THE BEATLES - “I Feel Fine”
(12th December 1964)
The sliver of feedback that opens “I Feel Fine” has become one of pop’s great use-other-facts-please. It’s historically interesting, it’s a strong gimmick, but it has very little to do with the rest of the record, which is the Beatles having good clean fun with Rickenbackers. The section where riff and solo interplay is easily the liveliest of the whole song, but the overall emphasis on guitar gives a sense of the band moving with their times. That said this is the third Beatles song in a row about buying things - tracing a cynical arc from the pious separation of romance and commerce to diamond rings as a proof of affection. There’s a hint in that of a tune in need of changing. 6
(Flash Fact: this song’s worth as a singalong was proved by me at Glastonbury last year, much to the horror of anyone present.)
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Lena on January 5th, 2007
I like the b side, “She’s A Woman” a lot more - which is not about buying things but the opposite. It’s also the closest to reggae they got for some time.
The Intl on September 18th, 2008
Stateside, this single was released with a good amount of reverb. I rather prefer these tunes that way, they just sound massive. Especially both intros.