Think for Yourself

Today's song, "Think for Yourself", is by George and serves as "a warning against listening to lies." Later, in his book I Me Mine, he wrote, "But all this time later, I don't quite recall who inspired that tune. Probably the government."  

Rubber Soul came out in December of 1965, which was a year of turmoil for the world. It was the year Lyndon B. Johnson took office and the year the U.S. landed troops in Vietnam; the year Malcolm X was assassinated and Winston Churchill died; the year of Bloody Sunday, civil rights protests and marches, and the Voting Rights Act; and it was the year Pope Paul VI announced that it's been decided the Jews are not collectively responsible for killing Christ; among other events. 

So, George probably had a lot of political events to choose from when writing "Think for Yourself." Specifically in Britain and in the United States where The Beatles often performed, there was a great deal of tension over various issues, including Rhodesia's (later South Africa) struggle for independence, the Vietnam War and the draft (as well as draft card burnings, Vietnam War protests on Washington, and some of the first televised images and films of the true horrors of war). A lot of the turmoil of the Sixties was shown pretty well in Across the Universe, which links those Beatles songs to events in that time period. 

Coming back to the song itself, "Think for Yourself" is a pretty good song. Wikipedia tells us an interesting fact:

In a departure from all precedent at the time, the song has two bass lines, a normal one and one created by Paul McCartney's then-unique application of a fuzzbox to his bass.

That fuzzbox gives the bass a pretty neat growl, which really complements Harrison's admonishing lyrics well. I believe this is the first Beatles song that could be interpreted to have a political meaning--but certainly not the last, as we'll see.

That's it for today... See you tomorrow. :)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Heard It Tally: 17
Songs Completed: 89