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Dedicated to Kurtd. The masterpiece collaboration between John Lennon and Paul McCartney. The epitome of their talents and the essence of the Beatles' musical souls: folk, psychedelic (vocals), and orchestral music. Certainly one of their greatest musical achievements. Even though the lyrics do not reach the heights of “Strawberry Fields” and other songs, for their combination of words-music-singing, more than for the content, they represent a peak of their production. The four verses that make up the text are four completely different narrative nuclei, but together they form an absurdly rational global picture. As McCartney said: “It's a “pastiche”, but it has a surprising logic.”
1. The first verse
The first verse deals with the death of Tara Browne, a friend of John and Paul, who died in a car accident on December 18, 1966, at only 21 years old.
Today I read the news, oh God, Of a lucky man who made the grade, And though the news was rather sad I just had to laugh. That “I just had to laugh” indicates the uniqueness of the song: here we do not have a sorrow sung with the simple melancholy of someone who has lost a loved one, but a sorrow faced with the palliative of drugs, in this case, weed, as will be seen later. Hence the union of the mournful acoustic folk (the quintessential melancholy music) and John's singing with an almost ecstatic voice (to express the daze of marijuana). It's hard to exaggerate in celebrating this brilliant union of text and music – even by those who repulse the content. This half verse is one of the greatest things ever written and sung by Lennon. It should be remembered that, even though John decided to address his friend's death this way, his grief was absolutely real. George Martin recounts: “When he sang it for the first time, his voice was full of emotion.” And to say this about someone like John, who hid behind a macho exterior, is truly impressive. In the first line, there's the expression “Oh Boy”, which can mean “Oh God”, but also “guys”. Both translations are good because they both want to express, in Italian and English, disbelief, amazement, and, in this case, sadness. The next part of the first verse describes Tara's accident.
I saw the photograph, He blew his mind out in a car He hadn't noticed that the lights had changed A crowd of people stood and
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