Four Deeply Disturbing Beatles Songs That Would Make A Modern Woman Scream…And Run For The Hills.
Someone get the bulls — I have about 100 red flags here
Before I start let me just say I am a huge Beatles fan. Huge! This is not Beatles-bashing. But…these song are disturbing. Properly disturbing. And Fascinating. And it’s something we should talk about.
Now, I have been reading about quoting Beatles lyrics and I have discovered that while I am allowed to use the names of these songs, I am not allowed to quote the lyrics. I know. The whole rest of the internet does. As such, it will be easy to find the lyrics of these songs for the unfamiliar, and well, it will hopefully be an interesting discussion for those already deep in the streats. (See what I did there? Nice.)
So hop into my golden submersible and join me on this mystical enigma journey, you’ve got a pass to travel. Okay, I’ll stop now. They did it better. Just.
‘No Reply’
This song is from the album, Beatles for Sale. It is one of my favourite albums and this song is probably my favourite on the album. Actually now I’m going over them in my head it ties with four others for favourite. We can discuss in the comments, but anyway, what the heck is with this song? It’s incredibly creepy.
‘No Reply’ is the tale of a man who may or may not be in a relationship with a woman. He turns up at her door and her family tell him, sorry, no, she’s not home. He says he knows this isn’t true because he saw he through the window peeking out, clearly not brave enough to answer the door herself.
Undeterred, our protagonist tries a phone call instead and is advised the woman in question is still not home. He then rails against the injustice of this untruth as he reveals to the listener that actually he has been waiting outside her house, watching, and he knows she’s there because he saw her arrive home with the person she’s actually seeing.
Still undeterred, out protagonist offers a little advice for his unrequited. He explains that it would be better for her if she woke up to herself and realised he clearly loves her more than the other man, and if she would just step back in line he would find it within himself to forgive her. How chivalrous.
Repeat to fade.
Run away fast.
‘I’ll Cry Instead’
This song is from the Album A Hard Day’s Night. It’s a fantastic album beginning to end and yes, I love this song too.
This is another tale of a jilted lover and the mature and responsible way with which our narrator deals with his disappointment. Jokes. It’s appalling.
Our narrator has been dumped and he is lamenting this fact in song saying that what he would like, ideally, is to be able to make his ex feel as miserable as he does. I mean, I think that’s a pretty natural reaction for a lot of people. As his ex has left though, and gone far away where he can’t bother her (wonder why) he is unable to make her miserable so he decides, ‘I’ll Cry Instead’.
He’s going to let a few tears fall and he’s going to do this quietly, all alone, because, awwww, he’s embarrassed for people to see him upset. Our hearts go out to this poor, sweet, sad young man. We wish him well. Then he continues.
After he’s finished licking his wounds he plans to systematically abuse as many women as possible, worldwide no less, to get back at the ex. Every woman he can find will suffer at his hand because of the actions of one woman who upset him in the past. That ought to show her.
Moving right along.
‘Norwegian Wood’
It’s a classic. It’s off my very favourite album, Rubber Soul. ‘Norwegian Wood’ is very short and gets straight to the point.
The man in question is invited to a woman’s house. Naturally he assumes there’s sex involved because he’s a man and she’s a woman and why else would he be there?
Turns out this woman just wanted to chat and have a few glasses of wine with him because, I don’t know, she thought maybe she had some worth other than as a sex object and she genuinely liked the guy as a friend? She has to work early but she says he can stay over anyway if he wants, they just won’t be sleeping together.
Big mistake.
When he wakes up in the morning and she has left the house to go to work to earn money, he burns her house down as an act of revenge. Because why wouldn’t he?
Run For Your Life
It’s really all in the title here. Run for your life is the final track on Rubber Soul, and it’s honestly hard to believe this was ever written, then recorded, then sent all around the world for everyone to listen to, then celebrated and applauded. How the times have changed.
This song is exactly what it says on the tin. It’s the story of a man saying to his partner that if she ever slips up, if she ever even looks at another man, she will need to run for her life.
He let’s her and the listener know he would prefer she were deceased rather than seeing anyone other than him.
Yes. This song is one short, peppy, death threat.
He does helpfully remind his victim halfway through the song that she should have seen this coming. She knew he was a bad boy so really, he’s perfectly justified in threatening to murder her now she’s got herself involved with him.
As disturbing as this song is, it is important to note the threatening first line, where he plainly states he would prefer this woman was dead than with someone else, is actually taken from another song, ‘Baby Let’s Play House’ by Arthur Gunter. I also want to add, this was Lennon’s least favourite Beatles song and he regretted recording it.
What To Make Of This?
So there we have it. Four deeply disturbing songs. They are all sung by John Lennon, which may mean he is likely to have had more input than McCartney in these particular songs. Lennon is known to have had a lot of issues with women but that’s a whole other article (I’m working on it).
That said, John Lennon was also an incredible storyteller and I, for one, am grateful for this trip into the mind of these various depraved men, or who knows, perhaps it’s all the same man?
We cannot hold it against an artist for exploring such themes and I’m sure we can all agree these themes are better explored in song than in real life. Does that make them any less disturbing? I certainly hope not.
It’s hard to imagine The Beatles having the same success these days as they would be instantly and rightfully be torn apart for recording some of these songs, but then would the world be a poorer place without this exploration of the inner workings of narcissistic abusers? I genuinely think it would be, but as I always say, whatever art we’re going to engage with, we must take it warts and all. The Beatles are no exception.
