A look back at “Paperback Writer,” the single that propelled The Beatles into a new era, towards the legendary Revolver.
In the annals of Beatles singlesThere is “Please Please Me”one of the songs from the group's first album, “Let It Be”a track from their last album and a bunch of game-changing singles, the biggest of which is rarely considered one of the band's best works.
And yet, “Paperback Writer” (“ just a little blues song » underlines its author in all modesty) which was recorded 50 years ago, at the mid-April 1966which hit stores in May of that year, is perhaps the single that best suggests how the Beatles were about to radically change things.
The album Rubber Soul had just come out in December 1965 and still dominated the top albums charts in the spring. It was a Beatles album like no other, one you weren't prepared for, clearly marking the start of a new era. The Beatles' second period had already begun.
No one had thought of mixing the folk music to rhythm & blueslike the Beatles had just done. This second half try was about to get more interesting.
Revolver would be the complete fulfillment of the group's next stage. But before that, there was “ Paperback Writer”, the teaser impertinent of a song that would gently extricate you from the world of Rubber Soul and which would take you to a new galaxy.
From the beginning, there is something mystical about “Paperback Writer,” even though it is in essence a quick, short story about an aspiring writer. Paul McCartney starts singing before John Lennon And George Harrison join him for a powerful counter-song. Harrison's distorted guitar then plays a filthy riff while Ringo Starr violently hits his bass drum, McCartney's five rapid bass notes giving even more energy to this beginning of the song; and here we go for the verse.
A bass had never sounded this way and one can imagine the look that McCartney and the sound engineer Geoff Emerick had to exchange, as if they had just freed up a whole field of possibilities for the instrument.
“ With “Paperback Writer”, it was the first time we heard a bass make that sound, remarks Emerick in The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions by Mark Lewisohn. To start, Paul played a different bass, a Rickenbacker. Then we increased the sound using a speaker as a microphone “.
By then, McCartney possessed an unrivaled gift on the bass. Lennon, who never paid compliments, discovered that McCartney “ was one of the most innovative bassists of all time “.
“‘Paperback Writer’ had a heavier sound than some of their early work. It was also the result of very good vocal work, said the producer George Martin. “ I think that was just how it worked, that the rhythm was most important at that time “.
The studio itself was an essential instrument for the band, and it is one of the earliest examples of the Beatles learning to play it, and playing it masterfully. We must not forget L'ATOC (Automatic Transient Overload Control)a kind of compressor that amplifies the volume and heaviness of the bass.
“ It was a huge box with lights and what looked like a cyclops eye staring at you.explains Tony Clark. But this “monster” allowed “Paperback Writer” to have a high bass factor and not blow the sapphires of those who were listening to the song. »
The lyrics are just as innovative. The first verse takes the form of a letter, the narrator wishing to auction off the manuscript that took him years to write. Lennon is almost always considered to be the joker and writer of the group, but McCartney is hard to beat on this song. The story is based on a novel written by a man called Leara pun on Shakespeare and the Spanish verb “leer” (“to read” in French).
At that time,Shakespeare of the group: he goes to the theater, to the cinema, he reads, he chats. He was a culture bulimic.
In Many Years From Now by Barry Miles, McCartney says:
“ I got to Weybridge and told John that I had the idea of writing to publishers about writing paperbacks, and I said “I think it should be written like a letter.” I took a piece of paper and said it should be something like “Madam, Sir, as the case may be…” and I continued to write like a letter, in front of him, making rhymes occasionally “.
“Paperback Writer” adjusts between theavant-garde and the populist as easily as any Beatles song. The song leaves room for a little madness. English groups of the time had a weakness for intellectual choirs. On “Girl”the Beatles sang “ tit tit tit » over and over again. The Whounable to afford classical musicians, repeatedly sang the word “ cello » (“cello” in French) in the song “A Quick One” when we were supposed to hear one. With “Paperback Writer,” McCartney made people sing “Brother Jacques” to the other members of the group in the third verse.
Compare this childish melody to this instrumental work, and a story of publishing dreams which could have had its source in a more joyful version of a novel like New Grub Streetcreates a clash of strange and beautiful worlds.
There's a lot going on here, and yet it all blends together perfectly. With “Paperback Writer,” the Beatles almost seemed to lure the listener out of the galaxy. Or at least beyond everything that represents his daily life. The time had come to look up. And they even thought of writing the invitation for you in the form of a letter.
Colin Fleming
