´In My Life´ appreciation thread

James, you will pleased to hear that my fourth grade son came home from school one day last week and said "we learned a Beatles song in music class Dad." I figured it would be one of the overplayed big hits, and when he told me it was this great tune, my respect for his music teacher soared!

Jeff

 

I don't usually have this on my Beatles top ten, then counting originality, level of groundbreaking or knock-out factor, but it is one of those I rather listen to...

 

For a long time "In My Life" was just another great album track to me.

(Can you say that odd thing with any other artist? "...just another great album track")

Finally, playing it separate from the other tracks it hit me what a really great song it is.

And Mr Martin's piano tinkering really makes the song. Kinda wish a Beatle had played it.
(5th Beatle status not withstanding)

({[ I love parenthesis.)}]

 

I can't imagine that McCartney had much to do with the lyrics of this song. He just hasn't written lyrics of this kind of depth very many times in his career. I also would not doubt that portions of the melody are his though. The melody during the versus does sound like Lennon to me though. Eleanor Rigby also sounds like Lennon would have contributed to the lyrics a good bit but not the melody.

The guitar intro could be Lennon or Harrison. Sometimes I am amazed at the things that I was sure that George played and it turned out to be John so who can say. If George played it on his tour of 1974, perhaps he had a bigger hand in writing the song than we even know.

 

Actually, although John was there when Paul brought Eleanor Rigby, his friend Pete (who was also there at the time) has confirmed that it was George and Ringo who contributed lines to the song, not John in this case. Paul already had the first verse written and the others helped him flesh the remaining lyrics out, and Pete himself suggested that Father McCartney should be replaced with Mackenzie.

Paul can write beautiful and moving lyrics; just listen to For No One, most of the Eleanor Rigby lyrics, Maybe I'm Amazed, Here Today and more recent songs like Little Willow, Scared or Early Days.

 

Im not a massive Beatles fan and I have given them a hard time over the years but I truly love this song.....It makes me sad in a happy way!

 

The lead guitar is definitely not Stratocaster, that page is full of nonsense.
Of all the guitars George had at that time, this guitar could have been Gibson ES-345 he had briefly at that period.

Ondra

 

I used it for the father daughter dance at my daughter's recent wedding. Great song

 

Pete Shotton? Is that the only other source of info of who wrote what? What about George and Ringo? Did they ever comment on Eleanor Rigby? The lyrics just sound beyond what McCartney has come up with in his career as a songwriter. Eleanor Rigby is an awesome song. Lyrically, Paul had a good bit of help.

I love Here Today. Not a big fan of Little Willow and Scared. Early Days is strong although a couple of the lyrics are a bit weird sounding.

Now everybody seems to have their own opinion
Who did this and who did that
But as for me I don't see how they can remember
When they weren't where it was at

This lyric seems forced and ending with the word at grates on my nerves.

We have gotten way off topic.

In My Life is a masterpiece. I am sure that John had help with the song's melody from Paul.

I graduated from high school in 1991. In My Life was our class song.

 

I don't think Pete Shotton's account is especially trustworthy. The late Nicholas Schaffner did a good job editing Shotton's fragmented, disjointed vague recollections into a decent memoir but I think Paul's recollection that John helped with the lyrics is more likely, and John's recollection that George came up with the final form of the line 'Ah, look at all the lonely people' even more so.

 

I did not realise that Shotton isn't reliable?

What do you think about this scenario:

McCartney wrote the first verse by himself, and the Beatles finished the song in the music room of John Lennon's home at Kenwood. John Lennon, George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and their friend Pete Shotton all listened to McCartney play his song through and contributed ideas. Harrison came up with the "Ah, look at all the lonely people" hook. Starr contributed the line "writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear " and suggested making "Father McCartney" darn his socks, which McCartney liked. It was then that Shotton suggested that McCartney change the name of the priest, in case listeners mistook the fictional character in the song for McCartney's own father.

 

Whatever anyone else contributed or did not contribute, Paul wrote the first verse himself, and lines like the opening one are beautifully written and rather unique:

Eleanor Rigby, Picks Up The Rice

In the Church Where A Wedding Has Been

Lives In A Dream

Waits At The Window, Wearing The Face

That She Keeps In A Jar By The Door

Who Is It For?

These are beautiful lyrics, written by Paul and they make the song what it is. McCartney has produced amazing lyrics and these are some of them. I don't see why that is hard to believe, seeing as he also wrote songs like For No One.

 

A little masterpiece. His falsetto at the end points forward to some of his later songs. The way it started the Anthology-series was moving and stunning.

 

Instrumental version is stunning. I'd never listened to the bass closely before this thread.

 

Good god. You would think you wouldn't have to state the obvious about Paul's strengths as a lyricist any more after nearly 50 years. Some of the most memorable lines from Beatles songs were written by Paul -- the ones that get repeated in headlines and phrases all the time and are so well known they've become part of the common lexicon.

Paul is a great lyricist. And a lazy lyricist. And fyi, since we're stating the obvious, all of the Beatles wrote their share of great lyrics and weak lyrics in their solo careers.

 

A perennial frontrunner for my favorite Beatles song. Sang it at my own wedding to my then-new wife.

Also, AFAIK, it's the only Beatles' song with a disputed pedigree (John claiming he wrote it; Paul saying he wrote part of it).

 

This is a fair and accurate post.

 

I have seen a few reference a version with an organ solo instead of the piano solo. Has that leaked?

 

It's definitely got that 335-type semi-hollow tone that the Es-345 gives off. I had a Hagstrom Viking reissue (essentially a 335 knock-off), and it nails that 'In My Life' tone with the neck pickup.

The lingering question is whether George is playing it (sounds like his vibe and touch), and whether he came up with the lick itself (wouldn't put it past him, since it falls within the intro-lick realm a la his 'And I Lover Her' work) .

 

A good pop song, but notwithstanding one especially good lyrical moment ("these memories lose their meaning, When I think of love as something new") and Lennon's favorable view of the lyrics (which I understand, as a matter of his progress as a songwriter), the lyrics have, to me, an overly sentimental, Hallmark Card quality. I've long been a big Lennon fan, but this song---the lyrics for which remind me of the sort of thing Paul might write---is, regardless of its merits, not John at his best, at a time when he was writing things like "Nowhere Man", "Norwegian Wood" and "Girl".

 

When I was 11,12 years old I was a drummer listening to the Beatles only. I remember learning that drum part, aware of something different happening than the usual rhythm

 

Certainly a contender for the greatest song the Beatles ever did (and also best song anyone has ever done too!)

 

I prefer In My Life. Nowhere Man is Lennon trying to be Dylan and/or trying to be "deep," and sounding a wee bit pretentious/derivative. What's ace about In My Life is the absolute purity of emotion.

Wish I knew who the song was about. I've always wondered.

 

Pete Shotten mentioned one line was about him, another Stu Sutcliffe. Some are dead and some are living...

 

Well the one I want to know is the main one: "In my life, I love you more." Who is the "you"?