INSIDE THE SONGS with Dennis Alstrand and Mike Montana. Today Mike and Dennis look deep into the many reasons Here, There And Everywhere is one of The Beatles greatest songs and perhaps Paul McCartneys best love song. Mike: The story goes, according to Steve Turners A Hard Days Write: When things started to look up again with Jane Asher, Paul McCartney wrote what is widely regarded as his greatest love song. Wanting it to work with a structural challenge he constructed each verse of the song around the three adverbs in the title. Mike: A three word title and three verses. Three seems to be a key note in this gorgeous song, Dennis. Since you delve into each Beatles song in much more detail, especially from a music perspective, than does Steve Turners A Hard Days Write in your book [The Beatles And Their Revolutionary Bass Player] can you pick up on the theme of three in this song? Dennis: As you well know, Mike, there are three distinct aspects to a record and it might be fun at some point to have an entire article on the subject. First. there is the song itself; its chord construction, lyrics and melody. Then there is the arrangement; maybe the most important of all aspects What instruments will be used? What key will the song be done in? Will it be recorded as a ballad, rock, hip-hop or what? Will there be background vocals? How will they sound? Etc etc etc Finally there is the recording of the song. How will the performance sound? Who will play what instruments? How will the instruments sound in relation to each other? How will the vocals sound? Here, the producer and engineer become a vital part of the process. Mike: Everything, from a songwriters perspective works in this song. Its a masterpiece of melody, structure, wordplay and as Paul says, The song folds back on itself. Can you explain to us from a musicians point of view, as you do so well, how these are not just world class lyrics but how they influence every aspect of this song? Dennis: Sure Mike, with Paul McCartney’s beautiful Here, There and Everywhere, he along with the other Beatles, George Martin and engineer Geoff Emerick, achieved what I feel is pop perfection. THE SONG The song itself is beautifully crafted. McCartney had entered into the realm of high level ballad writing with songs like “And I Love Her” only a few years before, had elevated his craft to a level that may be his highest ever. It is reflective, but not due only to its lyrics. Also due to the placement of words. “Here” is followed by a pause as if he’s thinking of what to say next. Same with “There”. But when he gets to his description of the girl being “Everywhere”, the ideas are flowing. I’d like to focus on one very subtle but very important four word sub-phrase: “…wave of her hand”. What happens at that moment is Beatle magic. Kind of indescribable. But I’ll give it a shot and maybe you can add a better description. Just following “Changing my life with a…” there is a small break and then a chord shift that works to perfection! The words “Wave of her hand” are delivered as if the singer is reaching a new understanding of the effect the relationship. It is one of the smoothest moments on a Beatle recording. Treat yourself and go listen to that one miniscule part again. Mike: Beautifully put, Steve, I would like to add before we go into other aspects of what makes this song such a classic that McCartneys ballads [contrary to so many rock critics trying to hip it up in the seventies and eighties] are not corny or sappy. They are beautiful melodies set often to very subtle and often profound lyrics [Yesterday, The Long & Winding Road, Here Today, etc]. Then there is his vocals. Often underplayed. On this song and on The Long And Winding Road, just to name two, Paul could give a masterclass on on subtlety to modern day singers and especially people like Celine Dion, Maria Carey and that whole school of over the top singing just for the sake of showing off a great voice. His vocals on this song are deliberately fragile and sung with both a female feel and appeal. Paul seemed to somehow understand women and speaking as a guy ... thats a damn hard thing to do, especially for a young man of Pauls age when he wrote this. What else about the song would you like to point out, Dennis? Dennis: A few things ... THE ARRANGEMENT: George Martin arranged the background “oohs” and gets credit for creating a simple and totally effective vocal treatment. The guitar/bass drum combination is simple as well; each piece is played ONLY to make the song better. There is no moment where the instrumentation gets in the way of the vocal. A clinic could be written on the Beatles’ arrangement, set only to make Paul McCartney’s soft – almost effeminate – vocal styling work. The Revolver LP had a sound to it that no other album had, and I feel that the sound of “Here There and Everywhere” typifies the album. This was Geoff Emerick’s first album as engineer with the Beatles and – how is this possible? How could he make them sound SO good when he was only a 20 year old young man on his first job as 1st engineer? The sound of “Here There and Everywhere” is – pure and simple – beautiful. A lot of compression used, the recording is not widely spaced tone-wise. Nothing really stands out, soundwise, except the vocals. There is genius behind this song in all three aspects. McCartney delivered what may be his best song ever. The Beatles and George Martin took notice and great pains to make the arrangement and recording reflect this. Mike: Yes, George Martin has said its his favorite song by Paul. Dennis :There are a number of new thoughts here - none of this is from my book. I just had a chance to drive for a while and thought about what a fantastic song you selected. Mike: Thanks Dennis. Dont forget Dennis Alstrands book The Beatles And Their Revolutionary Bass Player is available worldwide on Amazon and you pick up an autographed copy by going to his sit dennisalstrand. We will be back Wed, Fri and Sun next week with brand new looks INSIDE THE SONGS exclusively here in The Beatles Universe.
Posted on: Sat, 16 Aug 2014 14:29:38 +0000