General Overview Of A Band: The Beatles And Their Most Popular Songs

The Beatles was the most popular English rock band formed in 1960. They were a group of artists talented in the unique sense of music. They were led by the band’s primary songwriters, John Lennon and Paul McCartney, and the other 2 members of George Harrison and Ringo Starr. The Beatles produced so many songs and albums, and it is regarded as the best album of all time. Moreover, they are regarded as the most influential band of all time. The Beatles have made so many songs that it is hard for casual listeners to really learn them all. Due to this fact, we did not get to learn of the Beatles songs, especially lesser-known ones. So, by getting a chance to write this analytical paper on 3 songs, I believe it will let me learn in-depth of the Beatles’ songs.

The song that I would like to analyze for the first is the beloved song, “Let it be.” This song was released on the album “The Beatles” and the album “The Beatles.” Before I move on to the actual analysis of this song, I would like to share my thought when deciding to write about this song. “Let it be” was written by Paul McCartney and released in May 1970. This album was the Beatles’ last album. The behind story of this song is that when Paul had a dream, he saw his mother Mary McCartney, who had been dead 10 years. Paul McCartney said that his mother used the words ‘Let it be,’ but this was a gist of her advice. Through that dream, he got a feeling of relief. So, in the lyrics, there is “word of wisdom,” “mother Mary,” and “let it be,” and these lyrics refer to the time that Paul and his mother’s good time. A lot of people thought that the “mother Mary” in this song was a biblical metaphor, but it wasn’t.

The words that were used in the lyrics of this song are repeated and seems religious. By just listening to and reading the lyrics, I would say this song gives me a lesson. For the chorus part, it keeps repeating, “Let it be.” This song makes me feel like I should live my life by having a mind to let it be. I think there is no other way to interpret this song. Of course, the “mother Mary” can make people feel of the Bible Mary giving the advice. One of the parts that I like the most from the lyric is kept repeating the “let it be.” At the end of the first and second verses, there is “let it be.” It felt as if my mother gets old and I become an adult, I might ask her how to live my life, then my mother would give me the advice to let it be. The instrument used for this song was the piano, electric bass, guitar, drums, and organ. The other thing that I found in this song has a lot of repetition in their chorus. There is a lyric repetition such as “Let it be, let it be, let it be, let it be, whisper words of wisdom let it be.” Lyric is repeated too much. And in the instrument part, there is always a piano and the choir in the song’s refrain. Beatles add up the instruments to make sounds larger. At the first chorus, they used only the piano and the choir, but from the second chorus, they used the piano, choir, and the drum. And later on, the Beatles add up the organ to maximize the sound for the magnificence. The pace of the beat and the melody was like I am yearning for someone. The tempo was not too fast, and the melody line was easy to memorize. This song uses a 4/4 meter. One thing about the melody that stood out for me was instruments were added up to make the song to be dynamic and make listeners feel this song as story-telling.

The next song I would like to make analysis is “I will.” This song was written by Paul McCartney. I would say that this song is written for someone who fell in love. The melody is bright, and the lyric is like a boy confessing his love toward a girl. The lyrics to this song are straightforward and use the repetition of the word, such as “love you.” Before we get into the actual analysis, I would like to explain the background of this song “I will.”

This song was written when Paul was doing a meditation in Rishikesh, India. Paul poured a lot of effort into this song, and he pondered a long time for the lyric of this song. So the members came out with the topic of love. The love was pure, but a powerful topic. And after that, when Linda, Paul’s love, visited the studio, Paul wrote the lyrics thinking of her. By hearing this music, most people would assume that it would be a very dull and lazy song because it is too short and can be monotonous that Beatles primarily used the guitar. However, when listened, the emotions of Paul McCartney were so apparent, to the point that it was so powerful. The meaning of this song is so simple, it is about a man who loves the woman that he keeps saying I’ll wait for you. We could not help but feel how much he loves Linda. From my perspective, this song’s lyric is easily understandable but contains a powerful message of love. This song makes me want to love someone and makes me comfortable.

From the musical aspect, “I will” can be categorized as acoustic style. Various styles of instruments are used for this song. This song has a meter of 4/4, and the main focus of this song would be the smooth acoustic guitar that makes this song have the lovely feeling. The guitar plays the same. The beating sound is really unique in this song. Beatles didn’t use the drum, but the other thing to take a beating sound. And the vocal and guitar were the central part of this song. However, there was no repetition of the phrases, but they are being sung over and over again in several different rhythmic, tempo, and time signature. Listening to this song, I could hear the usage of overdubbed guitar towards the end. If you look carefully you could hear a “doom doom” sound in the background, which was, in my opinion, caused by the bass or the members’ voice. Overall, the melody and tone of the music really suit the lyrics well as you could feel the love, bright feeling.

The last song that I would like to analyze is the often mistaken and often criticized song, “Yellow Submarine.” This song was released on the album “Yellow Submarine” and the album “Revolver.” The Beatles are known to compose songs that have deep meaning and are very reflective of their era and address the controversies of the time. Such as songs like “Elenor Rigby,” which remains one of the songs, in my opinion, to has the most profound meaning and can strike many lonely hearts with its powerful message, thus becoming an instant classic Beatle song. However, “Yellow Submarine” was not one of these types of songs. Instead it was the opposite type of song as “Elenor Rigby.” It was very confusing to most lyric analysts at the time as they couldn’t understand the meaning behind this song.

Before I move on actually analyzing the lyrics of this song, I would like to share my train of thought when deciding to write about this song. This song was written by Paul McCartney and sang by Ringo Starr and recorded in 1966 and released for the first time in the album “Revolver.” Oddly enough that this song was released as a double a-side with “Eleanor Rigby,” which I would consider a polar opposite to “Yellow Submarine.” Shortly after this song was released, Paul McCartney explained that “Yellow Submarine” was intended to be different. It was supposed to be just a song about kids going on a yellow submarine just to have fun. He said the idea to write this song came while he was lying on the bed before going to sleep, thinking about if they had a children’s song about being with friends in a yellow submarine. He claimed that he purposely used short words in the lyrics of this song because he wanted kids to pick it up early and sing along.

The words that were used in the lyrics of this song are short and straightforward. Kids would have easier time singing along as Paul McCartney intended. By just reading and listening to the words I would say that this song was about having fun in a yellow submarine with friends. There is no other way to interpret this song. One of the parts that I like the most from the lyric is how it starts off. It felt as if an old grandfather wants to tell his stories when he was young to his grandchildren, and the tone how they started off also solidify this feeling. The instrument used for this song was the guitar, bass, tambourine, and bass drum. The other thing I found that this song has a lot of repetition in their chorus. For example, “We all live in a yellow submarine, Yellow submarine, yellow submarine, We all live in a yellow submarine, Yellow submarine, yellow submarine.” This chorus was repeated three times in the duration of this song. I feel that this repetition is the attraction factor of this song as it gives off this pleasant feeling and appealing to their young audience. It makes me remember a song used in a show I used to watch as a kid, which was called “Bear in the Big Blue House” (1997-2009). The pace of the beat and the melody was perfect for a children’s song as it wasn’t too fast and the tune was easy to hum to. This song uses a 4/4 as the meter. One thing about the theme that stood out for me was Ringo’s pounding on the bass drum on every even quarter note was the key to create the feeling that a story is being told.