"Help!" is a song by The Beatles that served as the title song for both the 1965 film and its soundtrack album. It was also released as a single, and was number one for three weeks in both the US and UK. "Help!" was written primarily by John Lennon, but credited (as were all Beatles songs written by either person) to Lennon/McCartney. Paul McCartney reports that he had a hand in writing the song as well, being called in "to complete it" in a two-hour joint writing session on 4 April 1965 at Lennon's house in Weybridge.[3] He later said that the title was "out of desperation".[4] In 2004, "Help!" was ranked number 29 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
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Composition
The documentary series The Beatles Anthology revealed that Lennon wrote the lyrics of the song to express his stress after The Beatles' quick rise to success. "I was fat and depressed and I was crying out for 'Help'," Lennon told Playboy.[5] Writer Ian MacDonald describes the song as the "first crack in the protective shell" Lennon had built around his fragile emotions during The Beatles' rise to fame, and an important milestone in his songwriting style.
In the 1970 Rolling Stone "Lennon Remembers" interviews, Lennon said that because of its honesty it was one of his favourites among the Beatles songs he wrote, but he wished they had recorded it at a slower tempo. In these interviews, Lennon said he felt that "Help!" and "Strawberry Fields Forever" were his most genuine Beatles songs and not just songs written to order. According to Lennon's cousin and boyhood friend Stanley Parkes, however, "Help!" was written after Lennon "came in from the studio one night. 'God,' he said, 'they've changed the title of the film: it's going to be called 'Help!' now. So I've had to write a new song with the title called 'Help!'."[6]
Recording
The Beatles recorded "Help!" in 12 takes on 13 April 1965, in Abbey Road's Studio Two. They used four-track equipment and, when the four tracks proved insufficient, resorted for the first time to "bouncing", conducted twice to allow eight recorded tracks.[7]
The first eight takes were without vocals: the first three included George playing his descending guitar figure until, when takes kept breaking down, he admitted it was 'too fast' to play. Taking advice from George Martin it was decided to overdub the riff later, recording the sound of John's tapped acoustic guitar in the rhythm track take. By Take 12 the song was complete with overdubbed group vocals, tambourine and George's guitar fills.[8]
Releases
"Help!" went to #1 on both the UK and American singles charts in late summer 1965. It was the fourth of six number one singles in a row on the American charts;[citation needed] "I Feel Fine", "Eight Days a Week", "Ticket to Ride", "Help!", "Yesterday", and "We Can Work It Out".[9] The record was equalled by The Bee Gees in the 1970s and surpassed by Mariah Carey in the 1990s.[citation needed] "Help!" marked a compositional turning point for the group, Lennon being the more dominant hit-single writer with five #1s culminating in "Help!", while McCartney afterwards produced eight #1s beginning with "Yesterday".
The song appears on the Help! LP, the USA Help! soundtrack, 1962-1966 (the American version begins with a James Bond-style instrumental), the Imagine soundtrack, 1, Love, and The Capitol Albums, Vol. 2. The single and album versions of the song have slight differences: the original mono version, appearing on The Beatles' Rarities LP as well as on mono versions of the original LP release, has a different lead vocal by Lennon and no tambourine.
Personnel
- John Lennon – double-tracked lead vocal and 12-string acoustic guitar
- Paul McCartney – bass and background vocals
- George Harrison – lead guitar and background vocals
- Ringo Starr – drums, tambourine
Cover versions
- In 1968 Deep Purple recorded a cover version (greatly slowed-down) of the song for their album Shades of Deep Purple.
- In 1970 The Carpenters recorded a cover version for release on their album Close to You.
- In 1975 Caetano Veloso released a cover on his album Joia.
- In 1976 Henry Gross covered it for the musical documentary All This and World War II. John Lennon once stated that this was his favourite version of the song. Harrison and McCartney perform backing vocals.
- In 1976 The Damned covered the song for the B-side of "New Rose".
- Dolly Parton included a bluegrass version of "Help!" on her 1979 Great Balls of Fire album.
- In 1980 John Farnham released the song as a piano-based ballad recorded at a much slower tempo.
- In 1984 Tina Turner released a version of the song recorded with The Crusaders that peaked at #40 in the UK. The song was included on European editions of her album Private Dancer.
- In 1989 the song was recorded by Bananarama alongside French & Saunders and Kathy Burke and released as the official Red Nose Day single to raise money for Comic Relief. French, Saunders and Burke were credited as Lananeeneenoonoo (a paraody of Bananarama who they had imitated in the French & Saunders television programme). This version reached #3 in the UK charts.
- In 1991 Waltari covered "Help!" on their debut album, Monk Punk.
- In 1995 88 Fingers Louie recorded a version on their first full-length release, Behind Bars.
- In 1995 Little Texas recorded a version of the song for the Beatles tribute album Come Together: America Salutes The Beatles.
- In 1998 The Punkles did a punk cover of this song on their first album.
- In 1999 Claire Martin recorded a slowed-down cover on her album Take My Heart with Noel Gallagher on guitar.
- In 2000 Tsunku and 7HOUSE covered "Help!" on their Beatles' cover album, A Hard Day's Night.
- In 2003 Art Paul Schlosser recorded a parody of "Help!" called "Smelt" which appears on on his Words of Cheese and Other Parrot CD.
- Silverstein released a cover version on their fourth album, A Shipwreck in the Sand.
- "Help!" has also been covered by Michael Stanley, dc Talk, Alma Cogan, Rick Wakeman, Howie Day, McFly, Roxette, Fountains of Wayne, and Peter Sellers.
- The Rutles' song "Ouch!" is a tongue-in-cheek parody of this song.
Cultural references
- American author Mark Z. Danielewski frequently refers to this song in his novel House of Leaves.
- The song featured in "Cutting It Close", an episode of Full House, when Jesse Katsopolis breaks both of his arms in a motorcycle accident and has to adjust to a life in which he always needs assistance.
- The lyrics are quoted in the film Yellow Submarine; when Young Fred knocks on The Beatles' door, he says, "Won't you please, please help me?"
- In the Powerpuff Girls episode "Meet the Beat-Alls", a military sergeant says "Help, we need somebody, help, not just anybody, help, we need the Powerpuff Girls."
- In the Only Fools and Horses episode "The Jolly Boys' Outing", Mickey Pearce sings "Won't you please, please help me?" to a sleeping Albert, prompting Albert to tell him to "Get off, you noisy little git!" The version playing on the radio as Mickey sings is the Bananarama cover version rather than the original.
- Several Major League Baseball teams (notably the New York Yankees) play the song when the opposing manager/pitching coach go out for a mound visit.
Notes
- ^ Pollack 2000.
- ^ RIAA 2009.
- ^ Miles 1997, p. 199.
- ^ Beatles Interview Database 1984, p. 2.
- ^ Spitz 2005, p. 555.
- ^ Lennon.net 2004, p. 5.
- ^ Help! stereo remaster 2009 inlay card, ”Recording notes”.
- ^ The Beatles Bible 2008.
- ^ Wallgren 1982, pp. 38–45.
References
- "Help!". The Beatles Bible. 2008. http://www.beatlesbible.com/songs/help/. Retrieved 9 October 2008.
- "Playboy Interview With Paul and Linda McCartney". Beatles Interview Database. 1984. http://www.beatlesinterviews.org/dbpm.int2.html. Retrieved 6 December 2009.
- Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6.
- Pollack, Alan W. (2000). "Notes on "Help!"". Notes On ... Series. http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/AWP/h.shtml. Retrieved 5 December 2009.
- "RIAA Gold & Platinum Searchable Database - The Beatles Gold Singles". RIAA. 2009. http://riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?resultpage=1&table=SEARCH_RESULTS&action=&title=&artist=The%20Beatles&format=SINGLE&debutLP=&category=&sex=&releaseDate=&requestNo=&type=&level=&label=&company=&certificationDate=&awardDescription=Platinum&catalogNo=&aSex=&rec_id=&charField=&gold=&platinum=&multiPlat=&level2=&certDate=&album=&id=&after=&before=&startMonth=1&endMonth=1&startYear=1958&endYear=2009&sort=Artist&perPage=25. Retrieved 20 July 2009.
- Spitz, Bob (2005). The Beatles: The Biography. Boston: Little, Brown. ISBN 0-316-80352-9.
- Wallgren, Mark (1982). The Beatles on Record. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-671-45682-2.
- "An Interview with Stanley Parks". Lennon.net. 2004. http://www.lennon.net/reflections/s_parkes5.shtml.
| Preceded by "I Got You Babe" by Sonny and Cher |
Billboard Hot 100 number-one single (The Beatles version) September 4, 1965 (3 weeks) |
Succeeded by "Eve of Destruction" by Barry McGuire |
| Preceded by "Mr. Tambourine Man" by The Byrds |
UK number-one single (The Beatles version) August 5, 1965 (3 weeks) |
Succeeded by "I Got You Babe" by Sonny & Cher |
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