When EMI signed a recording contract with The Beatles, it was a new frontier for the band as they went from being on top of the hill in Liverpool to the bottom rung of the ladder in the bigger picture. Rabid fans lining up to see them at the Cavern Club were sure to purchase a new record by their hometown heroes, but nationwide success was not guaranteed. The Beatles regularly made the roughly 225-mile drive to London to record with producer George Martin at Abbey Road Studios before they secured living quarters closer to the musical epicenter.
Just as they had cleaned up their image when Brian Epstein took over as their manager, The Beatles felt a need to behave when they entered the hallowed halls on Abbey Road. The engineers were older and more business-minded than the scruffy musicians from the north who played rock 'n' roll music. The Beatles looked at these studio technicians as authority figures who were rarely in the mood for joking around or experimenting with different sounds or techniques. Martin appreciated their sense of humor and allowed the group to push the boundaries of what was acceptable at the time. Of course, it didn't happen all at once, but as the band found success on the charts, they had a little wider berth to work with.
Whether out of boredom or just orneriness, The Beatles were always thrilled to sneak a lyric past the sensors or break out of the norm of the traditional recording realm. Let's look at the story behind "Girl" by The Beatles.
Is there anybody going to listen to my story
All about the girl who came to stay?
She's the kind of girl
You want so much, it makes you sorry
Still, you don't regret a single day
Ah, girl, girl
The last song recorded for Rubber Soul, "Girl," is a thought-provoking masterpiece both lyrically and musically. In the arc of The Beatles as a band, Rubber Soul lands right in that sweet spot where Beatlemania has fully exploded. Yet, the psychedelic experimentation hasn't fully taken hold. The acoustic, folky, introspective love songs are miles from "I Want to Hold Your Hand" but not yet close to "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." In The Beatles Anthology, John Lennon said, "'Girl' is real. There is no such thing as the girl; she was a dream, but the words are all right. It wasn't just a song, and it was about that girl -- that turned out to be Yoko, in the end -- the one that a lot of us were looking for."
When I think of all the times
I tried so hard to leave her
She will turn to me and start to cry
And she promises the earth to me
And I believe her
After all this time, I don't know why
Ah, girl, girl
The song was recorded in November 1965, several months before the infamous interview in which John Lennon compared The Beatles' popularity to that of Jesus Christ. Lennon was exploring the theme of religion in the lyrics of the song. He later told Rolling Stone magazine, "I was just talking about Christianity in that -- a thing like you have to be tortured to attain heaven. I'm only saying that I was talking about pain will lead to pleasure in 'Girl,' and that was sort of the Catholic Christian concept -- be tortured and then it'll be all right, which seems to be a bit true, but not in their concept of it. But I didn't believe in that, that you have to be tortured to attain anything, it just so happens that you were."
She's the kind of girl who puts you down
When friends are there
You feel a fool
When you say she's looking good
She acts as if it's understood
She's cool, ooh, ooh, ooh
Girl, girl, girl
The Beatles were always trying to push the envelope by seeing what they could get away with. During Rubber Soul, they had begun smoking marijuana, and it was clear they were interested in peppering in various phrases or words to see what they could get away with. Lennon's breathing on "Girl" could be interpreted either way. Was it a pot reference or just a person contemplating a situation? Paul McCartney told author Barry Miles, "My main memory is that John wanted to hear the breathing, wanted it to be very intimate, so George Martin put a special compressor on the voice, then John dubbed it. ... It was always amusing to see if we could get a naughty word on the record: 'fish and finger pie,' 'pr-k teaser,' 'tit tit tit tit.'
"The Beach Boys had a song out where they'd done la la la la, and we loved the innocence of that and wanted to copy it but not use the same phrase. So we were looking around for another phrase, so it was dit dit dit dit, which we decided to change in our waggishness to tit tit tit tit, which is virtually indistinguishable from dit dit dit dit. And it gave us a laugh. It was to get some light relief in the middle of this real big career that we were forging. If we could put in something that was a little bit subversive, then we would. George Martin might say, 'Was that dit dit or tit tit you were singing?' 'Oh, dit dit, George, but it does sound a bit like that, doesn't it?' Then we'd get in the car and break down laughing."
Was she told when she was young
That pain would lead to pleasure?
Did she understand it when they said
That a man must break his back
To earn his day of leisure?
Will she still believe it when he's dead?
Singer/songwriter Jackson Browne told Rolling Stone magazine, "There was a tremendous intimacy in everything John Lennon did, combined with a formidable intellect. That is what makes him a great singer. In 'Girl,' he starts in this steely, high voice, Is there anybody going to listen to my story. It's so impassioned, like somebody stepping from the shadows in a room. But when he comes to the chorus, you suddenly realize he's talking directly to her. When I heard this as a young teenager, it hit the nail on the head. It embodied the feelings I was living with every day -- completely burning with sexual desire, with almost a regret at being so overpowered."