Comments on: Golden Slumbers

By: Jim

Jim — Sun, 03 Feb 2019 22:34:57 +0000

I just returned home from my nephew’s funeral. He was 54 and died of kidney cancer. He had this song played at his funeral. Lovely. This song will forever hold special meaning for me.

By: Kate

Kate — Sun, 30 Dec 2018 06:29:07 +0000

Charlie, I completely agree. “Once there was a way to get back homeward” is nothing short of devastating. And there’s no cure, except to soothe the child. Deeply, deeply sad.

By: Andy

Andy — Sat, 29 Dec 2018 22:32:07 +0000

I think one of the things that sets The Beatles apart from other groups is how their songs can mean very different things to different people, as seen in this comments section. This is true for other groups as well, but not to the same extent as for The Beatles. All of the explanations in the comments make sense, but the person I agree with most has to be Nate.

For me this song is about the transition from childhood to adulthood, leaving the family home and the added responsibility that this brings. The fact that you no longer have a well-defined ‘home’ can create a sense of longing for a past to which you cannot return. As well as an actual physical home, this could also mean a metaphorical ‘home’, i.e. a situation in which everything is comfortable and you have no worries.

“Carry that Weight” is then about the burden of the mistakes you make and the wrong decisions you take in life, and the consequences they have. Another big difference between childhood and adulthood is that you have more responsibility for your actions, and their consequences can stay with you for much longer.

“The End” then completely defies the tone of the last two songs by saying that, “in the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make”. This is reminding you that, although you may long for the past or regret the mistakes you made, in the end the thing that matters most is your approach to life and the effect you have on other people. There are two ways of interpreting that last line: the first is that, in order to have a fulfilling life, you have to focus on loving other people and making their lives better (i.e. the more love you make, the more love you take); the other interpretation is that, in order to spread love to other people, you first have to see the beauty and love in your own life (i.e. the more love you take, the more love you make). To me, both interpretations are equally correct, and the balanced way in which the line is written allows people to interpret it whichever way they wish.

By: Jon

Jon — Sat, 01 Sep 2018 03:53:25 +0000

Phil Spector had nothing to do with Golden Slumbers or anything on Abbey Road. And John not playing here has no bearing to how the song turned out… he wasn’t the band leader/studio wizard Paul was. John didn’t contribute to Here Comes The Sun, For No One, and plenty of songs on the White Album that turned out great. On top of this, I have to point out that you’re obviously in the minority if you think Golden Slumbers is a poor recording.

By: Lionel

Lionel — Tue, 28 Aug 2018 17:24:24 +0000

Yet they butchered their own version, probably with John being away in hospital and Spector over orchestrating and Paul getting the contrast wrong, he already had contrast in the other second part with Carry that weight. Their will be a better version if it doesn’t exit somewhere else already. Great bit of song writing though.

By: Bobby

Bobby — Sun, 04 Feb 2018 20:17:37 +0000

I sent this to my daughter in-law … it just fits our beautiful 2 year old grand daughter. “Sleep pretty baby do not cry.” Makes me tear up. Bless Paul et al for their genius.
Golden slumbers kiss your eyes,
Smiles awake you when you rise;
Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby,
Rock them, rock them, lullaby.
Care is heavy, therefore sleep you,
You are care, and care must keep you;
Sleep, pretty wantons, do not cry,
And I will sing a lullaby,
Rock them, rock them, lullaby.

By: Karl

Karl — Mon, 27 Nov 2017 03:19:51 +0000

I’d bet anything. Paul is a gift. Have you listened to any covers? None come anywhere near the McCartney original. In fact I always wonder why radio stations play Elbow’s version so often, it’s a mess in comparison.

By: Mick

Mick — Tue, 14 Nov 2017 01:03:28 +0000

I think the beautiful thing with this song is it conveys so many emotive feelings for so many of us as we travel through our lives, its timeless and it can help us to cherish our relationships with each other and try and see the hood in each other.

By: Sam

Sam — Tue, 31 Oct 2017 14:20:29 +0000

Excellent interpretation, Erik! Thanks!

By: Kristina Allen

Kristina Allen — Tue, 04 Jul 2017 05:46:31 +0000

People say that Hollywood stars sell their souls to the devil for their fame and fortune. I interpret this song as meaning once there was a way back home, meaning back to heaven, to God. But since they’ve sold their souls and since realized the error of their way, they know that they can no longer enter heaven for what they have done. I’m sure that most likely the song was not purposely written to reflect that, but every single time I hear this song it’s like my soul recognizes what the song means. It’s very sad, but also, a good warning to those who might make the same mistake. The rest of the song sounds like it’s about relaxing and enjoying what you can while you’re still on this earth. Close your eyes makes me thing of forgetting/ignoring your troubles since there is no way back anyway.

By: Annette

Annette — Tue, 20 Jun 2017 17:31:53 +0000

Love what you wrote… my sister is hours from death and that song has been running through my head for weeks.

By: Lonnie

Lonnie — Mon, 19 Jun 2017 00:56:02 +0000

It also has a production quality about it that is ahead of its time; more like mid 70’s FM quality. I think the song is purely about once you become famous, home is never in one place; in Macca’s case Liverpool.

He can’t get back home, because fame won’t allow him to go back there as Joe Public and he misses that. A homesick lament, wanting to go back but it’s all changed.

Search Ytube for a video of Paul in a pub back in Merseyside.

By: Jeffrey

Jeffrey — Sun, 19 Mar 2017 00:15:22 +0000

What a beautiful piece of writing and what wonderful moving comments… about a great musical composition, indeed.
My sense is the music itself is drawing out the very deep feelings we associate with the old poetry of the early 1600’s. It is more serious, violins, orchestration and such.
The Beatles, when they were serious, and not just pop entertainment, were utterly brilliant, and this composition really shines in that light. Sure, the McCartney “take” on the poem adds an element of psychology that the original couldn’t have had. This is a rhetorical and allegorical lullaby as I envision it, more directed at older adults. We think back to childhood, yes… and we may sing a lullaby to our children… but this is more self-directed. I see this as universal, as philosophical, and not so much as about the Beatles, but as about what all people feel when they confront themselves, as children they once were. In the light of such memories, and even as death, awaits… and mortality is revealed, there is contentment, even joy, in contemplation, and of reliving these childhood sensations.
So perhaps rather than sadness, one may feel joy, indeed, happiness, in this composition.
I suggest that listening to the composition, detached from the original album, may also provide great joy.
Thanks to all who wrote about this deeply philosophical composition…
Cheers!

By: MikeP.

MikeP. — Sat, 18 Mar 2017 01:34:49 +0000

John wasn’t there – he was recovering from his auto accident. As for George H.- hell, he couldn’t even remember what album this was on!

By: Philip Kirkland

Philip Kirkland — Thu, 19 Jan 2017 19:22:06 +0000

… I’ve always thought that, and it makes so much more sense. Logically, you arise AFTER waking up, so that’s when the smiles AWAIT you.

By: Slave

Slave — Sun, 08 Jan 2017 07:36:44 +0000

LMW28IF – I love your take on this song. Beautifully thought out and perfectly illustrates the way McCartney would hide his true feelings inside his lyrics.
McCartney was the one most emotionally crushed by the breakup so it makes sense he would express this and point the finger at John in masked lyrics.

By: Bill Forrest

Bill Forrest — Sat, 10 Dec 2016 13:58:16 +0000

Yes, exactly! Such a beautiful, yearning lyric, melody, vocal – everything!!

By: Robert Bejsovec

Robert Bejsovec — Sat, 22 Oct 2016 23:13:55 +0000

WOW U hit right on, right on the head, I could not have put so eloquently as U have, your thoughts have banging around my head from the first time I heard this song but could not connect the dots, thanx

By: Nate

Nate — Fri, 26 Aug 2016 09:50:33 +0000

I didn’t read through all of the responses, so I don’t know if this view has been represented, but the song to me as a male, clearly means that during every man’s life, there is a point of transition from boy to man, where his childhood home or at least that homey feeling you get from visiting your mother or your parents if they are still together, no longer exists. The innocence of childhood, even of young adulthood, has passed, and your family’s home is no longer your home. The home remains, even the sense of belonging may linger, but you are no longer part of it. You feel almost as a foreigner in your own home and you will carry that lack of home until you create it anew with YOUR own family (i.e. Spouse and kids). Until then you will have to carry that weight of no longer belonging in your own childhood home.

By: Arcky

Arcky — Sun, 03 Jul 2016 02:18:02 +0000

I love this song, it’s sounds sad but I like it, once there was a way, reminds me that my mother died and I couldn’t be there.
But I will see her again.
I just to sign to her lullaby s in Spanish. She was my old little girl.??