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Other songs on Rubber Soul were written more collaboratively by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The Word was one: the first of The Beatles' anthems about love, and a precursor to songs such as All You Need Is Love.
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. Everything that was worthwhile got down to this love, love, love thing. And it is the struggle to love, be loved and express that that's fantastic.
Anthology
The song was written at Lennon's home in Weybridge. After writing it, Lennon and McCartney drew a coloured lyric sheet.
We smoked a bit of pot, then we wrote out a multicoloured lyric sheet, the first time we'd ever done that. We normally didn't smoke when we were working. It got in the way of songwriting because it would just cloud your mind up - "Oh, shit, what are we doing?" It's better to be straight. But we did this multicolour thing.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
As on Help!, George Harrison contributed two songs to Rubber Soul: Think For Yourself and If I Needed Someone. He also played a key role in the studio collaborations, suggesting a number of arrangements and instruments which defined the sound of the album.
Harrison's love of American soul and R&B influenced the guitar and bass lines on Drive My Car, which were inspired by Otis Redding's Respect. His burgeoning interest in Indian music, meanwhile, found an outlet in Norwegian Wood's sitar part - one of the first times the instrument had been used in a Western pop song.
Ringo Starr, too, wasn't being left out. He secured his first songwriting credit for What Goes On, which was uniquely attributed to Lennon-McCartney-Starr. At a press conference in 1966 Starr described his contribution as "About five words, and I haven't done a thing since!"
The Rubber Soul sessions yielded only one unreleased song. 12-Bar Original was The Beatles' first instrumental since the group signed to EMI in 1962, and was a largely unsuccessful attempt at an R&B/soul recording in the style of Booker T and the MGs.
12-Bar Original was recorded in the early hours of 4 November 1965, after The Beatles had recorded What Goes On. Their first attempt broke down, but the second lasted 6'36" - an edit lasting 2'55" was eventually released on Anthology 2.
The release
Rubber Soul was released in the United Kingdom on 3 December 1965, and three days later in the United States.
The album entered the UK charts on 11 December, and from 25 December replaced Help! at the top of the charts. It spent nine weeks at number one, and remained in the charts for a total of 42 weeks.
Rubber Soul began a 59-week run in the US charts on Christmas Day, and from 8 January 1966 spent six weeks at number one. It sold 1.2 million copies within nine days of its release.
The UK and US tracklistings varied significantly. The Beatles intended it to contain 14 songs; however, Capitol Records in the US reduced the number to 12, omitted the upbeat Drive My Car, Nowhere Man, What Goes On and If I Needed Someone. In their place they substituted two songs not used on the American version of Help!: I've Just Seen A Face, which opened the album, and It's Only Love.
The result was a more acoustic collection, hailed as a folk-rock triumph in the vein of The Byrds and Bob Dylan. The leftover tracks, meanwhile, were later issued in the US on Yesterday... And Today.
Two different stereo versions were issued on vinyl in America: a standard stereo mix and the 'Dexter stereo' version - also known as the 'East Coast' version - which added a layer of reverb to the entire album. The standard stereo and mono mixes were re-released on compact disc in the Capitol Albums Vol 2 box set in 2006.
The US version contained double-tracked vocals by John Lennon on The Word, along with falsetto harmony vocals and a longer fade-out. Additionally, due to an error when the stereo mixes were sent from the UK to the US, two false starts were included at the beginning of I'm Looking Through You. This can also be heard on the Canadian version.
As with previous albums With The Beatles and Beatles For Sale, no songs from Rubber Soul were issued as singles in the United Kingdom. They did, however, record the double a-side We Can Work It Out/Day Tripper during the sessions, and the single was issued on the same day as the album in both the UK and US.
In the studio
Remarkably, Rubber Soul was recorded in just four weeks, in time for the 1965 Christmas market.
We were getting better technically and muscally, that's wall. We finally took over the studio. In the early days we had to take what we were given. We had to make it in two hours or whatever it was. And three takes was enough, and we didn't know about 'you can get more bass,' and we were learning the technique. With Rubber Soul, we were more precise about making the album - that's all. We took over the cover and everything.
Lennon Remembers, Jann S Wenner
Recording began on 12 October 1965; the first song to be worked on was Lennon's Run For Your Life, which he later described as his "least favourite Beatles song".
Working closely with their producer George Martin, on Rubber Soul The Beatles began to expand the musical palate of pop music. They used Greek-style guitar melodies on Michelle and Girl, added a fuzz bass part to Think For Yourself, and added a sitar to Norwegian Wood.
The album's most celebrated musical part, however, was George Martin's piano solo for In My Life. This was taped at half speed, then when played back at a normal rate sounded similar to a harpsichord.
Martin originally tried the solo on a Hammond organ, which didn't give the desired effect. He then switched to a piano, performing the celebrated solo slower and an octave lower than it sounds on the final version.
I did it with what I call a 'wound up' piano, which was at double speed - partly because you get a harpsichord sound by shortening the attack of everything, but also because I couldn't play it at real speed anyway. So I played it on piano at exactly half normal speed, and down an octave. When you bring the tape back to normal speed again, it sounds pretty brilliant. It's a means of tricking everybody into thinking you can do something really well.
Sounds Of The Sixties, BBC Radio 2
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Related articles:
- UK LP release: Rubber Soul
- US LP release: Rubber Soul
- The Word
- Rubber Soul to be released as Rock Band download next week
- It's Only Love
their first truly amazing album!
Yeah. Their first collection of songs that seem to work together on the album somehow, they make the album seem to have a concept or something
Their first albums were AMAZING too but they put fill-in songs, which they stopped doing after Rubber Soul, or Revolver
Its incredible the way they progressed so fast, in every aspect a musician could
They progressed and responded to the amazing competion they had at the time on both sides of the Atlantic.
Could've conceivably been my favourite album if it didn't noticably fizzle out near the end with a couple of middling songs. They were new to the art of constructing capital-"A" Albums, and consequently hadn't thought to create a super-spectacular mindblower of a closing track along the lines of "Tomorrow Never Knows" or "A Day In The Life".
We here in the U.S. really like the Capitol release on vinyl. Especially the "East Coast/Dexterized" version with the added reverb. This variation of the album is rare and is not included on the Capitol albums box set.
You can spot this particular version of the album by looking in the "dead wax" on the record. If it has IAM in a triangle following the matrix # and "The Beatles" listed on the label (the first edition has the Beatles individual names only), it's a Dexterized version.
Man, I never heard of ANYbody who likes that fake stereo - uh, excuse me, "Duophonic" sound! Give me pristine stereo or mono anyday.
Well this particular lp was in true stereo, not Duophonic. I do have some Capitol lp's with some songs in Duophonic and I agree with you...not the greatest sound.
Ah, I see. I assumed that by "Dexterized" you meant Duophonic - he's the one who usually gets the blame for that process.
You can almost smell the pot on this album! I've heard on the Anthology DVDs that this was probably one of there most favorite albums. A great collection of songs, front to back. I think after this one and Revolver their albums seemed a bit patchy, they still had great songs on them but it became more individual. They didn't seem to work together as much. Really either the end of an era or the beginning.
This was the first Beatles album I ever bought. It had just come out and I bought with my 9th birthday money.
I bought Rubber Soul and Help that day. I remember being amazed (even as a 9 year old) at the incredible musical differences between the two albums.
Plus the Rubber Soul cover - didn't even have their names on it - just those incredible four faces! it was all you needed.
Their best album in terms of song quality, the problem, maybe, is that there's no remarkable end that the next two albums offered. But that's also why I love this album, you can start it anywhere and end everywhere. It just flows really well.
I was nine when this came out, and it was my second LP (my first was With The Beatles). I played them both morning, noon and night!
Rubber Soul was the first time I realised that The Beatles had an appeal beyond kids and teenagers. I was dragged along to visit some of my mother's friends - they were school teachers - and to my amazement THEY had Rubber Soul!
Rubber Soul features such a great collection of songs, it's hard to separate it sometimes. It's my second fav behind "Pepper". They never had better harmonies than on this album. "In My Life" was Lennon's greatest majority work in my opinion & "Norweigan Wood" isn't far behind. It was a revolutionary sound for them with the sitar, at the time & it really stands out still even after their studio years. It does kind of just flow along, but I think that some of their most underrated songs are on this album, like "You Won't See Me", "Wait" & "You Won't See Me". Love this album.
Heh, you like "You Won't See Me" that much, eh?
I really do. I think it was the best usage of Paul's double tracking of his voice until he did "Penny Lane". Also, John & George were great in accenting background vocals. It was their most complex instrumental song, but vocally it stands up with anything of that period.
Well, my point was that you mentioned it twice in that one sentence! (Or was that intentional?...)
(Anyway, don't worry, I think it's good enough to be listed twice, too.)
This is another where I think Capitols bastardizing of the albums worked in the Beatles favor. I'm sure I would have loved either tracklist. But having grown up with the leather-and-suede acoustic feel of the American Rubber Soul it is downright DIFFICULT for me to play the british version all the way through. What Goes On is, to me, simply a travesty in the world of Rubber Soul. Drive My Car and Nowhere Man are good tracks -- Nowhere Man a great one -- but the Capitol album is just so much more COHERENT a collection of songs.
It is interesting that UK versions have now taken over because when a lot of people refer to Rubber Soul historically they are talking about the U.S. Capitol version. That is the collection of songs that inspired Brian Wilson not the Uk one. I remember listening to the warm "I've just seen a face" a staring at the pictures on the back of Rubber Soul and my mind just being blown. Opening track on the uk version is "Drive my car", it just doesn't work for me as the Rubber Soul feel. Should have been strictly a single.
It is amazing how John dominates 1965 with major achievements like Help, Ticket to Ride, You've Got To Hide Your Love Away, Norwegian Wood, Girl, In My Life, Nowhere Man (I know Paul helped with some of these but they are definitely John songs). Paul taking a back seat with exception of Yesterday writing filler tracks like The Night Before, Another Girl, You Won't See Me etc. But I feel John takes a back seat to Paul in 1966 (I think Paul's years are 1966 and 1968).
John's output in 66 & 68, while not as catchy or single-worthy as Paul's, was awesome and inspiring nonetheless:
I'm only sleeping, Tomorrow never knows, Dr. Robert, She said she said, And your bird can sing, Happiness is a warm gun, I'm so tired, Revolution, Glass Onion, Dear Prudence, The continuing story of Bungalow Bill, Julia, Yer blues, Everybody's got something to hide except me and my monkey, Sexie Sadie, Cry Baby Cry, Goodnight.