And though Rubber Soul could be read as pro-feminist in many ways, it also contains one of the Beatles’ most misogynistic songs. The songs demonstrate the Beatles' increasing maturity as lyricists, and in their incorporation of brighter guitar tones and new instrumentation such as sitar, harmonium and fuzz bass, the group striving for more expressive sounds and arrangements for their music. The four songs omitted by Capitol, including the February 1966 single "Nowhere Man", later appeared on the North American release Yesterday and Today. [107], "Michelle" was conceived by McCartney in the late 1950s. [155][nb 9], Martin's Bach-inspired piano solo was overdubbed in the Beatles' absence,[156] over a section that they had left empty. McGuinn later likened the exchange of ideas between British and American musicians during the mid 1960s to an "international code going back and forth through records". [251] According to figures published in 2009 by former Capitol executive David Kronemyer, further to estimates he gave in MuseWire magazine,[252] Rubber Soul sold 1,800,376 copies in America by the end of 1965 and 2,766,862 by the close of the decade. Jackson cites this run of success as evidence that the Beatles "loomed over their era like possibly no other artist has since", adding that the six hit singles captured the nation's "shifting mood" throughout 1965. All tracks are written by Lennon–McCartney except where noted. "[263] By contrast, Richard Green wrote in the same magazine that most of the album "if recorded by anyone but the Beatles, would not be worthy of release", with many of the tracks devoid of "the old Beatles excitement and compulsiveness". [202] EMI announced that it had pressed 750,000 copies of the LP to cater to local demand. [135] Lennon retained a line from the Presley track – "I'd rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man". "[340], In 2000, Rubber Soul was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame,[226] an award bestowed by the American Recording Academy "to honor recordings of lasting qualitative or historical significance that are at least 25 years old". [88], The album opens with a pair of lead guitar parts that are soon rendered off-metre by the arrival of McCartney's bass. [290] The release marked the start of a period when other artists, in an attempt to emulate the Beatles' achievement, sought to create albums as works of artistic merit[290][291] and with increasingly novel sounds. [1] During the sessions, the Beatles also made use of harmonium,[60][61] marking that instrument's introduction into rock music. [20][nb 12] In Phillip Norman's view, the title served as "a sly dig at their archrivals (and private best mates) the Rolling Stones", with the added implication that the Beatles' "variety" of soul music "at least was stamped out by a good strong northern [English] Wellington boot". [60] The lyrics evoke Lennon's youth in Liverpool and reflect his nostalgia for a time before the onset of international fame. He says that Rubber Soul usually trails the Beatles' next four albums in critics' assessments of their work, yet "it's undoubtedly their pre-acid, pre-antagonism masterpiece: beat music as high art". [75] In addition, a rift was growing between McCartney and his bandmates as he continued to abstain from trying the hallucinogenic drug LSD. [168] The latter aspect is furthered by McCartney's arpeggiated bass line in A major continuing over the chord change to a ♭VII triad. McCartney recalled the band's reaction: "That's it, Rubber So-o-oul, hey hey! Following the release of their previous album The Beatles had undertaken a momentous tour of the USA and Canada including a record breaking appearance at New York's famous Shea Stadium. [93], The lyrics convey an actress's desire to become a film star and her promise to the narrator that he can be her chauffeur. [344][345], The Capitol version was relaunched in 2006, for the Capitol Albums, Volume 2 box set,[181][346] using original mixes of the Capitol album, and then in 2014, individually and on the box set The U.S. [198], Rubber Soul was issued on EMI's Parlophone label on 3 December 1965. [131], The Beatles had attempted to record an early version of Lennon's "What Goes On" in 1963. [135][173] The lyrical theme is jealousy, and Lennon later disavowed the song as a misogynistic piece. "[24] Barry Walters of Rolling Stone magazine writes, "Changing chords, rewriting melody, overhauling rhythms and resequencing large chunks of lyrics, the ever-ambitious Sufjan Stevens turns 'What Goes On' inside out with an intricate stop-and-start arrangement that affirms Rubber Soul's elastic strength. [308] According to Sculatti, Rubber Soul was "the definitive 'rock as art' album, revolutionary in that it was a completely successful creative endeavor integrating with precision all aspects of the creative (rock) process – composition of individual tracks done with extreme care, each track arranged appropriately to fit beside each other track, the symmetrical rock 'n' roll album". The song was later released as the B-side of the US single "Nowhere Man", and then as the tenth track on the North America-only album Yesterday and Today. View credits, reviews, tracks and shop for the 1965 Vinyl release of "Rubber Soul" on Discogs. [22] The album was one of the first projects that Martin undertook after leaving EMI's staff and co-founding Associated Independent Recording (AIR). In a review for Pitchfork, Rob Mitchum writes that Stevens takes Starr's "abysmal country tune" and turns it into, "a really good Sufjan Stevens song, arranged for the full Illinoisemaker band with choral interludes, diving strings, and a surprisingly gritty jam. as "the first chapter in the [Beatles'] astounding creative takeoff", after which the band "grew up with an album of bittersweet romance, singing adult love ballads that feel worldly but not jaded". Another standout track on Rubber Soul is “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)”, which was originally recorded with the working title of “This Bird Has Flown”. [71][nb 4] This also manifested in a struggle over which song should be the A-side of their next single, with Lennon insisting on "Day Tripper" (of which he was the primary writer)[74] and publicly contradicting EMI's announcement about the upcoming release. The songs themselves are like little Pop Art vignettes, where the lyrics are starting to match the quality of the melodies and arrangements. The Rubber Soul woman stays up late drinking wine on her rug after midnight, until it’s time for bed. [84] According to music critic Greil Marcus, "the Beatles were still writing about love, but this was a new kind of love: contingent, scary and vital", and so, while the music was "seduction, not assault", the "emotional touch" was tougher than before. [240][241] "Nowhere Man" peaked at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100,[242] number 1 on Record World's 100 Top Pops chart,[243] number 2 on the Cash Box Top 100,[244] and number 1 on Canada's RPM 100 chart. [180], Through the mix of predominantly acoustic-based songs, according to Womack, the North American release "takes on a decidedly folk-ish orientation". [294] Rubber Soul similarly inspired Pete Townshend of the Who and the Kinks' Ray Davies,[295] as well as Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones, who issued their first album of all-original material, Aftermath, in April 1966. [23], The band were forced to work to a tight deadline to ensure the album was completed in time for a pre-Christmas release. [181] Writing in December 2015, Ilan Mochari of Inc. magazine commented on the unusual aspect of a pop album's 50th anniversary being celebrated, and added: "Over the next several years, you can bet you'll read about the 50th anniversary of many other albums – thematic volumes composed by bands or songwriters in the tradition Rubber Soul established. [95] Author and critic Kenneth Womack describes the lyrics as being "loaded with sexual innuendo", and he says that the female protagonist challenged the gendered expectations of a mid-1960s pop audience, as an "everywoman" with ego and a clear agenda. [293], Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys described Rubber Soul as "the first album I listened to where every song was a gas" and planned his band's next project, Pet Sounds, as an attempt to surpass it. [101] The narrative draws heavily on Dylan's style through its use of ambiguity. [174][nb 10] Performed in the country style,[173] it was the first track recorded for the album and features a descending guitar riff played by Harrison and slide guitar parts. The title came from an expression that black musicians were using to describe The Rolling Stones, which Paul then parodied from the original "Plastic Soul" to "Rubber Soul". as part of Capitol's reconfiguring of that LP to serve as a true soundtrack album, consisting of Beatles songs and orchestral music from the film. [221][nb 15] In the United States, Rubber Soul topped the Billboard Top LPs chart on 8 January 1966,[225] having sold 1.2 million copies there within nine days of release. We were more precise about making the album, that's all. Producers George Martin. [120] The song's accusatory message was unprecedented in the Beatles' work;[120] Jackson identifies it as the band's contribution to a "subgenre" of protest songs that emerged in 1965, in which artists railed against "oppressive conformity itself" rather than political issues. [38][39] Directed by Joe McGrath, these clips were filmed at Twickenham Film Studios in south-west London on 23 November. "[22] Everett describes McCartney's bass as "soulful. [317], In Marc Myers' view, the Capitol release "changed the direction of American rock". [19], Critics have generally been unfavourable towards the song when comparing it with the others on Rubber Soul. [138] The composition incorporates aspects of Greek folk music,[140] while the arrangement includes an instrumental passage set as a German two-step[141] and an acoustic guitar part played to sound like a Greek bouzouki. [135] McCartney, who claims to have written much of the melody, recalled that the song's musical inspiration came from Smokey Robinson and the Miracles. "[69] Author Peter Doggett highlights the cover as an example of the Beatles, like Dylan and the Stones, "continu[ing] to test the limits of the portrait" in their LP designs. 30.) "[217] Writing in The Sydney Morning Herald in July 1966, Lillian Roxon reported on the new trend for psychedelia-themed clubs and events in the US and said that Rubber Soul was "the classic psychedelic album now played at all the psychedelic discotheques". After A Hard Day's Night in 1964, it was the second Beatles LP to contain only original material. 's,[34] was recorded but remained unreleased until 1996. [4] According to author Christopher Bray, this made Rubber Soul not just unusual in the Beatles' career but "emphatically unlike those LPs made by other bands". Released 3rd December 1965. Rubber Soul is the sixth studio album by the English rock band the Beatles. ", his self-loathing[111] during a time he later called his "fat Elvis period". [54][55], Rubber Soul saw the band expanding rock and roll's instrumental resources, most notably in Harrison's use of the Indian sitar on "Norwegian Wood". [172] The idea for the "stretched" effect of the image came about by accident when Freeman was projecting the photo onto an LP-size piece of cardboard for the Beatles' benefit, and the board fell slightly backwards, elongating the projected image. [89][90] Harrison, as the Beatles' most knowledgeable soul-music enthusiast, contributed heavily to the recording by suggesting they arrange the song with a dual guitar–bass riff in the style of Otis Redding's contemporary single "Respect". album. "[264], In another review that Richard Williams later cited as an example of the British pop press not being "quite ready" for the album, Melody Maker found the Beatles' new sound "a little subdued" and said that tracks such as "You Won't See Me" and "Nowhere Man" "almost get monotonous – an un-Beatle-like feature if ever there was one". "[9] MacDonald and musicologist Walter Everett write that Starr's contribution was the lyric "Waiting for the tides of time". [16][17] Despite being the B-side, the song entered the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks, reaching #81. According to Jardine's account, McCartney essentially co-produced the track with Wilson as Jardine sang. This track is generally credited as being the first pop recording to use the sitar (an incorrect claim; the Byrds got there a few months earlier, and both were beaten by the 1960 novelty song "Goodness Gracious Me"), an Indian strin… [164] In the song's Rickenbacker 12-string guitar riff, the Beatles returned the compliment paid to them earlier in 1965 by the Byrds,[165][166] whose jangly guitar-based sound McGuinn had sourced from Harrison's playing the previous year. The project marked a progression in the band's treatment of the album format as an artistic platform, an approach they continued to develop with Revolver and Sgt. [91] In their joint lead vocals, McCartney and Lennon sing dissonant harmonies,[92] a quality that is furthered by Harrison's entrance and signifies what Everett terms a "new jazzy sophistication … in the vocal arrangement". 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