NO REPLY
Recorded 9/30/64
Released 12/4/64 on Beatles for Sale
I just listened to “No Reply” maybe ten times in a row. It’s been my fave Beatles tune since the day I heard it. I never tire of it. Quite a shock to learn it was not written for The Beatles.
When I looked up “No Reply” on beatlesbible.com, I learned that John had written in for a guy named Tommy Quickly who shared their manager, Brian Epstein. I knew Lennon and McCartney had written songs for Peter & Gordon and Billy J. Kramer and the like, but those tunes never seemed fit for The Beatles anyway. “No Reply,” however…
Lennon says he was inspired by “Silhouettes,” the old hit by The Rays, but his take is much darker.
Check out the lyrics and their rhyme scheme:
[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD]Verse 1[/TD]
[TD]Verses 2 & 3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]This happened once before
I came to your door
No reply >>>
They said it wasn’t you
But I saw you peek through
Your window >>>
I saw the light! >>>
I saw the light! >>>
I know that you saw me
’Cause I looked up to see
Your face >>>[/TD]
[TD]I tried to telephone
They said you were not home
That’s a lie
’Cause I know where you’ve been
I saw you walk in
Your door
I nearly died!
I nearly died!
’Cause you walked hand in hand
With another man
In my place[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
I’m a fan of inter-verse rhymes and use >>> to highlight them here. (“Your window” and “Your door” don’t rhyme, of course, but they thematically unite the verses in that they both divide him from his lover.)
The arrangement is spare, mostly acoustic, with Ringo’s offbeat playing perfect for the verses. Those verses are all sung by Lennon except for the lines “I saw the light!” and “I nearly died!” where McCartney’s harmony packs a wallop of shock, anger, and anguish.
Lennon (as he often did) said he wrote the whole thing, while McCartney says John arrived as usual with the song lacking a vocal bridge – what he likes to call “the middle eight.” So who to believe? I choose Paul. The verses are dark and hurt and angry – pure John. The bridge however picks up tempo, is all in harmony, adds handclapping, and closes with:
“And I’ll forgive the lies that I
“Heard before when you gave me no reply.”
What’s that I hear? A chance for redemption? The verses carry not a whiff of forgiveness – too much hurt and anger there. But the bridge lets a ray of hope peek through.
And that’s gotta be McCartney.
There. I’ve put down everything I know and feel about “No Reply” in the hope of figuring out why I like it so much. I still don’t know
Recorded 9/30/64
Released 12/4/64 on Beatles for Sale
I just listened to “No Reply” maybe ten times in a row. It’s been my fave Beatles tune since the day I heard it. I never tire of it. Quite a shock to learn it was not written for The Beatles.
When I looked up “No Reply” on beatlesbible.com, I learned that John had written in for a guy named Tommy Quickly who shared their manager, Brian Epstein. I knew Lennon and McCartney had written songs for Peter & Gordon and Billy J. Kramer and the like, but those tunes never seemed fit for The Beatles anyway. “No Reply,” however…
Lennon says he was inspired by “Silhouettes,” the old hit by The Rays, but his take is much darker.
Check out the lyrics and their rhyme scheme:
[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD]Verse 1[/TD]
[TD]Verses 2 & 3[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]This happened once before
I came to your door
No reply >>>
They said it wasn’t you
But I saw you peek through
Your window >>>
I saw the light! >>>
I saw the light! >>>
I know that you saw me
’Cause I looked up to see
Your face >>>[/TD]
[TD]I tried to telephone
They said you were not home
That’s a lie
’Cause I know where you’ve been
I saw you walk in
Your door
I nearly died!
I nearly died!
’Cause you walked hand in hand
With another man
In my place[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]
I’m a fan of inter-verse rhymes and use >>> to highlight them here. (“Your window” and “Your door” don’t rhyme, of course, but they thematically unite the verses in that they both divide him from his lover.)
The arrangement is spare, mostly acoustic, with Ringo’s offbeat playing perfect for the verses. Those verses are all sung by Lennon except for the lines “I saw the light!” and “I nearly died!” where McCartney’s harmony packs a wallop of shock, anger, and anguish.
Lennon (as he often did) said he wrote the whole thing, while McCartney says John arrived as usual with the song lacking a vocal bridge – what he likes to call “the middle eight.” So who to believe? I choose Paul. The verses are dark and hurt and angry – pure John. The bridge however picks up tempo, is all in harmony, adds handclapping, and closes with:
“And I’ll forgive the lies that I
“Heard before when you gave me no reply.”
What’s that I hear? A chance for redemption? The verses carry not a whiff of forgiveness – too much hurt and anger there. But the bridge lets a ray of hope peek through.
And that’s gotta be McCartney.
There. I’ve put down everything I know and feel about “No Reply” in the hope of figuring out why I like it so much. I still don’t know
This post was last modified: 12-13-2017, 12:29 PM by fpw.
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