Comments on: Help!

By: Tom

Tom — Sun, 18 Nov 2018 15:27:27 +0000

Does anyone know if an electric or acoustic 12 string was used on the Help recording? The videos show John and George playing 6 string guitars, but the Beatles Complete scores indicates the use of a 12, and it does sound like a 12 to me, but not sure if it was an electric or acoustic.

By: MikeP

MikeP — Thu, 15 Nov 2018 00:51:06 +0000

Of course, Johan never cites the sources of his outlandish, John-loving-Paul-hating claims.
Just a hunch, but I’ll bet they don’t exist outside of his own head. 😉

By: Raymond M George

Raymond M George — Sun, 08 Apr 2018 01:22:11 +0000

The Capitol Single has a superior vocal track and more power…..but now it seems to be gone forever…..I don’t think a stereo mix exists of this better version.

By: Whilom

Whilom — Tue, 30 Jan 2018 23:09:19 +0000

Yeah, as the years go on, McCartney is taking more and more credit. I recently saw on the tube John Lennon’s 75 birthday concert celebration where they interviewed McCartney. He specifically says something to the effect of “When I wrote Help”. I am paraphrasing, but he didn’t say “when we wrote Help”. He is also now adamant that he wrote “In my life”. He also is starting to claim a larger and larger fraction of the early pieces. They’re all hollow claims now since John isn’t here to dispute him.

By: Nicholas Jensen

Nicholas Jensen — Wed, 15 Nov 2017 03:39:57 +0000

I know we’re 3 years later at this point, but it’s available on the new 1+ release with quite a few of the videos that came out a year or two ago.

By: Lars Arvid Kollstrøm

Lars Arvid Kollstrøm — Fri, 20 Oct 2017 16:01:24 +0000

As Paul Gambaccini put it, in the 60s people didn’t know who wrote what. That didn’t happen until the 70s, when John started giving interviews, carving up the empire between himself and Paul. So, if anything, John was the original revisionist. (I wrote a much longer text, but something went wrong. If it also suddenly appears, I can only apologise.)

By: Lars Arvid Kollstrøm

Lars Arvid Kollstrøm — Fri, 20 Oct 2017 14:51:18 +0000

Beatlesebooks have got this quote: ‘Interestingly, the song actually began to be written well in advance of the movie, which is contrary to popular opinion. “We wrote it in my house (Kenwood),” Lennon stated shortly after the song was released. “I had a little bit of a song, which I’d played around at writing, called something like ‘Keep Your Hands Off My Babe.’ Anyway, it was floating around for a long time and, when Paul came over, we decided to, sort of, adapt it. We wrote ‘Help!’ after we had been told of the film’s title. We never write to fit in with the story line, but this one seemed to fit okay.”’

By: Mr Mustard

Mr Mustard — Wed, 02 Aug 2017 17:52:23 +0000

Occasionally, as with all big bands and their recollections of inspiration, I tend to think it’s a great story rather than hard fact. In early 1965 Motown released The Supremes, Stop! In The Name Of Love. A few weeks later The Beach Boys released Help Me, Rhonda. I prefer to believe these songs were an influence on the writers much more than they might admit to.

By: J Neo Marvin

J Neo Marvin — Tue, 02 May 2017 23:55:06 +0000

I hear the two of them singing in unison. George’s voice is more nasal, so it cuts through more.

By: Dan L

Dan L — Mon, 27 Mar 2017 11:39:18 +0000

Same here. I still think that jazzy, James Bond-ish tacked on intro works great!

By: Taxi-Steve

Taxi-Steve — Thu, 23 Mar 2017 03:24:48 +0000

Glad I’m not the only one who has noticed this.

By: Lauri

Lauri — Mon, 20 Feb 2017 05:06:09 +0000

I agree that slower tempo suits this song well, a good example of an attempt maybe Roxette’s 1995 cover version also recorded at Abbey Road. Though I still like the original

By: Robert

Robert — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 01:06:49 +0000

On what show in 1990 did Paul McCartney claim to have written “Help”? Please cite this claim. Thank you.

By: Pablo Castro

Pablo Castro — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 03:40:25 +0000

It´s not like Dear Purple, but it´s slower and beautiful : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZeySOG1QQZc

By: Pablo Castro

Pablo Castro — Mon, 05 Sep 2016 03:35:54 +0000

Dear Joe, I think it would be appropriate to state that John played 12-string acoustic guitar. “Rhythm guitar” sounds like it was an electric guitar, to distinguish from the lead electric guitar.

By: Otis

Otis — Thu, 12 May 2016 05:08:06 +0000

I can’t even hear Paul on this. I only hear George on backing. Paul seems to be missing, at least to my ear.

By: manteau

manteau — Fri, 01 Apr 2016 11:22:17 +0000

Dear Laura, the video you mention is, I believe, part of the TV show “The music of Lennon and Mc Cartney”. it was broadcast in late 65, probably december and also features “Day tripper” and “we can work it out”.

By: Johan cavalli

Johan cavalli — Sun, 31 May 2015 08:37:13 +0000

The greatness of John Lennon´s ability to compose is that he has two kinds of melody-mobilities. One outer mobility, and one inner mobility. In the outer mobility the melody moves up and down (that´s what George Martin like), or uses several notes. In the inner melody, the melody consists of almost one note, but instead the accompaniment changes. In that case the song will be more expressive, like this wonderful song Help from 1965. This song would have been even more expressive in a lower tempo? I even think the melody would had been more beautiful without the countermelody.
Many composers use sometimes only one note,to get the music more expressive. Listen for example to Purcell´s Dido and Aeneas: “…remember me, remember me…” In Verdi´s Otello there are often only one note used.
In the years 1963-1965, or before Yesterday, Lennon was the dominant composer. That embarasses McCartney enormously. In a show 1990, McCartney dared saying he wrote Help! But after MacDonald´s book Revolution in the Head 1994, McCartney admitted Help is a Lennon composition

By: kenlacouture

kenlacouture — Sun, 26 Apr 2015 23:05:50 +0000

And, of course, I need to correct myself yet again! “That Means A Lot” did receive a reduction mix, but it wasn’t to another 4 track tape — it involved combining two of the tracks down to an empty track on the same tape. (Source: Recording The Beatles, page 390)

So in summary…

a) More than a few tunes received 2-track to 2-track reductions before 1965

b) “That Means A Lot” was the first tune recorded on 4-track to receive a reduction mix of any kind, but it was an “internal” reduction to the same tape.

c) “Help!” was the first tune that reduced one 4-track tape to another 4-track tape

By: kenlacouture

kenlacouture — Thu, 23 Apr 2015 03:40:14 +0000

Some sources list it as the first song done on 4 track to receive a reduction mix to another 4 track tape. However, it would only qualify as the first released song to receive this treatment, as the first version of the unreleased "That Means A Lot" also received the same reduction.