(LOOTPRESS) – Writing was purportedly completed on The Beatles’ “Help!” on this day in 1965. A fairly introspective number despite the recording’s uptempo arrangement, “Help!” was one of several songs written during this period that saw primary composer John Lennon moving past the surface-level lyrical tropes which permeated much of The Beatles early output to explore more complex musical territory.
Serving as the title track from the album of the same name, “Help!” was written in part as a response to the band’s swift and decisive ascent to stardom, Lennon would famously later state that the tune came about during his “fat Elvis” period.
“I was fat and depressed and I was crying out for ‘Help'”, Lennon would tell Playboy.
The lyrics saw Lennon shifting to more reflective writing. Following the dissolution of The Beatles, the musician – generally dismissive of his output during his time with the band – would point the song out as one his favorites from the era, remarking,
“I meant it – it’s real. The lyric is as good now as it was then. It is no different, and it makes me feel secure to know that I was that aware of myself then. It was just me singing ‘Help’ and I meant it.”
The forlorn lyrics would be offset by a counterpoint melody added by co-writer Paul McCartney and a danceable tempo which was suggested during the song’s recording. Lennon, who played 12-string acoustic rhythm guitar on the recording, later expressed regret at the song not having been recorded at a slower tempo as originally written.
This new introspective compositional approach was brought about as a result of a number of variables consistent with the times, including the increasing popularity of mind altering substances such as LSD, as well as the ascent of singer/songwriter Bob Dylan who would all but rewrite the rules of popular music altogether.
Lennon himself would heavily embrace autobiographical songwriting during his solo career, with his debut album John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band regarded even today as one of the rawest expressions of the human condition ever laid to tape in the history of popular music. “Help!” was among the building blocks upon which the foundation for that expression was erected.