"I'm Looking Through You" is a song by the English rock band

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

from their 1965 album ''

Rubber Soul ''Rubber Soul'' is the sixth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. It was released on 3 December 1965 in the United Kingdom, on EMI's Parlophone label, accompanied by the non-album double A-side single "Day Tripper" / "We Can Work ...

''. It was written by

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One ...

and credited to

Lennon–McCartney Lennon–McCartney was the songwriting partnership between English musicians John Lennon (1940–1980) and Paul McCartney (born 1942) of the Beatles. It is the best-known and most successful musical collaboration ever by records sold, with the ...

. McCartney wrote the song about English actress

Jane Asher Jane Asher (born 5 April 1946)The International Who's Who of Women, 3rd edition, ed. Elizabeth Sleeman, Europa Publications, 2002, p. 29 is an English actress and author. She achieved early fame as a child actress and has worked extensively in f ...

, his girlfriend for much of the 1960s, and her refusal to give up her stage career and focus on his needs. The line "You don't look different, but you have changed" reflects his dissatisfaction with their relationship. The lyrics also refer to his changing emotional state: "Love has a nasty habit of disappearing overnight".

Composition and recording

During October and November 1965, the Beatles recorded three versions of "I'm Looking Through You". Take 1 was recorded on 24 October and was slower than the version released on ''Rubber Soul'', having a tempo of 132 beats per minute. It had a significantly different rhythm and lacked the "Why, tell me why …"

middle eight The 32-bar form, also known as the AABA song form, American popular song form and the ballad form, is a song structure commonly found in Tin Pan Alley songs and other American popular music, especially in the first half of the 20th century. A ...

of the final version. Take 1 was eventually released in 1996 on the ''

Anthology 2 ''Anthology 2'' is a compilation album by the Beatles, released on 18 March 1996 by Apple Records as part of ''The Beatles Anthology'' series. It features rarities, outtakes and live performances from the 1965 sessions for ''Help!'' to the sessi ...

'' compilation. Take 1 also featured an electric

twelve-bar blues The 12-bar blues (or blues changes) is one of the most prominent chord progressions in popular music. The blues progression has a distinctive form in lyrics, phrase, chord structure, and duration. In its basic form, it is predominantly based on ...

jam, and a pitch centre in the key of G. The Beatles recorded the first remake of the track on 6 November, towards the end of the ''Rubber Soul'' sessions, but were again dissatisfied with the result. Take 4, the final version, was recorded on 10 November with overdubs on 11 November. This version is in the key of A and features a bridge passage based on a descending major scale, extending a ninth from 6 down to 5. The same melodic structure was later used by McCartney in the verse of "

Penny Lane "Penny Lane" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in February 1967 as a double A-side single with "Strawberry Fields Forever". It was written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney songwr ...

", the chorus of "

Maxwell's Silver Hammer "Maxwell's Silver Hammer" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles from their 1969 album ''Abbey Road''. It was written by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney partnership. The song is about a student named Maxwell Edison ...

", and in instrumental sections of "

Hello, Goodbye "Hello, Goodbye" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. Backed by John Lennon's "I Am the Walrus", it was issued as a non-album single in November 1967, the group's first re ...

" and "

Lady Madonna "Lady Madonna" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. In March 1968, it was released as a mono single, backed with " The Inner Light". The song was recorded on 3 a ...

". The final released version features several faintly audible abnormalities such as incomplete hand clapping, stray guitar notes and tambourine hits; whether these mistakes went unnoticed during post-production or were intentionally left in remains uncertain. The North American stereo version of the song contains two false guitar starts, which were cut from the other mixes. Allegedly, the engineers at

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

thought the false start was intentional, and left it in. The album sleeve and other sources indicate that

Ringo Starr Sir Richard Starkey (born 7 July 1940), known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the ...

played

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

on this track. Starr plays quick two-note vamps in the choruses.

Mark Lewisohn Mark Lewisohn (born 16 June 1958) is an English historian and biographer. Since the 1980s, he has written many reference books about the Beatles and has worked for EMI, MPL Communications and Apple Corps.

reported that Hammond organ was not listed on the session tape box.

Critical reception

In his contemporary review of ''Rubber Soul'' for the ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'', Allen Evans said that "I'm Looking Through You" sounded "like earlier Beatles numbers", adding: "A quiet, rocking song about a girl who has changed after letting her boy down. Ringo on organ!" ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the ''NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in ''Re ...

''s reviewer recognised Starr's unfamiliar role as an example of the album's "spirit of everybody having a go at everything". The writer admired the song's rhythm, McCartney's singing, and

George Harrison George Harrison (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian c ...

's "top-notch guitar-work". Nikki Wine of ''

KRLA Beat ''KRLA Beat'' was an American rock music magazine that operated between 1964 and 1968. It began in October 1964 as a free newsletter distributed by the Southern Californian radio station KRLA, before being reworked as a more reportage-focused titl ...

'' described the track as a "really swingin' cut" and "Wonderful fun", with an "almost-bluesy sound". Thomas Ward of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

calls "I'm Looking Through You" one of the "finest" songs on ''Rubber Soul'' and one of the "minor gems of the Beatles canon". He highlights McCartney's lyrics, describing them as one of the most "mature" of the period, and praises his lead vocal.

Personnel

According to authors Jean-Michel Guesdon and Philippe Margotin except where noted: *

–

double-tracked Double tracking or doubling is an audio recording technique in which a performer sings or plays along with their own prerecorded performance, usually to produce a stronger or bigger sound than can be obtained with a single voice or instrument. ...

vocals, bass guitar *

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of ...

– harmony vocal, acoustic guitar *

– lead guitar, tambourine *

– drums, matchbox,

References

Sources

* * * * * * * * *

External links

Full lyrics for the song at the Beatles' official website
{{authority control 1965 songs The Beatles songs Songs written by Lennon–McCartney Song recordings produced by George Martin Songs published by Northern Songs British folk rock songs The Wallflowers songs