Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 14, 16, 17 June 1966
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Geoff Emerick
Released: 5 August 1966 (UK), 8 August 1966 (US)
Paul McCartney: vocals, acoustic guitar, bass, finger clicks
John Lennon: backing vocals, finger clicks
George Harrison: backing vocals, lead guitar, finger clicks
Ringo Starr: drums, finger clicks
Available on:
Revolver
Paul McCartney's favourite among his own compositions, Here, There And Everywhere is widely held to be his finest love song.
It was written alongside John Lennon's swimming pool in Weybridge, while McCartney waited for Lennon to wake up.
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.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
Here, There And Everywhere was particularly highly regarded by Lennon, who described it as "one of my favourite songs of The Beatles". Interestingly, McCartney claims to have had a demo version in March 1965, while The Beatles filmed Help! in Obertauern, Austria.
John and I shared a room and we were taking off our heavy ski boots after a day's filming, ready to have a shower and get ready for the nice bit, the evening meal and the drinks. We were playing a cassette of our new recordings and my song Here, There And Everywhere was on. And I remember John saying, 'You know, I probably like that better than any of my songs on the tape.' Coming from John, that was high praise indeed.
Anthology
While the song was written with Jane Asher in mind, McCartney found inspiration for his vocals from a less likely source.
When I sang it in the studio I remember thinking, I'll sing it like Marianne Faithfull; something no one would ever know... So that was a little voice, I used an almost falsetto voice and double-tracked it. My Marianne Faithfull impression.
In the studio
Recording for Here, There And Everywhere took place over three days. On 14 June 1966 The Beatles recorded four takes, only the final one of which was complete and with vocals. The group overdubbed the first of the harmony vocals that would be so important to the final sound.
The harmonies were performed by Paul, John and George, and were arranged by George Martin, who was somewhat modest about his contribution.
The harmonies on that are very simple, just basic triads which the boys hummed behind and found very easy to do. There's nothing very clever, no counterpoint, just moving block harmonies. Very simple to do... but very effective.
The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions, Mark Lewisohn
On 16 June they recorded takes 5-13 of the rhythm track, the last of which was deemed to be the best. Onto this they overdubbed more harmony vocals along with Paul's lead vocals and bass guitar. The following day Paul double-tracked his lead vocals, and the song was complete.
In 1996 the Real Love single featured a composite of take 7, featuring McCartney's guide vocals, and the harmonies overdubbed onto take 13. This version is unavailable on any official Beatles album.
Related articles:
- Recording: Here, There And Everywhere
- And Your Bird Can Sing
- Recording, mixing: All Together Now
- Good Day Sunshine
- I Want To Tell You
Paul is misremembering there. On another occasion, he said that the incident with him and John listening to the demo took place on the Beatles' 1966 tour, which began with a show in Germany, not Austria.
'Here, there and everywhere'.... I pause + reflect deeply, when I play this song. Personally I always liked it better than 'Yesterday' which a very low point in the Beatles' history. H/T+E was poetic brilliance in every way! It' autobiographical for everyone who hears it. Pure genius!!! Richard 2009'.
Yesterday, a low point? Ho hum, what a wise guy...
Paul has mentioned a few times that he was heavily influenced by Brian Wilson during this period, and that this song was written as kind of a Beach Boys-like tune. "Pet Sounds," one of Paul's favorite albums, had come out, and Wilson often sang in falsetto, so Paul's story seems to make chronological and musical sense.
This song is the best love song the Beatles wrote.
"It was written alongside John Lennon's swimming pool..."
Couldn't that be interpreted as "It was written with John Lennon's swimming pool..."?
Only if you think 'alongside' means the same as 'with'. I'd imagine that most people could tell the difference.
Originally the article stated that it was "written BY John's swimming pool", whereupon I presented you all with a _hilarious_ joke, which had you all in stitches, so enough of this jokery.
My summary:
John: Sleeping.
Paul: Sit by pool. Write song.
John: Wake up.
Paul: Come in.
John and Paul: Finish song. No pool.
Whether or not this article was written by Joe, let's not get too hung up on language. Often one wise guy is more than enough.
All the articles were written by me. If you can suggest a better rewrite of the second paragraph do please let me know, though I think it works well enough.
But yeah, the original version wasn't really the desired meaning!
Everett’s take:
Paul played a duet with Ringo for the basic track: rhythm parts on the Casino and drums. This was accompanied in the final two bars with George’s 12-string Rickenbacker. The Rickenbacker’s so-called Rick-O Sound stereo capability is taken advantage of by sending the signal to two amps, miked separately to the Casino / drums track and to a second track; the tone pedal colours the song’s final five notes.
Bass is added to the third track and the fourth tracked filled with Paul, John and George backing vocals plus finger snaps.
The bass and basic track were reduced to one track along with a sped-up overdubbed lead vocal from Paul. This and the backing vocal track and Ricky-12 “pre-echo” joined a double-tracked lead vocal.
This and "She's Leving Home" are, in my opinion, the two best McCartney songs. It's a small wonder John loved this song so much, it definitely deserves it. Everyone seems to be so hung up on Yesterday, but I think it's not even in the same league as these two...
the best love song on the revolver album
Has anyone else ever noticed that McCartney's opening of "Live and Let Die" is musically similar to the opening of "Here, There, and Everywhere?"
HT&E: (G Major) d-g-b (b minor) d', ("to lead a bet...")
L&LD: (G Major) d-g-b (b minor7) d',
("when you were young...")
No biggie, just kind of interesting.
Wow, good catch! Don't think I ever noticed that at all.
Is this considered the last song to be done using George's Rickenbacker?
A bit of this song has always confused me vocally: during the last verse, does John join Paul in sing the lyrics, in the fashion he did in "Hey Jude", or is it Paul still going solo on overdubs?
I agree - this song is far superior to "Yesterday" (which, IMO, is vastly overrated). Beautiful.
Disagree. It's beautiful, but nowhere near as intimate and intensive as "Yesterday", along with Hey Jude Paul's best vocal recording ever.
I love the backing vocals on this one and the chord progression is pure genius! Surprising, still sounding totally easy and obvious.
Good question on George's 12-string. I don't know for sure, but I think he played it on "Here comes the Sun" (sparingly, for effect) and on "You Never Give me Your Money". Would welcome further comment.
Terrific song by the way--one of Paul's very best. I happen to prefer "And I Love Her"--though I realze that is a minority opinion.
I dunno.. this song is as intimate as they come, in my book ("running my hands through her hair..." oooh yeah). "Yesterday" actually lacks intimacy, imo, wherein the narrator is simply complaining that his lover dumped him.