In the latest episode of the McCartney: A Life in Lyrics podcast series, Paul McCartney shares the story behind the song he says is his favorite he ever wrote—the 1966 Beatles tune “Here, There and Everywhere.”
Videos by American Songwriter
The love ballad, which was written mainly, if not entirely, by McCartney, is featured on the Fab Four’s classic album Revolver.
[RELATED: Banned Paul McCartney Artwork Will Benefit War Child Anyway]
“I’m often asked what my favorite song I’ve ever written is, and I don’t ever really want to answer it,” McCartney explained in an audio interview segment featured in the podcast. “But if pushed, I would go to ‘Here, There and Everywhere.’”
McCartney noted that one of the reasons he’s so fond of the tune is the structure of the lyrics, where the end of one verse leads into the start of the next. He pointed out that the way “Here, There and Everywhere” is structured reminds him of a famous 1930s pop standard that was written by the 1930s Irving Berlin.
“One of my favorite songs, because of its structure, is ‘Cheek to Cheek,’ as sung by Fred Astaire,” McCartney said, noting that he loved how the song begins with the lyric “Heaven, I’m in heaven,” and then “resolves up its own tail” to the same line later in the tune.
He added, “I think somebody said I do [the same thing in ‘Here, There and Everywhere.’]”
About the Song’s Intro
Another interesting aspect of “Here, There and Everywhere” is its two intro lines, which lyrically and melodically are different from the rest of the song.
“They were to emulate the openings that old songs had,” McCartney said. “John [Lennon] and I were fascinated by this idea that in the old days, they did this complete ramble that didn’t appear to be, like, about the song at all.”
Recollections of Writing “Here, There and Everywhere”
McCartney recalled that he came up with most of “Here, There and Everywhere” one morning while sitting by the pool at Lennon’s house in the London suburb of Weybridge, while waiting for his bandmate to wake up and join him for a writing session.
Asked whether Lennon had contributed at all to the song, McCartney said he wasn’t sure.
“I suspect he did, but it does sound like something I might have sort of just done by the pool side, and sort of just delivered to him,” he noted, “’cause it doesn’t sound like anyone else is working [on it]. It sounds like one head.”
Lennon Also Loved “Here, There and Everywhere”
Not only was “Here, There and Everywhere” McCartney’s favorite song that he wrote, as podcast host Paul Muldoon points out, Lennon cited it as one of his favorite all-time Beatles songs in a 1980 interview with Playboy.
About the McCartney: A Life in Lyrics Podcast
As previously reported, the McCartney: A Life in Lyrics podcasts incorporate segments of audio interviews that Irish poet Muldoon conducted with McCartney for the 2021 book The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present.
The McCartney: A Life in Lyrics podcast is available at iHeart.com, Pushkin.fm, and on various popular streaming services, including Apple Music and Spotify. The series is co-produced by iHeartPodcasts and the Pushkin audio-production company.
