“In My Life” (The Beatles)

Today’s classic song of the day is “In My Life” by the Beatles. This one was a track from their landmark 1965 album, Rubber Soul; even though it wasn’t released as a single, it seeped into our collective consciousness just the same.

“In My Life” is all about coming to grips with the places, friends, and lovers of one’s past. While attributed to Lennon-McCartney, like all of the duo’s Beatles songs, it was written primarily by John Lennon. Like his later “Strawberry Fields,” it started out as a song about his childhood. It’s also one of his best and most memorable tunes, probably because it is so personal.

When I say it was written by Lennon, there’s some dispute over that. Lennon claims that he wrote the bulk of it himself and Paul McCartney contributed “the harmony and the middle eight.” McCartney, for his part, said he contributed all the music, saying “I liked ‘In My Life.’ Those were words that John wrote, and I wrote the tune to it. That was a great one.”

Here’s how John remembers it:

“For ‘In My Life’, I had a complete set of lyrics after struggling with a journalistic vision of a trip from home to downtown on a bus naming every sight. It became ‘In My Life’, which is a remembrance of friends and lovers of the past. Paul helped with the middle eight musically. But all lyrics written, signed, sealed, and delivered. And it was, I think, my first real major piece of work. Up till then it had all been sort of glib and throwaway. And that was the first time I consciously put my literary part of myself into the lyric. Inspired by Kenneth Allsop, the British journalist, and Bob Dylan.“

John’s words are what I remember, particularly these:

But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you.
And these mem’ries lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new.

Tho’ I know I’ll never lose affection
For people and things that went before,
I know I’ll often stop and think about them,
In my life I love you more.

The Beatles recorded the entire song, save for the instrumental bridge, in one day on October 18, 1965. John later asked producer George Martin to play a “Baroque-sounding” piano solo for that bridge and Martin wrote a Bach-like piano interlude in response. The part was complicated enough, however, that Martin couldn’t actually play it at tempo. So he recorded it half speed then sped it up to match the tempo of the song. The result is a piano part that sounds an octave higher than written, with a harpsichord-like timbre. Like a bastard child, this bit came into the world half improvised and half compromised, but the result is perfect—and influential. “In My Life” and George Martin’s sped-up piano interlude helped establish the category of Baroque pop and inspired other groups and producers to incorporate the harpsichord into their arrangements.

The song is also notable for Ringo Starr’s inventive drum part. Instead of playing straight 8ths on the hi-hat or ride cymbal, he saves the hat for a syncopated hit on the “and” after three, matching the bass drum hit on the “and” after two. It’s a simple but arresting part that perfectly suits the song, and it looks like this:

“In My Life” ranks as one of the Beatles’ most-loved and most influential tracks. Paul McCartney and George Harrison both called it one of the group’s finest tracks and Mojo magazine named it the best song of all time. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it as fifth on its list of 100 Greatest Beatles Songs and #23 on its list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

The song is nostalgic and romantic, a song that inspires the listener’s memories and feelings. “In My Life” is simply one of the Beatles best songs, period, which makes it one of the best songs of the pop era.