THIS WEEK: FIVE UNDERRATED BEATLES SONGS
“She Said She Said“
from the album Revolver
1966
One of the key tracks on Revolver, “She Said She Said” is John Lennon’s major contribution to the album (apart from the magnificent closer “Tomorrow Never Knows”). It’s a vital, scathing track, reputedly inspired from a conversation Lennon had with Peter Fonda*. With it’s clearly Acid-inspired lyric, Lennon sneers “She said she said / I know what it’s like to be dead” with a contempt that is rare within his work with The Beatles. Harrison’s guitar is similarly jarring and brittle. The song is quite different to anything The Beatles recorded previously, yet there’s no denying its brilliance and enormous importance in the development in Lennon’s song writing.
* = John Lennon is said to have got the idea to “She Said She Said” after tripping on LSD with actor Peter Fonda and members of the Byrds. The Beatles rented a house at 2850 Benedict Canyon in Los Angeles during their U.S. tour in August 1965. One night they held a massive party at the house, and Fonda and the Byrds were among the guests.
Apparently this was the first time John and George deliberately took the drug LSD. Fonda later said he remembered sitting out on the deck of the house with George, who said he thought he was dying. Fonda tried to calm him down by telling a story about when he was ten years old and sent to hospital after accidentally shooting himself in the stomach. He had lost so much blood that his heart stopped beating three times while he was on the operating table.
“I know what it’s like to be dead,” he told George, and right then Lennon passed by. Lennon heard what Fonda said, and allegedly replied: “You’re making me feel like I’ve never been born. Who put all that shit in your head?”
It took the Beatles about 9 hours to record “She Said She Said,” and they spent most of the time rehearsing through at least 25 takes. Paul McCartney later said that he wasn’t sure if he actually played on the recording of “She Said She Said,” and that it was perhaps Harrison who played the bass.