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"You Won't See Me" is a song by the English rock band
the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...
from their 1965 album ''
Rubber Soul ''Rubber Soul'' is the sixth studio album by the English Rock music, rock band the Beatles. It was released on 3 December 1965 in the United Kingdom on EMI's Parlophone label, accompanied by the non-album double A-side single "We Can Work It Ou ...
''. It was written by
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...
and credited to
Lennon–McCartney Lennon–McCartney is the songwriting partnership between the English musicians John Lennon (1940–1980) and Paul McCartney (born 1942) of the Beatles. It is widely considered one of the greatest, best known and most successful musical collabo ...
. The lyrics address McCartney's troubled relationship with
Jane Asher Jane Asher (born 5 April 1946)''The International Who's Who of Women'', 3rd edition, ed. Elizabeth Sleeman, Europa Publications, 2002, p. 29 is an English actress and author. She achieved early fame as a child actress and through her associatio ...
and her desire to pursue her career as a stage and film actress. The Beatles recorded the song during what
Mark Lewisohn Mark Lewisohn (born 16 June 1958) is an English historian and biographer. Since the 1980s, he has written many reference books about the Beatles and has worked for EMI, MPL Communications and Apple Corps.
describes as a "marathon" final recording session for ''Rubber Soul'', to ensure the album's pre-Christmas release.


Background and inspiration

"You Won't See Me" is about a crisis in McCartney's relationship with girlfriend
Jane Asher Jane Asher (born 5 April 1946)''The International Who's Who of Women'', 3rd edition, ed. Elizabeth Sleeman, Europa Publications, 2002, p. 29 is an English actress and author. She achieved early fame as a child actress and through her associatio ...
, who was refusing to comply with McCartney's wishes that she stay at home and put his interests first. She had accepted an offer to appear in a stage production at the
Bristol Old Vic Bristol Old Vic is a British theatre company based at the Theatre Royal, Bristol. The present company was established in 1946 as an offshoot of the Old Vic in London. It is associated with the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School, which became a fin ...
theatre in 1965, while the Beatles were recording Rubber Soul. McCartney attempted to telephone her in
Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...
, but she rejected him by not returning his calls. McCartney later said that it was "shattering to be without her". McCartney had lived in the Asher family home at
Wimpole Street Wimpole Street is a street in Marylebone, central London. Located in the City of Westminster, it is associated with private medical practice and medical associations. No. 1 Wimpole Street is an example of Edwardian architecture, Edwardian baroq ...
in central London since 1963. He recalled writing the song in the family music room in the basement of the house. His composition originated from "a two-note progression that I had very high on the first two strings of the guitar: the E and B strings". He developed this by playing descending
semitone A semitone, also called a minor second, half step, or a half tone, is the smallest musical interval commonly used in Western tonal music, and it is considered the most dissonant when sounded harmonically. It is defined as the interval between ...
s on the B string while letting the top string ring out. He described the song as "very
Motown Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...
-flavoured" with a "
James Jamerson James Lee Jamerson (January 29, 1936 – August 2, 1983) was an American bassist. He was the uncredited bassist on most of the Motown Records hits in the 1960s and early 1970s (Motown did not list session musician credits on their releases un ...
feel". He drew musical inspiration for the composition from the
Four Tops The Four Tops are an American vocal group formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1953 as the Four Aims. They were one of the most commercially successful American pop music groups of the 1960s and helped propel Motown Records to international fame. The ...
' UK hit single "
It's the Same Old Song "It's the Same Old Song" was recorded by the Four Tops for the Motown label. It was released in 1965 as the second single from their second album. Written and produced by Motown's main production team Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song is tod ...
" (1965). During this period, McCartney also wrote "
We Can Work It Out "We Can Work It Out" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and John Lennon. It was first issued as a A-side and B-side#Double A-side, double A-side single with "Day Tripper" in December 1965. The song was rec ...
" and "
I'm Looking Through You "I'm Looking Through You" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1965 album ''Rubber Soul''. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. McCartney wrote the song about English actress Jane Asher, his ...
" as commentaries on his relationship with Asher. The more biting tone of his lyrics marked a change from his typical love songs, in
Howard Sounes Howard Sounes (born 1965) is a British author, journalist and biographer. Biography Born in Welling, South East London, Sounes began his journalistic career as a staff reporter for the ''Sunday Mirror''. He broke major stories, including one ...
' interpretation, McCartney later said of the band's approach to songwriting on ''Rubber Soul'': "We'd had our cute period, and now it was time to expand."


Recording

The Beatles recorded "You Won't See Me" during the last day of recording for ''Rubber Soul'' – an all-night session that started at 6 pm on 11 November 1965. The deadline for completing the album was up, and the band needed to record three songs that night, in addition to finishing work on "I'm Looking Through You". As a result, they cut the song in only two takes. At 3:22, it was the longest track the Beatles had recorded up until that point. The fadeout is slightly longer on the mono mix. McCartney played piano on the basic track and then
overdubbed Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more a ...
his bass part. The
tempo In musical terminology, tempo (Italian for 'time'; plural 'tempos', or from the Italian plural), measured in beats per minute, is the speed or pace of a given musical composition, composition, and is often also an indication of the composition ...
gradually slows down throughout the song, a point that music journalist Robert Fontenot attributes to McCartney leading the performance on piano, rather than
Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...
's timekeeping abilities on the drums. In author Jonathan Gould's description of the song, the tempo appears to "drag" due to McCartney's "hyperactive Motown-style bass line".
Mal Evans Malcolm Frederick Evans (27 May 1935 – 4 January 1976) was an English road manager and personal assistant employed by the Beatles from 1963 until their break-up in 1970. In the early 1960s, Evans was employed as a telephone engineer, and ...
, one of the Beatles' roadies, is credited on the album sleeve as having played
Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...
. His contribution consists solely of an A note held throughout the final verse and the coda. Gould also comments on the effect achieved by
John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...
and
George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...
's wordless backing vocals over the verses, saying that their voices represent "a pair of deaf ears" by "embodying the girl's indifference" to McCartney's complaints. Starr augmented his drum part with a separate
hi-hat A hi-hat (hihat, high-hat, etc.) is a combination of two cymbals and a pedal, all mounted on a metal stand. It is a part of the standard drum kit used by drummers in many styles of music including rock music, rock, popular music, pop, jazz, an ...
overdub, adding rhythmic accents throughout the song.


Release and reception

''Rubber Soul'' was released on 3 December 1965 on EMI's
Parlophone Parlophone Records Limited (also known as Parlophone Records and Parlophone) is a record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parloph ...
record label. "You Won't See Me" was sequenced as the third track, between Lennon's " Norwegian Wood" and " Nowhere Man". While the album was an immediate commercial success, some reviewers in the UK were unprepared for the artistic progression the Beatles had made in their musical arrangements and as lyricists. In his review for ''
Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper published between 1954 and 1991, aimed at pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after ''New Musical Express'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK Album ...
'', Richard Green wrote: "It is possible to say that Lennon and McCartney are the great songwriting team of the day and that Beatles performances are spot-on, but this LP cannot support that statement." He included "You Won't See Me" among the tracks that were "dull and ordinary" with "none of the old Beatles excitement and compulsiveness about them". ''
Melody Maker ''Melody Maker'' was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publicatio ...
'' said that the band's sound had become "a little subdued" and that songs such as "You Won't See Me" and "Nowhere Man" "almost get monotonous – an un-Beatle-like feature if ever there was one". By contrast, Nikki Wine (aka Eden) of ''
KRLA Beat ''KRLA Beat'' was an American rock music magazine that operated between 1964 and 1968. It began in October 1964 as a free newsletter distributed by the Southern Californian radio station KRLA, before being reworked as a more reportage-focused ti ...
'' found the album "unbelievably sensational" and described "You Won't See Me" as "One of the greatest arrangements and blending of melodies by the Beatles ... and it has to be one of the best cuts on the disc." Among more recent appraisals, Tim Riley says that the song's "antagonism can't help being tempered by cCartney'smelodic suavity, so he winds up sounding like an innocent victim rather than a co-conspirator in a love affair"; similarly, the arrangement and the position of McCartney's vocal in the mix ensure that "the texture becomes more engaging than the emotion." Riley nevertheless admires the complementary aspect of McCartney's bass and piano contributions, adding of ''Rubber Soul'' as a whole: "without ever being intrusive, his bass emerges as an irreplaceable part of the overall texture. Because he virtually breathes melody, his bass lines begin to soar with inventive counterpoint to the band ..."
Ian MacDonald Ian MacCormick (known by the pseudonym Ian MacDonald; 3 October 1948 – 20 August 2003) was an English music critic, journalist and author, best known for both '' Revolution in the Head'', his critical history of the Beatles which borrowed te ...
says the song, like "Nowhere Man", "needed something to lift it" and rues the group's use of the "irritating 'ooh-la-la-la' backing-vocal formula". He concludes that, while it is "redeemed" by McCartney's fluid bass playing, "'You Won't See Me' soon founders under the weight of its own self-pity and expires long before struggling to the end of an unusually protracted fade." In his song review for
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
,
Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' The Daily P ...
finds the buoyant melody at odds with the dejected lyrics, but he praises the vocal arrangement, particularly "the brilliant interaction of counterpoint melodies" through the addition of Lennon and Harrison's harmonies.


Personnel

According to
Ian MacDonald Ian MacCormick (known by the pseudonym Ian MacDonald; 3 October 1948 – 20 August 2003) was an English music critic, journalist and author, best known for both '' Revolution in the Head'', his critical history of the Beatles which borrowed te ...
: *
Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...
double-tracked Double tracking or doubling is an audio recording technique in which a performer sings or plays along with their own prerecorded performance, usually to produce a stronger or bigger sound than can be obtained with a single voice or instrument. ...
lead vocal, bass guitar, piano *
John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...
– backing vocal, tambourine *
George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...
– backing vocal, lead guitar *
Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...
– drums,
hi-hat A hi-hat (hihat, high-hat, etc.) is a combination of two cymbals and a pedal, all mounted on a metal stand. It is a part of the standard drum kit used by drummers in many styles of music including rock music, rock, popular music, pop, jazz, an ...
*
Mal Evans Malcolm Frederick Evans (27 May 1935 – 4 January 1976) was an English road manager and personal assistant employed by the Beatles from 1963 until their break-up in 1970. In the early 1960s, Evans was employed as a telephone engineer, and ...
Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...


Anne Murray version

In 1974, "You Won't See Me" became a big hit for
Anne Murray Morna Anne Murray (born June 20, 1945) is a retired Canadian country, pop and adult contemporary music singer who has sold over 55 million album copies worldwide during her over 40-year career. Murray has won four Grammys including the Grammy ...
, reaching number 8 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 1 on the ''Billboard''
Easy Listening Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to the 1970s. It is related to middle of the road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit s ...
chart. Lennon is said to have told Murray that her version of "You Won't See Me" was one of his favourite Beatles covers. Murray also performed the song with the rock band
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
on their 1974 TV special "Meanwhile Back in the Rockies." Murray later re-recorded the song as a duet with
Shelby Lynne Shelby Lynne (born Shelby Lynn Moorer, October 22, 1968) is an American singer and songwriter and the older sister of singer-songwriter Allison Moorer. The success of her pop rock album '' I Am Shelby Lynne'' (1999) led to her winning the Grammy A ...
as part of her 2007 '' Duets: Friends & Legends'' album. A self-professed Beatles fanatic, Murray covered several other songs of theirs as singles, including "
Day Tripper "Day Tripper" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released as a double A-side single with "We Can Work It Out" in December 1965. The song was written primarily by John Lennon with some contributions from Paul McCartney and ...
" and "
I'm Happy Just to Dance with You "I'm Happy Just to Dance with You" is a song written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and recorded in 1964 by the English rock band the Beatles for the film soundtrack to ''A Hard Day's Night''. Lead vocals are by George Harrison, whose perfor ...
". The soulful backing vocals were devised by Murray's backup singer,
Diane Brooks Gwendolyn Dianne Brooks (January 3, 1939 – April 29, 2005), was an American soul, r&b and jazz singer. With the Three Playmates, Brooks recorded several songs in 1957. She moved to Toronto shortly thereafter. Her part in Canadian soul music h ...
, and the bass line was devised by her bass player, Skip Beckwith.


Chart performance


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


References


Sources

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External links

{{Authority control 1965 songs 1974 singles The Beatles songs Songs written by Lennon–McCartney Song recordings produced by George Martin Songs published by Northern Songs Anne Murray songs Capitol Records singles