Sometimes on very warm days when it is very quiet, aside from the occasional chirping of some satisfied bird, I can hear the melancholy strains of John Lennon singing "Norwegian Wood," outlined with the peaceful background of Harrison's sitar. It is not of course the only song that ever creeps into my head; however, there is something haunting about the song that my soul seems to thrive on.
The wonderful thing about craving music like this is that I can be satisfied by the simple act of playing the CD. My soul receives nourishment, inspiration, and bliss with no side effects aside from the possibility of an occasional high. Listening to the Beatles never bores me and always amazes me.
The dreams that I had in high school could be summarized in one or two words. I played the violin and the piano constantly, and I dreamed of going professional. Everything else seemed only to get in the way of this dream. The Beatles' music, though not classical in any sense, did incorporate it into their sound and thus inspired me. Take "Eleanor Rigby" for instance. Where would the song be without the strong violin, viola, and cello accompaniment? The strings create the heart of the piece, and the Beatles knew this. They were willing to use instruments that were not normally used in rock and roll in order to produce new moods and styles of sound.
What is it about the Beatles' music that keeps it alive and popular today and will continue to do so perhaps forever? I cannot speak for anyone besides myself, but I remember when I first started getting interested in the Beatles. My father would play recordings of the Beatles from a radio show entitled Beatle Brunch. Driving to violin lessons, to the grocery, down the highway, or anywhere, I would listen to "A Hard Day's Night," "No Reply," "She Loves You," and "Can't Buy Me Love," among many others. Something about their perfect harmony and rhythm caught my attention, but what sustained my interest was the aliveness of their music. It had unusual clarity, was powerfully emotional, and their messages were straightforward and consistent with my traditional values. I was hooked.
At the time, I felt like a sort of modern day discoverer of the Beatles. I knew nothing of them, and as far as I knew, aside from my father, no one else seemed to either. I wanted to keep their music a secret. If the radio had gotten a hold of them, the music would not have seemed as special to me. I wanted their music to remain a part of only my life, an expression of my frustrations and dreams. For the longest time, it has remained that way.
Personally, I love the majority of the Beatles' music. I consider the Beatles to be not just a band but a facet of music. There is jazz, blues, classical, rock, and there is the Beatles, the brilliant combination of these types. Their music can serve many purposes for me depending on my mood or situation. Often, in a pensive mood, I will turn on "Michelle" or "Julia." On the other hand, other songs I enjoy are happy, exciting pieces such as "Roll Over Beethoven." It was very difficult, therefore, to choose a favorite disk, yet here it is all packaged and ready for the voyage to a desert island.
- There are places I remember
- All my life, though some have changed
- Some forever, not for better
- Some have gone and some remain.
- --"In My Life"
While this is perhaps not my favorite CD, the Beatles' album Rubber Soul captures a great many feelings and memories for me. The CD has songs that are peaceful and inspiring as well as uplifting. If one song does not fit my mood, then another will. The basic sound of the CD is quite different from their initial "yeah, yeah, yeah" style of "A Hard Day's Night." Released in 1965, Rubber Soul departs from the rigid formula of simple romance that dominated rock and roll of the 1960's and the Beatles' earlier music (Greenfield 45). They address more serious themes such as the distress of an affair outlined with a sense of mystery that provokes one to think and to dream. The new instruments such as the fuzz bass, sitar, and tambourine create a folk and hippie feel to the music. The songs in Rubber Soul, as a whole, are very different. Thus, in this one CD the listener gets a little bit of each emotion, joy, frustration, anger, and peace.
The uniqueness of each song is apparent in a single listening of the CD. "Drive My Car," a song that is actually a comedic story, begins with Harrison's guitar playing the tune, then immediately Lennon begins the chorus. The Beatles combine a very "resonant humming foundation" with piano on the three-part chorus as well as Ringo's drum solo, cowbell, and tambourine accompaniment (MacDonald 133). "Drive My Car" is probably the most upbeat song on the CD, the kind of song that is perfect to take along on those long, monotonous road trips. Catching the listener's ear by being a bit more bass-heavy than the other songs on the album, it is a perfect introduction to Rubber Soul.
This CD allows me to feel many emotions and frustrations that otherwise I would forget. For example, on the simplest level, "Drive My Car" reminds me of my years growing up without a car in a high school where driving a car was the one sure way to enter the ranks of the cool and elite. I did not realize at the time that I was using the music to get past my frustrations. In other words, the music created dreams for me that were satisfying by themselves.
Quite the opposite of "Drive My Car" in musical style, "Norwegian
Wood" is the first clear example of the Beatles taking their music
away from the style of "A Hard Day's Night" towards a more mellow
sound by using new instruments. A haunting song about a unhappy
affair with a woman, it begins with the tranquil strums of John's
acoustic rhythm guitar. Gradually Harrison begins with a repetition
of the tune on a double-tracked sitar, a new addition to the Beatle
sound (MacDonald 130). Listen closely and you can hear the light
background of Ringo's tambourine, maracas, and finger cymbals,
keeping the beat and pushing the song forward. The song is somber
without being sad, tender without being sweet. It pulls at the soul
and triggers memories or just emotions that you forgot were there. A
beautiful ballad, the song is anything but rock and roll.
A more energetic song, "You Won't See Me" is a "three-chord trick"
that the Beatles created based on The Four Tops' smash hit "It's The
Same Old Song" (MacDonald 144). The song is simple and uses the same
"oo-la-la-la" chorus as "Nowhere Man." Slightly more original yet
very repetitive and predictable in harmony, "Nowhere Man" is
interesting to listen to in that the vocals stand out by "glowing
against a tapestry of saturated guitar- tone" supported by
McCartney's bass (MacDonald 139).
Some songs in the album are a little rougher around the edges. "Think For Yourself" is Harrison's second contribution to Rubber Soul and employs two basses, guitar, and electric piano, creating a "sour" sounding piece (MacDonald 142). A song expressing frustration and declaring freedom, it reveals a gentle, resolved anger similar to that of "I'm Looking Through You," through the use of rough chord changes.
"I'm Looking Through You" was a theme for me at various points in my life. In high school, being a sincere and sensitive female in an environment where it could easily be said I did not belong, I ran across many people who hurt my pride with their fickleness. One day, after feeling somewhat rejected, I turned on Rubber Soul. "I'm looking through you. Where did you go? I thought I knew you. What did I know?" The lyrics could not have fit my emotions more perfectly. Not only did the song outline my frustrations in an upbeat fashion, it provided me comfort, a voice that stood up for me. "You were above me, but not today."
I think it was one night last summer that I fell asleep with the radio on (Swartley 49). It was one of those lazy summer nights when the weather is perfect, the crickets chirping, and the breeze is just strong enough to rustle the curtains and whistle against your face. I had left the door to my porch open, and, remembering the door, I woke up to hear "Michelle, ma belle, sont des mots" singing softly on my radio. It was a light, gentle rain to my ears. Suddenly I felt content in my room. I fell asleep and forgot to close the door.
"Michelle" is what romance is all about. Harmonically, a very rich
song, McCartney soothingly sings in French with an elegant gentleness
backed up by an "ooh-ooh" chorus sung so lightly and unified that it
almost sounds like a single instrument. "Michelle" is romantic
perfection, sweet, calm, and humorous in lyrics, the ideal song for a
mellow mood.
One of the main reasons Rubber Soul was so consistently mellow
was that drugs, particularly marijuana, were having a great influence
on them at this period. In the romantic song "Girl," for instance,
Lennon takes a "long, sharp, intake of breath" each time he sings
"Ah, Gir-ir-ir-irl," the sound of pot smoke being "sucked" straight
into the lungs (Hertsgaard 154). Rubber Soul reflects the
Beatles' entrance into the psychedelic age, and one can easily hear
this transformation.
"What Goes On" best expresses the diversity of the songs on the
album. Its "country-and- western ambiance" is completely unlike any
of the songs on the CD and provides a fast pace so as not to become
too sleepy with slow songs such as "Girl" and "Michelle."
Capturing thoughts of his past, Lennon began writing "In My Life"
with the original intention to write about Liverpool (MacDonald 136).
He ended up with what he considered his "first serious piece," one
that exclaims ideas of death and pleasure without being too obvious
(MacDonald 136). "In My Life" reminds us of everyone we love without
any melodrama. The song is indeed mellow.
The Beatles' lyrics in Rubber Soul express a variety of emotions. What makes them so believable is the tone they use in their songs. They sing the way they feel. For example, in "Norwegian Wood," John Lennon sings, "I once had a girl, or should I say, she once had me." His soft, melancholy voice creates the sorrowful, pensive mood. However, by the end of the song, we are convinced of Lennon's anger and frustration with this woman as his tone grows colder and more sarcastic. "So, I built a fire. Isn't it good, Norwegian Wood." On the other hand, "The Word" delivers a simple message. "Say the word I'm thinking of. Have you heard, the word is love?" These lyrics bring us back to the sunshine and jolly joy of love; thus, the Beatles sing with grand enthusiasm in their repetitive chorus, "Say the word, love." Finally, the lyrics in three songs, "Wait," "If I Needed Someone," and "Run For Your Life" reveal the need for authority and control in a relationship. For example, in "Run For Your Life," Lennon commands in a sharp tone, "you better keep you head little girl, catch you with another man, that's the end."
The Beatles had a great gift for creating "sophisticated simplicity"; they created music both "beautiful and compelling" (Hertsgaard 149). The Fab Four contributed songs about society, romance, abandonment, and violence. In Rubber Soul, for example, "message" songs such as "The Word" and "Nowhere Man" dwell among love songs like "Girl" and "Michelle" (Hertsgaard, 152). These songs today remain as touching and resonant as they were in the sixties. Groups such as Oasis "unapologetically loot the work" of the Beatles (Jenkins 7). Other four-member rock groups such as The Posies, Jellyfish, and Material Issue also imitate the Beatles (Willman 57). I believe the most powerful man in the United States said it best, however, when he informed us that he still believes that " 'Eleanor Rigby' is one of the most powerful songs [he] ever heard" (James 16).
However, it is not others' love of the Beatles that motivates me to bring them to the desert island. It is clearly an emotional attachment all my own. One of the most important things in life, I believe, is to maintain your sense of identity. You must know who you are, what you value, and what you are here on earth to do. Without this, you will lose your will to go on and the strength to work towards goals that are important to you. On a deserted island, this is especially difficult. With no reminders of the past, loved ones, and dreams, as well as no human to talk to, one can easily become lost. This is why music is so valuable. It can return you to yourself, your life, your friends, memories, and goals. Rubber Soul brings me home (Mark 12).
And so on some dark evening in July when the weather is humid and the island is silent, a lonely breeze will blow strains of "Norwegian Wood" toward the sea. With the breeze will blow memories, friendships, and dreams. And with the music, it is impossible to "kill the dream"; survival is possible, perhaps inevitable (Tosches 10).
Love is the prevailing theme on the CD. I feel there is no greater
thing in life. Why, you ask, would I want to be reminded of this
every day on a completely deserted island? I will say only this.
Every song is an emotion. I do not listen to the CD to be reminded of
my joy and my pain. I listen to it because it reminds me of myself.
With Rubber Soul, I keep myself whole. I feel. I reminisce. I
dream. That is all I could ask for on a deserted island.
Greenfield, Jeff. "They Changed Rock, Which Changed The Culture, Which Changed Us." Rock Music in America. Ed. Janet Podell. New York: H. W. Wilson, 1987. 42-51.
Hertsgaard, Mark. A Day In The Life. New York: Delacorte Press, 1995.
James, Caryn. "Beyond Fleetwood Mac and the Sax" The New York Times 3 Jun. 1997, sec. C: 16.
Jenkins, Mark. "Oasis: Love, Love Me Too" The Washington Post 27 Aug. 1997, sec. D: 7.
MacDonald, Ian. Revolution In The Head. New York: Henry Holt, 1994.
Mark, M. "It's Too Late To Stop Now." Stranded: Rock and Roll a Desert Island. Ed. Greil Marcus. 2nd ed. New York: Da Capo Press, 1996. 11-28.
Ruby, Rich, B. "Still the Same As They Were Before They Were." Sight & Sound April 1994: 8-11.
Swartley, Ariel. "The Wild, The Innocent And The E Street Shuffle." Stranded: Rock and Roll for a Desert Island. Ed. Greil Marcus. 2nd ed. New York: Da Capo Press , 1996. 49-57.
Toshes, Nick. "The Sea's Endless Awful Rhythm & Me Without Even A Dirty Picture." Stranded: Rock and Roll For a Desert Island. Ed. Greil Marcus. 2nd ed. New York: Da Capo Press, 1996. 3-10.
Willman, Chris. "Rediscovering the Beatles." Los Angeles
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