Some Beatles songs came from something someone said. A strange conversation or a passing phrase intrigued John Lennon or Paul McCartney so much that they had to base their songs around it.
1. ‘She Said She Said’
According to Rolling Stone, John’s “She Said She Said” began with “bad vibes.” In 1965, The Beatles attended a party in Los Angeles, and actor Peter Fonda showed up with Roger McGuinn and David Crosby of The Byrds. An LSD party commenced. George started having a bad trip and felt like he was dying. Fonda tried consoling him and explained he’d survived a near-fatal surgery as a boy.
According to Beatles Bible, Fonda said, “I told him there was nothing to be afraid of and that all he needed to do was relax. I said that I knew what it was like to be dead because when I was 10 years old I’d accidentally shot myself in the stomach and my heart stopped beating three times while I was on the operating table because I’d lost so much blood.”
John passed by and overheard Fonda say, “I know what it’s like to be dead.” He told the actor, “You’re making me feel like I’ve never been born. Who put all that s*** in your head?” Fonda might have ruined John’s trip, but he inadvertently inspired “She Said She Said,” which John initially called “He Said He Said.”
2. ‘A Hard Day’s Night’
The Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night” came from one of Ringo Starr’s “malapropisms.” According to Merriam-Webster, the term means: “the usually unintentionally humorous misuse or distortion of a word or phrase.” In his book The Lyrics: 1956 to the Present, Paul McCartney wrote that Ringo’s silly phrases were one of the greatest things about him.
“He would say things that were just ever so slightly out of whack, but genius,” Paul wrote. “I think the difference between us and a lot of other people is that not only did we hear these out-of-the-ordinary phrases, but we paid attention to them. One day Ringo said, ‘Gosh, it’s been a hard day’s night,’ and we went, ‘What? Hard day’s night? That’s brilliant.’”
3. ‘Eight Days a Week’
The Beatles’ “Eight Days a Week” also came from something someone said. In The Lyrics, Paul explained that, eventually, The Beatles had enough money to hire drivers. One day, Paul was going to John’s house, and he chatted with the chauffeur on the way. At the end of the drive, Paul asked him what he’d been doing. The driver said, “Oh, I’ve been working eight days a week.” He ran into John’s house and said, “Got the title.”
“A lot of what we had going for us was that we were both good at noticing the stuff that just pops up, and grabbing it,” Paul wrote.
4. ‘Helter Skelter’
Musicians always inspire each other, not just with their music. Sometimes, all someone has to do is say something, and it could inspire a hit song. In The Lyrics, Paul said he wrote “Helter Skelter” after hearing The Who’s Pete Townshend say he’d written the “loudest, dirtiest, rockiest” song, which turned out to be “I Can See for Miles.”
Paul loved that description, so he went into the recording studio and told the rest of The Beatles, “Let’s just see how loud we can get and how raucous. Let’s try to make the meters peak.” Paul said he and The Beatles played the hell out “Helter Skelter” when they recorded it.
5. ‘Let It Be’
The Beatles’ “Let It Be” didn’t come from something someone living said. In The Lyrics, Paul wrote that everything that was going on with The Beatles, the tension and imminent breakup, was taking its toll and had run him ragged. He fell asleep exhausted one night and had a dream in which his mother, who died when he was a teenager, came to him.
Paul said the dream felt real like Mary McCartney was there with him. Being with his mother in a peaceful place comforted Paul and made him feel loved and protected. Paul said Mary seemed to know that he was worried about what was going on in his life. So, she said, “Everything will be all right. Let it be.” Paul woke up thinking that what she’d said was a great subject for a song.
Ultimately, The Beatles knew to look out for interesting things people said. They knew how to turn them into hits. If it wasn’t something someone said, it was something they read or music they heard. Everything and anything inspired The Beatles.
