On Music: Beatlemania Week – No. 6

"With a Little Help from My Friends"



Another classic from Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, "With a Little Help from My Friends" was written by Paul and John for Ringo, who had a very small singing range. They specifically kept the song almost like a simple conversation, with their characters asking questions of Billy Shears, Ringo’s character. “What do you see when you turn out the light?” “I can't tell you but I know it's mine.”

Ringo’s only input was to change the first line of the lyrics, which originally was "What would you do if I sang out of tune? Would you stand up and throw tomatoes at me?" Fearing that fans would actually lob tomatoes (and hey, we all know that Beatles fans were capable of doing the darndest things), he switched it to “and walk out on me?”

For all episodes in this week-long Beatlemania mini-series, click here.


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