The Beatles Lyric that Had John Lennon Snapping Back at a Critic
They were the biggest band in the world, but they certainly weren’t above criticism. In fact, you could argue that The Beatles invited more scrutiny than their rock band peers. Because of their track record, much was expected them with each new song and album.
John Lennon was always a bit sensitive to that criticism, especially when he believed it was unwarranted or unfair. Occasionally, he came out swinging in interviews to defend himself and the group. That certainly was the case when it came to the “I Want You (She’s So Heavy),” a song he penned that the band released in 1969 on their final studio album Abbey Road.
The Beatles did a ton to advance the art of lyric writing in pop and rock music. They were influenced by the early albums of Bob Dylan, an artist who proved the pop form could withstand adult themes and complex, personal writing. Because of their popularity, the Fab Four’s efforts to push their lyrical boundaries in turn influenced just about every other band and artist that competed with them in the ’60s.
John Lennon was responsible for much of this advancement. Songs like “In My Life,” “A Day in the Life,” and “Strawberry Fields Forever,” all of which are credited to Lennon/McCartney but were mostly composed by Lennon, proved how evocative and profound rock music verses and refrains could be, an effect only amplified by the incredible music around the words. (McCartney was no slouch himself in writing the stellar lyrics to songs like “Eleanor Rigby,” “She’s Leaving Home,” and “Blackbird.”)
But Lennon also began to feel that people were focusing a little bit too much on the words to his songs, to the point where he started writing purposely oblique lyrics to try to throw them off on tracks like “Glass Onion” and “I Am the Walrus.” It only proved his point when obsessive fans began finding “hidden meanings” in those songs and others like them that weren’t really there.
Source: Jim Beviglia/americansongwriter.com
