The
Beatles Lyrics
The Beatles lyrics helped define the 1960s and the
band is musically the best-selling of all time in the United States.
There has been so much said and written about the Beatles lyrics
that its difficult to say anything new.
Unlike most other bands, there are also a slew of websites up where
one can take a Beatles lyrics test to find out how knowledgeable
you are about the lyrics. I'll attempt to give you a few facts about
the Beatles lyrics that you did not know.
For instance, did you know that the title "Hard Days Night"
was from an expression that Ringo used to say? Because of working
long hours, the days would go into night and he would self-correct
and say, "It's been a hard day, er night" and the rest
is history.
The title of the song, "Back in the U.S.S.R." was inspired
by Chuck Berry's "Back in the U.S.A", but some of the
lyrics in "Back in the U.S.S.R" were actually a nod to
the Beach Boys. Apparently, Mike Love from the Beach Boys had a
conversation with Paul McCartney and suggested he incorporate some
lyrics in a Beatles song that referred to the Beach Boys, as the
Beach Boys had done with "California Girls". So, instead
of "California Girls", McCartney placed the lyrics "Moscow
Girls" and "Well the Ukraine girls really knock me out"
into the song.
In the song "Eleanor Rigby", John Lennon and Paul McCartney
would, years later, give differing accounts as to how much each
one contributed to the song (as happened often). In the lyrics,
"Father McKenzie" started out as "Father McCartney",
but since Paul didn't want to upset his father, he changed the lyric
by picking the last name out of a phone book.
"Hey Jude" was written by McCartney for Lennon's son
Julian to comfort him during a time of divorce. The song was originally
titled "Hey Jules" and Julian later commented that he
thought the song was always being sung to him.
Many people had assumed that the song lyrics of "Lucy in the
Sky with Diamonds" was about drugs since many of the Beatles
had been experimenting with illegal substances in the 1960s. But,
according to John Lennon, he wrote the lyrics after observing his
son, Julian drawing a picture of a little girl, Lucy, whom he liked
and the picture portrayed her in the sky surrounded by diamonds.
The Beatles lyrics of the "Yellow Submarine" was also
assumed to be about drugs. Paul McCartney has stated that this song
also had to do with children as he wrote it first as a children's
song, using short words that children could easily hear. Others
have purported a deeper meaning such as the Beatles were under pressure,
but enjoying the ride with their friends and the extra money it
entailed.
In many of the Beatles lyrics, Lennon and McCartney would ascribe
to writing them with less import and meaning than others would credit
them. In the 1960s with the age of Bob Dylan and a social and civil
rights revolution going on and a war raging, people were searching
for meaning at that time. No matter where one subscribes to the
Beatles lyrics having deeper meanings or not, they have then and
now provided intrigue, imagination and entertainment for millions
of people.
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