(John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
This song was written for the most part by John Lennon at home in Weybridge, Surrey, with Paul McCartney helping to add the finishing touches. He said in an interview that he had based it on himself after having struggled for hours to write a song for inclusion on Rubber Soul and was getting nowhere. Deciding to rest, he lay down and the words and music just came to him. The result was one of the first Beatles songs not to be about personal relationships.
It was recorded at Abbey Road Studios on the 21st/22nd October 1965 with the 3-part harmony being sung by John, Paul and George. It was released on the album Rubber Soul and outside of the UK it was issued as a single, with “What Goes On” as the B-Side. It made it to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the charts in Canada and Australia. It also appeared on the US 1966 album Yesterday…And Today.
A few years later The Beatles used the song again in their 1968 movie Yellow Submarine where they sang it to describe the character Jeremy Hilary Boob Ph.D who lived in the Sea of Nothing.
Many other groups and artists have since recorded it including The Settlers, Richard Carpenter, Jeff Lynne, Randy Travis, Joe Pass, Stars on 45 and The Smashing Pumpkins to name a few. Peter Frampton and the Bee Gees also performed it in 1978 in the movie Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
Stars on 45 recordings
Medley: Intro “Venus” – Sugar Sugar – No Reply – I’ll Be Back – Drive My Car – Do You Want to Know a Secret – We Can Work it Out – I Should Have Known Better – Nowhere Man – You’re Going to Lose That Girl – Stars on 45 (Jeff Barry/Martin Duiser/Jaap Eggermont/Andy Kim/Robbie van Leeuwen/John Lennon/Paul McCartney)
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