Paul McCartney has called it his favorite song of any he’s written, and John Lennon once said that it was one of his favorite Beatles songs as well. To think, it took McCartney only about the length of a morning lie-in by Lennon to write “Here, There and Everywhere,” the masterful ballad that serves as the emotional high point of the standout 1966 album Revolver.
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How exactly did McCartney come up with this gorgeous song? What was about it the Revolver album that allowed the Fab Four to spread their artistic wings so wide? And what did the band’s friendly rivalry with Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys have to do with its creation? Find out about it all as we look back at this all-time great ballad.
Relaxing for Revolver
The artistic growth that The Beatles showed in 1965 from their previous two years of recording was staggering, and they managed that while still keeping the frenetic pace of their earliest days. In 1966, the four insisted upon a significant stretch of time away from their professional demands, and when manager Brian Epstein relented, they had more time to compose and record Revolver, which represented yet another leap.
They could work the songs for this album into pristine shape in the studio, although, truth be told, “Here, There and Everywhere” was so well-written by McCartney right off the bat that it didn’t need too much in the way of retooling. It all kind of unspooled one fateful morning while McCartney was waiting for his songwriting partner to wake up.
[RELATED: Listen to The Beatles Work Out “Tomorrow Never Knows” on the First ‘Revolver’ Take]
Poolside Inspiration
Paul McCartney arrived one morning at John Lennon’s home in Weybridge, England for a writing session, but the slumber-loving Lennon (this is the guy who wrote “I’m Only Sleeping” and “I’m So Tired,” after all) hadn’t yet awoken. McCartney explained what happened next, as reported in the Barry Miles’ book Many Years from Now:
“I sat out by the pool on one of the sun chairs with my guitar and started strumming in E, and soon 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.”
The Like of Brian
“Here, There and Everywhere” was written and recorded around the time The Beatles and The Beach Boys were in the midst of a cycle of mutual admiration and rivalry that ended up inspiring some of the finest music of that or any other era. When Brian Wilson, the mastermind behind The Beach Boys, heard The Beatles’ 1965 album Rubber Soul, he was so impressed by the consistent brilliance of the record that he wanted the same thing out oi the next Beach Boys LP, which turned out to be Pet Sounds.
In similar fashion, McCartney wanted to try and top Pet Sounds with Sgt. Pepper’s, and Pepper’s helped to beget Wilson’s initially unfinished Smile project. “Here, There and Everywhere” came in the middle of all this, and it’s impossible to deny that the sighing three-part harmonies from McCartney, Lennon, and George Harrison bear a strong resemblance to what The Beach Boys produced on the regular. McCartney even rises to into his falsetto range, another common Wilson tactic.
What Is “Here, There and Everywhere” About?
It was written during a period when many of Paul McCartney’s relationship songs were likely inspired by his then-girlfriend, the British actress Jane Asher. Many of these songs (“You Won’t See Me,” “I’m Looking Through You,” and others) expressed frustration, which suggests that this was at times a tumultuous coupling. “Here, There and Everywhere” must have come from a period when things were going well between the two, because it’s an unabashed love song.
Starting off with an opening verse separate from the rest of the song, which gives it the feel of a standard, it soon slides into a gentle rhythm, helped along by McCartney’s strumming and Ringo Starr’s oh-so-delicate touch on the toms. It’s a song about the notion that presence is everything in a passionate love affair. When that special someone is with you, within speaking and touching range, everything is right, and nothing else matters.
McCartney has singled out the line Changing my life with a wave of her hand as one of his favorites, as it shows just how little this person needs to do to cause infinite impact on the narrator. The way that McCartney connects the words of the title by introducing them in each verse is also ingenious, as they don’t actually come together to form a refrain until the closing moments of the song.
When these two people in the song are together, the rest of the world melts away: Someone is speaking/But she doesn’t know he’s there. And the commonality within their hearts and minds makes theirs an infallible romance: Each one believing that love never dies.
Put all of that together with one of Paul McCartney’s most unassumingly beautiful melodies, and you end up with sheer slow-song perfection. “Here, There and Everywhere” represents one of The Beatles’ pinnacles. Isn’t it crazy that the world might have missed out on it if John Lennon had set an alarm?
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