THE BEATLES - “She Loves You”
(14th September)
Not that the Beatles’ lyrics are always irrelevant. The first piece of ‘rock criticism’ I can remember being really impressed by was in a Beatles book I’d taken out of the library. I didn’t like the band much back then, I thought I probably should. The writer talked about “She Loves You” and explained how really what underpinned the song was the sense of “but she might love me if you don’t watch it”. I thought he was very clever for noticing it and that the Beatles were very clever for putting it in.
Actually I think I prefer the song without that subtext, because while great songs about love and jealousy are common, great songs about friendship are not. And great songs about being friends with a couple who are on the rocks are very rare indeed. The urgency of the singer trying to hammer some sense into the sung-to is wonderfully captured (the coo-ing “apologise to her” slipping straight in to a newly frenetic “BECAUSE SHE LOVES YOU”), the record buzzes with the exasperation that comes when a friend is being a bonehead. Maybe there’s something more behind that, but there doesn’t have to be.
And even if you don’t fancy the words at all, you can still get off on Ringo’s exhilaration when he cuts loose on his kit ten seconds in. 8
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Lena on February 14th, 2006
First off, how is it that no one has commented on this song yet? It is like a total assault of happiness and even the Peter Sellers version (am I right?) is great. YES to Ringo’s drumming and the humor of “and you know that can’t be bad” and the general yeahs and oohs. This intensity couldn’t be sustained, it’s like an almost artificial high, but wow, it has lasted.
pete on March 6th, 2006
i 100% agree, lena.
FT's Steve Mannion on March 24th, 2008
I remember commenting on this song at the time (and it scares me that memory is over four years old already) - we seem to have lost some comments on older entries?
Marcello Carlin on March 25th, 2008
The curse of Haloscan.
Tom on March 25th, 2008
Yup - a bunch of old haloscan comments expired - I don’t think haloscan even delete old comments anymore (but our new system is much much better anyway)
mike on August 5th, 2008
As I said back in the old Haloscan days, this is effectively Side One, Track One of my story in pop. My parents had the single - indeed, up until early 1966 it was their only pop single - and my father taught me how to shake my three-year-old head to it like a mop-top. For a brief formative while, “She Loves You” WAS pop music to me - and I still think it was a great place to start.