Hear Me Out: ‘Help!’ is the saddest song John Lennon ever wrote
1964. Four boys from Liverpool sit on a plane heading to the States, a country where most people have only recently heard the name “The Beatles”. Once they land, music will change forever.
Who knows what the thoughts were of the band as they made their way on the journey overseas to America. Excitement? Trepidation? It was probably a combination of those two and a lot more. However, John Lennon was a bit different from the rest of his musical cohort, as while their nerves would have likely revolved around the band, he was nervous because of comments he had made supporting the communist movement.
Yes, John Lennon had always had that political activist within him. A lot of people criticise Yoko Ono, saying she changed him and made him political, but Lennon had been making his views on society clear since before he ever even visited America. Now, as he was heading over to the proudly capitalistic country, he was worried he had ruined his career before it had even started thanks to his comments supporting an opposite ideology.
As we know, his comments didn’t impact his career. The moment The Beatles stepped off the plane, it became pretty clear to the band and everyone who was paying attention that the young British lads might have finally unlocked the formula to breaking America. Following their stint on the Ed Sullivan Show and the persistent run of successful songs that came afterwards, it was evident that The Beatles were well and truly onto something special.
While his comments might not have ended his career, the fact that Lennon was worried about them is a pretty good reflection of what issues The Beatles faced when they originally landed in the States. Right from the word go, the moment The Beatles started to gain traction and were celebrated as a great band, he felt the need to bite his tongue and change things about himself, both as a person and an artist.
“We weren’t as open and as truthful when we didn’t have the power to be,” Lennon once said, “We had to take it easy. We had to shorten our hair to leave Liverpool. We had to wear suits to get on TV. We had to compromise.”
When we talk about John Lennon’s saddest song, people likely feel tempted to discuss some of the more honest tunes he wrote when he became a solo artist. Lennon admitted when he wrote ‘Mother’ that he knew he would likely upset some of his fans because of how unrelenting he is with his honesty throughout that song.
You have a point if you highlight songs like this as sad, they are, but they were written by Lennon during a time when he knew he could embrace that sadness and blatantly talk about it. The emotions he discussed weren’t new, they were just given a new lease of life in the aftermath of The Beatles.
Subsequently, the songs that he wrote for The Beatles where he was allowed to tell some truth but not all of it are much sadder. ‘Help!’ comes to mind, given this is a track that sees Lennon be honest but also have to continue hiding parts of himself. He once called it one of his favourite songs he wrote for the Beatles because of the rare glints of honesty in it.
“I meant it, it’s real. The lyric is as good now as it was then, it’s no different, you know. It makes me feel secure to know that I was that sensible or whatever—well, not sensible, but aware of myself. That’s with no acid, no nothing… well pot or whatever.”
Lennon said when discussing his fondness for ‘Help!’ and the honesty embedded within it, “It was just me singing ‘help’, and I meant it, you know. I don’t like the recording that much, the song I like. We did it too fast to try and be commercial.”
It’s sad to hear a song like this, given that Lennon wanted to be honest with his fans but felt as though he couldn’t. It’s one example out of many where Lennon felt as though he was unable to be his true self because of the restraints put on him by those higher up.
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