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Gender Role Construction in the Beatles' Lyrics

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Gender Role Construction in the Beatles' Lyrics “SHE LOVES YOU, YEAH, YEAH, YEAH!”: GENDER ROLE CONSTRUCTION IN THE BEATLES’ LYRICS Diplomarbeit zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades eines Magister der Philosophie an der Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz vorgelegt von Mario Kienzl am Institut für: Anglistik Begutachter: Ao.Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr.phil. Hugo Keiper Graz, April 2009 Danke Mama. Danke Papa. Danke Connie. Danke Werner. Danke Jenna. Danke Hugo. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 4 2. The Beatles: 1962 – 1970...................................................................................................... 6 3. The Beatles’ Rock and Roll Roots .................................................................................... 18 4. Love Me Do: A Roller Coaster of Adolescence and Love............................................... 26 5. Please Please Me: The Beatles Get the Girl ..................................................................... 31 6. The Beatles enter the Domestic Sphere............................................................................ 39 7. The Beatles Step Out.......................................................................................................... 52 8. Beatles on the Rocks........................................................................................................... 57 9. Do not Touch the Beatles................................................................................................... 62 10. The Beatles Explore Other Options................................................................................ 67 11. The Beatles’ Summer of Love ......................................................................................... 71 12. The Beatles Seek a Higher Power ................................................................................... 75 13. The Beatles Look Within Themselves ............................................................................ 78 14. The Beatles Pack their Things......................................................................................... 82 15. Conclusion......................................................................................................................... 88 16. Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 91 3 1. Introduction It may well be no exaggeration to claim that in the Beatles’ geographical sphere of action (i.e. Europe, Northern America, Australia, Japan and the Philippines) people are familiar with the Beatles and many of their tunes. But what about the band’s lyric work? Are their words regarded as being as important as their music? I do not think so. This fact may especially be true for non English-speaking countries. I have known and loved the Beatles from my pre-teen years on, but it was always the sound of the group that fascinated and electrified me, never the words. Even as my knowledge of the English language grew over the years it was still the Beatles’ energy and sound which sent shivers down my spine, regardless of the words which accompanied them. What I did not realise then was that a band’s “sound” can only be transformed into a “uniquely great sound” if the words’ syllabic structure and rhythm patterns fit and support a song’s tune. Having realised that, I could go one step further and concentrate on the Beatles’ lyrical content, images and ideas they presented to the audience in their songs. In my thesis, I will systematically examine if and how the Beatles are willing to communicate with an audience via the abstract construct of a speaker-receiver situation within their lyrical work. I will concentrate my attention almost exclusively on the lyrics of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, well aware of the importance and great influence of their innovative musical style within the realms of the history of popular music. I will turn my attention to the various, and at times surprising, gender-related roles male and female characters take on within the Beatles’ lyrics. In addition, I will describe in what way the relationship between the male speaker (“I”) and the almost exclusively female receiver (“you”) develops over the years of the Beatles’ active career. Moreover I will take a closer look at the importance of “home” in the Beatles’ song-lyrics focusing on the different concepts of gender roles associated with the idea of home. The image of physical contact between speaker and receiver and how this topic is translated and developed by the Beatles form one further question I will try to answer. Of course, I will also examine the inevitable topic of love and relationships between the sender and the receiver which is dealt with in many of the band’s songs. Furthermore I will survey 1950s’ rock and roll songs in order to find out what artists like Chuck Berry or Goffin and King used as subject matter in their lyrics and to what extent, if at all, the Beatles were influenced by them. I will start my thesis, however, by giving a concise overview of the Beatles’ original UK album and single releases by EMI for the purpose of providing the reader with a concise idea about the Beatles’ oeuvre 4 in chronological order. The lyrics I work with in my thesis (either those of the Beatles themselves or those of other artists) come from such diverse sources as books, songbooks, record covers, compact disc booklets, guitar chord songbooks and the world wide web. All the lyrics, with no exception whatsoever, have been double-checked for possible mistakes against the recordings by me. 5 2. The Beatles: 1962 – 1970 What I would like to do now is give a rough year-by-year, record-by-record based overview of the Beatles’ literary output. For this basic analysis I am looking for an overall impression each album or single may suggest and how this impression may change over time. As objects of my research I will focus on the Beatles’ original UK album and single releases by EMI, that is from their 1962 single release Please Please Me to the LP Abbey Road, their last recording from 1969. Within the Beatles’ recordings I will take into account original Lennon/McCartney, Harrison and Starkey compositions as well as lyrics generated by other artists, aware of the fact that especially in the earlier years of the Beatles’ career many 1950s rock and roll cover versions filled their albums. I compile this chronological listing in order to present a complete picture of the Beatles’ own work as ‘men of letters’ as well as a glance at the sources where they took their inspirations from. 1962 Love Me Do/P.S. I Love You (single; released on October 5th) – The Beatles’ debut single was released late in 1962 and includes two Lennon/McCartney originals1. Both of the songs’ lyrics suggest romantic love and eternal faithfulness on an intimate “I-You” level between the sending and the receiving part. Additionally, “P.S. I Love You” was written in the style of a ‘letter song’ which we will encounter again in songs like “Paperback Writer” and which seems to be a trait allotted to McCartney rather than Lennon. 1963 Please Please Me/Ask Me Why (single; released on January 11th) – The lyrics of “Please Please Me” represent a plea for love by a male voice asking a girl to “please please me, whoa yeah, like I please you”. Lennon liked the double meaning of the word “please”. Like in “Please Please Me” the lyrics of “Ask Me Why” are told on an “I-You” basis between addresser and addressee telling the latter that “I love you”. 1 This was unusual at the time, as most performers did not write their own material. Plus the Beatles’ single releases only included Lennon/McCartney or Harrison material right from the start through to the ending of their active career. 6 Please Please Me (LP; released on March 22nd) – This is the Beatles’ first album from 1963. It contains eight Lennon/McCartney compositions which exclusively revolve around the topic of adolescent love and relationships, most of them on a very personal, straightforward “I love you” basis suggested also in song-titles like “Love Me Do” or “P.S. I love you”. It is also a very traditional record in terms of gender role (woman at home, waiting for man – man away, longing for woman) with allusions to physical contact in the manner of “holding each other tight” and “dancing through the night” between addresser/singer and addressee/audience. The record contains six cover versions of songs written by artists like Goffin/King, Dixon/Farrell or Medley/Russell. Most of the lyrics of these songs very much resemble Lennon and McCartney’s own idea of a suitable love lyric. The only difference worth mentioning is that the cover versions’ lyrics tend to illustrate a more “macho approach” towards women. They often infantilise women by calling them “baby” or “little girl”, a feature not to be found in Lennon/McCartney lyrics at the time. From Me To You/Thank You Girl (single; released on April 11th) – Lyrically both songs stand very much in the tradition of the Beatles’ rock and roll predecessors from the 1950s. The Beatles “thank you”, “hold you”, “kiss you” and will “always be in love with you”, “little girl”. The lyrics are explicitly directed towards their predominantly female teenage fans. She Loves You/I’ll Get You (single; released on August 23rd) – “She Loves You” discovers the speaking voice as a mere mediator between two lovers. The perspective changes from “I- You”
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