GREAT BEATLES RECORDS

FOR NO ONE

Man, I had a bitchin' blog for this song, but the computer had a shit-fit and didn't post it. First time in a while that has happened to me, not counting the loss of my Archives.

Of course, you all know what it feels like when you lose a good post. It kind of feels like breaking up with a lover, in a sense: you keep thinking of all the things you wrote and how great it was, and now you realize you have nothing.

Your day breaks
Your mind aches
You find that all her words of kindness linger on
when she no longer needs you

Paul McCartney gets on my nerves. He writes songs like "Hello Goodbye" and expects them to be profound. Sure, they were instant Number Ones, but they were pap.

What's even more infuriating, however, is that he occasionally managed to write some extraordinarily great music, such as "For No One", songs with an emotional depth that I expect from John Lennon.

I once read an article in a humor magazine that asked "What's Your Beatle Sign?" If treated like astrological sun signs, consider me a John with a George rising. Maybe Ringo is my moon sign. I don't think I have any Paul in my chart.

But "For No One" makes up for all of that, the finest break-up song that a man can write, an underrated track on an overrated album like Revolver, reminiscent of what it actually feels like to part ways with a significant other.

The lyrics go on about remembering sentiments that were spoken to each other:

There will be times
when all the things she said
will fill your head
You won't forget her

Paul is singing to the man, who has really fucked things up royally. It seems like it's the man's fault, not the woman's. She can't stand the man anymore-- she doesn't feel like she recognizes him anymore:

She said that long ago
she knew someone
but now he's gone
She doesn't need him

It reminds me of that song "Torn", made popular by Natalie Imbruglia but actually written by a woman named Anne Previn, when she was part of a band called Ednaswap-- now they are known as Annetenna.

There's that line in "Torn" -- I prefer Anne's, and not Natalie's, version-- that goes: "You couldn't be that man that I adored/You don't seem to know or seem to care what your heart is for..." It echoes this composition very much so.

Then there's that lovely French horn solo that caps off the end of the second verse: desolate, muted, despairing...

I mentioned "Hello Goodbye" because Paul basically ripped himself off, taking the main verse of "For No One" and popping it up to create the chorus for the travesty that is "Hello Goodbye", which was yet another Number One hit for the Cute Beatle. But "For No One" is the better song.

It is the more emotional song, the more meaningful song. It was written after Paul broke up with Jane Asher, an actress he met at the height of Beatlemania. Paul was very enamored of her and her family, and spent many hours with them, eating dinner and listening to records. He rarely ever spent any time with John, George and Ringo outside of their band duties, and when he split with her he probably felt even more isolated than usual, because his bandmates had already become accustomed to his absence.

The Ashers influenced Paul's musical direction, getting him hooked on the kind of old-time records that his musically-gifted father used to play, the kind of stuff that Paul ended up incorporating into songs like "Honey Pie", "Martha My Dear", "Your Mother Should Know" and "When I'm Sixty-Four".

I'm sure Paul went into a mild depression following the break-up. Jane probably handled it better, but not by much.

You want her
You need her
And yet you don't believe her
when she says 'our love is dead'
You think she needs you

I imagine that he looked into her tear-stained eyes and saw that she had had enough of his ways. Paul can be annoying, I would guess, what with being a left-handed bass player and all.

And there's no one on the track, except for Paul's piano, Ringo's trap kit, and a session horn player. John and george were probably out getting high and playing with expensive toys when Paul did this one.

Yes, Paul gets on my nerves. And he must've gotten on a lot of people's nerves. And what's more-- he probably was sensitive enough to realize this, and wrote a song like "For No One" to show that, indeed, he knew how insufferable he could be.

Next time you have it out with your lover, put this platter on and sink into a comfy chair... especially if you are a man and your woman is fed up with your narcissism.