Being of Greek background I could immediately relate to it as Greek sounding music and not just because of the bouzouki sound. There is conflicting information as to whether the bouzouki was used. Peter Asher whose sister Jane who had been dating Paul said Girl was the first song to feature a bouzouki in an English pop song but in previous interviews Paul mentioned it was guitars that were stringed in a way to sound like the bouzouki. George Martin said they had used a bouzouki so knows for sure but regardless it was a good song with a different sound.
Superb track from John, and an interesting analysis, thanks. Point of interest: the melody definitely has a European inflection and this is emphasised in that bouzouki-like counterpoint near the end, which seems to have been Paul's main contribution to the song (barring a phrase or two perhaps). Apparently Paul was remembering a hotel band he heard when on holiday in Greece: "In fact, in the song ‘Girl’ that John wrote, there’s a Zorba-like thing at the end that I wrote which came from that holiday. I was very impressed with another culture’s approach because it was slightly different from what we did. We just did it on acoustic guitars instead of bouzoukis."
Another great reaction Amy. Like you, I can't wait till the next one on your list. In My Life is considered one of their best. It has been used for weddings and funerals. That kind of scope and respect does not come easily. A true little masterpiece. And I feel the same way about GIRL.
It’s a wonderful song I remember from my earliest childhood. It’s always stood out to me. It’s personal and exotic, like Al Stewart’s “Year Of The Cat”. Timeless. It sounds like bouzouki music you’d hear in the bright sun on a Greek island.
I'm so glad you're going in a chronological order and discovering their development as writers and musical composers. Their growth and what they accomplished in such a short period of time was amazing.
Great reaction as always 😊 The brief summary of the song is OK, but it spoils the surprising moment of hearing a Beatles' song for the first time, at least a bit (the kind of surprising reaction to Strawberry Fields or She is Leaving is now missing). Could you please read the summary AFTER listening to the song?
I agree. I can go either way on this. And it's not a gripe. It's the same first listen regardless. A pre-review summary may give quicker insights for YT, regarding lyrics or theme. But on balance I'd prefer to hear Amy tell us what she hears .. melancholy etc. And not have that level of detail pre-packaged and steering the reaction.
Agree, would be better if it was just basic info initially, such as recording date and info on the session, commentary about what the Beatles said about it afterwards. This will get even more relevant on future albums.
@@apikecalledmike Ideally it would just be the information available to someone listening to a Beatles record when it came out--album title and date, song title and maybe duration. This change may not happen, though, even if every commenter expressed support for the change, as it may be a bit riskier in terms of the process for making videos.
Progression happens all over this album, and this song is a great example. This is John at the height of his songwriting powers. Also, wrt the contradictions in the lyrics you have to remember John could be a sarcastic bugger, so that ambiguity is sometimes intentional. Or not -- that's the charm of good pop music.
You have experienced being pulled in quite often with the Beatles. :-) In this instance, the reason for it is John's voice. Along with the minor key, as you mention, also the melody & the strumming guitar. But, really......it's the Beatles magic!
I really enjoyed this one. Great observations on both the music and lyrics. It does have a bit of a melancholic sound while still sounding intimate. Whenever I hear Lennon sing the word "girl" I picture him with a day dream look staring off into space. Really enjoyed the lyrical analysis contrasting the dream girl with the real girl, or the anti-dream girl depending on how you look at it. Enjoyed the illustrative improvised harp demonstration using the harmonic minor scale. The dulcimer sound is from placing a capo very high (in pitch) on the neck of the acoustic guitars in order to get this brighter dulcimer/ukulele like sound. Great reaction.
Brilliant song. The Buddhist concept of attachment applies to this girl. It's the dark side of attraction. In psychological terms its the trauma bond between the dependant personality, the co-dependent, and the narcissistic partner. Pain and pleasure, co-dependence and emotional abuse. It's very interesting. And its clear that the John and Yoko relationship was one of those co-dependent type relationships.
As someone from the UK, I have always read into it a bit of the exotic and the alienated. It sounds a lot more like the folk music of the south eastern med than any English/Irish/Scottish folk influence. In a weird way it reminds of Lord Byron going off to Greece or Turkey to write forlorn poetry of an idealist tarnished into cynicism.
It’s a marijuana song. The way it’s subdued delivery and dreamy reverie. You can hear him toking on a joint and singing in this wistful reverie through a somewhat untethered melody. Dylan gave them marijuana which they were quite enthused about. This song when heard by people familiar with marijuana recognized this aspect of the song right away and people not familiar with marijuana heard a folky love song. This song just puts you sitting right next to John on the couch passing a joint back and forth. John opens the song with a question that begs for your attention. Just a brilliant song. Amy I especially enjoyed the part where you talked about the harmonic minor going up and down with the shifting sevenths. You’ll hear more of that later and the marijuana feel is also further explored more as John liked to lay it between the lines so to speak. . Great fun and informative dive into this standout beatle song.
Love this song, it's simple but very sophisticated at the same time. Think about this, just a year earlier John was sing "A Hard Days Night" and "I Feel Fine". Amazing growth by John, he reached a creative peak on this record. This song, " Nowhere Man" and "In My Life" are by far the best tracks on this album for me. Peace ❤
I enjoyed this reaction again a lot 👍 Good to hear in the beginning some background about the lyrics of the song 👌😊 Without introduction the song draws us in right from the start. Good observation, this immediacy it is, I never could express that this way, so precisely put 👌😊 And haha ... I love the woodpecker story 😅 And at the end, the feeling is really soothing, I love this melodic shape there, really lovely ❤😊 And now I'm looking forward to your next reaction to a Beatles song from Rubber Soul ... the next reaction of yours that I can listen to in my life 😉🤞
Thank you, Amy! Great analysis! The music puts me in mind of an ethereal, dream-world. Like waking (or not quite waking) from a disturbing and compelling dream (?nightmare?). I'm reminded of Keats's La Belle Dame sans Merci. We are left alone and palely loitering. Love the Pink Floyd shout out!!
It’s the same girl. She’s lovely, you melt, then she’s a nightmare, but then she’s lovely again and you melt again, then she’s a nightmare, then she’s lovely again, and on and on. This is girl to us guys. Bitter sweet. Heaven and Hell all wrapped up in one package. Ah, giiiiirrrlll.
Unfortunately Yoko offered him something he couldn't get anywhere else. He was absolutely dependent on her. He couldn't leave her and even went back after his lost weekend with May Pang. She was his mother replacement.
And didn't she know it! She even cut up a photo of John holding hands with his mother and replaced his mother's image with her own. That's creepy. It's in the John Lennon Museum (or Mausoleum) in Tokyo.
The melody of the lyric "..all about the girl who came.." is a familiar phrase in Greek music. Apparently it was all done on guitars, with the 'bouzouki' type sound using a capo very high on the neck. I always thought that the style was inspired by their trip to Greece (They wanted to buy a Greek island and turn it into their own residence/studio/wonderland ), but it turns out that the song predated it by a year or so. Live and learn, eh !
@@gdj6298 The movie Zorba the Greek came out in ‘64 (the year before this song was recorded) and made Greek-flavoured faux-folk music very hip for a time, in a neat parallel to the vogue for French music a few years earlier that had inspired “Michelle”. The Beatles were never ones to let a current trend go by without having a go at putting their own spin on it.
I think that you got it right, Amy. As always with John, there are always two sides of the coin. We see John’s romanticism and his cynicism at work here. Of course, he wouldn’t be John Lennon, if it wasn’t the cynicism that wins out. PS: Nice pickup on the “tit, tit, tit. I read in an interview that this was quite intentional.
@@VirginRock There's a video somewhere on YT of the original harpist on a chat show with Ringo, and she talks about her experiences recording her piece. But probably you already know about that.
13 minuutes in and I think that you may have already given the delivery more thought than the boys did. "God rest yu merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay...."
"Girl" is a song of lament that rests solidly in the tradition of the Russian Folk Song - and more specifically, the Russian-Jewish experience. John tips this off from the jump with the words "Is there anybody going to listen to my story". That is a mechanism that is omnipresent in Eastern European storytelling. The "tu, tu, tu. tu" in the bridge is a vocal substitute for a staccato pattern the Balalaika would perform. There is no "swing" in this song. No offense, but a classically trained musician should not make these kinds of mistakes.
Has it ever occurred to you dear that Paul McCartney exaggerates his contribution to their song catalogue because John is no longer around. He can now basically say whatever he wants inflating his own importance without fear of contradiction. If you examine what he's said over the years it's obvious this is what he's been progressively doing. It follows that John's comments have a lot more credence being made with the knowledge they could be disputed by Paul.
@@dago87able "In My Life" for certain. John really came increasingly into his own on this LP. He'd already begun to do so with such as "Help!" "Nowhere Man" and "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party". That's why one properly begins with their first recordings, listening _closely and intently_, and listens to their recordings chronologically. Dismissing the pre-"Rubber Soul" recordings because some pseudo-sophisticate tells one to do so is to be duped into missing out.
Amy, Rubber Soul was a very eclectic album that had a World music vibe. It included French sounds (Michelle), Greek sounds (Girl), and baroque sounds (In My Life), and it mentioned Norway..
Plus Motown (Drive my car), Country (What goes on), Folk Rock (If I needed someone), Bach (Michelle outro) and of course Beatle original creative talent. My favorite Album new in '65. The Word the only song I never liked. BTW, everyone Is angry with John for the last track when Tom Jones was high in the charts with Delilah singing about an actual bloody murder and not a clumsy threat.
Such a great song. Chorus harmonious are incredible. Thanks fab four and George Martin. It will still provoke conversation 100 years from now except all the musicians will be Ai 😮
The Greek outro was obvious in '65 after Theodorakis' style became popular.Many Beatle melodies if played in 6/8 time show their Irish heritage if only unconsciously.All influences would be transformed into the Beatle magic we love with an ingredient now sorely lacking: creativity. At the core of their lasting power is the secret of folk songs, arias and the great standards : Melody.😊❤
Aah...Rubber Soul. My Saturday morning drinking coffee and cooking breakfast music. This side of the album is soooo good. For me this is John's most underrated song. You can definitely hear the Greek influence in this song. I wonder too if it was intentional on their part to immediately start the song. John has something he has to say, and it can't wait for an introduction. He has such a great vulnerability in his voice, something that can't be taught, people have it or they don't.
Seems to me that you forgot a bit about how a few of their songs actually startled you by diving right into it without an introduction; off the top of my head All My Loving, Can’t Buy Me Love or Help, but some others also for sure. Regarding the “exotic” interval, and its complement in the staccato rhythm of the mandolin in the instrumental section, I’ve always heard a clear Italian folk tune and dance there, most likely Sicilian. It complements the French feel of Michelle. *edit: now I’m reading in the wikipedia article that it “has specific similarities to Greek music”, which is of course perfectly plausible, but yet I don’t know why exactly I still get more of a south of Italy feel to it.
@@bengerson7064 the Greeks established colonies all over Sicily and southern Italy, and after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire the Byzantines invaded and occupied Sicily and much of the Italian peninsula. They were driven from Sicily in the 10th century and Italy in the 11th.
I think this song is about the complexity of love relationships - there’s the fantasy and the reality, and the in-between. Also, how one’s view of the object of desire changes over the course of a relationship. Musically, I just want to add that the verses, chorus and bridge are in three different keys, yet it sounds completely natural.
When it says Yoko ended up being that girl he literally means theirs became the co-dependent trauma bond that he needed to fill the void inside himself.
It is amusing how people analyze their music after all these decades. They did it back in the 60s as well. These guys couldn't read or write music. They were simply naturally brilliant.
When you describe this as the imagining of the dream girl, it is interesting that the next song on the album (I grew up with the US or Capitol version) is 'I'm Looking Through You'.
And... Shanghai Surprise is a 1986 adventure comedy film directed by Jim Goddard and starring then-newlyweds Sean Penn and Madonna. The screenplay was adapted by John Kohn and Robert Bentley from Tony Kenrick's 1978 novel Faraday's Flowers. Produced by George Harrison's HandMade Films and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Harrison ( The Beatles ) himself appears in the film as a night club singer, and he wrote and recorded five original songs for the soundtrack: "Shanghai Surprise", "Someplace Else", "Breath Away from Heaven", "Zig Zag", and "Hottest Gong in Town". The film was a critical and commercial failure, and an official soundtrack album was never released. I think, Someplace Else by George Harrison sounds like The Beatles. Thank you very much.
“Michelle” and “Girl” are one of those matched pairs you find in the development of Lennon’s and McCartney’s songwriting partnership/rivalry. They share that continental folk vibe (the former leaning French, the latter leaning Greek a la Zorba), and the same plodding march rhythm.
Eastern influence aside, I think the point is the DREAM girl. When you messed around with that beginning bit, what you got was the audio cue for a dream.
Funny, two reactors I follow covering the same song within a day of each other. I loved this album. There is a current singer, named Faouzia, who recently released a song, "Fur Elise", that is based on the classical piece. I think you would enjoy it a great deal.
John's remarks about the religious reference in the song is slightly curious as the only Beatle with a Catholic upbringing was George. Paul was nominally Catholic but not from a practicing family. John went to an Anglican school and sang occasionally in the local parish choir. Ringo, for the record, had an Evangelical background. Nonetheless, it's interesting and very much a product of a youth in Liverpool in the 1960s, even 'though the attitude he describes seems more puritanical than truly Catholic. It sounds like his later views became more nuanced but this is an early example of his grappling with more philosophical issues at the heart of a kind of love song.
John was reading the Bible and other religious texts at the time. This is specifically mentioned in the Maureen Cleeve interview John gave in early 1966 that got him into so much trouble (the “bigger than Jesus” interview).
Yes, we do. We heard Rubber Soul first. It's great, but Revolver is even greater. Or perhaps because it came out in summer while Rubber Soul was a winter album. Or maybe it's because I'd just left school and suddenly life was beautiful!
@@fredneecher1746 For Years I skipped "In My Life" because it didn't rock. But I grew up. "Revolver" is superficially noteworthy for the studio tricks. "Rubber Soul" has none of that -- but it has greater emotional depth, "Revolver" being more of an intellectual exercise -- a "head trip". "Yesterday' . . . and Today" is a great LP, even though probably the most hodgepodge (we didn't know that), and was released in Summer, with "Revolver" tracks (we didn't know that), before "Revolver" was released even in the UK.
This was not only a probing and eloquent analysis but a glorious video performance. It could be that John is singing about the hazards of romantic idealization, or he could be comparing two (or more) actual women he is trying to choose between. The "oriental'' mode you identify, though not Japanese, could indicate a longing for the exotic and thus his susceptibility to someone like Yoko.
You say not Japanese, but that interval on the word "[came] to stay" sounds just like the interval the concludes Sakura, which is in Frisian mode. Maybe John picked that up on his visit to Japan.
I think all you have to do for YT to allow it is pause like 2 or 3 times during the song instead of playing the whole song. I think that would be better than editing out the whole reaction.
Dream Lover (1959) written and sung by the prodigiously multi talented Bobby Darin. A USA No.2. 150 million views on youtube. Darin's next single Mack the Knife (1959) got to No.1 with one of pop's greatest vocals, a song about a serial killer, no chorus and key changes every verse. Go figure.
I may be wrong but I think the tittitit backing vocals were conceived primarily as a mocking rhythmic device, kind of emphasising the observers who thought he was being made a fool of. Reading on from the Wiki article you were quoting from, McCartney says it was inspired by the Beach Boys' lalalala device. Always enjoy your Beatles listens.
John Lennon didnt have a happy childhood. He lost his mother early and even before he lost her she was absent in much of his life. And so he was co-dependent - always looking for a mother figure. Co-deoendent personalities find themselves with dominant partners, or emotional abusive partners. It's a dance of mutual need. And this song is about that.
Paul has a tendency to take credit for everything. So if he added a word or two, he says it was co-written, as if he composed half the song. When someone else did something, he says "we" came up with his. He´s been caught making false claims many times over the years. Girl is almost exclusively written by Lennon, Paul helped with the final refinement and probably a couple of words. That´s the widespread belief, so you can never trust Paul´s words when it comes to factual recollection of historical Beatles events.
There’s some truth in this- like when he forgot that John wrote the verse bit for Yellow Submarine but I don’t think we can know how much each contributed really, unless they recorded a demo. John tends to underplay how much they collaborated and Paul talks it up. The truth is around this time Paul used to visit John’s home for songwriting sessions and it’s probable that given this album was really rushed that they would have unfinished songs that they would work into shape together. Similar to how Paul brought Drive My Car and Michelle in an unfinished state and they worked on them together.
Unclear. None of us were ever there, when the songs were created. Their life back than was so intensive, I think, there are maybe lost some details. They/McCartney probably don't know it for sure anymore, because his past is far less relevant to him, than it is to us. He's usually thinking about his next projects.
A lot of people say Paul is re-writing history and maybe he does some of that; however, he said he co-wrote "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and there is a bootleg out there where he is showing John the proper way to sing the tune in the verse.
Not significant at all dipstick. Paul was just offering constructive criticism, like a producer, or another set of ears. John would do the same for Paul like telling him how to sing 'Two Of Us' in the Get Back movie. Or sometimes John would fool around and sing in a silly way and Paul would get him back on track. Paul has admitted John wrote the song listing it among the John songs he never sings live.
@@MOLLOYALLOY We now know that John wrote the main melody for Yellow Submarine as they recently found John's old demo for it. Lennon actually referenced it in an interview when the album came out as he and Paul always talked to reporters about the new album. On Yellow Submarine, Lennon specifically says the Paul took an old unfinished song of his and turned it into Yellow Submarine. Years later, Lennon would say he didn't have much to do with it. Don't know if he forgot and didn't want to be associated with it.
The trauma bond is also sometimes called attachment injury. Usually stems back to childhood and has to do with abandonment at a young age. Unfortunately that did happen to John Lennon. In some cases its related to Borderline Personality Disorder.
Seems like Paul wants to always take credit for a John song. I wonder if Paul’s gonna say he wrote Imagine for John as a peace offering after the break up.
Beatles is the most difficult music put out on the youtube. Nothing to be sorry for. The text line. Pain and pleasure is og course interesting. Its a lovely sing
Lennon is "conversational" in this, as he often was. And he is talking about the complexities of the relationship in which both are imperfect, flawed. There isn't a 100 per cent "fit" between them.
Looks like you are skipping "What Goes On", which isn't too surprising. That one has the lead vocal separated (left/right) from most of the rest of the music, so if you select just one side of it, you have a karaoke version where you can pretend to be Ringo singing, fun?
I love how John inhales through his teeth during the chorus. How they emphasize it. Really gets across the emotion he's putting into it.
I love how John inhales through his joint during the chorus. How they emphasize it. Really gets across the emotion he’s putting into it.
FIFY
The "exotic" thing is a wink to popular music from Greece
one of the reasons Rubber Soul is my desert island album
Being of Greek background I could immediately relate to it as Greek sounding music and not just because of the bouzouki sound. There is conflicting information as to whether the bouzouki was used. Peter Asher whose sister Jane who had been dating Paul said Girl was the first song to feature a bouzouki in an English pop song but in previous interviews Paul mentioned it was guitars that were stringed in a way to sound like the bouzouki. George Martin said they had used a bouzouki so knows for sure but regardless it was a good song with a different sound.
Superb track from John, and an interesting analysis, thanks. Point of interest: the melody definitely has a European inflection and this is emphasised in that bouzouki-like counterpoint near the end, which seems to have been Paul's main contribution to the song (barring a phrase or two perhaps). Apparently Paul was remembering a hotel band he heard when on holiday in Greece: "In fact, in the song ‘Girl’ that John wrote, there’s a Zorba-like thing at the end that I wrote which came from that holiday. I was very impressed with another culture’s approach because it was slightly different from what we did. We just did it on acoustic guitars instead of bouzoukis."
Another great reaction Amy. Like you, I can't wait till the next one on your list. In My Life is considered one of their best. It has been used for weddings and funerals. That kind of scope and respect does not come easily. A true little masterpiece. And I feel the same way about GIRL.
It’s a wonderful song I remember from my earliest childhood. It’s always stood out to me. It’s personal and exotic, like Al Stewart’s “Year Of The Cat”. Timeless. It sounds like bouzouki music you’d hear in the bright sun on a Greek island.
You can say Girl is to John as Michelle is to Paul or Girl is the Michelle of John and Michelle is the Girl of Paul. It fits to their personalities.
Both are great songs. Girl has much more lyrical substance though, which does fit their personalities.
One of my favourites by The Beatles.
Thank you!
I'm so glad you're going in a chronological order and discovering their development as writers and musical composers. Their growth and what they accomplished in such a short period of time was amazing.
Great reaction as always 😊
The brief summary of the song is OK, but it spoils the surprising moment of hearing a Beatles' song for the first time, at least a bit (the kind of surprising reaction to Strawberry Fields or She is Leaving is now missing).
Could you please read the summary AFTER listening to the song?
I agree. I can go either way on this. And it's not a gripe. It's the same first listen regardless.
A pre-review summary may give quicker insights for YT, regarding lyrics or theme. But on balance I'd prefer to hear Amy tell us what she hears .. melancholy etc. And not have that level of detail pre-packaged and steering the reaction.
Yes, it's not really Virgin Rock with the spoilers in advance.
Agree, would be better if it was just basic info initially, such as recording date and info on the session, commentary about what the Beatles said about it afterwards. This will get even more relevant on future albums.
@@apikecalledmike Ideally it would just be the information available to someone listening to a Beatles record when it came out--album title and date, song title and maybe duration. This change may not happen, though, even if every commenter expressed support for the change, as it may be a bit riskier in terms of the process for making videos.
Wonderful 👌 I was waiting for this reaction 👌👌 I love this song 👌👌👌 Let's Go 👍😀
Progression happens all over this album, and this song is a great example. This is John at the height of his songwriting powers. Also, wrt the contradictions in the lyrics you have to remember John could be a sarcastic bugger, so that ambiguity is sometimes intentional. Or not -- that's the charm of good pop music.
Agreed, I always thought Rubber Soul was the apex of Lennon's songwriting prowess.
Great analysis again. You have once again shone a light on one of my favorite songs from my favorite album. Thank you.
The genius of John Lennon
You have experienced being pulled in quite often with the Beatles. :-) In this instance, the reason for it is John's voice. Along with the minor key, as you mention, also the melody & the strumming guitar. But, really......it's the Beatles magic!
I really enjoyed this one. Great observations on both the music and lyrics. It does have a bit of a melancholic sound while still sounding intimate. Whenever I hear Lennon sing the word "girl" I picture him with a day dream look staring off into space. Really enjoyed the lyrical analysis contrasting the dream girl with the real girl, or the anti-dream girl depending on how you look at it. Enjoyed the illustrative improvised harp demonstration using the harmonic minor scale. The dulcimer sound is from placing a capo very high (in pitch) on the neck of the acoustic guitars in order to get this brighter dulcimer/ukulele like sound. Great reaction.
Sounds like a bouzouki. Michelle has like a french vibe then girl gets greek.
Brilliant song. The Buddhist concept of attachment applies to this girl. It's the dark side of attraction. In psychological terms its the trauma bond between the dependant personality, the co-dependent, and the narcissistic partner. Pain and pleasure, co-dependence and emotional abuse. It's very interesting. And its clear that the John and Yoko relationship was one of those co-dependent type relationships.
As someone from the UK, I have always read into it a bit of the exotic and the alienated. It sounds a lot more like the folk music of the south eastern med than any English/Irish/Scottish folk influence. In a weird way it reminds of Lord Byron going off to Greece or Turkey to write forlorn poetry of an idealist tarnished into cynicism.
It’s a marijuana song. The way it’s subdued delivery and dreamy reverie. You can hear him toking on a joint and singing in this wistful reverie through a somewhat untethered melody. Dylan gave them marijuana which they were quite enthused about. This song when heard by people familiar with marijuana recognized this aspect of the song right away and people not familiar with marijuana heard a folky love song. This song just puts you sitting right next to John on the couch passing a joint back and forth. John opens the song with a question that begs for your attention. Just a brilliant song. Amy I especially enjoyed the part where you talked about the harmonic minor going up and down with the shifting sevenths. You’ll hear more of that later and the marijuana feel is also further explored more as John liked to lay it between the lines so to speak. . Great fun and informative dive into this standout beatle song.
Well, now that you mention it, that's a perfectly reasonable interpretation.
I've always felt the song was about cocaine
Love this song, it's simple but very sophisticated at the same time. Think about this, just a year earlier John was sing
"A Hard Days Night" and "I Feel Fine".
Amazing growth by John, he reached a creative peak on this record. This song, " Nowhere Man" and
"In My Life" are by far the best tracks on this album for me.
Peace ❤
I enjoyed this reaction again a lot 👍 Good to hear in the beginning some background about the lyrics of the song 👌😊 Without introduction the song draws us in right from the start. Good observation, this immediacy it is, I never could express that this way, so precisely put 👌😊
And haha ... I love the woodpecker story 😅
And at the end, the feeling is really soothing, I love this melodic shape there, really lovely ❤😊
And now I'm looking forward to your next reaction to a Beatles song from Rubber Soul ... the next reaction of yours that I can listen to in my life 😉🤞
Thank you, Amy! Great analysis! The music puts me in mind of an ethereal, dream-world. Like waking (or not quite waking) from a disturbing and compelling dream (?nightmare?). I'm reminded of Keats's La Belle Dame sans Merci. We are left alone and palely loitering.
Love the Pink Floyd shout out!!
George Martin asked then "You're singing 'Dit, dit, dit, right?" Of course, they were singing "Tit, tit, tit..." The boys had fun in the studio.
So enjoyed this interpretation and lesson.. thank you
Their music became more complex later, but to me, the most beuatiful music they made was in Rubber Soul.
Yes and on a Hard Days Night eg "And I love " , "If I fell", and the title track.
The growth of the Beatles. It's fun to think about. 🎸🎼
My favorite Beatles song - in fact, one of my favorite all-time songs!
The word lovely is not enough to describe you and your work.
It’s the same girl. She’s lovely, you melt, then she’s a nightmare, but then she’s lovely again and you melt again, then she’s a nightmare, then she’s lovely again, and on and on. This is girl to us guys. Bitter sweet. Heaven and Hell all wrapped up in one package. Ah, giiiiirrrlll.
My Favorite Group and My Favorite Channel! Peace
Unfortunately Yoko offered him something he couldn't get anywhere else. He was absolutely dependent on her. He couldn't leave her and even went back after his lost weekend with May Pang. She was his mother replacement.
And didn't she know it! She even cut up a photo of John holding hands with his mother and replaced his mother's image with her own. That's creepy. It's in the John Lennon Museum (or Mausoleum) in Tokyo.
Thanks Amy, I have always loved this song & have loved your take ❤
This song sounds to me like it has some Greek influences The soft stringed instrument is probably a mandolin.
The melody of the lyric "..all about the girl who came.." is a familiar phrase in Greek music.
Apparently it was all done on guitars, with the 'bouzouki' type sound using a capo very high on the neck.
I always thought that the style was inspired by their trip to Greece (They wanted to buy a Greek island and turn it into their own residence/studio/wonderland ), but it turns out that the song predated it by a year or so. Live and learn, eh !
@@gdj6298 The movie Zorba the Greek came out in ‘64 (the year before this song was recorded) and made Greek-flavoured faux-folk music very hip for a time, in a neat parallel to the vogue for French music a few years earlier that had inspired “Michelle”. The Beatles were never ones to let a current trend go by without having a go at putting their own spin on it.
Giiirl...hhh...One of the best pop chorus ever, i guess. Thanks Amy, great analysis; and you're lovely!
I think that you got it right, Amy. As always with John, there are always two sides of the coin. We see John’s romanticism and his cynicism at work here. Of course, he wouldn’t be John Lennon, if it wasn’t the cynicism that wins out.
PS: Nice pickup on the “tit, tit, tit. I read in an interview that this was quite intentional.
Beatlejuice/beatlestea. A great John Lennon is top form. Thanks for the great analysis.
As a harp player, you would be interested in looking at "She's Leaving Home"?
I did!
@@VirginRock There's a video somewhere on YT of the original harpist on a chat show with Ringo, and she talks about her experiences recording her piece. But probably you already know about that.
The song always felt like an acoustic Russian dirge...cool song
13 minuutes in and I think that you may have already given the delivery more thought than the boys did. "God rest yu merry gentlemen, let nothing you dismay...."
"Girl" is a song of lament that rests solidly in the tradition of the Russian Folk Song - and more specifically, the Russian-Jewish experience. John tips this off from the jump with the words "Is there anybody going to listen to my story". That is a mechanism that is omnipresent in Eastern European storytelling. The "tu, tu, tu. tu" in the bridge is a vocal substitute for a staccato pattern the Balalaika would perform. There is no "swing" in this song. No offense, but a classically trained musician should not make these kinds of mistakes.
😯 Allways thought of it as greek, Dolina says its a tango
@@anarcovision It's neither
@@nicolek.3614 I believe you, makes a lot of sense
But how could John Lennon have notion of eastern european folk?
In the other hand greek music was popular in the sixties
Has it ever occurred to you dear that Paul McCartney exaggerates his contribution to their song catalogue because John is no longer around. He can now basically say whatever he wants inflating his own importance without fear of contradiction. If you examine what he's said over the years it's obvious this is what he's been progressively doing.
It follows that John's comments have a lot more credence being made with the knowledge they could be disputed by Paul.
THIS!!!!!
Amy, I would love to see you do a harp arrangement of this song, I think it would be fascinating.
Best song on the album
But John said he was a rock and roller! -- he-he . . .
He wrote some gorgeous ballads -- and this is at or very near the top.
Maybe. In My Life and Michelle are strong contenders.
Certainly modern 😊
I think In my life is the highlight.
And thats a very high bar.
@@dago87able "In My Life" for certain. John really came increasingly into his own on this LP. He'd already begun to do so with such as "Help!" "Nowhere Man" and "I Don't Want to Spoil the Party".
That's why one properly begins with their first recordings, listening _closely and intently_, and listens to their recordings chronologically. Dismissing the pre-"Rubber Soul" recordings because some pseudo-sophisticate tells one to do so is to be duped into missing out.
You craft great videos. Brava!
Amy, Rubber Soul was a very eclectic album that had a World music vibe. It included French sounds (Michelle), Greek sounds (Girl), and baroque sounds (In My Life), and it mentioned Norway..
Plus Motown (Drive my car),
Country (What goes on), Folk
Rock (If I needed someone),
Bach (Michelle outro) and of
course Beatle original creative
talent. My favorite Album new in '65. The Word the only song
I never liked. BTW, everyone Is
angry with John for the last
track when Tom Jones was
high in the charts with Delilah
singing about an actual bloody murder and not a clumsy threat.
This song is the Johnest John that ever Johned
From this song its clear that John Lennon understood some of this. He had an awareness of this.
Such a great song. Chorus harmonious are incredible. Thanks fab four and George Martin. It will still provoke conversation 100 years from now except all the musicians will be Ai 😮
The Greek outro was obvious in '65 after Theodorakis' style
became popular.Many Beatle
melodies if played in 6/8 time
show their Irish heritage if only
unconsciously.All influences
would be transformed into the
Beatle magic we love with an
ingredient now sorely lacking:
creativity. At the core of their
lasting power is the secret of
folk songs, arias and the great
standards : Melody.😊❤
Aah...Rubber Soul. My Saturday morning drinking coffee and cooking breakfast music. This side of the album is soooo good.
For me this is John's most underrated song. You can definitely hear the Greek influence in this song. I wonder too if it was intentional on their part to immediately start the song. John has something he has to say, and it can't wait for an introduction. He has such a great vulnerability in his voice, something that can't be taught, people have it or they don't.
I really enjoy listening to her explaining all this.. but I wish that at one point we'd able to listen the whole tune.. in all her posts.
Seems to me that you forgot a bit about how a few of their songs actually startled you by diving right into it without an introduction; off the top of my head All My Loving, Can’t Buy Me Love or Help, but some others also for sure.
Regarding the “exotic” interval, and its complement in the staccato rhythm of the mandolin in the instrumental section, I’ve always heard a clear Italian folk tune and dance there, most likely Sicilian. It complements the French feel of Michelle.
*edit: now I’m reading in the wikipedia article that it “has specific similarities to Greek music”, which is of course perfectly plausible, but yet I don’t know why exactly I still get more of a south of Italy feel to it.
HELP is a classic example of Beatles songs with no introduction.
Apulia in southern Italy was once part of the Greek empire.
@@bengerson7064 the Greeks established colonies all over Sicily and southern Italy, and after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire the Byzantines invaded and occupied Sicily and much of the Italian peninsula. They were driven from Sicily in the 10th century and Italy in the 11th.
I think this song is about the complexity of love relationships - there’s the fantasy and the reality, and the in-between. Also, how one’s view of the object of desire changes over the course of a relationship. Musically, I just want to add that the verses, chorus and bridge are in three different keys, yet it sounds completely natural.
When it says Yoko ended up being that girl he literally means theirs became the co-dependent trauma bond that he needed to fill the void inside himself.
Yes. Saw a reaction this week on another channel with full song played. They didn’t have any real technical analysis
It is amusing how people analyze their music after all these decades. They did it back in the 60s as well. These guys couldn't read or write music. They were simply naturally brilliant.
When you describe this as the imagining of the dream girl, it is interesting that the next song on the album (I grew up with the US or Capitol version) is 'I'm Looking Through You'.
And...
Shanghai Surprise is a 1986 adventure comedy film directed by Jim Goddard and starring then-newlyweds Sean Penn and Madonna. The screenplay was adapted by John Kohn and Robert Bentley from Tony Kenrick's 1978 novel Faraday's Flowers. Produced by George Harrison's HandMade Films and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Harrison ( The Beatles ) himself appears in the film as a night club singer, and he wrote and recorded five original songs for the soundtrack: "Shanghai Surprise", "Someplace Else", "Breath Away from Heaven", "Zig Zag", and "Hottest Gong in Town". The film was a critical and commercial failure, and an official soundtrack album was never released.
I think, Someplace Else by George Harrison sounds like The Beatles.
Thank you very much.
“Michelle” and “Girl” are one of those matched pairs you find in the development of Lennon’s and McCartney’s songwriting partnership/rivalry. They share that continental folk vibe (the former leaning French, the latter leaning Greek a la Zorba), and the same plodding march rhythm.
John Lennon wrote a kinda sequel in 1980 called Woman.
True and I like it but McCartney's Woman is better. Peter & Gordon sang it in 66 ! 🤡
Once he met Yoko he was incapable of being of emotionally independent. He even used to call her 'mother'.
No Reply
When I Get Home
Help
Cant Buy Me Love
Just a few of their songs I thought of real quick that have a voice as the first sound.
Eastern influence aside, I think the point is the DREAM girl. When you messed around with that beginning bit, what you got was the audio cue for a dream.
Great analysis. Thanks. Not the Beatles, I know, but you should compare Lennon's "Woman", written later.
Funny, two reactors I follow covering the same song within a day of each other. I loved this album.
There is a current singer, named Faouzia, who recently released a song, "Fur Elise", that is based on the classical piece. I think you would enjoy it a great deal.
Rubber Soul is certainly not "early" Beatles. It is their brilliant transitional middle period.
37:43 "John found Yoko. And, for him, that was the dream match."
Listen to his 1980 follow up of "Girl", "Woman".
the melody has the pathos of a Russian folk song. I can almost hear the balalaikas
John's remarks about the religious reference in the song is slightly curious as the only Beatle with a Catholic upbringing was George. Paul was nominally Catholic but not from a practicing family. John went to an Anglican school and sang occasionally in the local parish choir. Ringo, for the record, had an Evangelical background. Nonetheless, it's interesting and very much a product of a youth in Liverpool in the 1960s, even 'though the attitude he describes seems more puritanical than truly Catholic. It sounds like his later views became more nuanced but this is an early example of his grappling with more philosophical issues at the heart of a kind of love song.
John was reading the Bible and other religious texts at the time. This is specifically mentioned in the Maureen Cleeve interview John gave in early 1966 that got him into so much trouble (the “bigger than Jesus” interview).
Nowhere Man starts without an introduction as well. Help too. Must be a John thing.
Penny Lane, We Can Work It Out...maybe Eleanor Rigby too?
You’re Going to Lose That Girl
Those who believe "Revolver" is their best don't know what they are missing.
Yes, we do. We heard Rubber Soul first. It's great, but Revolver is even greater. Or perhaps because it came out in summer while Rubber Soul was a winter album. Or maybe it's because I'd just left school and suddenly life was beautiful!
@@fredneecher1746 For Years I skipped "In My Life" because it didn't rock. But I grew up.
"Revolver" is superficially noteworthy for the studio tricks. "Rubber Soul" has none of that -- but it has greater emotional depth, "Revolver" being more of an intellectual exercise -- a "head trip".
"Yesterday' . . . and Today" is a great LP, even though probably the most hodgepodge (we didn't know that), and was released in Summer, with "Revolver" tracks (we didn't know that), before "Revolver" was released even in the UK.
For me, the tune comjures a pre-war French cafe or bistro. Smoke filled and meloncholy.
The girl in the song is emotionally abusive and yet when he sings Girl and breathes in you know that's what he needs.
Which is exactly why he got Yoko.
This was not only a probing and eloquent analysis but a glorious video performance. It could be that John is singing about the hazards of romantic idealization, or he could be comparing two (or more) actual women he is trying to choose between. The "oriental'' mode you identify, though not Japanese, could indicate a longing for the exotic and thus his susceptibility to someone like Yoko.
You say not Japanese, but that interval on the word "[came] to stay" sounds just like the interval the concludes Sakura, which is in Frisian mode. Maybe John picked that up on his visit to Japan.
I think all you have to do for YT to allow it is pause like 2 or 3 times during the song instead of playing the whole song. I think that would be better than editing out the whole reaction.
I'd say this is still the early Beatles. If you have - early, middle and late. I call this as early.
Dream Lover (1959) written and sung by the prodigiously multi talented Bobby Darin. A USA No.2. 150 million views on youtube. Darin's next single Mack the Knife (1959) got to No.1 with one of pop's greatest vocals, a song about a serial killer, no chorus and key changes every verse. Go figure.
It's pretty dark and it's pretty psychologically profound. John Lennon had issues.
I do like the Lennon songs.
I may be wrong but I think the tittitit backing vocals were conceived primarily as a mocking rhythmic device, kind of emphasising the observers who thought he was being made a fool of. Reading on from the Wiki article you were quoting from, McCartney says it was inspired by the Beach Boys' lalalala device. Always enjoy your Beatles listens.
John Lennon didnt have a happy childhood. He lost his mother early and even before he lost her she was absent in much of his life. And so he was co-dependent - always looking for a mother figure. Co-deoendent personalities find themselves with dominant partners, or emotional abusive partners. It's a dance of mutual need. And this song is about that.
10:58 Right...
Love this! I think the “tit-tit” bridge modulates to f minor
Paul has a tendency to take credit for everything. So if he added a word or two, he says it was co-written, as if he composed half the song. When someone else did something, he says "we" came up with his. He´s been caught making false claims many times over the years. Girl is almost exclusively written by Lennon, Paul helped with the final refinement and probably a couple of words. That´s the widespread belief, so you can never trust Paul´s words when it comes to factual recollection of historical Beatles events.
There’s some truth in this- like when he forgot that John wrote the verse bit for Yellow Submarine but I don’t think we can know how much each contributed really, unless they recorded a demo. John tends to underplay how much they collaborated and Paul talks it up. The truth is around this time Paul used to visit John’s home for songwriting sessions and it’s probable that given this album was really rushed that they would have unfinished songs that they would work into shape together. Similar to how Paul brought Drive My Car and Michelle in an unfinished state and they worked on them together.
Unclear. None of us were ever there, when the songs were created. Their life back than was so intensive, I think, there are maybe lost some details. They/McCartney probably don't know it for sure anymore, because his past is far less relevant to him, than it is to us. He's usually thinking about his next projects.
A lot of people say Paul is re-writing history and maybe he does some of that; however, he said he co-wrote "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" and there is a bootleg out there where he is showing John the proper way to sing the tune in the verse.
Not significant at all dipstick. Paul was just offering constructive criticism, like a producer, or another set of ears. John would do the same for Paul like telling him how to sing 'Two Of Us' in the Get Back movie. Or sometimes John would fool around and sing in a silly way and Paul would get him back on track. Paul has admitted John wrote the song listing it among the John songs he never sings live.
@@MOLLOYALLOY We now know that John wrote the main melody for Yellow Submarine as they recently found John's old demo for it. Lennon actually referenced it in an interview when the album came out as he and Paul always talked to reporters about the new album. On Yellow Submarine, Lennon specifically says the Paul took an old unfinished song of his and turned it into Yellow Submarine. Years later, Lennon would say he didn't have much to do with it. Don't know if he forgot and didn't want to be associated with it.
"Of course it's John Lennon singing, and he's been singing for years and he's great at ... everything, and ..." Funny, and yet possibly true.
God, you're good.
The trauma bond is also sometimes called attachment injury. Usually stems back to childhood and has to do with abandonment at a young age. Unfortunately that did happen to John Lennon. In some cases its related to Borderline Personality Disorder.
Seems like Paul wants to always take credit for a John song. I wonder if Paul’s gonna say he wrote Imagine for John as a peace offering after the break up.
Beatles is the most difficult music put out on the youtube. Nothing to be sorry for. The text line. Pain and pleasure is og course interesting. Its a lovely sing
American? I thought u were European or French Canadian?
I think I read he had said it was about Catholicism ,like a lot of his songs on the surface it sounds sweet but it’s actually very bitter and deep
🇧🇷❤️🇧🇷
Another new video? Amy, do you still have time for other things? For shopping or burning in the sun, washing clothes or reading news paper etc.?
A dream girl turned out to be a nightmare for John Lennon.
👧
Fatal attraction
Lennon is "conversational" in this, as he often was. And he is talking about the complexities of the relationship in which both are imperfect, flawed. There isn't a 100 per cent "fit" between them.
Looks like you are skipping "What Goes On", which isn't too surprising. That one has the lead vocal separated (left/right) from most of the rest of the music, so if you select just one side of it, you have a karaoke version where you can pretend to be Ringo singing, fun?