Michelle (song)

"Michelle"
Picture sleeve for the 1966 Norwegian single release, backed with "Girl"
Song by the Beatles
from the album Rubber Soul
Published Northern Songs
Released 3 December 1965 (1965-12-03)
Recorded 3 November 1965
Studio EMI, London
Genre Pop[1]
Length 2:40
Label Parlophone
Songwriter(s) Lennon–McCartney
Producer(s) George Martin

"Michelle" is a song by the English rock band the Beatles that was released in December 1965 on their album Rubber Soul. It was composed principally by Paul McCartney, with the middle eight co-written with John Lennon.[2][3] The song is a love ballad with part of its lyrics sung in French.

Following its inclusion on Rubber Soul, the song was released as a single in some European countries and in New Zealand, and on an EP in France, in early 1966. It was a number 1 hit for the Beatles in Belgium, France, Norway, the Netherlands and New Zealand, while concurrent recordings of the song by David and Jonathan and the Overlanders were similarly successful in Canada and Britain, respectively. "Michelle" won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1967 and has since become one of the most often recorded of all Beatles songs.

Composition

The instrumental music of "Michelle" originated separately from the lyrical concept. According to McCartney:

"Michelle" was a tune that I'd written in Chet Atkins' finger-picking style. There is a song he did called "Trambone" with a repetitive top line, and he played a bass line while playing a melody. This was an innovation for us; even though classical guitarists had played it, no rock'n'roll guitarists had played it. The first person we knew to use finger-picking style was Chet Atkins ... I never learned it. But based on Atkins' "Trambone", I wanted to write something with a melody and a bass line in it, so I did. I just had it as an instrumental in C.[4]

The words and style of "Michelle" have their origins in the popularity of Parisian Left Bank culture during McCartney's Liverpool days. In his description, "it was at the time of people like Juliette Greco, the French bohemian thing."[5] McCartney had gone to a party of art students where a student with a goatee and a striped T-shirt was singing a French song. He soon wrote a farcical imitation to entertain his friends that involved French-sounding groaning instead of real words. The song remained a party piece until 1965, when John Lennon suggested he rework it into a proper song for inclusion on Rubber Soul.[2]

McCartney asked Jan Vaughan, a French teacher and the wife of his old friend Ivan Vaughan, to come up with a French name and a phrase that rhymed with it. McCartney said: "It was because I'd always thought that the song sounded French that I stuck with it. I can't speak French properly so that's why I needed help in sorting out the actual words."[2]

Vaughan came up with "Michelle, ma belle", and a few days later McCartney asked for a translation of "these are words that go together well" – sont des mots qui vont très bien ensemble.[2] When McCartney played the song for Lennon, Lennon suggested the "I love you" bridge. Lennon was inspired by a song he heard the previous evening, Nina Simone's version of "I Put a Spell on You", which used the same phrase but with the emphasis on the last word, "I love you".[2][3]

Each version of this song has a different length. The UK mono mix is 2:33 whereas the stereo version extends to 2:40 and the US mono is 2:43.[6] The version available in The Beatles: Rock Band has a running time of 2:50.

Musical structure

The song was initially composed in C, but was played in F on Rubber Soul (with a capo on the fifth fret). The verse opens with an F major chord ("Michelle" – melody note C) then the second chord (on "ma belle" – melody note D♭) is a B♭7♯9 (on the original demo in C, the second chord is a F7♯9). McCartney called this second chord a "great ham-fisted jazz chord" that was taught to them by Jim Gretty who worked at Hessey's music shop in Whitechapel, central Liverpool and which George Harrison uses (as a G♭7#9) (see Dominant seventh sharp ninth chord) as the penultimate chord of his solo on "Till There Was You".[7] After the E♭6 (of "these are words") there follows an ascent involving different inversions of the D dim chord. These progress from A♭dim on "go" – melody note F, bass note D; to Bdim (C♭dim) on "to" – melody note A♭, bass note D; to Ddim on "ge..." – melody note B (C♭) bass note B; to Bdim on ...'ther..." – melody note A♭ bass note B, till the dominant (V) chord (C major) is reached on "well" – melody note G bass note C.[8]

George Martin, the Beatles' producer, recalled that he composed the melody of the guitar solo,[9] which is heard midway through the song and again during the fadeout.[10] He showed Harrison the notes during the recording session[11] and then accompanied the guitarist (on piano, out of microphone range) when the solos were overdubbed.[9] In terms of its complementary role to the main melody, musicologist Walter Everett likens this guitar part to two musical passages that Martin had arranged for singer Cilla Black the previous year: a bassoon–English horn combination on "Anyone Who Had a Heart" and the baritone electric guitar on "You're My World".[11]

Release and reception

EMI's Parlophone label released Rubber Soul on 3 December 1965 in Britain,[12] with "Michelle" sequenced as the final track on side one of the LP.[13] The album was widely viewed as marking a significant progression within the Beatles' work and in the scope of pop music generally.[14] Recalling the album's release for Mojo magazine in 2002, Richard Williams said "Michelle" represented "the biggest shock of all" to a contemporary pop audience, as McCartney conveyed "all his nostalgia for a safe childhood in the 1950s, itself a decade suffused with nostalgia for the inter-war security of the '20s and '30s, the era to which this song specifically refers."[15]

In a contemporary review for the NME, Allen Evans described "Michelle" as a "memorable track" with a "bluesy French sound" in which McCartney's vocal was supported by "[the] others using voices as instruments".[16][17] Record Mirror's reviewer admired the lyrics and said that the song was "just remotely, faintly, slightly similar to 'Yesterday' in the general approach" and "another stand-out performance".[18] Jazz critic and broadcaster Steve Race admitted to being "astonished" by the album and added: "When I heard 'Michelle' I couldn't believe my ears. The second chord is an A-chord, while the note in the melody above is A-flat. This is an unforgivable clash, something no one brought up knowing older music could ever have done. It is entirely unique, a stroke of genius ... I suppose it was sheer musical ignorance that allowed John and Paul to do it, but it took incredible daring."[19] By contrast, Bob Dylan, whose work was especially influential on Lennon and Harrison's songwriting on Rubber Soul, was dismissive of McCartney's ballad style. In March 1966, Dylan said: "A song like 'Yesterday' or 'Michelle' … it's such a cop-out, man … if you go to the Library of Congress you can find a lot better than that. There are millions of songs like 'Yesterday' and 'Michelle' written in Tin Pan Alley."[20]

Although no single from Rubber Soul was issued in Britain or America, "Michelle" was the most popular Rubber Soul track on US radio.[21][nb 1] The song was released as a commercial single in several other countries. In May 1966, Billboard's Hits of the World listed it at number 1 in Argentina, Denmark, Italy, New Zealand and Norway.[23] As the lead track on an EP release, it was number 1 in France, which continued to resist the single format in favour of extended-plays.[24] At the 1967 Ivor Novello Awards, "Michelle" won in the category of "the Most Performed Work" of 1966, ahead of "Yesterday".[25] "Michelle" won the Grammy Award for Song of the Year in 1967,[26] against competition from "Born Free", "The Impossible Dream", "Somewhere My Love" and "Strangers in the Night".[20] In 1999, BMI named "Michelle" as the 42nd most performed song of the 20th century.[27]

Cover versions

The song was a UK hit in 1966 for the Overlanders,[28] whose version topped the Record Retailer chart. It also reached number 2 in Australia. Signed to Pye Records, the Overlanders issued their recording after the Beatles had declined to release it as a single themselves in the United Kingdom and the United States. According to author Steve Turner, Pye and the Overlanders were given the Beatles' blessing because the record label had recently acquiesced to Brian Epstein's request that they withdraw a single by Alfred Lennon (Lennon's estranged father).[29] "Michelle" was also covered by David and Jonathan, whose version was produced by Martin.[30] This recording went to number 1 in Canada[31] and was a top 20 hit in Britain and the US.[32] American singer Billy Vaughn was another artist who recorded the song soon after its release. In his comments on the Lennon–McCartney composition, Steve Race remarked that Vaughn's arranger had altered the second chord to incorporate an A♭ note, thereby "taking all the sting out" of the unorthodox change. Race said this was indicative of how a formally trained arranger "was so attended to the conventional way of thinking he didn't even hear what the boys had done".[19]

Andy Williams covered the song on his 1966 album The Shadow of Your Smile. That same year, "Michelle" was one of Louis Andriessen's "Satirical Arrangements" of Beatles songs for singer Cathy Berberian. American jazz singer Sarah Vaughan also covered the song, while Matt Monro recorded it in 1976 with a string quartet. Instrumental versions were released by the Ventures, using a clavinet over the solo; Booker T. & the M.G.'s; and French bandleader Paul Mauriat, whose interpretation author John Kruth describes as "the most elegant Muzak version" of the song.[33]

Italian singer Mango released an a cappella rendition of "Michelle" on his 2002 album Disincanto.[34] The band Rubblebucket covered the song in 2010,[35] a trip hop version that was included on their Triangular Daisies EP. Beatallica did a cover of the song incorporating the music from "For Whom the Bell Tolls" by Metallica. Titled "For Whom Michelle Tolls", the track appeared on their 2013 album Abbey Load.[33]

McCartney live performances

McCartney singing "Michelle" to Michelle Obama

"Michelle" was performed by McCartney throughout his 1993 world tour.[36] He has rarely performed the song since, but did include it in a 2009 performance in Washington, DC, in honour of Michelle Obama, the American First Lady, and he would play it on most (if not all) of his performances in France or other francophone countries.[37]

On 2 June 2010, after being awarded the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song by President Barack Obama in a ceremony at the White House, McCartney performed the song for Michelle Obama, who sang along from her seat. McCartney quipped, "I could be the first guy ever to be punched out by a president."[38][39] Michelle Obama reportedly later told others that she could never have imagined, growing up an African-American girl on the South Side of Chicago, that someday a Beatle would sing "Michelle" to her as First Lady of the United States.[40]

Personnel

According to Walter Everett:[41][nb 2]

Chart performance

The Beatles

Chart (1966) Peak
position
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[43] 3
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[44] 1
French EP charts[45] 1
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[46] 1
New Zealand (Listener)[47] 1
Norway (VG-lista)[48] 1
Swedish Kvällstoppen Chart[49] 1
West German Musikmarkt Hit-Parade[50]

[51]

 6

Billy Vaughn

Chart (1965–66) Peak
position
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary[52] 18
US Billboard Hot 100[53] 77
US Billboard Easy Listening 17

Bud Shank

Chart (1966) Peak
position
US Billboard Hot 100[53] 65
US Billboard Easy Listening 12

Spokesmen

Chart (1966) Peak
position
US Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100[54] 106

David & Jonathan

Chart (1966) Peak
position
Australian Kent Music Report 42
Canadian RPM Top Singles 1
Canadian RPM Adult Contemporary[55] 1
UK Record Retailer Chart 11
US Billboard Hot 100[53] 18
US Billboard Easy Listening[56] 3

Overlanders

Notes

  1. ↑ In a 1987 interview, McCartney said that, as they had been with "Yesterday", the Beatles were reluctant to release "Michelle" as a single "because we didn't think it fitted our image … They might have been perceived as Paul McCartney singles and maybe John wasn't too keen on that."[22]
  2. ↑ Alternatively to Everett's line-up, Ian MacDonald wrote that "Michelle" was "made in nine hours and seems to have been played mostly, if not entirely, by McCartney using overdubs". He speculated that McCartney might even have sung the backing vocals and played the drums.[42]

References

  1. ↑ Hamelman, Steven L. (2004). But is it Garbage?: On Rock and Trash. University of Georgia Press. pp. 10–. ISBN 978-0-8203-2587-3.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Turner 2010, pp. 94.
  3. 1 2 Sheff 2000, p. 137.
  4. ↑ Miles 1997, p. 273.
  5. ↑ "Pete Doherty meets Paul McCartney". The Guardian. 14 October 2007.
  6. ↑ Kruth 2015, pp. 143–44.
  7. ↑ Pedler 2003, pp. 435–37.
  8. ↑ Pedler 2003, pp. 412–13.
  9. 1 2 Kruth 2015, p. 143.
  10. ↑ Winn 2008, p. 372.
  11. 1 2 Everett 2001, p. 327.
  12. ↑ Miles 2001, p. 215.
  13. ↑ Lewisohn 2005, pp. 69, 200.
  14. ↑ Frontani 2007, p. 5.
  15. ↑ Williams, Richard (2002). "Rubber Soul: Stretching the Boundaries". Mojo Special Limited Edition: 1000 Days That Shook the World (The Psychedelic Beatles – April 1, 1965 to December 26, 1967). London: Emap. p. 40.
  16. ↑ Evans, Allen (3 December 1965). "Beatles Tops". NME. p. 8.
  17. ↑ Sutherland, Steve (ed.) (2003). NME Originals: Lennon. London: IPC Ignite!. p. 34.
  18. ↑ Uncredited writer (4 December 1965). "It's Rubber Soul Time". Record Mirror. Available at Rock's Backpages (subscription required).
  19. 1 2 Lydon, Michael (2014) [March 1966]. "Lennon and McCartney: Songwriters – A Portrait from 1966". Rock's Backpages. (Subscription required (help)).
  20. 1 2 Kruth 2015, p. 144.
  21. ↑ Kruth 2015, pp. 8–9.
  22. ↑ Hertsgaard 1996, pp. 131–32.
  23. ↑ Ovens, Don (dir. reviews & charts) (14 May 1966). "Billboard Hits of the World". Billboard. p. 42. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  24. ↑ Schaffner 1978, p. 204.
  25. ↑ "The Ivors 1967". theivors.com. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  26. ↑ infoplease 2007.
  27. ↑ "BMI Announces Top 100 Songs of the Century". Broadcast Music, Inc. 13 December 1999. Retrieved 2 September 2007.
  28. ↑ Harry 2000, pp. 768–769.
  29. ↑ Turner 2016, p. 39.
  30. ↑ Everett 2001, p. 329.
  31. ↑ Kruth 2015, p. 146.
  32. ↑ Unterberger, Richie. "David and Jonathan". AllMusic. Retrieved 4 October 2007.
  33. 1 2 Kruth 2015, p. 147.
  34. ↑ "Mango – Disincanto". AllMusic. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
  35. ↑ Jackson, Josh (18 November 2010). "50 Greatest Beatles Covers of All Time". Paste. Retrieved 3 July 2018.
  36. ↑ Madinger & Easter 2000.
  37. ↑ Gavin, Patrick (2 August 2009). "Paul McCartney dedicates Beatles' classic 'Michelle' to first lady Michelle Obama". politico.com. Retrieved 9 April 2010.
  38. ↑ Associated Press (3 June 2010). "McCartney rocks White House, croons 'Michelle'". The Denver Post.
  39. ↑ Miller, Sunlen (3 June 2010). "ABC News television news report". World News Now.
  40. ↑ Caption by White House photographer Pete Souza in the official White House photostream on Flickr. Photo uploaded 30 December 2010. Accessed 12 January 2011.
  41. ↑ Everett 2001, pp. 326–27.
  42. ↑ MacDonald 2005, pp. 174–75.
  43. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – The Beatles – Michelle" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  44. ↑ "Ultratop.be – The Beatles – Michelle" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  45. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 July 2014. Retrieved 10 November 2015.
  46. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – The Beatles – Michelle" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  47. ↑ "NZ listener charts". flavourofnz.co.nz. 6 May 1966. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  48. ↑ "Norwegiancharts.com – The Beatles – Michelle". VG-lista. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
  49. ↑ "Swedish Charts 1962–March 1966/Kvällstoppen – Listresultaten vecka för vecka > Februari 1966" (PDF) (in Swedish). hitsallertijden.nl. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
  50. ↑ "Offizielle Deutsche Charts" (Enter "Beatles" in the search box) (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 16 May 2016.
  51. ↑ "The Beatles Single-Chartverfolgung (in German)". musicline.de. Archived from the original on 13 December 2013. Retrieved 27 June 2018.
  52. ↑ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1966-01-24. Retrieved 2018-05-29.
  53. 1 2 3 Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles 1955-1990 - ISBN 0-89820-089-X
  54. ↑ [Joel Whitburn's Bubbling Under the Billboard Hot 100 1959-2004]
  55. ↑ "Item Display - RPM - Library and Archives Canada". Collectionscanada.gc.ca. 1966-02-21. Missing or empty |url= (help); |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  56. ↑ Whitburn, Joel (1993). Top Adult Contemporary: 1961–1993. Record Research. p. 65.
  57. ↑ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Michelle". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved July 22, 2018.
  58. ↑ "SA Charts 1965–March 1989". Retrieved 1 September 2018.

Sources

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  • "1966 Grammy Awards". infoplease. 2007. Retrieved 4 October 2007.
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  • Lewisohn, Mark (2005) [1988]. The Complete Beatles Recording Sessions: The Official Story of the Abbey Road Years 1962–1970. London: Bounty Books. ISBN 978-0-7537-2545-0.
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