Please consider registering
Guest
sp_LogInOut Log Insp_Registration Register
Register | Lost password?
Advanced Search
Forum Scope


Match



Forum Options



Minimum search word length is 3 characters - maximum search word length is 84 characters
sp_Feed sp_TopicIcon
Some Love for It's Only Love
15 April 2017
2.47am
Sheepdog
The Top Ten Club
Members
Forum Posts: 62
Member Since:
29 April 2015
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

I will never understand how Lennon and McCartney rated this song so poorly. The verses are catchy and the chorus is meaningful. The lyrics capture adolescent feelings and mature romance. The melody is wonderful and the chord changes are interesting. The guitar work is merely icing on the cake. I’ve never even heard the song until yesterday and now I wonder what I’ve been doing with myself for all these years of listening to the Beatles and somehow missing this gem. My only gripe is that it’s so short. What do you guys think?

The following people thank Sheepdog for this post:

William Shears Campbell, William Shears Campbell, SgtPeppersBulldog, Beatlebug, sigh butterfly

All I was looking for was somebody who looked like you... with money!

15 April 2017
12.27pm
Avatar
Von Bontee
496 km NW of the '69 Toronto Rock n Roll Revival
Apple rooftop
Members
Forum Posts: 5447
Member Since:
14 December 2009
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

I don’t think it’s a bad song, altho it feels more like a 1964 or 63 Lennon composition. Lyrics are kinda banal  but the compulsive clumping together of rhymes is formally somewhat  notable. Most interesting thing about the song imo is the tremeloed guitar – the Beatles were really expanding their palette of guitar textures in those days obviously!

Paul: Yeah well… first of all, we’re bringing out a ‘Stamp Out Detroit’ campaign.

         

15 April 2017
1.09pm
Avatar
Bongo
Somewhere In Time
Candlestick Park
Members
Forum Posts: 1916
Member Since:
28 March 2014
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

I like it! 

The following people thank Bongo for this post:

WeepingAtlasCedars

  Screen-Shot-2022-10-04-at-7.52.07-PM.png   BEATLES Music gives me Eargasms!  apple01

16 April 2017
7.53pm
Avatar
Beatlebug
Find me where ye echo lays
Moderator

Moderators
Forum Posts: 18181
Member Since:
15 February 2015
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

I love It’s Only Love ! heart The melody, chords, all that sublime guitar work (there are, like, six guitar tracks ahdn_george_08), John’s lovely vocal — but my favourite part is the kinky coolness of the intersecting rhythms. The rhythm guitar, melody, and riff are all going in three different directions and it is fabulous, so ’tis! paul-mccartney-thumb_gif

Eh @sigh butterfly? john-lennon-salute_gif

The following people thank Beatlebug for this post:

sigh butterfly

([{BRACKETS!}])
New to Forumpool? You can introduce yourself here.
If you love The Beatles Bible, and you have adblock, don't forget to white-list this site!
whiteheart.png
avatar_creative_signature_Hmm.pngStarSpangledBanner.png

17 April 2017
2.06pm
Avatar
sir walter raleigh
In our yellow (IN OUR YELLOW) submarine (SUBMARINE AHA!)
Apple rooftop
Members
Forum Posts: 5777
Member Since:
26 January 2017
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

There are a ton of Beatles songs that Paul  or John dismiss as “junk” or “throwaways.” Typically its with a song that I love, like Its Only Love. 

The following people thank sir walter raleigh for this post:

Beatlebug

"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

17 April 2017
2.20pm
Avatar
The Hippie Chick
Counting the holes in Blackburn, Lancashire
Candlestick Park
Members
Forum Posts: 1387
Member Since:
17 January 2016
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

This thread made me revisit this song, hadn’t listened to it in a bit. It’s lovely. I’ll concur with SG about the guitar work and melody. Also John’s vocal. Thanks for reminding me about this one!

The following people thank The Hippie Chick for this post:

Beatlebug

“She wasn't doing a thing that I could see, except standing there leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together.”  - J.D. Salinger

17 April 2017
2.24pm
Avatar
Ron Nasty
Apple rooftop
Members

Reviewers
Forum Posts: 12534
Member Since:
17 December 2012
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

Always loved this. Is one of those few Beatles’ songs that I found through a cover version. Gary US Bonds released a cover in 1981, and it got a lot of radio play and did pretty well with the shadow of John’s loss still hanging heavy.

The following people thank Ron Nasty for this post:

Beatlebug, SaxonMothersSon, SgtPeppersBulldog

"I only said we were bigger than Rod... and now there's all this!" Ron Nasty

To @ Ron Nasty it's @ mja6758
The Beatles Bible 2020 non-Canon Poll Part One: 1958-1963 and Part Two: 1964-August 1966

17 April 2017
8.48pm
Avatar
Elementary Penguin
Candlestick Park
Members
Forum Posts: 1008
Member Since:
15 March 2017
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

I like It’s Only Love even though it does have some throwaway lines in the verses but the chorus is wonderful.

It does seem like a bit of a rushed song though so I would say that that might have something to do with John not thinking much of the song years later.

The following people thank Elementary Penguin for this post:

SgtPeppersBulldog

And in the end the lunch you take is equal to the lunch you bake.

18 April 2017
9.41am
Avatar
Flyingbrians
Robin Hood Country
Paris Olympia
Members
Forum Posts: 363
Member Since:
19 January 2017
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

It’s Only Love is a funny song for me. I really like the chorus and I think the guitars sound great throughout. I don’t think its verses are particularly great though.

The vocal melody is pretty simplistic, as are the lyrics….(my oh my)a-hard-days-night-john-7

They’re just nothing special when you compare them to the likes of You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away .

It’s definetely not the worst song on Help , nor is it up there with the best in my opinion. Therefore I can relate to John describing it as a bit of a throwaway.

The following people thank Flyingbrians for this post:

SgtPeppersBulldog

"And life flows on within you and without you" - George Harrison

18 April 2017
10.05am
Avatar
Starr Shine?
Waiting in the sky
Apple rooftop
Members
Forum Posts: 16105
Member Since:
1 November 2013
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

This song invented hashtag rap.

https://youtu.be/52nwiTs7bk8

Brainwashed by RadiantCowbells.

If you can't log in and can't use the forum go here and someone will help you out.

18 April 2017
5.28pm
Avatar
Shamrock Womlbs
Waiting for the van to come
Rishikesh
Members
Forum Posts: 3968
Member Since:
24 March 2014
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

I prefer this song to “Yesterday

The following people thank Shamrock Womlbs for this post:

SgtPeppersBulldog, Beatlebug

"I Need You by George Harrison"

19 April 2017
8.14pm
Avatar
sigh butterfly
Sea of Green (near the Golden Gate)
Rishikesh
Members
Forum Posts: 4798
Member Since:
11 June 2015
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

Silly Girl said
I love It’s Only Love ! heart The melody, chords, all that sublime guitar work (there are, like, six guitar tracks ahdn_george_08), John’s lovely vocal — but my favourite part is the kinky coolness of the intersecting rhythms. The rhythm guitar, melody, and riff are all going in three different directions and it is fabulous, so ’tis! paul-mccartney-thumb_gif

Eh @sigh butterfly? john-lennon-salute_gif  

Absowuttlie @Beatlebug john-lennon-salute_gif. Here’s the thing about It’s Only Love (and I’m sorry to bring this subject up again but it can’t be helped a-hard-days-night-ringo-7). On the American album this is the first song on side 2. So picture this…Michelle has just ended and “And I will say the only words I know that you’ll understand –  My Michelle ” is still echoing around your mind though the room is quiet. You turn the album over, drop the needle and the silence is broken with the sound of musical instruments you can’t quite identify until John sings “I get high…”. I never here those first few notes without thinking of what it felt like turning the record over like I did hundreds of times! But really in my mind the first 4 songs on the second side were kind of a suite and I always think of them together. The first 3 songs describe unsettled relationships with lines like “It’s So Hard loving you”, “She puts you down when friends are there”, & “Your voice is soothing but the words aren’t clear“. Then In My Life comes on and redeems and resolves all of the past relationships leading up to the one yoko-ono_01(I love you more) . It was and is just phenomenal that through song a 13 year old could gain an understanding of love before he’d actually fallen into it heart

The following people thank sigh butterfly for this post:

WeepingAtlasCedars, Ahhh Girl, Beatlebug

You and I have memories
Longer than the road that stretches out ahead

20 April 2017
12.18am
Avatar
William Shears Campbell
Somewhere In The Black Mountain Hills Of Utah
Rishikesh
Members
Forum Posts: 3629
Member Since:
14 June 2016
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

I used to really love this song, and now that I’m rediscovered it, I’ve fallen back in love with it.

The following people thank William Shears Campbell for this post:

SgtPeppersBulldog, WeepingAtlasCedars, Beatlebug

Here | There | Everywhere

It's ya boi!  The one and only Billy Shears (AKA Paul's Replacement)

"Sometimes I wish I was just George Harrison" - John Lennon

 

25 April 2017
5.22am
Avatar
meanmistermustard
Thankfully not where I am.
Moderator
Members

Reviewers


Moderators
Forum Posts: 24944
Member Since:
1 May 2011
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

Ever since I heard it on ‘Love Songs’ I’ve adored the song (due to ‘Love Songs’ I heavily associate it to ‘Every Little Thing ‘ and think of them as cousins despite ‘You’re Going To Lose That Girl ‘ splitting the two).

I get why John hated the song; it’s very much rhyming dictionary time (high, by, my, sigh, fly, butterfly-ies; right, fight, night, sight, bright, right) and there is vulnerability in the lyrics which is not a side of John he liked to present very much. You can hear how much he hated the lyrics by the way he sings “bright” before laughing whilst singing “very bright”, a true little nugget of delight hidden deep in the Beatles depths.

However, despite the title it’s not an out-and-out love song as the relationship is very fraught, fighting every night is not good for a couple. It reminds me of ‘You Really Got A Hold On Me ‘. And then I got to realise that on ‘Help !’ the only true happy love song is ‘I’ve Just Seen A Face ‘. It sounds so damn happy an album yet few of the songs are when you start looking at them. And then you get to thinking where are all the happy love songs from ‘Beatles For Sale ‘ thru to ‘Rubber Soul ‘. But we are going off topic.

To get back, the outtakes on ‘Anthology 2 ‘ are so enjoyable. 

The following people thank meanmistermustard for this post:

sir walter raleigh, Beatlebug, sigh butterfly

"I told you everything I could about me, Told you everything I could" ('Before Believing' - Emmylou Harris)

25 April 2017
9.13am
Avatar
sir walter raleigh
In our yellow (IN OUR YELLOW) submarine (SUBMARINE AHA!)
Apple rooftop
Members
Forum Posts: 5777
Member Since:
26 January 2017
sp_UserOfflineSmall Offline

meanmistermustard said
However, despite the title it’s not an out-and-out love song as the relationship is very fraught, fighting every night is not good for a couple. It reminds me of ‘You Really Got A Hold On Me ‘. And then I got to realise that on ‘Help !’ the only true happy love song is ‘I’ve Just Seen A Face ‘. It sounds so damn happy an album yet few of the songs are when you start looking at them. And then you get to thinking where are all the happy love songs from ‘Beatles For Sale ‘ thru to ‘Rubber Soul ‘. But we are going off topic.

To get back, the outtakes on ‘Anthology 2 ‘ are so enjoyable.   

a-hard-days-night-ringo-8 I was talking about this earlier with I Feel Fine . Even love songs with apparently upbeat titles are ingrained with John’s sense of paranoia, pessimism, and self-depreciation. It’s Only Love is another example. Even when he found Yoko, his deepest and most vulnerable songs of love were really intense, i.e I Want You, Don’t Let Me Down . Something inside of John couldn’t seem to get comfortable. two-virgins

The following people thank sir walter raleigh for this post:

Ahhh Girl, Beatlebug

"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

Forum Timezone: Europe/London
Most Users Ever Online: 700
Currently Online:
Guest(s) 1
Currently Browsing this Page:
1 Guest(s)
Top Posters:
Starr Shine?: 16105
Ron Nasty: 12534
Zig: 9832
50yearslate: 8759
Necko: 8043
AppleScruffJunior: 7583
parlance: 7111
mr. Sun king coming together: 6402
Mr. Kite: 6147
trcanberra: 6064
Member Stats:
Guest Posters: 88
Members: 2858
Moderators: 5
Admins: 1
Forum Stats:
Groups: 3
Forums: 44
Topics: 5508
Posts: 380272
Newest Members:
jsullivan2112_1, catadorademusica, Slowhand, mirrortime, Julie
Moderators: Joe: 5690, meanmistermustard: 24944, Ahhh Girl: 22198, Beatlebug: 18181, The Hole Got Fixed: 8410
Administrators: Joe: 5690