Nowhere Man

Unlike a few of the songs highlighted in some of my recent posts, Nowhere Man has never been one of my favorites.  This is not to say that I do not appreciate the significance of the song in the Beatles' catalog, nor the skill that went into its composition and recording.  In fact, a professor who taught a basic music course that I took in college used it as an example, pointing out how the downward spiral of the melody and the almost dirge-like tempo combine to emphasize the theme expressed in the lyrics.  It was no doubt these very qualities that led to my lukewarm reception of it.

While the Beatles were short of new material when they began the sessions for the album Rubber Soul, Lennon appears to have had this one at the ready early on.  After completing Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown) during the afternoon session on October 21st, 1965, the boys turned their attention to this song in the evening without even taking a proper break.  This full night's work resulted in only one take (take two - take one was a quick breakdown), featuring some reportedly high-pitched three-part harmonies and just a single electric guitar on the track.

Takes three, four and five were recorded on the following day, with Ringo on drums, Paul playing a very active bass line, and John on acoustic guitar.  All overdubs went onto take four, beginning with John, Paul and George's patented three-part harmonies, supervised as always by producer George Martin.  Once perfected, these were double-tracked.  George then added his electric guitar flourishes throughout the song.  The guitar solo, however, was a different matter.  John sat down with a second electric guitar, and the two of them played it simultaneously, the major difference being the lovely harmonic that George adds at the end of the solo.

The song sits in the middle of side one on the UK version of Rubber Soul, but it does not appear on the American version of that album.  Capitol Records, as always, was looking for an additional single, and, with several strong titles to choose from, opted for Nowhere Man.  It was released in February of 1966, but, unlike the previous Capitol-created singles Eight Days a Week and Yesterday, which both went to number one on the charts, Nowhere Man stalled at number three.   It later appeared on the US compilation album "Yesterday"...and Today in June.  And, in July, it resurfaced in the UK as the title track of an EP.  This proved to be their last official British EP until the Beatles themselves chose to release Magical Mystery Tour as a double EP.  Likewise, the American single was the last that Capitol was allowed to create for several years due to a new agreement hammered out by manager Brian Epstein. 

In 1973, the song appeared on the Red Album.  And, in 1999, it was released on the Yellow Submarine Songtrack.  On this occasion, a remixed version was created, splitting the two sets of three-part harmonies and putting one in each speaker, thus giving the track a fuller, richer sound.

For me, the best use of Nowhere Man is in the animated film Yellow Submarine, when John rather callously sings it about the character of Jeremy Hillary Boob.  The irony, of course, is that Lennon actually wrote the song about himself and how he was feeling in late 1965 in the midst of those heady days of Beatlemania.