One of these days I'll get it right....
One of the joys for me in my days of working in a thrift store was the wonderful CDs that would be donated for us to resell--a lot of them were shit, but sometimes you'd get utterly amazing, like managing to get this week's featured album (and at the same time, Rubber Soul--yowza!). Needless to say, I quickly snatched it up for moi, and thankfully I did--I was not familiar with this week's featured tune and it quickly became an all-time fave.
This will be the third time I've written about the Beatles (could--and probably should--be a lot more considering I'm 507 songs into this project), with the previous posts linked inside the parentheses (song and album). I've also written one post about a single by each of the Fab Four: John, Paul, George, and Ringo. Say! what a lot of Beatles posts there are (thanks, Dr. Seuss). Other than that, I've done a Greatest Beatles Facts bio, and there's not much an amateur rock critic can add to their story that hasn't been said or written better by many much more talented rock and roll writers than me.
"Here, There and Everywhere" was the fifth song on side one of the Beatles rather whirlingly (couldn't come up with an adverb for "gun"...) entitled Revolver. The song was not released as a single (somewhat surprisingly, though I'm sure it's much easier in retrospect), while the album, in a not so stunning turn of events, reached number one in the U.S. and the U.K., as well as in the five other nations Wikipedia was so kind to list (somehow it peaked at #14 in Norway--apparently not nearly enough cool kids in Norway).
Fun Fact: McCartney has cited as his inspiration for this week's tune the Beach Boys' "God Only Knows," I already mentioned this in my post for "God Only Knows" but since my half-assed research was really half-assed this week, it'll have to do.
McCartney, Lennon, and Beatles producer George Martin have all said that "Here, There and Everywhere" ranks as one of their favorite Beatles tunes...and who am I to question their choices. Like the (just) aforementioned "God Only Knows," this week's song is truly one of the great love ballads ever, and in a testament to just how great the Beatles were, it never really feels like a love ballad, just a brilliant piece of pop music condensed into two minutes and twenty-four seconds. And it says every bit as much about the human condition as the one thousand and umpteen pages of David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest (not that I've ever waded my way through that morass). Written for one time McCartney love interest Jane Asher, the song has simple lyrics, smoothly sweet vocals from McCartney, a tasty melody, and the backing "oohs" throughout (which I just discovered while doing my prep this week) are to absolutely die for. One of those songs for which you give thanks that you existed long enough to hear it....
Lyric Sheet: "Here, making each day of the year/Changing my life with a wave of her hand/Nobody can deny that there's something there..."
Enjoy:
Republicans = Nazis
Peace,
emaycee
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