#100: Run For Your Life

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


At one point of his life, John was a very violent man. Throughout the first half of the Beatles' career, this is most obvious, with songs like "You Can't Do That" and "Run For Your Life", the closing song on Rubber Soul. 
John admitted that he stole the song's striking opening line, "I'd rather see you dead little girl than to see you with another man", from an Elvis Presley song called "Baby Let's Play House", written by Arthur Gunter. However, the rest of the song bares no resemblance to Elvis's. It's filled with terrible admissions made by the singer - "Well, you know that I'm a wicked guy and I was born with a jealous mind". What makes this all worse is that he demeans the girl by referring to her as "little girl" during the entire song. Listen to the way John says that - you can feel the venom just flowing from his mouth. Other than its disturbing subject, the song does little to stand out from the pack of 1965 Beatles songs. 
Of course, later John probably regretted ever writing the song especially during his protesting phase. Here is a song that virtually contradicts everything we think John stands for, from violence to the oppression of women. It makes me think that when he wrote "Jealous Guy" he might have been thinking of this song and wanted to correct his wrongs.  
The song does provide Rubber Soul with a bizarre ending, though. It's the first time since A Hard Day's Night that an album ends with a Lennon/McCartney original. The song doesn't have that rousing, partying feeling that "Twist And Shout" or "Everybody's Trying To Be My Baby" has, but it is much more of a rock number than any of the other preceding songs. "Run For Your Life", which has never appeared anywhere else, also has a fade-out, which none of the closing covers have. 


After Rubber Soul, the Beatles began slowing down, taking much longer to produce their music. In Britain, aside from two EPs (The Beatles' Million Sellers and Nowhere Man), Rubber Soul was the last new product until June. A brilliant new 45, which signaled how the Beatles' next full LP would sound, is next...and from then on, the world would never be the same. 

#99: If I Needed Someone

Written by: George Harrison
Released: December 3, 1965
Appears on: Rubber Soul
Lead vocal: George Harrison


"If I Needed Someone" has some of the most interesting lyrics on Rubber Soul. George provides the album with another biting, nasty track. The lyrics are drenched with interesting imagery. "Carve your number on my wall and maybe you will get a call from me,If I needed someone..." I love that line because its so direct. The singer tells us that he doesn't particularly need anyone, but if that ever happens, leave your number because I might call you. He never tells the girl that she is number one on his list. During the fantastic middle-eight, the singer even reveals that she was late: "Had you come some other day, then it might not have been like this. Can't you see now, I'm too much in love?"
Musically, the song is structured similar to songs by The Byrds. The group's lead guitarist Roger McQuinn was first influenced by seeing George's 12-string Rickenbacker in A Hard Day's Night, which lead to most the the Byrds' songs having a distinct, jangly guitar sound. George was then, in-turn, influenced into using this effect as the main driving force of the guitar sound of a song. If you listen to the intro of "If I Needed Someone" and then listen to virtually any Byrds song, you'll hear the direct influence. 
"If I Needed Someone" is definitely a great George track that leads right into the last song on the record.
Ironically enough, despite being influenced by the inventors of the folk/rock sound, the track was cut from the American Rubber Soul and did not surface until Yesterday And Today. Other than that, the song has never appeared anywhere but Rubber Soul.     

#98: Wait

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


"Wait" was included on Rubber Soul just because the original line-up was just 13 songs. While 13 songs was alright a year ago for A Hard Day's Night, it wasn't for Rubber Soul. It was recorded and completed during the HELP! sessions, but, as you can see, it didn't land on that album. Instead it was held back. When it was decided that the track would be on Rubber Soul, they overdubbed extra guitar and percussion to the recording to 'update' the song. This is another point that proves just how fast the Beatles were evolving. If a song recorded less than five months prior had to be updated, just how fast were the Beatles evolving?
The song, which features a paranoid singer who hopes that his love will wait for his return, is definitely a light-weight counterpoint to the last song, "In My Life". However, taken by itself, the song is hardly noteworthy beyond the really cool vocal arrangement and amazing percussion by Ringo. (Listen to it on headphones and you'll hear just how fast Ringo is playing that tambourine.)
"Wait" has never appeared anywhere else and was included on the American Rubber Soul. I would definitely say it's an underrated, fun little song sandwiched between two serious tracks.     

#97: In My Life

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


If there ever was a song that could bring someone to tears...
If there ever was a song so perfect...
If there ever was a song that transcends all time...
If there ever was a song that symbolized how good John Lennon and Paul McCartney were at writing songs...


"In My Life" is all of these things. Its perfection can never truly be understated and considering that it remains one of the most popular songs of all time, I think everyone agrees.    
The song grew out of a lengthy poem John had written about his childhood. John worked with Paul to help trim it down, stripping it of all references to exact locations. This first step already gave the song a universal feeling. The next step is to write the melody. While John admits that Paul helped out on that part, Paul claims to have actually written the majority of it. Next, during the recording, George Martin composed a short piano piece to be played by him during the break of the song after John suggested that he should make it Baroque-esque. Despite sounding like a harpsichord, it isn't. It actually is a standard piano, just recorded at a slower speed to fit the song. The rest of the song is filled with fantastic work by the group, all playing their traditional roles.        
It's truly amazing what the impact of the song has been, especially for a song that was never a single and only included on 1962-1966. "In My Life" has come to sum up the way we feel about the Beatles, despite the fact that it was far from John's original intention. I think he felt that the song was a personal piece of music, but by removing references of his personal childhood, he made the song something that everyone can relate to. Everyone has had friends and some are dead and some are living and pretty much everyone with a heart feels the same way. That the important parts of life is what you have now. This is another irony because the song always makes us think about the past, but I guess that the point is that that's OK as long as you pay attention to the road ahead. I also think that, at this point, being forty years removed from the last Beatles sessions, the song seems to be about the Beatles themselves. Every time we hear that line...some are dead and some are living...we think about John and George. All these places have their moments takes us to the wonderful memories we all have of the Beatles, whether they be of watching the Ed Sullivan Shows or the first time your parents played them for you. 
Then, there is that last verse, which I think there is no point to analyze it because everyone knows what it means. 
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them,
In my life, I love you more 
Then they come together for the last line - 
In my life....I love you more....
...And there's nothing else because there doesn't need to be anything else. It's just so damn perfect.    

#96: I'm Looking Through You

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


"I'm Looking Through You" has a pretty straight-forward subject and is another song about Paul's dissatisfaction with Jane Asher. It's really amazing how Paul got so much traction out of that relationship and yet, so many of these songs are all drastically different. "I'm Looking Through You" is nothing like "You Won't See Me", both of which are nothing like his songs on HELP!. 
The song's strengths lie in the recording of it, not exactly in the lyrics. (That's not a knock on them, though. I mean, that middle-eight couplet is brilliant - "Why, tell me, why do you not treat me right? Love has a nasty habit of disappearing overnight.") The song is an interesting balance between electric and acoustic. John plays acoustic rhythm, while Paul plays his traditional bass as well as lead guitar. George sneaks in with a small guitar part, while Ringo gets a couple of overdubbed Hammond organ notes (which officially means that all the Beatles were multi-instrument players). I also love that energetic fade-out which feels like a precursor to the fade-outs on Revolver. 
An interesting note is that buyers of the American stereo Rubber Soul got an extra little prize. For some reason, the American stereo mix of "I'm Looking Through You" included a false start before Paul moves into the familiar opening chords. Considering how perfect the Beatles were, I can't imagine how Capitol got a hold of this, but it's a weird, almost funny obscure occurrence in Beatle-dom. The American mono mix did not include this bit. In fact, the only way to get a mono version of this false start is if you bought the Capitol Albums, Vol. 2 set the day it came out because instead of using the original mono mixes, Apple made new mixes by simply mixing down the American 1965 stereo mixes. Of course, this isn't right because Capitol couldn't have made things that easy. In 1965, the American mono mixes were the same mixes that appeared in Britain, I believe (someone correct me if I'm wrong). Apple also did the same thing for Beatles VI. If you get the box set now, though, you will get the correct mono mixes, which means a mono "I'm Looking Through You" without the false start.      
This is another Rubber Soul song that unfairly gets lost in the shuffle, as it has never appeared anywhere else, but seeing as it's still a Beatles song on one of their most beloved records, it could hardly be called obscure.  

#95: Girl

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


"Girl" is another one of the many songs on Rubber Soul that any band would have killed to have it as a single, but for the Beatles it was just another album track. 
The song casts the title character as a femme fetale, "...the kind of girl you want so much it makes you sorry, still you don't regret a single day." She is mean spirited ("She's the kind of girl who puts you down when friends are there you feel a fool") and knows how to flaunt what she's got ("When you say she's looking good, she acts as if it's understood. She's cool!"). This girl is positively evil and yet the singer is completely entrapped. The lyrics are brilliant as John creates a fully rounded character - something that some movies can't even accomplish - while still getting in his digs at the church (the entire last verse). 
The Beatles perform the song completely acoustically, with George playing a brilliant 12-string part. "Girl" also features the infamous "tit-tit-tit-tit" vocal percussion joke, as well as the simulated joint smoking (although, to my naive mind, it just seemed like something a guy would do when passing an extremely good-looking girl). This is easily the highlight of Rubber Soul's second side, only eclipsed by one other song that we haven't got to yet. 


"Girl", as stated before, was never a single on either side of the Atlantic. In 1965, it might have caused a stir in the US, but Capitol had second thoughts and in 1977, planned to release it as the A-Side to the Love Songs single. It was, thankfully, cancelled. However, it did appear on that compilation (despite hardly being about real love - the singer seems to feel more pain in his heart than love) as well as 1962-1966. 

#94: What Goes On

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


Unfortunately on George's birthday, I get to talk about one of the most unremarkable Beatles songs. 
"What Goes On" was apparently written by John prior to the Beatles getting a recording contract. He believed that the track could be a good follow-up to "Please Please Me", but this never materialized. Plans were made to record the song the same day as the "One After 909" takes that appear on Anthology 1 were recorded, but this also never happened. Over the years, Paul worked on it, extending the verses and fixing the chorus (John is quoted as saying that Paul wrote the 'middle eight', but the song has no real middle eight). Ringo has always joked about what he actually did. He said at a press conference that he wrote "About five words, and I haven't done a thing since!" It's entirely possible that Paul had included him in his re-writing of the song since they were planning on giving it to him. 
In the end, the version we know of today is a fun country song that was somehow chosen to open side two of Rubber Soul. It's a perfect fit for Ringo, but it really isn't one of the Beatles' most noteworthy songs. George pulls off another Carl Perkins-esque solo, almost as if somebody forget to tell him that it wasn't a Perkins number! 
Typically, if a Ringo song isn't "Yellow Submarine", it doesn't get included on a compilation. This is true for "What Goes On". It never appeared anywhere else. In the US, however, the song was released on Yesterday And Today because it was one of the songs taken off of Rubber Soul. It was first released as the B-Side of "Nowhere Man" for the same reason that "Act Naturally" was the B-Side to "Yesterday". Ringo was still incredibly popular in the States. 
This used to be one of those rare Beatles songs that Ringo never performed, but during the last two All-Starr tours, he has dusted the song off. 
"What Goes On" proves that even the Lennon & McCartney team was not invincible and every now and then, a dud could be produced by the two.    

#93: Michelle

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

"Michelle" has probably one of the most interesting back stories for any Beatles song. The story goes that Paul used to do this 'little French thing' at parties to get attention and while recording Rubber Soul, John suggested to Paul that he turn this little guitar piece into a full song. You can find plenty of more information on the song's origins here.  
This is just a brilliant song. It's one of those where as soon as you hear the opening chords, you get chills. For every album from now on seems to have a song by Paul that just has an other-worldly feel. There's "Yesterday" on HELP!, "Things We Said Today" on A Hard Day's Night and "I'll Follow The Sun" on Beatles For Sale. I love the understated backing vocals, too. John and George just go 'ooo' the whole time, which is all that's needed. Then there's that brilliant solo, which is probably one of the finest the Beatles recorded. Paul's vocal is also really amazing because he's just singing it straight-on. It almost feels like he's bored with the song..."Michelle ma belle...these are words that go together well...my Michelle." It's just an understated vocal that's perfect.
See, that's the thing with the Beatles. They (along with George Martin, the One True Fifth Beatle) knew exactly what a song needed. "Michelle" only needs acoustic guitar, drums, bass, simple backing vocals and a simple lead. Some groups throw things together or try to make their own songs fit in their own mold. If a metal band writes an acoustic song, they might try to fit it to their reputation, but if the Beatles wrote a folk song...it was recorded as a folk song. The Beatles released square pegs until they fit through round holes without cutting corners - it's as simple as that. 
"Michelle" was easily the first album track to become as immensely popular as it did in 1965. Capitol used the song's status as an album track as a way to sell more copies of Rubber Soul. Once the song's popularity skyrocketed, the album came with a sticker that said "includes 'Michelle'!". It was almost like a declaration - "See, this time, we're not releasing the best song as a single!" (Instead, the lackluster "What Goes On" was.) 
By 1965, it was also a common practice, especially by British groups, to comb Beatles albums for album-exclusive songs that they could turn into their first hit. A folk group called the Overlanders had a hit with "Michelle"...I wonder whatever happened to them? 


The release history for the song is pretty simple. If it's a Beatles compilation, it has "Michelle" on it. It's easier for me to say that it's not on Rock 'n' Roll Music (because it's not a rock song) and Reel Music (because it wasn't in a movie). It was even included on the first hits collection, A Collection of Beatles Oldies...But Goldies, despite not being a single. Also, it isn't on the single-focused compilations (like 20 Greatest Hits and 1). 

#92: The Word

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


"The Word" is really a prototype "All You Need Is Love". It talks about love as an abstract concept, outside of a strict boy/girl relationship. 
Honestly, I've never been too fond of the song. It's very basic, with a three-part harmony that doesn't do much. John takes the lead vocal during the verses, seeing as he wrote the song. The only thing that really sets it apart is George Martin's harmonium solo. 
Certainly without it, there's no way that the Beatles could have logistically made the jump to "All You Need Is Love". The Beatles were coming to the realization, rather quickly too, that they were spokesman and that whatever they were saying, people were actually listening to. "The Word" is the first song where this is apparent. Thankfully, what the Beatles were saying was positive stuff that never ages. I think we all know that if the Beatles told us that the word isn't love, than we certainly wouldn't still be listening to them today. Although, I still think it's funny to hear John mention that the word is not only in the good books, but in the bad ones, too. Well...that's John Lennon for you. 


The song has never appeared anywhere else. I haven't mentioned Love yet, but it is the only appearance of the song outside the UK and US versions of Rubber Soul. In Love, it is (barely) included as part of the mash-up with "Drive My Car" and "What You're Doing".     

#91: Think For Yourself

Written by: George Harrison
Released: December 3, 1965
Appears on: Rubber Soul
Lead vocal: George


"Think For Yourself" is truly a song that only George could write. The song is filled with witty lines ("Although your mind's opaque, try thinking more if just for your own sake!") and considering how poorly it treats the girl, you automatically know that this isn't something Paul wrote. Maybe John could have done it, but this song is nastier than anything he ever wrote ("I left you far behind - the ruins of the life that you had in mind!"). 
I really like the song and I think it proves that George was finally getting on his own tracks. His songs on HELP! really felt like he was trying hard to copy his peers, but his two songs on Rubber Soul proves that he finally gave up doing that. 
On the technical side, the song is noteworthy for Paul's use of a fuzzbox on his bass. Since this cool, unique sound dominates the song, there is literally no lead guitar part. George's guitar acts more or less like a rhythm part and John only plays a piano. The song's basic track was recorded with Paul using a standard electric bass and then the fuzzbox bass sound was overdubbed on top of it. This is not the last time that Paul would wind up dominating a George Harrison tune, though. 
Like "You Won't See Me", "Think For Yourself" is a rather obscure tune. Capitol did not take it off its version of Rubber Soul, so the song feels a little out of place because it draws on no obvious folk influence. It also never appeared on a compilation, although it definitely would have been home on Rock 'n' Roll Music. Despite the fact that the song is not fully heard in Yellow Submarine (The Beatles sing a short sequence to wake up the Lord Mayor of Pepperland), it was included on the Yellow Submarine Songtrack. 

#90: Nowhere Man

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


"Heeeee's a real Nowhere Man, sitting in his nowhere land..."


"Nowhere Man", the only song on Rubber Soul with a three-part harmony, is a milestone. It's the first original Beatles song not about love - at all. John wrote the song about himself. The 'Nowhere Man' is someone who has no outside connection to the world and spends his time "making nowhere plans for nobody". John came up with the idea after spending hours trying to come up with an idea and just when he was about to give up, "Nowhere Man" popped into his head. 
I like the unique sound of the guitar on the song. It's really a perfect pop exercise where not only is the harmony perfect, but the technical wizardry is amazing. Listen to the way George's guitar resonates on the speaker, especially during his blistering solo.

The song is so far ahead of its time that it feels perfectly at home among the psychedelic songs from 1967. So, it's no wonder that it is the oldest song used in Yellow Submarine. ("Think For Yourself" is quoted with a short excerpt, but "Nowhere Man" is used from start to finish.) The 'nowhere man' was visualized as a short, plump character, whose 'nowhere land' was literally nothing but a white void. He provides probably some of the funniest moments in the film and ends up playing a huge part in the finale. (I'm particularly fond of the sequence where he gives the Beatles his business cards and they all have different names.)
Since the song is an obvious rock/pop track, it went against Capitol's move of turning Rubber Soul into a folk album. They took the song off the record and held it for a single release, with "What Goes On" as the flip side. The single, which was not released until February, 1966, reached #3 on Billboard. In July, 1966, Parlophone issued it as the title track of the only EP for Rubber Soul. This was the last EP until Magical Mystery Tour.
"Nowhere Man" was selected as the side four opener on 1962-1966 and is also included on The Beatles' Ballads. Finally, the song is also on the remixed Yellow Submarine Songtrack, although the version is not significantly different, since it was already remixed by George Martin in 1987 for Rubber Soul's CD release.    
Finally, "Nowhere Man" was also one of the few Rubber Soul songs that were taken out on the road. Even by late-1965, it was obvious that it was impossible to perform their new material on the road as well as they could do the old stuff. By 1966, they weren't even trying and not a single song from Revolver was performed live. Here's one attempt at "Nowhere Man" live, but it's obvious that it was impossible for them to do it as well as the record caught it. 

#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. 

#88: Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)

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


Saying that Rubber Soul proves that The Beatles were maturing is an understatement. "Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)", written by John, proves this. The song is about a rather obvious affair, where the girl acts in a bizarre, strange manner. Each verse seems to put the singer in a stranger situation. In the first verse, the singer reluctantly admits that that the girl was the dominating one. Later, during the bridge that Paul helped write, he wants to sit down, but there aren't any chairs. In the next bridge, he is stuck crawling off to sleep in the bath. The two don't even sleep together and when he wakes up, "this bird has flown". He ends up lighting a fire and "isn't it good, Norwegian Wood?". 
The imagery in this song is what always gets to me. Even if you ignore the first appearance of a sitar on a Beatles recording, John has never painted a clearer picture with a song. This is definitely a result of the Dylan influence. Throughout Dylan's electric trilogy (Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde), his lyrics paint an exact picture (most of the time, anyway). This is something that Beatles songs hardly ever did up to this point because the songs were hardly ever about anything concrete. They never had any stories, until now. "No Reply" was really John's stepping stone to "Norwegian Wood". 

As for the sitar, well...that's a nifty sound, isn't it? The Beatles felt that the song was lacking something, so George, who was learning how to play sitar after encountering one on the set of HELP!, made the suggestion. George admitted in I, Me, Mine that he was really just doodling on the song. After you listen to the song, go to "Love You To" or "Within You Without You" and you can hear how great a sitar sounds if professionally played. 
Apparently, John (and critics) liked to think that Dylan's "4th Time Around" was a parody of the song. It appears on Blonde On Blonde and does have a similar melody. However, Dylan wrote the song prior to Rubber Soul, so this obviously can't be true. Beyond the similar plot and melody, the songs have nothing in common. If you know anything about Dylan's own issues in 1965 and 1966, you can see that he had more things to worry about than parodying a Beatles song. 
"Norwegian Wood", like everything else on Rubber Soul, was not issued as a single. Even in the States, Capitol refrained from issuing an obvious album track with a questionable subject as a single. The song did appear on 1962-1966, Love Songs and the non-US set, The Beatles' Ballads.  

#87: Drive My Car

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


As if the Beatles hadn't already proved how awesome they were, Rubber Soul is the LP that truly cements this as fact. 
The album opens with the same fervor that Please Please Me does. Throw in a little sexual tension to "I Saw Her Standing There" and you get a much more sophisticated song like "Drive My Car". Although the song is primarily Paul's, only John could have come up with such a sly, humorous sexual metaphor as driving the car. Technically, the song is amazing. Even before the Beatles' catalog was remastered, George's bass playing resonates like a heartbeat...and yes, that is George playing bass and Paul playing lead again. Although, apparently the story goes that George taught Paul exactly how he felt the guitar parts should go and the reason why George plays bass is because he thought the song should feel like the great Motown records of the day. All this is kind of interesting, because usually the writer of the song was the one who took full command, but here, the final product was a real team effort. Even Paul's fantastically rough vocal (it sounds like he's singing with a mouthful of water at times) lends to the song's R & B feel. 
While Capitol axed the song from the US version (see "I've Just Seen A Face"), they still decided that the song was too powerful to be stuck in the middle of a side. They chose it for the opening number on Yesterday And Today. The song was chosen as one of five to represent Rubber Soul on 1962-1966 and is also on Rock 'n' Roll Music, where the song is stuck in the middle of side three on both.


Rubber Soul is a lot of fun to write and talk about because of just how great all of these songs are and not a single one was released as a single. Amazing.