Girl

November 11th, 1965 was the last day scheduled for work on the album Rubber Soul - it had to be in stores in time for the Christmas rush! - yet three more tracks were necessary to complete it.  Luckily, McCartney came in with one composition (You Won't See Me), Lennon brought in another (Girl) and there was an unfinished track left over from the Help! sessions in June (Wait).  Plus vocals had to be added to I'm Looking Through You.  The Beatles entered the studio at 6pm with a long night ahead of them.

It was around 11pm by the time You Won't See Me was finished and attention was turned to Lennon's sublime offering.  The basic rhythm track consisted of Paul on bass, Ringo playing his drum kit with brushes and John's acoustic guitar sounding unusually high due to a capo placed well up on its neck.  They managed to nail it on just their second attempt.  For his lead vocal part, John already knew that he wanted his sharp intake of breath to be heard in each chorus, so he made sure that engineer Norman Smith, working for the last time with the group, captured it properly.

Overdubs included Paul and George's naughty backing vocals, Ringo crashing and quickly muffling a cymbal throughout the instrumental section, and three different guitar lines played by George, though one played through a fuzz box was not used.  His simple counter melody on acoustic guitar appears in the second half of the song, but was supposed to play throughout.  A double time counter melody also plays in the instrumental section on acoustic guitar, though for years I thought it was on sitar.  In any case, it adds a decidedly old-world flavor to the number, having the effect of a mandolin.

McCartney helped finish up the composition, but there is no question that Lennon was now at the peak of his powers, writing a world-weary love song that somehow shifted into social commentary.  He acknowledged that the final verse with its "pain would lead to pleasure" lyrics was a jab at the Catholic Church and old-fashioned values.  This new maturity belied the image of the four lovable moptops, and was a part of the transformation of the Beatles from stage performers to full-time studio musicians.

Though it was only an album track, Girl was strong enough to be chosen for the overview of their career on the Red Album in 1973.  Just a few years later, in 1977, it appeared on Love Songs, and was even considered for a single b/w You're Going to Lose That Girl in conjunction with that compilation.  Promotional copies were pressed along with a picture sleeve, but it was never officially released.  Needless to say, these are extremely rare and worth a good deal of money today.