Wednesday, August 2, 2017

TRACK ELEVEN: "When I Get Home" VS. "In My Life"




 

"Things We Said Today"- 33
"I'm Looking Through You"- 16

Can I assume this round will be another landslide? Can I assume there will be a few crankypants who will trash "In My Life" because it's become a standard?

As much as I love the cold open and harmonies on "When I Get Home," I've always thought the verses were clumsy.

"In My Life," From "Revolution In Your Head":

Lennon was proud of this lyric, regarding it as his first serious piece and claiming credit also for the music, except for the verse harmony and the middle eight, when he conceded to McCartney. His partner, on the other hand, recalled taking the words to a keyboard and setting them to music from start to finish. (As for a middle eight, there isn't one, the song alternating between its verse and an extended chorus.)

Interesting to hear this now as a Macca melody, though it doesn't change my feeling about it. I love "In My Life" and I'm not ashamed to say, it has become a bit more difficult to listen to, as each year passes.








1. A Hard Day's Night
2. Norwegian Wood
3. If I Fell
4. Nowhere Man
5. And I Love Her
6. Tell Me Why
7. Can't Buy Me Love
8. Anytime At All
9. Girl
10. Things We Said Today
11. 


Previously on Album Battle:

TRACK ONE

TRACK TWO

TRACK THREE 

TRACK FOUR 

TRACK FIVE 

TRACK SIX 

TRACK SEVEN 

TRACK EIGHT

TRACK NINE 

TRACK TEN

19 comments:

buzzbabyjesus said...

Not even this crankypants can deny "In My Life". Some songs on "Rubber Soul" point ahead to "Revolver". This one sounds like the best song on "A Hard Day's Night". Lennon's "Things We Said Today".

I couldn't even recall how "When I Get Home" went. Truly filler.


Brett Alan said...

A tough choice for me. I admire "In My Life" more, but enjoy "When I Get Home" more on a visceral level, despite what was once memorably described as an unforgivable case of someone being loved until the cows come home. I'll vote for "In My Life" though. John's greatest lyric, I think.

Dave said...

This choice is easy: one of my favorite songs on Rubber Soul vs. one of my least favorite songs from AHDN: "In My Life."

Dave F

Joe said...

In My Life, no question. joe

Anonymous said...

Even I concede the ballad beats the rocker this time.

"In My Life" in a landslide! A true Beatles classic.

Captain Al

Rodger Stroup said...

"When I Get Home" is another one of my favorites. I probably end up hearing it more often than "In My Life" only because I tend to listen to the AHDN album more than I do Rubber Soul.
Having said that, "In My Life" is a great song, and is one of the highlights of Rubber Soul.
My vote is for "In My Life."

Anonymous said...

This is by far the easiest choice of this series. In My Life.

Marc

Michael Giltz said...

Last round was Paul vs Paul.

This time it's John vs John. John wins!

"When I Get Home" is very, very weak lyrically and not much better melodically. This one should have been a B side. It sounds like Lennon tossed it off in five minutes and never thought about it again. The "come on!" feels like yet another cookie cutter rocker opener, the awkward rhyme "Come on, if you please/ I've got no time for trivialities," the unforgivable "I'm gonna love her till the cows come home," and so on. It would be a stretch to suggest "Come on let me through/ I've got so many things I've got to do/ I've got no business being here with you/ This way" was adding an interesting idea. Is it possible John is saying he's fooling around with someone else? That's the only intrigue I can add to the tune. It seems pretty clear he's hanging out with the guys and wants to get home to fool around with his girl. This is like the unicorn of Beatles songs, one that is simply lazy and not good.

"In My Life" is a masterpiece. Sal can speak to the nifty things going on in the drumming and percussion. Lyrically and melodically, it grabs you from start to finish and Lennon was justly proud.

"In My Life" gets my vote.

PS Facebook must have loved "Things We Said Today!" I thought that vote would be a lot closer thanks to the late surge on the blog.

Shriner said...

I won't pretend this is close: "In My Life"

Jeff in Denton TX said...

I re-listened to both tracks before voting. I like "When I Get Home" more than I thought I did--especially in mono. That said, "In My Life" gets the nod for me. I love the harpsichord (?) solo and Ringo's drumming.

Alexi said...

"When I Get Home" is certainly filler, with occasionally painful lyrics, and little musical interest, as many have pointed out. The only redeeming thing for me is that John gives a pretty spirited vocal, and mostly the single-tracked raw sound that is so appealing. But..."In My Life" is a masterpiece. It's one of the tunes that makes Rubber Soul, and one that sits high up with the best in the whole Beatles catalogue. A beautiful, evocative and mature lyric; a great tune, with outstanding vocals from John and Paul; Ringo's tasteful rimshots; even a nifty harpsichord soundalike piano from George Martin that becomes integral to the whole song. It's one that people will love in a hundred years I think.

Charlie Messing said...

In My Life - it's "better" though I too have probably heard it enough times - but not compared to Michelle, Hey Jude, Yesterday, Blackbird, etc. The lovely harmonies (a lot like It Won't Be Long) and single-minded sincerity of When I Get Home are terrific, but...in contest, "I got a whole lot of things to tell her" loses to "In my life I love you more". Tough one.

Zippy said...

C'mon.....In My Life, easily. :-)

dogbreath said...

Got to be "In My Life". It's just beautiful. Cheers!

FurryBootsCityBoy said...

"In My Life". If it was good enough for Johnny Cash, it's good enough for me.

David said...

I love "When I Get Home," but this go round, "In My Life" wins! In My Life is my pick!

A guy called Tak said...

When I get home, I will definitely vote for "In My Life"...

Robin said...

In My Life, and yes it becomes a more heartbreaking listen with each passing year. (Sorry if this is a duplicate, got an error message first time).

Anonymous said...

Hello all...no, please remain seated,

In My Life is one of those songs that illustrate why the Beatles were the Beatles, if you get my drift. Everything- I mean everything! - in the song serves the song. The beautiful, cleanly picked guitar intro and outro, the drums, the hamonies, the harpsichord solo....it's all gorgeously composed and woven together. If, magically, you had access to invididual multi-track masters of the song, what would you change, or ad, or overdub. Nada.

regards,
RichD