#266 The Beatles, 'Help!' (1965)
Previously #331
The Beatles’ fifth album doubled as the soundtrack to the film of the same name and marked the end of their “early” period or first half of their career. The albums following this one were more complex and experimental, both in production and songwriting. It was also the last time an album by The Beatles would feature any songs not written by any of the members (bar traditional song, ‘Maggie Mae’ on ‘Let It Be’). The title track was written as a literal cry for help by Lennon following the band’s meteoric rise to success. "I was fat and depressed and I was crying out for 'Help'," said Lennon later on. ‘You’ve Got To Hide Your Love Away,’ Lennon’s nod to Dylan, was rumoured to be written from the band’s manager, Brian Epstein, who sadly had to hide his homosexuality as it was still illegal in the UK at the stage. ‘Ticket To Ride’ was controversial at the time as it mentioned an unmarried couple living together. Lennon and McCartney kindly allowed Harrison two tracks on this record, his first since 1963’s ‘With The Beatles.’ ‘I Need You’ is a great use of his volume pedal that still pricks my ears up everytime I hear it.
Starr gets his moment on the Buck Owens Country song, ‘Act Naturally,’ but the big moment on this record ironically only features one member of The Beatles. ‘Yesterday’ is arguably Paul McCartney’s crowning moment as a songwriter. The song, which features McCartney on an acoustic guitar accompanied by a strong quartet, is the most covered song in history with more than 2,200 versions of the song. McCartney claimed that the melody came to him in a dream. He immediately ran to the piano upon waking to play it out. He was worried that he had plagiarised it but after playing it to people for a month, he was satisfied that he had written it when nobody had recognised it. The original lyrics were "Scrambled eggs/Oh my baby how I love your legs/Not as much as I love scrambled eggs." As was traditional with Beatles records up to then, they ended with a cover of a rock ‘n roll song, this time it was Larry Williams’s ‘Dizzy Miss Lizzy’ and is reminiscent of their version of ‘Twist & Shout’.
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