The Beatles song inspired by ‘West Side Story’
Paul McCartney has never delved too deeply into the world of theatre and stepped his foot into Broadway or the West End. However, West Side Story was a surprising early influence on the musician when he was part of The Beatles, and, as a result, it inspired one of the band’s rarities.
McCartney wasn’t fortunate to make it down to London or New York to see the musical in person, but he did have the soundtrack at his family home, and it found a way of getting inside his psyche. There have been several reincarnations of West Side Story over the years, but it was first aired in Washington in 1957 before arriving on Broadway the following year ahead of a run on the West End.
Following the success of the theatrical production, it was adapted into a movie in 1961 and won a staggering ten Academy Awards. The soundtrack was also a phenomenal success which found its way into people’s homes, including McCartney’s residence at 20 Forthlin Road, Liverpool.
One day during the early days of The Beatles, McCartney and John Lennon were sitting around on the property writing. Macca used ‘Somewhere’ from the West Side Story soundtrack as inspiration, with the final result being ‘There’s A Place’.
The West Side Story track has been covered several times by an acclaimed list of names, including Phil Collins, The Supremes, and The Pet Shop Boys. Although The Beatles’ effort, ‘There’s A Place’, doesn’t bear a striking resemblance to its muse, the message at their beating heart is the same.
Regarding the similarities between the two tracks, McCartney commented: “In our case the place was in the mind, rather than round the back of the stairs for a kiss and a cuddle. This was the difference with what we were writing, we were getting a bit more cerebral”.
He continued: “We [Paul and John] both sang it. I took the high harmony, John took the lower harmony or melody. This was a nice thing because we didn’t actually have to decide where the melody was till later when they boringly had to write it down for sheet music”.
Perhaps it was Lennon being too cool for school, but when he spoke about the meaning behind the song to David Sheff in 1980, he refrained from mentioning the influence of West Side Story. He said: “‘There’s a Place’ was my attempt at a sort of Motown, Black thing. It says the usual Lennon things: ‘In my mind there’s no sorrow’. It’s all in your mind”.
Inspiration can come from the strangest of places, as McCartney proved with ‘There’s A Place’. If it wasn’t for his admittance of ‘Somewhere’ influencing the theme of his song, nobody would have connected the dots between the two creations because he concealed it so masterfully, which is a lesson to all aspiring songwriters.
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