Many Beatles fans through the years have made a hobby out of picking apart the Fab Four’s lyrics to find some hidden message or meanings. That was commonplace when the band was still together. In fact, John Lennon even wrote “I Am The Walrus” to mess with listeners who were assigning way too much meaning to their songs. Still, The Beatles recorded many songs with hidden meanings that flew over the heads of many listeners back in the day. Let’s look at a few Beatles tunes with fascinating, deeper meanings that you might have missed.
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“Got To Get You Into My Life”
Fans go back and forth on how drug-influenced or drug-referential certain songs from The Beatles are. “Got To Get You Into My Life” is one song that has been confirmed by Paul McCartney to be about p*t.
“[We] were on tour, so we were all together in the hotel suite,” said McCartney of the inspiration for the song. “We were having a drink, and then Bob [Dylan] arrived and disappeared into a backroom. Then Ringo went back to see him and after a couple of minutes Ringo came back into the suite looking a little dazed and confused. And we said, ‘What’s up?’ and he said, ‘Oh Bob’s smoking pot back there’, and we said, ‘Oh, well what’s it like?’ and Ringo said, ‘the ceiling feels like it’s coming down a bit.’”
“Run For Your Life”
If you danced to this tune without listening to the lyrics, you’re not alone. In retrospect, a lot of people don’t love this Beatles song, including John Lennon himself. Despite writing it, Lennon condemned the song shortly after it was released on Rubber Soul. Lennon is on record saying he “never liked” the tune. I can see why. The lyrics of this song are quite creepy, sung from the perspective of a man who threatens to kill his woman should she ever cheat on him. There’s no defending lyrics like “I’d rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man”.
It’s worth noting that some listeners believe “Run For Your Life” was allegedly Lennon’s attempt to condemn the darkness of domestic violence through irony. That has never been confirmed. And even if that were true, that irony was lost on listeners and radio DJs alike. The latter refused to play it on many radio stations.
“She Said, She Said”
Believe it or not, there was an unlikely muse behind this Beatles tune. American actor Peter Fonda once enjoyed an acid trip with John Lennon back in the day. He told Lennon that he knew “what it’s like to be dead.” That’s a line that Lennon would then work into “She Said, She Said” as “I know what it’s like to be dead / I know what it is to be sad.”
For context, this wasn’t just the wild ramblings of a man on a psychedelic substance. When Fonda was 10 years old, he accidentally shot himself in the abdomen with a gun. He came very close to dying. Thankfully, he recovered, and now we have “She Said, She Said”. Talk about a domino effect!
Photo by Douglas Elbinger/Getty Images
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