The Beatles Lyrics, album "Nowhere Man"

Cover of the Beatles album - "Nowhere Man"

Nowhere Man
(John Lennon)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)

JOHN 1980: 'I'd spent five hours that morning trying to write a song that was meaningful and good, and I finally gave up and lay down.
Then 'Nowhere Man' came, words and music… the whole damn thing, as I lay down.
So letting it go is what the whole game is.
You put your finger on it, it slips away, right? You know, you turn the lights on and the cockroaches run away.
You can never grasp them.'

PAUL 1984: 'That was John after a night out, with dawn coming up.
I think at that point in his life, he was a bit wondering where he was going.'

PAUL 1988: 'I remember we wanted very treble-y guitars – which they are – they're among the most treble-y guitars I've ever heard on record.
The engineer said, 'Alright, I'll put full treble on it,' and we said, 'That's not enough.' He said, 'But that's all I've got.' And we replied, 'Well, put that through another lot of faders and put full treble up on that.
And if that's not enough we'll go through another lot of faders.' They said, 'We don't do that,' and we would say, 'Just try it… if it sounds crappy we'll lose it, but it might just sound good.' You'd then find, 'Oh it worked,' and they were secretly glad because they had been the engineer who put three times the allowed value of treble on a song.
I think they were quietly proud of those things.'

He's a real nowhere man
Sitting in his nowhere land
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody

Doesn't have a point of view
Knows not where he's going to
Isn't he a bit like you and me?

Nowhere Man, please listen
You don't know what you're missing
Nowhere Man, the world is at your command

He's as blind as he can be
Just sees what he wants to see
Nowhere Man can you see me at all?

Nowhere Man, don't worry
Take your time, don't hurry
Leave it all till somebody else lends you a hand

Doesn't have a point of view
Knows not where he's going to
Isn't he a bit like you and me?

Nowhere Man, please listen
You don't know what you're missing
Nowhere Man, the world is at your command

He's a real Nowhere Man
Sitting in his nowhere land
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody
Making all his nowhere plans for nobody

Drive My Car
(John Lennon and Paul McCartney)

GEORGE 1977: 'If Paul had written a song, he'd learn all the parts and then come in the studio and say 'Do this.' He'd never give you the opportunity to come out with something.
But on 'Drive My Car' I just played the line, which is really like a lick off 'Respect,' you know, the Otis Redding version.
And I played the line on the guitar and Paul laid that with me on the bass.
We laid that track down like that.
We played the lead part later on top of it.'

JOHN 1980: 'His (Paul's) song, with contributions from me.'

PAUL circa-1994: 'This is one of the songs where John and I came nearest to having a dry session.
The lyrics I brought in were something to do with golden rings, which are always fatal (to songwriting).
'Rings' is fatal anyway, 'rings' always rhymes with things and I knew it was a bad idea.
I came in and I said, 'These aren't good lyrics but it's a good tune.' Well, we tried, and John couldn't think of anything, and we tried, and eventually it was, 'Oh let's leave it, let's get off this one.' 'No, no.
We can do it, we can do it.' So we had a break… then we came back to it, and somehow it became 'drive-my-car' instead of 'gol-den-rings,' and then it was wonderful – because this nice tongue-in-cheek idea came.'

Asked a girl what she wanted to be
She said baby, "Can't you see
I wanna be famous, a star of the screen
But you can do something in between"

Baby you can drive my car
Yes I'm gonna be a star
Baby you can drive my car
And maybe I'll love you

I told the girl that my prospects were good
She said baby, "It's understood
Working for peanuts is all very fine
But I can show you a better time"

Baby you can drive my car
Yes I'm gonna be a star
Baby you can drive my car
And maybe I'll love you
Beep beep mm, beep beep yeah

Baby you can drive my car
Yes I'm gonna be a star
Baby you can drive my car
And maybe I'll love you

I told that girl I can start right away
And she said, "Listen baby I've got something to say
I got no car and it's breaking my heart
But I've found a driver and that's a start"

Baby you can drive my car
Yes I'm gonna be a star
Baby you can drive my car
And maybe I'll love you
Beep beep mm beep beep yeah
Beep beep mm beep beep yeah
Beep beep mm beep beep yeah
Beep beep mm beep beep yeah (fade out)

Michelle
(John Lennon and Paul McCartney)

JOHN 1972: 'Both of us.
I wrote the middle with him.'

PAUL 1977: ''Michelle' was like a joke French tune for when you go to a party or something.
That's all it was.
And then after a while you say, 'Well, that's quite a good tune.
Let's put some real words to it.''

JOHN 1980: 'He and I were staying somewhere and he walked in and hummed the first few bars, with the words, and he says, 'Where do I go from here?' I had been listening to (blues singer) Nina Simone.
I think it was 'I Put A Spell On You.' There was a line in it that went, 'I love you, I love you.' That's what made me think of the middle-eight for 'Michelle.' So, my contributions to Paul's songs was always to add a little bluesy edge to them.
Otherwise, 'Michelle' is a straight ballad, right? He provided a lightness, an optimism, while I would always go for the sadness, the discords, the bluesy notes.'

PAUL 1988: 'I'll never forget putting the bass line in 'Michelle' because it was a kind of Bizet thing.
It really turned the song around.
You could do that with bass.
It was very exciting.'

Michelle, ma belle
These are words that go together well
My Michelle

Michelle, ma belle
Sont des mots qui vont très bien ensemble
Très bien ensemble

I love you, I love you, I love you
That's all I want to say
Until I find a way
I will say the only words I know that
You'll understand

Michelle, ma belle
Sont des mots qui vont très bien ensemble
Très bien ensemble

I need to, I need to, I need to
I need to make you see
Oh, what you mean to me
Until I do I'm hoping you will
Know what I mean

I love you

I want you, I want you, I want you
I think you know by now
I'll get to you somehow
Until I do I'm telling you so
You'll understand

Michelle, ma belle
Sont des mots qui vont très bien ensemble
Très bien ensemble

And I will say the only words I know
That you'll understand, my Michelle

You Won't See Me
(Paul McCartney)
(Officially – John Lennon and Paul McCartney)

When I call you up
Your line's engaged
I have had enough
So act your age
We have lost the time
That was so hard to find
And I will lose my mind
If you won't see me (You won't see me)
You won't see me (You won't see me)

I don't know why you
Should want to hide
But I can't get through
My hands are tied
I won't want to stay
I don't have much to say
But I can turn away
And you won't see me (You won't see me)
You won't see me (You won't see me)

Time after time
You refuse to even listen
I wouldn't mind
If I knew what I was missing

Though the days are few
They're filled with tears
And since I lost you
It feels like years
Yes, it seems so long
Girl, since you've been gone
And I just can't go on
If you won't see me (You won't see me)
You won't see me (You won't see me)

Time after time
You refuse to even listen
I wouldn't mind
If I knew what I was missing