And I Love Her

Beatles at last. Such an incredible band, and though people may have their "Beatles or Stones" opinions, the fact of the matter is, they are very different bands with completely different styles, I hate to use a cliche, but they're like apples and oranges. I was browsing through my Beatles collection, and this came on, such a lovely song. And I Love Her was written mainly by Paul McCartney, though John Lennon contributed with the bridge, or the middle eight section (A love like... near me). The original song didn't have the middle eight, but they added it in later, giving at a fuller feel. This song was released in The Beatles' third album, A Hard Day's Night, released on July 20, 1964, and was recorded in three days. The first day was pretty routine, but they changed out Ringo Starr's drum kit for bongos and claves (to put it crudely, sticks to hit together and make sound) on the second day. The third day contained the main track, and the lay-over of Paul's double on vocals, and Ringo's claves. In my opinion, that's what really brings the song together, Paul's double vocals. It really fills the song up, and adds an additional drop in sound during the middle eight, when the double is removed. when concerned with the subject, it's pretty straightforward, but the elegant use of the stars as his love was a smooth metaphor, though a little hackneyed.

I Can't Help Myself

This song is fabulous. Taking a step back, I'm heading into a soul filled '65. This song may be popular and commonly known, but for good reason, it's glorious. As you may have realized by now, I adore smoothness in a song. This is one such song, being filled with perfectly coordinating chords and lyrics. This song was released as a single in 1965, and had two main bursts of popularity, one from June 12 to June 19 and another from June 26 to July 3 in 1965. The subject of the song is simple, but can be conceived in two manners, he's a helpless man, who needs this woman to save him, or he can't help himself from loving her, which is the one that I prefer. This song mainly appeals to me due to its lyrical harmonies and all around fantastic vocals, but the music is also classic, and uses all major chords, making it something that you would get stuck in your head, something that you would hum without thinking about it.