TOP 100 SONGS OF THE BEATLES ― 25

"Here, There and Everywhere” (McCartney – August 8, 1966)

Revolver – Side 1, track 5 (2:26)

YouTube (Emmylou Harris)

From Wikipedia, Rolling Stone, About.com, and Google –

"Here, There and Everywhere" is a song written primarily by Paul McCartney (credited to Lennon/McCartney), recorded for The Beatles 1966 album Revolver. In his biography Many Years From Now, McCartney said the song is one of his favorites. Beatles' producer George Martin has also mentioned it as one of his favorite McCartney songs. John Lennon reportedly told McCartney it was "The best tune on the album" and said in his 1980 Playboy interview it was "one of my favorite songs of the Beatles." It was ranked the 4th greatest song of all time by Mojo in 2000.

History –

Widely regarded as one of Paul's finest love songs, if not the finest, "Here, There and Everywhere" was written by Paul in April of 1965, according to the singer himself, who claims that John heard a rough demo of it during the filming of Help! and immediately pronounced it his favorite new Beatles song. Although that's unlikely -- Paul has also remembered presenting it to John in April 1966, which makes more sense -- John was a big fan of "Here, There and Everywhere." Indeed, John maintained even after the band's messy breakup that this was one of the best songs in their catalog, and Paul has always claimed it as his favorite of the songs he's written. The subject of the song is Jane Asher, Paul's girlfriend.


Composed while lounging around the pool of John's home in Weybridge, Surrey, waiting for him to wake up and start the day, the song's layered backing vocals and opening line -- "To lead a better life, I need my love to be there" -- were inspired by Brian Wilson's work with the Beach Boys, specifically the song "God Only Knows." (The Beach Boys album Pet Sounds was inspired by Rubber Soul, and Pet Sounds, in turn, inspired McCartney on Revolver.) Paul modeled his vocals after those of Marianne Faithfull, who'd just had a similarly gentle hit covering the Rolling Stones' "As Tears Go By." The effect was augmented by recording the lead vocals at a slower speed and then speeding them up on playback.

Recording –

The song is noted for its bitter-sweet melody, layered backing vocals and utilizing a "clever harmonic scheme" underpinning the chordal structure. McCartney mentioned in the 1989 radio series McCartney on McCartney that the much-praised vocals were meant to have a "Beach Boys" sound. He has said he was trying to sing it in the style of Marianne Faithfull. His vocals are multi-tracked. The verse is based on an ascending major chord sequence, while the middle eight, which modulates to the tonic minor, creates a telling contrast.

"Here, There and Everywhere" was the second-to-last song begun and completed for Revolver. Work began on June 14, 1966, as Paul laid down the basic track on guitar with light drums by Ringo. This was completed in four takes; then the first backing vocal overdubs were begun. Two days later, the backing vocals were completed; Paul added bass and George a (double-tracked) lead guitar -- left channel, during the bridge, and right channel, over the final chords. John, Paul and George added strategically-placed finger snaps for effect. Finally, on the 17th, the song was completed with the re-recording and double-tracking of Paul's lead vocal. (He was obviously in fine form that day, as he immediately lept into recording the lead vocal for "Got To Get You Into My Life" after completing the vocals for this one!)

Takes: 14

Personnel

John Lennon – Backing vocals, finger snaps
Paul McCartney – Lead vocals (double-tracked), backing vocals, rhythm guitar (1965 Epiphone E230TD(V) Casino), bass guitar (1964 Rickenbacker 4001S)
George Harrison – Backing vocals, lead guitar (1964 Rickenbacker "Fire-glo" 360-12), finger snaps
Ringo Starr – Drums (Ludwig), finger snaps

Cultural references –

In the TV series Friends, this song is played on steel drums when Phoebe Buffay walks down the aisle during her wedding. It was the second time a song written by McCartney was used in a wedding sequence in the series; the first being "My Love" when Chandler and Monica married.

Geoff Emerick, who engineered many of the Beatles' recordings, used the song title in the title of his own 2006 memoir, Here, There, and Everywhere: My Life Recording the Music of The Beatles.

Gary Sparrow sings this song on the piano in an episode of Goodnight Sweetheart.

Trivia –

Although it was never performed live by the group, who had stopped touring, Paul himself has played it in concert. In January 1991, he performed it for the first time on his episode of MTV's Unplugged, then during "secret gigs" in May and July of that year. He included the song in his set list on stops of his 1993 New World Tour, including a rehearsal in London, shows in Italy, Germany, France, Japan, and Australia, and also Mexico and the US.

This song was offered, in instrumental form, to the legendary UK group the Shadows, but never sent to them; the first guitarist Bruce Welch heard of the song was when he picked up a copy of Revolver.

"Here, There and Everywhere" is used, in instrumental form, during a wedding episode of the NBC sitcom Friends.

The original mono mix of this song has Paul's second lead vocal accidentally singing "You" instead of "I" in the song's second-to-last line: "I will be there, and everywhere." That vocal track also drops out on the last "everywhere" of the song. This has been fixed in recent mixes. Take 7 of the song, with Take 13's vocal, was released as a track on the Anthology "Real Love" single, but never on Anthology itself. It cannot be found anywhere else. Paul also re-recorded this song in early 1983 for inclusion in his film Give My Regards to Broad Street.

Today in Beatles History (From The Internet Beatles Album) March 16 –

1963 – Studio 3A, Broadcasting House, London. 10.00am-12.00noon. Recording and broadcasting live for BBC's Saturday Club. "I Saw Her Standing There"; "Misery"; "Too Much Monkey Business"; ''I'm Talking About You"; "Please Please Me"; "The Hippy Hippy Shake". 

– Only BBC take of "I'm Talking About You".

– Concert at the City Hall, Sheffield (Chris Montez and Tommy Roe tour).

1964 – US single release: "Can't Buy Me Love"/"You Can't Do That".

– US gold certification: "Can't Buy Me Love"/"You Can't Do That".

1966 – Rubber Soul, 15th week in the Top 10 (UK New Musical Express chart).

1969 – John and Yoko fly to Paris.

1972 – John interview outside US Immigration building.