Beatles Song Meanings and Lyric Interpretations

[ronmac]

"Jai guru deva, om" is an invocation in Sanskrit, not made-up words.

I did not know that. At some point, I had tried to find something about it and never could. I never heard an explanation (and can't say I looked very hard online) and just assumed it was fictitious.

[Mike D]

I did not know that. At some point, I had tried to find something about it and never could. I never heard an explanation (and can't say I looked very hard online) and just assumed it was fictitious.

That's the beauty of the Beatles. No matter how much you might know about them, there always seems to be something new to discover.

[viukkis]

I can't help but think some of the Beatles lyrics are either drug induced nonsense or just abstract. What do the lyrics to "Come Together" mean?

One interpretation I've heard is that each verse is about one of the members of The Beatles. That requires some fairly creative interpretation, but it kind of works: George is a holy roller with hair down (almost) to his knee, Paul has no shoes and was into coke at the time, John is involved with Bag Productions, has an Ono sideboard and had recently been in a car accident, and Ringo's got to be good looking 'cos he's so hard to see when he's sitting behind the drums.

[JJ88]

Lennon's lazy lift of a line from Chuck Berry's 'You Can't Catch Me' in 'Come Together' highlighted their similarity and caused him some significant trouble. This resulted in what became the Rock N Roll album and the legally shady Roots. Quite a saga, this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roots:..._%26_Roll_Hits

[ronmac]

^^ Phil Spector was one crazy asshole.

I was just listening to R&R outtakes last night. John absolutely KILLS on his version of "Sweet Little Sixteen."

[Scott Bails]

Okay, let's start here.

"When I find myself in times of trouble, mother Mary comes to me."

No, it was not a religious reference. His mother was named Mary.

Yeah, Paul has been pretty emphatic about that yet the common conception is it's a religious reference.

Back in the day, when I was a church-going lad, we used to sing this during mass. Always thought that was really interesting, considering all of the baggage over the years.

[JJ88]

^^ Phil Spector was one crazy asshole.

I was just listening to R&R outtakes last night. John absolutely KILLS on his version of "Sweet Little Sixteen."

I think the Spector stuff was more interesting than what Lennon did later, in a deranged sort of way. Having said that, obviously some of the X-rated vocals from the Spector sessions were re-recorded; I take it you've heard the original 'Just Because' vocal. Dear God!

[progmatist]

I used to play with a guy who refused to sing Hey Jude, because he thought "Remember to let it under your skin" referred to shooting up heroin. I tried explaining to him Paul actually wrote the song for John' son Julian, but he refused to believe it.

[ronmac]

I take it you've heard the original 'Just Because' vocal. Dear God!

John seemed a bit trashed.