{"id":8410,"date":"2021-04-05T16:37:45","date_gmt":"2021-04-05T21:37:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?p=8410"},"modified":"2021-04-05T16:37:45","modified_gmt":"2021-04-05T21:37:45","slug":"rubber-soul-deep-dive-part-4-nowhere-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/rubber-soul-deep-dive-part-4-nowhere-man\/","title":{"rendered":"Rubber Soul Deep Dive Part 4: Nowhere Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Fest for Beatles <\/em><\/strong>Fans <\/em>hopes you\u2019ve been enjoying some fresh, new perspectives on the <\/em>Rubber Soul songs you\u2019ve known and loved since 1965. Our goal is to give each song a new look, and if you like that perspective, wonderful! If you have an interesting viewpoint of your own on the song, please share it! And if you\u2019d like to continue listening to the song as you always have, shine on! We\u2019re enjoying re-examining these classics (after 50 plus years) with some of the world\u2019s most revered Beatles music experts and uncovering fresh perspectives to enrich what we know. And\u2026we\u2019re so glad to have you<\/strong> along!<\/em><\/p>\n

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This month, we\u2019re \u201cdeep diving\u201d into \u201cNowhere Man\u201d with John Lennon Series author, Jude Southerland Kessler, and with noted historian, <\/em>Beatlefan<\/strong> Executive Editor, and author, Al Sussman<\/strong>. <\/em><\/p>\n

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What\u2019s Standard:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Date Recorded: <\/strong>First attempt on 21 October, with a complete remake on 22 October (followed by superimpositions and mixing on the 25th<\/sup> and 26th <\/sup>of October as well as 22 November)<\/p>\n

Studio:<\/strong> EMI Studios, Studio 2<\/p>\n

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Tech Team:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Producer:<\/strong> George Martin<\/p>\n

Engineer:<\/strong> Norman Smith<\/p>\n

Second Engineers:<\/strong> Ken Scott (and according to Margotin and Guesdon, Ron Pender)<\/p>\n

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Instrumentation and Musicians:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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John Lennon, <\/strong>the composer, sings lead vocals and plays his 1964 Gibson J-160E acoustic guitar for the rhythm track and in superimposition, plays lead (with George) on his Fender Stratocaster<\/p>\n

Paul McCartney,<\/strong> sings backing vocal and plays 1965 Rickenbacker 4401S bass<\/p>\n

George Harrison<\/strong> sings backing vocal (McCartney and Harrison are double-tracked) and in superimposition, plays lead (with John) on his 1961 Fender Stratocaster<\/p>\n

Ringo Starr <\/strong>plays one of his two Ludwig Oyster Black Pearl \u201cSuper Classic\u201d drum kits<\/p>\n

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Sources:<\/strong> Lewisohn, The Complete Beatles Chronicle<\/em>, 203, Lewisohn, The Beatles Recording Sessions<\/em>, 65, Spizer, The Beatles for Sale on Parlophone Records<\/em>, 201, Margotin and Guesdon, All the Songs<\/em>, 284-285, Winn, Way Beyond Compare<\/em>, 366-367, Hammack, The Beatles Recording Reference Manual<\/em>, 78-80, Turner, A Hard Day\u2019s Write,<\/em> 91, Riley, Tell Me Why<\/em>, 161-162, Spignesi and Lewis, 100 Best Beatles Son<\/em>gs, 52-53, Miles, The Beatles\u2019 Diary, Vol. 1<\/em>, 217, Everett, The Beatles as Musicians: the Quarry Men Through Rubber Soul,<\/em> 322-324, and Coleman, Lennon<\/em>, 298-299.<\/p>\n

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What\u2019s Changed:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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    \n
  1. The Definition of a \u201cRock Song\u201d – <\/strong>\u201cRock songs did not usually open this way.\u201d So say Stephen Spignesi and Michael Lewis, referring to the exquisite opening of \u201cNowhere Man,\u201d a brilliant bit of three-part a cappella<\/em> harmony from Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison. Ranking the song as the #13 Best Beatles Song of all time, they explain that the tight vocal harmony sends chill bumps even before the lyrics begin to tug at our hearts. And although this singular sound was difficult to reproduce live, The Beatles chose to perform the haunting track on their 1966 tour, singing it in their final concert at Candlestick Park. But on that October night in 1965 when the boys recorded this stirring and unique introduction, they redefined the essence of \u201crock song\u201d in one echoing moment. Mark Lewisohn sums up the work done in studio on 22 October as \u201cA fine piece of work.\u201d (The Beatles Recording Sessions<\/em>, 65)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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      \n
    1. The Birth of \u201cTogether, Alone\u201d<\/strong> – Throughout the pandemic of 2020, the slogan \u201ctogether, alone\u201d resounded across the world. But that theme has its roots here<\/em> in Lennon\u2019s composition about shared loneliness. Later, in \u201cStrawberry Fields Forever,\u201d John would express the isolation of genius a bit differently: \u201cNo one, I think, is in my tree\/ I mean, it must be high or low.\u201d But no matter how John articulated it, Beatle John experienced life \u2014 utterly surrounded by co-workers, assistants, press men, business associates, and fans \u2014 in absolute seclusion. This isolation was nothing new, however. From childhood, his genius had always quarantined him; John was ever the \u201codd one out.\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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        \n
      1. No Mere Love Song<\/strong> – Many Beatles music experts state that \u201cNowhere Man\u201d is the first Beatles song that is not about love. And although, technically, that is true \u2014 since it is not a \u201che loves her,\u201d \u201cshe loves him,\u201d or \u201cI love you\u201d ballad \u2014 this song is about a much more pervasive, broad-sweeping love. All of The Beatles had experienced the loneliness of \u201ca train and a room and a car and a room and a room and a room.\u201d But John knew that the loneliness they had endured (and what he had always<\/em> experienced) could not be unique. And so, as Tim Riley points out: in \u201cNowhere Man,\u201d John sang \u201cfor the unsung, for the people who have shut themselves off from life.\u201d (Tell Me Why<\/em>, 162) John took a very personal message and made it a universal love song. A powerful one.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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          \n
        1. The Concept of Creating Somnambulantly<\/strong> – Paul had created \u201cYesterday\u201d in a dream. Now in the autumn of 1965, John, who had struggled for hours to pen a new song for the emerging Rubber Soul<\/em> LP, gave up in frustration and \u201cwent to have a lie down.\u201d (Everett, The Beatles as Musicians, Vol. 1,<\/em> 322) As he drifted off into a restful state, suddenly, the words to \u201cNowhere Man\u201d sprang to life. John said, \u201cThen I thought of myself as a Nowhere Man \u2014 sitting in his nowhere land,\u201d (Spizer, Beatles for Sale on Parlophone Records<\/em>, 201) and the lyrics surfaced, \u201cwords and music, the whole damn thing!\u201d(Everett, 322) By 1967, in his \u201cI\u2019m Only Sleeping,\u201d John revealed that the practice of relaxing and letting go \u2014\u201cstay[ing] in bed\u201d and \u201cfloat[ing] upstream<\/em>\u201d (not downstream, which would indicate sleep) \u2014 allowed his muse to speak to him. Writing songs in bed became a standard Lennon practice. And it all began here.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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            \n
          1. Experimentation with the \u201cJingle Jangle Sound\u201d<\/strong> – Although The Beatles didn\u2019t corner the market on the emerging \u201cjingle jangle\u201d sound of 1965 (The Byrds had already released \u201cMr. Tambourine Man,\u201d in June 1965.), they were one of the first groups to employ it. Paul says that he pushed Engineer Norman Smith to create a \u201ctreble-y\u201d guitar sound. When Smith said that all he could do was \u201cput full treble on it,\u201d Paul pressed for more saying, \u201cWell, put that through another lot of faders and put full treble up on that<\/em>. And if that\u2019s not enough, we\u2019ll go through another lot of faders\u2026\u201d (Spignesi and Lewis, The 100 Best Beatles Songs,<\/em> 53) The result was the magical aura of \u201cNowhere Man,\u201d which may seem commonplace today\u2026but in 1965, this effect was unique and enchanting.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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            A Fresh, New Look:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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            Recently, we were honored to be able to talk with distinguished historian, Al Sussman,<\/strong> about \u201cNowhere Man.\u201d Al is the Executive Editor for <\/em>Beatlefan <\/strong>magazine and has for many years been an integral part of The Fest for Beatles Fans<\/strong>.\u00a0 He is also the author of <\/em>Changin\u2019 Times: 101 Days That Shaped a Generation<\/strong> and was a contributing author to Bruce Spizer\u2019s <\/em>The Beatles Finally Let It Be<\/strong>, The Beatles Get Back to Abbey Road<\/strong>, The Beatles and Sgt. Pepper: A Fan\u2019s Perspective<\/strong>, and <\/em>The Beatles White Album and The Launch of Apple<\/strong>. Here are Al\u2019s insights into John Lennon\u2019s honest and heartfelt 1965 ballad, \u201cNowhere Man.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

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            Jude Southerland Kessler:<\/strong> Al, journalist and Beatles friend,<\/em><\/strong> Ray Coleman, in his book, <\/em>Lennon, says that in John\u2019s 1965 classic hit: \u201cThe Nowhere Man is an impotent, hollow symbol of the Swinging Sixties.\u201d And similarly, Steve Turner in <\/em>A Hard Day\u2019s Write says that \u201cNowhere Man\u201d was interpreted by some as \u201ca comment on the erosion of belief in modern society.\u201d Please tell us about the historical backdrop of 1965 that fueled this solemn portrait of an empty, vacuous world. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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            Al Sussman:<\/strong> A less-oblique, more directly personal song than \u201cNowhere Man\u201d is Brian Wilson\u2019s \u201cI Just Wasn\u2019t Made For These Times,\u201d which was written around the same time as \u201cNowhere Man\u201d and appears on the Beach Boys\u2019 classic Pet Sounds <\/em>album. Living in the hothouse atmosphere of the mid-60s was not easy, particularly for a still-young man in a leadership position in what John later called \u201cthe greatest show on earth\/For what it was worth.\u201d<\/p>\n

             <\/p>\n

            With an ongoing war in Vietnam, racial unrest not just in the U.S. but in England, too, an emerging drug culture, and a media hungry for The Beatles\u2019 views on all of this, it was easy to believe in the \u201cerosion of modern society.\u201d Much has been written about how The Beatles had each other to get them through the madness that surrounded them but, by mid-1965, the only one still residing in Swinging London was Paul. The others had all bought homes in the stockbroker-dominated suburbs. So, living in a mansion and in a marriage that he felt wasn\u2019t giving him fulfillment, John was truly isolated, and his increasing intake of pot and other drugs wasn\u2019t helping. Hence, his feeling that he was \u201cA real nowhere man\/Sitting in his nowhere land\/Making all his nowhere plans for nobody.\u201d<\/p>\n

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            Kessler: In Tell Me Why<\/em>, Tim Riley observes that in \u201cNowhere Man,\u201d John Lennon reminds us that \u201cno one can make it through life\u2019s difficulties alone\u2026the best crutches are other people.\u201d (p. 162) What were some of the personal difficulties with which John struggled in 1965? What circumstances made him feel like \u201ca real Nowhere Man living in his nowhere land\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n

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            Sussman:<\/strong> It\u2019s interesting to consider that, in 1965, John Lennon wrote \u201cHelp,\u201d \u201cYou\u2019ve Got to Hide Your Love Away,\u201d and \u201cNowhere Man,\u201d all of which reflected the isolation he was experiencing in his new suburban life away from \u201cthe eye of the hurricane.\u201d It was John who later called this his \u201cfat Elvis\u201d period, and not just for the few extra pounds he had put on. Of course, it\u2019s a mark of the complexity of the man and the composer that he also wrote \u201cIn My Life,\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s Only Love\u201d and, yes, \u201cNorwegian Wood\u201d during this same period. Not being as natural a pop craftsman as Paul, it could take some cajoling from those \u201cbest crutches,\u201d but the isolation seemed to inspire one of John\u2019s finest composing periods.<\/p>\n

             <\/p>\n

            Kessler: I know you really like this song, Al. What elements make this song one of your favorite Beatles numbers? Is it the music, the lyrics, the message, all of the above\u2026or something else?<\/strong><\/p>\n

             <\/p>\n

            Sussman: <\/strong>I had very much been a fan of the John\/Paul\/George three-part harmonies on songs like \u201cThis Boy\u201d and \u201cYes It Is\u201d and, during \u201965, I\u2019d become very attached to the emerging folk-rock sound. So, when I first heard \u201cNowhere Man\u201d on WABC in New York, when they briefly played the four tracks from the British Rubber Soul<\/em> not on the American edition, I instantly fell in love with the song. I loved the three-part harmony vocals and the background vocals and the Byrds-influenced instrumentation.<\/p>\n

             <\/p>\n

            Frankly, I could also relate to John\u2019s lyrics, even as a 16-year-old. And I was disappointed, when It was released as a U.S. single in Feb. 1966, that \u201cThe Ballad of the Green Berets\u201d kept \u201cNowhere Man\u201d from continuing the string of Beatles No. 1 singles. That autumn, as a high school junior, I took a Modern Communications course and, at one point, the teacher had us bring in lyrics to a popular song of the time. Most of the kids in the class didn\u2019t take it very seriously and brought in lyrics for typical love songs of that moment (\u201cI\u2019m Your Puppet\u201d), but I brought in \u201cNowhere Man,\u201d even though, at that point, I didn\u2019t know the real meaning behind it. All these years later, \u201cNowhere Man\u201d is still among my top five favorite Beatles songs, and it\u2019s aged exceptionally well.<\/p>\n

             <\/p>\n

            Kessler: What would you like to share with us about \u201cNowhere Man\u201d that we haven\u2019t discussed in this blog?<\/strong><\/p>\n

             <\/p>\n

            Sussman: <\/strong>Younger fans have somehow gotten the impression that the reason why \u201cI\u2019ve Just Seen A Face\u201d and \u201cIt\u2019s Only Love\u201d were added to the U.S. Rubber Soul, <\/em>was so the album would sound more folk-rock. Frankly, the middle-aged big band\/Sinatra-philes who were running American record companies in the mid-60s wouldn\u2019t have known folk-rock if it hit them in the face. The two most folk-rock-esque songs on the U.K. LP were George\u2019s very Byrds-derived \u201cIf I Needed Someone\u201d and John\u2019s \u201cNowhere Man\u201d \u2014 neither one of which made the Capitol album.<\/p>\n

             <\/p>\n

            CLICK HERE for more information on Al Sussman\u2019s book, Changing Times: 101 Days That Shaped a Generation<\/em><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

            CLICK HERE to follow Al on Facebook<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

            The Fest for Beatles Fans hopes you\u2019ve been enjoying some fresh, new perspectives on the Rubber Soul songs you\u2019ve known and loved since 1965. Our goal is to give each song a new look, and if you like that perspective, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":8411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[98,137,89,117],"class_list":["post-8410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-beatles","tag-jude-southerland-kessler","tag-nowhere-man","tag-rubber-soul","tag-the-beatles"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8410"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8410\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8412,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8410\/revisions\/8412"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thefest.com\/?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}