#89: You Won't See Me

Written by: John Lennon & Paul McCartney
Released: December 3, 1965
Appears on: Rubber Soul
Lead vocal: Paul

By late-1965, Paul's rocky relationship with actress Jane Asher was just about over, although they were able to hold it together until early 1968. "You Won't See Me" is another addition to Paul's ever-growing cannon of troubled relationship songs that resulted from that. It's probably one of Paul's nastiest Beatles songs, but it's definitely a favorite of mine. In the universe of this song the singer is in such dismay that this girl won't see him again that he is moved to tears. 
Mal Evans, one of the Beatles' two roadies (the other being Neil Aspinall), finally makes an appearance on record. He plays the simple, basic parts on the Hammond Organ, credited as Mal "Organ" Evans on the sleeve. While his organ playing maybe what's unique about the song, the best part is Ringo's fantastic drumming. His hi-hats literally explode on the stereo and the rest of his drumming on the song is brilliant. 
"You Won't See Me" also runs for an amazing 3:20, the longest song the Beatles had recorded by a long shot. It's interesting to think about that even though their contemporaries continued to push the boundaries of how long a song could go that the Beatles continued recording songs under three minutes. 


Unfortunately, despite its brilliance, the song is probably one of the most obscure on Rubber Soul. The song was never issued on a 45 and never included on any compilation.