Beatles Countdown #89 – Yer Blues
Mar 02
1960s john lennon, the beatles No Comments
As we start with the 80s in the countdown, John Lennon makes his first appearance at #89 with a depressing track from the self-tilted album known as The White Album: “Yer Blues!”
An obvious cry for help now, Lennon at the time painstakingly tried to cover it up as a parody, refusing to own up to the blunt lyrics and his blues singing out of fear, shame, or both. According to Anthology, Lennon was extremely depressed in India (despite meditating eight hours a day) and when he wrote the line “I’m so lonely I want to die,” he was actually serious. At the end of his marriage with Cynthia, wanting desperately to be with Yoko Ono, having lost one of his best friends in Brian Epstein, drifting away from his close friends, finding out the Maharishi was not exactly who The Beatles thought he was; man, it’s no surprise to see why John was depressed here. Really, I don’t know how Lennon expected this song to fly over anyone’s head. I guess in their catalogue of deep metaphors shrouding obvious feelings like “Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except Me And My Monkey”, he expected this kind of blunt, emotional plea to be written off as the parody he hoped it to be by naming it “Yer Blues” instead of “Your Blues.” It really wouldn’t be until his solo career with songs like “Cold Turkey” and “Mother” that he would bare his soul so openly to the world so this was still fairly new. Trying to patronize the song to avoid critical backlash, it’s really unsure what exactly Lennon was afraid of. He had opened up before in songs like “I’m A Loser” and he had sung the blues in the past, but also not to this degree for either. He would later tell interviewers about his love for blues singer when he was younger, but he was quoted by Rolling Stone as saying: “…To sing it was something else. I’m self conscious about doing it.” He also wouldn’t start putting his heart out for the world until after The Beatles. All of these things probably heightened his fear of releasing the song as the truth. Paul tried to console John over the song telling him to “say it straight,” but ultimately Lennon’s fear won and he got his easy defense for the song.
The song itself stands out on The White Album and so did the recording session for it, but in a surprising way. At this point in time, the band had started to seriously drift away from each other. Brian Epstein’s death caused a rift between Paul & John, Ringo tired of the in-house bickering between members, Harrison was tired of getting overlooked by Paul & John, and Yoko’s presence bothered all but John (naturally). Even the staff on hand to help the Beatles record it would comment on the negative atmosphere in the studio. It’s no surprise Ringo would quit the band for a short period of time here. But the recording of this song turned out to be one that brought the band together. After joking about places to record the lost Harrison gem “Not Guilty,” Paul made the quip that they’ll want to record in the next room, which was used to keep four-track machines and had no set-up whatsoever. Lennon jumped on the spontaneity and had them set it up to record in that room immediately for the next track: “Yer Blues.” Ringo would later affectionately remark on this session as one of his favorites saying: “It was this group that was together” and “just doing what we do best: playing.” The combination of playing so closely with each other (mimicking their abandoned touring days), the raw emotion in the lyrics, the garage-like environment, and the basic roots of the music – it all summed up to a recording brimming with electric energy that stands out easily on the second half of The Beatles if not the whole album. Ultimately, John’s depression led them to re-visit their own roots and re-discover what they loved: playing with each other. It might not have lasted, but trust me, it shows here.
Song: Yer Blues
Album: The Beatles
Year: 1968
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