There's A Place

Today's tune was an interesting experience for me. When I started listening to it, at first the harmonica kind of put me off. Then, I paused the song to answer a question, and the second half of the song sounded great to me. The two halves contained equal amounts of harmonica; I honestly couldn't tell you what it was that changed my mind. I am pretty fond of the harmonies achieved during the line, "Don't you know that it's so?"

The Wikipedia page for "There's a Place" says that "the title was inspired by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim's "Somewhere" from West Side Story, which contained the line: 'somewhere there's a place for us'. McCartney owned the album of the soundtrack at the time of writing 'There's a Place' and acknowledges its influence." It's always interesting for me to learn about inspirations for songs, books, poems, plays, artwork, etc. It shows us just how big and important a role inspiration can play in creating art.

Another interesting tidbit about the subject matter: "The 'place' in question was 'the mind', making its subject matter slightly more cerebral than Britain's kissing and cuddling songs and America's surf music from that period. Lennon is quoted as saying: ''There's a Place' was my attempt at a sort of Motown, black thing.' It says the usual Lennon things: 'In my mind there's no sorrow...' It's all in your mind.'" This is another fascinating source of inspiration, but it also brings up the uncomfortable fact that The Beatles often did covers of songs that were originally by Black artists, and that their versions were generally more successful. I hesitate to choose between either saying The Beatles were benefiting from racism, or saying they were simply more talented. The truth is most likely a mix between the two, not just one or the other--picking one answer to satisfy such a complicated question would be simplistic*. (It's our job to face these awkward little facts--ignoring or glossing over them to avoid conflict is dishonest, but going on and on about them is tedious, so I'll try to find a good balance). 

In related news, on my way to work this morning I heard a radio station that was playing all Beatles music all morning. My first instinct was to change the channel so I didn't spoil the fun for myself (or ruin my Heard It Tally), but I decided to ration myself to one song. It was worth it. :)

* I'd like to define this term, since people so rarely use it correctly. It has a derogatory connotation; many people use it to mean fundamentally simple when it actually means, basically, that something is too simple.

simplistic: characterized by extreme simplism; oversimplified: a simplistic notion of good and bad.

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Heard It Tally: 1

Songs Completed: 13