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3.36pm
31 March 2008
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Written by: Lennon-McCartney
Recorded: 13 April 1965
Producer: George Martin
Engineer: Norman Smith
Released: 23 July 1965 (UK), 19 July 1965 (US)
John Lennon: vocals, rhythm guitar
Paul McCartney: backing vocals, bass
George Harrison: backing vocals, lead guitar
Ringo Starr: drums, tambourine
Available on:
Help!
1
Anthology 2
Love
The title track to The Beatles’ fifth album and second film,…
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8.13am
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20 August 2013
Offline I have been pondering this question about the oooo that ends the song (starts at 2:16 in the video) for some time now.
Have you ever contemplated what the meaning behind it sounds like? I’ll put my take on it in a spoiler in case you want to answer before seeing my thoughts on it.
It seems to me like John has been singing that song to himself, but then realizes other people have heard what he is saying. It is like he wants other people to know the thoughts in his head, but he isn’t supposed to let people know. It is like he did something naughty. People shouldn’t know he needs help, but he he doesn’t care that he let them know. It fits the song so perfectly.
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7.41pm
21 January 2016
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Lennon said this was one of his most authentic and favorite songs he wrote in his career. He regret its fast tempo, but to me, I think the unusually frantic pace illustrates what the song was trying to say even more. Behind the screaming fans dancing to it, it was a frank plea for help hidden in plain sight.
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lennonflower5.33am
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1 May 2011
Offline Has the recording of the vocal for the mono mix ever been sourced? I know John C. Winn has an entry for it in ‘Way Beyond Compare’ but he dismissed that himself in ‘Lifting Latches’. The mono is such a different vocal, with subtle changes, and the mix too with the tambourine missing and other bits.
"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)
1.40pm
26 January 2017
Offline I never noticed that the vocal is different. Now I hear it. Paul’s backup vocal changes slightly too. On “my indepen..” he adds a little gravel to his voice.
"The pump don't work cause the vandals took the handles!"
-Bob Dylan, Subterranean Homesick Blues
"We could ride and surf together while our love would grow"
-Brian Wilson, Surfer Girl
10.18am
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20 August 2013
Offline A clip of John singing the song slower with just a piano.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?…..M0mIDpkSFk
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1 May 2011
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It’s from the early 70’s (if I remember correctly).
Someone posted it on here before thinking it was a rare demo before it was recorded by The Beatles in 1965, it’s not.
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7.41pm
26 January 2017
Offline Its from a collection of demos from Tittenhurst Park.
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Ahhh Girl"The pump don't work cause the vandals took the handles!"
-Bob Dylan, Subterranean Homesick Blues
"We could ride and surf together while our love would grow"
-Brian Wilson, Surfer Girl
3.34pm
27 February 2017
Offline Ahhh Girl said on 20.9.2015 about the oooohh at the end of Help !:
It seems to me like John has been singing that song to himself, but then realizes other people have heard what he is saying. It is like he wants other people to know the thoughts in his head, but he isn’t supposed to let people know. It is like he did something naughty. People shouldn’t know he needs help, but he he doesn’t care that he let them know. It fits the song so perfectly.
That’s a really interesting interpretation, I really like it! I think it fits the song 100%! For me, John sounds like someone who had kept internal struggles inside himself for a very long time in this song and suddenly all the negative emotions, insecurity, and resentment towards himself burst out of him like a firework and he has no control over it. Then, when the ‘oooo’ comes at the end of the song, he realises that he has dropped his mask and finally has shown his real emotions which he hadn’t dared to do all the time before. But instead of being embarrassed or shy or mad at himself for this meltdown, he simply reacts resigned, as if he wanted to say ‘oh well, it doesn’t matter, I don’t care about it anymore, I’m just too tired to do so’.
Not once does the diversity seem forced -- the genius of the record is how the vaudevillian "When I'm 64" seems like a logical extension of "Within You Without You" and how it provides a gateway to the chiming guitars of "Lovely Rita. - Stephen T. Erlewine on Sgt Pepper's
7.25pm
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20 August 2013
Offline If John doesn’t need *just anybody*, who specifically is he needing? Is it a specific person or a specific category of person (mother figure, father figure, psychiatrist)?
(Help !) *You* know I need someone
Help me if *you* can, I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate *you* being ’round
Help me get my feet back on the ground
Won’t *you* please, please help me?
Who is *you*?
I’ve been pondering these questions for a few days now.
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8.17am
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14 April 2010
Offline John’s friend since childhood Pete Shotton says he is *you* – particularly in the line “And I do appreciate you being ’round”. He says that line was written by John as a “thank you”.
Source = The Beatles Book (2016, Hunter Davies, et al) – Section One, ‘Beatles People’, page 132.
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10.38am
26 January 2017
Offline I personally don’t think there is a ‘you’. John said the song was a genuine cry for help that they turned commercial by speeding it up. What if the inclusion of a ‘you’ was to make it more commercial too? I think in reality John was crying out for help to no one in particular within his immediate circles, but included a ‘you’ in order to turn the song into a love song, or at least make it appear that way.
The point I’m trying to make is that although this song could technically be considered a love song, once you know the context, it’s hard to hear it as such. Add the fact that John admitted to making it more commercially viable and it seems even less likely that it was genuinely written with a specific person in mind.
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Ahhh Girl, SpecialCupI've been up on the mountain, and I've seen his wondrous grace,
I've sat there on the barstool and I've looked him in the face.
He seemed a little haggard, but it did not slow him down,
he was humming to the neon of the universal sound.
10.56am
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20 August 2013
Offline I never thought of it as a love song. Not by a country mile. Perhaps because of the looking-at-it-in-retrospect phenomenon. Yeah, probably.
Interesting way to think of the song.
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2.08pm
14 February 2016
Offline I’ve always assumed the song is about Julia .
I am you as you are you as you are you and you are all together.
2.41pm
26 January 2017
Offline Evangeline said
I’ve always assumed the song is about Julia .
But then, it could also be about Cyn, Paul or pretty much anyone. I think it makes more sense as John just crying out to nobody in particular.
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SpecialCup, JW OBoogieI've been up on the mountain, and I've seen his wondrous grace,
I've sat there on the barstool and I've looked him in the face.
He seemed a little haggard, but it did not slow him down,
he was humming to the neon of the universal sound.
3.55pm
22 December 2013
Offline Ahhh Girl said
If John doesn’t need *just anybody*, who specifically is he needing? Is it a specific person or a specific category of person (mother figure, father figure, psychiatrist)?
(Help !) *You* know I need someone
Help me if *you* can, I’m feeling down
And I do appreciate *you* being ’round
Help me get my feet back on the ground
Won’t *you* please, please help me?Who is *you*?
I’ve been pondering these questions for a few days now.
It’s obvious to me that the “*you*” referenced throughout the song is Yoko… before she came into John’s life… this was the early rumblings of the “love is all you need” and “love is the answer” refrains… John is looking for a way out of what he’s gotten himself into here and, I’m sure that we all can relate to them days where we were eternally searching for our “other half” but hadn’t found her/him yet… It’s a primal instinct, very much like procreation, which takes over your thoughts no matter what life has thrown your way… Although he was literally “joined at the hip” with three other remarkable human beings at the time, John was alone and it bothered him deeply… Thankfully, Yoko Ono was all ready en route to the head on collision that was about to ensue… She really DID help him to get his feet back on the ground…:-)
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Ahhh Girl2.12pm
14 March 2016
Offline I always thought the *you* was someone that could help him out. He didn’t need a crowd of people or everyone helping him, just the one that would really, truly help him.
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20 August 2013
Offline The following people thank Ahhh Girl for this post:
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6.27am
14 November 2017
Offline Hahaha,that video is brilliant. Just wish it was longer @Ahhh Girl! 
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2.22pm
22 July 2019
Offline This song has resonated with me for years and I do believe that has to do with George Harrison ‘s background vocals. Fascinating how the boys would through curve balls and change things up. You know it would be Paul 9 out of 10 times. But the perfect mixture of spoken/sung backround is perfect for this. Paul would not have been able to help but make the backing VOCALS too “beautiful/pretty”. a song with this much bounce needs something to calm it down and Georges voice does this perfectly. The Stereo mix is Essential. tHE ORIGINAL mono MIX DOES NOT do this song justice. Beautiful song. Amazing arrangement. 10/10
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