Category: The Beatles

‘Dear friend, what’s the time?
Is this really the borderline?
Does it really mean so much to you?
Are you afraid, or is it true?’
      — Dear Friend (Sir Paul McCartney, Album: Wild Life)

Friendship is a beautiful thing. The meaning of friendship is subject to interpretation. In some cases it could be unconditional loyalty while in other cases it could just be a close association. The nature of friendship is perceived differently by different people. As in a relationship, the word ‘friendship’ could have varying degrees of significance. When two individuals are extremely close, sometimes feelings get hurt. Even a trivial issue between friends can get blown out of proportion and that requires some healing. When communication breaks down, it takes a long time for the relationship to thaw. Someone has to take the first step.

One of my favorite post-Beatles songs is ‘Dear Friend’. The world perceives it as an olive branch extended by Paul McCartney to John Lennon. It was turbulent times in their relationship post the breakup of the Beatles. The friendship between the two individuals who comprised the greatest songwriting partnership of all time seemed to be at a precipice. Lennon took umbrage to McCartney’s ‘Too Many People’ and responded with ‘How Do You Sleep?’. Two young Liverpool lads who were 17 (Lennon) and 15 (McCartney) when they met and who had lived most of their adult lives in each other’s company writing songs ‘eyeball to eyeball’ were at daggers drawn. Someone had to make the move and get the bitterness out. What better way to do it than with a melodious tune and with beautiful lyrics. There could have been only one possible way. Indeed McCartney surpassed even himself!

‘Dear Friend’ is much more than a song. It epitomizes Paul’s feelings towards John. He clearly seeks reconciliation and wants to bury the hatchet. It is emotional and sad but hopeful. In some ways it characterizes helplessness since it takes two to tango. This was McCartney’s open letter to Lennon – a pleading of sorts. The master musician that he was, McCartney left no stone unturned in creating a masterpiece. The lyrics are simple but convey a world of meaning. I personally attach a lot of significance to this song. There are times when I am feeling a bit down after an argument with a friend. ‘Dear Friend’ is so uplifting that more often than not I have picked up my phone and called up the friend and apologized after listening to the song. It has always resulted in better sleep to answer Lennon’s question.

‘Dear Friend’ has a healing effect. This is another life lesson expressed beautifully through a song by one of the Beatles. The next time when you feel that a friendship is about to breakup, please listen to the song and think about the following lines and hopefully the situation will improve –

‘Does it really mean so much to you?
Are you afraid, or is it true?’

                                                                                    

Disclaimer: I am just a huge Beatles, McCartney and Lennon fan and do not own any of the copyrights to the names of the albums, songs or the lyrics mentioned in the post. This post just expresses my love for The Beatles and my experiences.

The world has not seen a phenomenon like The Beatles. So much has been written and every song has been analyzed in depth umpteen times that there is not much left to be discussed. Yet there is a lot to write from my personal experiences and how the greatest group ever assembled has influenced my life. Beatlemania was something that did not come naturally to me since I grew up on Bollywood (Hindi) music. A colleague of mine handed me the CD of ‘1’. I primarily listened to the album because I wanted to hear the original version of a popular Hindi tune. The song was ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’. I loved it but was even more impressed with ‘Yesterday’. Those 27 songs were all impressive but I had a predilection for McCartney’s songs more than Lennon’s. One can’t go wrong with either and in future posts I will mention the songs of Lennon and Harrison that have left me yearning for more and some from their post-Beatles work. At that time it was all Sir Paul McCartney and I would mostly listen to ‘Yesterday’, ‘Eleanor Rigby’, ‘Penny Lane’, ‘Lady Madonna’, ‘Hey Jude’, ‘Let It Be’ and ‘The Long and Winding Road’.

Fast forward another 8 years. A friend played an amazing tune on the guitar and asked me to identify the tune. I was stumped. At different times one likes to listen to different songs but this tune was different. This seemed eternal. Of course I did not know the answer. The song was ‘Here, There and Everywhere’. Since then I have had a few laptops and a few smartphones and the first song that I always play on any new device is ‘Here, There and Everywhere’. Such is my obsession with the song. I personally find it flawless. My friend lent me a few CDs without the names of the songs and asked me to identify each tune. I spent nights listening to the CDs and identifying each song. This was followed by months on Wikipedia, YouTube, discussion forums, understanding what a concept album is and listening to songs in the correct order. Thus began a journey into the magical world of The Beatles. My friend had indeed created a Beatles-loving monster and that one tune changed my world.

The song ‘Here, There and Everwhere’ credited to Lennon-McCartney was penned by Sir Paul McCartney and appears on the ‘Revolver’ album which was released in 1966. The chord progressions are mind-blowing. When I listened to it for the first time, I felt that it was a bit slow but a beautiful ballad. By the time McCartney utters the line ‘And if she is beside me I know I need never care’, one is madly in love with the song. As with a number of other Beatles’ songs, this one was on repeat for hours. It was not only my ears but I also felt an instant connection with the song in every possible way. The tune is amazing and complete and would in itself qualify as a work of genius. The lyrics are equally brilliant and rendered in pitch perfect style by McCartney with backing vocals from Lennon and Harrison. Over the years I must have listened to the song at least a few thousand times. Every time I discover something new and this mini-journey has not yet reached its destination and probably never will.

There have been lots of cover versions of the song and instrumental ones too. I love Giovanni Marradi’s piano interpretation, Celine Dion’s rendition and a few other versions. An instrumental version was also featured in ‘Friends’ (TV series) for Phoebe’s wedding. I still think nothing can match the original. I always feel that there is an inflection point when one follows a particular artist or sportsperson. This tune proved to be the inflection point for me as far as my love for The Beatles and the post-Beatles work is concerned. As much as I loved the songs on the ‘1’ album, the song ‘Here, There and Everywhere’ is the reason behind my lunatic obsession with The Beatles. I am forever indebted to my friend for introducing me to this ‘perfect’ song. The Beatles have been a constant companion on those long, lonely nights when I have been working really hard to meet a deadline. My only regret is that this was not part of Sir Paul McCartney’s setlist when I attended his concert at Dodgers Stadium in 2014. Regardless, this song lives within me here, there and everywhere!

 

Disclaimer: I am just a huge Beatles fan and do not own any of the copyrights to the names of the albums, songs or the lyrics mentioned in the post. This post just expresses my love for The Beatles  and my experiences.