Nowhere Man

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Nowhere Man
The Beatles
publication December 3, 1965
length 2 min 44 s
Genre (s) Folk
Author (s) Lennon / McCartney
album Rubber Soul

Nowhere Man ( English man after nowhere [analogously]) is the title of a song by the British band The Beatles from 1965. It was first released on December 3, 1965 on the album Rubber Soul . The lead author was John Lennon . The Beatles' twelfth British EP was released on July 8, 1966 under the same name . It was published under the copyright of Lennon / McCartney .

Emergence

When Lennon was composing Nowhere Man , he and Paul McCartney were under pressure to write enough pieces for the upcoming Rubber Soul album . Lennon said in interviews that he had tried to write a piece for the upcoming album, but couldn't come up with anything. He had actually already given up when he suddenly became aware of his situation and saw himself as the "Nowhere Man".

McCartney recalled the circumstances surrounding the creation of the song in his biography:

“When I came out to him the next day to compose with him, he was sleeping on the couch, totally sleepy. It was a real anti-John song written by John. Only later did he tell me that he was dealing with himself because he had the feeling that he was walking into nowhere. I think it was really about the state of his marriage. It was at a time when he was rather dissatisfied with its progress; after all, it led to a very good song. "

Recordings

The recordings for Nowhere Man took place on October 21 and 22, 1965 at London's Abbey Road Studios . The producer was George Martin , the sound engineer in charge was Norman Smith .

After the group had rehearsed the piece for some time on October 21, 1965, two takes were made , but they were not used any further. The following day, the Beatles started a completely new recording. John Lennon sang the lead voice - which was doubled using double tracking - and played acoustic rhythm guitar. Paul McCartney played electric bass and sang background vocals . George Harrison played lead guitar and was also involved as a background singer. Ringo Starr played the drums. The guitar solo was recorded by Lennon and Harrison together on their recently acquired Fender Stratocasters .

Paul McCartney cited Nowhere Man as an example of the little battles the Beatles had to fight with the technicians in their recording studio on Abbey Road.

“We were always forcing them into things they didn't want to do. Nowhere Man was one. I remember we wanted very treble-y guitars, which they are, they're among the most treble-y guitars I've ever heard on record. The engineer said 'All right, I'll put full treble on it' and we said 'That's not enough' and he said 'But that's all I've got, I've only got one pot and that's it!' and we replied 'Well, put that through another lot of faders and put full treble up on that. And if that's not enough we'll go through another lot of faders and… 'so we were always doing that, forcing them. "

Publications

In Great Britain the song appeared on the album Rubber Soul and on the EP Nowhere Man , which in addition to this title contained three other tracks from the album Rubber Soul .

Nowhere Man did not appear on the US version of the album Rubber Soul , instead, Capitol Records decided to release the title as a single on February 21, 1966 . This single with the track What Goes On on the B-side reached third place on the US charts as the best placement. On June 20, 1966, Nowhere Man appeared in the United States on the album Yesterday and Today .

Yellow Submarine

The piece was used in the cartoon Yellow Submarine in 1968 , where the song was the inspiration for the character of Jeremy Hilary Boob . It is a small male with fur, pink ears, a rabbit-like tail and a blue face. As the Beatles sing Nowhere Man , he realizes how pointless his life is.

Nowhere Man was not included on the original soundtrack for the film , but on the new version from 1999, which was released under the title Yellow Submarine Songtrack .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Beatles: The Beatles Anthology . Chronical Books, San Francisco 2000, ISBN 0-8118-2684-8 , p. 196.
  2. ↑ Barry Miles: Many Years From Now . Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 1999, ISBN 3-499-60892-8 , p. 312.
  3. ↑ Andy Babiuk: Beatles Gear . Backbeat Books, San Francisco 2001, ISBN 0-87930-662-9 , p. 157.
  4. ^ Mark Lewisohn: The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions. Hamlyn, London 1988, ISBN 0-600-61207-4 , p. 13.
  5. ^ Neville Stannard: The Long and Winding Road . Virgin Books, London 1983, ISBN 0-907080-96-0 , p. 142.