The music in the mid 60s is a huge jump from love songs about girls and boys to affairs and innuendos. Personally, I love the transition from pop to a more serious and rebellious tone. An example of this transition is The Beatles Rubber Soul released on December 3rd 1965 right around the holiday season. The album is a mix of love and heartbreak and just basic pop songs and the mix of instruments is absolutely phenomenal from the guitars to pianos and the sitar.

The album opens up with Drive My Car with a guitar riff done by George Harrison and is about a wanna be movie star who ask the narrator of the song (Paul McCartney) to be her personal chauffeur and teases him with love the song ends with a solo very similar to the one in the middle of the song.

The next song is Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)  and is about an alleged affair that John Lennon had with a news reporter.The intro to Norwegian Wood is done amazingly by John. He plays his acoustic guitar with a capo on the 2nd fret and George plays the sitar and is the first introduction of Indian instruments  in pop music (it was later utilized in The Rolling Stones Paint It Black). This song is one of the first times John Lennon sees love more as an idea than a feeling.

Next on the album is another McCartney song is You Won’t See Me and is about his troubling relationship with girlfriend Jane Asher at the time. In the song, Paul says “When I call you up, your line’s engaged I have had enough, so act your age” Paul wrote this line to show his frustration with her being busy and telling her to grow up. Paul sounds frustrated and sad at the same time and is a huge contrast from what he was singing 2 years ago in songs like All My Loving which is also written for Asher, a basic love song with complex chords and a phenomenal guitar solo to a song about his frustration with her.

Next up is the John Lennon song Nowhere Man which is about how he was feeling at that time. John felt isolated and thought he was going nowhere hence the name of the song. The song switches from 3rd person to 1st and 2nd person. An example of it switching are the lines “Doesn’t have a point of view Knows not where he’s going to Isn’t he a bit like you and me?” It goes from 3rd to 1st and 2nd person; this makes the lyrics and the song more impactful as everybody can relate or understand the song’s message.

Next is a George Harrison song Think For Yourself. This song was written “to target narrow minded thinking” quoted from his Autobiography. The song uses a fuzz effect on the bass giving that impactful beginning. These are just some examples of how this album is a jump from corny love songs to complex relationship problems and a mix of different instruments to create beautiful melodies.

One of the songs climbed to number 3 on Billboard’s hot 100 in July and that song is Nowhere Man. The album was received well by critics and the album quickly hit the number one spot and remained there for six weeks. Recording sessions for Rubber Soul lasted about 4 weeks and The Beatles recorded at EMI studios. The artists that influenced the songs on Rubber Soul were Bob Dylan, The Byrds and multiple Motown artists. Bob Dylan influenced the folk songs on the album an example is Norwegian Wood, The Byrds influenced the 12 string guitar songs on the album one of these songs are  If I Needed Someone. Motown influenced McCartneys songs on Rubber Soul one being You Won’t See Me the background harmonies in the song are very Motown inspired most likely taking inspiration from Mary Wells who is another famous musician around this era and The Temptations.

The impact of Rubber Soul on music is not to be underestimated. It influenced artists at the time to lead away from putting their focus on making as many singles as possible and putting more effort into writing songs for an album and producing them more carefully. The album also helped elevate rock music for mere entertainment purposes to an legitimate art form, and pushed artists to experiment in the studio with track loops changing modes. It also influenced The Beatles to experiment more with their instruments and lyrics. A lot of modern artists who are influenced by The Beatles usually heard them from this album.

This album is an excellent piece of work and a huge step from The Beatles early work to their more experimental phase, and led to their amazing later work. This album showed excellent song writing from all of The Beatles and showed their emotional and sensitive side.