In My Life

In My Life
The Beatles
publication	December 1965
length	2 min 26 s
Genre (s)	pop
Author (s)	Lennon / McCartney
album	Rubber Soul

In My Life ( English in my life ) is a song by British rock band The Beatles . It was first released on December 3, 1965 on the Rubber Soul album. The play is written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney under their joint copyright Lennon / McCartney .

composition

Unlike most of the Beatles' other songs, it is unclear who the main composer of the song is. While the lyrics of In My Life are clearly and undisputedly by Lennon, McCartney states that the melody came from him alone; Lennon, however, stated that McCartney only helped him with the musical implementation in the middle section. The idea for the song came to John Lennon at the age of 15 when he was driving a bus through his home region. After being asked in a 1964 interview why he didn't write more personal lyrics, Lennon took up the old idea again.

In a 1980 interview, he recalled this as follows:

“It was the first song I wrote that was consciously about my life. […] Before, we were just writing songs a la Everly Brothers , Buddy Holly - pop songs with no more thought to them than that. The words were almost irrelevant. In My Life started out as a bus journey from my house at 251 Menlove Avenue to town, mentioning all the places I could recall. I wrote it all down and it was boring. So I forgot about it and laid back and these lyrics started coming to me about friends and lovers of the past. Paul helped with the middle eight. "

“That was the first song that I consciously wrote about my life. […] Before that we had only written songs in the style of the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly - simple pop songs with no deeper content. The words were almost completely unimportant. My Life started out as a bus ride into town from my house at 251 Menlove Avenue, listing all the places I could remember. I wrote it all down and it was boring. So I let that lie for now and relaxed. And then I remembered this text, about friends and loved ones from my past. Paul helped me with the middle part. "

- US Playboy Magazine : January 1981 issue

Early versions of the text have been preserved. The middle section of the song is characterized by a piano solo composed and played by Beatles producer George Martin . Since George Martin could not play the solo at the fast pace, it was recorded at half speed and then accelerated again. Martin recalled the making of the solo:

“On the original version John left a hole in the song for an instrumental section, and while he was away having dinner I recorded a keyboard solo like a Bach two part invention . He loved it, and it has remained an integral part of the song ever since. "

“In the original version, John [Lennon] had left a gap in the song for an instrumental passage and while he was going to dinner I recorded a keyboard solo in the style of a two-part Bach invention. He liked the solo a lot and it's been an integral part of the song ever since. "

- Booklet for the Martin CD In My Life , 1988

Cover versions

This song was the template for a number of cover versions , including Judy Collins , Crosby, Stills & Nash , Ozzy Osbourne and Johnny Cash . Even George Harrison took the title in his concert repertoire, however, changed the text in one place, he sang "I love God more" rather than "I love you more". In 1998, George Martin gave an album on which he combined cover versions of various Beatles songs by several artists, also the title In My Life . On this album, the interpreter of In my Life is actor Sean Connery .

The original was ranked 23rd in a Rolling Stone magazine list of the 500 best songs of all time in 2012 . The piece was voted the best song of all time by the British music magazine Mojo .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Barry Miles: Many Years from Now. Reinbek near Hamburg: Rowohlt, 1999. P. 318 f.
2. ^ Mark Lewisohn: Mark Lewisohn: The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years . London: Hamlyn, 1988, p. 65
3. ↑ 500 Greatest Songs of All Time . Accessed February 24, 2012