Continued from page 16 possibly the song in the Beatles catalog that has aged the most poorly due to the misogynistic lyric“ I’ d rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man,” which was lifted wholesale from Elvis Presley’ s“ Baby, Let’ s Play House.” The Beatles ' song finds redemption in Harrison’ s sparkling rockabilly guitar, a tribute to forebears including Carl Perkins and The Everly Brothers. Lennon nonetheless called it his least favorite Beatles song and regretted its violent tone. Solo songs like“ Jealous Guy” and“ Woman” were overt attempts to make amends. Many differences in the new stereo mix are obvious to spot. The false start on the acoustic guitar has been cleaned from“ I’ m Looking
the fall of 1965, the Super Deluxe box includes a 7” non-album double A-side single“ We Can Work It Out” b / w“ Day Tripper.” Like the non-album singles“ Penny Lane” and“ Strawberry Fields Forever” from Sgt. Pepper, fans can debate whether“ We Can Work It Out” or“ Day Tripper” should have stayed on the album, and what song it should have replaced. This reviewer would have swapped“ Day Tripper”( predominantly Lennon’ s work) for his“ Run For Your Life” and Lennon years of grief. In my armchair producer’ s world, the McCartney-led“ We Can Work It Out” could have traded places with his“ You Won’ t See Me.” Even original mix / master purists will covet this set for its two platters of alternate takes, instrumental backing tracks and demos. These entries offer new insight into the world’ s most-studied
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The Beatles, 1965
Through You.” Lennon’ s vocal isn’ t panned hard right, away from the band, on“ Girl.”“ Norwegian Wood” is also more balanced left-to-right, with Lennon’ s lead vocal and McCartney’ s harmony centered. McCartney’ s bass anchors the song from the middle, rather than crowding the left with Harrison’ s sitar. The sitar itself is more present and natural-sounding. Starr’ s kick drum on“ The Word” has body and thump the original stereo mix lacks. McCartney’ s nimble bass line is better defined, and the stacked vocal harmonies are spread across the stereo spectrum. If there’ s a drawback, Lennon’ s sharp, staccato rhythm guitar doesn’ t have the same bite as in the older version. The old stereo mix of Lennon’ s tender“ In My Life” was practically a hard-panned duet between Starr’ s drums and either the vocal or Martin’ s piano solo. The new mix is a clear improvement that allows the band back into the room. Details in the guitar and bass lines are audible at last, while not overshadowing the vocal melody and sensitive lyric. The new stereo master plays back ever so slightly slower than the old master. It’ s a subtle difference that would be imperceptible unless you were trying to align individual songs from old and new versions to play simultaneously. The slight shift certainly does no harm to the relaxed tempos of songs including“ Norwegian Wood” and“ In My Life.” To round out the music captured during pop band. Three working versions of“ I’ m Looking Through You” illuminate the song’ s development and key decision points, including a modified tempo and instrumental sections that differ from McCartney’ s eventual bridge on the final album. Perhaps most interesting is a track of candid band chatter from vocal overdubs for“ Think for Yourself,” plus the debut release of Lennon’ s solo acoustic demo for the starry-eyed love song“ Little Girl.” An 88-page hardback book completes the set with Lennon’ s foreword, historical notes, new essays, extensive trackby-track notes, and photos of the band and studio artifacts. Lennon’ s lyrics for“ Norwegian Wood,” later retitled“ This Bird Has Flown,” appear to be handwritten on the cover page of a promotional copy of The Joan Baez Songbook. Lennon’ s