Rubber Soul

All revolutions start with a single gunshot, and this one was the Beatles'. It was more an instinctual revolution than the grand epics that were to come, and for that reason the general population seems to believe that the Beatles were a teenybop band who were visited by greatness in the Summer Of Love. We know better. Rubber Soul is the moment where the Beatles stopped becoming the best rock and roll band in the world and became something greater. For what it's worth, they (and we) weren't going to be the same again.

Once again, the cover says a lot. The boys look a little bit tired, sort of like the similar group photo on Beatles For Sale, but this time, they seem wise, as if they'd come out the other side. What other band would literally look down on you like this? Whatever they felt like, they were moving in realms that few of us ever know -- and I don't mean the size of their pocketbook, or their fan base. They'd figured something out, recently, and they were about to shed their Liverpudlian bloke status and become their real selves. They didn't even need to sell the name anymore; it's not on the cover, and in 1966, that was unheard-of for a rock band. (Let's not even mention the hair.)

The music reflects this change; it's darker, more deeply romantic, more cynical, and more hopeful all at once. Would John have ever wished you dead before, little girl? Did anyone who watched Ed Sullivan think that John would offer to "show everybody the light"? Would Paul have been so cynical about love, and would you have ever thought of him as Charles Aznavour? Why isn't George here for us, and who is us, anwyay? (Note, too, that this is the first Beatles album with 4-track overdubbing. Sgt. Pepper would've never happened without it.)

Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) Original Title: This Bird Has Flown
Written as a semi-comic way for John to discuss a painful secret: he'd been cheating on wife Cynthia. George had discovered the sitar while filming Help! in India, and he used it to great effect here; it was the first time a pop act had done such a thing. (John really didn't burn down the girl's house: this was a joke thought up by Paul.)

You Won't See Me Paul's turn at romantic unrest, and a sadly overlooked slice of pure pop. The main reason for that may be the odd arrangement; there's a droning organ note in the background courtesy of longtime asscoiate Mal Evans, and the song bizarrely slows almost to a crawl after coming out of the second bridge. (My bet: Paul screwed up the piano track that everyone else overdubbed onto.)

Nowhere Man One of the finest songs in the Fab canon. It's an oddly kind denunciation of the uptight Establishment types that their generation would rail against so often in coming years. (See "Think For Yourself".) The harmonies, with the new overdubbing technology, achieve perfection, and George's guitar solo is the template for every folk-rocker to follow. John had been trying, tortuously, to write a song one night, then after five hours of trying "I gave up. And the song just came to me."

Think For Yourself Original Title: I Won't Be There With You
George's best Beatles' song to that time and the band's first real "protest song", even if it is very subtle and somewhat disguised in boy-girl terms. Paul adds a dynamite fuzz-bass, which gives the track an extra-grotty, extra-cynical quality.

The Word The funkiest messiah complex ever waxed. John broke standard convention and talked of love as an abstract concept and not a moon-June-spoon thing, and the results are surprisingly danceable. The harmonies at the end are paradise in and of themselves, John's own ascension into Something Higher. Paul goes insane on bass.

Michelle A track that started as a joke and later superseded what it was supposed to be parodying, this developed from a corny Charles Aznavour style Francophonic love song Paul used to play at parties. The second verse is sung in French, which still confuses a lot of folks, but who cares: the French translations (cooked up by friend and French teacher Jan Vaughan) were good enough to make this a number one hit in France. John came up with the bridge -- the "I love you"s came to him after hearing Yma Sumac's version of "I Put A Spell On You". Boasts a guitar solo that's more melodic than the verse, which is saying something.

What Goes On The Beatles were now writing their own songs exclusively from here on out, and instead of cooking up another bit of country swing for Ringo to sing, McCartney and Lennon dredged up an old one and polished it up, with assistance from Ringo himself. A fun number in the midlle of a fairly serious album.

Girl A tortuously beautiful ballad with a unique arrangement that makes it sound Greek, of all things, this song is about many things: unrequited love, co-dependency, feminine wiles, the working-class, peer pressure... a masterpiece of deep emotion. (Even if the backup vocals are naughtily repeating "tit".)

I'm Looking Through You A gentle folk number that keep bursting into bluesiness, this song was a direct hit on Paul's paramour Jane Asher, whom he was growing increasingly tired of (for whatever reason). The American version of "Rubber Soul" contained a fake intro to this song which is still highly prized. Featuring Ringo on organ!

In My Life One of the clearest distillations of John's talent, right up there with "Strawberry Fields Forever". Like that classic, this one began by using old haunts and old memories to dredge up the emotion inside; this song, in particular, was practically a travelogue in its original form. John decided that he was more concerned with the present, however, and rewrote the lyrics to focus on where he was now. Great John Falsetto at the end, more stutter-step beats by Ringo, and George Martin doing the piano solo (which was purposefully recorded slow and then sped up to sound like a harpsichord).

Wait Another oldie, this leftover from "Help!" was dusted off and retooled. It's probably a testament to the growing talents of the four that this "reject" comes out better than most of what was on the last album.

If I Needed Someone George's other RS original hints at the quality that was to come in his songwriting; in fact, this is the standard by which quite a bit of folk-rock is based. Lyrically, it sounds standoffish, but the music tells a different story.