| "Michelle" | ||||
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| Song by The Beatles
from the album Rubber Soul |
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| Released | 3 December 1965 | |||
| Recorded | EMI Studios 3 November 1965 |
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| Genre | Ballad | |||
| Length | 2:40 (stereo version) 2:34 (mono version) 2:42 (USA mono version) |
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| Label | Parlophone | |||
| Writer | Lennon/McCartney | |||
| Producer | George Martin | |||
| Rubber Soul track listing | ||||
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"Michelle" is a love ballad by The Beatles, mainly written by Paul McCartney, which is featured on their Rubber Soul album. The song departs from most of the Beatles' other recordings in that some of the lyrics are in French. "Michelle" won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1967.[1]
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Contents
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Composition
| “ | ...we'd tag along to these parties, and it was at the time of people like Juliette Greco, the French bohemian thing... So I used to pretend to be French, and I had this song that turned out later to be 'Michelle'. It was just an instrumental, but years later John said: 'You remember that thing you wrote about the French?' I said: 'Yeah.' He said: 'That wasn't a bad song, that. You should do that, y'know.' | ” |
"Michelle" has its origins in the popularity of French Left Bank culture during McCartney's Liverpool days. McCartney had gone to a party of art students where a student with a goatee and a striped T-shirt was singing a French song. He soon wrote a farcical imitation to entertain his friends that involved French-sounding groaning instead of real words. The song remained a party piece until 1965, when John Lennon suggested he rework it into a proper song for inclusion on Rubber Soul.[3]
McCartney decided to remain with the French feel of his song and asked Jan Vaughan, a French teacher and the wife of his old friend Ivan Vaughan, to come up with a French name and a phrase that rhymed with it. "It was because I'd always thought that the song sounded French that I stuck with it. I can't speak French properly so that's why I needed help in sorting out the actual words", McCartney said.[3]
Vaughan came up with "Michelle, ma belle", and a few days later McCartney asked for a translation of "these are words that go together well" — sont des mots qui vont très bien ensemble.[3] When McCartney played the song for Lennon, Lennon suggested the "I love you" bridge. Lennon was inspired by a song he heard the previous evening, Nina Simone's recording of "I Put a Spell on You", which used the same phrase but with the emphasis on the last word, "I love you".[3][4]
Although the song is a famous McCartney composition, individuals contributed to the song. Beatles producer George Martin said he wrote the lead guitar melody, which is played twice — in the middle, and at the end of the song, in the coda.[citation needed]
Personnel
- Paul McCartney – acoustic guitar, bass guitar and vocals
- John Lennon – background vocals, acoustic guitar
- George Harrison – lead guitar and background vocals
- Ringo Starr – drums
Awards and recognition
"Michelle" won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1967.[1] The song's win over standard fare "Born Free", "The Impossible Dream", "Somewhere My Love" and "Strangers in the Night" was seen[weasel words] as something of a triumph for the Beatles, who had in 1965 been nominated, but were unsuccessful, in nine categories[citation needed]. In 1999, BMI named "Michelle" as the 42nd most performed song of the 20th century.[5]
Cover versions
- The song was a number three hit in 1966 by the Overlanders,[6] who released a cover version of it after the Beatles declined to release it as a single themselves in the United Kingdom and United States (although the original version was released in some other European countries, including Norway, where both versions went to number one).
- "Michelle" was also covered by David and Jonathan, who scored a Top 20 hit on both sides of the Atlantic with it in 1966.[7]
- In 1971, The Singers Unlimited recorded an a cappella version.
- Ben Harper covered it in a reggae style.
- In 1995 Thomas Anders recorded a soul / R&B version for his solo album Souled.
- The Punkles did a punk cover of this song on their second album Punk!.
- Tommy Emmanuel recorded an instrumental acoustic guitar version of this song.
- Booker T. & the MGs recorded a jazz version.
- Richard Cocciante covered Michelle for the soundtrack of the film All This and World War II.
- Béla Fleck and the Flecktones covered the song on their Flight of the Cosmic Hippo album.
Notes
- ^ a b "1966 Grammy Awards". infoplease. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0150554.html. Retrieved 2007-10-04.
- ^ "Pete Doherty meets Paul McCartney". The Guardian. 14 October 2007. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2007/oct/14/popandrock5.
- ^ a b c d Turner, Steve. A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles Song. New York: Harper Paperbacks. pp. 94. ISBN 0-06-084409-4.
- ^ Sheff, David (2000). All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. New York: St. Martin's Press. p. 137. ISBN 0-312-25464-4.
- ^ "BMI Announces Top 100 Songs of the Century". Broadcast Music, Inc.. 1999-12-13. http://www.bmi.com/news/entry/232893. Retrieved 2007-09-02.
- ^ Harry, Bill (2000). The Beatles Encyclopedia: Revised and Updated. London: Virgin Publishing. pp. 768–769. ISBN 0-7535-0481-2.
- ^ Unterberger, Richie. "Biography of David and Jonathan". Allmusic. http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:k9fyxqt5ldfe~T1. Retrieved 2007-10-04.
External links
| Preceded by "Keep On Running" by Spencer Davis Group |
UK number one single "Michelle" by The Overlanders January 27 1966 (3 weeks) |
Succeeded by "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" by Nancy Sinatra |
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