Beatles Countdown #90 – I’m Looking Through You

Mar 02

Doug1960s paul mccartney, the beatles No Comments

Oh, another Paul McCartney song? Who would have thought? Well, coming in at #90 is from 1965’s Rubber Soul: “I’m Looking Through You!”

Sarcasm on the McCartney front aside, this is a great song. As I look back, I didn’t have it on my ballot for this and I’m seriously scratching my head and wondering why. Like “You Won’t See Me” and others, the song was written about Paul’s then-girlfriend of five years Jane Asher. Actually, the song was written following an argument between the two in Asher’s family house, supposedly about her commitment. Paul went to his own room which he had to compose music & sleep in and wrote this song. Paul himself says it wasn’t the first or last time it happened. He was extremely disappointed & dissatisfied with the relationship by this point, questioning Jane’s “facade” of commitment which led to the famous line: “I’m looking through you and you’re not there!” After being together for five years and getting fed up with it, it’s easy to see where the lyrically challenging song comes about. I’m sure most reading this have been in or know of a relationship where someone doesn’t “look different,” but they “have changed.” Well, Paul’s just like you and me in that regard then.

The song appears on a more lyrically introspective album. Joining other broken love vows like “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown),” Paul’s song fit perfectly in the rapidly maturing catalogue of Beatles songs as the band quickly grew up in the public eye. Musically, the song contains two funny bits of information. The first would be a tambourine dropping captured in the song. In their earlier days, The Beatles’ recording sessions were so expensive that they would leave little mistakes on tracks instead of re-recording them. So when around 1:20 of this take, Paul drops his tambourine; no one thought to take it out! This ignoring of mistakes will come up near the end of the countdown with a very famous song so retain this bit of useless information. The second would be that Ringo Starr is credited with playing a Hammond Organ on the song. Nope, that’s not a typo. Ringo Starr and a Hammond Organ. Imagine that one for a bit and you’ll get a chuckle like I did out of this. Even more for Ringo, he played matches on this song as he created the tapping noise with his fingers & a match pack! Next time you drum on it in Rock Band (one of the better songs to play with on it), why not grab a match pack and see if you get extra points? Nonsense aside, the lyrics & music wrap up into one of the best songs on one of their best albums. Who among us can say they don’t enjoy that abrasive guitar break as you find out they’re not the same? You know you want to listen to it now. Go ahead:

Song: I’m Looking Through You
Album: Rubber Soul
Year: 1965

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