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Released in 1965

The Word

Written by Lennon - McCartney

Last updated on July 31, 2018

Album This song officially appears on the Rubber Soul (UK Mono) LP.

Timeline This song was officially released in 1965

Master album

Related sessions

This song was recorded during the following studio sessions:

Related interview

From Wikipedia:

“The Word” is a song by English rock group the Beatles, written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney and recorded with Lennon on lead vocals. It was first released on their 1965 album Rubber Soul.

Composition

The song was co-written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney. According to Lennon, it was written together but it was “mainly mine“. They wrote it after smoking marijuana, something they hadn’t done before in a composing session, which from McCartney’s perspective (opposite to Lennon’s), “got in the way of songwriting“. McCartney on the subject: “We smoked a bit of pot, then we wrote out a multicolored lyric sheet, the first time we’d ever done that. We normally didn’t smoke when we were working. It got in the way of songwriting because it would just cloud your mind up — “Oh, shit, what are we doing?” It’s better to be straight. But we did this multicolor thing.”

Music

Musically, the song is based upon a driving rhythm with few chord changes and a simple melody in the key of D major. (The refrain is a 12 bar blues in D. The main chord is D(#9), also used in “Drive My Car” and “Taxman“. The two line verse uses D7, C7, F13, and G7.)

Paul McCartney said of this song, “John and I would like to do songs with just one note like ‘Long Tall Sally‘. We get near it in ‘The Word’“.

George Martin plays the harmonium solo in the track. McCartney, Lennon, and Harrison sing the song in three-part harmony. Lennon sings the middle eight by himself.

Samples from this song are also included on Love released in November 2006, in the track “Drive My Car/The Word/What You’re Doing“.

John Lennon gave Yoko Ono the original sheets to the song just before their relationship began.

Live performances

Paul McCartney has played a medley version of “The Word”/”All You Need Is Love” on his On the Run Tour

In July 2018, a research based on statistic science concluded that it’s very likely that Paul contributed to the song:

Mark Glickman, senior lecturer in statistics at Harvard University, and Jason Brown, Professor of Mathematics at Dalhousie University, created a computer model which broke down Lennon and McCartney songs into 149 different components to determine the musical fingerprints of each songwriter.

[…] For the study researchers ‘decomposed’ Beatles’ songs written between 1962 and 1966, analysing features such as frequency of chords, chord transitions, melodic notes and pitch.

They found a major distinction. While the pitch of Sir Paul’s songs was complex and varied, Lennon’s did not change much at all.

[…] The song “The Word,” from the same album [as “In My Life” which contrary to what Paul is very likely a 100% Lennon effort according to this study], which is attributed to Lennon, is almost certainly by McCartney, the researchers have concluded.

From The Usenet Guide to Beatles Recording Variations:

  • [a] mono 11 Nov 1965.
    UK: Parlophone PMC 1267 Rubber Soul 1965.
    US: Capitol T 2442 Rubber Soul 1965.
  • [b] stereo 11 Nov 1965.
    US: Capitol ST 2442 Rubber Soul 1965.
  • [c] stereo 15 Nov 1965.
    UK: Parlophone PCS 3075 Rubber Soul 1965.
  • [d] stereo 1987.
    CD: EMI CDP 7 46440 2 Rubber Soul 1987.

[b] must be the rejected Nov 11 mix: not only does it not sound as good, but surely Parlophone uses the correct mix, and the new CD mix [d] was made to sound like [c]. The lead vocal is doubletracked in [b] but single in the other stereo versions and in mono. In all stereo versions, the main instrumental track is left and the first vocal track is right. In the rejected mix [b], the track with bass, maracas and falsetto harmony (last 2 refrains) is mixed left with the other instruments, while the track with the second vocal track is mixed right; in the later mixes [c] [d] those two tracks have been mixed to the opposite sides. [c] and [d] have extreme separation between the stereo channels.

Lyrics

Say the word and you'll be free

Say the word and be like me

Say the word I'm thinking of

Have you heard the word is love?

It's so fine, it's sunshine

It's the word love

In the beginning I misunderstood

But now I've got it, the word is good

Spread the word and you'll be free

Spread the word and be like me

Spread the word I'm thinking of

Have you heard the word is love?

It's so fine, it's sunshine

It's the word love

Everywhere I go I hear it said

In the good and the bad books that I have read

Say the word and you'll be free

Say the word and be like me

Say the word I'm thinking of

Have you heard the word is love?

It's so fine, it's sunshine

It's the word love

Now that I know what I feel must be right

I'm here to show everybody the light

Give the word a chance to say

That the word is just the way

It's the word I'm thinking of

And the only word is love

It's so fine, it's sunshine

It's the word love

Say the word love

Say the word love

Say the word love

Say the word love

Officially appears on

See all official recordings containing “The Word”

Bootlegs

See all bootlegs containing “The Word”

Live performances

“The Word” has been played in 13 concerts.

Latest concerts where “The Word” has been played

See all concerts where “The Word” has been played

Going further

Paul McCartney writing

Talk more talk, chat more chat

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