Beatles "No Reply" appreciation thread

for 40+ years its always been light to me, it still is.

 

I saw the light is both figurative and literal. Later on "I Nearly Died" that's obviously figurative as he didn't literally almost die. So I saw the light is figurative because he has a moment of clarity but literal in the sense that the he saw the light in the room because he follows it with I know that you saw me....

 

Sorry to quote myself but it's been six months. Aside from learning that an Ottowa radio station banned Run For Your Life for its words, I was unable to turn up anything from the British press in the mid-sixties regarding the misogynist undertones of Lennon's lyrics. I'm not old enough to have read the coverage in real time. Can anyone comment?

 

i'm not sure any exists, any misogyny directed at Lennon probably came later with our later sensibilities. Lennon was a product of his time as we are all and probably held no more misogynist views than the average man brought up before the 80's, in fact it would seem Yoko may have turned him on to this and to feminism in general Woman is the ******* of the world being the result of his epiphany.

Funnily enough Germaine Greer of all people always thought Yoko was " scary " and recently she has been non platformed for comments she made on transgender issues , so its a funny old world and one that often be misleading when we try to apply more modern sensibilities to earlier times.

 

Even the things we joke about nowadays wouldn't fly back then.

 

Obne of may absolute favorite Beatles songs.

I was stunned that the 1977 compilation "Love Songs" didn't include "No Reply," which I think would have also been a great single from that album. (No single was issued from "Love Songs," but Capitol came very close, printing up picture sleeves for a pairing of Girl/You're Gonna Lost That Girl.)

At any rate, I was so miffed by "No Reply" being overlooked by Capitol that when I recompiled the double-album for Minidisc I inserted "No Reply" into the song line-up!

 

Heaven forbid she should be entitled to an opinion that diverges from the progressive group think. It's funny to think in this day and age that the right to free speech is the number one target of the liberal echo machine.

I'll try my luck at reporting this post. God save us from "modern sensibilities". This is supposed to be a music forum.

 

Love it - sounds very fresh, even today. Great start to a great album.

 

@muffmasterh:

When I looked up the lyrics online--possibly a bad move--it was transcribed as "I saw the lie"; I also have a feeling I read that translation somewhere in this thread, but I might be wrong about that. In short, I might have been acting on bad information.

 

This song is a top tier Beatles song, yes!

 

That bridge is legendary! It's so derisive!

 

Legendary for its pronoun abuse.

 

It's the opener for one of my very favorite albums.

 

A classic example of over analysis. The bridge makes sense. It's "if you were smart like me you'd realize I love you most and, once you did realize that, then I'd forgive you for not responding." It is expressed that way lyrically to fit the music, and it does quite well.

 

Only problem is that later on the brilliance quickly faded and it's loaded with filler covers. With the exception of words of love I never revisit the other covers. This could have been better than the help album with a few more original tunes.

 

It's Rock and Roll it doesn't matter.

 

I don't think I was over-analyzing when I got my mono copy of Beatles '65 for my 6th birthday. I was confused then and I still am. There are multiple ways of interpreting that bridge, depending on whether the "I" or "you" is tied back to "If I were you" or not. If the song were about a bi-sexual three-way, the extreme ambiguity might serve the subject matter, but given the parameters of teen pop lyrics in 1964, I will simply chalk it up to sloppy lyric writing. You have every right to like it, but for me, that bridge epitomizes the amateurish lyric writing that marks the Fabs' 1963-65 catalog (and, in some cases, beyond 1965).

 

(FWIW: the Scooby Doo theme "took" its' melody from The 1910 Fruitgum Company's SIMPLE SIMON SAYS and its' scat-sung refrain from Sinatra's STRANGERS IN THE NIGHT)

BTW (No Reply): Ever notice how John exclaims the word "TRAPPED" to punctuate the chorus (kind-of playing cutsy with the girl in question for having KNOWN she lied about where she was)?

 

agreed, the Beatles just never had enough studio time to produced two albums of self penned stuff per year, they needed something quick for the 64 xmas market but BFS was the Rubber Soul that never was - if the covers had been dumped and they had used some of their songs that were covered by others say, this could have been a gem. I have always said that this was the first " modern " sounding Beatles albums and that any of the self penned songs would have fit seamlessly onto Rubber Soul.

65 was not quite as manic for them as 64 but the fact that they were able to produce something like Rubber Soul for the 65 xmas market is still astonishing.

 

It's 'light', as a silhouette would only be visible if there was a light. I have no idea where this bisexual stuff comes from either, there is no possible understanding of the middle eight except the literal one, hurt pride, "I'm the best guy for you, better than any other guy"

 

Such a classic. Clever song, great lyrics. I love John's vocal on it. Sounds so forlorn and genuine. Was always a favorite as a kid listening to Beatles 65.

 

A classic example of nonsense, I'd say.

 

Their greatest opener, since A Hard Day's Night.

 

First time I ever agreed with Germaine Greer about anything! Good show.

 

Let's talk about the legendary John and Paul harmonizing. Both lines are so good I never know which one to sing.