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I’m Looking Through You
MLT’s latest Beatles cover, “I’m Looking Through You” on the new MLT Club Duo Sessions album, sounds more refined and less edgy than the Beatles version from the 1965 Rubber Soul album, and with MLTs harmonies, which the original lacks with just Paul’s lead vocals, the song sounds richer, and George Harrison’s awesome lead guitar sounds are honored throughout in all its glory by MLT’s masterful guitar work. This underrated Beatles song, is a real treasure trove in the new album as MLT unleashes its full potential with their remarkable musicianship. This one along with “Hey Bulldog” and “If I Needed Someone” are some of my favorite MLT Beatles covers.
An interesting fact about this song:
Paul McCartney wrote this song after an argument with his then girl friend, Jane Asher. It seems writing this song helped Paul deal with the emotional stress of a strained relationship. In an interview, Paul said:
“I would write it out in a song and then I’ve got rid of the emotion. I don’t hold grudges so that gets rid of that little bit of emotional baggage. I remember specifically this one being about that, getting rid of some emotional baggage. ‘I’m looking through you, and you’re not there!’”
When people need an outlet to express emotions, for some it is talking it out with a friend or a therapist, for some it is journaling, or working out, or engaging in a hobby or sports to let out frustration or excitement. For musicians it can be in a song. An interesting 2018 article talks about the influence Paul McCartney’s girl friend Jane Asher had on the Beatles music. Jane Asher unknowingly had a part in shaping music history:
“Jane Asher, Paul McCartney’s girlfriend during much of the Beatles years, inspired many of his best compositions (“And I Love Her,” “Things We Said Today,” “You Won’t See Me,” and “Here, There and Everywhere,” to cite a few examples). “I’m Looking Through You” paints a vivid picture of the couple’s troubled relationship,….”
On the Beatles recording, the USA version had 2 false start mistakes that were left in, and at 1:20 into the song, there is another mistake during recording that was left in as well
“Back in the Beatles’ early days, working at Abbey Road was expensive so rather than recording the song again, any small mistakes were frequently ignored. This explains why at around 1:20 on this track, if you listen carefully you can hear Paul McCartney dropping his tambourine.”
I think when it’s the Beatles, mistakes like this just adds to the songs character, and makes for interesting trivia for the music fans.
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9 Replies
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Interesting Jung…for me its through writing poetry, Poetical Yoga if you will, that helps me cope, be inspired, etc. , it’s how I seem to convey the best way to communicate effectively…??
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If music is about taking you into the emotional state of the songwriter, Rubber Soul certainly does that in abundance. 2 very emotionally charged songs to cite as examples are John Lennon’s “Norwegian Wood” and “Run For Your Life”.
Norwegian Wood is a song about an extra-marital affair Lennon was having at the time. According to Lennon’s friend Pete Shotton, the woman in question was a journalist and close friend to John, Maureen Cleave. John Lennon said:
‘Norwegian Wood’ is my song completely. It was about an affair I was having.”
Run For Your Life is about jealousy, and the lyrics were inspired by an Elvis song.
John explains: “It was inspired from ‘Baby, Let’s Play House.’ There was a line in it, I used to like specific lines from songs, ‘I’d rather see you dead, little girl, than to be with another man.’ I wrote it around that…a line from an old blues song that Presley did”
Jealousy was not a subject that was foreign to compositions of John Lennon during The Beatles years. In 1964’s “You Can’t Do That,” for instance, John threatens that if his girl is caught talking to another man he’s ‘gonna let her down and leave her flat.’ If that sounds harsh, John takes it much further in 1965’s “Run For Your Life.” This time he sneers that “he’s determined” to do something much more drastic if she’s caught “with another man.” “I’d rather see you dead” John reveals, and not by any other source than himself.
What is puzzling is that John always dismissed the song when asked about it. “Sort of a throwaway,” “I didn’t think it was that important,” “I never liked it,” “I always hated that one” and “it was phoney” were comments he made throughout the years. Since the lyrics could easily be viewed as sexist, his views on feminism in the seventies (evidenced in his song “Woman Is The (N word) Of The World”) may have tainted his view of the song in retrospect. Nonetheless, Beatles fans worldwide do not share his negative view of “Run For Your Life.” In fact, many suggest it as one of the best on the album and as being a more-than-appropriate conclusion to “Rubber Soul.”
Although Paul’s contribution as writer of the song is little if none, he does add a different spin on the meaning of the lyrics. “John was always on the run, running for his life,” McCartney stated.
The strong emotional content of these songs from Paul McCartney and John Lennon are perhaps one of the many reasons Rubber Soul is one of the most influential albums of all time. Rubber Soul is #5 in the Rolling Stone Magazine 500 greatest albums of all time list.
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Jacki, yeah it’s all about expressing our emotions through the various forms of art. -
I can’t wait to see the video of this one. If my ears ain’t lying to me, Mona takes lead vocals and anchors the song with that skillful rhythm acoustic while Lisa’s playing bongos AND lead guitar?? Quite the circus trick…
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Tomas, me too I can’t wait to see Mona and Lisa on their respective guitars on this one. Is the guitar lead in to the song Mona or Lisa? I guess I could look for a Beatles video to see who starts in on the guitar, George or John, but I think I would rather wait to see Duo Session video! 🙂 Love the guitar riff that starts in at 28 secs.
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I’m stoked in anticipation myself….???????????
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Well, I’m hearing Mona taking lead vocals and acoustic rhythm, then… bongos! (or some percussion?), which I’m guessing it’s Lisa as it alternates between bongos and lead electric guitar. I wonder which guitar she chose for this song. Looking forward to this video.The Beatles lead seems to be played on a Casino, that may be George, or even Paul.
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Interesting and nice description Tomas. Well the curiosity and anticipation for the video builds to see how Mona and Lisa did their magic on this. 🙂
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I’m really stoked to see MLT’s remarkable “I’m Looking Through You” Beatles cover released to the world today! Yay!!!! Brilliant lead vocals by Mona and lead guitar/banjitar work by Lisa!
In July of 2020 we waited in anticipation for the video wondering how Mona and Lisa did their magic on this one. Now the video is out to the masses to enjoy.
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