The Beatles, "Help!"

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Jesus, what a trite fuckin song. Far be it from me to insist on holding up a big DO YOU SEE sign in re the pairing of depresso lyrics and bouncy music (I'll leave that to Sarah Vowell) but in my experience when you're begging somebody for help you're generally not that JOLLY. It's a damn mockery is what it is. It's like Kirstie Alley in that commercial calling up Jenny Craig and going "Help, girl! I'm fat!" in a stupid slapsticky way.

Maybe if we all pull together and think hard we can come up with some better songs about needing help.

― cindy margolis holocaust (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 20:02 (twenty-one years ago)

Anyway Cathy Berberian had the best cover of it.

― cindy margolis holocaust (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 20:04 (twenty-one years ago)

Help, I'm A Fish! is surely the last word in such songs?

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 20:04 (twenty-one years ago)

I dunno, I hear it as amphetamine-fueled neurotica -- all jittery like, trying to get his shit together. But then, I luv thee beetles.

Better songs about needing help? Fontella Bass is the obvious one.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 20:16 (twenty-one years ago)

I have no idea what you're on about, Cindy.

Anyway, the song hardly sounds jolly - not least John's strained, pinched, rushed delivery and George's dour harmonies.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 20:25 (twenty-one years ago)

The song was meant to be a ballad, no?

― PappaWheelie (PappaWheelie), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 20:27 (twenty-one years ago)

It's a damn mockery

John Lennon never did this surely?

― Masked Gazza, Tuesday, 10 May 2005 20:39 (twenty-one years ago)

I've always been a fan of the marriage of depressing lyrics & happy tunes.

"sad" lyrics + "sad" music = too obvious

― darin (darin), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 20:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Speaking of Beatles, I just found MP3s of all their x-mas singles which I'd never heard before. Kind of interesting to listen to in sequence:

http://www.beatlecollectors.com/pages/26/

― darin (darin), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 20:43 (twenty-one years ago)

darin OTM. Isn't that what the Smiths, Buzzcocks, and most disco were all about?

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 20:46 (twenty-one years ago)

I've always been a fan of the marriage of depressing lyrics & happy tunes.

that's not my point. usually i'm fine with that because what most people consider "depressing" i consider normal human communication. i just sort of hate it when i read a review and the writer goes "OMG DEPRESSING LYRICS AND HAPPY MUSIC HOW NOVEL" (cuz it's not and the words probably aren't that morose anyways).

but i still think "help" is retarded.

― cindy margolis holocaust (Jody Beth Rosen), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 20:48 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't find that most of The Smiths' music sounded particularly "happy".

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 20:48 (twenty-one years ago)

"help" is a good song. don't let that simp vowell ruin it for all of us.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 20:50 (twenty-one years ago)

I liked Help! when I was growing up, but now I agree with jody, I think. It could be a great song, but the chorus is just too bright and sing-songy.

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 20:53 (twenty-one years ago)

There is little more excruciating than U2's godawful slow live version of this song, which sounds like a constipated man trying to pass the time. (On the flipside, little is so ridiculously joyful as the Damned covering this song in one minute flat.)

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 20:54 (twenty-one years ago)

And whoever covered Help! in that I Am Sam movie needs to be blugeoned.

― darin (darin), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 20:57 (twenty-one years ago)

yeah, I have no idea what this is about, he sounds completely desperate and fast /= happy where the music's concerned.

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 21:01 (twenty-one years ago)

OOOOOH!

― Alba (Alba), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 21:04 (twenty-one years ago)

the caetano veloso version completely kicks ass btw. does it completely over-the-top melodramatic and it works.

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 21:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Matos otm

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 22:59 (twenty-one years ago)

i see john farnham's far superior version is going unheralded

― shine headlights on me (electricsound), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 23:01 (twenty-one years ago)

Bobby Byrd's "I Need Help (I Can't Do It Alone)"?

Points to John for the totally non-intuitive opening of the music: Bm to G to E7 to A--and what key is the song in? A major, of course! It's like a plea for help--he makes a few stabs in the neighborhood of the "home" key before he's finally able to nail it...

― Douglas (Douglas), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 23:20 (twenty-one years ago)

There's a deeper synergy between form and content on "Help" than the original poster may have realized.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, 10 May 2005 23:45 (twenty-one years ago)

i think you're all just letting your rockism get the best of you here

― cindy margolis holocaust (Jody Beth Rosen), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 01:12 (twenty-one years ago)

alas, we have been found out

― Matos-Webster Dictionary (M Matos), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 01:13 (twenty-one years ago)

so Nowhere Man doesn't work either, right?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 01:33 (twenty-one years ago)

am I a mod or a rockist?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 01:36 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't find that most of The Smiths' music sounded particularly "happy".

-- Geir Hongro (geirhon...), May 10th, 2005.

That's my problem with them -- the music (and the lyrics, for that matter) is neither convincingly happy nor convincingly sad, so all I hear is a sort of affected, fashionable melancholy.

― Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 01:46 (twenty-one years ago)

> am I a mod or a rockist?

You're a mockist.

― Joseph McCombs (Joseph McCombs), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 02:20 (twenty-one years ago)

But yes, the Beatles song -- desperate and of a certain frantic energy, but not particularly happy.

― Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 02:22 (twenty-one years ago)

Though perhaps there's a certain excitement in it, like the speaker has been in pain for a long time and has finally cried out.

― Hurting (Hurting), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 02:22 (twenty-one years ago)

the interweb puts up a lot of shit, but this thread takes the cake.

don't get me wrong, i love shit. and cake.

― irrigation can save your people (irrigation can save your peopl), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 03:28 (twenty-one years ago)

HAA HAA I HATE SACRED COW!

― Frogm@n Henry, Wednesday, 11 May 2005 03:37 (twenty-one years ago)

dude - "help!" is better than all of us, put together.

― peter smith (plsmith), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 03:44 (twenty-one years ago)

so Nowhere Man doesn't work either, right?

Nowhere Man is a horrible, horrible record. Especially the strident nasal opening.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 06:40 (twenty-one years ago)

The key line in the song is "and I do appreciate you being around", i.e. the singer has perked up a bit. Hence the tune.

― mark grout (mark grout), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 06:57 (twenty-one years ago)

The do appreciate bit is surely married to a silent "but it isnt fucking helping".

― Tom (Groke), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 08:56 (twenty-one years ago)

I always hear that bit as "I do appreciate you being round" now, like he's saying it to a fat friend who at least makes him look good in comparison. I fear this weak joke may have got into my head from watching the Bananarama / La Na Nee Nee Noo Noo video.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 09:08 (twenty-one years ago)

I thought it would be about the album, this thread.

What's wrong with nasal openings? I bet you walk around breathing through your mouth.

(I have no Bananarama excuse for that one.)

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 09:33 (twenty-one years ago)

In 1965, releasing a song with a sad lyric was radical enough. If they'd accompanied it by releasing a sad melody as well, I guess it would have been too much to take for the teen audiences of back then.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 09:52 (twenty-one years ago)

Yes, no one could stand 'Yesterday'.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 09:55 (twenty-one years ago)

The fact that "Yesterday" was very much a pretty ballad probably made it easier for people to accept that one.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 09:56 (twenty-one years ago)

Hey, 'Ham and Eggs' is the opposite of what this thread is talking about. Clever Paul!

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 10:02 (twenty-one years ago)

**In 1965, releasing a song with a sad lyric was radical enough.**

Do you mean that sad songs were out of fashion in 1965? Or do you mean that people didn't write sad lyrics up to and including 1965? If the latter, try Roy Orbison, John Leyton, Ricky Valance or Buddy Holly for size

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 10:19 (twenty-one years ago)

I like the idea of sadness being out of fashion in 1965.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 10:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Hmmm.

Biggest-selling British single of 1965: "Tears" by Ken Dodd.

Biggest-selling worldwide single of 1965: "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" by the Righteous Brothers.

Geir OTM as always, then.

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 10:32 (twenty-one years ago)

Dick Rowe, in 1962: "Miserable groups are on the way out, Mr. Epstein. You really should stick to selling records in Liverpool"

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 10:32 (twenty-one years ago)

I don't think he used the word "miserable" strictly speaking.

Poor old Dick Rowe, he always gets slagged off. I mean, he turned down the Beatles and instead signed the Stones. What a loser!

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 11:13 (twenty-one years ago)

What is the point of this thread anyway? Sure, the song's an unlikely contrivance - especially if you know nothing about Lennon's state of mind at the time, the circumstances in which it came into being, what and who inspired it, and how it compared lyrically and musically to other charting pop music of the day. So how about doing some damn research first?

― Gary G, Wednesday, 11 May 2005 12:05 (twenty-one years ago)

Why don't you fuck off and learn some manners before coming on this board, you cancerous turd tray?

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 12:07 (twenty-one years ago)

where do you think we go to do our research?

― peter smith (plsmith), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 12:28 (twenty-one years ago)

I wonder if that was Gary Glitter...

― Marcello Carlin (nostudium), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 12:32 (twenty-one years ago)

fuckin pederast.

― peter smith (plsmith), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 12:36 (twenty-one years ago)

"unlikely contrivance"

Heh.

― J (Jay), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 12:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Who cares about research? It's a damn good tune.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 12:40 (twenty-one years ago)

Shit, I apologize for channelling that evil fucker Glenn Reynolds there.

― J (Jay), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 12:55 (twenty-one years ago)

TS: Dick Roe vs Nob Cheese

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 13:45 (twenty-one years ago)

Desperate/morose lyrics matched with bright and sing-songy chorus = fine strategy, as with "Wake Up Boo."

― Dr Morbius (Dr Morbius), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 14:10 (twenty-one years ago)

And lo Jody won.

― Alba (Alba), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 14:39 (twenty-one years ago)

If you can track down Roy Orbison's heartbreaking slow cover of Help then you'll realize the true downer power of this tune. It's sooooo sad!

― billy shit eater, Wednesday, 11 May 2005 15:44 (twenty-one years ago)

Then again Roy could turn "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" into a dirge as bleak as Joy Division.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 16:22 (twenty-one years ago)

I remember reading somewhere many years ago, maybe in The Beatles: An Illustrated Record, that this song was a problematic milestone in the Beatles history because the words were more important than the music. You see, the author preferred the earlier, less pretentious Beatles- he was a rock-and-rollist. In any case, I've never been able to totally erase that idea from my brain, and so even though I like the song I agree with Jody somewhat and prefer the Rutles parody ,"Ouch!"

― Ken L (Ken L), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 16:36 (twenty-one years ago)

It's a silly pop tune that doesn't require this much analysis, I'd imagine. I actually quite like it, and the Damned's cover is ace!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 17:10 (twenty-one years ago)

I find myself singing along more to the background vocals than the lead on the verses since those lyrics are easier to remember.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 17:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Those background vocals served as a model for a lot of (great) Monkees tune arrangements. As did the whole movie, for that matter. (Model for [not so great] Monkees TV scripts).

― Curt (cgould), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 17:54 (twenty-one years ago)

Possibly more novel than sad-words-to-happy-music was sad-personal-title-song-for-zany-movie-romp. Given the title and charged with writing a "Help me, I'm being hunted down by crazy fiends" song, instead Lennon pens his "Help me, I'm desperately sad" plea. Genius!

― Curt (cgould), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 18:15 (twenty-one years ago)

this is one of their best singles, i don't know what jody is on about. but then, i like sarah vowell (how'd she get into this?) too. oh well...

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 22:44 (twenty-one years ago)

That's my problem with them -- the music (and the lyrics, for that matter) is neither convincingly happy nor convincingly sad, so all I hear is a sort of affected, fashionable melancholy.

Of course Morrissey is affected! What's wrong with being affected (or fashionable)?

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 23:10 (twenty-one years ago)

and I'm not a big Beatles fanatic, but "Help" seems like just a great, immediate and catchy pop song....one of those songs when you hear it as a kid you just instantly LIKE it and why overanalyze that?

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Wednesday, 11 May 2005 23:11 (twenty-one years ago)

six years pass...

so anyway, you know what is a good song? i've just seen a face.

― flesh, the devil, and a wolf (wolf) (amateurist), Wednesday, 26 October 2011 04:56 (fourteen years ago)

There was a really int'g profile of Paul M. in the New Yorker a few years ago...I'm no huge Paul fan but his songwriting ability is truly genius. He's like a totally average guy who has this unreal gift, like a freak of nature

― Iago Galdston, Thursday, 27 October 2011 01:13 (fourteen years ago)

seven years pass...

There's a deeper synergy between form and content on "Help" than the original poster may have realized.
― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Tuesday, May 10, 2005 6:45 PM (thirteen years ago)

i've never really listened to this song before tonight, but it does seem like this is otm, as are the comments about desperate/frantic/neurotic etc.

i don't know about trite but the song is perhaps not necessarily deep - just relatively accurate. ok so depresso lyrics and bouncy music - though i would say something more like 'brash', at least in the bridges (? they repeat like a chorus but musically they seem to be designed to hold a lot back and function more like a development) leading up to the truncated chorus ('won't you please please help me') and the opening especially. but that matches the way the singer is asking for help - all of the sudden, abruptly (the opening), with specificity (somebody, not just anybody), to remedy some inarticulate need for something that would make things better (hello depression). the ask is made in a big way - 'i've opened up the door' - but the singer is openly doubtful whether the addressee can help - 'help me if you can, i'm feeling down' - so 'and i do appreciate you being round' is followed by an implied 'but', being the kind of thing you say to someone who can't help, all they're doing is being there, which puts them 'inside' the door yet occupying the space the person who could help would fill.

there seems to be some interesting time confusion in the tenses and deictic words ('now' and 'then') from verse to verse, which maybe goes along with the mood. 'so much younger than today' = a forlorn wish to be innocent rather than experienced, to go back to seeing the future as a realm of possibility rather than frozen faltering anxiety. open and freeing rather than closed off. suddenly what should be 'those days' become 'these days', which are gone = the present is slipping away, it's just a haze, all the days are stuck, our feet can't touch the ground (= they are up on the bed), we can't move forward, and get to any new day.

― j., Wednesday, 20 March 2019 04:31 (seven years ago)

"Help me if you can I'm feeling down"

And what's the b-side?

"I'm Down"

Brilliant!

― Mark G, Wednesday, 20 March 2019 09:49 (seven years ago)

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