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| "Nowhere Man" | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Single by The Beatles | ||||||||||||||||||
| from the album Rubber Soul | ||||||||||||||||||
| B-side | "What Goes On" | |||||||||||||||||
| Released | 15 February 1966 (U.S.) | |||||||||||||||||
| Format | 7" | |||||||||||||||||
| Recorded | 21–22 October 1965 Abbey Road Studios |
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| Genre | Folk rock, psychedelic folk | |||||||||||||||||
| Length | 2:44 | |||||||||||||||||
| Label | Parlophone | |||||||||||||||||
| Writer(s) | Lennon/McCartney | |||||||||||||||||
| Producer | George Martin | |||||||||||||||||
| Certification | Gold (RIAA)[1] | |||||||||||||||||
| The Beatles singles chronology | ||||||||||||||||||
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"Nowhere Man" is a song by The Beatles, from their hit album Rubber Soul (in the U.S. on the Yesterday ... and Today album). The song was primarily written by John Lennon but Paul McCartney helped to "polish off the rough edges"[2].
It was recorded on 21 and 22 October 1965. "Nowhere Man" is among the very first Beatles songs to be entirely unrelated to romance or love, and marks a notable instance of Lennon's philosophically-oriented songwriting. It was released as a single (although not in the UK) on 15 February 1966, and reached #1 in Canada and #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.
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Interpretation
When the song first appeared during the 1960s, many of the Beatles' youthful fan base interpreted the rather hard-edged lyric, which satirizes the "Nowhere Man" as someone who "just sees what he wants to see" and who "don't know what [he's] missing", as directed against their parents' generation and conformity generally.
Lennon, however, claimed that he wrote the song about himself. He wrote it after wracking his brain in desperation for five hours, trying to come up with another song for Rubber Soul. Lennon told Playboy: "I'd spent five hours that morning trying to write a song that was meaningful and good, and I finally gave up and lay down. Then 'Nowhere Man' came, words and music, the whole damn thing as I lay down".[3]
If factual, Lennon's explanation places the song with Lennon's earlier "I'm a Loser" and later introspective and self-critical songs, both as a Beatle ("Yer Blues") and as a solo artist ("Jealous Guy"), rather than Lennon's "counter-culture" songs such as "The Word" and "All You Need Is Love".
McCartney said of the song: "That was John after a night out, with dawn coming up. I think at that point, he was a bit...wondering where he was going and to be truthful so was I. I was starting to worry about him".[4]
Personnel
- John Lennon: Vocals and acoustic guitar
- Paul McCartney: Bass and harmony vocals
- George Harrison: Lead guitar and harmony vocals
- Ringo Starr: Drums
Other recordings
- The Settlers recorded the song in 1966.
- In 1967, the Carpenters performed a piano/vocal version in Joe Osborn's garage studio. Richard Carpenter used the original demo to create a version that was released on As Time Goes By in 2001.
- In 1967, Indexi covered this song with the title Jednom smo se svađali.
- In 1969, Gershon Kingsley recorded a version featuring the Moog synthesizer on the album Music to Moog By.
- In 1976, Jeff Lynne recorded it for the musical documentary All This and World War II.
- The Bee Gees and Peter Frampton performed the song in the 1978 film Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, with Barry Gibb on lead vocals.
- Randy Travis recorded a version for the 1995 Beatles tribute Come Together: America Salutes The Beatles.
- In 1996, Dokken recorded an acoustic version on their One Live Night album.
- Joe Pass released an instrumental version on his album Simplicity / A Sign Of The Times.
- The Smashing Pumpkins also released a cover of the song in their Live Smashing Pumpkins album series.
- Low recorded a version featured on the 2005 Beatles tribute album, This Bird Has Flown - A 40th Anniversary Tribute to the Beatles' Rubber Soul.
Animated character
In the animated movie Yellow Submarine (1968) The Beatles, on their way to save Pepperland from the Blue Meanies, encounter Jeremy Hilary Boob, Ph.D., a strange, little, brown-furred man with a blue face, pink ears, and tail, who lives in the Sea of Nothing, speaks in rhyme, and describes himself as an "eminent physicist, polyglot classicist, prize-winning botanist, hard-biting satirist, talented pianist, good dentist too". "Lousy poet" mutters Lennon. The band realizes one of their songs sums Jeremy up well and they sing "Nowhere Man" about him as they cavort with his magic.
Notes
- ^ "RIAA Gold & Platinum Searchable Database - The Beatles Gold Singles". 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=Gold&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 2009-07-20.
- ^ Bob Spitz, The Beatles, p. 586.
- ^ Playboy, September 1980.
- ^ Playboy, December 1984.
References
- Turner, Steve. A Hard Day's Write: The Stories Behind Every Beatles' Song, Harper, New York: 1994, ISBN 0-06-095065-X
External links
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