This wonderful composition of The Beatles evokes sad memories and makes you think about the eternal. The fact is that at first it turned into something akin to an epitaph for the deceased John Lennon, who admitted that he originally wrote it as a song about his life. Later, it sounded at the funeral ceremony for Kurt Cobain. And then Jon Bon Jovi bequeathed to play it at his funeral. But let’s not talk about sad things and turn to the history of the track.
The history of creation and the meaning of the song In My Life – The Beatles
Lennon called In My Life his first serious work. The idea for the song was born to him after a certain journalist (probably it was Kennett Allsop), after reading Lennon’s book In His Own Write, asked why the musician should not write autobiographical compositions.
In My Life was born from John’s cycle of poems dedicated to his friends and favorite places in his native Liverpool. Initially, the real names of streets and city sights were mentioned in the text, but they were not preserved in the final version.
Lennon worked on the text for several days, but it did not come to him in any way. Things went smoothly when he completely despaired of writing something worthwhile. Finished work on the composition of John in the company of McCartney. It is difficult to say how important the role he played in the creative process. According to Lennon, the partner only helped him with the music for the middle of the track, and Paul himself claimed that his contribution was much more significant.
Interestingly, George Martin is not among the official authors of In My Life, although he came up with a harpsichord-style break. He recalled that he performed it at a slow tempo, because he did not play the piano well enough, and then simply speeded up the recording.
Release and achievements
The studio version of the song was completed in October 1965. She became one of the tracks of the album Rubber Soul, published on the third of December.
Rolling Stone magazine placed it at number 23 on its 500 Greatest Songs and at number five on The Beatles’ 100 Greatest Songs. And the songwriters who took part in the Mojo poll generally recognized it as the best track of all time.
Clip In My Life – The Beatles
Next, you can watch the online video clip for the song In My Life.
In My Life covers
The composition was recorded by many famous performers, including Judy Collins, Johnny Cash and Ozzy Osbourne.
Let’s listen to Ozzy Osbourne’s version of In My Life.
Interesting Facts
- According to Peter Shotton, when referring to friends in the text, Lennon meant Shotton himself and Stuart Sutcliffe.
- The song’s music may have been inspired by You’ve Really Got a Hold on Me by The Temptations.
- The original handwritten sheet is on display at the British Museum.
In My Life Lyrics
There are places I’ll remember
All my life, though some have changed
Some forever, not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life, I’ve loved them all
But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Though I know I’ll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I’ll often stop and think about them
In my life, I love you more
Though I know I’ll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I’ll often stop and think about them
In my life, I love you more
In my life– I love you more
In My Life Lyrics
There are places that I will remember
Until the end of life though some have changed
Some are forever – and not for the best
Some disappeared and some remained
All these places have to do with moments
With lovers and friends that I can still remember
Some are already dead and some are still alive
In my life I have loved them all
But of all these friends and lovers
Nobody compares to you
And all the memories lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Even though I know I’ll always be tied
To people and things from the past
I know that I will often think about them
In my life I love you more
Even though I know I’ll always be tied
To people and things from the past
I know that I will think about them
In my life I love you more
In my life I love you more
Song quote
In my opinion, In My Life is my first real serious work. Until then, I wrote mountains of songs, but threw them away without a shadow of regret. One part of my mind was writing books, and the other part was putting out products like “I love you” and “you love me” because that was what Paul and I were doing at the time. I always tried to give some meaning to the words, but I didn’t really care.
John Lennon, All We Are Saying (David Sheff)
