‘I’m Looking Through You’ was inspired by a disagreement between Paul McCartney and Jane Asher, and was written at her family home in Wimpole Street, London, where McCartney had his own room in which to compose and sleep.
I wrote quite a lot of stuff up in that room actually. ‘I’m Looking Through You’ I seem to remember after an argument with Jane. There were a few of those moments.
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
A number of McCartney’s songs of this time, including ‘We Can Work It Out’ and ‘You Won’t See Me’, were based upon his relationship with Asher.
As is one’s wont in relationships, you will from time to time argue or not see eye to eye on things, and a couple of the songs around this period were that kind of thing. This one I remember particularly as me being disillusioned over her commitment. She went down to the Bristol Old Vic quite a lot around this time. Suffice to say that this one was probably related to that romantic episode and I was seeing through her façade. And realising that it wasn’t quite all that it seemed. I would write it out in a song and then I’ve got rid of the emotion. I don’t hold grudges so that gets rid of that little bit of emotional baggage. I remember specifically this one being about that, getting rid of some emotional baggage. ‘I’m looking through you, and you’re not there!’
Many Years From Now, Barry Miles
In his 1968 authorised biography of The Beatles, Hunter Davies recorded McCartney’s thoughts while he and Asher were still together. McCartney alluded to the fact that he found it hard to commit to one person, though acknowledged that his harsh words in song were inspired by hurt.
My whole existence for so long centred around a bachelor life. I didn’t treat women as most people do. I’ve always had a lot around, even when I’ve had a steady girl. My life generally has always been very lax, and not normal.I knew it was selfish. It caused a few rows. Jane left me once and went off to Bristol to act. I said OK then, leave, I’ll find someone else. It was shattering to be without her.
The Beatles, Hunter Davies
In the studio
The Beatles first attempted to record ‘I’m Looking Through You’ on 24 October 1965. They spent nine hours perfecting the song; onto the rhythm track, recorded in a single take, they overdubbed lead and backing vocals, handclaps, maracas, organ and electric guitar.
This first version was released in 1996 on Anthology 2. Aside from different instrumentation, it lacked the ‘Why, tell me why’ section, was slower than the final version, and contained two bluesy instrumental passages.
The group remade the song on 6 November, recording a faster version in two takes. However, it wasn’t until 10 November that they hit upon the final arrangement used on Rubber Soul.
The Beatles recorded the rhythm track in one take, and later overdubbed vocals and an organ. The latter was played by Ringo Starr, who also created a percussive sound by tapping a box of matches with his fingers.
The song was completed the following day with the addition of vocals and handclaps.
Backing track:
1) drums (Ringo), bass (Paul), acoustic guitar (John), tambourine (George)
Overdubs:
2) McCartney’s lead vocal
3) McCartney’s double-tracked vocal with Lennon singing harmony plus handclaps (on laps?)
4) Hammond organ (Ringo) plus Harrison’s “dirty” Casino guitar
The ‘handclaps’ were actually the sound of Ringo tapping on a box of matches, according to Barry Tashian of The Remains.
The Remains were one of the support acts on The Beatles’ last tour, and Tashian wrote a book, Ticket To Ride, about it. In the book he recounts how Ringo explained to him what the sound was.
Warning: This text may seem that Paul wasnt taking serously the relationship, but it isn´t true. He was really in love in Jane, and she was each day more away from him. He suffered for her.
And Paul plays the lead guitar in this song.
You were there?
Hello.
I’m looking for informations: who played lead guitar in this song? Who played the guitar riff first heard at O:29, is he George or Paul?
I have always loved that little lick and it sounds very much like what George would have contributed
I think it’s George.
Why Ringo’s playing organs? It’s quite unusual.
I guess he got bored with the drums! 🙂 No really….I think this is one of those Paul “One-man band” songs in which Macca played all of the instruments. I think Ringo playing the organ was something Paul did to keep Ringo from pouting! 🙂
Thats not very nice, but it is funny.
Agree that it sounds like a Paul solo track. It is by some distance the most poorly recorded track on the album (it’s even out of tune IMO).
Anybody spot the missed rim shot (he hits the hi-hats instead?). The guitar tone and style are Paul’s and the lack of Beatle harmonies is conspicuous.
A rush job, Paul eager to commit his song to tape when the other Beatles were not available.
Wrong. “I’m Looking Through You” is clearly not recorded by Paul alone, and he is not playing any guitar on this – John and George are. It’s not likely that he would’ve been recording songs all by himself at this point in time with the exception of “Yesterday”, as it obviously did not need the full band.
Anyone ever hear Ringo’s organ part on this song? I’ve never heard an organ in the song.
It starts as soon as Paul starts singing “not the same” and continues into the return to the next verse. It’s only about 5 notes he plays.
That’s always mystified me, too (the decision to employ Ringo on organ). Even if John or Paul were unavailable (for whatever reason), surely George Martin would’ve been the most likely candidate? Weird. Maybe none of them could master that (l)one chord that Ringo plays throughout!
Another thing: Both the organ and the lead guitar have a pretty distorted tone. I wonder if they used the same fuzzbox that Paul used for “Think For Yourself”?
Its a very percussive, very simple organización part.
Why WOULDN’T it be Ringo? It’s one chord that is played in sync with the lead guitar. Right up Ringo’s alley.
The song sounds like it is in the key of G#.
The acoustic guitar has a sound associated with open chords. It sounds like the acoustic guitar chords were played using the standard open G, C and Em ones, but 1/2 step up.
Can someone confirm whether the track was sped up after recording, or if a capo behind the first fret was used?
I don’t know about actual recording, but when I play it I use a capo on the first fret.
The song is capoed on the first fret, and it’s in the key of G, so you are correct when you say it is in the key of G#.
Actually, it’s in the key of Ab as the key of G# doesn’t exist/
Actually, it is a key. Just like any group of notes as a chord even if they don’t make any sense musically. It is enharmonic to a flat which has four flats and G# has 6 sharps and a double # on the 7th degree. So while no one would actually use it, it does still exist theoretically. And it has been used so I shouldn’t say no when we use it. I take that back. I’ll tell you something funny about the sharps and flats. As guitar players or piano players, we believe for instance, A# to be enharmonic to Bb. But don’t tell that to a violin player! And there is a few cents difference.
Capo on first fret, definitely.
I must say that I doubt that Ringo plays the organ on this song. I cannot hear any trace of an organ sound on the song. It is supposed to be played on the same channel as the lead guitar.
I think that this is an internal Beatles hoax. They did some things like this because they thought that people were taking things to seriously. So I think that they just added that line saying Ringo plays the organ, and then they had a laugh.
Maybe Ringo sat at the organ or even played something on it. But i don’t think is was ever recorded, I think it is very inaudible on the record. On the CD you hear even better.
Hm, I’m pretty sure that is an organ (Lowrey?) in there accompanying the guitar. It sounds just like a single two-or-three finger chord, really screechy and distorted – possibly played through a fuzzbox? Very close to John Cale’s “Sister Ray” tone, 2 years ahead of time.
Okay, I’ve listened again and that’s definitely an organ in there, far right channel, same as the electric guitar. Just two quick staccato stabs doubling the guitar lick that recurs throughout the song. Listen to the earlier “Anthology 2” version to better hear the organ part: It’s the same, yet with a totally dissimilar, clean tone, and the guitar part is completely different. (Also, I think the organ (or organs?) may be something other than a Hammond, but I’m far from certain.)
I agree with you. I’ve listened carefully to the Rock Band multitracks, and there’s definitely an organ in there. I’m not sure it’s a Hammond, though, so I’ve amended the article.
People were not taking the Beatles seriously at this time.
At least as far as the adults were concerned.
There was only occasional reading into Beatles lyrics such as Norweigan Wood.
After Revolver it was open season.
The organ is very clearly there, and easy to pick out. It’s at the end of the verses, along with the lead guitar. You can clearly hear the organ after ” I’m looking through you . you’r not the same ” THe organ is ONE chord, and its played twice in a row three times, the first strike of the organ is played on the word SAME..
Hey Urban (Spaceman)… first you say you cannot hear any trace of organ sound, then you say you can hear it better on the CD. Which is it?
He could be playing a single percussive note at each cord changer only at certain points of the song, for instance, that really dissonant part just before the chorus. The Beatles have been known to toss in organ or piano notes mixed with guitar to really create very full color chords. The most famous, the opening chord to A Hard Days Night
Makes sense to have Ringo play the organ part since it’s function is purely percussive, not melodic.
I often wonder whether this song sowed one more of the seeds of the break up.
Norman Smith’s comments about how he sensed a dramatic shift apart in The Beatles between Help and Rubber Soul got me thinking this.
The others hated the multiple takes on Obladi Oblada and I suspect that didn’t come out of nowhere.
Despite the huge volume of books about the breakup of The Beatles, I don’t think there’s yet been one that really does a good job. All seem to basically start with The White Album & Yoko but I think 1965 is a far better place to start (if not earlier) – LSD, Yesterday, and comments like Norman Smith’s.
This is an interesting observation. John once said The Beatles broke up because of boredom, and when one examines their “studio years”, it’s easy to see how this could happen, and over time how these situations magnified.
Writing and rehearsing in the studio leads to a lot of downtime for the non-participants while the principals decide what it is they ultimately want. The Hunter Davies biography mentions the time when the other three thought they needed Ringo for some work, only to call him a little later to tell him not to come in, after he had prepared to do so.
Ringo also said he learned to play chess during the Sgt. Pepper sessions because of the amount of overdubs that were done that didn’t require his services. Add in Paul’s increasing penchant for doing dozens of takes while George was getting almost no time to do his songs, and John’s growing disinterest for being a Beatle, it’s a wonder the group lasted until 1970.
Ringo taps on a box of matches in this song. A year and one-half earlier, he sings lead on the song “Matchbox”. An amusing coincidence!
Ringo’s tapping percussion is a bit of a mystery. It doesn’t sound like someone tapping a small cardboard box. It’s a flat, smacking sound. One source (Babiuk referenced in “All The Songs”) says Ringo is tapping a matchbook with his finger, which is probably more accurate, though I can’t imagine how anyone can get that sound with one finger. It sounds to me like he’s using both index fingers, like drumsticks. Kind of hard to picture.
If you look at the original LP, you’ll see all the Beatles mentioned by name as songwriters. I think they put Ringo’s name on there, just to have his name on the album cover in some way.
Was it really John playing the acoustic guitar part in the recording?
Watching Paul live he plays the acoustic guitar, which leads me to wonder whether it was him who recorded the part in the studio instead.
Paul and John played acoustic guitars on the basic track. Paul overdubed the bass while George overdubed lead guitar on his Fender Stratocaster (not his Epiphone).
wow u guys just don’t like Ringo. he plays piano. so why not use him to overdub ONE chord on an organ. George is playin a Burns bass and Paul is playin acoustic and probably the overdubbed lead. John’s most likely on the tambourine. these were talented guys. why couldn’t they play other instruments other than what they were known for. George admitted to playin on a lot of songs. He had a Burns bass like I said. There’s a pic of him playin in durin the Paperback Writer sessions.
I think I´ve heard somewhere that “End of the line” by the Travelling Wilburys starts with the same acoustic guitar chords as here, so it might be George who plays it, while Paul plays bass and lead guitars, Ringo plays drums and organ (which it means that only the two of them were recording overdubs) and John plays tambourine (I´m not sure). Is John singing low harmonies or is Paul overdubbing vocals?
Mark Lewisohn has said there is no Hammond organ in the song. It is also not mentioned on the session tape notes. Why that credit got on the notes on the back of the jacket is a mystery.
Just a nice song. Very Paul. Simple lyrics but with a direct message to Jane- “You were above me, but not today…”
Such a shame once the bridge was composed, they didn’t re-record the song like on Anthology 2. One of the very few instances in which an unreleased version sounds better than the final product.
This comment brought to my attention the anthology 2 version. And wow, it’s great. I think I agree that it is better than the released version.
I had a Capitol Records cassette of Rubber Soul which had 2 false acoustic guitar starts before the song starts proper.
Anyone else ever heard this version?
The original Capitol LP has the same 2 false starts – to this day when my friends and I play this song on our acoustics – we play the 2 false starts.
I still include them as well. LOL!
The false starts were what I grew up on, listening to the Capitol version of Rubber Soul. When I heard it on the remastered UK CD’s I didn’t catch on right away. “Something’s missing!”
I thought I was dreaming this up, my musician friends looked at me like I was crazy but I had the same LP with the false starts! I might still be dreaming but this one is now reality, thank you all:)
Yes I collect the vinyl for the UK and US LPs and the US one has the false starts. It also does this on the reel to reel releases.
No false start on the mono US Capitol original album release
All I knew were the “false starts” on the American album. Thought it was clever. I read somewhere that Capitol had EMI rush the masters and they sent that in error.
Lewisohn’s inability to hear Ringo’s loud organ stabs in the right channel was the most baffling thing to me in that otherwise great book.
Agreed. He was listening to the multitrack session tapes and masters – how could he miss what I’ve heard since the record was released in late 1965? (And my folks didn’t have an upper-end stereo, either!)
Love the lyrics in this great tune, especially: “You were above me but not today…The only difference is you’re down there…”
Here’s a fun alternate interpretation: it’s a stealth song about being around sober people when you’re on drugs.
The key is to change how you parse “you’re not the same”. The usual interpretation is “you’re not the same [as you were before]”. The alternate interpretation is “you’re not the same [as me]”. This is followed by ‘alarm bells’ (the guitar). These ‘alarms’ evoke the paranoia which one often feels around sober people when one is high on marijuana.
Many of the other lyrics fit this alternate interpretation almost frighteningly well. “I thought I knew you, what did I know (I was sober then)”. “You don’t look different but you have changed (my perceptions of you have changed)”. “Your lips are moving etc.”, I don’t need to even explain that one. “You’re thinking of me the same old (sober) way”. “You were above me, but not today (because today I’m high)”.
The biggest flaw is the ‘Why tell me why’ parts don’t fit at all. Which is why when I read this article and saw those parts were originally absent, I grinned a real big grin. “I’m looking through you and you’re nowhere” is another possible clash, but I like to assume that’s just a reference to “Nowhere Man” on the same album (compare the Ob-La-Di-Bla-Da reference on Savoy Truffle).
Superb track… Sounds suspiciously like paul played most of the instruments on the version on ‘rubber soul’, the tougher sounding version on ‘anthology2’ feels more like a band performance and i actually prefer it.
I have to agree with you. The acoustic guitar is CLASSIC Paul. John did not play or strum in this style, I could be wrong, but Id go and say this is Paul doing the acoustic guitar for sure.
Incorrect. As has been mentioned in the first post. The basic rhythm track played live consists of drums, bass, acoustic guitar, tambourine. I guess we all agree that it’s Paul on the bass so most probably John is on the acoustic and George on tambourine. Notice the same line up as We Can Work It Out basic track.
I agree too. John tended to do clawhammer on acoustics, and Paul had that lighter more articulate strummed touch- If they did this live, then It must have been john, but if it was overdubbed, then I’d say paul. It’s his acoustic style. Listen to the intro.
Paul McCartney’s very pointed message to Jane Asher. Unlike John Lennon, McCartney is not nearly as obviously autobiographical. But on this one he is. Great lyrics. Off the wonderful “Rubber Soul” album.One hell of a good song.
Guitar sounds quite high. High capo placement? John was a careful guitarist quite nimble (have a look at him in Let It Be film)… but it doesn’t seem his style in this song… I just feel it – happy to be proven wrong. When Paul wrote it, it would’ve been on guitar, why hand it over to John?
Also, organ is obvious after the words ‘You’re not the same’, regardless who plays it.
key thing is figuring out what acoustic guitar was used. Obviously paul being a lefty its quite glaring in that he would only have been able to use his Epi Texan whereas john used the Gibson which was an electro acoustic and miked from the amp (doesn’t sound like a real acoustic). Similarly when George played bass on a few tracks its clear because he had to play the right handed Fender VI bass. Id say its john, its a relatively easy part which I don’t see why hed have any trouble getting in less than an hour.
I Think paul is playing his epi casino
To those who think Paul played electric guitar or acoustic guitar and George or John covered on bass, it is stated that the basic track was acoustic guitar, bass, drums and tambourine, so clearly Paul would have been playing bass on the basic track.
There was no right-handed bass guitar at this point in time, so it’s preposterous to suggest that John or George would’ve easily covered on bass, because a) it is well-established that John did not like playing bass, clearly preferring to play guitar, keyboards and harmonica and b) neither he nor George could have feasibly played Paul’s left-handed bass; besides, the facts just don’t add up and for the umpteenth time, Paul is capable of playing simple bass parts if he wants to or needs to.
The syncopated acoustic guitar is typical of John’s style and it’s clearly George playing the electric guitar, as Record Mirror praised his playing as top-notch, so you must not believe everything Ian MacDonald said in his book with questionable assertions as to who played what with no proof to back it up.
Some ghostly feedback can be heard after Paul says “You were above me”. For those having trouble hearing Ringo’s organ it is the loudest part of the song after each chorus “Youre not the same”.
For those who can’t hear the organ, it was put overtop of the lead guitar, and was overdriven like hell. If you have your doubts it’s an organ, listen to the the right channel during the fadeout, you can hear the organ fade at a different volume, and it even moves to the center a little bit.
Some fun tidbits about this song: this take sounds notably rushed; at around 0:58 you can hear tapping to the right that doesn’t keep to the beat well. At 1:18, after “You were above me,” the left guitar has feedback issues and rings for a brief moment. At 0:18, Ringo’s drums skip a beat. From 1:05 to 1:20 you can hear little plinking on the right guitar, as if whoever’s playing is tuning or has forgotten how to play, which happens again at around 1:49.
Several other anomalies happen throughout the final version of this song, and some people speculate that the final version was really only Paul playing. It’s thought he might’ve just overdubbed everything himself, considering all vocals consist of him, and that this version has a very “Paul” sound. It’s possible, but whatever.
“Love has a nasty habit of disappearing overnight” is a catchy line, but it’s absolute nonsense. Of course love does NOT disappear overnight.
I thought that line rang completely true. Paul captured that feeling of empty sorrow succinctly.
Certainly it can disappear overnight – for the party that doesn’t see it coming. Happens all the time.
There’s a theory that Paul Played everything on this track. I kind of believe it but don’t. I certainly don’t hear John on the Harmony and the guitar Licks and tone sound like something McCartney would do (a la Sgt. Pepper).
Maybe Paul recorded this with Ringo, two insturments at a time? This would explain why Ringo is on the Organ, maybe to save time and Tracks/Tape? I don’t Believe it’s Paul by himself because of the matchbox fact and Ringo on the organ.
Also the Matchbox fact, Is it supposed to to be the Tapping that just disappears half say through the verse?
Such a Strange song
The acoustic guitar sounds like it is played with a capo on the 6th fret, with chords in the key of D (Intro: D-A-D-G-D-G). The electric lead riff seems way too fast to be George. I believe it’s Paul, and he played it with a capo on the 4th fret. This gives you three open strings to work with for that rapid 3-note pull-off followed by the 2-note hammer-on. It only requires two fingers on the left hand. It’s best played finger style to control the ringing of the open strings. Both parts are a joy to play this way.
George was capable of playing fast guitar fills whenever he wanted or needed to – just listen to his intro lick on “Roll Over Beethoven” – and even contemporary reviews praised his guitar work on this song.
Alright, I’m going with Paul on the acoustic as well. Reminds me of the Goodbye demo, very similar style. There’s not really a John song in that style anywhere I can recall.
But also, I’m surprised no one has mentioned that Ringo’s organ part is rather atypical. It’s a D# G#—fairly typical—but there’s also a D as a grace note except it’s often held down rather.. ungracefully. It sounds quite jazzy/dissonant!
I think the acoustic guitar, bass, tambourine and drums were all recorded on one track when taping the basic track, so that means John would’ve been playing acoustic guitar, Paul on bass, Ringo on drums and George on tambourine.