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Why The Beatles’ ‘Revolver’ Still Rocks The World

04 February, 2016 - 0 Comments

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the release of “Revolver,” the greatest album by The Beatles, the greatest band of the modern era. Its best song, “For No One,” the best composition by this era’s best songwriter, Paul McCartney, is a 122-second triumph. It starts suddenly. No instrumental introduction to get the ear ready for the melody or the mind ready for the lyrics. We awake in a flash: “Your day breaks / Your mind aches.

It’s a not uncommon trick, this jarring start; perfect for when the writer wants to set a tone from the jump. Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong uses it to establish the punk twitchiness of the melodic marvel “Basket Case.” Squeeze uses it to foreshadow the climactic theme of “Pulling Muscles (From the Shell).” Like McCartney, Kesha (!) uses it in “TiK ToK” to start the day (“Wake up in the morning / Feelin’ like P-Diddy”)&dmash;though, admittedly, to tell about a very different kind of day.

What sets “For No One” apart, though, is the sudden sorrow. The Beatles used a similar approach in Lennon’s superb “Help!” The instant exclamation “Help / I need somebody” not only distinguishes the song from the band’s first wave of amorous hits (“From Me to You,” “I Want to Hold Your Hand,” “She Loves You”), it also presages two of the most desperate minutes in the band’s catalogue.

By: Andy Smarick

Source: The Federalist

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