Michelle by jomel77

jomel77 - Michelle

jomel77

Jul 16, 2024 04:14am

Welcome to Simply Beatles! Please note that this is currently Round 3 - The Final Round. <img src="https://singsnap-cdn.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/message-board/threads/9PXN/0a5b74b7ee_RVYT_media.gif"> "Michelle" is a song by the English rock band <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the Beatles</a> from their 1965 album <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubber_Soul" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Rubber Soul</a>. It was composed principally by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_McCartney" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Paul McCartney</a>, with the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middle_eight" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">middle eight</a> co-written with <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lennon" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">John Lennon</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_(song)#cite_note-FOOTNOTETurner201094-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[4]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_(song)#cite_note-FOOTNOTESheff2000137-5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[5]</a> The song is a love <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballad" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">ballad</a> with part of its lyrics sung in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_language" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">French</a>.Following its inclusion on Rubber Soul, the song was released as a single in some European countries and in New Zealand and on an EP in France in early 1966. It was a number-one hit for the Beatles in Belgium, France, Norway, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. Concurrent recordings of the song by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_and_Jonathan_(band)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">David and Jonathan</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Overlanders_(band)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">the Overlanders</a> were similarly successful in North America and Britain, respectively. "Michelle" won the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammy_Award_for_Song_of_the_Year" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Grammy Award for Song of the Year</a> in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/9th_Annual_Grammy_Awards" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">1967</a> and has since become one of the most widely recorded of all Beatles songs.The instrumental music of "Michelle" originated separately from the lyrical concept. According to McCartney:<blockquote>"Michelle" was a tune that I'd written in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chet_Atkins" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Chet Atkins</a>' finger-picking style. There is a song he did called "Trambone" with a repetitive top line, and he played a bass line while playing a melody. This was an innovation for us; even though classical guitarists had played it, no rock 'n' roll guitarists had played it. The first person we knew to use finger-picking style was Chet Atkins ... I never learned it. But based on Atkins' "Trambone", I wanted to write something with a melody and a bass line in it, so I did. I just had it as an instrumental in C.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_(song)#cite_note-FOOTNOTEMiles1997273-6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[6]</a></blockquote>The words and style of "Michelle" have their origins in the popularity of Parisian <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rive_Gauche_(Paris)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Left Bank</a> culture during McCartney's <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liverpool" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Liverpool</a> days. In his description, "It was at the time of people like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juliette_Greco" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Juliette Greco</a>, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bohemian_style#Post-Liberation_Paris" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">French bohemian</a> thing."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_(song)#cite_note-7" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[7]</a> McCartney had gone to a party of art students where a student with a goatee and a striped T-shirt was singing a French song. He soon wrote a farcical imitation to entertain his friends that involved French-sounding groaning instead of real words. The song remained a party piece until 1965 when John Lennon suggested he rework it into a proper song for inclusion on Rubber Soul.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_(song)#cite_note-FOOTNOTETurner201094-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[4]</a>McCartney asked Jan Vaughan, a French teacher and the wife of his old friend <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivan_Vaughan" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Ivan Vaughan</a>, to come up with a French name and a phrase that rhymed with it. McCartney said: "It was because I'd always thought that the song sounded French that I stuck with it. I can't speak French properly so that's why I needed help in sorting out the actual words."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_(song)#cite_note-FOOTNOTETurner201094-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[4]</a>Vaughan came up with "Michelle, ma belle", and a few days later McCartney asked for a translation of "these are words that go together well", rendered, for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scansion" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">scansion</a>, as sont des mots qui vont très bien ensemble ("are words that go very well together").<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_(song)#cite_note-FOOTNOTETurner201094-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[4]</a> When McCartney played the song for Lennon, Lennon suggested the "I love you" bridge. Lennon was inspired by a song he heard the previous evening, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nina_Simone" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Nina Simone</a>'s version of "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Put_a_Spell_on_You" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">I Put a Spell on You</a>", which used the same phrase but with the emphasis on the last word, "I love you".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_(song)#cite_note-FOOTNOTETurner201094-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[4]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_(song)#cite_note-FOOTNOTESheff2000137-5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[5]</a>Each version of this song is different in length. The UK mono mix is 2:33, whereas the stereo version extends to 2:40, and the US mono is 2:43.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_(song)#cite_note-FOOTNOTEKruth2015143%E2%80%9344-8" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">[8]</a> The version available in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles:_Rock_Band" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Beatles: Rock Band</a> has a running time of 2:50.