In 1966, The Beatles released the beautiful “Here, There and Everywhere” on their seventh studio album “Revolver”. The love ballad is undoubtedly one of Paul McCartney’s most beautiful – and most underrated – compositions. It ranks among McCartney’s personal favorite songs and John Lennon considered it one of The Beatles’ finest. In this article, we will dive into the story, meaning, and legacy behind The Beatles’ “Here, There and Everywhere”.
The Origin of the Song
Paul McCartney wrote “Here, There and Everywhere” in early June 1966 at John Lennon’s house in Weybridge. He arrived there for a songwriting session, but Lennon was still asleep. As a result, McCartney decided to sit by the pool and play some guitar.
“I sat out by the pool on one of the sun chairs with my guitar and started strumming in E, and soon had a few chords, and I think by the time he’d woken up, I had pretty much written the song, so we took it indoors and finished it up,” McCartney recalled in his biography Many Years From Now.
Although McCartney wrote the song on his own, “Here, There and Everywhere” was musically influenced by other musicians. The introduction of the song was inspired by The Beach Boys’ “God Only Knows” (Brian Wilson), the seamless flow of the song was influenced by Fred Astaire’s version of “Cheek to Cheek”, and the vocal style of the song was inspired by singer Marianne Faithfull. McCartney has cited “God Only Knows” and “Cheek to Cheek” to be among his favorite songs of all time.
“We’d often do that, get something off an artist or artists that you really liked and have them in your mind while you were recording things, to give you the inspiration and give you the direction – nearly always, it ended up sounding more like us than them anyway,” McCartney told Brian Wilson’s biographer David Leaf in 1990.
Read more: The 10 Best Paul McCartney Songs With The Beatles
The Beatles recorded “Here, There and Everywhere” over the course of three days between 14 and 17 June 1966. During these days, the Beatles recorded the song’s essential layered backing vocals, which George Martin called “very simple but very effective”.
The Meaning of the Song
“Here, There and Everywhere” is a romantic ballad about the feeling of being in love and the desire to be in the presence of your loved one. The song was most likely written with Paul McCartney’s then-girlfriend Jane Asher in mind.
The lyrics of the song express that the love the singer feels isn’t tied to a place but is present everywhere – “Here, There and Everywhere”. The lyrical structure of the song is interesting, with the first verse starting with “Here”. the second verse starting with “There”, and the third verse starting with “Everywhere”.
My favorite line is ‘Changing my life with a wave of her hand,” McCartney stated in his book The Lyrics. “I look at that line now and wonder where it came from. What was it? Was I thinking of the queen waving from the royal carriage? Or just the power of the little thing. The power of doing hardly anything. She waves her hand and she’s changed my life. It summons up a lot.”
The Legacy of the Song
The Beatles released “Here, There and Everywhere” on their seventh studio album Revolver. The song is often seen as one of the highlights of the album and one of McCartney’s finest compositions.
John Lennon called “Here, There and Everywhere” one of his favorite Beatles songs, and McCartney even called it his personal favorite song. “People normally asked me “What’s my most favorite song of my own?” That’s kind of difficult. I think the one I kind of like the most is “Here, There And Everywhere,” McCartney said in an interview with Idris Elba.
Despite being a personal favorite of McCartney – and the praise of John Lennon – “Here, There and Everywhere” isn’t as commercially popular as some of McCartney’s other compositions. According to Kworb, the song only ranks number 58 on the most-played Beatles songs on Spotify. As a result, the beautiful ballad is often cited as McCartney’s most underrated composition.
Interested in more stories behind The Beatles? Click here
