ManyMany booksbooks havehave appearedappeared overover the yearsyears aboutabout the BeatlesʼBeatlesʼ lyricslyrics – ababoutout the wordswords ofth thoseose so songsngs wh whichich the wh wholeole wo worldrld kn knowsows an andd sin sings.gs. Bu Butt no one has eve everr trtriedied to tr tracack downdown andand publishpublish the originaloriginal versionsversions of the classicclassic songs,songs, showingshowing the wordswords in thethe BeatlesʼBeatlesʼ ownown handwriting,handwriting, sometimessometimes scribbledscribbled on the backsbacks of envelopes,envelopes, withwith crossingscrossings outout an andd changes,changes, showingshowing the evolutionevolution of the songssongs we knowknow andand lovelove today.today.

Hunter Davies has tracked down over 100 of the original manuscripts. He lists each song in chronological order, putting it in the context of what were doing at the time and how the original version sometimes differs from the final one. The Beatles Lyrics is a unique insight into their creative genius, and a must-have for every Beatles fan.

● The Beatles have sold over 2.3 billion albums worldwide ● Their songs, among the greatest ever written, continue to be re-discovered by each new generation ● This is the first ever publication of the lyrics in the Beatlesʼ own handwriting ● Hunter Davies, sole authorised biographer of the Beatles, has uncovered previously unseen drafts ● The Letters, also by Hunter Davies, has sold over 30,000 copies ● Publication will be marked by huge media attention

11 SEPTEMBER 2014 | £25 | 9780297608127 | HB | 246 X 189mm | 400pp

For publicity enquiries contact [email protected]

www.orionbooks.co.uk

Beatles Lyrics Blad cover.indd 1 25/03/2014 14:04 INTRODUCTION

My self-imposed, self-created mission was to track down as many manuscripts of the Beatles’ songs as possible. To look at their lyrics, both in first drafts and finished versions, and try to explain the meaning, the references, the names and places, phrases and expressions. Or just to unveil them, and leave others to do the pondering and evaluation . . . I have tried to arrange them chronologically in the order in which we, the fans, heard them, which was not necessarily the order in which they were written or recorded. I have also tried to tell the story of the band’s music-making and its development. Their music comes out of their lives, just as their livesand feelings and emotions got reflected back into their music. So in some ways The Beatles Lyrics has become the story of their lives as told through their music . . .

Beatles Lyrics Blad246x189REPRO.indd 1 25/03/2014 02:13 A Hard Day’s Night

The words are quite well thought out. After the opening chorus, John wrote two verses, with the chorus repeated in between, then back to the chorus at the end. Another of the standard formats for a pop song. Reading the words now, and probably trying too hard to work out exactly what he is trying to say, it would seem the message is simple: work hard, bring the money home, and you will get marital bliss. There is a slight hint ofa chauvinism when he moans that he is working all day for money so she can buy things.

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Beatles Lyrics Blad246x189REPRO.indd 2 25/03/2014 02:18 Maureen Cleave of the Evening Standard happened to be interviewing John on the day they were to record the song and went with him to Abbey Road in a taxi. During the journey, John showed her the words of the song, written down on an old birthday card given to Julian – he had recently had his first birthday – with an illustration of a little boy on a toy train. ‘I said to him that I thought one line of the song was rather feeble. It originally said, “But when I get home to you, I find my tiredness is through, then I feel all right.” Seizing my pen, John immediately changed the second line of it and came up with the slightly suggestive “I find the things that you do, will make me feel all right”.’

It’s been a hard day’s night It’s been a hard day’s night And I’ve been working like a dog. And I’ve been working like a dog. It’s been a hard day’s night, It’s been a hard day’s night, I should be sleeping like a log. I should be sleeping like a log. But when I get home to you, But when I get home to you, I find the things that you do I find the things that you do Will make me feel alright. Will make me feel alright. You know I work all day You know I feel alright, To get you money to buy you things. You know I feel alright. And it’s worth it just to hear you say, You’re gonna give me everything. So why on earth should I moan, ’Cos when I get you alone You know I feel okay. When I’m home everything seems to be right. When I’m home feeling you holding me tight, tight, yeah. So why on earth should I moan, ’Cos when I get you alone You know I feel okay. When I’m home everything seems to be right. When I’m home feeling you holding me tight, tight, yeah.

THEBEATLESLYRICS 3

Beatles Lyrics Blad246x189REPRO.indd 3 25/03/2014 02:18 Help!

The song was written to order, seven weeks into shooting, when at lastthey decided on a title. Until then, there had been various possibilities – ‘Beatles 2’, ‘Eight Arms To Hold You’ and ‘High-Heeled Kickers’. John wrote the song, mainly on his own, with help from Paul, at home in Kenwood. The words to ‘Help!’ are some of the clearest, least evasive he hadwritten up to that point, and also the strongest, with no slack or corny ‘blue’‘true’ rhymes or tired pop-song I love yous, dropped in for the teen market. He also uses some rather long words, not normally found in pop songs – such as self-assurance, appreciate, independence, insecure – one result, apparently, of Maureen Cleave teasing him that all Beatles’ songs seemed to be filled with one-syllable words. At one level you could take the lyrics to be another love song – wanting someone to come along and love him, take care of him, the sort of thing most people wish for in life. He does thank someone, appreciates them being ‘round’, which you could read as meaning he was OK really, he did have a loving wife so you didn’t have to worry too much about him. On the other hand, as John told us later, it was a personal cry of anguish. It might have been influenced by their first LSD experience, which had taken place a few weeks earlier. The phrase ‘I find I’ve changed my mind’ can betaken two ways: a simple change of opinion or a mind change due to trying life- altering drugs.

Help, I need somebody, Help, not just anybody, Help, you know I need someone, help.

When I was younger, so much younger than today, I never needed anybody’s help in any way. But now these days are gone, I’m not so self assured, Now I find I’ve changed my mind and opened up the doors.

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BBeatleseatles LyricsLyrics Blad246x189REPRO.inddBlad246x189REPRO.indd 4 25/03/2014 02:18 Help me if you can, I’m feeling down And I do appreciate you being round. Help me, get my feet back on the ground, Won’t you please, please help me.

And now my life has changed in oh so many ways, My independence seems to vanish in the haze. But every now and then I feel so insecure, I know that I just need you like I’ve never done before.

Help me if you can, I’m feeling down And I do appreciate you being round. Help me, get my feet back on the ground, Won’t you please, please help me, help me, help me, oh.

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BeatlesLyricsBlad246x189REPRO.inddBeatles Lyrics Blad246x189REPRO.indd 6 25/03/2014 02:18 Yesterday

Paul woke up one morning in his attic bedroom in Wimpole Street, with a melody in his head that he couldn’t erase. He went to the piano, beside his bed, and played it through. The melody had arrived almost intact, with the glory and the freshness of a dream (which is Wordsworth, ‘Intimations of Immortality’, but Paul over the years used similar phrases to recount how it had first came to him). Worried that it was someone else’s tune that had crept into his subconscious, for several weeks he played it to friends, such as the singer Alma Cogan, asking if they recognized it. It was during a long car drive while on holiday in Portugal with Jane (Asher) in May 1965, after they had started recording the album, that he finally put some proper words to it. After fitting ‘Yesterday’ to the first three notes he needed a rhyme, and came up with ‘all my troubles seemed so far away’. That left him needing another three-syllable word, and out popped ‘suddenly’. John always thought the melody was beautiful, but the words, though good, didn’t get very far and were not resolved. That in a way is a strength, leaving it vague. Why had she gone, why was a shadow hanging over her, what was the wrong thing he had said? This is never explained, leaving some analysts to suggest he wasn’t in fact talking about a row with a current love, i.e. Jane, which is how it appears, but remembering the death of his mother all those years earlier.

Yesterday, all my troubles seemed so far away Now it looks as though they’re here to stay Oh, I believe in yesterday.

Suddenly, I’m not half to man I used to be, There’s a shadow hanging over me. Oh, yesterday came suddenly.

Why she had to go I don’t know she wouldn’t say. I said something wrong, now I long for yesterday.

Yesterday, love was such an easy game to play. Now I need a place to hide away. Oh, I believe in yesterday.

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Beatles Lyrics Blad246x189REPRO.indd 7 25/03/2014 02:19 And Your Bird Can Sing

John rubbished this song in later interviews, saying it was a ‘horror’, a ‘throwaway’ and ‘fancy paper round an empty box’. He could have been playing games, so that we would reply, ‘oh no, John, it’s really good, you’re putting yourself down’. Or perhaps he looked back and remembered that he had done it as a trickle, if not a stream of self-consciousness, to see if he could get away with it, to out Dylan Dylan, confusing the fans and throwing in some nonsense. Why is the bird green (out of envy?)? How can a bird be broken (unless it is a toy?)? It is their first lyric to feature deliberately rambling, incoherent psychedelic lines – but of course it contains some amusements, such as the wordplay. Firstly his bird can sing, and then she can swing – the words ‘bird’ and ‘swing’ having sixties meanings. Marianne Faithfull believes it is a reference to her – as she was Mick Jagger’s bird and she could sing, so John was taking a dig at her and Mick. But it could also have been a dig by John at Paul, who was so awfully busy in the London arty scene, seeing all the wonders, that he couldn’t see John. The song describes two people not communicating – not getting near each other, not seeing each other. ‘You can’t see me’ was a metaphor John had used in the past.

You tell me that you’ve got everything you want And your bird can sing But you don’t get me, you don’t get me

You say you’ve seen seven wonders and your bird is green But you can’t see me, you can’t see me

When your prized possessions start to weigh you down Look in my direction, I’ll be round, I’ll be round

When your bird is broken will it bring you down You may be awoken, I’ll be round, I’ll be round

You tell me that you’ve heard every sound there is And your bird can swing But you can’t hear me, you can’t hear me

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Beatles Lyrics Blad246x189REPRO.indd 8 25/03/2014 02:19 THEBEATLESLYRICS 9

BBeatleseatles LyricsLyrics Blad246x189REPRO.inddBlad246x189REPRO.indd 9 25/03/2014 02:19 I’m Only Sleeping

When I used to go down to Kenwood and see John he was very often lying on the curved couch in his day room, half-asleep or idly reading a newspaper. I once arrived to see John only to be informed that he had decided it was a day for not speaking. So we had lunch, not speaking. He flopped on his couch, watching children’s afternoon TV, not speaking, then we had a swim in his pool, still not speaking. I was furious. All that way – to get so little out of him. So ‘I’m Only Sleeping’ was true to life. He spent a lot of his days just lying around, if not in fact asleep. In the ‘Jesus’ interview with Maureen Cleave, she quotes him as saying that he can sleep almost indefinitely. ‘Sex is the only physical thing I can be bothered with any more.’ When the idea for the song came to him, based on what he was doing, or not doing, he scribbled the first version on the back of a bill from the Post Office, being too lazy to go and find a clean piece of paper. It’sabittoo obvious to say this is a druggie song, about someone who has over-indulged

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BBeatleseatles LyricsLyrics Blad246x189REPRO.inddBlad246x189REPRO.indd 10 25/03/2014 02:19 – which John did. I believe it really is about sleeping: the joys of it, taking your time, letting the world rush by, a neat commentary on our crazy modern lifestyle. True, ‘Float upstream’ could be a reference to drugs, but it is also what you do when you dream, when that marvellous drowsy feeling takes over and you feel yourself drifting away.

When I wake up early in the morning Lift my head, I’m still yawning When I’m in the middle of a dream Stay in bed, float up stream (Float up stream)

Please, don’t wake me, no, don’t shake me Leave me where I am, I’m only sleeping

Everybody seems to think I’m lazy I don’t mind, I think they’re crazy Running everywhere at such a speed Till they find there’s no need (There’s no need)

Please, don’t spoil my day, I’m miles away And after all I’m only sleeping

Keeping an eye on the world going by my window Taking my time

Lying there and staring at the ceiling Waiting for a sleepy feeling…

Ooh yeah

Keeping an eye on the world going by my window Taking my time

When I wake up early in the morning Lift my head, I’m still yawning When I’m in the middle of a dream Stay in bed, float up stream (Float up stream)

Please, don’t wake me, no, don’t shake me Leave me where I am, I’m only sleeping

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Beatles Lyrics Blad246x189REPRO.indd 11 25/03/2014 02:19 12 THEBEATLESLYRICS

BBeatleseatles LyricsLyrics Blad246x189REPRO.inddBlad246x189REPRO.indd 12 25/03/2014 02:19 Strawberry Fields Forever

John wrote the song in Spain in September , while filming How I Won the War. Once the touring had stopped, and the public performances were coming to an end, each of them was free to do their own thing until they assembled together in the studio for the next record. Far from home, stuck out in Almeria, John began thinking back to his childhood when he used to visit the nearby Salvation Army home, Strawberry Field (without the s), a gothic mansion with a large overgrown garden. His random childhood memories got mixed up and fused with drug- related images and influences – tune in, take you down, nothing is real. John was always conscious of the feelings of displacement and disorientation he had experienced as a child – or told himself he had. He was also aware of his own habit of thinking or saying one thing, then the next moment the opposite, believing it each time. ‘It’s getting hard, but it all works out, it doesn’t matter much, it’s all wrong, I think I know, yes, I think I disagree’. Two of the best lines are: ‘Nothing is real and nothing to get hung about’ and ‘Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see.’ The earliest known demo of the song, done by John on a tape recorder in Almeria, had no chorus and only one verse which began, ‘There’s no one on my wavelength, I mean it’s either too high or too low.’ Wavelength was later changed to tree. In , he explained that he had felt different all his life, which is what he was saying with the phrase ‘No one I think is in my tree’. At the same time he felt he was too shy and self- doubting – or a genius. ‘I mean it must be high or low.’ The phrase ‘nothing to get hung about’ suggests not having any hang-ups, but also hanging from a tree possibly remembering Aunt Mimi telling him not to climb over the wall and play in the Strawberry Field garden, and John replying ‘They can’t hang you for it.’

THE BEATLES LYRICS 13

Beatles Lyrics Blad246x189REPRO.indd 13 26/03/2014 11:51 The song sums up everything about the Beatles at this stage: introspection, disorientation, self-doubt, all wrapped up in beautiful, original, multi-layered, disturbing music. Even if you take away the musical sounds and trimmings, it is still a fine song.

Let me take you down Always know sometimes it’s me ‘Cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields But you know I know when it’s a dream Nothing is real I think I know I mean a ‘Yes’ And nothing to get hung about But it’s all wrong Strawberry Fields forever That is I think I disagree

Living is easy with eyes closed Let me take you down Misunderstanding all you see ’Cause I’m going to Strawberry Fields It’s getting hard to be someone Nothing is real But it all works out And nothing to get hung about It doesn’t matter much to me Strawberry Fields forever

No one I think is in my tree I mean it must be high or low That is you know you can’t tune it But it’s all right That is I think it’s not too bad

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Beatles Lyrics Blad246x189REPRO.indd 14 25/03/2014 02:19 Baby You’re A Rich Man

This was the B-side of ‘All You Need Is Love’, released 7 July 1967. It didn’t appear on the ‘Yellow Submarine’ LP (as ‘All You Need Is Love’ did). It is a bit of a mess and shows signs of over-confidence and under-achievement. It began as two different songs that then got lumped together. John was responsible for ‘How does it feel to be one of the beautiful people, while Paul’s contribution was ‘Baby you’re a rich man’. Two different and incomplete sets of verses, with not much to connect them, and neither John nor Paul really worked hard enough to improve them. Paul is thought to have been mocking Brian Epstein with ‘Baby you’re a rich man’, as their manager had made a lot of money out of them. His line ‘what a thing to do’ must be one of the weakest he had ever written. The reference to a natural E is not to drugs, but the musical key – and also a pun on ‘naturally’.

How does it feel to be Baby you’re a rich man, One of the beautiful people? Baby you’re a rich man, Now that you know who you are Baby you’re a rich man too. What do you want to be? You keep all your money in a big And have you travelled very far? brown bag inside a zoo. Far as the eye can see. What a thing to do. How does it feel to be Baby you’re a rich man, One of the beautiful people? Baby you’re a rich man, How often have you been there? Baby you’re a rich man too. Often enough to know. What did you see, when you were How does it feel to be there? One of the beautiful people? Nothing that doesn’t show. Tuned to a natural E Happy to be that way. Now that you’ve found another key What are you going to play?

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BBeatleseatles LyricsLyrics Blad246x189REPRO.inddBlad246x189REPRO.indd 16 25/03/2014 02:20