Track #7: “She Said She Said” Revolver (1966)

Welcome to Track Chatter, where we choose a different song to discuss in depth. This entry is part of an ongoing series in which we reconsider songs by The Beatles. Can anything new be said about this band or its music? Have a look below and let us know what you think.

Aaron: Lucky number 7. Revolver, released in the UK in August of 1966, is The Beatles’ seventh album. It is also the final album to be released in different versions for the UK and US markets – in this case, the difference being that “And Your Bird Can Sing,” “Doctor Robert,” and “I’m Only Sleeping,” which appeared on Revolver in the UK, had already been released in the US as tracks on Yesterday and Today earlier that summer. No additional tracks were added to the US version of Revolver, so it was simply three tracks shorter than the UK version.

Before moving on to a discussion of the album and this entry’s track, I think it’s worth pointing out that The Beatles’ first album, Please Please Me, had been released in March of 1963. Thus, in just over three years, the band released seven albums – seven albums that include, whatever one’s opinion of the band or its music, some of the most memorable and well-known popular music ever recorded: a fairly amazing feat by any standard. It’s difficult to imagine any pop artist today working at such a fever pitch.

Revolver, much like its predecessor, has become one of the albums that it’s safe for almost anybody to like – fan and non-fan alike. The songwriting and musical arrangements show a noticeable amount of maturity over their earlier, “bubble gum” phase. At the same time, their studio experimentation has not yet progressed to the point of what some see as the indulgence of later efforts. In short, both Rubber Soul and Revolver see a band that has found a way to balance all its many talents in the service of forward-thinking, immaculately produced, driving pop classics. Revolver includes such tracks as “Eleanor Rigby,” one of their strongest lyrical expressions, the infectious, joyous pop of “And Your Bird Can Sing,” the silliness of “Yellow Submarine” (which, silliness aside, is one of the catchiest pop songs ever written – just try to get it out of your head now . . . “we all live in a . . .”), and the psychedelic experimentation of “Tomorrow Never Knows.”

The track we’ll be discussing for this entry is “She Said She Said,” a Lennon/McCartney number that is, in effect, so much a Lennon number that it is one of the very few Beatles’ tracks on which McCartney makes no appearance at all – in addition to his lead guitar duties, George Harrison plays bass. It’s a song that deftly represents much of what makes Revolver such a strong album – excellent musicianship (anybody who can still say Ringo’s not a good drummer after listening to “She Said She Said” just isn’t listening), expressionistic lyrical experimentation, gorgeous production sheen, and hints of psychedelia. It’s a track on which, as Ian MacDonald argues, Lennon is at the summit of his creativity.



I thought it might be interesting to kick off the discussion by returning to some questions we raised early in the series about relevance and listenability. What do you think, Lew, could “She Said She Said” find a place in the contemporary pop landscape? Is there any pop or rock today that owes it a debt?

Lew: I think “She Said She Said” would be regarded as a brilliant pop song if it were released today. In our discussion of “You Won’t See Me,” we talked about the “Beatles sound” that gets used to describe certain songs, and I think that, in some respects, “She Said She Said” is an even better example. Although there are definitely some exceptions, a good number of songs that are copping a Beatlesque sound often include some allusion to psychedelia. Now, needless to say, psychedelic music doesn't start and end with The Beatles (although the perception that it does is probably a source of irritation for non-fans) – a quick overview of the Nuggets collection gives ample evidence of that. Nevertheless, “She Said She Said” is a great example of a song that is able to successfully flirt with elements of psychedelia (as you noted) without being subsumed by it. I actually prefer “expressionist” or “surrealist” as descriptors, but that's beside the point. The subject matter is obscure, even arguably abstract – although it’s relating a specific conversation, it also seems to be hinting at some kind of existential crisis brought on by the experience. I would say that even hinting at something abstract/theoretical was fairly uncommon in rock music at the time that Revolver was released. So, to answer your question about whether or not there is pop or rock in the current landscape that owes a song like “She Said She Said” a debt, I would answer yes with no hesitation. Bands like XTC (and their alter ego The Dukes of Stratosphear) owed a substantial debt to the Beatles, and there are a number of one-off songs in which bands invoke the general sound that's happening on “She Said She Said” to some extent (Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun,” Oasis’s “Champagne Supernova,” The Raconteurs’ “Intimate Secretary” and so on) but in a larger sense, I think that you can make an argument that “She Said She Said” is an early, and highly influential example of abstraction in rock music, and as such, influential in ways that are less immediate than the obvious power pop homages. How do you feel about that idea?

Aaron: I’m ready to go along with your terminology (“expressionist,” “abstract”) without totally abandoning the “pyschedelia” term, if only because it’s useful and it does ground the group in the era (hopefully without burying them there). I’ll come back to that in just a minute. First, I thought it might be worth dwelling on the song’s sound for just a moment longer. Part of what makes the track such a fine example of its era’s experimentation, I think, is its drone. “She Said She Said” isn’t the first song – Beatles or otherwise – to include such a drone (which seems to have been influenced by their obvious appreciation of Indian music). I think, for The Beatles, it first crops up in “Ticket To Ride” from Help!. In both songs, the drone comes in large part from the bass. However, as we’ve pointed out, Paul doesn’t play bass on “She Said She Said” – it’s George. And I think that’s important because, as we discussed with “You Won’t See Me,” by this stage in the band’s career, Paul’s bass playing was undergoing some noticeable changes in terms of the highly melodic, sometimes walking bass lines he was employing. He was good enough in the studio (great, actually) that had he played on “She Said She Said,” he likely would have modified his style enough to serve the song. But I wonder how much his presence might have affected the result, perhaps altering that drone to a certain extent.

Even with the drone, I agree with you that “psychedelia” as a term needs refining – it’s too broad and covers too many different media to have any precise meaning on its own. And as I said, I particularly like your terms “expressionist” and “abstract” – particularly in the way they describe the lyrical content on this song. I think most people probably know about the song’s genesis – the acid trip in LA, Peter Fonda bumming everybody out with his talk of having once died as a child, and so on – but its precisely Lennon’s ability to make that experience abstract by avoiding any type of exposition. It might seem – on its face – that a song composed almost entirely of “dialogue” would be very concrete. But by making the lyrics free of setting, scene, even, really, character, Lennon upends a lot of the songwriting trends that had been emerging in pop over the previous years. So the song does become expressive of its mood or feeling, rather than a story about an event or a girl. I think it’s the combination of that expressionistic approach to lyrics combined with the music – the drone, but also the swirling lead guitar parts (which sound like sitars), Ringo’s incredible, sort of rolling drums which both reinforce the lead guitars and also provide a kind of counterpoint to them, and the time signature change for the bridge – which add up to a great psychedelic pop song.

Lew: I think your discussion of the drone quality in “She Said She Said” is right on the money. I’m curious about what might have happened if Paul had played bass on this song, too. Although Paul is one of my favorite bass players, I don’t think he would have necessarily embraced that droning quality in the same way that George did – especially from a rhythmic perspective. Having said that, I think that pretty much everything about the song’s performance and recording contributes to that feeling. The lead guitar parts are perfect, from the actual playing (which is pretty drone-y in spots) to the sound of the guitar. It’s a great use of the overdriven sound that was available to them at the time. I also want to mention Ringo’s playing – it’s a great example of a Ringo moment that sounds quite different from the straighter, more restrained playing that I think people expect from him. Again, I think that’s more of a case of perception than reality – we’ve talked about a few of Ringo’s parts, and it’s clear that they’re rarely boring. Here, as in “Every Little Thing,” Ringo is taking a very compositional approach to his drum part, while largely ignoring the option to play a “rock” beat - the fills that he builds into his part set up the transitions really well, and also seem to get at the rhythmic core of the sections - finding a sort of “clave,” I guess - in ways that a more regular beat would never do. The time signature change at the bridge is pretty minor - from a straight 4/4 to a triplet feel, but it changes the feel enough to make the verse feel fresh again when it comes back around.

I also really like what you said about the abstraction and lack of exposition in the lyrics. I’d never really thought of it that way, but it almost gives me a fresh appreciation for the song. I think the Peter Fonda story sometimes overshadows the song itself, which is really a disservice to the song and the listener. In some respects, it might be better if they’d never told anyone where it came from.

Aaron: Ha! I think even if The Beatles had never mentioned the story, it would have got out. As much as I admire Peter Fonda, he’s never been shy about self-aggrandizement and myth building. I think he knows how annoying he was that day, but he still gets so much joy out of having inspired a Beatles’ song that he’ll never tire of talking about it to anybody who will listen.

In any case, about Paul’s bass playing – it’s hard to say what he would have done with this track. I don’t know exactly why he wasn’t around; all I can find is reference to a studio tiff and his storming out. What the tiff had to do with, I’ve no clue. However, a few things are worth keeping in mind, one of which is that by this point the band was in the midst of a period of Paul really taking over in terms a lot of creative direction decisions. Because John was in the early days of a two-year acid bender that would leave him somewhat tapped for long-term energy, it was really Paul (and George Martin) who was responsible for a lot of the overarching creative decision making from Revolver through Magical Mystery Tour. So I have a feeling that had he wanted to push for a more bouncy bass part, he would have got his way. Having said that, however, it’s also worth noting that Paul’s playing on the verses of “Ticket To Ride,” which is much more drone-y than what George brings to “She Said She Said,” is a major element in that song as a key early departure for the band. So who knows what he might have brought to “She Said . . .” had he been the one to perform on it.

When it comes to Ringo’s drumming, what more can I say (besides, nice call on the modified clave – had never thought to put it that way). The more I listen to these and other tracks for this project, the more I find it confusing – unfathomable, even – that he’s got a reputation for being a mediocre or even bad (or, worst of all, boring!) drummer. His ability to play straight 4/4 (which is almost never completely straight, the way he accents the hi-hat, or swings the beat) and then switch almost seamlessly to what you call a “more compositional approach” is not only impressive, on some tracks – including “She Said She Said” – it’s damned exhilarating! And not only is he a very good drummer, I’m not even sure if it would be a stretch to argue that Ringo’s drumming is as distinctive and vital an element to the band’s sound and development as any other single aspect apart, perhaps, from the vocals.

Lew: “Ticket to Ride” is definitely a weird one. If I didn’t know better, I would suspect that Paul didn’t play bass on it at all. It doesn’t really have any of his usual flair for bridging between chords, mirroring the vocal melody, etc. That said, I think that one of the things that allows for a “dronier” bass part in “Ticket to Ride” is that there’s only one chord happening for the almost the entire verse. “She Said She Said” doesn’t offer that same kind of space, so the drone feel is definitely more of an overall effect.

As to what degree of importance Ringo’s playing has to the sound of The Beatles, I’d agree that it’s huge and vastly understated by most people. At the risk of stating the obvious, I think it’s the case in most bands that while people tend to focus on the vocalist or guitar player, the drummer is really the engine that drives the core of the band’s sound. If that’s not the case, you probably have a bad drummer. That perspective isn’t often applied to The Beatles – I’m not sure if that has to do with Ringo’s public persona or maybe the lack of clarity to hear what he’s really doing on some of the recordings - although it’s as true for them as any other band. If you played “She Said She Said” through with a straight 4/4 beat (which you could even maintain through the 12/8 section if you wanted), the song would have a completely different sound.

Aaron: Just a little factoid before we go: not only does Paul play bass on “Ticket To Ride,” he also plays lead guitar, just as George plays both on “She Said She Said” (I think it’s one of the first songs on which Paul played lead).

With that, I think we’ll leave off and see what are readers have to say. What do you think . . . could you imagine hearing “She Said She Said” on the radio today? Where would it slot in the with the Gagas and the Kanyes and the Death Cabs and the Coldplays? And, as usual, we would love to hear any thoughts you might have on this track or any of the other topics we’ve brought up.

Coming Next: Paul gets an idea in his head on THE BEST ALBUM OF ALL TIME!!!