The Beatles - For No One
Written by: Lennon-McCartney. Paul McCartney: vocals, bass, piano, clavichord. Ringo Starr: drums, tambourine, maracas.
Paul McCartney’s meditation on the end of a love affair was one of the highlights on the Revolver album. For No One was written in March 1966 while Paul McCartney was on holiday with Jane Asher in Switzerland. It was originally called Why Did It Die? George Martin wrote down the understated melody that Paul sang to him, and Alan Civil performed it. Always pushing boundaries, Martin and McCartney decided to insert a top note into the score outside the instrument’s normal range.
“I was in Switzerland on my first skiing holiday. I’d done a bit of skiing in Help! and quite liked it, so I went back and ended up in a little bathroom in a Swiss chalet writing For No One. I remember the descending bassline trick that it’s based on, and I remember the character in the song - the girl putting on her make-up. Occasionally we’d have an idea for some new kind of instrumentation, particularly for solos… On For No One I was interested in the French horn, because it was an instrument I’d always loved from when I was a kid. It’s a beautiful sound, so I went to George Martin and said, ‘How can we go about this?’ And he said, ‘Well, let me get the very finest.’” Paul McCartney.
“One of my favourites of his. A nice piece of work”. John Lennon.
