"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. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

from their 1965 album ''

Rubber Soul ''Rubber Soul'' is the sixth studio album by the English Rock music, 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 "We Can Work It Ou ...

''. It was written by

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

and credited to

Lennon–McCartney Lennon–McCartney is the songwriting partnership between the English musicians John Lennon (1940–1980) and Paul McCartney (born 1942) of the Beatles. It is widely considered one of the greatest, best known and most successful musical collabo ...

. 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 through her associatio ...

, 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

"I'm Looking Through You" is in the key of

A major A major is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has three sharps. Its relative minor is F-sharp minor and its parallel minor is A minor. The A major scale is: Changes needed for the ...

. The song primarily features McCartney's lead vocals, which is double tracked throughout, with Lennon's harmony vocals being tracked in the third phrase of each verse. The outro switches over to single-tracking, which

Alan W. Pollack Alan W. Pollack is an American musicologist best known for having analyzed every song released by the British band the Beatles. He started the task in 1989 and finished in 2000, with 187 original songs and 25 cover songs. The analyses have come t ...

opines creates a "surprising last minute sense of increased intimacy and immediacy". The primary instruments featured on the songs are the acoustic guitar, electric bass, and tambourines, along with hand claps.

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. Th ...

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!'' until the se ...

'' compilation. Take 1 also featured an electric

twelve-bar blues The twelve-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 ba ...

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 as a double A-side single with "Strawberry Fields Forever" in February 1967. It was written primarily by Paul McCartney and credited to the Lennon–McCartney songwr ...

", the chorus of " Maxwell's Silver Hammer", and in instrumental sections of "

Hello, Goodbye "Hello, Goodbye" (sometimes titled "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 ...

" and " Lady Madonna". 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), and simply known as Capitol, is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-base ...

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, songwriter and actor who achieved international fame as the drummer for the Beatles. Starr occasionally sang lead vocals with the group, us ...

played

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

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, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'', 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 published between 1954 and 1991, aimed at pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after ''New Musical Express'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK Album ...

''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, singer and songwriter who achieved international fame as the lead guitarist of the Beatles. Sometimes called "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Culture ...

's "top-notch guitar-work". Nikki Wine of '' KRLA Beat'' 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 database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

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 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 activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

– 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