath-catching
respite.
The song makes a slight, short-lived modulation toward the key of G, but it pivots right back
around to set up a return to the home key with its big finish on the V chord, set up on a silver
platter by V-of-V.
The melodic climax of the entire song occurs at the very end of this section on the high note
'A'. This is felt as especially dramatic in context of the constricted melodic range of the song
overall; you'll note how the verse rather butts its head, so to speak, up against a ceiling of G.
Outro
The complete ending consists of a simple petit reprise of the final phrase that is easily built
out of an extension to the end of the verse:
|D
I
|G
IV
|D
I
|reprise |- guitar riff
|F
|D
|flat-III I
||
||
[Figure 70.4]
The return of the solo guitar for a final fanfare lick lends a classic touch of unity, and
anticipates what is essentially the very same gesture that would appear much later in “Penny
Lane”!
Some Final Thoughts
At a high level, this song thematically belongs to one of the archetypal sub-genres of the twominute pop song: the one in which the protagonist, post-breakup, acknowledges what a good
thing he had in retrospect and expresses the fond hope and prayer for a reconciliation.
At a closer level of detail, this one bears a surprising amount of comparison with one very
specific other song of Paul's songs; one written pretty much around the same time. Granted, this
one is written in direct address to the girl and openly begs for another chance. The other song, in
Page 371 of 962
contrast, speaks of the girl in third person and, in spite of an expressed longing for a reversal of
the situation, the hero there seems, with grim resignation, to better accept his fate.
And yet, the common denominator between the two is in their focus on the past, and in their
desire for an impossible turning back of the clock by a mere 24 hours. In this sense, in spite of all
other differences in musical style, the two songs are closely enough related that I could almost
imagine their two titles reversed or commingled: “Last Night” and “The Day Before”.
“I will be pleased, men, to see the earth disintegrated.” 112392#70
Page 372 of 962
I Need You
Key: A Major
Meter: 4/4
Recorded: 15th, 16th February 1965, Abbey Road 2
Style and Form
We have another intriguing stylistic mix here, this time from George. The pop-rock core is
augmented by a folksy undercurrent that manifests itself most strongly in the haunting pseudomodality of the tune. The choice of form is the shorter two-bridge model where the bridges are
separated by only one section.
George's proclivity for blurring somewhat the division between verse and bridge sections by
the phrasing of the lyrics shows up again here though in not as pronounced a form as the one
observed in “You Like Me Too Much.”
Melody and Harmony
A relatively large number of chords is used (seven!), though there is nothing more exotic in
this entire bundle than a V-of-V. George's taste for weakly transitive chord progressions is
reflected here in both the holding back of the V chord for as late as the bridge, and his reliance in
the verse on IV -> I and the even more indirect stepwise choice of ii -> I to establish the sense of
home key.
George uses an effective trick of his mates in keeping the melodic pitch content and style of
the verse and bridge sections distinctively different. Whether or not you're willing to accept this
notion as operable on even a subconscious level, you can't deny how striking is the de facto
evidence of this effect.
The verse derives a folksy modalism from the manner in which its melody is restricted to a
pentatonic scale (A-B-C#-E-F#) with the solitary exception of one note that is a flat-seventh (G
natural), not strictly speaking part of the scale for the home key; look out for it at the very end of
the second phrase. This tune is also made distinctive by its large number of appoggiaturas,
several of which leave dissonant, non-harmonic tones hanging at vocal phrase endings; see
below.
Just as the V chord is held back until the bridge, so does the non-pentatonic fourth scale
degree suddenly make a featured appearance in the tune of that section. In the second half of this
Page 373 of 962
bridge we also find a very non-folksy chromatic shifting amongst D natural -> D# -> D natural
that is reminiscent to the trick we saw Paul play just last time out in “The Night Before.”
Arrangement
The backing track has a nicely balanced, airy texture of acoustic rhythm guitar mixed with a
part for electric pedal tone guitar in which the latter instrument sounds almost like a keyboard.
The vocal track is pure Middle Period Beatles almost as though it were a recipe-pattern done
up “by the numbers”: the composer double-tracked on the lead and the two others (with very rare
exception, such as “Carry That Weight” where you can hear him right through the heavy mix,
Ringo didn't “do” backing vocals) providing an instrumental- like backwash of “ahhhs” in
second half of verse and bridge.
Those mockingbird pedal tone fills at the phrase endings become a leitmotif for the song. As
we'll see below, in a couple of instances where the vocal phrases end up on an unresolved
dissonance, these guitar fills actually are necessary to tie up what would otherwise be a
disconcerting loose end.
Intro
The intro is a mere two measures worth of vamping on the I chord, but in it are quickly
introduced both the basic instrumental texture of the entire song as well as the melodic two-part
turn 'round C# (C# -> B, D -> C#) which recurs as a motif in all the verse sections which follow.
Verse
The verse is an unusual fourteen measures in length made up of four phrases which create a
classic AA'BC pattern.
The last phrase is half the length of the other three and this asymmetry lends a subtle feeling
of poetic, free-verse to the whole:
----------------------------- 2X -----------------------------|A
|D
|A
||
A: I
IV
I
|f#
vi
|c#
iii
|f#
vi
|A
I
|-
|
|b
ii
|
[Figure 71.1]
Page 374 of 962
The pedal tone guitar turn around C# heard in the intro (or a slight variation on it) reappears
at the end of the three of the four phrases of this verse, overlapping in each case with the last two
notes of the vocal line in each case.
In the first two of these phrases the vocal line binds off unusually with an appoggiatura that
creates an unresolved dissonance against the chord below it. If you've ever been nearly so
depressed, yourself, to the point that you no longer have the energy or motivation to quite finish
your sentences before they trail off a few words or so before their proper ending, then you'll
likely relate to the poetic effect created by these dissonant, tentative phrase endings.
In the first and second phrases, you have C#->B and A->G respectively sung against an A
Major chord.
Without the D->C# resolution offered by the second half of the guitar turn which follows,
you'd be left hanging in each of these cases as though waiting for a shoe to drop. Try imagining
this scenario out in your mind.
Bridge
The bridge is nine measures long and its two unequal phrases present an elongated free verse
effect that is the exact opposite to the similar truncated effect seen in the verse:
|D
IV
|E
V
|A
I
|-
|D
IV
|E
V
|B
V-of-V
|E
V
|
|-
|
[Figure 71.2]
To the extent that this bridge section provides any contrast to the surrounding verses it is
because the home key is established here with more forceful clarity than anywhere else in the
song; note the use in this section of both V and V-of-V. We're actually much more used to the
opposite effect: of the home key having been established to an almost monotnous fault over the
course of the first couple of verses, and the bridge providing contrast by making a brief
excursion away from it.
And ever true to the by-the-numbers recipe for contrasting bridge sections you'll note the
addition of a cowbell to the percussion track for just this section.
Outro
The eight-measure coda is developed as an extension to the final verse, and it kicks in right
where the truncated fourth phrase of the verse section is usually to be found:
|A
I
|-
|f#
vi
|-
|D
IV
|-
|A
I
|-
|
[Figure 71.3]
Page 375 of 962
Harmonically, the coda is built out of the I-vi-IV cliche minus the expected V chord, but the
omission of the latter chord is very much in keeping in this instance with the rest of the song.
The vocal line at this late stage of the song turns around and plays the same mockingbird
game as did the pedal tone guitar earlier on. Here, the vocal line repeats three times the same
exact melodic phrase of three notes (A -> B -> C#) over each chord change. The effect is
especially striking where the ending on C# creates a Major 7th dissonance against the D Major
chord; the resolution to which, as always, is provided ultimately by the now familiar D -> C# of
the guitar part.
Some Final Thoughts
We find George at his absolutely most vulnerable in this song. Granted, he had appeared
pretty crashed out way back in “Don't Bother Me”, but with the net result of his being unable to
speak directly to his erstwhile love, or anyone else for that matter. In “You Like Me Too Much”,
on the other hand, he not only seemed sufficiently recovered to address The Girl directly, but he
even swaggered a bit before her with his gentle chiding. And in the likes of “Think For Yourself”
would come just around the next corner, he would raise the emotional ante from mere negativity
all the way to disdain and ridicule.
Viewed from this perspective, “I Need You” scores uniquely for its bittersweetly mixed tone
of plaintive, terminal desperation.
“You want to stop being so scornful, it's twisting your face.” 120792#71
Page 376 of 962
Another Girl
Key: A Major
Meter: 4/4
| Bridge | Verse | Outro
Recorded: 15th, 16th February 1965, Abbey Road 2
Style and Form
If you make the effort to get beyond the pedestrian lyrics and the by-today's-standards
embarrassing visual background given this song in the Help! film (Paul out on a beach holding a
woman sideways and “playing” her like some kind of anthropomorphic bass guitar – or do I
misremember it?), you find here a song that is a veritable cross-section of the tricks and
trademarks of the Beatles to this point of their career.
We also find in this song yet another example of John's cross-influence on Paul. Though the
influence in this case is not as obvious on the surface of things as it is in the case of, say,
“Paperback Writer” and “Rain”, the parallels between “Another Girl” and “You're Going To Lose
That Girl” are as striking as they are surprising, once they've been pointed out to you. The form
sounds subtly more unusual than it actually is because of the extremely refrain-like final phrase
of the verse section. The last time we had seen this effect, way back in this series “You’re Going
To Lose That Girl” and “It Won't Be Long”, it had thrown us off guard quite a bit. Once
you parse this phrase as part of the verse proper, the form suddenly reveals itself as one of the
standard forms, with two-verses, two-bridges, and only one verse intervening. The use of such a
pseudo-refrain, though, especially when it also appears as the song's introductory section, does
have a unique the power to, if not outright confuse, make a formalistically fluid impression.
Melody and Harmony
The melody makes prominent thematic use of downward chromatic scale fragments and a
certain amount of noodling around the same few notes in a constricted pitch range; both Beatles
trademarks. Although the song is hardly a 12-bar blues ditty in terms of chords, tune, or phrasing,
the melodical stress on the flat 3rd (C natural) and flat 7th (G natural) scale degrees projects
bluesy feel overall.
The verses rely entirely on I, IV, V, and the flat-VII deployed simply as a neighboring chord
between two instances of I. The bridge, though, features an unusual (in context of the Beatles)
full-blown modulation to the key of C Major whose relationship to the home key is that of
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“relative Major of the parallel minor”; the latter being one of this songs principal and
unmistakable connections with “You're Going To Lose That Girl”.
The emphasis on the melodic flat 3rd is sufficiently stronger than average here to create a
Major/minor ambiguity regarding the mode of the home key that is somewhat reminiscent of “I'll
Be Back.” The effect is especially noticeable where the music returns to A Major at the end of
the bridge, and makes you wonder in retrospect if, in the verses, it really was only the melody
and not the chords too performed in the minor mode; what do the chord books say there? Is the
first chord A Major or minor?
Arrangement
Paul is double tracked on the lead vocal with the familiar italicizing effect of the backing
voices joining him on the recurring title phrase. George supplies notable guitar fills, the
frequency and raucousness of which both increase over the course of the song.
Intro
The song opens vocally with absolutely no instrumental cue, yet another affinity with John's
“You're Going To Lose That Girl” and “It Won’t Be Long”. The intro turns out to anticipate the
final phrase of the verse section. It’s a phrase whose length comes out to be closer to five than
four measures; at the very least, it ends on the downbeat of the fifth measure. A side effect of this
peculiarity is that the phrase tends to suggest an elision or overlap with the beginning of
whatever follows it whenever it appears:
|A
A: I
|D
IV
|A
I
|Verse --»
|A ...
I
|D
IV
[Figure 72.1]
Verse
The sixteen measure verse has a phrasing pattern of AABC and sounds almost like a nontraditional 12-bar form plus short refrain:
----------------------------- 2X -----------------------------|A
|G
|A
|D
|
I
flat-VII
I
IV
|D
IV
|-
|-
|E
V
|
|A
I
|D
IV
|A
I
|D
IV
|
[Figure 72.2]
Page 378 of 962
The IV chord which gets sustained through four measures that *don't* exactly coincide with
where the phrase divisions lie provides a good example of how harmonic rhythm can be used to
strong, albeit subliminal effect.
Bridge
This eight-measure section sounds as though entered as an elided, directed extension of the
'refrain':
C:
|C
I
|G
V
|C
I
|G
V
|C
I
a: III
|E
V
|A
|E
|
I
V
(surprise!)
[Figure 72.3]
The music briefly modulates to the key of C Major before it pivots back to A. The pivot in
this case relies on tricking you into expecting a return to a minor with the A Major chord then
coming as a surprise twist. The pivot into the modulation is interesting; forcing you, as a listener
to hear the final D chord in the preceding verse punning itself as both IV in the home key as well
as V-of-V in the new key, the latter not being resolved until two measures into the bridge.
As is so often the case, the bridge provides melodic contrast with the verses in the way that
the erstwhile noodling within a small range is replaced here by an extended arch shape which
supplies at its zenith the unique melodic high point of the piece.
Outro
The outro is a simple extension of the verse ending with the the title phrase repeated a
canonical three times. The trailing guitar lick at the very end is a novel touch that helps unify the
song overall from the way in which it carries forward both the motif of the ubiquitous guitar fills
and the blusey undercurrent.
Some Final Thoughts
This song may be far from what you'd call one of Paul's career highlights but you've got to
admire his craftsmanship here even if the material itself is less than entirely distinguished.
You may want to quibble with Paul from time to time over whether or not you think he exerts
a sufficiently discriminating filter on the supply of new ideas and directions which pop into his
head. But in terms his facility in the developing of such ideas and his seemingly casual and
second-nature mastery of technique, you can only be amazed; maybe.
“Give 'em a pull.” 122292#72 Page 379 of 962
It's Only Love
Key:
Meter:
Form:
CD:
Recorded:
UK-release:
US-release:
C Major
4/4
Intro | Verse | Refrain | Verse | Refrain | Outro
"Help!", Track 9 (Parlophone CDP7 46439-2)
15th June 1965, Abbey Road 2
6th August 1965 (LP "Help!")
6th December 1965 (LP "Rubber Soul")
Style and Form
The combination of textural soft-focus with a Moderato tempo is a bit of a departure for John
though the elliptical emotional stance of the lyrics is right up his alley.
The form is structurally both short and simple. To the extent that, as we'll see, the formal
boundary between what I've labeled as Verse and Refrain is rather blurred you might argue that
the meat of the song be even more compactly described as a repetition of a single larger Verse +
Refrain “combo” section.
Melody and Harmony
Chromatic scale motion, always one of John's favorite hot buttons, has an influence on both
melody and harmony in this song; creating here side effects as diverse as cross-relations,
augmented triads, and harmonic root movement of a tritone.
In spite of the relatively small number of chords that are utilized throughout, the song
deploys the mildly unusual flat-VII (B flat) in two entirely different contexts; as we'll see, it's the
same old chord but with a different meaning, the result of a change in the angle of approach.
The melodic hooks of the song feature a sighing 6->5 appoggiatura, whether it's the
descending guitar lick of the intro/outro, or the main vocal line; in the verse, on the words
“(be)side-you”, and in the refrain on the word “hard”, so to speak.
Arrangement
The overall sound of the piece is one that is difficult to pigeonhole. You would expect the
prominence of the guitar parts and relative absence of percussion to project a Byrds-ey folk rock
image, but the hazy finish applied to the final mix works at cross-currents to that.
The acoustic and electric guitars remain well isolated from each other on the two stereo
tracks in spite of all haze. The lead part consists heavily of choppy chords applied to the
syncopated off-beats and short melodic fills between the phrases.
Page 380 of 962
The vocals feature John all the way; single tracked solo in verse, and doubled up in the
refrain. The double tracking here sounds more out of synch and less evenly balanced than usual,
making me wonder if one of the two vocals is actually the vestige of a “guide vocal” left over
from an early take of the backing track.
Intro
We have a four-measure intro which economically establishes the instrumental texture, tone,
and tonality of the entire song:
------------- 2X -------------|C
|a
|
C: I
vi
[Figure 73.1]
The intro, (as well as the outro and part of the refrain) place an almost hook-like emphasis on
the I->vi progression, which is an old Beatles trademark starting back as far as “Misery” and
running heavily through the “A side” of With The Beatles.
Verse
Very much like what we saw last time in “I've Just Seen A Face”, the verse here is a twelve
measure section whose 'AAB' phrasing pattern matches that of the blues even though such a
connection is supported by neither the harmony nor the style:
--------------------------- 2X --------------------------Chords: |C
e
|B-flat
F
|G
|G augmented
|
Bass line: |C
B
|B-flat
F ...
I
iii6/4 flat-VII IV
V 4 -» 3
#5
|F
IV
|G
V
|C
I
6
-»
5
|a
vi
|
[Figure 73.2]
The downward chromatic bass line at the start forces a strange root progression of I->iii>flat-VII. The effect of this is somewhat softened by the linear logic of the bass line itself and the
placement of the iii chord in so-called second inversion; try playing the same progression with
the iii chord in root position and see how much more strange it sounds.
Some analysts might even argue in favor of not analyzing our e minor chord here as 'iii' with
a Roman numeral per se, as much as they would describe it more simply as the transitory
harmonic by-product of linear motion between the two surrounding chords. Again, try imagining
Page 381 of 962
the phrase without any e minor chord in it, just the C Major chord sustained all the way through
the entire first measure, and note how the overall feel of it is still the same.
The usage of flat-VII sounds here like the "IV-of-IV" variant most familiar to Beatles fans in
context of the second half of “Hey Jude.”
A constant low-level of harmonic dissonance abounds, rather evocative of the vague basal
uneasiness described in the lyrics. Some of it is logically motivated and clearly resolved; e.g. the
4-3 suspension implied by the lead guitar part in measure 3, and the transient augmented chord
caused by chromatic motion, this time upward for a change. Yet, some of it is entirely gratuitous;
e.g. the added sixths implied by the vocal part over the F and G chords in the last phrase (on the
words “so” and “to/it”).
The first two phrases open out to V; not just a plain vanilla kind of V, but that intensified
augmented flavor of it. And this only goes to heighten the sense of musical frustration and
backing off that is inherent in the deferred gratification of moving onward from V to IV.
The ending of the section with our much favored I-vi progression is so open ended in feeling
that the dividing line between the verse and refrain is much less clearly articulated than usual.
Refrain
The refrain is eight measures long and built out of two roughly parallel phrases that are equal
in length. The first phrase leads into the second one exactly the same way it itself had been set up
by the verse ending. The second phrase leads back toward the following verse with its ending on
V:
|B-flat
flat-VII
|G
V
|C
I
|B-flat
flat-VII
|G
V
6
|F
IV
-» 5
|a
vi
|
|G
V
|
[Figure 73.3]
With the the verse ending on the vi chord (a minor), you'd much sooner expect the first chord
of this refrain to be either IV (F) or ii (d); try this out and see how well it actually works. The
move to B flat, while not at all unsatisfying does work as a surprise, and furthermore sets up a
cross-relation when the next chord after it is V (G). This use of flat-VII as a subdominant is
something we saw for the first time way back in “All My Loving”, of all places. As a device, you
might describe it as similar in structure and effect to the gambit in which V-of-V is followed by
IV, which also turns out to be a much favored harmonic trick of the Beatles. No surprise, by the
way, but a tambourine is added for this section to provide some contrast in the instrumental
backing.
Page 382 of 962
Outro
The outro is so smoothly handled that you'd never notice where the seams of it are unless you
stopped to analyze it per se. It starts off with a single petit reprise of last half-phrase of the
refrain that is stretched out for an extra three of measures by John's falsetto melissma, with the
whole thing is capped by the intro redux:
----- 2X -----|F
|G
|C
|a
|C
|a
|C
||
IV
V
I
vi
I
vi
I
|--- reprise ---|---- melisma ---------|
|---- 2nd time: intro ---|
[Figure 73.4]
The resonating reverb and tremolo applied to the final chord is striking; what more can I say
about it?
Some Final Thoughts
The lyrics of this song are deceptively simple in their outlook and message. We've noted
elsewhere (e.g. back in our study of ) John's talent for plumbing the poetic depths that are
inherent in the bourgeois cliches of the vernacular, and this one provides yet another fine
example. Indeed, if it's “only love”, then why the exquisite pleasure/pain over why it's “so hard”?
Right!?
On a different plane, I seem to remember a possibly apocryphal tale that a certain Mr.
Zimmerman has claimed to have been clued in to the fact that Our Own Sweet Boys had begun
to “take Tea” by the opening line of this very song. Can one of the biographic fiends of this
group shed some light on this one? “I get high …”, really, now.
“She'll only reject me in the end and I'll be froostrated.” 011993#74
Page 383 of 962
I've Just Seen A Face
Key: A Major
Meter: 4/4 (2/2, or "cut time", may be more accurate)
| Verse | Refrain | Verse (solo) | Refrain |
| Verse | Refrain | Refrain | Refrain | Outro
Style and Form
Aside from the delightfully unplugged arrangement, and a greater than ever amount of
attention paid to compositional detail, this song manifests a button-busting sense of energy that is
timeless and most compelling.
The form is reasonably clear in some sense, but it's also unusually complicated and would
appear to have absorbed the influence of several styles. The two verses in a row near the
beginning are pure pop/rock. The strict alternation of verse/refrain in the second half is rather
folksy. The triple refrain as an outro is reminiscent of the R&B rave up. And the whole thing is
lead off by an extraordinary intro that is not so easily pigeonholed.
Melody and Harmony
Only four chords are used but this very limited number of them are cleverly deployed so as to
alternately suggest two different styles: the pop/rock cliche of I-vi-IV-V in the verses, and the
bluesy V-IV-I in the refrains.
Melodically we find several trademarks yet again: the noodling around within a tight pitch
range during the verses, with the headroom freed up somewhat during the refrain. The tune is
also shot through with Paul's much favored appoggiaturas; I'll spot you “face” and “place” in the
opening phrase, but you've got to find the rest of them on by yourself – have you no natural
resources of yer own?
Page 384 of 962
Arrangement
The instrumental texture is most strongly characterized by the folksy sound of several crisply
recorded acoustic guitars. And yet, the use of (what sound like to me as) jazzy wire brushes in
place of the usual wood sticks for the drum kit, not to mention overdubbed maracas (in the
refrains and guitar solo) create subliminal free associations with other styles.
Paul is closely single-tracked for a change on the lead vocal, the more intimately for us to
feel the slight quiver in his voice. During the refrains, he provides his own contrapuntal backing
part in the same nasally affected C&W voice used to back Ringo in “Act Naturally.”
Intro
This fully instrumental introduction is unusually long and musically involved. On the one
hand, it features an oscillating motif in slow triplets that never shows up again for the remainder
of the piece. And yet, the long scalar bass line whose full octave span stretches out over the
complete length of the intro has embedded within its ending the ubiquitous “La-da-da da'n'da”
hook phrase (i.e. D->C#->B AG#->A).
The slow triplet pulse creates a deceptive sense of tempo. When the verse finally kicks in
with its four-square beat that is sustained for the remainder of the song you have a gear-shifting
feeling of acceleration as though the tempo had changed. But this is entirely an illusion,
anticipating what would show up later, even more forcefully, in “We Can Work It Out.” If you
count the measures in “two half” time instead of the twice-as-fast 4/4 you’ll more easily grasp
the extent to which the underlying tempo is constant.
The illusion of acceleration is abetted by the phrasing. The intro has an unusual ten-measure
length and is built out of three phrases, the last one of which is foreshortened and thus hastens
the arrival of the first verse. In any event, this feeling of speed is one that is particularly effective
in the song's album-opening context of the American Rubber Soul line-up where you feel drawn
straight into the entire LP by it, not just the first song.
Harmonically, the song opens subtly away from the home key but quickly converges upon it.
Even though the bass line line starts off, unaccompanied, with the pitch of the home key, the first
chord is f# and until you reach the end of this section the sense of harmonic grounding is quite
suspended; similar to, though not quite as intense as, the opening of “Help!”
In order to better elucidate the truly fine detail of this intro, I've included in the schematic
below a precis of both the bass line and top voice along with the usual harmonic information. In
the latter department note the unusual sonority created in measures 6 and 7 by the “nonharmonic” passing tones, and the handling of the E chord in measures 9 and 10 with an
appoggiatura instead of the the root note in the bass:
Page 385 of 962
Top-most line:
|F#
Chords:
|f#
Bass line: A G# |F#
A Major:
vi
|A
||-
Top-most line:
Chords:
Bass line:
|E
|F#
|- 9/6/4|- 7
||-
Top-most line:
Chords:
Bass line:
|D
|D
|D
IV
|C#
||-
|F#
||-
|
|
|
E
|||-
|
|
C# |
|verse ---»
|E
|D
|C#
|E 6/4|- susp |A
|B
|A
G# |A
V
I
[Figure 74.1]
Verse
The verse is blues-influenced to the extent that its form is twelve measures long, consists of
three phrases, and its harmonic rhythm is mostly slow throughout. Note, though, that the chord
progression used is distinctly pop:
A:
|A
I
|-
|-
|-
|
|f#
vi
|-
|-
|-
||
|D
IV
|-
|E
V
|A
I
||
[Figure 74.2]
The first two phrases are virtually identically, tune-wise, though they sound different simply
because of the chord change, not to mention the unfolding lyrics. The bass line motif of the intro
is continued here albeit abbreviated in length. In measures 3-5 the tune marches down the scale
in parallel 10ths with the bass, but note how the same basic idea idea in measures 7-9 makes for
parallel 5ths!
Refrain
The refrain is eight measures long and parses into a couplet of two short phrases that are
balanced out by one longer one (‘AAB'):
A:
|E
V
|-
|D
IV
|-
|A
I
|D
IV
|A
I
|-
|
[Figure 74.3]
Page 386 of 962
The chord progression and the unique appearance within the song of a melodic minor 3rd (on
the first syllable of the word 'calling') give this section a slightly more bluesy feel than the rest of
what surrounds it.
Solo
The solo is an almost slavish replicate of the tune, but one that is cleverly transformed in
character by the Countrified, rhythmically flat rendering of it. The slight departure from the tune
in the final three measures (the guitar melodically harmonizing a 3rd below where the tune itself
should be) is a most welcome variations, especially as it is followed by that 'bon mot' flourish
one octave up right at the end.
Outro
The use of a triple repeat to signal the approaching end of a song is quite a well-worn Beatles
trademark. We’re used to seeing this trick used on the scale of a “petit reprise” of a phrase no
longer than two to four measures in length. The repeat here of an entire eight bar chorus is rather
unprecedented.
There's an unusual and shameless bit of stumbling word painting in the final repeat where
Paul throws in that extra “oh!” and sounds literally as though falling; but it works quite nicely.
The last refrain runs out into a little instrumental reprise that is redolent with associations to
what we had heard earlier on in the song. Primarily, we have a snippet of the last part of the intro
which adds a bookend formal symmetry and allows the song to be ultimately summarized by its
“La-da-da da'n'da” hook phrase. But even that final strummed guitar chord seems to resonate
with what I had described as the 'bon mot' ending of the solo section.
Some Final Thoughts
By this point they had been freely borrowing and blending various stylistic elements of pop,
rock, folk, blues, and still other styles for quite a while. Still, this otherwise sweetly simple “folk
rock” song really pushes the envelope in terms of the sheer number of diverse styles juggled
simultaneously as well as the effortlessly seamless manner in which they are fused.
In the final result though, if resonance has any thing to do with why you find this song
enduring, I'll bet it’s not so much in scholarly terms of style, but rather in those not so easily
verbalized ones of your own experience.
If you are, let's say, of the type who, when romantically enthused (you should only be so
lucky!), tends to start talking rapidly, getting all inarticulate and muckle-mouthed about it in the
bargain, then you're likely to find Paul's patter-song-like syllabic delivery of the words of this
song, up to and including his momentary retreats into scat phonemes, rather apropos, maybe
even truly inspired.
“I want all the world to see we've met.”010593#73 Page 387 of 962
Yesterday
Key: F Major
Meter: 4/4
| Verse | Bridge | Verse | Outro
Recorded: 14th, 17th June 1965, Abbey Road 2
US-release: 13th September 1965 (A Single / "Act Naturally")
Style and Form
This song is so well established in the pop-cultural subconscious that it's difficult to relate to
it objectively, no less say something new and insightful about it, but we'll try.
As is often the case with the over-exposed war horses of any artsy genre, whether or not you
like this song, there's some good reason why it became so over-exposed in the first place. (hint)
It's a fine piece of work with something going for it in virtually every department: the unique
arrangement, an attractive tune, even some asymmetrical phrasing and a couple of offbeat chord
progressions.
By the same token, one should not be fooled by whatever unique and interesting factors
surround the song’s history and production into thinking of it as more unique and different than it
is. Especially if you can step around the self-pitying lyrics for a moment (Paul possibly taking a
lesson from George, for a change) you'll find this song to actually lie along the same
compositional and moody lines of the other hymn or anthem-like ballads which so vividly
characterize some of Paul's highest achievements, especially in the post-Pepper period.
Just for the record, the form here is the shorter two bridge model. And the tempo is
uncharacteristically slow.
Melody and Harmony
The melodic phrases are consistently arch shaped and shot through with sentimentally
expressive appoggiaturas; very dangerously close to being too much so. Ultimately, I believe it's
the free-verse, non-four-square scanning of the words that saves it.
The overall home key is F Major but the music demonstrates a curious tendency to
repeatedly veer off toward the relative minor key of d. This device subtly sets a mood for the
song in which all attempts at putting on a positive face are betrayed by pervasive melancholy;
shades of “beneath this mask I am wearing a frown.”
Interestingly, Paul had used a similar harmonic trick (actually the same basic idea but in
reverse) in his very similar earlier offering of “And I Love Her.”
By funny coincidence, we find here the same harmonic cross-relation between G and B-flat
chords as we saw last time in “It's Only Love.” Granted, the order of the two chords is reversed
Page 388 of 962
here, and the semantic meaning of the progression is changed by the difference in home key
between the two songs. It's an uncanny parallel, nevertheless.
Arrangement
The instrumental backing consists entirely of acoustic guitar and a string quartet (2 violins,
viola, and cello), with the two elements mixed 100% apart from each other onto separate stereo
channels and the vocal split down the middle. Paul is single tracked virtually all the way through
except for a short patch of double tracking to reinforce the high notes at the end of the first
bridge. To my ears (especially when isolating the right channel with acoustic guitar, it sounds
like there was some intermittent reverb applied to the vocal track.
Even without the usual electric guitars and drums, some standard tricks still apply; to wit, the
layered effect of holding back on the bowed strings until the second verse, and the manner in
which the quartet never plays the same section exactly the same way more than once. Regarding
the latter effect, note for example the ominous interjection by the viola (or cello ?) in the second
bridge, and the sustained high note in the first violin during the final verse, the latter, a terrific
anticipation of the similar effect created for the second half of “Hey Jude.”
As with those other hymns of Paul's, the bass line of this one is played with special emphasis,
whether in those slappingly hard-picked notes on the low strings of the guitar or reinforced by
the cello.
Intro
The intro consists of just two measures of guitar vamping on an open-fifth drone-like scoring
of the I chord, minus the third scale degree whose presence would otherwise make explicit
whether we're dealing with a Major or minor key. This seemingly small detail starts the
proceedings off on a suspenseful, ambiguous note.
Verse
The verse is an unusual seven measure in length and divides up into three phrases which
form a 3+2+2 poetic meter:
F:
|F
I
|e-dim
A
ii-of-vi V-of-vi
|d
vi
|
|B-flat
IV
C
V
|F
I
|d
vi
G
V-of-V
|B-flat
IV
F
I
|
|
[Figure 75.1]
Page 389 of 962
As mentioned above, the music harmonically retreats off to relative minor key of d even
before the Major home key of F has been properly established. The arrival on the d minor chord
in the third measure is, indeed, the first instant in the song in which you feel a sense of being
harmonically grounded, the opening F chord at this stage of the game still not at all clear to you,
even in retrospect, as the chord of the home key.
The chord progression in which V-of-V is followed by IV, with its concomitant cross-relation
and implied ethos of deferred gratification makes a somewhat surprising appearance here at the
end of the verse. This progression was always very popular with both Lennon and McCartney,
but we're used to finding it in the faster and harder driving likes of “She Loves You”, “Eight
Days A Week”, and the title cut of Sgt. Pepper. In the current instance, the effect of the crossrelation is somewhat blunted by the tracing, in one of the inner voices of the backing, a Barber
Shop Harmony-like descending chromatic line which also happens to be intrinsic to this chord
progression.
Of course there are extremely juicy appoggiaturas on the first syllable of the opening word as
as well as the words "far", and “here".
Bridge
On paper, the bridge is eight measures long and built out of two four-measure phrases, but it
sure as hell doesn’t sound that way! It sounds much more to our ears as each phrase of the bridge
begins on what I've notated as the second measure below, with the first measure being a wind-up
extension of the previous phrase:
-------------------------------- 2X -----------------------------|e-dim
A
|d
B-flat |g
C
|F
|
ii-of-vi V-of-vi vi
VI
ii
V
I
[Figure 75.2]
The phrase endings of this section are the only place in the song where the home key is
clearly established by a clean Dominant-Tonic (i.e. V-I) cadence. The starting off in this bridge,
yet again, from the harmonic perspective of the relative minor key makes these phrase endings in
F sound almost as much like the end result of a modulation away from the home key rather than
the a true return to it; doubly ironic because of the extent to which the chords used in this section
overlap so heavily with those of the verse.
The end of the second bridge features a lovely melodic variation. In the first iteration of this
section Paul sustains the high F (on the syllable “day .....”) with one of the strings playing a
descending counter-melody (F-CB- flat-A) against him. In the second bridge, Paul now includes
that subordinate phrase as part of the main line.
Note too the stepwise descending bass line which spans measures 2-3 of each phrase in this
section.
Page 390 of 962
Outro
The outro contains just a single reprise of the final phrase scored as yet another hum job. For
just this last time, the descending chromatic inner line is used to accompany the vocal line minus
the supporting bass line below it.
Some Final Thoughts
The scoring for string quartet and acoustic guitar is truly inspired. By the time this song
appeared, the Beatles had well established their flair for creating stylistic hybrids from
surprisingly diverse elements; yet this one is more than just another crossover.
In this case, there is an ironic tension drawn between the schmaltzy content of what is played
by the quartet and the restrained, spare nature of the medium in which it is played.
The cross-current set off by this effect adds an engaging level of depth to the performance.
But more importantly, it provides an antidote in advance for any possibly perceived surfeit of
sentiment; a key point that has so often been overlooked by those who, with the best of
intentions, seek to cover the song, and thereby “ruin it”, with a backing in the mode of The 101
Strings.
A Couple of Footnotes
François Pachet wrote:
I was very surprised to see that yo do not mention a detail that, as far as I am concerned,
embodies my overall perception of "Yesterday": There is a very strange (and interesting) seventh
(E-flat in the key of F) played by the cello, in the middle of the bridge. I read somewhere that
this was actually an explicit request of McCartney to the arranger (G. Martin?). The
corresponding cello line is awkward, and I would like to hear your opinion about it.
There's virtually no end of the level of detail to which one might go with the style of analysis
used in the Notes. Partly in order to keep my own pace moving, and partly in consideration of the
fact that there are some who likely find the Notes already too long, it's no wonder a salient point
or two worth making sometimes is overlooked. In this case, I thought I actually had made
passing reference to the "ominous intrusion" of that E-flat in the cello part. In any event, though,
let's use the opportunity here to backtrack and add a couple of footNotes to the original post:
As a stylistic hybrid, the use of classical and pop elements figures most heavily in the mix,
but there are other elements as well:
Page 391 of 962
• For example, that E-flat in the cello is the only occurrence in the entire song of the flat
seventh melodic degree and, showing up so late, lends an isolated, even surprising touch of
the blues.
• Similarly, the G-Major chord used in the verse, aside from the cross-relation it creates with
the B-flat chord that follows it, conjures a folksy Dorian modal tone a la "Parsley, etc."
with the d-minor chord that precedes it.
• I'd even go so far as to suggest that the manner in which the melodic note A is pitted
against the ii-of-vi chord at the start of the bridge is somewhat jazzy.
• On an entirely different note, there is a deft moment near the end of the verse where the
harmonic rhythm is uniquely syncopated. This both breaks up what otherwise might have
become the monotonous flowing of the rest of the music and, to the extent that it appears in
every verse as well as the outro, it provides a subtle, non-verbal hook for the piece.
“She'll only reject me in the end and I'll be frustrated.” 020193#75
Page 392 of 962
The Cover Songs Appearing On The Help! and
Beatles VI Albums
The End Of The Line
For us listeners, the use of cover songs by The Beatles as “filler” was wearing out its
welcome by this point, but it was also something on which they thankfully would never have to
rely upon again; with the exception, of course, of their arrangement of the “traditional” “Maggie
Mae” for Let It Be, but that's another story altogether.
The three songs in the current group still do play some role in stylistically rounding out the
collections of which they are a part; it would be an overstatement to describe them as the musical
equivalent of styrofoam peanuts. “Act Naturally” both resonates with, and extends, the gesture
that the group had already made in the direction of folk rock. It also fits perfectly within the
already well established pattern of handing off novelty songs to Ringo. The two Larry Williams
songs provide a double shot of plain old hard rock-and-roll the likes of which the Beatles own
originals on these albums had already grown beyond in sophistication of vocabulary and ethos.
The two Williams numbers had been a part of the pre-Beatles repertoire as early as the period
of '60 - '62.
They then disappeared from it during the major concertizing heydays of '63 - '64, with
“Dizzy Miss Lizzy” resurrected for the '65 season, but “Bad Boy” reappearing only for its use on
the American Beatles VI album. “Act Naturally” appears to have been added to their set list
specifically in ’65.
Page 393 of 962
Act Naturally
Key: G Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Bridge | Verse | Break (intro) |
| Verse | Bridge | Verse |
Composer: Voni Morrison / Johnny Russell
Influential
version: Buck Owens (1963)
US-release: 13th September 1965 (B Single / "Yesterday")
This Rockabilly entry goes much further down the “coontryish” path than any Beatles
original had to-date but it works in context, due in large part to Ringo's unvarnished vocal which
sounds astonishingly similar in treatment to the Buck Owens original.
The music is built on a sturdy and frugal set of chords limited to just I, IV, V, and V-of-V; the
latter held back for strategic deployment at the end of the bridge. The arrangement is
characterized by a recurrent obbligato for the low strings of the guitar (w/low E tuned down to
D!) and the tapping of drumsticks.
Beyond the lead vocal, the Beatles version matches the original in many other respects including
same key, same basic arrangement right down to the tapping, and the backing vocal part for the
bridges.
There are some differences, as well, the most significant of which affects the form: the music
used by the Beatles for Intro/Outro/and Break appears in the original only for the break and even
there it is used in abbreviated form. At the detailed level, the original uses a boogie-like arpeggio
bass line for the bridge while the Beatles stay with the oompah figuration used in the verse. Paul
continues the backing vocal into the final verse whereas the original omits it. And, for those more
or less exclusively acquainted with the Beatles version, the different scanning of the words by
Owens sounds somehow “wrong” at first.
Page 394 of 962
Bad Boy
Key: C Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Verse | Break |
| Verse (with complete ending)
Influential
Recorded: 10th May 1965, Abbey Road 2
UK-release: 9th December 1966 (LP "A Collection Of Beatles Oldies!")
The common wisdom on this as a cover choice by the Beatles is that it was aimed in
particular at The American Audience, as if somehow the humor contained therein might be found
incomprehensible on the other side of the pond. Granted, the amusingly disruptive behavior
described in this song as somehow traceable to an unhealthy preoccupation with rock-and-roll is
admittedly as American as almost any song by the Coasters. But I'm just a tad skeptical that we
could have possibly had some kind of monopoly on this relatively benign strain of juvenile
delinquency.
To be sure, this is compositionally a very typical song of Mr. Williams and it bears some
direct
comparison with his “Slow Down”, also covered by Our Own Sweet Boys on the Long Tall Sally
EP; see the earlier Notes on “Long Tall Sally”. With “Slow Down” we found a bloated, twice-asslow 24-bar variant on the 12-bar blues form. Here in “Bad Boy” the variation is a bit more
interesting: a 20-measure form in which the final, suddenly heavily syncopated phrase reverts to
the strict 4 measures instead of being doubled up to eight.
Note, by the way, how the Break section is a strict 12-bar frame!
The Beatles version features a nice single-tracked vocal by John, equally nice lead guitar
work that mimics the original surprisingly closely by George, and the inevitable rhythmic
shaking of a tambourine. The form matches the original, but as you might expect differences
abound at the detailed level.
The original (by the composer, himself, of course!) sounds as though backed by an ensemble
the size of a small stage band, dominated by the sounds of piano and saxophone. Williams sings
it in the slightly lower key of B-flat, and the vocal arrangement features the relentlessly kitschy,
not to say judgmental, recitation of “he's a bad boy!” between every single line of the lead vocal.
Page 395 of 962
Dizzy Miss Lizzy
Key: A Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Verse | Verse (solo) | Verse |
| Verse (solo) | Verse | Verse (with complete ending)
Influential
Recorded: 10th May 1965, Abbey Road 2
US-release: 14th June 1965 (LP "Beatles VI”)
This Williams song is of the genre in which every single section is in the strict 12-bar format.
Indeed, no Beatles album to this point would be complete without at least one example of this
kind. Here, the distinctive feature is the bluesy lead guitar ostinato figure used as solo material in
the intro and Break and as an obbligato in all the verses.
John is double-tracked throughout this time and seems to be busting out all together with
various “oohs” and “ows” which are not very much in evidence on the original; perhaps he was
getting mixed up between this song and the previous one, the original of which does have the
lead singer thus expostulating. The reverb that seems to have been gratuitously added to the CD
remix of this track is among the more infamous “recording anomalies” of the Beatles annals.
It turns out that the Beatles tamper with the form of the original, adding a second
instrumental break section and a final repeat of the fever" verse.
Though a boogie-woogie piano part figures prominently in both versions, the original again
has more of a stage band sound than the less-is-gutsier sound of the Beatles. Williams performs
yet again in B-flat and he inconsistently sustains the I chord in measure 12 of some of the frames
instead of always shifting to V as the Beatles do.
The lead vocal of the both Williams originals has a restrained and mellifluous quality that
will no likely come as a surprise to those familiar with only the Beatles covers. Alas, the Beatles
of the mid '60s would seem from our politically correct vantage point to have labored under the
unnecessary, even misguided presentiment that it was a virtue for a white singer, in performing
the works of a black artist, to resort to raspy shouting in order to hit the mark. I have to call them
as I see them, and this foible would seem to be as common to Paul's evocations of Richard
Penniman as it was to John's of not only Williams, but also Berry and even Robinson. This is not
to say that such Beatles covers are entirely without either merit or success, but I'd dare say that
on some level they sound a bit more parodistic and less interpretive than intended.
“Have you no natural resources of your own ?” 020892#76
Page 396 of 962
Drive My Car
Key: D Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Refrain | Verse | Refrain
| Verse (solo) | Refrain |
| Verse | Refrain | Outro (fade-out)
US-release: 20th June 1966 (LP "Yesterday ... And Today")
Style and Form
Recorded in mid-October '65, “Drive My Car” bears some uncanny associations with both
sides of a certain “double-A” single of our acquaintance that was coincidentally worked on in the
studio during the same week. To my ears, the rap-like declamation of the lyrics and anti-melody
of “Day Tripper” (not to mention the lubricious “driving” metaphor), and the slow triplets of
“We Can Work It Out” strongly resonate here.
By the same token, “Drive My Car” also has a few unique aspects to it. The form is the flat
one of the folk ballad in which four pairs of verse and refrain are presented in a row with the
only relief coming in the way of a guitar solo for one of the verse sections. The vocal parts are
exceedingly dissonant. And most unusual of all, the particular use of harmony here makes your
clear sense of the home key an extremely elusive proposition much of the time.
In true ballad the refrain lyrics are unvarying while the words of the four verses are all
different. The lyrics, while not quite unique or ground breaking per se, are notably Lennonesque
in the way they weave such a suggestively droll tale from scraps of small talk that are pieced
together so that it's not immediately obvious who said what to whom. I especially like the tag
line, “and maybe I'll love you.” WHADAYAMEAN, maybe!?
Rhythmically, the verses always start after the downbeat, the refrain starts right on the
downbeat, and the “beep-beep” coda starts with a long wind up ahead of the downbeat.
Melody and Harmony
The high level of tonal ambiguity in the song is made ironic by the otherwise frugal harmonic
budget. Chords rooted on only five different root notes chords are used in the whole song: D, G,
A (with also the occasional suggestion of a minor), b, and e. Granted, many of their respective
appearances are spiced up by 7/11 and Major/minor embellishments, but strictly speaking, these
kinds of bluesy/jazzy touches only serve to enliven what remains, at root, a limited chordal
repertoire.
Page 397 of 962
This is one of those cases where a paper-based analysis of the situation can actually mislead
you away from what you hear and respond to when listening in real-time. The opening on a D
chord and the large amount of space given in the song to the chord progression of D -> G -> A
would, on one level, seem to make it appear like and open-and-shut case of the home key being
D Major.
However, the top vocal line with its dissonantly rough-shod, insistent hammering away on
the note 'G' goes a long way toward making the repeated D -> G progression of the verse sound
ambiguously as much like V->I of G than a I->IV of D. This makes for an interesting comparison
with “What You're Doing”, where the identical chord progression contains no such ambiguity;
you never stop for an instant to question the “obvious” identity of 'D' as the home key; the result
of the tune in that case clearly supporting the key of D starting right off in the first measure.
If you want another example of just how easily a melody can change your perception of home
key in the very same chord progression, you actually need look no further than our current song.
As much as I'm arguing that the song creates a plausible optical/aural illusion that the home key
at times might actually be G, I'd be the first one to acknowledge how the melodic emphasis on D
in the guitar solo suddenly for the first time in the song allows you to possibly entertain that D>G chord progression as I-IV!
In the terminology of high school physics (I warn you, my erstwhile music theory students
used to tease me mercilessly as the Master of Analogy) you might describe the home key of
“Drive My Car” as having a perilously high, and thereby inherently unstable, center of gravity.
Arrangement
Vocally, Paul and John opt for one of their favorite deluxe positions here: McCartney,
shouting on top, and Lennon, muffled below. In addition to the G pedal already mentioned,
Paul's part is shot through with flat-7 F naturals, while John gets to sing lots of 4-3 appoggiaturas
over the G chord. George joins along with the Two Of Them for the “beep-beeps.”
The bass guitar work contains an exceptional amount of motivic working out. Paul
consistently embellishes the root notes of the chords with a 3-5-3-1 triadic figure which freeassociates with the top melody of the refrain.
The lead guitar appears in the intro, solo, and outro with an intensity that practically upstages
the lead vocal for both lyricism and dissonance. You can also pick up a whiff of the lead guitar
during the last verse but I believe what you're hearing there is the vestigial bleed through of an
earlier run-through or overdub.
The percussion section weighs in with parts for tambourine and cowbell whose interplay with
the regular drum kit is more intricate than you'd ever perceive on more than a subliminal level;
unless you care to zone-in on it per se. The use of sizzling cymbal crashes to punctuate several
nodal points of the song is also nicely euphoric.
The (electric) piano's triplets are simultaneously both more and less disruptive than the same
gesture in “We Can Work It Out”; less because in this song we have part of the ensemble still
marking the ongoing 4/4 meter; and more, ironically for the same reason – the continuation of
the 4/4 backbeat kind of rubs your nose in the rhythmic dissonance created by those slow triplets.
Page 398 of 962
Intro
This intro has to rank as two measures-worth of the Beatles most rhythmically disorienting
music ever. It starts with an eighth note pickup before the downbeat but the melodic contour of
the syncopated guitar part combined with the offbeat entrance of the bass guitar make it virtually
impossible for you to find the meter. For the record, it looks like this, but don't ever forget that it
was designed on purpose to keep you from ever groking it without extreme effort:
[Figure 77.1]
Several details drive you crazy when you try to aurally parse the above:
• The first note of the guitar sounds like it's on the downbeat.
• The bass line and guitar syncopation ties over the downbeat to the second measure.
• Ironically, the bent high note of the lead guitar in the first measure, as well as the last three
notes of the second measure along with the drum fill all fall ON the beat but you've been
sufficiently thrown off the trail by that point.
• It becomes clearer if you prepare with the exercise of, without listening to the recording,
drilling the correct rhythm of the guitar part into your head, with particular attention to the
second measure's “and-TWO-THREE-FOUR.”
• The harmonic envelope for this intro is a D Major chord. Whether it is to be understood as
the I of D or the V of G is ambiguous at this stage of the song. In any event, the use of C
and F naturals in the lead guitar line are meant to sound bluesy.
Verse
The verse is eight measures long and features four highly syncopated short phrases equal in
length:
Page 399 of 962
------ 3X ------|D
|G
|a
D: I
IV
ii
|G:
[Figure 77.2]
D
I
V
|
Even though the D chord has been the only harmonic event of the intro, it winds up sounding
in retrospect during this verse as much like the V of G than the I of D, largely the result of Paul's
melodic emphasis on the pitch G.
Ask yourself as you listen, which of the two chords you hear as the one of the home key. The
harmonic shape of this section is closed, at least “on paper,” if you say the home key is D. The
final chord, though, sounds like a possible pivot modulation to the key of G for the start of the
refrain.
The chord I've labeled as “a minor” in the 7th measure has such a prominently dissonant F
natural in the vocal part that it's hard to tell if their is actually a E natural buried somewhere in
the mix. The F natural is hammeringly sustained in the tune all the way through the following
chord where is makes for a Major/minor dissonance with the D chord.
The ongoing steady motor-rhythm of the drum part is nicely interrupted for a bit of rhythmic
by-play with the melody line in the final two measures each verse section, including the one with
the guitar solo.
The guitar solo follows the phrasing model provided by the sung verses. The final two
measures, with their voice-like slides, are reminiscent of the intro, and they provide a kind of
compact summary of the song's overall profile of dissonance.
Refrain
The refrain is also eight measures and it follows the same AAAB phrasing pattern seen in the
verse; note too how both sections are left harmonically wide open:
------ 2X ------|b
|G
|
G: iii
I
|b
iii
|e
vi
D: ii
A
|D
V
I
G
IV
|A
|
V
[Figure 77.3]
The target of the modulation to G setup at the end of the verse is deceptively deferred until
the second measure of the refrain. Before the key of G is ever allowed to formally establish
itself, the music pivots right back to the original home key, ending a fat V chord that nicely
motivates the next verse. You tend to associate this type of tonal mobility more with bridge
sections than refrains.
The level of melodic dissonance heard earlier is continued here, up to and including: the
gratuitous 7ths on the b and G chords, an F natural over the e chord, and (just as in the verse) the
Major/minor conflict of F natural in the melody with the F# in the D chord.
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The refrains that are followed by the guitar solo and outro are trailed by the little beep-beep
codetta which contains yet another Major/minor clash, this time on the A chord. The use here of
falsetto singing and onomatopoeia words, both Beatles trademark/cliches is notable.
Outro
The outro consists of the beep-beep motif iterated five full times into the fadeout like a posthypnotic suggestion, embellished this time by drum fills, cymbal crashes, and lead guitar licks.
The harmony of this section is entirely D->G->A and sounds very much as though the home key
were now, indeed, D Major.
Some Final Thoughts
“Drive My Car” is one of the Beatles harder-rocking bluesy numbers, ranking way up there
with the perhaps more celebrated “A Hard Day's Night” and “Ticket To Ride” for its hyper-thrust
and equally sharp edge. Given the extent to which the early-to-mid-career legendary fame of the
group was founded on their success as a rock group (yeah, yeah, yeah), it's somewhat ironically
surprising in retrospect to contemplate just how relatively small a portion of their total output
consists of songs quite as red hot as this one.
“He blew his mind out in a car.” 022401#77.1
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Norwegian Wood
Key: E Major
Meter: 3/4 (6/8)
Form: Verse (instrumental intro) | Verse | Bridge |
| Verse | Verse (instrumental solo) | Bridge |
Recorded: 12th, 21st October 1965, Abbey Road 2
Style and Form
This understated and characteristically oblique song of John's is also admirably economical
in terms of both form and content, with everything but the bridges being derived from the same
hook motif. In lesser hands, the large amount of unvaried repetition and static harmony of this
piece might have resulted in a moribund, boring mess. The Beatles leverage it all in favor of and
unity and focus. It is also another one of the very few Beatles songs in a ternary meter; this time,
most lilting and very un-waltz-like.
The much commented-upon use of a sitar was surely ground breaking enough at the time per
se. What I am particularly struck by, given the novelty-numbing distance of time, is the extent to
which the psychedelic buzzing of that exotic instrument is so uncannily complemented here by
the high level of percussive noise achieved by using a hard pick on the otherwise standard 12string guitar.
Melody and Harmony
The extent to which they must have known in their souls that they had an especially fine
hook going for them in this song is likely borne out by the way in which it is used repeatedly
throughout to almost hypnotic effect. This so-called hook would, indeed, make a for a lovely and
sophisticated textbook example of one of the archetypal melodic paradigms; i.e. the prevailing
downward spiral, as distinct from the arch:
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The melodic contour of the above essentially lays out an octave descent with a mix of linear
and disjunct motion.
The initially simple gesture of a downward scale that turns around its upper neighbor tone is
further developed twice-over by a pattern in which the overall downward progression is marked
by a two-jumps-down/one-jump-up kind of subfigure in which the jumps are increasingly wider.
The modal use of the melodic flat 7th (D natural) adds some additional spice.
The hook phrase stretches out leisurely over eight measures that are bound to an “harmonic
envelope” on the I chord (E). We could likely argue all night about whether or not one hears
equally implicit chord changes during this hook, but we've got better things to do all night than
that, right, buddy? In any event, this drone-like element in the harmony combines with the sound
of the Indian sitar to create a stylistic sound which, if you stop to think about it, anticipates here
in “a John song” what would soon become very much a specifically Harrisonian trademark.
The bridge strays briefly into the parallel minor (shades of “I'll Be Back” and other earlier
Beatles tunes) and provides some welcome harmonic movement, but interestingly, the melodic
gesture of those otherwise contrasting sections still remains prevailingly downward.
Arrangement
The instrumental backing is acoustic in flavor, and, quite typically for the Beatles, is worked
out to a finer level of detail than at first meets the eye or ear. Examples of this are the staggered
opening; the way in which melodic-versus-rhythmic interest is traded back and forth between
guitar and sitar even to the point where they double each other in several places; a tamboura-like
buzzing drone sound from the sitar that kicks in during the verse following the first bridge; and
the clinking of finger cymbals which starts in the second bridge and follows through the final
verse and the coda.
John sings the wry lead vocal fully exposed in single track with Paul taking the top part for
the bridges, which although it is actually the melodic line of that section, is ironically mixed
back.
Intro
The intro is sixteen measures long and consists of a verse-like two-fold presentation of the
hook phrase; the first, for solo acoustic guitar followed by the entrance of the sitar (which then
carries the melody) and bass guitar.
Verse
All the verses follow the pattern set up in the intro with John carrying the tune, the guitar
stepping back into a role of rhythmic support, and the sitar occasionally providing a mockingbird
reprise of the hook's ending as a rejoinder (e.g. verse #1 and the first half of the final verse).
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Bridge
The bridge is also sixteen measures long and though we finally feel the release of some
harmonic movement, the slowness of the harmonic rhythm helps maintain the measured mood
established earlier:
|e
i
|-
|-
|-
|A
IV
|-
|-
|-
|
|e
i
|-
|-
|-
|f#
ii
|-
|B
V
|-
|
[Figure 78.2]
The use of the Major IV chord in context of a minor key lends an antique, modal touch that
resonates with the melodic flat 7th used in the verse hook. In context of the Beatles we're much
more used to seeing the reverse trick of the minor iv chord in a Major key. In fact, the only other
time we have seen this Major IV/minor key gambit used in a Beatles song was way back in
George's “Don't Bother Me.”
Outro
The outro provides one repeat of the hook. Two repeats would have been more consistent
with the established pattern of the rest of the song, but specifically breaking the rule at this point
is what good art and composition are all about.
Some Final Thoughts
The preliminary though fully worked-out Take 1 version of this song has been widely
available on Beatlegs ever since Ultra Rare Trax, volume 3, appeared on vinyl. It makes for a
number of provoking comparisons with the official version (mixed down from Take 4):
• Take 1 was apparently performed in the lower key of D, though in light of the recent debate
in this newsgroup regarding the speed of the Decca tapes, I'll have to grant that this
observation may be an artifact of an off-speed bootleg copy. Still, I think John sounds
vocally out of breath on the low notes in this outtake, hence the motivation for transposing
the song upward.
• The arrangement of Take 1 is not only different per se from the official version, but is in
many respects more fussily detailed than it, perhaps too much so:
• The tempo may be close in speed but the whole feel of the beat is more lumberingly
deliberate, even a bit mechanical.
• The solo section in the middle contains only one iteration of the hook phrase.
• John double tracks the end of every phrase in every verse.
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• The phrases “biding my time/drinking her wine” are reversed.
• The sitar playing is rather clunky sounding but it holds all the instrumentally melodic
interest, relegating the guitar to a role of entirely rhythmic support.
• The sitar provides a mockingbird rejoinder in the bridges instead of the verses, and it also
throws in a corny “that's all folks” little riff at the very end.
• Finger cymbals are used throughout, with maracas and a tambourine added for the bridge.
Lewisohn seems to judge the official remake as the “heavier” of the two treatments, but I'd
be happy to argue him back the opposite way. While some of the differences in the later version
(all of 1 week on the calendar!) may be explained by their simply having the song that much
better under their fingers, I dare say the more substantive changes may be traceable to a betterjudgment consideration of the aesthetic principle that “less (not to mention a lighter, faster touch)
is more.”
“I showed ya!” 031893#78
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Nowhere Man
Key: E Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Verse | Verse | Bridge |
| Verse (guitar solo) |
| Verse | Bridge |
| Verse | Bridge |
CD: "Yellow Submarine Songtrack", Track 14 (EMI 5 21481-2)
Recorded: 21st, 22nd October 1965, Abbey Road 2
US-release: 21st February 1966 (A Single / "What Goes On")
Style and Form
“Nowhere Man” remains a pioneering landmark example of what, within less than a year or
so of its release, would be labeled as the “folk rock” sub-genre. Aside from the topical relevance
of its lyrical theme, and in spite of the electric arrangement and pop-ish choice of chords, an
ingenuously simple tune and non- syncopated beat help create a subtle fusion of styles.
The form of this song is unusually long with its three bridges and a double verse in between
the first two of them. In all our studies to date I don't believe we've yet seen another example
with a third repeat of the bridge.
Melody and Harmony
Superficially, the melodic material of the song is straight away in the Major mode. However,
one's interest in the tune is piqued on a more subtle level by a combination of the large number
of appoggiaturas, the pseudo pentatonic nature of the bridge, and the prominent role given to the
flat 6th scale degree (C natural) in the backing vocals.
The flat 6th also bears some influence on the harmony, forcing, as it were, the appearance of
one of John’s much favored minor iv chords in the context of a Major key.
A relatively small number of chords are used throughout, most of them being simple choices
to boot. Aside from the minor iv chord already mentioned, the other point of harmonic interest
here is found in the unusual iii ->IV progression; uncannily, the last time we had seen it used was
in (no coincidence) a song by the same composer called “I Feel Fine.” (And I do).
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Arrangement
The instrumental texture is thick with the sound of electric guitars in a way that is rather
anticipatory if not actually influenced by The Byrds or even The Wilburys. Paul provides an
almost hyperactively arpeggiated marching bass line. And Ringo's drum work remains
uncharacteristically undifferentiated throughout.
It is the vocals however which truly stand out in this arrangement, making it one of their
more ambitious though relatively uncelebrated forays into three-part singing. The a cappella
opening itself is unprecedented, (though I wonder if I'm the only one who finds that when
instruments come in at the fifth measure the singers sound retrospectively as though they had
been slightly off key).
Also note how the chorale-like style of the verses is modified in the bridges to a solo-plustwo-backers doing-“ la-las” (reminiscent of “You Won't See Me”). In the current song, this
switch nicely supports the change in the lyrics at the point from speaking in the third person to a
direct address of the title's typological anti-hero.
Verse
The verse is only eight measures long and is made up of three phrases, the last one of which
is equal in length to the sum of the first two:
------ #1 ----- ------ #2 -----|E
|B
|A
|E
|
E: I
V
IV
I
------------- #3 -------------|A
|a
|E
||
IV
iv
I
[Figure 79.1]
The melody of this verse makes for an ironic contrast with the hook phrase of “Norwegian
Wood” that we looked at so closely last time. Although both tunes share the downward traversal
of an octave as their common backbone, the manner in which the octave is filled out here is both
melodically and rhythmically much plainer than the other song; even a bit simpleminded by
comparison. Also worth considering is that the octave run in “Norwegian Wood” is based on the
5th scale degree whereas in our current song it is based on the tonic 1st degree of the scale.
I would suggest that it is this certain blandness in the tune itself which allows our hookthirsty attention to be diverted to the little guitar riff which trails every verse section. This riff
also happens to traverse a downward octave (one based on the 5th scale degree) and its rhythmic
syncopation and fanfare like arpeggiation nicely contrasts with the tune and at the same time
resonates with the bass line.
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The guitar solo verse further develops the characteristics of this little riff and concludes with
a surprising gesture in which a sudden deep descent all the way down to the low, open E string is
capped off by a ringing, harmonic high E.
Because of the F# in the melody on the downbeat of measure 5, there is a part of me that
might want to parse the chord in that measure as a ii6/5 instead of IV with an added 6th. It's moot
to the extent that both such chords function synonymously as subdominants.
Bridge
The bridge is also eight measures in length and breaks down into a phrasing pattern similar to
the verse, except that the first two short phrases here are identical, and even the longer third
phrase is merely an extension of the material heard in the first two:
[Figure 79.2]
Appropriate bridge-like contrast is provided by a number of factors. The melodic shape of
this section is arch-like for a change, and harmonically, the start of this section away from I with
a big finish on V that sets up the verse which follows.
The sustaining of the A chord through measure 7 provides a subtly slow syncopation to the
harmonic rhythm.
To my ears, the bass line of the first bridge is played differently than the other two, creating
some confusion as to whether the chord in measures 6 - 7 is actually A or f#, but both other
bridges make a clear case for A.
A comparatively large amount of dissonance between melody and chords is created in this
bridge by a tendency in the tune to dwell on melodic notes which more properly belong to the
chord that either precedes or follows the current one. This melodic effect is so pronounced that it
combines with the already mentioned syncopation in the harmonic rhythm to create the illusion
of a dissonant 4-3 suspension in the backing voices at the end of this section, whereas no such
suspension actually exists!
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Outro
The outro contains a Beatles-trademark triple repeat of the verse's final phrase. The guitar
hook, as might be expected, is given the absolutely last word. Paul vocally upstages the others in
this coda, crying out loudly with the melodic flat 6th placed high in his range.
Some Final Thoughts
Even if the lyrics here aren't quite the likes of Dylan (or even Barry McGuire), it's worth
recalling, at the risk of sounding like it's a case of damning with faint praise, that the mere fact of
The Beatles essaying something this outspoken at this juncture of their career was historically
remarkable.
For myself, there is a slightly uncomfortable preachiness about these lyrics that one tends to
associate more with George than John. Even one of the more clever tag lines – “isn't he a bit like
you and me” – which in theory ought to have blunted some of the exhortatory tone with it's wellneeded dose of self-inclusive deprecation, still strikes me as a bit forced and awkward.
The title epithet, though, is, no question, still unabashedly worth the entire price of
admission. If necessary, you can give it to me, straight on the shoulder; or anywhere else for that
matter.
I Should've Known Better
I wrote: "Nowhere Man" remains a pioneering landmark example of what, within less
than a year or so of its release, would be labeled as the "folk rock" sub-genre." Whoops! I
should've known better ... I've already received a couple of letters in response pointing out that
I've been discovered with my chronological pants down, so to speak.
Dylan's electric-set-induced fiasco at the Newport Folk Festival, indeed, was during the
summer of 1965. I'm doubly embarrassed to admit that I was one of his early fans that was rather
disappointed in him at the time; oy! Such phenomena as the cover of his "Mr. Tambourine Man"
by the Byrds were to follow very shortly if they did not acutely appear in parallel with the release
of Bringing It All Back Home. Therefore, in truth I should alter the stance of my Note to
acknowledge that while "Nowhere Man" remains an unusual stylistic venture for the Beatles per
se, by itself it did not so much define the folk rock style of its time as much as stylize it.
Page 409 of 962
Think For Yourself
Key: G Major/minor
Meter: 4/4
| Verse | Refrain | Refrain |
| Outro (Refrain + Petit Reprise with complete ending)
Style and Form
This song is extremely ambitious in its chord choices and progressions, as well as the
rhythmic antiphonal counterpoint between its main vocal thread and supporting bass line. At the
same time, its bluesy melodic motifs and flat, folksy formal outline make it a curious stylistic
hybrid.
Melody and Harmony
Though one can make a decent argument for the song's being ultimately in the key of G
Major on the basis of predominant evidence, there is an exceeding amount of exposure given in
it to the parallel minor mode of g. The latter is manifest in the frequent use of the bluesy bimodal I chord (G with a B natural in an inner voice and B flat in the melody) and a number of
chords that properly belong only to g minor, not G Major; e.g. – the minor v (d minor), flat-III
(B-flat), and flat-VI (E-flat).
Earlier we've seen both John and Paul play around with parallel Major/minor gambits for
effect; most notably in “Things We Said Today” and “I'll Be Back.” The game plan in both their
cases, though, was to shift between the modes as a matter of contrast. George's usage here is to
rather freely blend the Major and minor modes, creating a dissonant and unsettling (though not
unpleasant) result that is neither quite really Major nor minor; an effect which, in retrospect, is
uncannily resonant with the attitude and mood of the lyrics.
Beyond mere chord choices the progressions here, as well, demand our attention, especially
in the verse. In context of a pop/rock music genre in which the average song verse begins on I (or
else begins on something like V and then moves quickly towards I), the opening progression of
this song's verse is unusually indirect, and restlessly wandering. Again, while we've seen plenty
of Lennon and McCartney songs with openings away from the I chord, George here carries the
idea to a novel extreme.
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The melody is has a “Day Tripper”-like rhetorical rhythm about it, and is shot through with
flat 3rds, flat 7ths, and appoggiaturas, all of which add a level of spice to the underlying
harmonies. This full set of melodic characteristics is captured within the tag line of the refrain
and refracted into a myriad of variations in the syncopated fills of the fuzz tone:
|think for
your-self
'cause|I won't be there with|you ----|G
B-flat G
B-flat G
|F D
D F
G
|B-flat G
[Figure 80.1]
Arrangement
The instrumental arrangement is most vividly characterized by the sound of a so-called fuzz
tone bass on the right stereo track (R) which, truth be told, does not carry the true bass part of the
song, but rather selectively doubles the more conventional electric bass part one octave above.
The subtle pattern of by-play between tambourine and maracas is modified back and forth
between verse and refrain in a way that by this point of their career was a veritable Beatles
trademark if not cliche. If you take the effort focus in on this track in your listening you'll note an
exquisite effect resulting from the way in which they go on their merry four-in-the-bar way in
blissfully independent rhythmic dissonance against the slow triplets played out by the rest of the
arrangement.
George sings the lead vocal (automatically?) double-tracked throughout with each of the
tracks isolated to one of the two respective stereo channels – check this out! In the verses he's
joined by Paul and John for three-part harmony in block chords on the even-numbered lines of
the quatrain. In the refrain he gets to sing solo on only the first line, being joined by Paul (who is
mixed very far back) singing rather free counterpoint for the remainder of the section.
Intro
At first blush the intro seems like an almost inconsequential two measures worth of vamping
on the I chord, but it does manage to quickly introduce a number of overall characteristics of the
song: the fuzz tone texture, the indeterminate Major/minor gender of the home key (the fuzz tone
includes a B-flat in its riff but the underlying backing sounds Major), and the slow triplets:
[Figure 80.2]
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The chromatic upshifting here from G to 'a' turns out retrospectively to anticipate what is the
end of the refrain which loops always like a Moebius strip into the next verse.
Those slow triplets which more typically connote repetitive emphasis (think about the
penultimate refrain in Buddy Holly's “That'll Be The Day” – one of the UR slow triplets in all
pop music) here tend to suggest a bit of emotionally overwrought stumbling; if not quite right off
the bat in the intro, then certainly so by the time they recur in both verse and refrain.
Verse
The verse is twelve measures long but unusually built out of two parallel phrases of six
measures each:
G:
|a
ii
|d
v
|B-flat
flat-III
|C
IV
|G
I
|-
|
|a
ii
|d
v
|B-flat
flat-III
|C
IV
|G
V
|a
ii
|
[Figure 80.3]
The establishment of the home key is delayed and roundabout. By the end of the first phrase
that you finally do have a sense of arrival in G Major but until much before then it's a little like
drifting (perhaps “thrashing” is more apropos) all over the map. The only harmonic difference in
the second phrase happens in the last measure but it seriously erodes whatever harmonic
“gratification” you may have experienced with the arrival on I this second time around. The juicy
appoggiaturas in this verse are the 6-5 (B->A) over the d minor chord in measures 2 & 8, the 4-3
(C->B) on the G Major chord in measures 5 & 11, and the 9-8 (B->A) on the a minor chord in
measure 12.
Key your ears on the inter-relationship among the bass line, the chords and the tune. A
favorite detail: the bass line's slow triplet in the second half of measure 2 comprises a downward
scale fragment (E->D->C->B-flat) that uncannily resonates with the similar downward scale
fragment in the tune from measure 1. And a detail within a detail: the bass line in that same
measure launches its scale fragment with a 9-8 appoggiatura just at the precise moment that the
tune resolves its own 6-5 leaning tone, forcing the measure to continue its dissonant ways just as
the tune would seem to have finally resolved itself:
Words:
Tune:
Chords:
Bass:
|word or two ...
|B
A A
|d-minor
|D
E D C
-triplet-
|
|
|
|B-flat
[Figure 80.4]
Page 412 of 962
Refrain
The refrain is eight measures in length, and though it harmonically parses into two fourmeasure phrases, the tune parses it into three phrases all of which are roughly parallel (compare
with the bridge of “Nowhere Man” where a similar melodic plan is more directly supported by
the harmony):
|"Do ... ... and|Go ...
|Think
|Phrase #1 ---- |Phrase #2 ---- |Phrase #3 -------------------- |
|C
||G
||E-flat |D
|G
||
IV
I
flat-VI V
I
[Figure 80.5]
The formal “seam” at either end of this refrain is rather smoothed over by the way in which
the music flows into and out of the section. More specifically, you'll note how the same game
plan seen in the verses, of interjectory vocal phrases traded off against syncopated bass licks
(many of which contain slow triplets), is continued right through here.
A not unreasonable amount of bridge-like contrast still does manage to assert itself, partly in
the arrangement, but even more so in the harmony. The harmonic rhythm of this section is
noticeably slower here than in the verse, the minor mode is also more strongly felt here than
earlier on. While I believe the backing parts are playing G Major chords underneath it all, the
tune in this section gives unrelieved stress to B-flat. In fact I believe the G chords in this section
should be labeled as Major/minor.
The E-flat chord in measure 6 of this section is in the so-called second inversion ('aka' the 6/4
position); a rare occurrence in context of the Beatles output. Here, it shows up as an artifact of
Paul's dramatic bass line flourish in measure 4 which starts on G, jumps up a third to B flat and
then successively hops its way down a full octave below.
Outro
The structure of this outro is an extended variation on the Beatles much favored gambit of
using a three-time repeat to signal that It's Getting Very Near The End. In this case we have two
iterations of the complete refrain followed by a petit-reprise of the last phrase in which the
harmony is modified for the sake of making a better final cadence as well as to give to a fuzz
tone riff the very last word:
|E-flat |D
flat-VI V
|C
IV
|G
I
||
[Figure 80.6]
Methinks Paul makes a bass line mistake right at the start of the second full iteration of the
refrain; but I'll bet he figured if he kept going that no one would ever notice it.
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Some Final Thoughts
Talk about your preachy attitude..., this song is surely the one in which Georgie really hits his
stride. And it’s uncanny that on the British (and theoretically canonical) lineup of Rubber Soul it
should follow on the heels of “Nowhere Man.” I myself am somewhat divided in my feeling of
whether such a sequencing actually helps or hurts our song. Your own mileage may vary, but
think about how differently you react to this song when it follows “You Won't See Me”.
On a much more serious note, I wonder about the extent to which our song here supports the
notion that George's oft-stated inner conflict between his own identity and that of his Beatles
persona is nowhere more apparent than in his own music of this period. Indeed, for all of the
unmistakable Harrisonian fingerprints one finds imprinted all over “Think For Yourself” (the
restless and pungent harmonies in particular), the influence of Lennon and McCartney (as seen in
certain cliches of the arrangement ) is equally hard to miss.
Ironically one might argue that whatever personal conflict may have been engendered by this
stylistic cross blend it is ultimately a source of aesthetic strength and success. The metaphorical
vision comes to mind of George, ever the quiet one, observing from the sidelines his more
prolific mates at work; biding his time, drinking their wine, in fact, and in the meanwhile, quite
subtly and unavoidably making it his own in some measure just the same.
“You ought to stop being so scornful.” 042593#80
Page 414 of 962
The Word
Key: D Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Bridge | Verse | Bridge
| Verse | Bridge (instrumental) |
| Verse (partly instrumental) |
| Outro (Bridge) (fade-out)
Style and Form
“The Word” quite intriguingly (if also a bit obviously) anticipates the later and more
ambitious “All You Need Is Love”, and we'll have what to say about that in the final comments.
However, as impressively dressed up as it is in virtuostically raucous production values, you
can't fully disguise the extent to which it is based at root on very simple musical material; a kind
of Middle Period analog to “Little Child”.
The comparison to “Little Child” , by the way, turns out to be more apt than you'd think at
first blush—no snickering back there. If nothing else the two songs share a nod to the pure 12bar blues form and a correspondingly shouting R&B vocal style. Even more interesting though is
the extent to which, in both songs, one has a hard time deciding what kind of labels (chosen from
the routine list of verse, bridge, or refrain) to place upon each of the formal sections.
There are a few relatively unique formal touches here as well: a) what I've been referring to
lately as the “flat folksy” form (with its rote sequencing of sectional pairs), b) dissonant
deployment of a static ostinato in the bridge, c) holding back of the instrumental break until quite
late in the song, and d) allowing that break to spill over into the verse section which follows it.
Melody and Harmony
In this department the song bears a rather typical split personality. The verses are truly blue
with their I-IV-V chord set, 12-bar form, and the melodic stress on the flat 3rd (F natural) which
creates a Major/minor conflict against the harmony. The bridges, for purposes of contrast, shift to
a more modal style in which, though the melody stays with the bluesy emphasis on the flat 3rd
and 7th scale degrees, the harmony sneaks the rock-ish flat-VII chord into the lineup.
We've seen the Beatles use the flat-VII chord in several different ways in our past studies but
I don't think we've yet seen to-date the specific semantic use found in this song. Here it is used as
though it were the “V of flat-III” which is only unusual to the extent that the home key here is
Page 415 of 962
Major. If you stop to think about it, the same progression (C -> F) is very much at home in the
parallel minor key of d!
Arrangement
For study's sake, you must listen at least once to the left and right channels of this song by
themselves. No OOPsing is needed this type to forge your own pseudo-Beatleg outtakes.
I've often heard people complain about the artificiality of the stereo effects on the Rubber
Soul album but I dare say that in this song (and least “Think For Yourself” and possibly others
we'll yet come to) these effects reflect a striving to creatively exploit the medium and are, on
some MacLuhan-esque level, a part of the song’s message.
Paul's bass line is arranged in a layered way. The riff-like version of it on the right channel
has only its syncopated accents reinforced by a second simpler bass part on the left channel.
History of Orchestration buffs will recognize this kind of thing as a stock-in-trade technique of
the late Romantic composers – check out the opening pages of Mahler's 2nd Symphony for a
nifty example) – and I believe it is even in such small details of this sort that one witnesses the
guiding hand of George Martin.
John and Paul sing a raunchy (in the nice sense of the word) duet for the verses. As in “Think
For Yourself”, these verse vocals sound as though (artificially?) double tracked with each one of
the two tracks isolated to a separate stereo channel. This effect, combined with John's hoarse
single-tracked bridge vocal that is isolated off to the right channel for a change, plus the
harmonium solo miked loud enough to the point of distortion, gives the recording a surreal if not
psychedelic stereo picture that you can feel in your head even without listening via earphones.
On the performance (as opposed to the strictly recording) side of the production we find
some of the nicest drum fills this side of “She Said She Said”, possibly the first piano parts this
side of the Help! album, a dissonant use of the harmonium faintly reminiscent of “12 Bar
Original” (recorded just the week before!), and a linear trend over the course of the song for the
vocals to increase in terms of falsetto and feigned hoarse screaming.
As I said, the overall material may be simple here but by this stage of their career, it seems
clear that no matter what kind of hurry they may have been in at times (in this case, racing to
complete an album so that it
could be in the stores in time for the all important Xmas rush) they had an autonomically
embedded commitment
to a certain pretty damned high level of craft and intensity.
Intro
We get two measures of vamping on the Major/minor I chord, preceded by a two-beat piano
pickup.
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Verse
The verse is a standard 12-bar blues frame:
(X)"Say the|word ...
|D
I
|-
(X) Say the|word ...
|G
IV
|-
(Y)
(X)Say the|word ...
|(X)Have you|heard ...
|D
I
It's|so fine ...
(X)It's the|word ...
|A
|G
|D
V
IV
I
|-
|
|-
|
|-
|
[Figure 81.1]
The tune is built out of short repetitive phrases in a pattern of XX-XX-YX. The 'X' phrase
runs up and back down a little 123-321 pattern, and even the 'Y' phrase syncopatedly reiterates
the same downward gesture in the form of 32-21. The same recurring lyrics in the last four
measures of each verse lend the section a refrain- like quality.
The V->IV segment of the frame (mm. 9 - 10) is underscored by juicy appoggiaturas and an
arpeggiated bass line.
Bridge
The bridge is a short four measures and provides a break from the 12-bar pattern:
|D
I
|C
|F
flat-VII
flat-III
(V-of-flat-III)
|G
IV
|
[Figure 81.2]
In addition to the implicit change of mode already discussed, the arch shape of the melody in
this section, shadowing in some respect the contour of the bass line, enhances the sense of
bridgely contrast.
A four-in-the-bar ostinato pattern of D-C-A-C, underscored by a fuzz tone guitar, pervades
every measure of this section. Note how the consonant versus dissonant status of each note of the
ostinato changes with respect to each chord in the series. Over the D chord, the C natural creates
a freely dissonant (non-functional) 7th chord.
Over the C chord we start off with a nice 9-8 appoggiatura but are left with an implied added
6th. The F chord provides the most consonant support with the first two ostinato notes making a
6-5 appoggiatura. In contrast, the G chord makes for the most dissonant basis – with the first
ostinato note a member of the chord but the other two notes making for a freely dissonant 9/11
chord.
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To the extent that you can talk yourself into hearing what I've called the verse as a refrain,
you may find yourself starting to perceive what I'm here calling the bridge as the actual verse.
Outro
The form of the song's back end (starting with the instrumental bridge) is deceptively simple.
The harmonium “solo” (actually a single chord sustained to the point of pleasure pain) is
extended into the first two measures of the following 12-bar verse, obscuring the formal division
that occurs there. When the voices then enter in what is
actually now measure 3 of the next section it strikes you at first as though it were the first
measure of a new kind of section, neither verse nor bridge; but parse it out – it is measure 3 of
the next verse!
The remaining 10 measures of this last 12-bar frame are based on material similar to that of
the other verses but the phrase lengths and pattern are a bit different, along the lines of an XXXY pattern in which the ubiquitous title phrase is declaimed with the insistence of a categorical
imperative:
harmonium ------- (X)"Say|the word ...
|D
|||I
(X) Say the|word ...
|G
IV
|-
(X)Say the|word ...
|D
I
(Y) Say the|word -------------------- lo-ove
|A
|G
|D
V
IV
I
|
|-
|
|-
|
[Figure 81.3]
The unusually rapid fadeout occurs as the ensemble moves on to a repetition of the
instrumental bridge. In context of the flat cyclical form, rave-up style, repetitious lyrics and their
various associations with the likes of “12 Bar Original” and even the much later “Dig It”, the
ending here is suggestive of a jam-like session that could go on all night (“if it weren't so hard on
my suspenders,” speaking of Marx and Lennon).
The final four measure phrase diagrammed above is the one place in the song where the
vocal parts can be identified as clearly not automatically double tracked. While the right channel
presents the descending chromatic line with which we're all familiar as the predominant part, the
voices on the left channel sustain the same notes for two measures, not unlike the earlier
harmonium part.
Some Final Thoughts
Far beyond the direct parallels with “All You Need Is Love”, the lyrics of this song
foreshadow to an unexpected and astonishing degree John's eventual emergence as someone
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attempting through his art, with an almost messianic zeal that inspired many while it made some
others equally uncomfortable, to suggest, if not outright instigate, a better world order.
“In the beginning I misunderstood”, we are told, but based on the assertions that now “I've
got it”, and “I’m here to show everybody the light” we are promised that if only you will do this
mysteriously simple thing (“say/spread the word”) then magically “you'll be free” and even
better, “be like me.” And if you're at all in doubt, then by all means at least do “give the word a
chance.” Indeed, not just the ideas, but some of the very turns of phrase expressed here resonate
with later efforts of John's.
Moving from the sublime to the ridiculous, “The Word” also contains the subliminal message
that you can learn from books (both the good and bad ones). But, of course, serious fans of The
Film will immediately recognize that this one idea is the result of Ringo, me lad's, influence.
“They can't buy you happiness, my son.” 050493#81
Page 419 of 962
Michele
Key: F minor/Major
Meter: 4/4
| Verse (instrumental) | Bridge | Verse |
| Outro (Bridge + Verse (instrumental)) (fade-out)
Recorded: 3rd November 1965, Abbey Road 2
Style and Form
Encouraged as he must have been by the raging success of “Yesterday”, Paul provides us in
“Michelle” with yet another tender, plaintive ballad; this one in equal part Art Song and neoschmaltzy foxtrot. The affinities between these two songs are both deep and numerous, as we'll
see. At the same time “Michelle” surprisingly bears some comparison with the likes of George's
“Think For Yourself”. And while the notion of direct influence in this case may be debatable, the
technical parallels between the two (the shifty handling of the Major/minor modes, a jumpy
melody, and equally prowling harmonies) are ironical and instructive.
The form is on the generous side. Granted, the verses are very short, but the lengthy bridge is
repeated three full times, and its second half shows up as both the intro and first part of the outro.
Melody and Harmony
The parallels between “Michelle” and “Yesterday” start right off with the choice of home
key, not to mention the single-word title. The only other Beatles original in their official
songbook up to this point in time that's in the key of F other than these two is, “Hold Me Tight.”
The only cover in this key is (surprise!), “Till There Was You.”
Does something tell you that Paul's the common denominator here?
Each verse starts off with an F Major chord but for all intents and purposes the song's center
of gravity is much closer to f minor, as can be seen from the chord choices throughout and the
way in which the bridge so unabashedly embraces the minor mode.
A larger than average number of chords are used, though some of them are more reasonably
explained as the prolongation of linear movement of a bass line or inner voice. We have seen
relatively few diminished seventh chords in our studies of the Beatles' songs to-date, though in
this case, the vii(dim)-of-V is given extensive airtime that brings an exotic influence on the
melody in its wake; e.g. the melodic augmented second found in the phrase “go together well” –
F->A-flat->B-natural->A-flat-G.
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The melody is shot through with flat 3rds and 7ths, but in absence of a more 12-bar-oriented
harmonic context, these nominally melodic tokens of the blues style here sound exotically modal
and minor.
Arrangement
The instrumental backing is provided by a combined acoustic and electric grouping of the
sort that typifies the more-folksy/less- rocky sound of the Rubber Soul album, though on this
track, they are cleverly arranged and recorded to sound more like a pop-music studio band than
anything else. In this respect, the same paradox we saw in “Yesterday”, of an exceedingly
romantic song being scored for an ensemble not usually associated with that genre, is repeated
here but on a much more subtle level.
The recurrent riff for double-tracked acoustic guitar, first heard in the intro, is a unique
reminder that it is The Beatles after all, as much as the solo part that is scored in the baritone
range of the lead electric guitar subliminally conjures a non-Beatles Uptown pop style; compare
this with the piano solo of “Not A Second Time.”
Paul's lead vocal, single-tracked as demanded by the intimacy of the song's lyrical theme, is
supported virtually throughout by the harmonized cooing of George and John, a technique which
blends with the backing track to the point of absorption by it, and which is yet another cliche
trademark of the underlying pop style being chased here. The trick of dropping out the backing
voices to suddenly expose Paul, as at the beginning and end of the bridge, is, on the other hand,
pure Beatles.
Intro
The four-measure intro becomes a kind of hook for the song by virtue of its reappearance in
the bridge and the outro. The essential harmonic game plan of this little section is a simple I->V
progression, but the descending chromatic scale of the first three measures spices things up
considerably. I think it's most “correct” (i.e. matches up most closely with your own experience
of it as a listener) to parse the first two and a half measures as simply an f minor chord with the
scale moving against it rather than try to assign a different roman numeral to each new vertical
combination:
Melody: |C
Inner line: |F
Chords: |f
f: i
Melody: |C Bb Ab
Inner line: |D-flat
Chords: |b-flat
f: iv 6/5 **
E
||E-flat
||C
|C
|C
V
D
|
|
|
|
|
|
[Figure 82.1]
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[** iv 6/5 here can be alternately parsed as vi 4/3 (D-flat) by virtue of the F in the bass]
If it were not for the leisurely pace at which the scale unfolds, you'd never even think to parse
it any other way; run the exercise of playing this same progression with the scale four times as
fast as it appears in the song.
Granted, the slower mode creates a very different experience, and is in fact, in context of the
textbooks, considered a special effect; I've seen both the terms prolongation and harmonic
envelope applied to it.
At the very beginning of measure 3, we get a bass note of F that is at least an octave lower
than anything yet heard in the song, and I believe this simple event also helps keep your ear
attuned to the idea of the f chord sustained on some level from the beginning of the phrase to this
point.
The V chord when it finally appears is in the form of a bare open fifth; an uncanny detail in
common with the opening of “Yesterday”.
Verse
The verse is only six measures but is formally doubled up only at the beginning of the song.
It's really one long phrase in terms of its melodic arch though it can be decomposed into a series
of rhetorically short phrases of uneven length; yet another similarity with “Yesterday”:
|F
I
|C
V
|b-flat
iv7
B-dim
|C
vii-of-V V
|E-flat
|B-diminished 7 |
VII (added 6th) vii-of-V
|
[Figure 82.2]
The melodic action in this verse has a much higher than average number of non-linear jumps
in it, especially for McCartney. These tend to follow the chord outlines and serve to draw one's
attention to the harmonic movement that belies the tune.
The manner in which the optimistic clean opening in the Major key so quickly turns minor
("spring time turning to autumn", to paraphrase a different bard) becomes, through repetition,
another subtle hook element of the song. Paul had played a similar trick back in “Yesterday” with
the relative minor key, but the use of the parallel minor here is more piquant.
The progression from iv->VII threatens to follow 'round the minor key circle of fifths, but the
pattern is quickly broken with the dip down to the diminished seventh chord that eventually sets
up the cadence on V. The switch over to placing B natural in the bass line in place of D for the
last two iterations of this diminished seventh chord has a neat elegant feel to it.
Bridge
The bridge is among the more interestingly (attractively?) built ones that we've seen; ten
measures in length, and composed of two subsections – six measures of new music coupled with
what we've already seen as the intro:
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|f
i
|-
|A-flat
V-of-VI
|C
V
|f
i
|----» Intro
|D-flat
VI
|
[Figure 82.3]
The melodic and emotional climax of this song comes right at the beginning of this bridge
where the protagonist’s sudden, frustrated abandonment of all bilingual pretense is matched
effectively by the release of carefully saved up high notes. The slow triplets in the tune at this
point combined with the 9-8 appoggiatura on the downbeat of the second measure make the
pleasure of this climax all the more exquisite, and it is indeed a delight to observe the way that
Paul handles the latter detail a bit different in each repetition of this section—adding a spasmodic
trill up to a high A-flat the second time around, and in the third bout betraying a bit of worn-out
but insistent hoarseness.
The first half of the bridge with its unambiguous embrace of f minor stands in contrast to the
mixed-mode bittersweetness of the verse. The second half of it provides an unusually drawn out
transition back to the next verse. Indeed, no matter how many times I have heard this song, the F
Major chord at the beginning of each successive verse, surrounded as it is on each side by the
minor mode, always catches me slightly by surprise and evokes for me a sense of the persistence
of romantic optimism against all odds.
Solo Section
The otherwise routine solo verse of this song is unusually entwined with the bridges on either
side of it. In the preceding bridge, Paul finishes up with a unique melodic flip upward that is both
modal and interrogatory in tone, and he sustains out the end of this little phrase well into the
second or third measure of the solo. Similarly, the guitar solo finishes up with a relatively long
rush up the scale in fast triplets that overlaps neatly with Paul's vocal pickup to the next bridge.
Outro
The outro begins (“and I will say the only, etc.”) with one of Paul's compositional master
strokes, and I don't say that lightly – turning the intro/bridge-second-half into a “coda” by
supplying it with a different tune for a change; one that is both more similar in style to that of the
verse itself, and befitting of closure in terms of its melodic shape. If the start of the bridge marks
the song's climax, then this moment here is its crux. The song is finally allowed to power down
with a verbatim reprise of the instrumental solo section, an unlikely shade of “The Word”,
and this is repeated one more time, still, into the fadeout.
Some Final Thoughts
The Anglo-Franco lyrics are admittedly a clever touch, but the premise implied by them
strikes this curmudgeon as cute-but-contrived; very nearly at, if not over, the bounds of poetic
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license. Perhaps I'm being arbitrary here; heck, I have no such problems for example with “Drive
My Car.” Or perhaps I even allow my privately romantic verbal, dare I say oral, fixations get the
better of me betimes. But I ask you – how can anyone be as desperately in love, as is described in
this song, with someone with whom they cannot hold a decent conversation, no less an email
correspondence?
“Encore de champagne ?” 052093#82
Page 424 of 962
What Goes On?
Key: E Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Refrain | Verse | Refrain | Verse |
| Refrain (solo) | Verse |
| Refrain | Outro (with complete ending)
US-release: 21st February 1966 (B Single / "Nowhere Man")
Style and Form
This almost parodistic homage to the same C&W style the Beatles had earlier covered in the
likes of “Act Naturally” is a typical Ringo vehicle if ever there was one, right down to the
scenario of sad-and-lonely betrayal described in the lyrics.
The form is a folksy strict alternation of refrains and verses, the key is the ever popular
choice for the Beatles of E Major, and the tempo is fast – fast enough that 2/2 might be a more
accurate designation of the meter than the 4/4 that I have chosen.
Melody and Harmony
The basic materials are relatively simple all around. The melody essentially noodles around
stepwise within a five note range. The mode is almost purely Major, though with an occasional
hint of the bluesy minor 3rd, as in the final phrase of the refrain (on the words “in your mind”).
The harmony is essentially limited to the set of I-IV-V chords, though some interest is added
by the big play made out of the 4-3 suspension on V (found at the climax of each refrain) and the
use of the minor iv in the verses.
Arrangement
Ringo's single-tracked lead is mixed in stereo to the far left, while John and Paul's backing
vocals are equally far to the right. The backing parts for the refrain are quite idiomatically
twangy for the context, though the verses feature a subdued “oohing” that is surprisingly, for the
context, reminiscent of what we just saw in “Michelle.”
The lead guitar part is recorded with an almost surreal clarity for its time, rather suggestive of
today's direct to digital sound quality. It's a shame, therefore, that the riff playing on this track is
not up to the standard of the recorded sonics.
Speaking of which, the recording of this song is well known for its unusually large number of
so-called anomalies; one of which (the rejoinder to Ringo in the second verse) smacks of
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horseplay, while the others sound more like an unaccustomed and accidental exposure of Ringo's
singing or humming to himself to help keep his place during the portions of the song where he
wouldn't be singing lead.
Intro
The intro consists of a 3-beat pickup plus four simple bars which establish, in good
introductory form, the home key and the overall instrumental style and texture for the song:
E:
|E
I
|B
V
|E
I
|-
|
[Figure 83.1]
Refrain
The refrain is 20 measures long and is unusually made up of five phrases equal in length,
making for a poetic pattern of AB/AB/C:
-------------------------- 2X -------------------------|E
|||||E
||A
|||
E: I
IV
4------------»3
|B
|V
|E
I
|-
|
[Figure 83.2]
Ironically, this five-phrase structure is one of the few non-routine features of this otherwise
routine little song, yet it's a device whose handling here is a bit too clever by half, and winds up
at the root of what I consider to be a close to fatal lack of forward drive.
The asymmetry and extra length inherent in a five-line stanza requires a special
compensatory effort to prevent it from coming off as stilted. In this case, unfortunately, the
opposite seems perversely true: i.e. all five phrases are on the short side with long breathing
spaces of close to two full measures following on each of them, a gesture that inhibits both
connectivity between successive phrases as well as momentum from building over the series of
them. Furthermore, the ultra simplicity of the chord progression, further exaggerated by the slow
pace of the harmonic rhythm, only makes the first problem worse.
For me, the almost unrecoverable low point of the section is the moment in which you realize
(even if you're not a musicologist your mind does register this subconciously, I dare suggest)
that, oh no!, they're actually gonna repeat all of the first eight measures all over again instead of
moving onward. The 4-3 suspension over the V chord in the last phrase adds a well needed dose
of last-minute intensification, but it's awfully belated. Try this experiment: eliminate the repeat of
Page 426 of 962
those eight bars and try what's left of the refrain as a 12-bar form and see how much better it
flows.
Verse
The verse is an asymmetrical fourteen measures long, and is built out of four phrases in an A/
A/B/C poetic pattern:
----------------------------- 2X ---------------------------Tune: |B B B
G#
|A G# F# E
|F# F# F# G# |A
|
Chords: |E
||a
||
E: I
iv
|A A
|a
iv
A
|B
V
A
|G# F#
|B
V
|-
E
F#
|G#
|E
I
|-
|
|
[Figure 83.3]
The harmonic syncopation of sustaining the a minor chord over the phrase boundary of
measures 8 and 9 is another source of the kind of drag I've cited against the refrain. Nevertheless,
there are a couple of helpfully counter-balancing factors in this section: the harmonic rhythm
picks up a bit here, and the foreshortened final phrase (only two measures) lends a mild effect of
acceleration; run the experiment in your head of allowing the ‘C' phrase to be rounded out to a
more usual full four measures and not how badly it schleps.
The melody provides a modicum of added interest in this section in the form of some
appoggiaturas. The F#’s and G#'s against the a minor chord are especially pungent.
Solo Refrain Section
The underlying flaws of the vocal refrains are further exacerbated in this solo. I'd assume
they were trying to be clever by singing all the way through the first phrase of this section and
then leaving the lead guitar to continue on by himself, but for my money, this gesture backfires
by throwing off the listener's sense of the section's structure.
I have trouble hearing the beginning of the solo itself as the second phrase of the refrain, as
opposed to the first phrase of a new section, in which case the slow harmonic rhythm and overall
weak harmonic teleology of the section don't help at all get me re-oriented.
Furthermore, the style and content of the guitar riffs, which sound fine when used as they are
during the rest of the song as obligato fills between sung phrase, sound here like disjointed non
sequiturs rather than a solo with a beginning, middle, and end.
Again, the 4-3 play on the V chord helps things end up on a decent footing but there's a good
8 measures or so before then where you, as a listener, are left drifting without a clear sense of
formal context.
Page 427 of 962
Outro
The coda this time finds the group vamping on the I chord for an additional four measures,
ending finally with one last chord that's allowed to reverberate almost until it dies out on its own.
Beatles tracks to this point in time tend to generally exhibit a rapid fadeout of the last chord
imposed during the final production mixdown. Even in this song where the reverb is allowed to
go on for a second or two longer than average you can hear where the faders are applied if you
listen.
You can hear Ringo clearly repeating the phrase “in your mind” throughout this outro, I
assume, to help him keep count of the number of measures before the end.
Some Final Thoughts
If you grew up in the States, then this selection was self-effacingly tucked away near the back
end of the “Yesterday and Today” album in between what had been the two 'A' sides of the “We
Can Work It Out/Day Tripper” single. But on the CD, as in the original British lineup, you flip
over the record, so to speak, and instead of hearing “It's Only Love” (an expectation which dies
very hard for those who have their pubescent experiences permanently downloaded like a TSR)
you get this potboiler; and a bit of a letdown. It's not that “What Goes On?” is entirely without
either merit or charm; the song is not so much a bad one as much as it appears weak in context
of what its authors were capable of on a fairly regular basis by this point of their career.
Lewisohn's discovery that the song originally dates as far back as the Pre-Beatles/Quarrymen
days makes some excuse for it, I suppose, but sure doesn't make the song itself any better. What I
do find difficult to completely fathom is how, for all the hurry against a deadline which
underlined the production of the album, they had the self-restraint to reject “12-Bar
Original” (ironically recorded at the same session) yet let this one through even though it is in
some respects only marginally better. Of course, I suppose if you want to be mean, you can look
to the unique attribution of this song (Lennon & McCartney & Starkey) and blame it all on
Ringo. Hey, if the group dynamic portrayed in “A Hard Day's Night” is anywhere close to true, I
suppose that in this case the group itself might have done precisely that; i.e. blame Ritchie.
“I recognize the psychological pattern.”060693#83
Page 428 of 962
Girl
Key: c minor / E-flat Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Verse | Refrain | Verse | Refrain | Bridge | Refrain | Verse |
| Refrain | Verse (instrumental) | Refrain (fade-out)
Style and Form
This predominantly acoustic, stylized folk ballad embodies many of the trends, themes, and
techniques that characterize the overall image of Rubber Soul. It often does seem unfairly lost in
the shadow cast by certain bigger hits on the album. Yet, even though it may be neither as
trenchant as “Norwegian Wood” nor as sublime as “In My Life”, “Girl” does contain much to be
admired; particularly in its intense yet oblique baring of the author’s heart it lies directly along a
vector from the earlier “You've Got Hide Your Love Away”.
Considering that the Beatles didn't go in for full-fledged modulations all that much in their
songs, this one is quite notable for the way in which it keeps changing key throughout. In
particular, it makes use of the technique of alternating between a minor key and its relative Major
towards ends that are both expressive and structural.
Paul would appear to have as much a soft spot as John for this gambit over the long run. Off
the top of my head we've seen it most before in “Not a Second Time” , “And I Love Her” , and
“Yesterday.”
The form is of interest for its inclusion of both a refrain and a bridge, as well as its placement
of the instrumental solo so near to the very end; the latter, yet another connection with “You've
Got Hide Your Love Away”.
Melody and Harmony
The choice of chords is straightforward throughout. This allows one to more undistractedly
focus in on the systematic changes of key which, as stated, are the arena of harmonic interest in
the song. The melody is similarly uncomplicated though a nice exotic touch is to be found in the
augmented seconds (as in “girl who came to stay”) made possible by the so-called “harmonic
minor” scale.
Arrangement
The strumming acoustic guitar work oom-pah bass line of the backing track are, in large part,
the sources of the overall folksy flavor of the track. John's single track lead vocal has a quivering
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sincerity that is intensified by the placement of the tune so high in his range, and the rhythmic
flexibility given to his scanning of the words against the underlying meter.
Lewisohn describes it as “sultry”; I relate to it more as “extremely direct presence”.
In the refrain the backing voices provide a classically Beatles-like italicizing of title word. In
the bridge they provide a uniquely “naughty” scat singing backwash.
With the exception of two significant momentary lapses the backing rhythm is carried by a
rocking or lilting of implied fast triplets. The lapses occur in the bridge and final verse where a
shift to exactingly even eighth note motion signals a mood change; the even motion connoting a
“no mincing of words” kind of rise above the more relaxed and resigned feeling of the triplets.
This use of surface rhythm as a combination leitmotif and articulative/associative device is a
mark of extreme compositional sophistication.
Layering the arrangement a bit had always been a favorite trick of theirs, but here it's carried
a step more subtle. What sounds like either a mandolin or acoustic 12-string adds a countermelody to the lead vocal in the second verse. This idea is further developed in the final (and
completely instrumental) verse section by the addition of a second counter-melody (this one
sounding very much like a finger picked sitar!) played in counterpoint to the one that had already
been heard the previous time around. The choice to recapitulate the no mincing rhythm in this
verse, so late in the song and the only instrumental section of it to boot, is an uncanny and
unifying stroke.
Verse
The song opens completely “in medias res” (recall your High School studies of Greek
tragedy!) without any intro, fanfare, or even an instrumental cue for the start note. In the Beatles
oeuvre this is relatively rare, but when it happens it's always treat – look back, for example, at
“She Loves You” , “It Won't Be Long”, “All My Loving” , “Can't Buy Me Love”, and “You're
Going To Lose That Girl.”
The verse is eight measures long and is built out of two parallel phrases; the melodies of
which are identical but with a small different twist in the chord progressions:
c:
|c
i
G
V
|c
i
|f
iv
|E-flat G
VI
V
|
|c
i
G
V
|c
i
|f
iv
|c
i
|
[Figure 84.1]
This section is entirely in the minor mode with a i-to-i closed shape, though the first phrase
does end with a rather prophetic deceptive/fake pass at the relative Major.
Page 430 of 962
Refrain
The refrain is brief and most bittersweet; just four measures built out of two short parallel
phrases. Harmonically, I have some doubt as to what is intended as the second chord of the first
measure. My gut and “mind's ear” tells me that the overall progression of this section is the R&R
classic cliche of I-vi-IV-V (E-flat, c minor, A-flat, and B-flat respectively); indeed, there's at least
one book in which I've seen this stated this with apparent confidence.
What complicates life for me is Paul's downward scale-wise bass line: if D is the bass line
note played against the second chord, it strikes me as more dissonant against a c minor chord
than what is heard on this recording; below I opt for a g minor chord (in the 6/4 'second
inversion', no less) with a 4-3 appoggiatura in the tune. Try it on for size and call me in the
morning if it doesn't seem to fit:
------------------------ 2X ------------------------Chords: |E-flat
g
|A-flat
B-flat
|
Bass: |E-flat
D
|C
B-flat
|
E-flat: I
iii6/4
|IV6/3
V
|
f minor: IV
[Figure 84.2]
The lyrics consist of the title word plus a pitch-less phoneme that is, with great calculation,
executed indeterminately somewhere in between a hiss of frustration on the one hand, and on the
other side, a sigh of deepest regret that is co-mingled with a moan of jealous, unquenchable
desire. The key change in this section to the supposedly more cheerful Major mode works at
ironic cross-currents to those ambiguously blue-mood phonemes.
Bridge
The bridge is structured similarly to the verse, being eight measures long and built out of two
parallel phrases that have identical melodies with a slightly varied harmonization for the second
one:
f:
|f
i
|C
V
|f
i
|f
i
|C
V
|f
i
|C
V
|A-flat
III
E-flat: IV
|
|
[Figure 84.3]
The mood intensifies here in every way that you could measure it. There's a modulation to f
minor. The tune shifts over to a rantingly rhetorical hammering style; not to mention the even
eighth note rhythm and the “tit-tit” backing vocals.
The words too intensify. The attitude earlier in the song had been more on the side of sadness
than anger, but starting here and continuing into the final sung verse a streak of bitter and not
entirely becoming pique and anger exposes itself. How true to form it is, as well, for John's hurt
Page 431 of 962
to be revealed as critically linked on some level to humiliation in public by the words and deeds
of his beloved.
Some Final Thoughts
The most intriguing aspect of this song is how it manages to forge an ultimately coherent
statement out of what on the surface would seem to be a tangle of internally contradictory and
changeable, confused sentiments. There's a restless emotional shifting of mood and perspective
as we move from one section to the next as the song unfolds; this is reinforced on the purely
musically plane by the extent to which the key and melodic style changes every time to match.
It is as though coherence is dynamically established here as a kind of tense truce drawn for
the moment between the negative anxiety and hurt of the verses and bridge articulated explicitly
by words, and the ineffable certainty of desire of the refrains, left entirely implicit and embedded
between the phonemes.
“She'll only reject me in the end...” 062493#84
Page 432 of 962
I'm Looking Through You
Key: A-flat Major
Meter: 4/4
Recorded: 24th October, 6th, 10th, 11th November 1965, Abbey Road 2
Style and Form
We've got yet another fine example here of the Beatles' own unique folk/rock style; this one
jazzed up a bit by a faintest touch of the blues. Kinetic energy abounds from more than just the
beat. For one thing, Paul scans the lyrics in a manner that is inconsistently off-center from the
otherwise four-square phrasing of the music; an effect more pleasing than it would sound from
my verbal description of it. But even more so, the phraseology of both verse and bridge features
a rhetoric suggestive of cumulatively established momentum. The image comes to mind of “run
& jump, now return to the starting point you so you may run & jump again, only this time much
farther.”
Resonance between the latter strictly musical phenomenon and any correlative emotional or
passionate experience of yours are guaranteed to raise a smile.
The form, for a change, is the very standard model with two bridge and only one verse
intervening.
Melody and Harmony
A-flat Major is an unusual key choice for the Beatles. It works out nicely in terms of the
track sequencing on the album; making a smooth inbound transition from the 3-flat key signature
of “Girl”, and setting up a pace-setting outbound shift of a half-step upward to the A (natural)
Major key of “In My Life.” Nevertheless, I'd be surprised if Paul originally conceived of the
song in this key, and rather suspect that it was composed in the easier key of G and adjusted
upward, perhaps by capo, in the studio.
Paul's typically generous application of expressive melodic appoggiaturas helps liven up an
otherwise straightforward set of chord choices. Just the same, the tune remains essentially within
the diatonically pure realm of the Major mode. The only exceptions are the bluesy minor 3rds
used at the climax of each verse, and the equally bluesy minor 7ths which appear in the little riffs
that trail those climaxes.
Page 433 of 962
The chord progressions are also relatively simple yet the song does feature the same
sophisticated tendency of the predominant Major key to wilt downward into the relative minor
that we've seen in before “Yesterday” and elsewhere.
“4->3” suspensions appear in both the verse and bridge and this provides a source of
subliminal unity within the song. The suspension in the bridge is quite dramatic, coinciding with
the big build up at the end of the section (“... disappearing over night”). The verse suspensions
are tucked away more quietly and unfold more quickly at the end of each of the first two phrases.
Arrangement
Paul's lead vocal is double tracked the whole way through except for the outro, where the
switch over to single tracking adds a surprising last minute sense of increased intimacy and
immediacy. John joins in for a relatively limited spot of backing on third phrase of each verse.
The instrumental texture is dominated by the sound of acoustic guitar and electric bass. In
place of the usual drum kit, percussion sounds in this song are limited to thigh slaps (or are they
all hand claps?) and a tambourine.
As is so typical of the Beatles, the tambourine part is more carefully planned out in a pattern
than you might ever notice unless you pay careful attention to it as a listener; i.e. it is shaken on
the offbeats of the trailing ends of the verses, and during the bridges and outro. It is never played
during the four sung phrases of the verses except for one stray shake in the midst of the third
verse; surely that must be a mistake.
Lewisohn et al acknowledge perplexity over Ringo's being credited on the album jacket with
playing organ on this track as though there were no such evidence of it to be heard. Nonsense -the bluesy riffs which trail each verse are clearly punctuated (one-two) by chords played on an
organ in the first two beats of the measure.
The electric lead guitar in this song seems to play the role of a shy lurker, commenting on the
main action in a rather tentative, interjectory way; it doesn't even play a single note until the
midst of the second verse! I am intrigued by the question of whether those fills at the end of each
verse involve the guitar at all or whether the licks as well as the punctuating chords are provided
on the organ by Ringo.
There is a “recording anomaly” I've not yet seen on anyone else’s list in the double tracking
of the first bridge, at the phrase “love has a nasty etc.” – a nasty splice is what it sounds like to
me.
Intro
The instrumental intro features a staggered entrance of the players:
|A-flat
A-flat: I6/4
|E-flat
V
----- 3X ------|A-flat D-flat |
I
IV
[Figure 85.1]
Page 434 of 962
The opening I-V chord progression has the I chord in the so-called second, or '6/4' inversion.
This particular usage, the textbooks teach us, cause the listener to parse the first chord not so
much as a "I" chord per se, but more so as dual-appoggiatura embellishment of the V chord to
which it is adjoined. In slightly plainer terms, this means you tend to hear this opening less as a
full-fledged I-to-V root progression, and more so as a V chord with simultaneous 6->5 and 4->3
suspensions placed upon it.
Given the combination of the latter effect with the relatively widespread airplay given to 4>3 suspensions within the rest of the song I wonder if, indeed, the infamous “false start” on the
American edition of the Rubber Soul album was really a mistake or something done
intentionally, in order to, right at the outset, call attention to itself.
Verse
This verse provides a rare analytical conundrum; indeed, where is the downbeat of each
phrase located? There are at least two ways of parsing it, either one of which has pros and cons.
I've opted, after much vacillation on the matter, to present it below as though the downbeat is just
before the first word of each line:
(rest) I'm looking|through etc. ...
--------------------------- 2X ---------------------------|A-flat D-flat |b-flat
|f
|E-flat
|
A-flat: I
IV
ii7
vi
V4 --» 3
|f
vi
|b-flat
ii6 --» 5
|A-flat D-flat |b-flat
I
IV
ii7
|A-flat D-flat |E-flat
I
IV
V
|
|D-flat
|A-flat D-flat |
IV
I
IV
(with flat-7 !)
---- 2X -----|A-flat D-flat |
I
IV
[Figure 85.2]
The above analytical perspective clearly outlines the poetical/metric structure of the section
as AABA+ a vamping connector in the manner of the intro, and it places the starting point of
each phrase on expectable harmonic footings. One side effect of this view (if you really do hear
it this way!) is the kind of meta-syncopation implied toward the second measure of each phrase,
the nature of which is awkward albeit interesting. Another is the equally interesting/awkward
elision of the the last sung phrase with the connector.
Alternatively, you can parse what I've called the first measure of each phrase as a pickup,
shifting the beginning of each phrase one measure forward from how it is parsed above. This
view eliminates the meta-syncopation problem of the first view but it throws the starting points
of all phrases on unusual chord choices and makes the elision of the last sung phrase feel even
more awkward.
Page 435 of 962
The harmonic rhythm here is unusually flexible compared to what we've seen of the Beatles
in this department over the long run. In addition, the deceptive cadence toward vi (the relative
minor!) at the start of the third phrase is treat and a fine example of monotony-avoidance.
Every time the progression of I-IV-ii appears, Paul provides the same bass lick which makes
nice downward counterpoint to the melodic rise which it accompanies. Once you know it's there
it provides both a subliminal hook to the song as well as something to look forward to; analogous
to some habitual move your lover makes, of which, you somehow never grow tired:
Words:
Tune: (rest)
Bass line: |A-flat
Chords: |A-flat
A-flat: I
I'm
C
lookD-flat
D-flat
D-flat
IV
ing
F
C
|through
|A-flat
|B-flat
|b-flat
ii
you |
F
|
|
|
[Figure 85.3]
The 'A' phrase of the tune has a pleasing arch shape which would chafe eventually were it not
for the master stroke with which it finally breaks through the glass ceiling in the final phrase;
break on through to the other side, so to speak.
Bridge
The bridge in this case provides typical contrast, if for no other reason, by virtue of its
straightforward phraseology of 4+4, AA’:
|D-flat
IV
|-
|A-flat
I
|-
|D-flat
IV
|-
|E-flat
|V4 -----------» 3
|
[Figure 85.4]
Other sources of contrast include the off-center harmonic emphasis on IV, the slower steadier
harmonic rhythm, and the Really Big Climax on V.
Outro
The outro is built atop the same I-IV vamping heard in both the intro and trailing connector
of the verse. Here it repeats forever into the sunset with Macca now single tracked and getting a
tad silly with the words.
Some Final Thoughts
To our great fortune Take 1 of “I'm Looking Through You” is widely available on bootleg.
We've got reason to expect it to appear some day in official release should the ill-fated Sessions
Page 436 of 962
album ever see the legitimate light of day, though even then, the unblended, unedited, and unfaded version of this outtake which appeared on the likes of Ultra Rare Trax will forever remain
the one to seek out.
As we saw with the Take 1 outtake of “Norwegian Wood”, this early version is instructive to
the extent to which it both resembles and differs from the so-called Official Release. You can tell
right off that this is no rough or tentative demo rehearsal from the fussy care with which the
arrangement is worked out, not to mention the precious phoneme-level sound bites captured on
the start/stop rough edge of the source tape of Paul giving last minute directives to his mates.
Amazingly, for all its differences, the first take is amazingly similar to the official version in its
vocal arrangement. But what of those other differences?
Superficially speaking, the tempo is slower, and the folksy feeling is made even stronger by
virtue of not only more hand claps and thigh slaps, but also (of all things) the inclusion of
maracas!
More substantively speaking, the first version features something which, in comparison with
the most effective bridge of the official version, falls a bit flat on its face: a 12-bar frame for the
interjectory lead guitar which otherwise does not appear anywhere else in the first take, coupled
to a reprise of the last half of the verse.
I'll close with the following two observations which fall along the spectrum somewhere in
between the truly minute and the big-picture variations: a) The first take does not feature the
descending bass riff in the verses; but b) it is, by the way, in the key of G!
“You wear L'air Du Temps ...*” 072593#85
* a pint at Christopher’s to whomever figures out the connection to Our Song of this very vague filmic reference ! :-)
Page 437 of 962
In My Life
Key: A Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Bridge |
| half-intro | Verse | Bridge |
| Verse (instrumental) | Bridge |
Recorded: 18th, 22nd October 1965, Abbey Road 2
Style and Form
In spite of the Baroque keyboard solo of the original, or the schmaltzy- cum-folksy
arrangement cooked up by Joshua Rifkin for Judy Collins' cover if it, the style of this song
remains tantalizingly indeterminate. The form contains a folk ballad-like rote alternation of
sections, though the use of a bridge rather than a refrain, coupled with the inconsistent
deployment of the motif heard in the intro as a 'spacer' between sections, blurs most of whatever
specifically folk-style associations you might otherwise derive from the it (the form) per se.
Above all, the song creates a delicate and delicious balance between heart baring intimacy of
the first order and a vaguely subordinate and reticent unease. The closest I can pinpoint the latter
is to something not quite straightforward about some of the chord progressions and the way in
which the tune runs roughshod over them. In the final result, this unease is something that, as a
long term listener, I feel more strongly than I can discern with any precision. But if I am at all on
the right track, it is as though whatever confidence is shared within the confines of this song is
done so at no small cause of pain, as though it were happening compulsively on some level, in
spite of the author's will.
Melody and Harmony
The rising interval of a sixth provides a melodically hopeful and pervasive subtext to the
song, appearing as it does in all sections: e.g. the very start of the intro, and the very end of both
the verse and the bridge.
The tune remains almost rigidly pentatonic until the bridge where the 4th scale degree (D) is
introduced for the first time in the tune on the word “lovers”. The 7th scale degree (G#) appears
nowhere in the song, melodically, other than as the last note of the introductory guitar riff.
The melody incurs an unusually large amount of free dissonance against the chords of the
accompaniment from its large number of appoggiaturas, “escapes”, and gratuitous 7ths and 9ths.
Page 438 of 962
The pervasiveness of this melodic style lends a puzzling attitudinal touch of I'm-so-tired laziness
or enervation, at least, that runs at crosscurrents to the otherwise earnest theme of the song.
The choice of chords for the song is relatively simple though the verse features John's much
favored minor iv chord motivated by the chromatic descent of an implied inner voice. The bridge
features some increased complication in the choice of chords and their progression.
Outside of the so-called “spacer” motif, the harmony of this song strongly avoids the type of
clear key definition and closure one associates with straightforward V->I cadences. Note how the
V chord doesn't even show up in the bridge, and its one appearance in the verse is followed
"deceptively" (that's a technical term, son) by vi. I pick up on this as yet another source of
curious indirectness and reticence.
Arrangement
The stereo image places the basic backing texture of electric guitar, electric bass, and
percussion off toward the left, with the voices and, later, the piano off to the right.
John sings the lead double tracked with Paul providing a Beatles-trademarked duet of free
counterpoint on the odd numbered phrases, with John left by himself for the even numbered
ones. As much as I always prefer John in single track mode (and feel that this song, above many
others, would particularly lend itself to such an immediate delivery), the transition between the
duet and a single tracked solo would likely have been too stark.
As is not at all unusual in other arrangements of theirs from this period, it is the percussion
section which helps articulate the form. For the intro and verses, the drumming features an
understated syncopated pattern that is punctuated by quickly damped cymbals. For the bridges,
the beat shifts to something close to four in the bar, and the dry damped sound of the verses is
traded in for the bright ringing sounds of a tambourine and drum sticks tapping lightly on
cymbals' edge.
George Martin's much celebrated solo on electric piano was played for the recording an
octave lower, and half as slow as it sounds on the finished track. I would bet that the motivation
for this was as much to distort the attack/decay timbre of the instrument to make it sound more
like a harpsichord as it was to help project a sensation of almost un-natural speed in the
performance; the solo turns out to be not that difficult to perform in tempo – even the running
scale at the end.
Intro
The four-measure intro establishes the home key while introducing the melodic upward sixth
and setting a measured pace by virtue of its slow harmonic rhythm:
------------- 2X -------------|A
|E
|
A: I
V
[Figure 86.1]
Page 439 of 962
The two-measure motif from which this intro is built recurs throughout the song as a unifying
device; repeated here in the intro, a single reprise just before the second verse, and in extended
repetition for the outro. The “AA” inner form of intro itself presages the parallel kind of structure
that is to be found in both the verses and bridges which follow below.
Verse
The verse is eight measures long and is structured as an 'AA' couplet based on the following
four-measure phrase:
----------------------------- 2X -----------------------------|A
E
|f#
A7
|D
d
|A
|
A: I
V
vi
V-of-IV IV
iv
I
[Figure 86.2]
Melodic dissonance abounds: in the first measure there's the B->A/ 9->8 appoggiatura on the
downbeat (on the word “pla-ces”) and the escape from the neighbor tone C# (on the first syllable
of “remember”); measure 2 starts with a "free" seventh on its downbeat (on the second syllable
of “remember”); and measure 3 starts off with a B->A/6->5 embellished appoggiatura (on the
drawn out word “life”).
There is an unusual syncopated boomy noise in the second half of the measure 2, right after
the A7 chord is reached. I imagine that it's either the result of a collision between an A played by
the bass with a G-natural played just below the A on a low string of the rhythm guitar; or else it
may be one of those strange double stops of Paul’s.
Bridge
The bridge is also eight measures long and is structured as a pseudo AA' couplet:
A:
|f#
vi
|D
|G
IV
flat-VII
(or V-of-flat-VII)
|A
I
|
|f#
vi
|B
V-of-V
|A
I
|
|d
iv
[Figure 86.3]
The melody of the two phrases may almost be the same, save for the exceedingly subtle
change in the the rhythmic execution of the upward “flip of a sixth” at the end, but the harmony
of the second phrase is very different. Granted, both phrases make a similar harmonic gesture,
starting away from the home key yet converging back toward it via different routes that are
comparably indirect. Rather it is in the specific chord choices and progressions that each phrase
asserts something unique. In the first phrase the appearance of flat-VII comes as an especial
Page 440 of 962
surprise against the backdrop of the pentatonic verse. The second phrase provides a triple
whammy: the thwarting of V-of-V when it is not followed by V (a favorite Beatles device of long
standing), the F#/F-natural cross-relation created by the minor iv chord, and the straight-faced
irony that the tune is essentially the same between the two phrases.
Still more melodic dissonance abounds. In particular, we have the C#->B appoggiatura on the
downbeat of measures 2 and 5. In the former case (on the word “moments”) this creates a 7->6
double dissonance (!!), and in the late (on the word “living”) we have more of a garden variety 9>8 resolution.
Outro
The outro is creatively structured as one iteration of the intro/spacer phrase + a last petit
reprise of the last phrase of the bridge + one last iteration of the spacer, this time modified to
provide the complete ending. The extended nature of this outro, especially in its poignant use of
the minor iv chord is strangely anticipatory in a subdued way of the likes of the much later
“Happiness Is A Warm Etc.”
Some Final Thoughts
I have it on good authority that I'm not alone in my personal experience of, having heard it
for the first time as an romantically earnest if yet adenoidally awkward teen, walking around for
many years thereafter “searching” (cross-reference to “Anna”) for the significant other to whom
I could in all sincerity and good conscience dedicate this song. And by “dedicate” I don't
necessarily mean having Scott Muni or Bruce Morrow blab it all over the AM air waves; a
discreet email will do just nicely, thank you.
What is it, I wonder, that makes such a song so ultra special if not sacred to the collective
consciousness?
People often talk about the elliptical nature of John's text as they mine for potentially relevant
autobiographical underpinnings. But, again, I wonder if there isn't something just a bit circular or
at least reflexive about this mining for meaning.
Is it possible that the vague references and ellipses of this song, beyond their being pregnant
per se with whatever embedded or hidden meaning, also serve equally to invite and encourage
the listener to respond personally, and autobiographically, indeed?
“You'll have to love her. She's your symbol.” 082293#86
Page 441 of 962
Wait
Key: f# minor
Meter: 4/4
Form: Verse / Refrain | Verse / Refrain | Bridge |
| Verse / Refrain | Bridge |
| Verse / Refrain | Verse (with complete ending)
Recorded: 17th June, 11th November 1965, Abbey Road 2
Style and Form
There's a higher than average level of formalistic interest in this song: it opens right in the
midst of the action with an off-the-beat vocal pickup; there's no intro, not even an instrumental
downbeat to give the singer his cue. For that matter, there's no formal outro here either; the song
kind of just rhetorically grinds to a halt. Furthermore, the main expository component of this
song is curiously half-verse/half-refrain in style. It's almost tempting to parse the section as two
discrete sections in their own right but that would lead to a rather over-busy reading of the form
which I don't believe is supported by your experience of listening to it.
What's particularly fascinating is that not only have we seen both of the above formal
features in other earlier songs of the Beatles, but in a couple of cases we've seen both features
within the same song; to wit – “I Want To Hold Your Hand”, “It Won't Be Long” and “You're
Going To Lose That Girl.” And if the strong John Connection doesn't yet strike you, consider the
following punch list of songs which feature the verse/refrain concept, albeit without a midst-ofaction opening – “Please Please Me”, “From Me To You”, and “Ticket To Ride.” Granted, you
can likely find me similar examples which are not all exclusively by John; Paul's “All My
Loving” comes immediately to mind, for example. Nevertheless I believe the correlation I've
cited bears some weight.
The music itself is highly syncopated to the max, the effect of which is emphasized by the
non-four-square phrasing of the verse section and the almost constantly offbeat harmonic
rhythm.
At the other extreme, the particular choice of form lays out the lyrics in an almost slavishly
symmetrical mosaic pattern of ABCACBA.
Melody and Harmony
The tune, in all sections of this song, is peppered through with fanfare-like triadic outlines
and other long jumps.
Page 442 of 962
The harmonic game plan features the same kind of minor/relative Major key alternation that
we saw, most recently, in “Girl.” Although the lyrics of this song superficially make for an
almost mirror image of the story told in “It Won't Be Long” the rapid key vacillations of “Wait”,
taken in combination with a chance comment (“if your heart breaks ... turn me away”) hint here
of a last-minute twinge of self-protective anxiety that is totally absent from the earlier song.
Arrangement
Although there is something somehow 'unfinished' about the strangely thin instrumental
texture of this song, they appear to have still sweated the patterned deployment of percussion
sounds with their usual fastidiousness. Look, for example, at the first three phrases of the verse:
phrase #1 features a syncopated tambourine, phrase #2 adds a pair of maracas in even 8th notes,
and phrase #3 (introduced by a nice drum roll) finally brings in the full drum kit and the
tambourine switching now to even 8th notes in sympathy, as it were, with the maracas.
John performs the lead verse vocal single tracked, though Paul harmonizes with him in notquite parallel thirds for most of the section except for the pickups to the first couple phrases. Paul
then gets to do the bridge in double-tracked solo.
Verse/Refrain
This compound section is an unusual fourteen measures long and breaks up into a sixmeasure “Verse” (parsed 3+3) and an eight measure “Refrain” (parsed 4+4):
Pulse:
Composite rhythm:
Tambourine:
Inner voice:
Chords:
f#:
---------------------|1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & |1 & 2
|»
» »
» »
|»
»
|
»
» »
|
»
|E
D#
|D-nat
|f#7
B6/4
|b6/4
i
------ 3X ----Chords: |A
D
|A
f#: III
A: I
IV
I
2X -----------------------& 3 & 4 & |1 & 2 & 3 & 4 & |
»
» »
|»
» »
» »
|
» »
|
»
» »
|
C#
|
|
f#
|C#
f#
|
V
I
C#
V
|f#
i
|
[Figure 87.1]
The schematic diagram of the chords and phrasing that I usually provide is embellished,
above, to call your attention to two details of the arrangement:
• The opening phrase features a typically JL-like descending line cliche which in theoretical
terms argues against putting 'roman numerals' on the 2nd and 3rd chords. To the extent that
the note f# is a sustained pedal tone throughout the entire progression of the first four
Page 443 of 962
chords, one tends to hear the harmonic action of this phrase as a stretched out move from i
to V.
• The same phrase also features a composite rhythm that is syncopated in a cutsey yet
seductive, belly-dancer sort of way; yet another John Lennon trademark of sorts, to the
extent that the one used here is so reminiscent of a similar touch in the likes of “All I've
Got To Do” and “Ticket to Ride.”
The verse is firmly within the key of f# minor. The refrain starts off with an equally firm,
even abrupt, modulation to the relative Major key of A before neatly pivoting back to the home
key of f#.
Bridge
The bridge is formally simpler than the verse/refrain section, and is built out of two rather
parallel phrases that differ from each other in terms of instrumentation (note the increased
prominence of the guitar strumming in the second phrase) and the chord choice of the last
measure:
A:
|b
ii
|E
V
|b
ii
|E
V
|A
I
|A
I
f#: III
|f#
vi
|
|C#4 -» 3
|
V
[Figure 87.2]
The harmonic strategy of this bridge, starting with an ambiguous sense of home key and
converging back to f# by way of a climax on its V chord, stands in contrast to the more
expository verse and refrain.
And speaking of tonal ambiguity, do you hear the opening of the section as a modulation to
the key of A (in which case the b minor chord sounds like ii and the f# minor chord sounds like
vi)? Or, do you hear the entire section as being in the key of f# (in which case the E Major chord
sounds like the V of III)? The question itself is actually more interesting than either answer to it.
Outro
The song closes up with a final repeat of the verse which, in its last phrase, suddenly
downshifts into dramatic, emphatic slow motion.
At the last moment all the percussion instruments used earlier are brought out (along with the
jewelry), as it were, for a bow and a rattle, with the absolutely last word going to an arpeggio in
the tone pedal guitar; this one, in the downward direction for a change.
Some Final Thoughts
“Wait” has the dubious distinction of having been the song that was left over from the Help!
album, later to be dredged up in a panic to fill out Rubber Soul when the looming pre-Xmas
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deadline threatened to catch the Beatles with a shortfall of new material. But do you really think
it sticks out in context as something picked up off the cutting room floor? Or do we eventually
fall victim to the so-called common or collective wisdom about such things?
While this song is far from being in the top tier of Rubber Soul, I dare say that it's an
exaggeration to say that it sounds grossly out of place there, either. And if you accept this
observation for what it's worth, then it's only a small increment of will before you start to
question the notion, become so deeply rooted over the years, that Help! and Rubber Soul exist
somehow on opposite sides of some great musical divide. It's really closer to something like
distinct yet neighboring distinct upon a continuum.
“It's been a long time.” 101893#87
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If I Needed Someone
Key: A Major
Meter: 4/4
| Verse | Verse (instrumental) | Verse | Bridge |
Style and Form
“If I Needed Someone” is not anywhere nearly as ambitious or original as the likes of “Don't
Bother Me” and “Think For Yourself”. And yet, just beneath the surface production values that
otherwise allow the song to fit in so compatibly among the Lennon & McCartney originals
which surround it (the title of a certain ancient Beatleg, Homogenized Beatles comes to mind),
are to be found all the telltale touches which mark the song as one by George; in particular, the
modal harmony, the cramped stepwise tune, and the wistful appoggiaturas.
The form adds an unusual twist to the classic two-bridge model, with three consecutive
verses separating the bridges, the middle one of which is a kind of instrumental break.
Melody and Harmony
In our previous looks at other Harrisongs I've often noted George's pronounced taste for
wandering chord progressions that are less goal orientated than the average. The harmony of this
one is actually quite a bit more teleological than usual for George, but we do find here, in the
verse, an early example of “sustained pedal” harmony; a device which, before much longer,
would become George's predominant style trait as he entered what you might call his
unabashedly Indian Period.
And yet, as obvious it may seem for us to associate this device of pedal harmony with the
static, non harmonic drone-based basis of Indian classical music, I also wonder if there is not a
heretofore overlooked and much more direct connection between the device and the early-to-mid
musical style of the Beatles! In particular, I'm thinking of the number of songs by John which
conspicuously start off with at least 4 bars or more of the I chord; off the top of the head, try
“Ticket To Ride” and “Day Tripper”, but above all don't forget “Tomorrow Never Knows” and
“Rain”.
Overall, I'd describe the home key as flavor of A Major that is modally inflected by the heavy
use in the verses of the flat-VII chord superimposed over that pedal harmony of the I chord. The
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bridge provides a very clear and decided modulation to the unusual key choice of ii (i.e. b
minor).
The melody of the verse is in straight Mixolydian mode; that's the scale with the Major 3rd
and the flat 7th — think of it as the white note scale starting on G. By way of contrast, the bridge
tune is in an equally straightforward minor mode.
Though somewhat disguised by the three part harmony of the verses, the melody of this song,
throughout, lives within an extremely constricted range, with mostly stepwise motion, and a
great deal of circular repetition; you may find it interesting to compare with “You Like Me Too
Much.”
Pitch-wise, the verse tune is centered around A, and uses only four more notes – G, B, C#,
and D. The bridge tune rounds this out by adding F# and A# (of all things) to the mix. Also, the
G# that you'd normally expect to find in the key of A Major makes its first appearance in the
harmony of the bridge.
Arrangement
The hypnotically fuzzy solo guitar sound used at the very beginning of the song rather
pervades the entirety of it; sometimes doubling the main vocal line, and also reiterating the
opening hook in between the buttons.
George starts off the first verse with a double tracked vocal solo, but Paul and John quickly
join him on the title/hook-phrase in a bit of three-part block-move triadic harmony uncannily
reminiscent of “Think For Yourself”, right down to the subtle detail of your being able to hear
John somehow raspily loudest of all. George’s double- tracked solo part returns for the bridges,
but all the rest of the verses, other than that first one, are sung entirely in 3-parts. There's a really
nice detail that I was originally going to map out but decided to leave it as an exercise for the
listener—note how the phrases of 3-part harmony start off in parallel 5/3 chords, but then shift at
the melodic apex to the 6/3 inversion.
Finicky changes in the percussion part are yet again used to help punctuate formal contrast.
The tambourine is struck on beats 2 and 4 of each measure of the verses, but in the bridges it is
shaken in fast-moving even eighth notes.
In the last phrase of almost every verse section (including the instrumental) Ringo provides
an eighth-note figure on the bass drum that leads into a cymbal crash coinciding with the word
“Someone.” Do you suppose his leaving this out during the final verse was out of a desire to
avoid what I call foolish consistency, or the result of his being asleep at the switch?
Intro
The song opens with an archetypically Beatlesque layered design, the likes of which makes
the fact that this one was recorded on the same day as “Day Tripper” seem like more than a
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coincidence; for that matter, both songs make uncommonly heavy use of an ostinato figure, as
well.
Entrances are leisurely staggered over the course of the intro and first two verses, starting
with just solo guitar, followed by the rest of the instruments, then George, and finally, the
backing vocals; the latter, singing only on the hook phrase at first, and then later, for the entire
verse.
The four-measure intro is built out of two repetitions of a two-bar solo guitar ostinato lick
that cleverly anticipates the tune which is about to follow without necessarily giving it away, so
to speak. Think, for example, about the similarities between the two of pitch content and range,
the gentle but unceasing offbeat syncopation, and the implied superimposition of the G chord
over the home key chord A.
Verse
The verse is a typical eight measures long, though it parses into an extremely atypical threephrase pattern, of 2+3+3:
|phrase #1------|phrase #2--------------|phrase #3--------------|
|A
||||A/G
||A
||
A: I
flat-VII susp
I
b: flat-VII
[Figure 88.1]
There is virtually no harmonic motion in this section; the sense of home key arising more out
of the insistence of the drone-like bass note than from chord 'progression' per se.
The section that I've labeled as an instrumental break might be more properly called a “verse
without words”, given that its texture is built out of wall-to-wall 3-part vocal harmonies and a
guitar solo variation on the opening ostinato figure that is almost buried in the mix.
Bridge
The bridge is also eight measures in length but is built more simply out of two even phrases:
b:
|e
iv
|F#
V
|-
|b
i
|e
iv
|F#
V
|b
i
A: ii
|E
|
V
[Figure 88.2]
The harmony of this section features an almost textbook-perfect pivot modulation to the key
of b minor. In particular, on the way back to the home key at the end of the section, you get a
clear opportunity to observe how the mind reinterprets the b minor chord in measure 7
retrospectively as the ii of of A once you've heard the E Major chord that follows it.
The home key of A Major is established by traditional V->I means rather belatedly as this
section moves into the following verse. In fact, this is the only place in the song where the E
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Major chord, with its concomitant use of G# (as opposed to the G natural of the flat-VII chord),
appears.
I'll leave most of the appoggiaturas in this song for you to find for yourself, save the piquant
9->8 job in measures 4 of this section (on the phrase “been like this”) because it is so
quintessentially George-like.
Outro
The outro is a partial reprise of the instrumental middle break, in this instance truncated to
just two measures worth of vamping on the I chord, modified to incorporate the exact original
ostinato figure instead of a copycat variation of it, and followed by that memorable final chord
with the guitars playing plain open fifths instead of the complete triad.
Some Final Thoughts
But what's 'e trying to say? It seems to me that the lyric is saturated by a conditional planand promise-making to an extreme that seriously belies the protagonist's claim of being too much
in love" right (yes) now, thank you.
Of course, whether such a mixed message be art or artifice, who can really tell for sure?
“I don't really know, but it sounded distinguished, like, didn't it?” 111093#88
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Run For Your Life
Key: D Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse / Refrain | Verse / Refrain |
| Break (instrumental) | Verse / Refrain |
| Verse / Refrain | Outro (fade-out)
Style and Form
Everybody, including John himself, has apologized or made excuses for this song somewhere
along the line.
You'd think that this one must be one of the more obvious last-minute fillers hastily thrown
together before the Rubber Soul drop-deadline. When you go to check Lewisohn's recording
diary, though, you're surprised to find out that it was one of the first tracks recorded for the new
album! Furthermore, we now live in a time where we’ve been sensitized and dismayed by a
rising tide of ubiquitous domestic violence to the point where the words of this song seem in
plain bad taste. Personally, I can vouch that even way back at the time of its initial release,
people thought that the Jealous-Guy-Posturing heard here was at least a tad over-stated,
especially for supposedly good clean fun.
It's a shame since musically at least, even if it's not top-draw Beatles music circa late '65, it's
not really such a bad song, per se. The style is that hard-to-categorize mix of blues (dig that lead
guitar riff), pop-rock (the old cliche I-vi chord progression), and even a touch of the folksy (if
you'll note the use of the acoustic rhythm guitar) so characteristic of the middle-period Boys.
The form is distinguished by a primary section that combines elements of both Verse and
Refrain (compare this with “Wait” ), a 12-bar blues frame for the instrumental break, and an
overall repeat pattern that doesn't quite match any of our more typical one or two bridge models.
Melody and Harmony
The I-vi cliche (and here, I'm talking about just I-vi, and not the case where it continues to
IV-V) was a veritable staple of the early Beatles vocabulary, especially John's, whether in “From
Me To You”, “All I've Got To Do”, “It Won't Be Long”, and “Not A Second Time.” With the
exception of this song and the somewhat older “It's Only Love” the device would seem to more
or less disappear during the middle period.
In this specific instance, the I-vi gesture adds more than local color to the chord progressions;
in fact, the song has a rather skewed harmonic center of gravity, to the extent that in spite of a
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clear home key of D Major, all the verse sections veer straight off toward a cadence in the
relative minor key of b. Even the tune, taken without any of the chords to provide you with any
external hints, suggests the key of b much more so than 'D'.
The lead guitar sets a bluesy tone right off the bat that is picked up only partially by the
vocalists. The opening guitar riff makes prominent use of both flat 3rd and 7th degrees, whereas
the tune makes passing use of the flat 3rd, and otherwise eschews the flat 7th in favor the of the
“naturally occurring” Major one.
Arrangement
The final mix has an almost Wilburys-like richness that is ironic considering the relatively
spare forces at play; three guitars (one each: acoustic, electric, and bass), lightly exercised drum
kit, and tambourine.
The vocal parts are fussily both arranged and recorded. John sings the verse sections single
tracked and close to trembling, exposed as he is at the high end of his comfort zone, all the way
up to F# and G; compare this with “Baby's In Black.” In the refrains, John sounds double tracked
with each of his vocals split to a different channel, and he his joined by George and Paul for a
spot of harmonizing. Note how they sort of trail off at the end of each section (right after the hard
“D” in “end-AHH”) leaving John exposed (well almost) yet again.
Paired repetitions of the opening guitar riff recur throughout the song (with the exception of
immediately before and after the break) as a kind of connective tissue between sections. Most
recently, we had seen this same device in a song of a rather different color, “In My Life”
.
Intro
The song provides, still, yet another layered opening. The vamping acoustic guitar leads off,
joined next by the lead guitar, bass guitar, and tambourine, followed by the lead vocal and drum
kit at the start of the first verse, with the backing vocals added for the refrain.
The intro itself is six measures long and based on just one chord. The acoustic guitar starts
off just before the first downbeat, though the way the part is accented, it's not entirely clear
where the beat is until the other's join in; compare this with the very opening of “Drive My Car.”
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Verse/Refrain
This compound section is sixteen measures in length. The verse is in a 4+4 AA pattern, and
the refrain is in a 2+2+4 BBB' pattern:
--------------- 2X ---------------|D
||b
||
D: I
vi
|b
vi
|E
V-of-V
|b
vi
|E
V-of-V
|
|b
vi
|e
ii
iv
|b
|-
|
b:
F#
V
i
[Figure 89.1]
The inner form of the refrain is nicely supported by the harmony. The vi chord moves twice
in a row to V-of-V (E Major), only to fool you the third time around by going to ii (e minor, in
the the 6/3 inversion, no less!) instead, and then it veers off sharply to the key of b minor. It's a
ready/set/surprise kind of setup.
The repetition of V-of-V (which raises your expectation of the V, itself, arriving) in a context
where V is actually deferred for quite a while, as well as the contrasting alternation between Vof-V and ii (with its concomitant G#/G-natural cross-relation) is a favorite Beatles device going
way back; the similarity between our example of it here with “Eight Days A Week” is
particularly striking.
The modulation to b minor is, of course, quite short-lived, with a rising chromatic bass line
lick taking the music straight back home to D.
Break
This instrumental break is in true-blue 12-bar form. It's a trick to which The Boys would
resort from time to time, seemingly on those occasions when they couldn't think of anything else.
The only deviation here from the absolutely classic mold is the repeat of the V chord in
measures 9 and 10 instead of having V move to IV. This, by the way, is the only place that V
appears in the entire song!
The guitar solo grows so smoothly out of the recurring rifflet you've heard throughout that
you barely notice that the song has gone off on a bit of a formalistic tangent at this point.
The rising chromatic bass lick is conspicuously not heard as we come out of the break
because we're already in the home key of D at this point and there's no need to transition back
from b minor in this instance.
Outro
The outro begins as though they were cycling back still one more time for another verse, but
after the rising chromatic riff and the vamping lead hook we proceed to get a repeat, seemingly
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ad-infinitum, of the guitar hook alternating with John's scat singing of fragments of what sound
like variations on the chromatic riff.
Some Final Thoughts
One of my private pet compositional hunches about the Beatles is that they preferred the
complete ending over the fadeout more strongly than the average band of their period.
Unfortunately I don't have at my fingertips the actuarially global statistics needed to prove such a
point; it remains a gut feeling for me. Indeed, if the Rubber Soul album itself were any indication
one way or the other, its 50/50 showing in this department would seem equivocal.
There's a much more easily calculable statistic related to the above that's intriguing to
consider -- the complete-versus-fadeout status of songs which close Beatles albums. If you look
at the canonical British lineup of the first 6 albums, (Please Please Me through Rubber Soul),
you'll discover the score as 4 to 2 in favor of complete endings for the final tracks. Most
interesting of all is that all four of the albums with the complete endings close with a cover song!
The two fadeouts are “I'll Be Back” on “A Hard Days Night” and our song, here.
Plotting this idea much beyond Rubber Soul gets into some tricky areas. For example, how to
parse Magical Mystery Tour; the EP ended w/ “Blue Jay Way” (complete), but the expanded
album ends w/ “All You Need is Love” (fadeout). Similarly, does the Yellow Submarine album
end with “All You Need Is Love”, or the second side's worth of George Martin instrumental
fantasies? Even better, with respect to Revolver, does “Tomorrow Never Knows” feature a
complete ending or a fadeout; even better than better, what about “A Day In The Life”?
Let's stay with my simplifying assumption about the first six albums for now. Granted, this
might be a complete coincidence devoid of any forethought. Even if it were intentional, I'm not
sure if one could easily prove which factor (the choice of covers, of the choice of a complete
ending) was the cause versus the effect in this circumstance. Even so, it's a detail hard to not
ponder once you've noticed it.
“Get out while you can, ladies.” 112893#89
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Paperback Writer and Rain
Introduction
This double-A single marks one of the most significant nodal points in the compositional and
recording development of the Beatles. After the just-in-time for Christmas release of Rubber Soul
the Beatles took a four month break from the studio. They went straight to work on what was to
become the Revolver album in early April ’66, and the two songs on this single, released in June
(two months ahead of the album) were recorded just a couple weeks into the new sessions.
The subject matter, musical style, and recording technique of both “Paperback Writer” and
“Rain” make them as qualitatively different from what we heard on the album which preceded
them as they presage the album which was yet to follow. The release of “Penny Lane” b/w
“Strawberry Fields Forever” as an antecedent to the Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band LP
is the other major single of theirs to have this level of potent prescience in terms of an album in
progress.
The other important angle to a study of this pair of songs is the extreme to which they bear
comparison and contrast with each other. Each of these songs reflects so clearly its respective
composer, and yet at the same time, there are similarities galore which reflect not only crossinfluence, but I suspect, a subtle element of competitive looking over each other's shoulders.
We've explored this notion several times before in this series, most notably in connection with
“All My Loving/ It Won't Be Long” and “She Said She Said/ Good Day Sunshine.”
So what are the similarities in this case?
Key – both songs “sound” in the key of G, even though the backing track for “Rain” was
recorded at a faster tempo and higher key, and slowed down during the mixing phase to playback
differently.
Post-processed special effects- As Lewisohn puts it (Recording Sessions, p. 74), “both were
chock full of all the Revolver technical advancements: limiters, compressors, jangle boxes, Leslie
speakers, ADT.” More specifically, “Paperback Writer” has the tape echo at the end of the
alternate verse sections, and “Rain”, in addition to the modified tape speed, includes the much
talked about played-backwards vocal in its outro.
Wall-of-sound texture – Even without the special effects, both songs have a noticeably denser,
punchier texture than virtually anything else done by the group up until this point, largely the
result of the standout drumming, bass work, and heavily over-dubbed vocal harmony on both
cuts.
Drone-like harmony – Neither song is literally built on a pedal point, though both of them use
very few chords, and contain sustained passages over the I chord that lend a static feeling to the
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harmony overall. At other times, the Beatles could delightfully take you by surprise with a novel
chord progression, but in this case they seem to be transfixed by an aesthetic of stasis.
Subject matter – Neither is a love song. “Nowhere Man” was the only other time, to date, where
they had tried anything like this, but from this point forward, this tendency to comment on things
social or experiential would become increasingly pronounced. And then again, there are those
yin-yang/John-versus-Paul points of contrast between the two songs, and what's particularly
delicious about some of these is that they are embedded within factors that would otherwise
seem at a superficial level to be common denominators rather than points of departure:
Tempo – This pair of songs constitute what might be among the fastest and slowest ever songs
done by the Beatles to-date. In the case of “Paperback Writer”, listen to how fast the “1-2-3-etc.”
count-in is on the pair of bootlegs that are in the public domain (I use the latter term loosely :-)),
and the fact that take 1 of the backing track breaks down because, as George notes on the tape, it
keeps getting faster. In the case of “Rain”, John’s ultra-slow harmonic rhythm and his scanning
of the words (see the bullet on Prosody) manage to project an almost catatonically measured
pace in spite of all furious activity in the textural foreground.
Perspective on the respective subject matter – Paul's essay is a gritty, journalistic slice of life
on the sleazy side, starting off in the first person and cleverly shifting 'round to a self- referential
third-person focus as the book is described. Indeed, you must see the photograph of Paul's
manuscript for the lyrics, not only written out literally in the form of a letter (opening – Dear Sir
[or Madam]), but signed by one “Ian Iachimoe.” Talk about vague references or hard trivia
questions; who's 'e, eh? John, true to his own form, turns in an elliptical tirade in the third person
about what “they” do when the metaphorical rain comes; inscrutable on the surface but pregnant
with deeply embedded meaning.
Modality of the home key – “Paperback Writer” is quite Mixolydian. For example, the tune
places great emphasis on the melodic flat 7th, and the harmony includes I, ii, and IV but *not* V;
if you check the bootleg take 1 you can actually hear them playing V in the intro and refrain
sections but in the final mix it's deftly mixed out! "Rain", on the other hand, though it is
harmonically much more clearly in the Major mode (check out the I-IV-V chord vocabulary),
manages to convey a modal feel by virtue of its pseudo-pentatonic melody (note how the lead
vocal contains no 2nd or 7th scale degree – i.e. no 'A's or 'F's), and the open-fifth drone like
harmonies of its refrain sections.
Prosody of the verbal delivery – “Prosody” is a technical term describing the manner in which
words are rhythmically declaimed together with accompanying music. In contrast, say, to the
almost deadly four-square delivery heard in a song like "Yellow Submarine", “Paperback Writer”
provides as good an example as you’ll ever find of syllables pleasurably ricocheting off an
underlying beat. “Rain”, in contrast, is performed in style in which the words seem to be
intoxicatingly, and/or counter-intuitively fighting against the beat. The Master (if not outright
inventor) of this technique circa 1966 was Bob Dylan. To the extent that it would become a
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very Lennonesque trademark as well from this point on is, to me, evidence of a to-date
uncharted, overlooked subtle point of Dylan's influence on the Beatles.
And on that note, let us move on, finally, to our closer look at each of these songs in turn.
Page 456 of 962
Paperback Writer
Key: G Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse | Verse' | Refrain (intro) |
| Verse | Verse' | Refrain (intro) | Outro (fade-out)
Recorded: 13th, 14th April 1966, Abbey Road 3
UK-release: 10th May 1966 (Double-A Single / "Rain")
US-release: 30th May 1966 (Double-A Single / "Rain")
Style and Form
This song is definitely in the top tier of Beatles' hardest rocking cuts. In addition to the fast
tempo and gutsy backing track, the melodic flat 7th of the Mixolydian mode and the 12-measure
verse lengths add a touch of the Blues.
The form is made curious by virtue of the a capella opening (see “Nowhere Man”), the
doubling up of the verses, and the recurrence of that unusual intro as a sort of refrain section.
I've commented elsewhere about how, whenever you have a song that starts off with a vocal
pickup, the unedited studio tape must have on it some amount of pre-take cueing of the starting
pitch for the singers. Take 2 of this song provides a perfect proof of this, where you can here
them, just before the actual count-in singing the word “Paperback ...” in a nervously tentative
stage whisper.
Melody and Harmony
The tune has the bouncing rhythm and limited melodic contour of a patter song, or even
“talkin' blues”, though just the same, it does manage to fill out the full octave in a rather clever
way. Harmony is used quite frugally to static effect. To the extent that the V chord is suppressed
from appearing throughout, the sense of home key is left to establish itself via the relatively
weak plagal cadence of the IV chord, and a kind of drone-like, manifest insistence of the I chord.
Arrangement
The vocal parts are worked out and varied to an unusual extent. George and John's backing
vocals play off of Paul's double-tracked lead vocal, sometimes antiphonally (the intro),
sometimes in accompaniment (Frere Jacques), and yet at other times in chorus (the hook line at
the end of each verse). Alas, the vocal parts don't sound quite as well rehearsed as they are
ambitious. After repeated close listenings to the recording you can't help notice the often ragged
ensemble cutoffs at phrase endings or entrances.
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The fancy vocal parts are just about upstaged by the much discussed Motown-like punchy
bass part and the syncopated lead guitar riff. For that matter, you can't overlook Ringo's betweenthe-sections drum fills here.
Though they were an trademark of the Early Beatles sound, they kind of disappear for the
most part during Rubber Soul, yet make a welcome return on both sides of this single, and on
many other Revolver cuts as well.
Intro
The intro is eight measures long:
|A capella vocals---------------||Guitar riff-------------------|
|C
|G
|a
|||G
||||
G: IV
I
ii
I
[Figure 91.1]
The first half is set for pseudo-a capella voices in a pattern of cascading antiphony that is
something off the beaten path for these guys. The large number of overdubs makes it sound as
though many more than just three people were singing; a modest anticipation of what would
surface much later in the likes of “Because.”
In the second half we suddenly are faced with almost the entire instrumental backing
ensemble executing a double-barreled iteration of a really knockout ostinato riff for lead guitar
and bass drum; one that I'd say is easily way up in there the same class with the one from “Day
Tripper” in terms of both its distinctive melodic contour and craggy syncopations that extend
over one and a half of the ostinato's two-measure length.
The outtakes reveal two subtle points about this intro:
• The finished recording is mixed to sound as though the intro were performed “ad libitum”,
but the outtakes prove that it is very much done in tempo. Take 2 contains both a count-in
and a metronomic tapping out of the beat on what sounds like a cymbal, not only through
the entire first half of the intro but in every other ‘refrain' where the a capella vocal section
is repeated. Darn clever how this tapping track is so neatly mixed out of the final version.
• The harmony of the a capella section sounds on the finished recording as I've diagrammed
it above: just I, IV, and ii. In take 1, though, you can clearly hear a skeletal backing track
(placed there, I assume, to provide sotto voce support for the singers at the vocal overdub
stage) which shows that they originally intended to have a V chord in the fourth measure.
Once you know it's there in the outtake, you start noticing how on the final version it's
there as well, but somehow was mixed way down but not quite out, deftly, every time the
phrase is repeated; there must be some pretty fast fingers on those faders.
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The bass/guitar riff strikes with tremendous power when it is heard for the first time. The
preceding a cappella section, in spite of its being in the same fast tempo as what follows it,
conveys, from its four-square and slow rhythmic pattern, a sense of pent-up potential energy that
is mercifully unleashed when the riff kicks in.
The bass drumming that backs the lead guitar riff is so sharp that when the bass guitar finally
enters at the tail end of this intro with a pickup to the intro you think for a second that maybe
you're hearing an overdubbed second bass part; but it's not so.
Verse
The twelve measure length of this verse is phrased (AAB) like a blues frame even though the
harmony doesn't fit the classic pattern:
--------------- 2X ---------------|G
|C
|G
||
G: I
IV6/4
I
|C
IV
|-
|G
I
|-
|
[Figure 91.2]
The C chord in measures 2 and 6 is elusive, indeed. For starters, the bass line gives a pedal
tone-like stress to the note G throughout the first eight measures, placing the C chord in the
extremely weak 6/4 (aka 'second') inversion.
Secondarily, the melody stresses the note D during measures 2 and 6, creating a sense of the
C and G chords being superimposed over one another.
The second verse of each pair ends with that startling and unprecedented tape echo effect in
measure 12.
You'd think that the singers held their notes all the way through the end of the measure, and
that the special effect consists of distortion being applied to what they had sung in real time.
Surprisingly, take 2 demonstrates that the vocalists actually had cut off sharply at the end of
measure 11; meaning that the measure's worth of echo was deftly spliced on as an extension of
the original vocal.
George and John have a bit of fun in the second pair of verses, sneaking in a counter-melody
backing part based on the nursery tune “Frere Jacques”. In the second of the two verses, they
step their vocals up a notch in pitch, thereby creating a subtle feeling at that point of
intensification.
Refrain
This is, in each case, virtually a note-for-note reprise of the intro. The recurring sudden
change of pace between this section and the frantic bustle of the surrounding lends to the song an
overall a wrenching subtext.
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Outro
The outro is based on a variation of the antiphonal vocal of the intro. In the intro the
“answerer” had rhythmically imitated the “caller.” Here, the answering part is modified to a more
rejoinder-like snappy double time. This new pattern is repeated completely four times into a
fadeout with all sound failing just after the start of the fifth iteration.
During the guitar riff half of the refrain that precedes this outro we find an example of the
small rough edges they obviously thought weren't worth sanding off because no one would ever
notice them. In this case, we hear a throat being cleared and someone (I believe it's George)
making sure he has the right pitch he'll need to sing at the start of the outro; in falsetto, no less!
Page 460 of 962
Rain
Key: G Major
Meter: 4/4
| Verse | Refrain | Verse | Outro (fade-out)
Recorded: 14th April 1966, Abbey Road 3; 16th April 1966, Abbey Road 2
UK-release: 10th June 1966 (Double-A Single / "Paperback Writer")
US-release: 30th May 1966 (Double-A Single / "Paperback Writer")
Style and Form
For all of its musical and technical innovation, it's a bit ironic to note how standard is the
form and harmonic content of this song. Though no sitars or other ethnic world music
instruments are used here, the style of the song very much connotes the style of classical Indian
music by virtue of the droning harmony and the, at times florid tune.
Melody and Harmony
As far back as “Love Me Do” (amazingly), John and Paul had stumbled onto a novel use of
spicy little trills and langorously stretched out melismas that, along with sung open and parallel
fifths, is truly one of the more subtle trademarks of their early “sound.” Here, what is essentially
the identical technique is pushed beyond the routine envelope to create an entirely new and
exotically foreign effect.
Aside from ornamentation, the tune is structurally organized in a very Indian manner; with
the approximate two halves of the melodic octave each isolated to its own respective section of
the song; the verse stays carefully within low G up to E, while the refrain deals with the upper
end of the octave, from the high G down to middle C.
The harmonic budget is frugal to the extreme of creating, what I can only assume is, an
intentionally static effect. You'd expect the use of I-IV-V throughout this song to create a much
more non-modally inflected sense of G Major as the home key than was the case in “Paperback
Writer”. It's intriguing, though, to contemplate how the even more widespread use in “Rain” of
superimposed chords and the ornamentalized melody manage to over-ride the sense of clear
Major mode and suggest something Modally tangy in flavor, even though the 'letter' of the
musical text does not support this notion!
Arrangement
Both vocal and instrumental tracks on this song were subjected to speed changes in between
original recording and mix-down for mastering, and this detail accounts for, as much as any other
factor, the psychedelic, surreal quality that surrounds the whole of it.
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Lewisohn tells us that the backing track was performed in fast tempo (and, implicitly, in a
higher key than G), so that it could be slowed down on playback to what we have on the final
recording; thus altering not only the pitch but the 'textural' sound of the ensemble. The vocals (at
least John's lead) were manipulated in the opposite direction (though Lewisohn inadvertently
tries to confuse us on this point); in other words, John sang for the recording in a slower tempo
and lower key, so that on faster playback his 'Mickey Mouse' vocal not only presents him
uncharacteristically beyond his normal upper range, but also with an eerily hyperactive vibrato in
his throat.
John's double-tracked lead vocal is accompanied by George and Paul in the verses, and by
John Himself in the refrains. The backers starts in the second verse, where they either echo and
comment on what the lead sings or else they "emboss" what he sings by harmonizing right along
with him.
Ringo has a veritable field day on the drums and cymbals throughout. Also, even on this
relatively 'progressive' track, they take the time to bother with one of their so typically fussy
tambourine parts; on all four beats in the intro, on alternate even-numbered beats in the first pair
of verses and the refrains, and shaken on every eighth note of the measure in verses three and
four.
Intro
We have here as attention-grabbing an opening in its own way as is the a capella vocal
opening of “Paperback Writer”; a ra-ta-tat half-measure's fanfare of solo snare drums, followed
by four measures of the drone-like guitar vamping on the I chord (equally reminiscent of both
tamboura and pipes) that pervades the piece.
The lower reaches of the arrangement definitely sounds as though there are some kind of
open fifths at play; whether they are sounded entirely by the bass guitar, or are a composite of
bass and lead guitar is not easy to ascertain given the level of distortion applied to the finished
track.
Verse
The verse is an asymmetrically phrased nine measures in length; parsed as 5 (actually 3+2) +
4:
G:
|G
I
|C
IV
|C
IV
D
V
|C
IV
D
V
|G
I
|G
I
|
|-
|G
I
|
|-
|
[Figure 91.3]
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Uneven phrase lengths are another good example of an offbeat compositional technique that
had been a manifest part of the Beatles arsenal from the very beginning, and yet, it is used here
in the (shall we call it) Late-Middle-Period to very different effect than it had been back in the
days of “Love Me Do”, “P.S. I Love You”, and the like.
Toward the end of the second verse there's quite a blooper. It's hard to unravel what was the
respective cause and effect of it, but it sounds like between John's behind-the-beat delivery of the
words and a hesitating screw up of the bass part by Paul right where the chord is supposed to
change back to G in measure 8, they manage to add a dizzying excess pair of beats or so and still
keep going. I suspect that this was unplanned but kept in the final version anyway because of its
serendipitously appropriate off-kilter effect in context.
Measures 6-7 feature an implied superimposition of G over the C chord similar to that seen in
“Paperback Writer”
Near the beginning of the third verse (~1:20 into the track) there is what sounds like a faintly
sounded cueing beep. Was this supposed to be a half-hearted anticipation of the similar effect
near the mid-point of “Tomorrow Never Knows” (you know, the thing that sounds like “at the
tone the time is ...”), or is this some kind of subtle clue that this song actually dates from the
Twickenham Get Back sessions of 1/69 ? (Just kidding!)
Refrain
The refrain is twelve measures, and is built out of a repetition of the same (again, non foursquare) six-measure phrase:
--------------------- 2X ---------------------|G
||C
||G
||
I
IV6/4
I
[Figure 91.4]
This section conveys a sense of ecstatic slowing down even though the tempo here is the
same as it was for the verses. This effect is created by the change of beat for the first four
measures from its erstwhile bounce to something more plodding and regular, combined with the
suddenly with the slower harmonic rhythm of the section and the yawningly stretched out vocals.
At the end of this section, the illusion of speed change is spun in the opposite direction by the
way in which you feel an acceleration when the bouncier beat resumes in the final two measures.
The time warp effect is pushed still one step further in the second refrain by the addition of
slow triplets to the bass line in the first four measures. Yet again one more example of a
technique we've seen in so many earlier Beatles songs, that is recycled here to a different, more
strange effect than usual. Looked at from the opposite perspective, you might say that while a
song like “Rain” makes you know we're not in Kansas any longer, it still does seem like the Boys
sure wanted to take along a lot of their same old clothing for the big trip.
We have the same elusive kind of C6/4 chord in this refrain as we saw in “Paperback Writer”.
This time, also it is superimposed over open fifth G Major drone in the lower parts.
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Outro
The outro commences with what seems at first like an ad-libitum general pause and a short
passage for drums and bass guitar. If you count along carefully you discover though that the
entire thing is quite in tempo, and exactly three measures long.
What follows at this point is the unprecedented (and in retrospect, historically significant)
trailing vocal of John's, dubbed over the backing track by playing a tape of his earlier vocal in
reverse. The actual splicing and mixing in of this special effect was done very smoothly,
especially by the standards of '66 technology. No pops, no clicks, no sudden change of ambience,
etc.
If you have any doubt about the technique used here, you can either spin your turntable
backwards, or transcribe the trailing vocal part and sing it yourself in reverse. The only
suspicious thought I have concerns the sustained sung note 'C' which occurs fairly well into the
fadeout, and which, for the life of me, I cannot find the counterpart of in the original “forward”
vocal.
Some Final Thoughts
As ground-breaking as this single was, it somehow didn't turn out to be so record-breaking
on the charts. Don't get me wrong; by the standards of mere mortals, the single did just fine in
terms of chart position and copies sold. But by the standards of Beatlemania, it didn't come close
to some of the really big hits. Wha' happened!? Were these two songs, at the time, perhaps a bit
too original, or could it have been the opposite—were we all becoming a bit blasé where the
Beatles were concerned?
I can only speak for myself, and indeed, I'll be the first one to admit my own experiences
may not be typical... but I know they're mine. A warning though – unbridled soppy nostalgia runs
rampant in the next couple paragraphs. You may want to turn back now.
The first time I heard “Paperback Writer” was from a jukebox in the Seagull Coffee Shop, on
Brighton Beach Avenue (under the 'El', and not far from the boardwalk), sitting with a group of
extended friends at a couple of tables pushed together, all of us wallowing in the euphoria of a
terminal case of High School Senior-itis; and this new song by the Beatles was our soundtrack
that late spring afternoon . It's strange how after all these years I can still remember pausing for a
moment to acknowledge it with a head nodding “oh well, will you listen to that!”, but then also
quickly diving back into the conversation that had been interrupted. Funny how I can't remember
a thing about the contents of that conversation, yet I do remember the music; vividly!
Within two months, things changed radically. I remember coming home from my stint as
music counselor at a “sleep-away” camp, flipping on the newfangled “stereo” receiver I had been
given as a graduation present by my parents, tuning in the radically new upscale FM rock station
(Scott Muni on WNEW, no fooling) and hearing for the first time the Boys' really new double-A
side; “Yellow Submarine” b/w “Eleanor Rigby”. By this time, no one was blasé about it any
more, or in the least.
Page 464 of 962
But at this, all excess reminiscence aside, I'm getting way ahead of our story.
“When you're not thumping them pagan skins, you're tormenting your eyes with that rubbish.” 122293#91
Page 465 of 962
Taxman
Key: D Major
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse / Refrain | Verse / Refrain | Bridge |
| Verse(guitar solo)/ Refrain | Verse / Refrain |
| Verse / Refrain | Outro (fade out)
Recorded: 20th-22nd April, 16th May 1966, Abbey Road 2;
21st June 1966, Abbey Road 3
Style and Form
They seemed to always open their albums with something hard-driving, loud, and relatively
up-tempo; you'd think they were running to catch a bus. Indeed, the ever-popular American lineup for Rubber Soul which opens with the gentle, folksy “I've Just Seen A Face” would seem to
be notably if only slightly at odds with this trend; after all, even it is fast.
“Taxman” turns out to be George's one-time-only shot at the first track position, and though
his offering surely grooves with adequate oomph to match its predecessors, the song is still an
album-opening change of pace in terms of its exotic flavor in the music and absence of love
interest in the lyrics. I half wonder if the campy count-in is meant as a direct self-parody of “I
Saw Her Standing There” or not.
The form is relatively flat, with many iterations of the same Verse/Refrain “combination”
section and a bridge that is musically not much different from the rest of the song.
Melody and Harmony
The song contains a great deal of modal flavor from the extent to which both the tune and the
chord choices place stress on the flat 7th degree, i.e. C natural. The choice of mode is difficult to
judge (given a choice between Mixolydian and Dorian) because the 3rd scale degree is avoided
entirely in the tune, and in the harmony, we are frequently given the tangy Major/minor I chord,
which depending on which of the two you think dominates, could indicate either Mixolydian or
Dorian.
The tune is otherwise pentatonic (C,D,E,G,A) and mantra-like in the way it obsessively
noodles around with a limited number of motifs and within a limited range.
The harmony contains relatively few chords; just the “Hey Jude” trio of I, flat-VII, and IV
(i.e. D, C, and G) plus one belated appearance of flat-III (i.e. F) strategically deployed to signal
the nearing of the end. In other words, there's no V chord!
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Arrangement
The underlying beat, which in most respects is hard driving, is made a bit awkwardly
ambling or lurching by virtue of sharp syncopations and uneven section lengths.
On a different plane, the intensity of the music increases and the texture thickens over the
course of the song.
Perhaps the best previous example of this gambit that that we've seen to-date is “You Won't
See Me.” Paul provides yet another effective bass line ostinato figure, and makes an even more
impressive “debut” on lead guitar with his rapid- fire and wide-ranging solo; modal inflections,
bent notes and all. Ringo gets yet another chance to show his stuff, as usual, in the joints between
formal sections.
George's lead vocal is double-tracked as is his wont. John and Paul provide a varied backing
vocal; embossing the lead in each refrain, adding a rejoinder to the lead in the penultimate verse,
and reinforcing with a 3-part “Taxman!” the one-two guitar chops in the guitar solo and final
verse.
Intro
The track opens up with a phony spliced-in “count-off”, the effect of which is made whacky
by the tone of what sounds like George's artificially slowed-down speaking voice, the sound of a
guitar's stray noodling in the background, seemingly random fast-backward tape noises, and the
fact the this count off is not in the same tempo as the music which follows. Listen closely and
you can hear Paul calling out the real count-off (especially by the time he reaches “four!”) .
When the music starts, we are given two measures worth of instrumental vamping on the
bass line ostinato that pervades the song. The melodic contour and rhythmic pattern of this figure
make for an interesting comparison with the ostinati of “Day Tripper” and “Paperback Writer.”
Though hard syncopations feature prominently all three of them, the figures of the earlier two
songs spread out over two full measures and have an arch-like melodic shape. In our current
song, the duration of the figure is one measure only and it's melodic contour, such as it is, is
much more like a saw tooth than an arch; overall, it lends the song a feeling of being tense and
tightly wound.
Verse/Refrain
The thirteen-measure verse starts off straightforwardly enough with an eight measure (4+4,
AA) couplet, but it is asymmetrically balanced off by a five-measure phrase which subdivides
into 3 measures of refrain plus the same two measures of vamping from the outro; the underlying
effect of which is artfully lopsided:
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--------------- 2X ---------------Verse: |D
||||
D: I
Refrain: |C
|D: flat-VII
|G
IV
|D
I
|-
|
[Figure 92.1]
A strong hint of the 12-bar blues manages to assert itself in this verse in spite of the
asymmetry by virtue is the 'AAB' form, the rhetorical obligato-filled space at the end of each
“AA” phrase, the flat 3rds in the rhythm guitar chords and flat 7ths in the tune. Even the flat-VIIto- IV harmony of the 'B' phrase manages to sound like a paraphrase of the traditional V-to-IV
cliche of the 12-bar frame.
Those obligato-filled spaces at the end of the “AA” phrases are where the ever increasing
intensity over the course of the song, mentioned above, is manifested. The tone is set right off in
the first verse with those D Major/minor guitar chords sharply executed on 1-2, and reinforced
by sizzling cymbal slashes; the second verse adds tambourine first and later cowbell to the
percussion backing; the third verse adds more cowbell plus those “Ha, ha, Mr. Etc.” backing
vocals in falsetto; and in the final verse we get “Taxman!” in 3-part bold-italic harmony sung at
the top of their lungs, an effect first introduced at the very beginning of the guitar solo and that
returns at the start of the intro.
Bridge
The bridge is nine measures long and parses out as an “AA” couplet of parallel phrases, the
second one of which is elongated an extra measure for rhetorical emphasis:
D:
|D
I
|-
|-
|C
|
flat-VII
|D
I
|-
|-
|C
|flat-VII
|
[Figure 92.2]
The lead and backing vocals create a special effect in this section, with the vocal ensemble
harmonizing on the first portion of each phrase, and then allowing the lead to finish the phrase
while the backers sustain the last syncopated word of the first half-phrase.
Guitar Solo
The guitar solo fills the verse segment of "just another" Verse/Refrain section, though
without the usual vocal cues you almost don't notice that aspect even though the one-two cymbal
slashes *do* fall out in measures 3 and 7 as they usually do. You can trace an affinity of the Boys
for this kind of half-to-two-thirds instrumental at least as far back as ` "From Me To You."
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Paul's guitar solo is hot stuff; fast triplets, exotic modal touches, and a melodic shape which
traverses several octaves and ends with a breathtaking upward flourish. Barry, my erstwhile
sysops guy back at mirror.tmc.com, used to say this solo had all the earmarks of being
improvised an inveterate bass player, pointing out the extent to which this solo was motivically
linked to the bass line ostinato. On the other hand, this solo has always sounded to my ears
almost as though it were Clapton's own handiwork, only sped up to the frantically comical pace
of the Keystone Cops.
Once the lead guitarist finishes his solo, note how he stays on as a more ongoing presence for
the rest of the piece, more or less doubling the bass line ostinato an octave or two higher. It's a
subtle but definitely calculated contribution to the effect of ongoing increased intensity over the
course of the song.
Outro
The final refrain is modified in chord choice and extended an additional measure in length in
order to provide the kind of implicit deceleration that typically signals the end is near:
|Refrain:
Chords: |C
|Bass line:
D: flat-VII
|G
IV
|D
I
|Outro:
|F
||D
|...
|F ---- |- E D C|D ...
flat-III
[Figure 92.3]
The bass line provides an unusual, small twist of “counterpoint” in the way it helps fill out
the sustained two measures on the surprising F Major chord. Once the D chord is reached, we
head into the fadeout with a more or less literal reprise of the guitar solo.
Some Final Thoughts
What goes around comes around. Here we have George's turn at the wordy, droning, modal,
technologically whimsical (yet topically serious) Song Type. It's actually aged more gracefully
over the years than many another “political” song from the 60’s or any other period. Must be
something about the perennial inevitability of the subject matter; no joke or exaggeration – I
heard it played over the P.A. system at the local post office one recent Ides of April. Cheap joke,
huh?
In “Taxman's” original historical context of PW and R, though, you'd think, to paraphrase a
popular Peanuts video (of all things), that the Beatles suddenly could find No Time For Love. In
this respect, it's a shame the technology couldn't have supported a three-sided single; heck, add
“Eleanor Rigby”, and you'd have either the makings of an EP or a quartet for bridge.
“So Wilson said to Dubrovniev, 'come on, boy, we gotta swing”". 010594#92
Page 469 of 962
Eleanor Rigby
Key: e minor
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse / Refrain | Verse / Refrain | Bridge (intro) |
| Verse / Refrain| Outro (with complete ending)
Recorded: 28th April 1966, Abbey Road 2;
29th April, 6th June 1966, Abbey Road 3
UK-release: 5th August 1966 (Double-A Single / "Yellow Submarine”
and LP "Revolver")
Style and Form
As one of the most “serious” pieces of the entire Beatles cannon, this song straight-facedly
vaporized several commonly supposed limitations of what the 2-minute AM-radio pop/rock
musical genre might be capable of including within its purview and power of expression. Pigeonhole terms, such as Crossover, Fusion, or Hybrid, somehow don't seem to do it justice.
You can look at from at least two angles and try to pull it apart with great clinical precision;
the Verismo lyrics and grainy, tintype backing arrangement for strings on the one side, and the
more familiar bluesy, syncopated, boxy form on the other. But the truth here is even more elusive
than usual, and I dare say that the real irony of this song is to be confronted in the extreme to
which the otherwise analytically separable elements within its blend are so well synthesized.
Think of it as an amalgam whose elements can no longer be so easily separated ever again once
combined.
Although the music here is highly syncopated, instead of the jumpy kind of high-stepping
effect you'd expect, you find the song to be characterized overall by a gesture resembling an
anxious sigh (like a sharp, sudden intake of breath expelled in enervating slow motion) that
applies not only to foreground rhythm, but several other parameters as well, including harmonic
rhythm, phrasing, and even the contours of the tune itself.
The “story” is typical of Paul with its two characters who seem to be unrelated to each other
when introduced respectively in the first two verses, only to be brought into ironic proximity of
each other in the final scene, as though this were some kind of novel by Dos Passos, or Paul's not
much later song, “Penny Lane”. On the other hand, I can't help but sense the influence of John
upon Paul's particular choices of detailed imagery and idiosyncratic turns of phrase.
Melody and Harmony
The melody here is in the Dorian mode; that's the one with the minor 3rd but Major 6th and
7th, and it's a relatively uncommon choice for the Beatles, over the long run.
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The harmonic resources are quite spare, with a very small number of chords actually used,
and those that are used make for relatively weak and modally “plagal” establishment of the home
key. Aside from the large drone like air play given to the e-minor i chord, we have no more than
VI (C) and iv (a); the Major IV chord (a nice modal touch in context of a minor key) is implied
as a passing chord over the e drone.
Arrangement
The backing arrangement for small string ensemble is well crafted by someone who clearly
understood the string quartet idiom. Though eight players are used, the writing is in essentially
four parts where, except for brief flashes of solo playing, each is doubled for strength.
George Martin credits the influence upon him of Bernard Hermann's score for the film,
“Farenheit 451”, though I also detect an affinity here for the same composer's infamous
“Psycho” overture. Against a “warp” of mechanical and strident chords (the effect of which is
heightened by their being played in short, choppy down bows “near the frog” of the bow, the
non-vibrato fingering, and the close miking) is woven a continuously varied and syncopated
series of melodic counter-figures in either the cello or violin; trace it, section by section,
yourself!
And if you do, notice the exquisite “softening” effect created by the sometimes retreat into
eight notes in the warp, instead of the very stark quarter notes.
Paul's single-tracked solo is the backbone of the vocal arrangement, with John joining him
briefly in the Intro, Bridge, and Outro sections, and Paul doubling himself for the refrain. The
stereo mix contains an anomaly at the start of the first verse where the changeover from doubletracked Paul to solo is made abruptly right before the final syllable of the opening “El-ea-nor”.
Intro
The 2-times-4 (“AA”) phraseology and arch-like shape of the tune in this intro are standard
enough ... :
------------- 2X -------------|C
||e
||
e: VI
i
[Figure 93.1]
... but it remains, indeed, one of the great non-I openings, distinguished by the manner in which
it asserts what I earlier characterized as the gesture of an anxious sigh.
“Anxiety”, resulting from the way in which the music starts right off at what you surmise to
be a peak of tension but which only goes to increase still further a bit before winding itself down.
“Sighing”, from the extent to which the respective peaks and unwindings of the voice-versus-
Page 471 of 962
accompaniment pull out of synch with each other; note, for example, how the vocal part has
peaked and is already winding down far ahead of the chord change in measure 3, and the way
that the cello's emphatic arrival on the low E in the middle of the same measure is delayed a
couple beats behind the chord change.
Verse/Refrain
The Verse component of this section features offbeat phrasing that tensely contrasts with the
underlying march beat of the accompaniment. The five-measure length is unusual enough, but
what really makes it noteworthy is the internal parsing of that 5 into a “1 + 3 + 1” pattern,
combined with the harmonic rhythm that returns to the i chord on the second half of the final
measure; you might find this intriguing to compare with “Yesterday”:
-------------------- 2X -------------------|e
|||C
|e
|
e: i
VI
i
[Figure 93.2]
Expressive appoggiaturas abound, the spiciest of which is the the one that creates an addedsixth to the C chord (on the word “been”); the rest of which you're on your own to locate.
There are some theory teachers who, erring in the direction of trying so assign Roman
Numerals to every vertical slice of notes, would argue that there is more harmony “implied” in
measures 2-3 here than what I’ve labeled; i.e. —they’d point out the 7th added to the i, and the
IV6/4. IMHO, the structurally significant chords here are just the ones I've labeled above, and
the remainder is all a matter of linear motion against a background.
The structure of the Refrain sub-component is more straightforward, with its 2-times-4
(“AA”) phraseology (viz. the Intro!!), but it is made unusual by its harmonic content:
------------- 2X -------------Inner voice: |D
|C#
|C-nat |B
|
Implied harmony: |e
|(A)
|C
|e
|
i7
IV
VI
i
[Figure 93.3]
We have, here, a very John-like example of harmony under the influence of the
compositional cliche sometimes referred to as the downward chromatic scale fragment in an
inner voice; just remember that even sex can be alternatively described in equally unappealing
clinical terminology. Again, one can make a theoretical argument that the harmony here is,
structurally, just a droning i chord. But even those who might agree with this perspective will
still acknowledge the extent to which the inner voice here connotes that saddened, sighing
gesture -- if you don't believe me, try singing that inner line along with the recording.
Note how the second iteration of the refrain phrase is melodically just a tad so-satisfyingly
more extravagant than the first one; the first one tops out on “E”, but the second one stretches
way up to “G”. All this going to demonstrate yet another one of the Great Compositional
Principles -- you not only don't shoot your whole wad the first time around, but whatever you
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save for the next time must be especially exciting. And, as if to underscore this truth, we have the
lead violin mimicking in snappy syncopation the tail of that second refrain every time this
section comes around.
Also note how even this second iteration of the refrain phrase does not upstage the ultimate
peak of this song which is still to be found in intro/break phrase (up to “A”) – ultimate peaks
being yet another one of those archetypal principles of life, love, and music.
Bridge
This is, I believe, a rote repetition of the intro.
Outro
Superimposed over what is essentially Paul and the string players' one last repeat of the
refrain couplet we are treated to John's tag line from the intro, dubbed in here almost sotto-voce,
and in perfect counterpoint. The violin’s mockingbird repeat of the second refrain line is
rhythmically stretched out this time in even quarter notes to help safely guide the music into the
complete ending.
These couple of details elevate what is otherwise a formalistically simple ending into
something elegant and sophisticatedly unified.
Some Final Thoughts
I had a professor who used to say that sometimes a good hard question (an “eisener kashe”)
was better than a hundred simple answers. In that spirit, I close this Note with three of this kind
of question for you to consider as homework:
• How much of the compositional credit should George Martin get for this song? Granted,
“Eleanor Rigby” could survive an arrangement for other forces than string octet, but I'd dare
say that Martin's contribution goes far beyond mere orchestration, and is truly an integral part
of the message of the original; no?
• Where does the inspiration for something like this song come from, and whatever happened to
the cute Beatle who wrote it? I personally encounter in this song a level or dimension of
further potential growth that has, alas, not been realized.
• Could any one individual or group other than the Beatles have pulled off this kind of stylistic
fusion with as much commanding respect and success? The many other classically-influenced
entries by other groups from this period (I'm thinking here of a broad spectrum roughly marked
out by the likes of “Walk Away Renee”, “Classical Gas”, and “MacArthur Park”) remain
curiosities at best. And I wonder, putting aside for the moment the undeniable special quality,
per se, of “Eleanor Rigby”, whether perhaps one critical element in its ability to succeed is the
fact that it comes to us with the imprimatur of The Beatles.
“As it is you took the wrong turning and what happened -- you're a lonely old man from Liverpool.” 021394#93 Page 473 of 962
I'm Only Sleeping
Key: e flat minor
Meter: 4/4
Form: Verse / Refrain | Verse / Refrain | Bridge |
| Verse (half Guitar Solo) / Refrain |
| Bridge | Verse / Refrain | Outro (fade-out)
Recorded: 27th, 29th April, 5th May 1966, Abbey Road 3;
6th May 1966, Abbey Road 2
Style and Form
This song is mastered in the extremely unlikely key of e flat minor; no doubt a side effect of
the extent to which the original tapes of both the backing track and vocals were manipulated on
playback; in opposite directions, no less – an effect familiar to us from “Rain.”
I half-wonder if the placement of this track directly following the e-minor tonality of
“Eleanor Rigby” was done intentionally to highlight the half-step downward in key. But at any
rate, I'm going to discuss it below in terms of e minor, simply in order maintain some semblance
of orthographic legibility. If you don't think it makes a difference, try sight-reading, some time,
the sections of the WTC written in e-flat (or even better, d#) minor.
We have an interesting formalistic elision here in the way that the bridge melds so seamlessly
with the verse that follows it that the next verse at first sounds like the ending the bridge rather
than the start of something else; and in retrospect, the bridge, per se, seems like only a fragment
of something. This example, by the way, bears intriguing comparison with “She's A Woman”, of
all things; do check it out.
Melody and Harmony
The tune features a patter-song-like hammering away on the tonic note of the scale, though
the verse still manages to lazily spread out over the span of a full octave. The brief bridge section
features a couple of bent notes which lend a touch of the blues.
Compared to the several drone-like songs we've looked at most recently, this one has a larger
number of chords in it than we've seen in quite a while, though none of them are particularly
exotic choices.
The most curious harmonic feature of the song is the use of a chord stream (i.e. step-wise
root movement of chords) in the refrain, the likes of which we haven't seen since the very early
days of “Ask Me Why”, “Do You Want to Know a Secret”, and “P.S. I Love You.”
Page 474 of 962
Arrangement
What must have started out on the source tape as a backing track of relatively straightforward
instrumentation was slowed down a bit to add that certain grainy/chunkiness on playback.
Similarly, the speeding up of John's vocal on playback makes him sound tremulous and eerie; the
latter effect being further intensified by the manner in which the automatic-double-tracking is
split out onto the two stereo channels for only some of the phrases; compare this with “The
Word.”
The backwards-mastered guitar licks are a special effect that have nicely weathered the
march of time losing none of their popularity nor their ability to transfix, though the background
story regarding how George carefully practiced his guitar bits so that they would sound fine
when mastered backwards after being played forwards is, by our own contemporary standards of
digital control, rather quaint. True to their, by now, well-established penchant for layered
arrangements, the application of the reversed guitar bits first starts in the second verse.
The backing vocals add their own little touch of surrealism to the proceedings. Their echoing
of the last line of each verse and “oodle-i-doo” falsetto harmonies of the refrain have something
of an Andrews Sisters/1940’s kind of unsettling resonance. Only Paul's bluesy counterpoint in
the bridge sounds a bit more familiar in context of the Beatles.
Paul uses walking-bass passing notes in two critical places here, thus providing a subtle
effect of unification: at the end of the verse, he fills out the space between the C and a chord with
a melodic B, and similarly, near the end of the short bridge, he fills out the space between the a
and F chords with a G. Granted, these are exceedingly small touches, but if you know this song
and like it, well, I'd bet you've noticed them even if you haven't done so consciously. Or put it
this way – try and imagine hearing the song without them!
Verse
The verse is a surprisingly odd nine measures in length, in spite of its obvious AA' phrasing:
e:
|e
i
|a
iv
|G
III
C
VI
|G
III
|e
i
|a
iv
--- 2X!! --|G
C
|III
VI
B
V
|
a
iv
|
[Figure 94.1]
Both phrases are harmonically open but in different ways. The first one ends on V, nicely
begging a reprise. The second one rhetorically adds that one extra measure, and then ends on VI
--> iv, thus begging for something different from what was heard previously.
Page 475 of 962
In the always relevant department of Foolish Consistency Avoidance, we have the verse with
the guitar solo filling out only the five measures of the A' section. Actually, the “real” aesthetic
lesson being taught in this instance is not so much one about non-consistency, as much as it is a
one regarding the Conservation of Special Effects.
Refrain
The chord stream of this refrain, not to mention the prominence of that juicy C Major 7th, is
a prime source of what gives this song its overall jazzy feeling.
The section is a somewhat unusual length of six measures, and its internal phrasing is remote
from anything in the nature of a balanced binary form. Rather, we have a 1-measure's worth of
tune that chases its tail several times within a narrow range before petering out entirely before
the end of the fifth measure:
|G
III
|a
iv
|b
v
|C7
VI
|
||e
i
|a
iv
|
|-
|
[Figure 94.2]
The refrains that precede each of the two bridges are extended by an additional two measures
of a time-stopping vamp on the i chord. The second one of these extended refrains (i.e. the
following the guitar solo) includes some muted, errant talking in the background, followed by a
strange foghorn-like electronic sound during the e minor vamp.
The refrain is harmonically quite elliptical. Its opening measures convey intimations of a
shift toward the key of G (the so-called Relative Major of e minor), though nothing approaching
the finality of a complete modulation is in the offing. For that matter, the manner in which the
home key of e is confirmed at section's end is also done without clear or complete cadence.
Bridge
No matter how you parse this section, it somehow seems to fall out as incomplete or
fragmentary. Even if you add in what I call the two- measure vamp at the end of the refrains into
this section, I believe there is no escape from hearing, at first, what turns out to be the first phrase
of the next verse as though it were the second phrase of this bridge:
e:
a:
|d
vii
iv
|E
|a
V
i
|F
|
VI
[Figure 94.3]
As with the refrain, we have yet another tentative harmonic foray, this time toward the key of
a minor. The formal elision between this bridge and following verse is somewhat disguised the
Page 476 of 962
way that this modulation fools you into hearing the first two measures of the next verse as still
being in a minor, with the pivot back to e first coming near the end of the first phrase, as follows:
a:
|e
iv
|a
i
|G
VII
C
III
|G
VII
e: III
B
|
V
[Figure 94.4]
Outro
As an "outro", per se, this one is rather unusual in both form and substance. At the end of the
final refrain, where previously we have had the C Major 7th/e minor bass arpeggio, this time the
backing abruptly, even awkwardly, just stops, leaving the backwards lead guitar to “noodle” all
alone into a fadeout.
Some Final Thoughts
This song belongs to a special category of Beatles songs in which content plays a secondary
role to gesture. I define content, in this context, as the relative level of special care and quality
lavished on the basic musical elements of tune, chord, and form; and gesture as a focus on the
bedazzling and disorienting overall effect to be achieved by the incongruous combination of
familiar yet disparate stylistic cliches that are not usually found under the same roof, plus the
overlay upon one or more of these elements of surreal special recording studio effects.
That the Beatles were great innovators of new styles synthesized from among the elements of
disparate influences is widely celebrated. But the kind of gesture we're dealing with here, where
one or more cultural ready made is exploited for its very hackneyed recognizability is an
achievement of a slightly different nature. In this particular instance, we have a strange montage
of the boozy/jazzy ride-beat, the patter song tune, the cooing backing vocals, combined with that
lead-guitar that is distorted on playback.
The amazing thing is to ponder not only how much this peculiar type of parody would flower
in the Post- Pepper-Period, but the extent to which you'll note how its roots were embedded deep,
all along, if only you look back with an eye toward discerning them.
It wasn't only the in the music, either! What better example of a surreal montage made of
found pop-cultural objects can you think of in the realm of album cover art than the pseudophotographic black-and-white job done by Klaus Voorman for our Revolver?
“Give me a bottle of milk and some tranquilizers.” 032094#94
Page 477 of 962
Love You To
Key: c minor (“Dorian” mode)
Meter: 4/4
Form: Intro | Verse / Refrain | Verse / Refrain | Sitar Solo |
| Verse / Refrain | Outro (fade-out)
Recorded: 11th April 1966, Abbey Road 2;
13th April 1966, Abbey Road 3
Style and Form
One of the most curious side-bars on the history of music in the late 60s has to be the
apparently sudden flashpoint of interest in, and influence of, the so-called Classical Music of
India. The Beatles, George in particular, were prime catalysts of this faddish phenomenon, and a
song like our “Love You To” can hardly be talked about without some consideration of the
historical context.
At the time it seemed like many people who, just the week before had never seen a sitar or
heard of Ravi Shankar, were running out, overnight, to buy what we nowadays call “world
music” recordings, tickets to rug concerts, and even authentic instruments. Eventually (if not in
very short order) this was, alas, for most folks, an even more short-lived fad and greater source
of retrospective disappointment than Nehru suits. But it was hot while it lasted.
No one should have been surprised. Indian music, for a number of reasons, is a not so easilyacquired taste for Western ears as it may appear on the surface. Sure, the externals are pleasing
and psychedelically seductive enough and all that, but the lack of harmonic movement can
quickly bore, and the melodic focus on freely improvised detail-within-a-subtle-framework calls
for a trained ear.
Hell, I did a year of graduate study of this music (back in '72-73) and worked hard in order to
learning how to appreciate it, but it demanded both difficult cognitive study as well as an
aesthetic soulful stretch. The music is not only built out of unfamiliar techniques, but is also
reflective of a different world outlook – think about the extent to which harmony in Western
music implies “teleological movement or progress”, and, by contrast, the extent to which detailed
elaboration over a drone conjures a so-very-different mood of quiet contemplation of the word
without-and-within. It's a chutzpah for the Westerner to expect to confront this stuff without
sincere and patient preparation.
“Love You To” was so novel when it first appeared that it was “cool” practically by default.
After all, how many of us at the time even had a clue what to make of it, or to what it could or
should be compared? The song’s openly Indian flavor of goes far beyond the superficialities of
Page 478 of 962
an added sitar and some static, droney harmony, which, by the time Revolver was released, had
already been exploited by not just the Beatles but other groups, as well; look, for example, at the
Stones' “Paint it Black.”
Here, in “Love You To”, we find a genuinely Indian-styled usage of mode, melody, rhythm
and instrumentation. Even the form, which otherwise maintains a neo-classical boxy rock form
preserves the Indian convention of an out-of-tempo improvised slow intro.
Melody and Harmony
The ragas from which the melodic material of Indian music is drawn go conceptually beyond
the simpler concept of scale or mode to include characteristic riffs, and division of the scale into
two regions. And in the melodic department, this song proves to be quite authentic; the mode is
(to lapse into Western terminology) quite Dorian, the riffs both recurrent and tending to appear in
either one half of the scale or the other.
The harmony is simply a drone with occasional implied oscillations toward the flat-VII
chord. The Major/minor modality of the home key is left ambiguous by the open-fifth quality of
the drone, in spite of the fact that the sitar part features the minor 3rd quite prominently.
Arrangement
Though there may be more involvement of the Beatles themselves on this track than, say,
“Eleanor Rigby,” it hardly seems to matter, though, does it? Yes, indeed, Ringo adds a
tambourine in the second verse, and it might actually be John or Paul adding that fuzztone-like
electronic embellishment of the flat-VII chord, but that's about it. Paul supposedly contributed a
backing vocal but that was mixed out of the final track. The overall effect of the arrangement is
one of George having imported a group of real-thing studio musicians directly from Bombay;
pre-echoes of “The Inner Light.” Two comments about this song in Lewisohn's Recording
Session cry out for rebuttal.
In the first place, he blithely asserts, from the fact that no studio sitar player appears credited
on the album, that it just might be George playing the ornate solo part. I don't think so. Frankly,
there is no way I can imagine that George at the time of this recording could have had one tenth
of the chops required for this performance.
Goodness, Lewisohn himself recants this blooper in Chronicles.
His other mistake has to do with his unchallenging quote of one of the studio musicians as
having been asked by George to play the rhythm track in “Ravi Shankar style, 16 beats” (i.e.
straight four in the bar). Even if Lewisohn did hear this on the studio tape, he should have
sufficient musical awareness of what is actually played on the tape to question this. Indeed, you
only need to tap (or try to tap) your foot along with this number to note just how tricky the meter
is; with occasional 3-beat measures thrown in among the otherwise, ahem, 4/4 texture.
Page 479 of 962
Intro
This intro features a slow, drawn-out exploration of the basic melodic motifs of what is to
follow that is stylistically genuine and effective. Damn it, the opening scale glissandos, the
tentative noodling, and that lone F#, no matter how exotic an impression they may make, are
unfortunately out of place, but what can you do.
Though performed in a manner that suggests completely free improvisation, the intro is
easily parsed into a number of subsections:
• Two repeats of the eleven note downward C major scale; C -> G, an octave+half below
• Fragmentary attempts at establishing a tune; following that C->F#->G red herring of a
start, the lower half of the C-dorian scale is exposed by way of a motif which goes: C->D>E flat-> D->C->B flat (slow slide)->C. The C-dorian motif evolves but shortly breaks off
and segues into ... - ... the “a tempo” main song; of which, we'll chalk up two measures of
four-in-the-bar vamping to the end of this section.
Verse
This section is ten measures long and breaks up into eight measures of verse, proper,
followed by a two-measure lead-in to the refrain. The verse itself parses into an AAA' pattern
which fills 2+2+4 bars. However, two subtle details belie what would otherwise be a simple
enough structure for your mind to grok:
• The melody, which up through the first six measures almost plods along in equal quarter
note values, breaks into neatly syncopated melisma (e.g. on the word “me”) that
temporarily weakens your sense of where the downbeat is located. Unless you tap it out
carefully, you might never notice that the melisma ends on the weak 4th beat of measure
eight, literally, one beat ahead of the sitar hook. Notice, too, how the drop out of the drum
part in measures 7 and 8 serves to heighten the effect.
• The first of the two-measure lead-in to the refrain is in 3/4 time! The identical hook phrase
appears a couple measures within the refrain where it fills a regular 4/4 bar, so you'd almost
never notice this irregularity in the lead in; by try counting in fours out loud and see what
happens :-)
• The tune has a nice melodic arch shape, though in relation to the tonic note, it is centered
on the high-center-of- gravity 5th degree of the scale.
Refrain
The refrain is six measures long and features a call-and-response exchange between George
and the sitarist. The fourth of the six measures is in 3/4 time, and just as in the verse, this onebeat-short measure is filled by the same sitar hook.
Page 480 of 962
Sitar Solo
This is very much the high point of the song. The sitar solo is both melodically and
rhythmically ornate, as well as exotically authentic. The meter feels even less predictable here
than it does in the verse or refrain. Part of me suspects that the solo section is supposed to be
modeled on the same metric pattern, or at least the same total number of beats as the verse +
refrain. Nevertheless, I find that even after determinedly repeated listenings, I am
unable to clearly discern in this solo section the expected pattern of 4/4 measures punctuated by
the occasional one in 3/4, heard earlier on. The total number of beats don't match either. One's
attempt to get to the bottom of this is made still more difficult by the teasing way in which the
sitar line is rhythmically declaimed in “irrational” (e.g. 7-against-4) groupings over the steady
underlying beat.
Outro
The outro sort of picks up where the solo section left off, with a sense of growing rhythmic
abandon that continues right into the fadeout, suggesting that in the studio, this bit of jamming
could have gone on for quite a while.
Some Final Thoughts
It's a bit too easy for us at this distance of time to underestimate just how much personal
courage this coming out of the closet as an impassioned devotee of Indian music required of
George. Alas, this fragile first offering is not entirely successful, and over the long run, I dare
imagine that George himself must have felt at some point that he had steered himself into a culde-sac.
“Love You To” has two primary weaknesses which I cannot avoid seeing no matter how
much I honestly enjoy the song:
1. The limited extent to which the East/West musical elements are blended—there’s an oiland-water kind of separate awkwardness here borne of naiveté and inexperience rather
than craft. George was smart enough to rely on well-trained studio help to lend an air of
authenticity to the proceedings. Indeed, this song is never more successful when it is at its
most authentic, but the flip side of this is that the value added by these outsiders rather
upstages whatever it is that George himself has to offer.
2. The fatal negativity of the typically Harrisonian lyrics—the classical Indian tradition is
lyrically drenched in Song-of-Song-like allegories of religious yearning and ecstasy cast
in imagery that is at once both transcendentally mysterious and exquisitely sensual and
erotic. George's embittered pout over dead-old-men and people who'll screw you in the
ground smacks way too much of “Positively 4th Street” for the cross-cultural context.
Page 481 of 962
George would persist for another two years or so following this song to offer both similarly
“genuine” Indian efforts (e.g. “Within You Without You” and “The Inner Light.”) as well as
attempts at Indian- Western fusion (e.g. “Blue Jay Way” and “It's All Too Much.”) As we
eventually examine all those songs in this series, I predict a remarkable paradox will emerge:
The genuinely Indian stuff is so pungently inflected that it's nigh impossible for the Westerner to
do it right without appearing affected; yet at the other extreme, it's when the Westerner tries to be
most creatively original and fusionistic about it, that he comes across at his most stilted.
In this sense, it gives me a great sense of relief to know that George could move on in the end
to the likes of “Something” and “Here Comes the Sun.” But don't get me wrong – George drove
that car as far as he could before abandoning it “somewhere out West,” and for that he deserves
more than a patronizing token amount of credit.
“Ah, very good that, George.” 081494#95
Page 482 of 962
Here, There, and Everywhere
Key: G Major
Meter: 4/4
| Verse | Bridge |
Recorded: 14th, 16th, 17th June 1966, Abbey Road 2
Style and Form
This song is remarkable for its bittersweet tune, clever harmonic scheme, and understated
arrangement. It is a landmark triumph of the soft rock genre. No kidding.
It opens with one of those (relatively rare-for-the-Beatles) ad-lib introductions, but the form
is otherwise the classic two-bridge model, with only one verse intervening and no instrumental
break.
The lyrics make a rather John-like structural use of the title words.
Melody and Harmony
The tune uses a wide variety of rhythmic values to convey an impression of the naturally
spoken word. It also manages to maintain a nicely fluid melodic feeling through its mix of
stepwise motion, long leaps, rhetorical dwellings on a single note, and some triadic outlines.
The home key of the song is G Major, but both its Relative minor (e), as well as the parallel
minor (g) and its Relative Major (B flat) make important appearances. Both Paul and John were
fond of these types of key schemes, and there are many songs we've looked at that use one or
more of these tricks. This is a particularly rare example in which all of them are used in the same
song. Granted, in the formal context of the 2-3 minute song, there is relatively little room for the
full-fledged modulations you'll find in larger forms, but this in no way precludes a more furtive
and no less restless exploration of alternate tonal centers.
The opening measures of the verse make use of a jazzy chord stream of the sort that harkens
all the way back to early numbers like “Ask Me Why” and “P.S. I Love You.”
Arrangement
The arrangement subscribes to the aesthetic of “less-is-more,” with restrained yet carefully
placed details in all departments. This accomplishment is made to seem ironic and all the more
Page 483 of 962
impressive given the extent to which Lewisohn reports they fussed over the arrangement in the
overdub stage. Even without access to the bootlegs of so-called Monitor Mixes, you can get a
feel for this by simply listening to each of the stereo tracks on the official
release one at a time.
Paul's lead vocal was recorded on the low and slow side in order to make it sound higher and
much wispier on playback. Both this lead vocal and the lead guitar licks of the bridge are
selectively double-tracked. You'll note places in which the second track either drops out or
provides a harmonization with the primary track. Enjoy discovering these for yourself!
The backing vocals provide their much talked about, deceptively simple block harmonies on
the phoneme, “ooooh.” The slight changes they make in their articulation of the chord changes in
measures 5 and 6 of the verses make these backing vocals sound somewhat instrumental. And in
the instrumental area we have a subtle patterning of the guitar chords, and a bunch of just-right
gentle touches in just the right places from Ringo. Did you ever notice the addition of finger
snaps in the final verse and the outro?
Intro
The intro gives away, in its first two chords, the secret of what will soon unfold as the songs
characterizing harmonic restlessness. The B-flat chord provides a pleasantly surprising cross
relation against the B-natural of the preceding G Major chord, and also foreshadows the later
flirtation with this “relative Major of the parallel minor” that will appear in the bridges:
G:
|G
I
|B-flat
flat-III
|a
ii
|D
V
|
[Figure 96.1]
There's an interesting comparison to be made between this intro and the one from the much
earlier “Do You Want To Know A Secret”.
Verse
The verse is a fairly traditional eight measures long, though its phraseology contains some
subtle internal patterning. The overall structure is 2+2+4, “AAB,” but the B section is itself
subdivided into its own “AAB,” though the durations are halved down to 1+1+2.
The harmonic structure of th

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