For No One

This brilliant, sad, haunting ballad about the end of a relationship was originally titled Why Did it Die.  It was written by McCartney in March of 1966 while he was in Switzerland on a skiing holiday with his girlfriend Jane Asher.  Like Eleanor Rigby, which also appeared on the album Revolver, it showcases Paul arriving at the height of his powers as a songwriter, even though his subject matter is uncharacteristically downbeat.

Whether or not John and George attended the session on May 9th, there would have been nothing for them to do except watch as Paul on piano and Ringo on his drum kit made ten takes of the basic track before Paul was satisfied.  Onto take ten, Ringo overdubbed some light cymbal work and a tambourine part as Paul added his bass line and played a keyboard called a clavichord, which belonged to producer George Martin and sounds very much like a harpsichord to most of us casual listeners.

Paul returned to the track on May 16th to record his plaintive vocal.  The crowning touch came a few days later on May 19th as French horn player Alan Civil reported to the studio.  Accounts differ as to who came up with the part he played.  Civil claims he came up with it himself after hearing what Paul wanted, but Paul, George Martin and even engineer Geoff Emerick in his book Here, There and Everywhere say that the part was written out for him, with McCartney and Martin jokingly pushing the horn player to hit one note higher than his instrument was supposed to be capable of reaching.  It took several attempts, but Civil delivered an exquisite performance.  For his unique contribution, he received the rare reward of having his name appear on the album cover.

The song appears on both the British and American versions of the LP Revolver.  Though it cannot be deemed a group effort, For No One certainly adds to the eclecticism of this superb album, the Beatles' finest.  After their career, it was chosen for the compilation album Love Songs.  And Paul himself decided to record a new version of the song for his 1984 film Give My Regards to Broad Street.