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British Invasion

I'm sure I will see the movie "Yesterday"--despite the bad reviews. The concept seems charming, and there's Kate McKinnon. A movie does not need to be everything to all people. Decent idea plus Kate McKinnon? You can make many mistakes and still hold (or sort-of-hold) my attention.

I'm here to deliver shocking news that the Beatles could write really well. I'm not a Beatles expert, but the thing I admire in their writing (and something tells me I'm not alone here) is: how direct and plainspoken they could be. There's an impressive sense of artlessness. It takes a great deal of work--and "art"--to achieve that sense of artlessness.

One song I especially like is "In My Life." I like it because it has a "thinking of you while I study the rearview mirror" quality. It's the thing the speaker wanted to say to his lover--and now he is putting it down on paper. (Taylor Swift says that good songs are like afterthoughts. "What I meant to tell you." She says she is quoting Joni Mitchell when she makes that observation, but no one seems to be able to find the original Joni Mitchell thought.)

"In My Life" has the speaker--no longer young--reflecting on some hazy memories. He has been to many places and seen many people and things. He has been around so long, the sites of some of his foundational memories have now changed in major ways: "forever, not for better." The speaker recalls "lovers and friends," deaths, enduring affection. He's wistful.

Then, like a Shakespeare sonnet, the song pivots. Surprise. All these tender memories are as nought--when compared with the the thing the speaker now feels for his beloved. "In my life, I'll love you more."

I like that the speaker is deliberately leaving a great deal unsaid: We can infer that something significant has happened between speaker and lover, just because, "in my life, I'll love you MORE." I also like the subtle twist in the story. The famous first verse ends with the speaker looking back at his past compatriots: "In my life, I've loved them all." But the famous *last* line involves some editing/revision: "In my life, I'll love you more." Simple and effective. Surprising and inevitable.

The writing seems tossed-off, easy as breathing. But something universal is captured--and captured in a new way. What a quietly miraculous thing this song turns out to be.
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