Beatles – "Another Girl" (1965)

For I have got another girl

Another girl

Another girl

A Facebook friend of mine – we’ll call him “Mark,” since that is his name – recently posted a link to the 1965 Beatles song, “Another Girl.”  

He noted that the song was a rare example of a Beatles record that featured Paul McCartney on lead guitar, and asked me to provide a definitive “take” on Paul as a lead guitarist.

I’m not a guitarist, and any opinions I offer on the relative ability of guitarists deserve no more weight than anyone else’s.  

Remember what Clint Eastwood said about opinions in The Dead Pool, which was the fifth and final “Dirty Harry” movie?  “Opinions are like assh*les – everyone has one.”

In any event, Paul’s lead guitar work on “Another Girl” was so minimal – a few notes here and there, and a three-bar outro – that you can’t say really anything definitive about his ability as a guitarist based on this record.

*     *     *     *     *

None of the Beatles – including Paul McCartney – were instrumental virtuosos.  

McCartney was certainly a versatile musician.  He became the Beatles’ bass player mostly because no one else wanted the job, but he was probably as capable a guitarist as George Harrison or John Lennon.

Paul played drums on several Beatles tracks, and he played all the instruments on his first solo album – including acoustic and electric guitar, bass guitar, drums, piano, organ, et al.

*     *     *     *     *

What I find most interesting about “Another Girl” wasn’t Paul’s lead guitar work, but how the song illustrates some fundamental truths about Beatles records in general.

For example, the Beatles – by which I’m really referring to Lennon and McCartney – had a knack for coming up with clever and charming song ideas, but were not very good at developing those ideas into fully-realized records.

“Another Girl” really should have ended at about the 1:20 mark – but 1:20 is way too short for a pop record.  So instead of stopping there, the Beatles simply repeat the bridge and then repeat the third verse.  That gets them to 2:05 – which is still pretty short.

Beatles producer George Martin with the Fab Four

I can just imagine the discussion in the studio after take one of “Another Girl”:

George Martin:  I don’t know, boys . . . 2:05 is a bit short.  

John Lennon: For f*ck’s sake, George, what do you want us to do?  Repeat the bloody bridge again?  It’s bad enough we repeated it once.

Paul McCartney: That’s right, John.  You shouldn’t repeat a bridge at all . . . especially not one that relies on a trite minor-to-major cadence.  You really don’t want to lean on that little trick too heavily.

George Martin: I guess you’re right.  OK, I can live with 2:05.  Shall we move on to “I Need You” next?

*     *     *     *     *

The Help! album is chock full of what I’m going to call “songlets” – inchoate half-songs that were taken out of the oven too early. 

The second George Harrison song recorded by the Beatles – “I Need You” – is another good example of a Beatles singles.

“I Need You” should have ended at about the 1:30 mark.  But just as they did with “Another Girl,” the Beatles stretched it to an acceptable length by simply repeating the bridge and repeating the third verse.  

*     *     *     *     *

Not to beat a dead horse to death, but the next 2 or 3 lines will discuss more songs from the Help! album where the Beatles used simple repetition to stretch a too-short song idea into a just-long-enough track. 

*     *     *     *     *

Click here to listen to “Another Girl.”

Click on the link below to buy the song from Amazon: