The Modern Beatles — Rubber Soul
These are the songs of The Beatles from Rubber Soul that sound like they could have been made by a modern band.
Songs that if you heard them now and did not know them, did not know the voices of the singers (especially John who is quite recognizable), you might think were done by a modern band, or some band in the years between their actual release and now.
The songs are not always perfectly modern, they may have parts that sound “older” than others.
For reference to old and modern sounds please refer to these articles
The Album is found here to listen along to
Critical Properties We Will Focus On
I’ve quoted some complaints from a Hacker News Thread on The Beatles in the past — these were
I always looked at the Beatles as the commercial, pop, easy, and a bit “cheesy” band of their time.
The Beatles are still catchy more than half a century later but, yeah, even if it’s an unpopular opinion it’s just, to me, mass produced pop that’s not particularly deep.
And
80’s kid here. I never liked any Beatles songs. Not a single one. And “classic rock” from the 60’s and 70’s is my go-to genre. I always assumed their recognition was more historical. They kicked off the pop band phenomenon as we know it today, and the base rhythms of their songs were no doubt influential. But I’ve never felt that their actual songs were very good. Many of them are downright corny and cringe by the time I listened to them.
So things we will be checking are — how cheesy or cringe a particular song is, and in what way it’s cringe. For example a lot of Beatles songs are a little bit too ‘hippy’ for someone not young in 1967, that might be one type of cringe that one experiences, but other forms might be thinking one is a lot cooler than one actually is etc.
We also paraphrased a rock critic’s opinion of their collected works as
half of these songs sound like Oasis, the other half like every other band that has ever existed.
So we will try to identify what band a particular song might be like and who should do a cover of it.
The Songs
Drive My Car — There are definitely sounds on here that you will find difficult not to think of as old, for example when they sing “Beep, beep — YEAH” then anyone with any familiarity with the music will make a direct aural connection to the Yeah, yeah, yeahs of their past. But putting that aside the subject matter and lyrics have a modern ironic sensibility
The Lyrics
Asked a girl what she wanted to be
She said, “Baby, can’t you see?
I wanna be famous, a star of the screen”
But you can do something in between
Baby, you can drive my car
Yes, I’m gonna be a star
Baby, you can drive my car
And maybe I’ll love you
I told that girl that my prospects were good
And she said, “Baby, it’s understood
Working for peanuts is all very fine
But I can show you a better time”
Baby, you can drive my car
Yes, I’m gonna be a star
Baby, you can drive my car
And maybe I’ll love you
Beep-beep, beep-beep, yeah
Baby, you can drive my car
Yes, I’m gonna be a star
Baby, you can drive my car
And maybe I’ll love you
I told that girl I can start right away
When she said, “Listen, babe, I got somethin’ to say
I got no car and it’s breaking my heart
But I’ve found a driver and that’s a start”
Baby, you can drive my car
Yes, I’m gonna be a star
Baby, you can drive my car
And maybe I’ll love you”
Who would do a great cover of this song — The Subways
Personally when I hear it I think this song would be amazing if Prince did it, although I guess you can say that about a lot of things — but then Prince is dead and he won’t be doing it now.
Norwegian Wood — I once had a girl
Or should I say she once had me
She showed me her room
Isn’t it good Norwegian wood?
She asked me to stay
And she told me to sit anywhere
So I looked around
And I noticed there wasn’t a chair
I sat on a rug biding my time
Drinking her wine
We talked until two and then she said
“It’s time for bed”
She told me she worked
In the morning and started to laugh
I told her I didn’t
And crawled off to sleep in the bath
And when I awoke I was alone
This bird had flown
So I lit a fire
Isn’t it good Norwegian wood?
interestingly enough when reading the lyrics to Norwegian Wood I don’t hear the song in my head the way I hear Drive My Car. Perhaps Drive My Car is more ear-wormy.
The thing I like about Norwegian Wood most is it sounds sort of folky, like one of those folk-rock bands modernizing an old ballad — it sounds like it might be a modern song, but an updating of an ancient song. like maybe Tam Lin only with an inversion, here it is a mortal knight in the castle of the Elven queen who sends him off to sleep in the bath.
The Beatles really had a way of writing songs that sounded much older than their time period, like from centuries older. This is one of those, but sounding eternal does not necessarily make you sound “old”.
https://open.spotify.com/track/1H7gMYGykdtwZOV6s1N0by?si=344a74080d674574
You Won’t See Me — When I call you up
Your line’s engaged
I have had enough
So act your age
We have lost the time
That was so hard to find
And I will lose my mind
If you won’t see me (you won’t see me)
You won’t see me (you won’t see me)
I don’t know why you
Should want to hide
But I can’t get through
My hands are tied
I won’t want to stay
I don’t have much to say
And I get turned away
And you won’t see me (you won’t see me)
You won’t see me (you won’t see me)
Time after time
You refuse to even listen
I wouldn’t mind
If I knew what I was missing
Though the days are few
They’re filled with tears
And since I lost you
It feels like years
Yes, it seems so long
Girl, since you’ve been gone
And I just can’t go on
If you won’t see me (you won’t see me)
You won’t see me (you won’t see me)
Time after time
You refuse to even listen
I wouldn’t mind
If I knew what I was missing
Though the days are few
They’re filled with tears
And since I lost you
It feels like years
Yes, it seems so long
Girl, since you’ve been gone
And I just can’t go on
If you won’t see me (you won’t see me)
You won’t see me (you won’t see me) (yeah)
Ok this song is pretty much right on the border for being old, in fact given that it is sung pretty straightforward and non-ironically I would say anyone hearing it, and listening closely to the lyrics would have to conclude nobody could write it nowadays.
But if it were sung ironically it sounds like the complaint of a stalker, if it were sung ironically then anyone listening to an ironic version would conclude it was a modern song. But the song is obviously sincere, and thus right on the edge.
That said we all know nobody judges songs by the lyrics, other than perhaps the chorus. The lyric that sticks in the mind here is the refrain “You won’t see me, you won’t see me” and with that you imagine a lyrically better song, a song where the singer is gone, where the person who turns to look for the singer won’t see them. A song that better complements “I’m Looking Through You”, as seems lyrically intended.
The genesis of the song was that McCartney evidently felt Jane Asher was putting her career over their relationship (his needs), at least that is the traditional interpretation.
However it is also a commonly told story that when McCartney broke up with Asher he told her he was a bastard and no good, which doesn’t seem like the observation of someone who feels the other person has not done their fair bit to keep the relationship going.
https://open.spotify.com/track/4LLBKnNCrSRrSjSTuiwjE9?si=2be2709866ed4f79
Nowhere Man — He’s a real nowhere man
Sitting in his nowhere land
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody
Doesn’t have a point of view
Knows not where he’s going to
Isn’t he a bit like you and me?
Nowhere man please listen
You don’t know what you’re missing
Nowhere man, the world is at your command
He’s as blind as he can be
Just sees what he wants to see
Nowhere man, can you see me at all
Nowhere man don’t worry
Take your time, don’t hurry
Leave it all ’til somebody else
Lends you a hand
Ah, la, la, la, la
Doesn’t have a point of view
Knows not where he’s going to
Isn’t he a bit like you and me?
Nowhere man please listen
You don’t know what you’re missing
Nowhere man, The world is at your command
Ah, la, la, la, la
He’s a real nowhere man
Sitting in his nowhere land
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody
This is I think the first song with a high cringe factor — but the reason for that is really because it’s by the Beatles. Lyrics can often be somewhat ambiguous, but we know what The Beatles mean and they mean Hippie-dippie bullshit man.
The hippie-dippiness of things is of course somewhat relative, it is an interpretation put from outside with an extreme amount of baggage that has to do with how history turned out after the 60s.
The lyrics here show another way the preceding song would have improved the album as a whole with a change to the meaning “you won’t see me,” given the part here where Lennon sings:
He’s as blind as he can be
Just sees what he wants to see
Nowhere man, can you see me at all
That part by itself is pretty clever, the other part of the lyrics that is also clever — the intro
He’s a real nowhere man
Sitting in his nowhere land
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody
Other than that the lyrics are pretty mundane and boring.
Who this reminds me of in the modern world — Father John Misty
I think he’d make a decent cover of the song.
https://open.spotify.com/track/5SUlhldQJtOhUr2GzH5RI7?si=647fcf4a3799458a
Think For Yourself — I’ve got a word or two
To say about the things that you do
You’re telling all those lies
About the good things that we can have
If we close our eyes
Do what you want to do
And go where you’re going to
Think for yourself
’Cause I won’t be there with you
I left you far behind
The ruins of the life that you had in mind
And though you still can’t see
I know your mind’s made up
You’re gonna cause more misery
Do what you want to do
And go where you’re going to
Think for yourself
’Cause I won’t be there with you
Although your mind’s opaque
Try thinking more if just for your own sake
The future still looks good
And you’ve got time to rectify
All the things that you should
Do what you want to do
And go where you’re going to
Think for yourself
’Cause I won’t be there with you
Do what you want to do
And go where you’re going to
Think for yourself
’Cause I won’t be there with you
Think for yourself
’Cause I won’t be there with you
The best lyrics are a pleasure to read without music, these are not the best lyrics. But again, thematically this ties nicely with a bunch of other songs on the album — and indicates again that You Won’t See Me missed a trick (even though it is lyrically a much more interesting song).
This song is written like the break-up note of a creative writing student in high school.
I’d like to hear the Linda Lindas do it though, because I think they would do a good high school kiss off song (not because the song is otherwise reminiscent of them)
https://open.spotify.com/track/64bKVrkaXQAKx04dLHqCNz?si=bb567b997791441d
The Word — Say the word and you’ll be free
Say the word and be like me
Say the word I’m thinking of
Have you heard the word is love?
It’s so fine, it’s sunshine
It’s the word, love
In the beginning I misunderstood
But now I’ve got it, the word is good
Spread the word and you’ll be free
Spread the word and be like me
Spread the word I’m thinking of
Have you heard the word is love?
It’s so fine, it’s sunshine
It’s the word, love
Every where I go I hear it said
In the good and bad books that I have read
Say the word and you’ll be free
Say the word and be like me
Say the word I’m thinking of
Have you heard the word is love?
It’s so fine, it’s sunshine
It’s the word, love
Now that I know what I feel must be right
I’m here to show everybody the light
Give the word a chance to say
That the word is just the way
It’s the word I’m thinking of
And the only word is love
It’s so fine, it’s sunshine
It’s the word, love
Say the word love
Say the word love
Say the word love
Say the word love
Again the words here are not that great. But better than the previous entry. also extremely cringey hippieness on display — and in this case not just because it is the Beatles. Basically it was this stuff that made the word Love fall out of favor for several generations. That said while the lyrics are of its time there is nothing to say the music couldn’t be from a later period. This song might also be sung by any number of more modern bands, but generally bands that want to sell themselves as psychedelic.
https://open.spotify.com/track/4GBaPHvAyj4V2jeobD9tsy?si=b0df751b9c6e4109
Michelle — Michelle, ma belle
These are words that go together well
My Michelle
Michelle, ma belle
Sont les mots qui vont tres bien ensemble
Tres bien ensemble
I love you, I love you, I love you
That’s all I want to say
Until I find a way
I will say the only words I know that you’ll understand
Michelle, ma belle
Sont les mots qui vont tres bien ensemble
Tres bien ensemble
I need to, I need to, I need to
I need to make you see
Oh, what you mean to me
Until I do, I’m hoping you will know what I mean
I love you
I want you, I want you, I want you
I think you know by now
I’ll get to you somehow
Until I do, I’m telling you so you’ll understand
Michelle, ma belle
Sont les mots qui vont tres bien ensemble
Tres bien ensemble
And I will say the only words I know that you’ll understand
My Michelle
In the article A Useful Metric for Finding Great Art Agent 13 said
God I hate that song. Play the damn Helter Skelter thing again McCartney!
And I definitely understand the hatred, and yet, I think this song is probably better than a lot of the other songs on this album. It is not to my taste and it is definitely not to Agent 13’s taste, and I hate the lyrics but they do having something to recommend them.
There’s a lot to unpack in the history of the song https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_(song) especially as critical reception is concerned.
Who do I think might do a song like Michelle — maybe Courtney Barnett? It’s slightly comedic and dim while overly concerned with the meaning of language. That’s the lyrics. It’s difficult to figure out who might do a song that sounds like one you hate though, as presumably someone who does songs like ones you hate is someone you don’t listen to.
It would also be funny if Barnett covered the song because it’s a McCartney song and I’ve thought she had a striking resemblance to the McCartney of this period — at least in Elevator Operator.
What Goes On — What goes on in your heart?
What goes on in your mind?
You are tearing me apart
When you treat me so unkind
What goes on in your mind?
The other day I saw you as I walked along the road
But when I saw him with you, I could feel my future fold
It’s so easy for a girl like you to lie
Tell me why
What goes on in your heart?
What goes on in your mind?
You are tearing me apart
When you treat me so unkind
What goes on in your mind?
I met you in the morning waiting for the tides of time
But now the tide is turning, I can see that I was blind
It’s so easy for a girl like you to lie
Tell me why
What goes on in your heart?
I used to think of no one else, but you were just the same
You didn’t even think of me as someone with a name
Did you mean to break my heart and watch me die?
Tell me why
What goes on in your heart?
What goes on in your mind?
You are tearing me apart
When you treat me so unkind
What goes on in your mind?
Again a couple clever lines
The other day I saw you as I walked along the road
But when I saw him with you, I could feel my future fold
and
I met you in the morning waiting for the tides of time
But now the tide is turning, I can see that I was blind
The theme of blindness and not having a name echoes other lyrics so somewhat nice. The main thing here is something that has been hinted at in other Beatles songs — faux oldness. It sounds old, but not old the way the songs of the year before sound old, because those songs were very much of their time.
This sounds like the Beatles taking some of the folk music strands into their mix and producing a variation of the old “I saw my ex with her new boy” song but sounding like something you might have expected from some other time.
Maybe that’s why the tides of time line got thrown in there, I know if I were writing something with a spurious antiquity I would feel compelled to note it lyrically.
Maybe a peppy Justin Townes Earl song with Gregory Alan Isakov singing along.
Girl — 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
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
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
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?
Ah, girl, girl, girl
Ah, girl, girl
Another song that I’ve always hated, but in this case it has great lyrics which makes up for the whole moonfaced idiot singing that is going on. This is, I believe, a very good perhaps great song that I can’t stand.
Every verse has at least two or three clever lines in them, which also ironically undercut the whole lovey feel of the song with John mooning “Oh Girl”
Who should do this song — maybe Bruno Mars
https://open.spotify.com/track/6tQvjqDIK9GXWIC6mejms8?si=9bebdf22219e489a
I’m Looking Through You — I’m looking through you
Where did you go?
I thought I knew you
What did I know
You don’t look different
But you have changed
I’m looking through you
You’re not the same
Your lips are moving
I cannot hear
Your voice is soothing
But the words aren’t clear
You don’t sound different
I’ve learned the game
I’m looking through you
You’re not the same
Why, tell me why
Did you not treat me right
Love has a nasty habit
Of disappearing overnight
You’re thinking of me
The same old way
You were above me
But not today
The only difference is you’re down there
I’m looking through you
And you’re nowhere
Why, tell me why
Did you not treat me right
Love has a nasty habit
Of disappearing overnight
I’m looking through you
Where did you go?
I thought I knew you
What did I know
You don’t look different
But you have changed
I’m looking through you
You’re not the same
Yeah, oh, baby you’ve changed
I’m a-lookin’ through you, yeah
I’m looking through you
And you’ve changed, you’ve changed, you’ve changed
You’ve changed, you’ve changed
Again — every verse has some nice parts. Also well matching the thematic interplay of songs.
Who should do the song — Maybe Houndmouth, I know Steve Earle did a cover. This is actually hard to think who does this sort of sound like. Because it really sounds like the Beatles.
https://open.spotify.com/track/5E3BVY66TEDexFutOO5GeS?si=368f9f9cd9a7456c
In My Life — There are places I'll remember
All my life, though some have changed.
Some forever, not for better;
Some have gone and some remain.
All these places had their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall.
Some are dead and some are living,
In my life I've loved them all.
But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you.
And these mem'ries lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new.
Tho' I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before,
I know I'll often stop and think about them,
In my life I love you more.
Tho' I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before,
I know I'll often stop and think about them,
In my life I love you more.
In my life I love you more.
I think some people might find a higher cringe factor with this, but actually I like it. I don’t mean I like the song, I don’t. But I appreciate what the song does — because it is something many Rock and Roll bands have been unable to do. Certainly not Led Zeppelin or the Stones, although the Stones did come close with Waiting on a Friend.
I remember I was reading some old article in Rolling Stone that I’m not going to attempt to find now. It was an interview with Keith Richards. And at the time of this article I think there was some sort of thing going on in Rock and Roll criticism at the time about wondering when Rock and Roll would ‘grow up’ and not just think about sex and drugs and all that stuff but about mature adult themes. And Keith Richards gamely went along when asked about this subject that perhaps The Rolling Stones would be the ones to make the adult masterpiece Rock and Roll album because who else was left.
I’m mainly bringing it up because it was one of the funniest ideas I’d ever read the idea that The Rolling Stones could be ‘mature’ and ‘adult’
First off mature and adult, whatever these terms mean, must surely have been done by some rock and rollers at times. Many of the old country guys seem more mature and adult because they talk about divorce and alimony payments and house loans and bank foreclosures and problems that people will generally not have unless they are at least old enough to run for U.S Presidency (35 years of age), but that said some form of vulnerability must be shown with age that is different than the vulnerability of youth, The Rolling Stones when they want to show their softer side would sing about how sad it was not to get laid promptly by the special lady that was giving them that great sex some months ago.
This is the vulnerability of youth, all your loving is gone and I am not going to get it back.
The vulnerability of age is often tinged with nostalgia for the vulnerability of youth, and the Beatles are very keen on nostalgia — probably because of both John and Paul having lost their mothers while young.
That was something of a digression but it was all in aid of me saying — I think this is one of the first Beatles songs that sound like an older more mature person’s thoughts. Not a brilliant old person’s thoughts, but the thoughts you might expect of someone that has lost some things in life and telling someone they care about their feelings.
Also not sure who should sing this song — maybe Miley Cyrus.
Wait — It's been a long time, now I'm coming back home.
I've been away now, oh, how I've been alone.
Wait till I come back to your side,
We'll forget the tears we cried.
But if your heart breaks, don't wait, turn me away.
And if your heart's strong, hold on, I won't delay.
Wait till I come back to your side,
We'll forget the tears we cried.
I feel as though you ought to know
That I've been good, as good as I can be.
And if you do, I'll trust in you
And know that you will wait for me.
It's been a long time, now I'm coming back home,
I've been away now, oh, how I've been alone.
Wait till I come back to your side,
We'll forget the tears we cried.
I feel as though you ought to know
That I've been good, as good as I can be.
And if you do, I'll trust in you
And know that you will wait for me.
But if your heart breaks, don't wait, turn me away.
And if your heart's strong, hold on, I won't delay.
Wait till I come back to your side,
We'll forget the tears we cried.
It's been a long time, now I'm coming back home,
I've been away now, oh, how I've been alone
Lyrically this song has nothing to recommend it that wouldn’t be better handled by Mel Torme’s Comin Home Baby (except that Mel is clearly thinking of sex and it seems almost like the Beatles are thinking of providing emotional support)
I think the Beatles, inspired by the thematic cohesiveness of Dylan’s albums were trying for the same thing here.
In approaching albums as art this is a good tactic because the worst songs on the album are bolstered by the best, but taken separately the worse songs can come to seem like thematic album filler. That’s what this song seems like — thematic album filler.
Maybe Nathaniel Rateliff, if you want someone to improve a song you don’t like much he seems like a good pick.
If I Needed Someone — If I needed someone to love
You’re the one that I’d be thinking of
If I needed someone
If I had some more time to spend
Then I guess I’d be with you, my friend
If I needed someone
Had you come some other day
Then it might not have been like this
But you see now I’m too much in love
Carve your number on my wall
And maybe you will get a call from me
If I needed someone
Ah, ah, ah, ah
If I had some more time to spend
Then I guess I’d be with you, my friend
If I needed someone
Had you come some other day
Then it might not have been like this
But you see now I’m too much in love
Carve your number on my wall
And maybe you will get a call from me
If I needed someone
Ah, ah
Also a song that provides some nice support for the themes of the album but that’s it. Thematically I dislike closing off the album with weak songs, sure a weak song as the last one but the second to last should probably be stronger. Here we have 3 weak songs in a row (closing with Run for your Life which really does not fit in the rest of the album and has been left off here because it does sound ‘old’)
https://open.spotify.com/track/7C6hdDIz90Uf5YmdZnYbJJ?si=eb64d7d92dcc4b7e
Conclusion
The best songs of this album — Michelle, Girl, Drive My Car, Norwegian Wood.
Pretty Good songs — I’m Lookiing Through You, In My Life, Nowhere Man (which is almost hard to take anymore though because it is an ‘important’ Beatles song)
Note that we left Run for your life off as a song that does sound old, also I don’t really think it fits thematically with the other songs. It weakens the whole album.
The rest of the songs are not that important, but one of the good things about songs like this is they make good playlist material. Wait is a song that hardly anyone knows or cares about but it makes a fine addition to a coming home themed playlist without having the problem of being The Beatles for some people.
One of the problems is that the songs bear a lot of weight by being Beatles songs, they have too much associated Mana
Even though they do not really sound old we know they are old, they are reliquaries of a vanished age and must be treasured and revered damnit — the Beatles touched these songs with their magic.
It’s hard, especially in the context of rock and roll, but really in the context of all art, to not develop a certain contempt for the overly revered.
The songs here are fine with some clever lyrics and nice music, but as one of the quotes at the top had it
not particularly deep.
There’s nothing wrong with not being particularly deep, but it can be annoying if everyone is standing around genuflecting at the not particularly deep thing.
However this is the first album that breaks out of the yeah,yeah, yeah mold — it is not normally supposed to be an album that we should expect the depths from.
Reordering the Playlist
Pliant Soul — the songs of Rubber Soul moved around in such a way that I think they fit better as an album.
The main difference is that the ending is made by stronger by having Nowhere Man, Norwegian Wood, Wait, and The Word.
The Word could be. considered a pretty good song if it weren’t the Beatles and all the hippie baggage it carries for it.
Nowhere Man and Norwegian Wood are strong enough that the relative weakness of Wait and The Word are not too problematic, further more there is a conceptual narrative in the last three songs — Norwegian Wood, at some girl’s house with unconsummated lust; Wait, coming home to their true love; The Word — home and now time for physical love — moving the song from the no longer fashionable hippie philosophizing to more carnal interests.
This article was written by IG Agent 19, who is working out an unhealthy obsession.
Previous Articles that may be of interest
discounting the articles already linked above.
