Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 10 November 1965
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Norman Smith
Released: 3 December 1965 (UK), 6 December 1965 (US)
John Lennon: vocals, rhythm guitar
Paul McCartney: vocals, bass, piano
George Harrison: vocals, lead guitar
Ringo Starr: drums, maracas
George Martin: harmonium
Available on:
Rubber Soul
Love
Released in 1965 on Rubber Soul, The Word found The Beatles singing for the first time about love as a notional concept. It was a turning point in their writing, marking a transition between early songs such as She Loves You, and the psychedelic era's belief that 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.
Anthology
The lyrics displayed an almost religious fervour, with Lennon and McCartney acting as evangelists for their new revelation about love.
In the beginning I misunderstood
But now I've got it, the word is good...Now that I know what I feel must be right
I'm here to show everybody the light
The Word demonstrated The Beatles' increasing awareness of their power as spokesmen and figureheads. This was developed especially by Lennon, in 1966's Rain ('Can you hear me?'; 'I can show you') and his later political songs.
The song was a collaboration between Lennon and McCartney, and began as an attempt to write a song based around a single note.
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 multicoloured thing.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
Lennon later allowed Yoko Ono to give the lyric sheet to John Cage as a birthday present. It was later reproduced in Cage's book Notations, a collection of scores from modern music.
Elements from The Word were combined with Drive My Car and What You're Doing, for a sequence on the 2006 album Love.
In the studio
The Word was recorded in a session beginning at 9pm on 10 November 1965, finishing at 4am the following morning.
It took just three takes to perfect the rhythm track. Onto this were overdubbed harmony vocals, piano by McCartney, a harmonium part performed by George Martin, and maracas played by Starr.
Related articles:
- Recording, mixing: The Word, You Won't See Me, Girl, Wait, I'm Looking Through You
- Wait
- US LP release: Rubber Soul
- Mixing: I'm Looking Through You, You Won't See Me, Girl, Wait, The Word, Michelle
- Think For Yourself
I remember the first time I heard that song. The announcer had prefixed it with a (not altogether verbatim) reading of the Vision of Lehi from the BOOK OF MORMON. Does anybody else remember a similar event?
Haha, Not sure if you're a mormon or not. I am, and let me tell you when you try to cross The Beatles and religion of any kind it just gets awkward.
You would be mistaken. John was certainly a cosmic fellow, and the fact that he presented this work to a woman with whom he later conceived and raised a child is no accident. This song is appropriately played in church services.
what planet are you from?
A complex recording with a total of seven vocals. We hear the following four tracks, 1 and 2 on the left, 3 and 4 on the right:
1) Paul's piano, Ringo's drums, John's "chick" rhythm on Strat
2) John's lead vocal and backing vocals from Paul and George
3) John's double-tracked lead vocal (muted for the British stereo mix) and doubled backing vocals from Paul and George, maracas (Ringo) plus Martin's harmonium
4) Paul's bass, high falsetto vocal in the last chorus and coda by John and George's overdubbed lead guitar (doubling Lennon's mantra-like repeated line, first time appearing 0:28-0:36) plus more maracas by Ringo
That reminds me. John's double-tracked lead vocal can only be heard on the USA stereo version of Rubber Soul.
Given that John Cage turned 50 in September 1962, the chart couldn't have been presented to him then, as the song wasn't written until late 1965.
When interviewed by Howard Stern in 2001, Paul claimed Yoko came around to his flat to ask for some manuscripts to give away for 'John Cage's 60TH birthday or something...'
Being rather unwilling to give away any of his own memorabilia, Paul suggested she'd go and see John instead, and HE then ended up giving away the lyric sheet/chart they made for 'The Word'.
54th birthday is probably correct.
Thanks Albert. I've taken out the 50th reference - should have checked that myself, really.
Paul's bass at it's absolute best!
As a bassplayer of 4 decades, I concur. It isn't perfect, or consistent, but it drives and rides the song exquisitely!
Does anyone see the connection between this song and "All You Need Is Love"? Its like the Beatles did the psychedelic hippie thing first on this song. I also loved how the merged funk elements in this song.
Yes. If you read the first sentence of this article, I made the connection there.
I agree with the "funk elements" - you could almost imagine Jimmy "Scratch" Nolen playing those clipped chords.
"The Word" may be the first in what would be a long line of songs that reflected John's affinity for the song as T.V. commercial. "All You Need Is Love," "Give Peace A Chance," "Come Together," "Happy Xmas(War is Over)," "Mind Games" (especially the fadout), and even stuff like "Imagine" were songs that instantly grabbed you and then kept you with a simple compelling message.
every time this song comes on my ipod- I have to play it twice - the vocal harmonies are just so tight.
The bass and piano is lesson perfect.
When I played this to my little brother (about 14 at the time) he reacted just like I hoped:
After 5 seconds of this incredibly tight and funky beat he just said: "Who will ever be better than the Beatles?"
There are so many things to love about this song:
1) The lyrics/message. John at his best.
2) The groove. Paul and Ringo at their best. I mentioned the excessive and very effective use of the tambourine on this album somewhere else before (also check Paperback writer), it's very important for the groove.
3) The vocal harmonies. Love it how they put more and more on top of it in the last verse.
4) Nobody mentioned the organ solo yet, which is about the best part! Put on your headphones and check out how the notes are swinging more and more the more dissonant they get - and the release in the last last notes. Genius!! Sounds best on Vinyl and mono, of course.
One of my top ten Beatles songs, easily.
A funky song indeed, just like "Taxman" with the 7th chords on guitar leaving Paul free to jump around and provide most of the motion. And dig that wonderful little bass fill at 1:15!