The Beatles were espousing the benefits of love pretty much from the beginning of their careers. After all, their very first single was “Love Me Do,” backed with “P.S. I Love You.” But at some point, they started to focus on a universal love, instead of the love between two people.
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A turning point in that transition was the 1965 song “The Word,” found on the band’s classic Rubber Soul album. It’s the first instance where the group began promoting love as a cure for all that ails the human race.
“Word” Association
By 1965, The Beatles were starting to put more and more focus into their studio creations, as opposed to their live performances. While their concert schedule remained demanding, they were beginning to realize their music was advancing most within the studio confines.
Rubber Soul, the second album they released in ’65, is considered by many to be the beginning of their adult period. They had been writing gradually more complex songs and putting that music into more ornate arrangements, and this record saw all those advances come to fruition.
“The Word” shows off some of their musical restlessness. They were intrigued by the Eastern music idea of writing a song all in one chord. While “The Word” doesn’t quite keep to that stricture, it surely represented a somewhat unorthodox approach for a pop/rock band, at least at that period in time.
In terms of the lyrics, John Lennon is quoted in The Beatles Anthology book as saying the song emanated from a kind of revelation he had, one that would stay attached to his work for the rest of his life:
“It sort of dawned on me that love was the answer, when I was younger, on the Rubber Soul album. My first expression of it was a song called ‘The Word.’ The word is ‘love,’ in the good and the bad books that I have read, whatever, wherever, the word is ‘love.’ It seems like the underlying theme to the universe.”
Examining the Lyrics of “The Word”
It’s interesting “The Word” came from The Beatles a few years before their experience with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. The lyrics to the song at times seem like the spiel of a guru type, trying to get his followers to tread the righteous path that he’s adopted.
Say the word and you’ll be free / Say the word and be like me, the lyrics begin. It’s clear from those words the Fab Four were starting to understand the power they had over their audience. They also explain that it took them a while to get to a kind of enlightenment: In the beginning, I misunderstood / But now I’ve got it, the word is good. When Lennon explains he’s seen this message In the good and the bad books that I have read, it’s an acknowledgement that many people understand the destination, but they might not know the proper path to get there.
It’s the word I’m thinking of / And the only word is love. That’s the conclusion The Beatles reach at the end of this slightly psychedelic offering. They would refine their method of delivering the message of “The Word” in years and songs to come. This somewhat forgotten track represents the first time they had the wherewithal to put it out there.
Photo by Sergio del Grande/Mondadori via Getty Images
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