Girl (The Beatles song)
| "Girl" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Song by The Beatles from the album Rubber Soul | ||||
| Released | 3 December 1965 | |||
| Recorded | 11 November 1965, EMI Studios, London |
|||
| Genre | Folk rock | |||
| Length | 2:33 | |||
| Label | Parlophone | |||
| Writer | Lennon–McCartney | |||
| Producer | George Martin | |||
| Rubber Soul track listing | ||||
|
||||
"Girl" is a song written by John Lennon[1] and Paul McCartney[2] based on an original idea by Lennon[2] and performed by The Beatles on their 1965 album Rubber Soul. "Girl" was the last complete song recorded for that album.[3][4]
Contents |
[edit] History
Unlike most of their earlier love songs, "Girl" was one of their most melancholy and complex at the time.[5] The songs instrumental has specific comparisons to Greek music; similar to "And I Love Her" and "Michelle".[5] According to McCartney, he contributed the lines "Was she told when she was young that pain would lead to pleasure" and "That a man must break his back to earn his day of leisure."[2]; in a 1970 interview with Rolling Stone, Lennon said that those lyrics were a dig at the Roman Catholic Church. McCartney also stated that the song's backing vocals were influenced by The Beach Boys, he said "The Beach Boys had a song out where they'd done 'la la la' and we loved the innocence of that and wanted to copy it, but not use the same phrase".[6]
In an interview for Rolling Stone magazine on 5 December 1980, Lennon said his 1980 song "Woman" reminds me of a Beatles track, but I wasn't trying to make it sound like that. I did it as I did 'Girl' many years ago. So this is the grown-up version of 'Girl.'"[7]
In November 1977, Capitol Records scheduled the United States release of "Girl" backed with "You're Going to Lose That Girl" as a single (Capitol 4506) to accompany the release of Love Songs, a Beatles' compilation album that contains both of these songs. However, the single was cancelled before it was issued.
[edit] Cover versions
- Dalida recorded "Girl" in Italian and released it as "Amo" on her 1967 Italian album "Piccolo Ragazzo" (which is the Italian version of "Little Man" by Sonny Bono and Cher). The song Amo was re-released on the Italia Mia box set in 2007.
- Jim Sturgess sang "Girl" in the film musical Across the Universe.
- Rhett Miller recorded a version of "Girl" that can be found on the album This Bird Has Flown – A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul.
- St. Louis Union recorded a cover version in 1965, that was released in January 1966, and reached #11 on the UK Singles Chart.[8]
- Tiny Tim recorded a dramatic reinterpretation with the band Brave Combo in 1996.
- The Truth recorded a cover version on the Pye label (7N.17035) in 1966. (b/w "Jailer Bring Me Water")
- Ronnie Von recorded a Portuguese version called "Meu Bem" in 1966. Ronnie Von's version was released in Brazil before The Beatles version, and made such success that when The Beatles version arrived, the radios used to do this announcement: "And now Ronnie Von's song 'Girl' in the voice of The Beatles."
- Serj Tankian has covered the song live numerous times.
- Joe Jackson covered the song on numerous stops on his 2003 tour for Volume 4, his reunion album with The Joe Jackson Band. This version appeared on the bonus disc of Afterlife, the live album that resulted from this tour.
- Roberts Gobziņš recorded a version of the song with Latvian lyrics. It appeared on his first album in 1993.
- Chris de Burgh covered the song in his 1995 album "Beautiful Dreams".
- Paul Carrack recorded the song for his 2007 album "Old, new, borrowed and blue".
[edit] Personnel
- John Lennon – vocal, acoustic guitars
- Paul McCartney – backing vocal, bass
- George Harrison – backing vocal,[3] lead acoustic guitar
- Ringo Starr – drums
- Personnel per Ian MacDonald, except as noted.[4]
[edit] Notes
- ^ Sheff 2000, p. 197.
- ^ a b c Miles 1997, pp. 275–276.
- ^ a b Lewisohn 1988, p. 68.
- ^ a b MacDonald 2005, p. 181.
- ^ a b Unterberger 2009.
- ^ Cross 2005, p. 353.
- ^ Cott 1980.
- ^ Roberts 2006, p. 479.
[edit] References
- Cott, Jonathan (5 December 1980). "Rolling Stone Interview with John Lennon". Rolling Stone. http://www.john-lennon.com/1980rollingstoneinterview.htm. Retrieved 27 October 2006.
- Hertsgaard, Mark (1995). A Day in the Life: The Music and Artistry of The Beatles. New York: Delacorte Press. ISBN 0-385-31377-2.
- Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books. ISBN 0-517-57066-1.
- MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (Second Revised ed.). London: Pimlico (Rand). ISBN 1-844-13828-3.
- Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt & Company. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6.
- Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
- Sheff, David (2000). All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-25464-4.
- Cross, Craig (2005). The Beatles: Day-by-day, Song-by-song, Record-by-record. ISBN 0595346634.
- Unterberger, Richie (2009). "Girl". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/song/t819438. Retrieved 15 June 2009.
[edit] External links
|
|||||||||||
