´In My Life´ appreciation thread

On Dec. 8, I was explaining to a young (early 20s) coworker that if my mood was a little off that day it was because it was the anniversary of John Lennon's murder. He knew who John Lennon was but had no idea he'd been murdered. In a way, I sort of understand, given his age, but it still shook me.

 

This is a short illustrated movie that yoko commissioned, using John's art. There are some interesting links also, like the Beatles last photoshoot.

https://www.brainpickings.org/2015/06/24/john-lennon-sketchbook-john-canemaker/

 

One of their very best.

 

You had to be there. And you were.

 

Absolutely amazing song. Perfection

 

Beautiful song. And a lovely collaboration. Count me in the camp of believing that McCartney was the prime musical composer while Lennon was the sole lyric composer. It seems to me that the music has a range and melody that were much more characteristic of Paul than of John. Not that John couldn't have written that music, but that if (1) Paul says he wrote the music and (2) the music is in fact more characteristic of Paul's melodies, then Paul seems more credible as a writer, whatever John says. Add to all that my sense that Paul tends to be a more reliable source for such trivia as who-wrote-what.

All that said, it's also an especially lovely lyric and vocal performance from John, about which there's no dispute. For that matter, not to trivialize the music, which is beautiful, but it's sort of the lyric that makes the song. So: point Lennon, even if I tend to assign the music primarily to McCartney. And all that said, it's just a lovely collaboration.

 

My absolute favorite Beatles song ever

 

Paul's contribution was the ♭VII9 chord on the words "Lovers And Friends" and "People And Things." His oeuvre from "Things We Said Today" onward reveal a man who was completely obsessed with that chord, and I believe the one that materializes out of nowhere (and for no good reason) near the beginning of "Nowhere Man" was also probably McCartney's idea.

 

One of the most often named faves of John... I must concur with the masses without question.
Certainly one of my absolute top two or three, when there are so many of the best songs in your life by an artist
it can become overwhelming to answer a question like this.

 

Great song, and one of the best books on the Beatles of the same title...By Pete Shotten

 

Great song, perfection and the drum part really brings out the melody...One of my all time favorites.

Ringo always surprises with his understated charm on the skins.

sean

 

I've always believed Paul's account, that John wrote the lyrics but Paul wrote the (bulk of) melody. It's a very vertical melody, classic McCartney, while Lennon tended to write more horizontal melodies. I guess we'll never really know unless someone builds a time machine to go back to the day they wrote it.

 

Maybe Paul wrote some of the melody - John said Paul only help with harmonies and wrote the music for the middle eight (does this song have a middle eight? The 'though I know I'll never lose affection' parts?). Paul claims he wrote the whole melody to the song and John just had lyrics.

My hunch is that John had written the melody to the verses and chorus area already, just as he had already written a different set of lyrics for the verses. Maybe John just had a 'dummy melody' that Paul helped refine into final form - that's a possibility - but I believe John was singing his lyrics to a melody already. Maybe that's how their memories of the writing contrast.

If Paul had written the entire musical portion of the song, I would think he'd be more inclined to play it live, which he so far hasn't. Consciously and unconsciously he knows it's a 'John song' despite Paul's contributions. Ironically, George was the only one to play this in concert.