Sean Ono Lennon shared an acoustic cover of The Beatles’ 1966 song “Here, There and Everywhere” on June 18 to wish Paul McCartney a happy 80th birthday.
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“A little birdy told me this was one of your fav Beatles tunes, so Happy Birthday,” wrote Lennon on Instagram. “Thank you for all the beautiful music. You have mine and the whole world’s undying love and respect.” He added, “This version is a bit rough because it’s such a pretty song I kept getting choked up and starting again.”
The song, off The Beatles’ seventh album Revolver, was written by McCartney (credited to John Lennon and Paul McCartney) and is one of Paul’s favorite songs that he has written. Recorded in June of 1966, McCartney was enamored by The Beach Boys’ album Pet Sounds, which had come out that same year, and drew inspiration from Brian Wilson’s “God Only Know,” which he has called his favorite song of all time.
Soon after attending the listening party for Pet Sounds at the Waldorf Hotel in London, McCartney began writing “Here, There and Everywhere” at John Lennon’s home in Weybridge.
“I sat out by the pool on one of the sun chairs with my guitar and started strumming in E,” said McCartney. “And soon [I] had a few chords, and I think by the time he’d woken up, I had pretty much written the song, so we took it indoors and finished it up.”
McCartney recently closed out the U.S. leg of his Got Back tour at the MetLife Stadium on June 16, featuring special guests Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi, and is scheduled to headline the Glastonbury Festival on June 26.
Photo of Sean Lennon by Ebet Roberts/Redferns
