Heard
Here
The
Beatles - Rubber
Soul
Ive
fallen in love again. Its for real this time. We met when
I was but a child, dancing around my living room, sharing joyful
moments. But I grew up, and we grew apart. Sometimes these things
happen.
Last week, after a chance meeting in the Review office, Rubber Soul
by the Beatles and I reconnected perhaps this time for good.
Immediately, I remembered singing Norwegian Wood with
my mother, listening to her story about seeing the Beatles the first
time in America. Poor girl, after the concert, my mother who had
to hold it the whole time, as to not risk losing one moment of seeing
her favorite band, dashed to the bathroom. She foolishly placed
her program from the concert on the ground, only to have it peed
on by the woman in the next stall. I said to her, its
too bad you had to throw that away.
Oh no, replied my mother, I still have it! Would
you like to see it? Grand.
Its not often that the Review features an old album in the
Heard Here column, but this classic album by the Beatles
is without a doubt worth the re-examination. Indeed, buying a new
CD can be a life-changing experience. The rediscovery of an old
album is almost better: memories (such as the one above) are conjured,
you already know all the words and its probably going to cost
you nothing.
The first song, You Can Drive My Car is just brilliant.
Catchy and simple, the chorus Baby you can drive my car/Yes
Im gonna be a star/Baby you can drive my car/ And baby I love
you just screams for interpretive dance. If you need some
inspiration, Id be happy to show you the one I made up when
I was 10 at summer camp.
Norwegian Wood (This Bird had Flown) is the second track,
and the personal favorite of Janet Richert, my mom. Granted, the
lyrics are somewhat vacuous, tracking the romance of John and some
chick he was hot for.
Obviously she liked him too, as She showed me her room/Isnt
it good, Norwegian wood/She asked me to stay to stay/She told me
to sit anywhere/I looked around and noticed there wasnt a
chair. Unfortunately, she doesnt give it up because
John ends up sleeping in the tub. But for how silly the lyrics are,
the most wonderful thing about this song is the use of the sitar.
The twangy, exotic sound of the stringed instrument marks the Beatles
imminent transition from boy-next-door Beatles to Sargent-Pepper-is-a-figment-of-our-tripped-out-imagination
Beatles, and reflects perfectly the oddness of the song.
There are a few more classics on this album, including Nowhere
Man and In My Life. The Word is a
departure from the Beatles previous songs. An experimentation
in funk, it sounds like something that James Brown might cover.
The lyrics are even more inane and repetitive than Norwegian
Wood, so I think Mr. Brown can handle it.
The Word is followed by Michelle. Now, let
me just talk about this song for a moment. Its a perfect,
passionate love song for some English-illiterate French girl. Mom,
if youre reading, can I change my name to Michelle? Please?
Then Paul McCartney would be singing Michelle, ma belle/Sont
de mots qui vont tres bien ensemble/tres bien ensemble. To
me. All to me. In French
sigh.
Unfortunately, the album ends on a disconcerting note. Run
for Your Life is more or less about a girl that McCartney
thinks is cheating on him. Id rather see you dead, little
girl/than to see you with another man, little girl, warns
McCartney. I mean, hes not messing around. He reiterates this
creepy message in the chorus If I catch you with another man,
little girl/Thats the end little girl. The up-beat guitar
riffs add an even more macabre feel to the song; with those lyrics,
they might as well be playing an organ and bassoon in a minor key.
But lets not talk about that. Rubber Soul is one of the best
albums the Beatles produced. Enough said. Now, lets talk about
how you should all go out and search through all those CDs you never
thought youd listen to again. Find that special one and I
promise, youll be walking around with a glow on your face
that can only mean one thing: youve fallen in
love
again.
-Cat Richert
|