She Said She Said

"She Said She Said" is a song written by John Lennon^[3][4] (credited to Lennon–McCartney) and released by the Beatles on their 1966 album Revolver. Lennon described it as "an 'acidy' song" with lyrics inspired by actor Peter Fonda's comments during an LSD trip in 1965 with members of the Beatles and the Byrds.^[5]

Background and inspiration

In late August 1965, Brian Epstein had rented a house at 2850 Benedict Canyon Drive in Beverly Hills, California for the Beatles' six-day respite from their US tour.^[6][7] The large Spanish-style house was tucked into the side of a mountain. Soon their address became widely known and the area was besieged by fans, who blocked roads and tried to scale the steep canyon while others rented helicopters to spy from overhead. The police department detailed a tactical squad of officers to protect the band and the house. The Beatles found it impossible to leave and instead invited guests, including actors Eleanor Bron (who co-starred with them in Help!), Peggy Lipton and folk singer Joan Baez.^[8] On 24 August,^[6] they hosted the Byrds and actor Peter Fonda and, all except Paul McCartney, took LSD.^[8]

Fonda wrote for Rolling Stone magazine:

I finally made my way past the kids and the guards. Paul and George were on the back patio, and the helicopters were patrolling overhead. They were sitting at a table under an umbrella in a rather comical attempt at privacy. Soon afterwards we dropped acid and began tripping for what would prove to be all night and most of the next day; all of us, including the original Byrds, eventually ended up inside a huge, empty and sunken tub in the bathroom, babbling our minds away.

I had the privilege of listening to the four of them sing, play around and scheme about what they would compose and achieve. They were so enthusiastic, so full of fun. John was the wittiest and most astute. I enjoyed just hearing him speak and there were no pretensions in his manner. He just sat around, laying out lines of poetry and thinking – an amazing mind. He talked a lot yet he still seemed so private.

It was a thoroughly tripped-out atmosphere because they kept finding girls hiding under tables and so forth: one snuck into the poolroom through a window while an acid-fired Ringo was shooting pool with the wrong end of the cue. "Wrong end?" he’d say. "So what fuckin' difference does it make?"^[8]

As the group passed time in the large sunken tub in the bathroom,^[8] Fonda brought up his nearly fatal self-inflicted childhood gunshot accident, writing later that he was trying to comfort a frightened George Harrison.^[9] Fonda said that he knew what it was like to be dead. Lennon snapped, "Listen mate, shut up about that stuff",^[8] and "You're making me feel like I've never been born."^[9] Lennon later explained: "We didn't want to hear about that! We were on an acid trip and the sun was shining and the girls were dancing (some from Playboy, I believe) and the whole thing was really beautiful and Sixties. And this guy – who I really didn't know, he hadn't made Easy Rider or anything – kept coming over, wearing shades, saying 'I know what it's like to be dead,' and we kept leaving him because he was so boring. It was scary, when you're flying high: 'Don't tell me about it. I don't want to know what it's like to be dead!'" Harrison recalls in The Beatles Anthology: "[Fonda] was showing us his bullet wound. He was very uncool."^[10]

When someone realised that they had not eaten all day the group tried to make dinner in the kitchen but Lennon was too confused from the drug to use his knife and fork properly and as he tried to stop his food from moving around on his plate he spilled it onto the floor.^[8] Actress Salli Sachse recalled of Fonda's enthusiasm for the band: "Peter was really into music. He couldn't wait until The Beatles' Revolver album came out. We went to the music store and played it, trying to hear any hidden messages."^[11]

Composition

According to Harrison, he helped Lennon construct "She Said, She Said" from "maybe three" separate segments that Lennon had. Harrison described the process as "a real weld".^[12] The song is in the key of B flat Mixolydian, based on three chords: B flat (I), A flat (flat-VII), and E flat (IV). The key centre shifts to E flat major during the bridge sections by means of an F minor (v minor) chord, a pivot chord that the Beatles had used to modulate to the subdominant before on "From Me to You" and "I Want to Hold Your Hand". Since the guitars on the official recording are audibly played in A, the song must have been sped up one semitone (by this time the Beatles routinely played with varying tape speeds), unless the guitarists retuned or used capos. The coda features a canonic imitation in the voice parts, a development of the idea originally presented by Harrison's lead guitar in the verse. Lennon's Hammond organ part consists entirely of one note – a tonic B-flat held throughout and faded in and out.

The song uses both 3/4 and 4/4 time, shifting to 3/4 on the line "No, no, no, you're wrong" and back again on "I said …" The middle part consists of another song fragment that Lennon had penned. At Harrison's suggestion, Lennon used this fragment in the middle of "She Said, She Said".^[13] In this section, the subject of Lennon's lyrics changes from his recollection of the LSD episode with Fonda to a reminiscence of childhood. Lennon sings, "When I was a boy everything was right/ Everything was right", providing a foil to the chaotic feelings of "I know what it's like to be dead".

"She Said, She Said" is often noted for Ringo Starr's "circular" patterns and other contributions: Starr himself has expressed particular pride in his performances during this era. Some drum enthusiasts have referred to Starr's performance on this track as one of the best drum tracks ever recorded in pop music, comparing the approach to that of Mitch Mitchell, drummer for The Jimi Hendrix Experience, who was himself a follower of Elvin Jones. Ian MacDonald rates the drumming as "technically finer than [Starr's] other tour-de-force 'Rain'".

Denver memorabilia collector Chris Lopez discovered a tape made by Lennon while composing the song. The source was Anthony Cox, ex-husband of Lennon's second wife, Yoko Ono. He sold it along with other recordings made by Lennon at Christie's Auction House in London for a six-figure sum.

Recording

"She Said, She Said" was the final track recorded during the Revolver sessions.^[14] It took nine hours to rehearse and record the song, complete with overdubs.^[14] After the recording, the Beatles' producer, George Martin, is reported to have said: "All right, boys, I'm just going for a lie-down."

McCartney does not appear on the track; the bass is played by Harrison. McCartney later recalled: "I think we had a barney or something and I said, 'Oh, fuck you!,' and they said, 'Well, we'll do it.'"^[4]

Personnel

• John Lennon – rhythm guitar, lead and harmony vocals, Hammond organ
• George Harrison – lead guitar, backing vocal, bass
• Ringo Starr – drums, shaker

Personnel per Ian MacDonald^[15]

Cover versions

• Lone Star covered the song on their eponymous album in 1976.
• The Chords covered "She Said She Said" on their 1980 debut album So Far Away.
• Yeah Yeah Noh covered the song on their 1985 album Cutting the Heavenly Lawn of Greatness...Last Rites for the God of Love.
• The Feelies' cover appears on their EP "No One Knows".
• Ween covered the song for their 1987 album Axis: Bold as Boognish.
• The Shop Assistants covered the song for their "Big E Power" single as a B-side. It is entitled "One More Time."
• Overwhelming Colorfast covered the song on their 1992 self-titled debut album, produced by Butch Vig.
• Matthew Sweet recorded a live cover that appears on the 1993 compilation album Born to Choose.
• Gov't Mule perform the song live as a medley with "Tomorrow Never Knows" on their 1998 album Dose.
• The Snake River Conspiracy included their version on the Vulcan EP in 1999.
• The Black Keys covered it on their first album The Big Come Up in 2002.
• Mark Mulcahy recorded a version of "She Said She Said" for the UK release of Mojo: Revolver Reloaded, released July 2006.

Notes

References

• The Beatles (2000). The Beatles Anthology. San Francisco: Chronicle Books. ISBN 0-8118-2684-8. 
• Brown, Peter; Gaines, Steven (2002). The Love You Make: An Insider's Story of The Beatles. New York: New American Library. ISBN 0-451-20735-1. 
• Fonda, Peter (1998). Don't Tell Dad: A Memoir. New York: Hyperion. 
• Lewisohn, Mark (1988). The Beatles Recording Sessions. New York: Harmony Books. ISBN 0-517-57066-1. 
• Lisanti, Tom (2001). Fantasy Femmes of Sixties Cinema. McFarland and Company. 
• MacDonald, Ian (2005). Revolution in the Head: The Beatles' Records and the Sixties (Second Revised ed.). London: Pimlico (Rand). ISBN 1-84413-828-3. 
• Miles, Barry (1997). Paul McCartney: Many Years From Now. New York: Henry Holt & Company. ISBN 0-8050-5249-6. 
• Miles, Barry (1998). The Beatles: A Diary. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-0-7119-9196-5. 
• Sheff, David (2000). All We Are Saying: The Last Major Interview with John Lennon and Yoko Ono. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-25464-4. 
• Wenner, Jann S (2000). Lennon Remembers (Full interview from Lennon's 1970 interview in Rolling Stone magazine). London: Verso. ISBN 1-85984-600-9. 

External links

• Alan W. Pollack's Notes on "She Said She Said"