Tag Archives: she’s

#1193: The Beatles – She’s a Woman

Leave a reply

I inadvertently ended up hearing The Beatles’ ‘She’s a Woman’ by listening to an entirely different song of theirs. When the video for ‘The Night Before’ was playing on VH1 Classic, there was a little moment during it where the action is taken away from the band momentarily and switching to a random character who is somewhere underground and listening to another Beatles song on the radio. Then the scene changes to the band playing the original song as normal. That other song was ‘She’s a Woman’. However long it took me to get to hearing it in full is a duration of time that I can’t remember. My old, old computer would probably still show the original date and time I downloaded the Past Masters compilation it can be found on. I could get back to you on that with a definite answer.

‘She’s a Woman’ was recorded during the time the sessions that would result in the band’s Beatles for Sale album. Released in the December of 1964, it was the second LP of theirs to be given to the masses that year after having unveiled A Hard Day’s Night five months prior. From what I’ve seen, …for Sale isn’t considered to be one of the band’s best works. Mainly because of a reliance on cover material, a result of the constant touring and lack of time John Lennon and Paul McCartney had to write anything original. But even when they did, they ended up with songs like this. Although credited under the usual ‘Lennon-McCartney’ tag, ‘She’s a Woman’ was fully written by the latter and was conceived as an idea in McCartney’s head, demonstrated to the other three members and completed as a Beatles recording all in one day. It was eventually released as the B-Side to Lennon’s ‘I Feel Fine’, when that was chosen to be the standalone single preceding the album’s release.

The track contains one of the most-disliked rhymes to be found in any Beatles song. At least from the opinions I’ve seen on Reddit. People can’t seem to stand the ‘presents/peasant’ occurrence in the first two lines. That’s usually followed by another user talking about what ‘peasant’ meant during the ’60s. And I look on and laugh because I couldn’t really care less about it. I guess it’s an obvious rhyme. But there aren’t many “smart” rhymes you can get to follow ‘presents’. But anyway, I’ve always considered it to be a very solid song. Got a nice groove to it with John Lennon providing those rhythm guitar stabs on the upbeat. Contains some nice little piano fills by McCartney that echo the vocal melody. And he sings in a completely different way than you’ll find he usually does in other songs. Sounds like an entirely different person almost. You could probably say the song’s portrays some dated opinions in regards to how women treat men in a relationship perhaps? It’s a product of its time, though. I wouldn’t stop listening to it.

#1192: Wilco – She’s a Jar

Leave a reply

Wilco’s Summerteeth was the second of the band’s that I listened to in full. Besteveralbums.com showed that Yankee Hotel Foxtrot was considered to be the group’s best work, and when I’d heard that and grown familiar with it, the logical step was to move onto the record that was apparently considered to be their next best. Think it was a couple of years or so between Yankee and Summerteeth that I decided to listen to the latter. For what reason, I don’t know. Things just get in the way to prevent you from listening to albums on the regular. But I distinctly remember doing so when I was interning at a music magazine in 2015/16. It was in either of those two years. And I think ‘She’s a Jar’, the second song on the album, was one that I liked quite a bit after only the first hearing.

Coming after the somewhat groovy and spirited opener of ‘Can’t Stand It’, a song I would have written about had I known it at the time the C’s were going on. ‘Candyfloss’ too, while we’re at it. ‘She’s a Jar’ brings the album into a more reflective, slower mood. To this day I haven’t got my head around the lyrics all too well, but from what I can gather it’s from the perspective of someone in a relationship who’s essentially laying down an examination of their other half to the listener. A lot of lyrical metaphors are in there, so it’s difficult to properly suss out. At least to me. And there’s generally many words in there to remember. And I think to compensate for that, the song has something of a very easy structure that it keeps to. Each verse almost runs into the next, utilising the same vocal melody over a three-chord progression, before that eventually changes up for the “Just climb aboard” choruses that are capped off with a memorable harmonica “solo”.

And while the musicality of the track may be considered to be quite easily understood, multi-instrumentalist Jay Bennett’s work on the keyboards and Mellotron is a different conversation. While Jeff Tweedy, John Stiratt and Ken Coomer lay down the song’s foundation, Bennett’s magic on the keys is the highlight, very much taking the majority of the soundscape filling in the would-be empty spaces with fills and melodic riffs that take the proceedings to another level. The song’s also known for its ending in which the song’s first verse is repeated but with the devastating switch-up on the very last line. “She begs me not to miss her” all of a sudden becomes “She begs me not to hit her”. It’s a bit of a “Hold up, what?” moment, for sure. But Jeff Tweedy once said we should consider that it isn’t actually the narrator enacting the physical violence. I can get with that. I have no large opinion on it. I just think it’s a good song.

My iPod #20: Sum 41 – All She’s Got

Leave a reply

Hi again.

No single this time. Just a standard album track on the album ‘All Killer No Filler’, the debut album by Sum 41, released in 2001.

I may have only been six when the album came around, and pop punk was still big around then. Blink-182 were still riding on their success with their then new album ‘Take Off Your Pants and Jacket”, Green Day were still pretty relevant with “Warning” being released the year before.

I may have been young yes, but ‘Fat Lip’ and ‘In Too Deep’ were pretty popular in the UK, so I heard those two many a time.

I downloaded ‘All Killer’ back in 2009. I don’t really know why though, I just started to download albums around that time, and I guess I wanted some songs on my old iPod Nano.

‘All She’s Got’ is the third last song on the album, but it segues into the next song ‘Heart Attack’ which also fades into the final song ‘Pain for Pleasure.’ I like when songs fade into one another, I think it’s cool.

It’s hard to describe Sum 41’s music. Music isn’t something to be described, but to be listened and admired. It’s punky, but it’s not angry punk. It’s more of a rebellious, youth, stick a finger in the air at the authorities kind of punk. You couldn’t really imagine any other band singing it except for Sum 41. There’s something about Deryck Whibley’s voice that just can’t be matched by anyone. It’s not that he’s an amazing singer or anything, but he captures the ’emotion’, if that’s the correct word, in each song.

It’s not the best song, but it’s one that does sound like it should be placed near the end of an album. Like the sun setting down, on a beach, in California or something.

I wish that happened in England once in a while.

Until next time.

Jamie.