´In My Life´ appreciation thread

My daughter graduates high school tomorrow and is off to college in the fall (August, actually), leaving us empty-nesters. In looking at the program for graduation, I see that the school symphony will play "In My Life" as the final song toward the end. I do not have any illusion that I'll be able to hold myself together at that moment.

 

Along with Paul's "Here There And Everywhere", the two best songs either of them had ever written.

 

Seems impossible to find out if George used his Gibson ES-345 on In My Life ..and whether he came up with the introductory guitar lick. It´s not in Brian Kehew's Recording The Beatles, Ian McDonald's Revolution In The Head or Andy Babiuk's Beatles Gear. I even tried to ask Andy on twitter but so far he hasn´t replied. Not saying he definitely knows but it´s worth a try.

 

Just found out that Paul is quoted in the Barry Miles biography as saying he came up with the riff. Mind you he claimed to have written most of the melody, while John reckons he wrote all but the middle 8.

 

From my earlier post:

 

Turns out I was right, except it was the school choir singing it acapella. I lost it.

 

I believe Paul when he says he wrote the guitar intro. I think John wrote the chord progression but Paul wrote or helped with the melody.

 

In My Life is Top 5 Lennon for me, along with Don't Let Me Down, Come Together, Love, and Jealous Guy.

 

I Saw Her Standing There
In My Life
Here Comes The Sun

So much talent. Should have been against the law.

 

You & me both Mark. You'd have to have wrung me out like a mop, it would have put a small dent in the Calif. drought. Sheesh.

 

This one makes Nowhere Man seem mediocre.

 

I disagree. The lyrics alone on Nowhere Man puts it on the same level as In My Life

 

Totally agree. And for those who haven't heard Paul Westerberg's delicate acoustic cover of Nowhere Man:



The flawed, cracking vocal makes it even better. One of my favorite Beatles covers.

 

They had help from several new instruments that had found their way into The Beatles' camp. These included Harrison's new 1965 Rickenbacker 360-12 with updated, rounded-edge cutaways, which he had acquired during a tour stop in Minneapolis and used on "If I Needed Someone," and George Harrison and Lennon's matching Sonic Blue 1961 Fender Stratocasters with rosewood fretboards. These two Strats marked the Beatles' entry into the world of Fender.

"I decided I'd get a Strat, and John decided he'd get one too," Harrison said. "So we sent out our roadie, Mal Evans … and he came back with two of them, pale blue ones. Straight away we used them on the album we were making at the time, Rubber Soul." Although the Strats can be heard throughout the album, they are most noticeable on "Nowhere Man." The serial number on Harrison's Strat is 83840, which dates it to late 1961.

McCartney had turned to his latest acquisition, a Rickenbacker 4001S bass, as his main bass for the Rubber Soul sessions. He had received the bass when Rickenbacker's Francis C. Hall, who had visited the band in New York in 1964 with several models for the band to choose from, visited the band in Los Angeles in August 1965 with his son John and only one model — a left-handed Fireglo 4001S for McCartney.

Other instruments included a cheap sitar Harrison bought at a London shop after being intrigued by the Indian musicians on the set of "Help!"; it is most famously heard on "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)." Harrison and Lennon's Gibson J-160E models returned, as did Lennon's 1964 Rickenbacker 325 Capri, Lennon's Framus Hootenanny acoustic (which was mostly played by Harrison at this point) and Harrison's Gretsch Tennessean.

McCartney used his 1962 Epiphone Casino and Epiphone Texan acoustic, both of which he still performs with today, and his 1963 Hofner 500/1 bass. McCartney played through a Vox AC100 amp and a Fender Bassman while Lennon and Harrison played through Vox AC30 and AC100 guitar amps.

 

Just finished reading Pete Shotton´s ´John Lennon in My Life´.

His comments on In My Life:

"Years later, after John Lennon composed the first of his truly poignant and heartfelt Beatles songs, ´In My Life´- with its lines about "friends I still can recall/some are dead and some are living" - he revealed to me that the two people he had had uppermost in mind were myself and Stuart Sutcliffe. And then he stunned me with a statement that I´d never heard him address to anyone - least of all to another man. "You know, Pete," he said softly, "I do love you. "But," he quickly added, "I loved Stuart as well".

--

"Another Rubber Soul highlight, "In My Life", was conceived as nostalgic reminiscence of our Liverpool youth, and constituted John´s first conscious attempt to compose a heartfelt personal statement. Unfortunately, however, he couldn´t quite sustain his original inspiration, and the second half of the song dribbled off into stock romantic cliches. "

 

Lost my 3rd co-worker in 3 months this morning. My mom in January. Needless to say, this song's been in my head a lot this year.

 

I've said this before; this song still has the power to choke me up if I'm not careful.

 

My $.02, with all due respect:
Nowhere Man is a terrific little record. I've always loved it, ever since I first heard it on the AM in the spring of '66.

But In My Life attains a level of artistry almost beyond comprehension, especially as I get older. That a guy barely 25 years old could come up with lyrics of such maturity & resonance is simply staggering. Combine these lyrics with an understated, jewel-like musical setting, and IML is truly one for the ages. I'm surprised that Sinatra never covered it!

 

And yet I've seen posters on this forum saying that they think the song is too sappy. WTF?!?

 

They would soon be tempted to fill them up, and fill them up they did! (Magical Mystery Tour)

OT: Truly beautiful song.

 

I agree that In My Life is a masterpiece but I still stand firm that Nowhere Man holds its own against it or anything other Beatles song

 

One man's opinion. I personally find "Nowhere Man" to be banal and rather uninspired.

 

I like the overall sound of the recording, very warm yet clear (no muddiness).

 

in related news how does a 16 Jackson Browne write "These Days", but yes "in My Life" is a great lyric with music to match.

 

I feel your pain! Hang in there. Will be another rough moment when she actually leaves in August. My daughter and son have left in the last
few years for college and I've had a difficult time dealing with the empty nest thing.

In the blink of an eye my life changed forever and I miss them dearly. Best of luck!