6th LP – Rubber Soul-side 2 (Mutual Love / 3 vs. One-sided Love / 2)
Track 8 – What Goes On. A one-sided love song
by John, Paul, and Ringo, based on the lyric portrayal the singer feels torn
apart seeing his honey with another guy, and hearing all her lies as she treats
him with unkindness breaking his heart. Background Fun Facts: Mostly written in
1957 by John as a Quarryman. Paul revised the bridge and added lyrics with
Ringo contributing about five words in 1965. Recorded on November 4, 1965, in one take
with each Beatle playing his regular standard instrument for the rhythm track.
Overdubs pushed Ringo to the hot mic for lead vocal, harmonies from John and
Paul, and a tiny spurt lead guitar ditty at the song’s ending from George. Mixing the mono version, engineers forgot to bring up
the volume on the track given to the overdubbed guitar George laid at the
finale. In addition, the stereo version not only includes the spurt, but the
level on that track apparently was also left up so that Ringo’s chatter, off mic
mumbling lyrics not meant to appear, slipped through onto the released album.
Track 9 – Girl. A lopsided mutual love song with bumps in the road by John, based on the
lyric portrayal the singer offers to tell a story all about a girl he wants so
much it makes him sorry, on account many times he has tried so hard to leave
her but the endeavor makes her cry. So, she promises him the world if he
stays and he believes her but doesn’t know why. Because whenever friends come
to visit, she puts him down making him feel like a fool. Background Fun Facts:
Written November 1965 inside John’s Kenwood home with Paul adding bits of
melody to the music on a down to the wire
deadline to include this as the last recorded song on Rubber Soul. The lyrics
were already complete and only needed a few chord shaping tweaks. An easy
rhythm track featuring only three Beatles had finished in just two takes. John
on acoustic, Paul on bass, and Ringo using brushes on drums. Overdubs began
with John’s lead vocal and then added the
heavy breath on another track sent through a special compressor by Martin to
add intimacy. Next, George added three separate guitar parts, two with a
12-string acoustic and one with the fuzzbox Paul used on ‘Think For Yourself’
connected to his electric, but later was removed from the mix. Paul and George
added background vocals and the naughty tit-tits onto the bridge telling George
Martin they were singing dit-dits. John added a double-tracked vocal, and Ringo overdubbed a bit of cymbal
pizazz onto the fourth verse closing out the song. When finished the clock read
4:00 am, and still they all stayed three more hours to put final touches on
‘Wait’ and ‘I’m Looking Through You.'
Both mono and stereo sounds identical other than the separation of left and right
channels performed on the stereo mix.
Track 10 – I’m Looking Through You. A
one-sided love song by Paul based on the lyric portrayal the singer questions his dear one to tell him why
she doesn’t treat him right, love has a nasty habit of disappearing
overnight. Background Fun Facts: Written
October 1965 inside the attic bedroom on Wimpole Street after a heated argument
between Paul and Jane Asher over her commitment to pursuing acting assignments out of town and his one-night stands
with other girls. Inside the Abbey Road studio, four different attempts, on as
many different days, Paul and his mates tried to record three diverse versions
of ‘I’m Looking Through You.’ The project amid the lengthy trial and error
totaled 18 hours, more consuming than any other Beatles song, ever. The final
choice that made track 10 was recorded on
November 10, 1965. Familiarity with the song captured a perfect rhythm track in
just one take using John on acoustic, Paul on bass, Ringo on drums, and George
on tambourine. Overdubs took place the
next evening and included Paul’s lead vocal, John’s harmony vocal, George on
electric guitar, Paul added the fast pace
electric guitar solo at the end of each verse while Ringo thrusts a double
blast G major chord on the Hammond organ. Other overdubs have Paul’s
double-tracked lead vocal, and finger taps supplied by Ringo on a pack of
matches. A well know blooper false start appears only on the stereo mix sent to
other countries––George Martin assumed foreign engineers would edit out the
flub while preparing their new masters for commercial release.
Track 11 – In My Life. As great as this song
is, the theme ponders childhood memories and male bonding relationships mostly
in tribute to Pete Shotton and Stuart Sutcliffe. Therefore, we will move on.
Track 12 – Wait. A mutual love song by Paul,
based on the lyric portrayal the singer and his lady love have been apart missing each other, but now he’s
returning home, and both will forget the
tears they’ve cried once they are in each other’s arms. Background Fun Facts:
Written between February and March 1965
inside a beautiful rented home near Cable Beach, a shoreline along the city of
New Providence, Bahamas. The stanzas are in total relevance to McCartney’s real
life situation while on a business trip filming location scenes for the feature
film Help, and at the same time, missing the affections from Jane Asher.
Recorded on June 17, 1965, as a filler
for the Help album. The rhythm track on take
four received the green light and consisted of John on his 1964 Rickenbacker,
George on his Fender Strat plugged into the volume pedal, Paul on his 1963
Hofner bass, and Ringo on his Ludwig 1964 Oyster Pearl drum set. Overdubs
captured John and Paul’s vocals, this time without double-tracking. The next
day, George Martin felt the tune just wasn’t right and shelved the tape for
another time. Almost five months later, November 11, Martin spooled up the
original Wait version desperate to fulfill one more slot on the Rubber Soul
album. New overdubs involved Paul adding a double-track vocal during the bridge
plus a third-part harmony onto the final two verses. George added another
rhythm guitar plus more volume pedal flair. Ringo received space on two extra tracks playing tambourine, and then
maracas. John turned down the invitation to double-track his vocal. Mono and
stereo mixes reveal little if any
difference.
Track 13 – If I Needed Someone. An aloof mutual love song by George, based on the
singer assuming if he needed someone and if he had more time, he takes a guess
she would be the one he’s thinking of for love. So, if she leaves her
number in plain sight, maybe she will get a phone call. Background Fun Facts:
Written between August thru October 1965
and greatly inspired by a new song released from The Byrds called, ‘The Bells Of Rhymney, that formulated a catchy
melody orbiting the D chord by means of
changing single finger moves on the strings. Recorded
on November 16 and nabbing the rhythm track on its first take. This track had
Geroge using a brand new Rickenbacker 12-string with a capo on the fifth fret,
John played rhythm on his 1961 Sonic Blue Fender Strat, Paul chose his
Rickenbacker bass, and Ringo thumped out the tempo on his 1965 Ludwig Super
Class Black Oyster Pearl drum set. Some insist Martin played the
harmonium keyboard but likely edited out from the actual release. Overdubs the
next day included George laying down his lead vocal then double-tracked it
again, John and Paul added double-tracked harmonies, George punched in more
12-string guitar flair, still with a capo
on the fifth fret while Ringo shook and tapped a tambourine. A great song.
Track 14 –Run For Your Life. In the event that I am such a hopeless
romantic, and because this song neither promotes mutual love nor one-sided
love, only male chauvinist domination on the part of the singer, I’m passing over the tune out
of respect to my convictions. Sorry.
All right then, Rubber Soul ends up producing
double the amount of unrequited love songs, Six compared to 3 mutual, a revelation to prove my point it's better to have loved and lost than never
to feel the power love can bring.
Join me next Saturday, where we dive into the
phenomenal LP, Revolver. A ground-breaking advancement
dominating the 1966 pop scene. Please post any comments or corrections that you
wish, and I’ll do my best to respond accordingly. Thanks, friends.
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