5ives » Five amazing Beatles bridges

This one single blog post inspired me to organize all the Beatles songs in my iTunes library, putting in proper tags for which albums they were on, what years they were released, and whether they were Lennon/McCartney songs or Harrison songs. (I have one Ringo Starr song, “Octopus’s Garden.”)

My Beatles songs were in disarray because most of them were copied from my CDs of the 1967–1970 compilation (the “Blue Album”), which came out in 1975 or thereabouts, and many were downloaded, meaning they weren’t properly tagged in the first place. The only Beatles album I have on CD is Rubber Soul, even though Revolver is a better album, so that was the only album I had reliable track info for.

So I headed over to allmusic and started my research. It doesn’t help that until Sgt. Pepper every Beatles album released in the UK was repackaged for the differently perceived American audience. My vinyl collection, therefore, doesn’t match the “real” albums. I have a copy of Meet the Beatles, but Please Please Me was the album whose track listing I wanted. Things like that.

I discovered I didn’t even have most of the Beatles songs I love. So I started getting them. It took me four hours to download every Beatles song I wanted (they’ll be on iTunes soon, which is hilarious given the Apple v. Apple fiasco) and organize them all with album and track and composer listings. But I now have eighty-two Beatles songs in iTunes, and I can finally read the blog post linked above and appreciate it properly.

For one thing, he’s using “bridge” to mean “chorus.” Fine, as long as we understand each other.

1. You Won’t See Me
2. Here, There, and Everywhere
3. I Feel Fine
4. Help!
5. We Can Work It Out

“You Won’t See Me”: Ah, yes. I do love this song. The chorus is a dream, too. As I realized last night, not for the first time, in the early years (that is, when they were still actually collaborating), whenever John and Paul picked a minor key, the song came out stunning. “Time after time, you refuse to even listen. I wouldn’t mind if I knew what I was missing.” The backing vocals in this song are also a treasure.

“Here, There and Everywhere”: I just can’t get over Revolver. This, “Eleanor Rigby,” and “Got to Get You Into My Life” are all on the same album. It doesn’t seem possible. “Eleanor Rigby” sounds like a White Album–era song. “Got to Get You Into My Life” feels earlier than 1966. And “Here, There and Everywhere” sounds later. The song’s opening few seconds are even reminiscent of “Live and Let Die,” which was a decade away! “Everywhere, knowing that love is to share, each one believing that love never dies, watching her eyes, and hoping I’m always there.”

“I Feel Fine”: Okay, I forgot to get this one. I’m a moron. It’s because it was only a single. It’s only on 1962–1966 (the “Red Album”) and a couple of the fake US-only LPs.

“Help!”: “Help me if you can, I’m feeling down, and I do appreciate your being round.” A lot of the song and album reviews on allmusic, which I didn’t mean to read last night but had to, recognize an urgent melancholy in John’s songs, masked behind pop fronts. If ever there was a song as full of quiet desperation as this one, I don’t know what it is.

“We Can Work It Out”: One of my five-star Beatles songs. Desperation here, too. “Life is very short, and there’s no time for fussing and fighting, my friend. I have always thought that it’s a crime. So I will ask you once again.”