The
time has come to uncover this series last album in search of avowed mutual love
vs. declared unrequited love, sited within the gifted melodic phrasing stanzas
written by my favorite most influential heroes, John, Paul, and George. Next
up, I unveil the tracks about love found listed on the Past Masters Volume 2 CD. The singles!!!
15th LP – Past Masters 2 (Mutual Love Songs / 4 vs. One-Sided / 0 )
Track 1 – Day Tripper: I
don’t see this as a love song, maybe a bit of lust where as she’s a big teaser,
she only plays one night stands.
“Day Tripper” was a subject John Lennon talked about much in
interviews, comments that give us a good amount of detail regarding its
writing. In 1969 he states: “’Day Tripper’ was (written) under
complete pressure, based on an old folk song I wrote about a month
previous. It was very hard going, that, and it sounds it.” Since
the song was recorded in October of 1965,
its genesis must have begun in September of that year as written entirely by
John. The mention of it deriving from a “folk song” suggests it as
another attempt at mimicking Bob Dylan, at least in its early
incarnation. The “pressure” was probably due to this being an attempt at
writing their next single, which both John and Paul admitted in a 1966 interview
that the composition was "forced." However, when asked later
that year to re-confirm this, they denied it.
While he appeared to claim
sole authorship in 1969, he continued to change his tune in later
interviews. To Hit Parader magazine in 1972, his response to who wrote
this song was: “Me, but I think Paul helped with the verse.” To
Playboy magazine in 1980, he reversed the story, saying, “Mine.
Clearly. The lick, the guitar break and the whole bit.”
Paul McCartney and Barry Miles’ book “Many Years From Now” sheds
some interesting first-hand knowledge about the writing of the song to
substantiate John’s 1972 recollections. After Barry Miles describes “Day
Tripper” as “co-written in October 1965 at (John’s home in) Kenwood,” Paul
relates the following: “That was a co-written effort; we were both there
making it all up, but I would give John
the main credit. Probably the idea came from John because he sang the
lead, but it was a close thing. We both put a lot of work in on
it.” In referring to a sexual reference included in the song, Paul
continues, “We thought, ‘That’d be fun to put in. That was one of the
great things about collaborating; you could nudge-nudge,
wink-wink a bit, whereas if you’re sitting on your own, you might not put it
in. You know, ‘I’d love to turn you on,’ we literally looked at each other like, ‘Oh, dare we do this?’
It was a good moment; there was always good eye contact when we put those
things in.”
As to its meaning, John explained in 1970: “It wasn’t a
serious message song. It was a drug song. In a way, it was a day
tripper – I just liked the word…I’ve always needed a drug to survive. The (other Beatles) too, but I always had more, I
always took more pills and more of everything, ‘cause I’m more crazy.”
In his 1980 Playboy interview, he adds: “It’s just a rock’n’roll
song. Day trippers are people who go on day trips, right? Usually
on a ferryboat or something. But
the song was, kind of, ‘You’re a weekend hippie.’ Get it?”
Paul explains further: “This was getting toward the
psychedelic period when we were interested in winking to our friends and
comrades in arms, putting in references that we knew our friends would get but
that the Great British Empire might not. So ‘she’s a big teaser’ was
‘she’s a prick teaser.’ The mums
and dads didn’t get it, but the kids
did. ‘Day Tripper’ was to do with tripping. Acid was coming in on
the scene, and often we’d do these songs about ‘the girl who thought she was
it.’ Mainly the impetus for that used to come from John. I think John
met quite a few girls who thought they were it and he was a bit up in arms
about that kind of thing…But this was just a tongue-in-cheek song about someone
who was a day tripper, a Sunday painter, Sunder driver, somebody who was
committed only in part to the idea. Whereas we saw ourselves as full-time
trippers, fully committed drivers, she was just a day tripper.”
Track 2 – We Can Work It Out: A mutual love song with baggage, and
headstrong personalities between the at
odds couple.
The initial writing of the song was by Paul, one of a trio of
compositions inspired by his then turbulent relationship with girlfriend Jane
Asher (“I’m Looking Through You” and “You Won’t See Me” being the other
two). “The lyrics might have been personal,” Paul recollects. “It
is often a good way to talk to someone or to work your own thoughts out. It saves you going to a psychiatrist; you allow yourself to say what
you might not say in person.”
The problem stemmed from Jane determined to continue pursuing an
acting career, something she began well before ever meeting Paul. She
decided to join the Bristol Old Vic Company in October of 1965, which meant
that she moved from her hometown of
London (where she lived with Paul in her family home) to the west of
England. Not being content just to be a girlfriend of a Beatle, an
opportunity that most female fans would give their right arm for, this caused a
good degree of insecurity in Paul who, with his group, just began work on the
“Rubber Soul” album.
Two other songs written at this time expressed
much bitterness. (“I have had enough, so act your age” from “You Won’t See Me”
and, “I thought I knew you, what did I know” from “I’m Looking Through You”),
Paul here expresses confidence that they can “work it out.”
However, because of possibly not being used to any indifference in past
romance, his lyrics are written as absolute testimony that his opinion is the
correct one and hers is the wrong one.
The beginning stanzas of the song were
conceived at Rembrandt, which was a house Paul purchased for this father
in July of 1964 in Heswall, Cheshire. According to Barry Miles in his
official McCartney biography “Many Years From Now,” this five-bedroom home “was
a large mock-Tudor house with a decent size
garden in a leafy suburb about 15 miles from Liverpool.” As to the actual
writing of the song, the book continues: “There was a piano in the dining
room where Paul often tinkered with new tunes. If he were composing on the guitar, however, he would
usually go to the back bedroom to get away from everyone.” Since Paul
recorded a demo of the song on acoustic guitar, we can rightly assume it was written in the back bedroom of the house
(for those of you who need to know every
detail). This is not to say that Paul wrote the entire song.
When asked in 1972 by Hit Parader magazine who wrote the song, John commented
“Paul, but the middle was mine.” Paul corroborates and also embellishes
this: “I wrote it as a more up-tempo thing, country and western. I
had the idea, the title had a couple of
verses and the basic idea for it, then I took it to John to finish it off, and we wrote the middle together. Which is nice: ‘Life is very short.
There’s no time for fussing and fighting, my friend.”
Track 3 – Paperback Writer: This tune misses the mark as a love
song, however, as was the habit during the recording of an album, the group
needed to identify what song had commercial appeal then earmarked as their next single and, thereby, removed from the album. “George Martin
received a memo from the EMI brass,” recalls engineer Geoff Emerick, “reminding
him that a new Beatles single was soon due.” Since their last British single, “We Can Work It Out/Day Tripper,” was
released way back in early December of 1965, and the group was on hiatus for a
few months to rest up from their incredibly hectic schedule the previous
year, pressure was high to get a new Beatles single in the shops.
“John and Paul immediately set themselves
to work,” Emerick continues. “Whoever wrote the stronger song – with
George Martin as referee – would win the prize: the prestigious A-side.”
They began recording their next album on April 6th, 1966 and were
concentrating more on studio technique than ‘cranking out hits.’ By April
13th, the only song they had completed was the Indian-influenced
George Harrison track “Love You To,” which obviously wouldn’t fit the bill for
their next single (as good of a song as it was). Much work fiddled about on the psychedelic experiment
entitled “Tomorrow Never Knows,” although even this was yet complete.
Preliminary tracks were also laid down for “Got To Get You Into My Life,” but
nowhere near ready for release.
The fourth song they recorded, however, hastened more quickly and most
believed suitable for a quick release as
a single. While it did have many of the usual hallmarks of a hit pop
record of the time, such as the catchy melody line and a melodic guitar riff,
the lyrical content was very much out in left field for 1966. Instead
of romance, the only mention of a relationship was of “a dirty man” whose
“clinging wife doesn’t understand.” Nonetheless, “Paperback Writer” was
rushed out as their next single, topping the charts internationally.
Track 4 – Rain: Nothing inside these lyrics point
to love, so let me just share a tiny portion of what John and Paul had to say
in regards to Track 4. “This is a song I wrote about people who are always moaning
about the weather all the time,” Lennon stated, “you know, whatever it is, it’s
OK, it’s meant to be.” McCartney concurs: “Songs have traditionally treated
rain as a bad thing and what we got on to was that it’s no bad thing.
There’s no greater feeling than the rain dripping down your back.” Paul
reprised this positive opinion in his Wings song “Mamunia,” which contains the
lyric “you never felt the rain, my friend, till you felt it running down your
back.”
While John’s above quote credits himself entirely for its
composition, as he also did in his 1972 “Hit Parader” interview, Paul insists
that he definitely played a part in
writing “Rain.” The book “Many Years From Now” quotes Paul as
saying: “’Rain’ was a co-effort with the leaning slightly towards
John. I don’t think he brought the original idea, just when we sat down
to write, he kicked it off…tilted 70-30 to John.”
Track 5 – Lady Madonna: This tune avoids all reference toward
romance, yet a mother’s love for her children makes way.
After 1967 had come to an
end, the Beatles felt a need to reinvent themselves once again, but this time
not forgetting the groundwork they previously laid in 60's rock music. Growth
as songwriters and musical stylists was fine, but they ultimately felt most
comfortable as a rock band. And so, 1968 saw them put aside their “hippy”
clothes, both literally and figuratively, and move ahead in the direction that
they felt suited them best. Within this mindset came "Lady Madonna."
The negative publicity that The Beatles received in the British
press about the December 1967 debut of their film "Magical Mystery
Tour" on BBC television did not appear to deter McCartney in the least.
In January of 1968, he went to work composing what would become their
next British #1 single.
Paul has cited different lyrical influences throughout the years.
According to Steve Turner's book “A Hard Day's Write,” a recollection of
American singer/guitarist Richie Havens tells
an interesting story about the song. Havens happened to be with McCartney
in a Greenwich Village club watching a Jimi Hendrix performance when someone
came up and asked Paul if America was the inspiration for “Lady Madonna.”
Paul was said to reply, “No, I was looking through this African magazine (National
Geographic issue, January 1965) and I saw this African lady with a baby. And
underneath the picture, it said 'Mountain
Madonna.' But I said, oh no – 'Lady Madonna' – and I wrote the song.”
Track 6 – The Inner Light: A song based on passages taken from a
book titled, “Lamps Of Fire” that contains a compilation of religious writings.
George shares some further insight, “The words
of 'The Inner Light' came from that book, page 66, 48a, which presents The “Tao
Te Ching,” translated as “The Great Way,” was said to have been written by Lao
Tzu roughly in 400 BC and is claimed by many as being one of the most
insightful pieces of literature ever written. The 47th verse of
this 81 verse writing states as follows:
“Without going out the door, know the world.
Without looking out the window, you may see the ways of heaven.
The farther one goes, the less one knows.
Therefore, the sage does not venture forth and yet knows,
does not look and yet names,
does not strive and yet attains completion.”
Although there is much room for interpretation of this ancient
spiritual text, it's generally agreed
that these lyrics depict how we don't need our physical senses nor any physical
action on our part to experience true knowledge or enlightenment. Through
our raised consciousness’s, "we can know all things on earth" without
traveling anywhere. In fact, "the farther one travels, the less one
knows." But "we can know the ways of heaven" through
meditative reflection, not needing the physically
use the eyes to peer even "out of your door." Anything of real value
in our life experience can be attained
from within, hence "do all without doing."
Track 7 – Hey Jude: Although love in the sense of romance takes a
holiday from this song, heartbreak in a young son losing contact with his
father abounds then brings endearing encouragement for far better times ahead.
A new single, “Hey Jude,” released on
the Beatles innovative Apple Records with its stunning green label, took over
the airwaves as well as our television screens. The majority of music
fans today who were alive at that time have vivid and cherished memories
related to hearing the song, some remembering the first time they heard it. The
impact was so great that it only took three weeks for it to reach #1 on the
U.S. Billboard singles chart and stayed there for a remarkable nine weeks,
becoming the most successful American single of their career. It also
ranked as the most popular record of the sixties, according to Billboard
Magazine.
If anything had tarnished the reputation of The Beatles to any
degree up to that point in history, they went way above and beyond to redeem
themselves in most people's eyes with the release of “Hey Jude” in the fall of
1968. And to this day, the respect generated by this one song is
astronomical, of which there is no hint of that respect abating any time soon.
John Lennon even hailed Hey Jude as Paul’s best song in 1972 and around 1980 he again referred to it as
Paul’s masterpiece.
Track 8 – Revolution: Protest, let your voice be heard in what you believe in, join a
movement with like-minded masses who support your cause. Hence, has nothing to
do with romance.
John has been very vocal throughout the remaining years of his
life regarding his intentions in the lyrics of the song. In 1968 he explained:
“What I said in 'Revolution'...is 'change your head.' These people that
are trying to change the world can't even get it all together. They're
attacking and biting each other’s' faces, and all the time they're all pushing
the same way. And if they keep going on like that it's going to kill it
before it's even moved. It's silly to bitch about each other and be trivial.
They've got to think in terms of at least
the world or the universe, and stop thinking in
terms of factories and one country.”
Continuing, he states: “The point is that the Establishment
doesn't really exist, and if it does
exist, it's old people. The only people that want to change it are young,
and they're going to beat the Establishment. If they want to smash it all
down and have to be laborers as well to
build it up again, then that's what they're going to get. If they'd just realize the Establishment can't last
forever. The only reason it has lasted forever is that the only way
people have ever tried to change it is by revolution. And the idea is
just to move in on the scene, so they can take over the universities, do all
the things that are practically feasible at the time. But not try and
take over the state, or smash the state, or slow down the works. All
they've got to do is get through and change it
because they will be it.”
Track 9 – Get Back: Here
ushered in the Beatles' 19th British single, known as, Get Back, and it was the
first release by the group from their 1969 'back-to-basics' phase.
Background Fun Facts: Geez, what you're about to read sounds like
present day America–– The song began as a satirical and critical look at
attitudes towards immigrants in Britain. McCartney intended to parody the
negative attitudes that were prevalent among politicians and the press.
Race issues evidently played on McCartney's mind during the Get
Back sessions. He led The Beatles through Commonwealth, an unreleased
improvised satire loosely based on British politician Enoch Powell's notorious
'Rivers of blood' speech.
The most infamous of the unreleased Get Back versions is known as
No Pakistanis and contained the line "Don't dig no Pakistanis taking all
the people's jobs." While mostly unfinished, the song did include a
mumbled rhyming couplet which paired the words 'Puerto Rican' with 'Mohican.'
However, Paul shares some further insight, “When we were doing Let It Be, there
were a couple of verses to Get Back which were actually
not racist at all - they were anti-racist. There were a lot of stories in the
newspapers then about Pakistanis crowding out flats - you know, living 16 to a
room or whatever. So, in one of the verses of Get
Back, which we were making up on the set of Let It Be, one of the outtakes has
something about 'too many Pakistanis living in a council flat' - that's the
line. Which to me was actually talking
out against overcrowding for Pakistanis...
If there was any group that was not racist, it was the Beatles. I mean, all our
favorite people were always black. We were kind of the first people to open
international eyes, in a way, to Motown.
Paul McCartney
Rolling Stone, 1986
Last but not least, concerning track 12, John believed Jo Jo was a
code name for Yoko, (Get back to where you once belong, Yoko), although, it’s
clear Paul has stuck to his story that Jo Jo is just a fictional character.
Track 10 – Don’t Let Me Down: A strong mutual
love song, by John written for Yoko on how thrilled he is to be in love for the
first time, but fears the common path of rejection with great anxiety, to the
point he practically screams into the microphone “Don’t Let Me Down.
Although Lennon was revealing his feelings and fears in song as
far back as 1964's If I Fell and I'm A Loser, Don't Let Me Down was one of the
first examples of the raw soul-baring that would reach a peak on Cold Turkey
and the John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band album. Paul recalls a portion of the mind
frame John was heading in while this song took shape, “It was a very tense
period: John was with Yoko and had escalated to heroin and all the accompanying
paranoias, and he was putting himself out
on a limb. I think that as much as it excited and amused him, and the same time
it secretly terrified him. So, Don't Let Me Down was a genuine plea... It was saying to Yoko, 'I'm really stepping out of line on this one. I'm really letting my vulnerability be seen, so you must not let me down.' I think
it was a genuine cry for help. It was a good song.
Paul McCartney
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles.
Track 11 – The Ballad Of John And Yoko: About the clearest most
pin-pointed mutual love song on the LP, based on the desire toward nuptial
marriage.
The song was written in the days immediately following Lennon and
Ono's wedding. John gives us his take,“I wrote that in Paris on our honeymoon.
It's a piece of journalism. It's a folk song. That's why I called it The Ballad
Of. It was very romantic. It's all in the song, The Ballad Of John And Yoko if you want to know how it happened, it's
in there. Gibraltar was like a little sunny dream. I couldn't find a white suit
- I had sort of off-white corduroy trousers and a white jacket. Yoko had all
white on.
John Lennon.
Track 12 – Old Brown Shoe: A mutual love song based on the lyrics
such as Baby, I’m in love with you I’m so glad you came here, it won’t be the
same now when I’m with you.
The string of opposites within the lyrics, a method used by Paul, comes directly
from the religious views Harrison had clung onto––things like we must free ourselves from the material
world’s illusory. According to these Hari Krishna teachings, once absorbed into the divine consciousness, right vs. wrong, body vs. soul, and spirit vs. matter
no longer exists.
Track 13 – Across The Universe: Across The Universe was John
Lennon's first composition to be recorded by The Beatles since I Am The Walrus
five months earlier. The words were written before the music and came to Lennon
in the early hours one morning at his home in Kenwood. “I was lying next to my
first wife in bed,” says John, “you know, and I was irritated. She must have
been going on and on about something, and she'd gone to sleep, and I'd kept
hearing these words over and over, flowing like an endless stream. I went downstairs,
and it turned into sort of a cosmic song rather than an irritated song; rather
than a 'Why are you always mouthing off at me?' or whatever, right? ... “But
the words stand, luckily, by themselves. They were purely inspirational and were given to me as boom! I don't own it, you
know; it came through like that. I don't know where it came from, what meter
it's in, and I've sat down and looked at it and said, 'Can I write another one
with this meter?' It's so interesting: 'Words
are flying [sic] out like [sings] endless rain into a paper cup, they slither
while they pass, they slip away across the universe.' Such an
extraordinary meter and I can never repeat it! It's not a matter of
craftsmanship; it wrote itself. It drove me out of bed. I didn't want to write
it, I was just slightly irritable, and I went downstairs, and I couldn't get to
sleep until I put it on paper, and then I went to sleep. It's like being
possessed; like a psychic or a medium. The thing has to go down. It won't let
you sleep, so you have to get up, make it into something, and then you're
allowed to sleep. That's always in the middle of the bloody night when you're
half-awake or tired, and your critical facilities are switched off.”
John Lennon, 1980
All We Are Saying, David Sheff
Track 14 – Let It Be: A song centered around mother’s love and
comfort rather than romantic love.
Paul gives us an eye-opener
on how this tune developed, and I quote, “One night during this tense time I
had a dream I saw my mum, who'd been dead
ten years or so. And it was so great to see her because that's a wonderful
thing about dreams: you actually are
reunited with that person for a second; there they are, and you appear to both
be physically together again. It was so
wonderful for me, and she was very reassuring. In the dream, she said,
'It'll be all right.' I'm not sure if she used the words 'Let it be' but that
was the gist of her advice, it was, 'Don't worry too much, it will turn out
OK.' It was such a sweet dream I woke up thinking, Oh, it was really great to visit with her again. I felt
very blessed to have that dream. So that got me writing the song Let It Be. I literally started off 'Mother Mary', which was
her name, 'When I find myself in times of trouble,' which I certainly found
myself in. The song was based on that
dream.”
Paul McCartney
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
It was perhaps inevitable - even fortuitous for the group - that
Let It Be took on religious overtones, with many listeners interpreting it as
referring to the Virgin Mary. Again, Paul comments so, “Mother Mary makes it a
quasi-religious thing, so you can take it
that way. I don't mind. I'm quite happy if people want to use it to shore up
their faith. I have no problem with that. I think it's a great thing to have faith of any sort, particularly in the world we
live in.”
Paul McCartney
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
Track 15 – You Know My Name Look Up The Number: I reject this tune
as a love song based on the much too vague lyrics that leave the listener
nothing to build any meaningful relationship.
(Tongue in cheek.)
Well, there you have it, all the UK albums, all the original
compositions, all the underlined scoop pointing to unrequited love draws closer
to reality compared to mutual love, even on top of the shoulders connected to
the imaginary writings fastened to the loveable Beatles melodies. And yet, each
of the famous four did embrace true love ecstasy alongside of Yoko, Linda,
Olivia, and Barbara.
Next week, I plan to include and uncover, as much as I can, those
deleted, left on the cutting room floor scenes from the ‘A Hard Day’s Night’
motion picture, then reveal a couple of them in sequential order within the
film’s continuity for a number of weeks.
Be sure to join me and prepare for some fun reading.
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